July 1, 1894 — Benedict's Stables
Benedict Sterling Philomena Sprout

Georgia's favorite part of being engaged and also "practically dead," age-wise as an as-of-yet-unmarried woman, was that she had a lot of freedom in her movements.

(Technically, no one had called her "practically dead"--at least not to her face or as far as she was aware--but she'd overheard someone refer to a different long-toothed debutante that way once, and she'd thought it very amusing to attribute the term to herself.)

To that point, Georgia was visiting the Sterlings' stables--because she liked horses, obviously, and because she liked Ben Sterling. She was armed with a pocket full of sugar cubes and a desire to befriend whichever horse was the most easily bribed, which was, Georgia thought, the way of handling any animal. She had stopped at the first stall, and said aloud, "Oh, aren't you lovely."

---

  

He’d heard someone in the stables and prayed that it wasn’t - well, anyone besides the stablehands. He’d just returned from an assignment just outside of Birmingham, had the next two days off and none of his clients arriving within that time period; the last thing he needed was someone wanting something. Ben hauled himself out of the chair he had just slumped down in and went out to the stables to see who was about to interrupt his peaceful day.

Trudging into the barn, he already had a speech on the tip of his tongue. “We’re closed today so — oh, Georgia, thank fuck.” Upon seeing who it was, Ben sighed in relief and stopped at a stall for one of the horses who had craned his neck out into the aisle to see what the commotion was about. “I thought I was going to have to kick someone off the property.” Georgia - being one of the handful of people he didn’t have to pretend anything in front of - was more than welcome to stay as long as she liked. And, Ben thought as he slowly made his way down the aisle to greet her, perhaps some company today wouldn’t be so bad after all. “Can I get you something? Water or perhaps some lemonade? It’s beastly hot outside already.”

---

  

---

Georgia shot Ben an apologetic smile. "Sorry for surprising you," she said. Familiarity occasionally made for intrusive situations, unfortunately, but Georgia didn't mean any harm by it, so she rather thought it was forgivable. Granted, she might have been biased. "Lemonade would lovely, thank you. The heat is terrible today."

---

  

“A welcome surprise though,” Benedict added with a chuckle as one of the horses stuck his head out of the stall and stopped Ben in his tracks. He waved his wand to summon the beverages. “You’re always welcome to stop by anytime Georgia — just … mind the horse at the very end, her owner tells me she nips when she gets excited.” And knowing his friend, she brought sugar cubes, which would indeed, get the horse excited.

On second thought though, it was about time to let her out into the pasture. Ben walked towards the horse - Garnet - eyeing her cautiously to make sure she wouldn’t rush forwards once he unlatched the stall door. Just then, the lemonade arrived; two ice cold glasses hovering by their respective shoulders. “D’you wanna unlatch Ajax’s stall? He’s still a little dusty from this afternoon.” The gentle giant peered from inside his stall at his name and looked towards the woman in question.

---

  

---

Georgia chuckled. "Noted." She knew better than to get in between an excited horse and their treats. Not with teeth like that, anyway. "Sure," she said, going to unlatch the stall. She couldn't help cooing at the horse as the stall door swung open. "Oh, aren't you handsome."

---

  

In response to Georgia’s attentions, the gigantic horse whickered, dipping his head and moving forward to nudge into her. Ben chuckled. The big softie. He’d been on edge lately, sensing Ben’s foul moods; and while the great beast knew Ben would never lay a malicious hand on him, horses were instinctual creatures by nature - anything that bothered their owners they could feel tenfold, and while Ben tried to keep his moods in check, when there was a gaping hole where his heart was, there was precious little he could do about controlling his misery.

“I’m sure he’s glad for your company instead of mine lately,” He murmured as he unlatched Garnet’s stall.

---

  

---

Georgia threw Ben a look, frowning as she gave the horse a pat on the neck and stepped back to make way. "While I would never argue that I am excellent company," she said, "are you doing all right?"

---

  

He appreciated Georgia’s question. She was one of the only ones he trusted to fully understand the scope of what he was going through. But just because he knew she would understand didn’t mean he wanted to rehash everything. Besides, she knew the more important details, or at least he thought he’d told her. The past few years had been a bit of a blur, to be honest. “Never better,” He threw her way along with his most winning smile. Of course, that was false. “Just…same old, same old, I suppose.”

---

  

---

Georgia frowned. "Well," she said after a moment. "If you need an ear or a distraction, I can always provide either." The two most important abilities of any friend worth their salt, in Georgia's opinion.

---