With the slightest sound as his tongue rubbed against the back of his throat, Ryder Renwick dragged a hand through his blonde hair, eyes inspecting the fence before him as the iron barrier slowly swung open. His posture was calm and at ease, shoulders straight and confident as he took a determined step forwards. The gate closed behind him, leaving him momentarily blinded by a sense of entrapment. But as soon as the clanging sound ceased to echo through his brain, he continued forwards, as in control as ever. He knew why he was here, and nothing would stop him.

It seemed like just yesterday -though indeed it had been longer, and wasn't it a shame that time worked so strangely?- that Balthy had been kissing him, touching him, and doing all manner of unspeakable things to him. It had been the moment of a life time -but then it had ended, and the drunken haze had fallen from Balthazar's eyes, leaving awkward memories. Living with his best friend had became impossible for Ryder, a living torture that never ceased to rub at him until it became unbearable. And so, he had finally made the choice he had never thought he'd be able to, and contacted Jacoba.

The sun was already on the descent, but light still filtered through his view, enough to allow his eyes to fall on the large house with creeping vines climbing up the walls. Any regular person would be impressed, but Ryder saw only more examples of the wealth he himself had grown up with and was destined to recover. And if his plans had hit unexpected snags, it was hardly something to worry about -road blocks were to be expected, and could easily swerved around. The house, however, was not his destination at the moment.

The fact that both the times Ryder had previously encountered the girl had included alcohol, states of inebriation and even sleeping on her couch had not been allowed to enter Ryder's mind. He had needed her and needed to take her up on her offer, no matter how much it might harm his ego. And so the meeting had been set up, though with rather little detail as far as Ryder was aware. He had been given a date, an address, and advice to find the horse stable.

As it turned out, doing so was rather easy, and by the time Ryder's gaze fell on the horse dstalls the sky was only slightly darker. Eyes on the boy he was here to meet, the blonde reached into the pocket of his jeans, searched out his cigarettes and lit up a fag. Inhaling smoke into the atmosphere, he cleared his throat. "I hope the smoke doesn't bother the horses."

Baldur had noticed the arrival of the visitor first.  As the estate's front gate started to creak open, the sable Shepherd had jumped to his feet with a quiet huff.  Tail high and stiff, the dog had trotted towards the stable doors and fixed his gaze in the direction of the front gate.  A quiet "it's alright" from Sasha kept the dog from going on full alert but the dog continued to watch the stranger closesly.  Though Sasha had been aware of Renwick's arrival on account of Baldur, he kept at his chores until the other young man stepped through the barn door. 

By owl post, Jacoba had appraised Sasha of the situation in her usual, superficial way.  She'd met a random bloke in a bar, he had no place to stay and Sasha had more rooms than he, literally, could stay in.  No doubt the logic had worked in his sister's head but the explanation had overlooked so many important questions.  Did she even know the fellow well enough to know he wouldn't slit his throat in the night?  Or, try to steal a television?  Apparently, Jacoba had known the fellow just enough to "maybe be able to find him to deliver a letter" if Sasha felt the need to correspond before meeting in person. 

He hadn't.

Perhaps they should have been a little more forthcoming with Jacoba about Sasha's current situation.  If she'd been more aware that there may very well be wizarding criminals out there with a vested interest in killing him, she might have been less quick to offer his house to a near perfect stranger. 

This Renwick reached the barn doors just as Sasha stepped into one of the middle stalls and dumped a bucket of grain in a feeder.  He lifted the bucket over the stall door and let himself back out.  "You're Renwick, I-" Sasha started to greet the other young man when he took note of the cigarette in the fellow's hand.  Quickly he shook his head.  "Not in the barn, please.  Open flames and barns - not a good mix.  It-"  He glanced around the barn's hallway, shaking his head.  A barn fire, on top of everything else, was more than Sasha could fathom. 

"If you're wanting to smoke, I can come back to this."  Dieter, the large grey stallion snorted in disapproval and impatience as Sasha moved back towards the door, ignoring the remaining buckets of feed and gesturing for Renwick to follow. 

"I'm Sasha, by the way."  Sasha paused just outside the barn to turn and offer a hand.  Presumably, his sister had thought to give the fellow his name but, given the thoroughness of the rest of this affair, it wasn't a guarantee.  "Would you like something to drink?  Water?  Soda?  Beer?"