Nightingale, had started the day in a rather particular mood. The careful way the sun had started to climb over the horizon in the morning had given him a bit of hope, and he opened his windows at the first sign of spring. Though the cloud cover did last a good deal of the day there were at least welcome advances of warmer temperatures and for this he couldn't be more thankful.

Gale had moved most of his classes outside, and even a few of the boxing classes that he unofficially taught had used up the warm courtyard in attempt to gain a bit of renewal to the world. He hadn't thought that his life inside the castle would have ever been so daunting as it was now, but now he couldn't help the way the cold winter made him feel. Though born on the darkest day, Gale had always belonged to the spring; he lived for the rebirth of the trees, the crowning of their leaves, and the life that emerged from beneath the ice.

He always got rather depressed around this time of year, and longed very much for his once open road sort of life where the caravans all started down the long trails in search of places to put up their spring carnivals. He was a boy then, much less the man that he had become, but there would forever be a part of him that would long for the years where wars didn't haunt his nightmares and things were less complicated.

With his hair tied back, a faint coloring of a bright red on his cheeks, Gale told a story of the ever changing weather just in how he appeared. A thin line of sweat gathered at his temples and he huffed a little as he fixed his coffee before heading to the showers after curfew. For now he would wait for the bathing area to be free from students, and comfy chairs of the staff room help his much older bones into reminding him he wasn't 16 anymore. With his back to the door, he heard footfalls long before he heard the door, but made no motion to even care. His cold nature came from the earlier months in the year, where his lack of favor among the staff was enough to have him pull back his wayward ways. However, his therapist had been working on this...what was it she said to do?

"Can I get you a cup of coffee?" His voice drifted over the stone as cold as the pane of glass in the window, but with as much care as he gave when speaking to his students. Gale wasn't a bad man, nor was he truly evil--just misunderstood and strange. Yet, without the leather patch that often covered his bad eye, he looked nearly crazed as one silver gaze met the newcomer and the other a vacant ghost of what once was.

Milo was enjoying the weather finally starting to lighten up on her. Winter wasn't the most convenient time to start a job that kept her outside more than in, but not even cold weather could keep her down. She was still basking in the glory of her new job, for she hadn't even been working at Hogwarts for a full month yet. Never a fan of the cold, she kept herself warm in a big cozy sweater and regular pants.

Finally, she was heading indoors and went for the staff room this time around. Milo didn't stop in here nearly as much as she wanted to, it seemed like the perfect place to come and familiarize herself with more of the staff members.

"Sure!" Milo answered before she even looked to see who it was she was responding to. She closed the door behind herself and looked over to him, realizing it was someone she had yet to formally meet. She was sure she had atleast heard of him in passing before, and perhaps saw him teaching a few of his classes outdoors recently, but had yet to get to sit down and properly talk to him. She walked over towards him with a grin.

"And hello there! I can't remember if I ever got to properly introduce myself to you," She would've walked around to get a better look at his face as opposed to his back if he didn't turn around for her. "My name's Milo, the new Keeper of Keys and Ground," She jutted out a hand to shake his. "Nice seeing you here!"

The first thing that Gale noticed of the woman was how absolutely incredible her smile was. That grin nearly went all the way into her eyes and lit them like the sun. He stood there for a moment stirring in her sugar a good deal longer than perhaps he should have, but like a moth to the flame he couldn't help it. It wasn't until she offered her hand did he realize he was even staring.

"Oh...um," Looking down at those petite little digits he returned her smile, and shook her hand, "Hi.... Gale. Charms Professor." He had to smirk to himself as his thoughts traveled to what this little bit of electric energy in the name of Milo would do to the rest of the staff. She seemed sweet, outgoing, friendly, and far too chipper to be trapped inside this castle for long.

"Nice seeing you here too," He replied as he fixed her a cup, though there wasn't the same enthusiasm that she had, nor had his body language changed. Despite how he shook her hand, Gale went right back to his tight shouldered self, and even when he handed her a mug he was quick to just to take a seat by the fire. With his boxing gloves going to the floor, and his feet quickly slipping from his shoes he wondered if he should just go back to his office to save himself the task of trying to have a conversation with a stranger. However, she was a darling little thing...

"So..." This is the part where you have to be careful, Nightingale, don't sound like some cheap date at a bar hoping to get lucky, "Enjoying the weather?"

Milo grinned, her energy renewed now that she successfully met another member of the staff! "So you're one of the professors? How have the kids been treating you?" It wasn't all that long ago that Milo was a student here. The memories were still clear for her and to call some of the students a handful was an understatement. She took her coffee, but was not about to leave him alone. She followed him over and sit down at the seat nearest to him, sipping her coffee and letting out an exaggerated breath.

The boxing gloves caught her eye, shifting her gaze back up to Gale as she took another long sip of her coffee. "Oh, you know! ... The cold weather is pretty dreadful, isn't it? Atleast it's starting to get a bit warmer." Spring could not come fast enough for her.

"How long have you been boxing?" She asked, gesturing her mug towards the boxing gloves on the floor. "Do you have anyone here you do matches with? I bet that it's plenty of fun. Or do you do it professionally?" Milo went on with the questions, leaning back into her chair until she was at a good level of comfort.

"So you're one of the professors? How have the kids been treating you? [...] Oh, you know! ... The cold weather is pretty dreadful, isn't it? Atleast it's starting to get a bit warmer."

Oh for Maker's sake, this woman...she was something else, but something rather exciting. Gale wished that his foul mood would have left him in better spirits. He would have liked to have picked her brain a little and to see her smile much more. She was rather beautiful, and certainly something special.

"Oh...they treat me well enough I suppose," He started quietly, his good eye going wide a little at her bubbly bright personality. She was so darn excited to be here, wasn't she? Wouldn't last long. "If you consider having a nail drive into your spine over and over again well." Lord, he was starting to sound like Snape.

"How long have you been boxing? [...] Do you have anyone here you do matches with? I bet that it's plenty of fun. Or do you do it professionally?"

"I've been boxing for a while, and it pleases me to know you are aware of what it is. I take it you spend a good deal of time with muggles?" He would be one of the few that wouldn't judge her for her answer, considering he slipped away often alone in the night to go catch a muggle movie or be at a bar, "And no I don't do it professionally. I simply use it as a tool to help a few of my students with mental issues, where they think it's proper to beat on stones and not each other." Silly fools.

Boy, she just followed him right into a chair didn't she? Looking around Gale realized he wasn't going to be able to shake her that easy, though he supposed there are worse fates.

"What about you? Ever hit the ring?"