happilyeverbeginning | He like a knight in shining armour with them blue jeans on (scrooge x magica)

"I'm so sorry," he told her honestly. "I wasn't laughing at you. I was laughing at Miss MacBridge. I promise."

"Believe you me, I will be... discussing... this at length with her." So much yelling. So, so much yelling.

"Should I make myself scarce for the next few days?" he joked.

"I don't think I'll be able to look you in the eye for a while anyway."

Though his rear was fair game.

He chuckled. "That'll change the first time you see me covered in mud."

And, no, he didn't realize how figuratively dirty that sounded.

He finished lighting the fire in the fireplace. Then he tapped the brim of an imaginary hat.

"That should do it, miss."

Well, at least she understood why Brigitta had the hots for him. Not that Magica saw dating anyone in her future... her heart had been so battered, she wasn't sure she was capable of loving anything besides her pet waiting for her at home.

"... Thank you." But she could at least try to be polite.

"You're welcome."

After a moment, he took a step closer to her.

"Please try to enjoy yourself." He gave her a soft smile. "Do you ride?"

Magica's eyes widened... before she understood.

"Horses!" She suddenly blurted out. Of course. Duh. Geez, maybe within Brigitta's range was dulling her mind so much to match her ditzy friend. "Ah, hm, yes, I used to... a long time ago."

"Maybe you can go for a trail ride. We have beginner trails you might like and most of our horses are perfect for beginners or those who're a bit rusty."

He had no idea why she'd blurted out "horses", but she seemed to be doing a bit better.

Well... she did like animals better than people. They didn't judge you for your family's actions. And it might be a decent excuse to be alone.

"... I'll think about it."

Scrooge nodded his head. "Enjoy your day."

With that, he left. Time to get some lunch into him and then get back to work. Hopefully Miss De Spell would enjoy herself.

It didn't take long for Brigitta to come in and check on her friend... and, yes, there was so much yelling on Magica's part. Although Brigitta insisted her and Scrooge getting together was merely a matter of time, it became quite clear to Magica that her friend was seeing signals that simply didn't exist.

As for the rest of the ranch, quiet whispers began to brew. Magica De Spell? As in... those De Spells? The people who swindled their investors and employees? By the time dinner rolled around, almost everyone knew.

The workers on the ranch had quickly spread the information amongst themselves...and had quickly been reminded by every member of the family (with varying degrees of gentleness) that unless the police showed up with a warrant for her arrest, it was none of their beeswax. The ranch hands abided by that first given many of them were from the infamous Van Der Linde gang.

The maids and other workers needed to be more firmly reminded of the policy.

Fellow guests, of course, had no such rules to follow. Brigitta had to basically drag Magica out of her room to have dinner, and even then, Magica kept her head low, paranoid about feeling eyes on her even when there wasn't.

"One meal, and I'm going back to my room."

"But Maggie...!"

"And stop calling me that."

One of the other guests in the dining room decided to take offense to Magica being there. She rose from her seat, eyes stormy.

"Is there a problem?" Hortense asked, appearing as if from nowhere. She and the rest of her family had put out orders to keep an eye on things and divert any conflicts away from Magica.

"Yes, there is! I can't believe you would allow that witch to show up here, knowing what she did!" the woman screeched.

Hortense's eye twitched. This was Matilda's strong suit, not hers. "Ma'am, she is a paying guest just like you are."

"Using stolen money!" the woman glared at Hortense. "How can you stomach the thought of taking it?!"

"The same way you can stomach three desserts in one night," Hortense snapped.

"How dare you?!" The woman brandished her nails as if they were claws. She raised a hand to slap Hortense.

Hortense caught the hand mid-swing, glaring hotly. "Try that again, and I'll sprain your wrist."

"I want to talk to your manager! I'll have you fired!"

"Me manager is me da, so good luck with that." Hortense smiled "sweetly". "And if you try to claim I assaulted you, there are cameras just in case someone like you pulls something. Now sit down, shut up, and eat your dinner."

The woman fumed but sat back down, glaring hatefully at Hortense.

Brigitta almost felt like applauding. "Oh, that was marvelous! See, Maggie, the whole world isn't against you! ... Maggie?" She looked to her side, but it appeared that halfway through the fight, Magica had vanished. Brigitta's shoulders sunk. "Oh, dear."

Truthfully, Magica had fled, tears stinging her eyes. Stupid Brigitta! What had she been thinking?! And what Magica been thinking too? This kind of poison would follow her for the rest of her life. No matter what she did, she'd never be out of her parent's shadows.

She didn't really care where she was going, she just didn't want to be around any people - which, as it so happens, was what the stable seemed to be. All the farm hands were eating, so it only had horses in it, as far as Magica saw.

She broke down, sitting on snow and hay, hugging her knees as she quietly cried.

The horses all looked up at the stranger in their stable. A few whickered curiously, one or two shifted nervously.

The horse whose stall she was closest to gave a confused whinny, leaning his large head over the stall door to snuffle at her. He was a gorgeous golden color but his mouth had old scars around them where a bit had viciously cut into his mouth.

After a few more quiet sobs, Magica realized she had company. She looked over at the horse, eyeing the wounds. "... Sorry for intruding." She mumbled, reaching up to tenderly stroke the horse's face. "I guess even big guys you don't have it easy..."

He blinked at her before nuzzling her. His ears flicked with contentment and he whickered softly. One forehoof pawed the ground as he enjoyed her attentions.

And unbeknownst to Magica, Scrooge had entered the stable on his rounds and froze upon seeing her petting Yukon and Yukon not responding negatively to her.

"People must have seen how big and strong you looked, and just assumed you could take any pain..." Magica closed her eyes, letting a few more tears fall, her forehead pressed to Yukon. "... And when you did show that you could get hurt, just as much as anyone else... no one cared. No matter what, it'll never go away..."

It was a little obvious she wasn't speaking merely about Yukon's troubles.

Scrooge quietly made his way around to the other side of the stable, waiting silently for a good time to "walk in without having heard anything". The poor woman clearly needed someone to talk to, and if Yukon was allowing it, who was he to stop her?

"I just... I don't know what to do." She wiped her face. "No one seems to care my parents took my money too. I had to scrape for every last penny just to get a place here, and try to start an accounting business... but who's going to trust the monetary advice of a De Spell?"

Slowly, she began to stand up, trying to brush hay off her dress.

"Maybe if I leave now, I can cut the pet-sitter's fee in half for watching Ratface."

Yukon gave a mournful whinny, stretching his neck out to try and keep her close by.

Scrooge finally decided to make himself known. He started walking openly into the stable. He gestured to the stallion already pining away for Magica. "I'm amazed. Yukon doesn't like very many people."

Magica jerked - how much had Scrooge seen, if anything? She turned her back to him, desperately trying to clean her face of any remaining tears. "I-I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't be in here..."

Scrooge shook his head. "Nobody said you couldn't be in here, but it is a good idea not to be in here alone. Some of our horses can get a bit skittish when alone with strangers."

He walked over to start petting Yukon. He guided the horse's large head towards Yukon. "We're Yukon's third owners. He was originally part of the wild horse capture program, and his first owner was supposed to gentle him, get him used to living with people." He looked sadly at the horse's mouth. "I want to believe the owner just didn't know how to deal with a wild horse. All attempts to get him used to a saddle and bridle went terribly. His second owner ended up having to sell off their ranch, and we got both him and Cloudy Day." He nodded to the sleepy old mare next to Yukon's stall. "So far he only accepts me as a rider, but I'm working on gentling him."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject