The weather outside is frightful!

[Mikala Palakiko]

Mika clapped his gloved hands together, trying to get some feeling back in them. He was dressed in his warmest clothes as he made his way to the barn to give Butch some attention. Sure, he'd got used to the lack of salt in the air, and the fact that the beach wasn't just a walk away, but this cold? He was never going to used to that.

At least the barn was warm, warmer than outside anyway, and he quickly made his way down to the Dutch Warmblood's stall. "Man it's freezing out there!" He told the horse, as he pull his gloves off and slid a hand under the gelding's stable sheet, making sure that the horse was warm under there as he was clipped. Happy with the horse's heat, he pulled his hand back out and dug his phone from his pocket. "Shorts and t-shirt weather, back home." He said as he pulled up the weather. "We should be back home, not here, in the frozen wilderness." He was so glad that Kona wasn't around right now.

[Paige Wilson]

Paige was generally firmly against any form of physical activity or exertion which did not in some way involve a member of the equine genus, but today was an exception, by reason of its being absolutely bloody freezing, if you wanted to put it into meteorological terms. It was because of the low temperatures that she had taken up jogging just about everywhere, because not only did it reduce the amount of time which she had to spend outside and exposed to such temperatures, but it also meant that she was, heaven forbid, putting in more effort and therefore warming herself up in the process.

She wouldn't even have had to come out in the first place if she hadn't just been too nice a person, the brunette pointed out to herself as she hurried into the White Oak Barn and stood for a moment, appreciating the general horsey warmth. A friend was ill in hospital, and, being the nice person that she was, Paige had agreed to look after the demon of a horse left in the barn. Caught up in her own thoughts, the Texan hurried along the aisle between the stalls; suddenly noticing that there was someone else present was enough of a shock to stop her in her tracks.

[Mikala Palakiko]

Mika arched his eyebrow at Butch, when he could hear that someone was walking down the aisle. "She can't possibly have heard me whining about the weather." He whispered to the gelding as they both inched closer to the door.

He gave an appreciative node as he saw the brunette who looked like she was on a mission. "Not my Arctic sister, but it looks like we've been sent an angel." He placed his hand on the gelding's nose, not sure what was on Butch's mind in ways of greeting the girl - not that his greetings could ever be classed as anything a person would want to experience twice.

[Paige Wilson]

Paige regarded the pair with a touch of uncertainty, not exactly sure of what she ought to make of them. Of course she'd seen them around... She might even have shared a class or two with the boy, though it had to be admitted that her memory on the subject wasn't to be trusted under conditions such as these; after all, she was having something of a deer in headlights moment. What should she do? Say?

"I don't know about angel," she ventured apprehensively. "I'm just... Just me, y'know?" Compliments were something of a foreign topic to Paige, who was entirely unused to receiving them considering that she looked more or less identical to her sister, who tended to impress herself rather more forcefully on people's minds than Paige ever could. And... What did she say now? The weather; talk about the weather... "Cold, isn't it?"

Smooth.

[Mikala Palakiko]

Mika was sure that the horse beside him rolled his eyes as Butch raised his head out of reach and backed away from the door, before turning and knocking the boy with his hip, because he could. While Mika was tempted to swat the horse back, be decided not to, as the bay was likely to return the reprimand with one of his own, a kick.

He chuckled at her response. "Yes, Paige, it is cold." He shared enough classes with both of the Wilson girls, that their personalities gave them away before he had to think about what the girl was wearing. "What brings you to my barn?" Surely her mouthier sister hadn't though the barn manager would mistake one sister for the other so that Piper didn't have to get her hands dirty?

[Paige Wilson]

The brunette grinned with more than a touch of awkwardness, well aware that her conversational gambits were not exactly what you might call original. But conversations were never exactly her forte; they were far more in her sister's line than they were in hers, and she was not entirely sure as to how she ought to proceed from here on, which was why it was perhaps just as well that Mika seemed to have that well covered. Answering questions, she could do; it was hardly a difficult one.

"Oh, uh..." Or then again, maybe she couldn't. God, it was going to be one of those days. Words, Paige... "I'm just keeping an eye on a horse for someone. Got to send her her daily updates, otherwise she worries." She shrugged.

[Mikala Palakiko]

Mika kept an easy grin as he was highly amused by the way that Paige was so effortlessly tripping over every word that come out of her mouth. Sure, he knew that he was a bit to be around, but not to the point where one got tongue-tied.

He raised his eyebrows and nodded at her reasons for being in the barn. "Nobel." He offered. "I'd like to say that I came just to check on my horse, but I really came because it's warmer than being outside." He wondered if he should put a rug on Butch, and take him out to graze for a bit. "Ms Carr could probably just as easily send your friend daily updates." He shrugged as he moved to the other side of the door, not liking the way the Warmblood's rump was facing him.