Who: Rapunzel and Neal Cassidy What: Rapunzel is volunteering Where: The Ranch When: Recently Rating: PG Status: Complete
Maybe there should be a limit to all the things that Rapunzel was currently taking on, but she honestly didn’t care. She was currently working at Diana’s photo studio, going to classes, looking into volunteering at the Children’s Hospital, and now she was looking into working at a ranch she heard about on the network. Okay, maybe it was a little crazy, but at least some of the things were volunteer, so she wouldn’t be expected to spend all her free time there. She could possibly give a few hours after school and on the weekends.
There was a nervousness in the pit of her stomach that she always got when she met new people. There was also a lot of excitement because this place seemed really great and she would be able to spend time with animals as well as people. She parked her car and made her way towards the main building in front of her with her green eyes as big as saucers. Everything would be fine as she lifted her hand up and pressed the doorbell.
The main building was a ranch-style house that had been converted into kind of an administrative hubbub - it was where Neal had his office, the other counselors had theirs, and the one who held them all together was Jen, ever-present and dutiful secretary. She heard the doorbell and thought it was adorable that someone actually used it, since most visitors simply walked right in - but since this one decided to be polite, she got up from her desk near the main entrance to show them inside.
“Can I help you?” she asked, right as she spotted Neal out of the corner of her eye - good, he was here, since Jen had a feeling that the youngin’ was here for volunteer work (she had that bright-eyed, shiny and new look on her face). “Hey, Cassidy - someone’s here to see you.”
Neal stopped in his tracks. “Yeah?” He smiled at the newcomer. “What can I do for you?”
She had been raised to wander into people’s houses at an early age, but learned eventually that it wasn’t a proper thing to do in real society. So, she always did her best to be polite and ring the doorbell before entering. Hey, at least she also remembered to wear shoes today, so she was batting a thousand. She was about to answer the woman’s question when she suddenly called out for a man to come join her. He had a friendly face about him and good looks if you were into someone older. Okay, maybe he wasn’t actually old, but she was only eighteen, so basically anyone over the age of twenty-five was older to her.
“Hi, I saw some stuff on Valar about this place and that you were always looking for volunteers, so here I am,” she explained before holding her hand out, “I’m Rapunzel, I’m going to school for art, and I like to volunteer. I brought a sheet with all my volunteering contacts if you wanted it.”
“Oh, right - “ Neal was kind of bowled over by the preparation, because it wasn’t everyday that someone showed up ready to volunteer - with all their information, even. Usually he gave them the proper forms to fill out to look over and take home, then they could bring them back, etc and so forth. But this was a welcome change.
The crooked smile grew a bit wider, crinkling dark eyes at the corners, and he shook Rapunzel’s hand with one rough, weathered paw. “Nice to meet you. I’m Neal, Neal Cassidy. I kind of run the ranch.” But he couldn’t do it without all the great people who had paid jobs and volunteer gigs here, so he was always glad to have extra hands around to help. “Why don’t you follow me, we can go in my office and I’ll get the paperwork started for you?”
He turned to lead the way, and with a glance back over his shoulder added, “So from Valarnet, huh? You’re new to the network?” Because Rapunzel wasn’t a name he heard too often, and he tended to comb through the posts pretty regularly.
Volunteering was something she did quite often, so she knew better than just show up for things unprepared. She could tell that he was impressed and that pleased her greatly. There was a happy smile on her face and she was her usual sunshiney self right now as she followed him along. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr Cassidy,” it would probably take a couple more meetings before she called him Neal, but hey, at least she would get there. She followed along behind him as she kept turning her head to take in the building.
She was brought back to attention when he asked about the network and gave a nod, “Yes, sir. I joined last month a few weeks after I moved here. It’s been great for trying to find new volunteer work to help me occupied during school.” She certainly hadn’t started dreaming just yet, so she tended to skim over some of those types of post because she just assumed it was a strange new age thing that was going on.
Sir. That tickled Neal pink, and he chuckled, as he showed Rapunzel into the office. It boasted pretty decent views of the canyon, nature at its finest, but he wasn’t here all that often. Always too much to do outdoors. “It does seem to open up a lot of new opportunities,” he agreed, referring to the network - oh yeah, and lots of weirdness too, but that would all come in time. He wouldn’t be a downer or anything, that wasn’t his job.
He motioned for her to take a seat anywhere she liked - there were a couple chairs near his desk - and then he sat in his own chair to roll toward the filing cabinet where he had the right forms. “So, you said you’re into art? Is that something you’d be looking to help with here, or were you thinking of trying something new?” he wanted to know.
The view was quite lovely and immediately Rapunzel began to picture how to replicate it onto canvas. It could be a new project when she got back home. At least she knew that if she was to help out here that she would be inspired for quite a while. She listened to him speak about the network and she offered up a nod. She was enjoying it so far, but little did she knew that she would be soon tossed into a world of craziness.
After his motion she scanned the room quickly before stepping forward to a chair that was near his desk. She scooted it over so that she was in the middle and took a seat. The question caused a pause as she tried to decide what exactly she was here for. “Yes, I’m an art student. And as for what I’m looking to do, I’m basically thinking of trying something new. I like to consider myself fairly adaptable, so I’d be open to hearing any openings you currently have.” There was also the bonus that they had horses around and she was a little homesick for the company of animals.
Aha, forms procured! Neal tapped them on the desk to get them all organized and aligned - there weren’t many pages, and the questions were pretty typical ones. Demographic information about the applicant, hours they were available, allergies and interests and things of that nature. He slid them toward Rapunzel, telling her, “You can do them now or you can take them home and email them back to me - “ Scanning was wonderful technology, though he should also probably see about having someone tech-oriented update a website for the ranch too so all these forms could be online, “...or bring them back in person, whichever you want.”
They also had a lot of openings - he would volley off a whole list and see what perked the girl’s interest. “Well, there are a couple ways it could go,” Neal started. “You could be more focused on working with the kids, and I should warn you that they’re kind of prickly. Have done a stint in juvie or two, most of them, and they need guidance. But for them, you’d be helping with activities - horseback riding, archery, games in the gym, stuff like that. Or you could work strictly with the animals. Work with that is pretty seasonal, caring for the horses and the cattle - like now, for example, we’re about to give the cattle vaccinations. We also have a donkey rescue program that my girlfriend started up. So if you’d prefer that sort of thing it’s an option too.” The world was her oyster, basically.
“I can certainly fill them out now. I believe in getting things done and the ball rolling as fast as you possibly can,” Rapunzel commented with a bright smile. Sh reached over to take them when they were slid to her and procured a pen from the small collection she spotted on the desk. She began to fill it out while glancing back up at him occasionally when he was speaking to her. Coming back may be a little hard if it didn’t work with her schedule again, so it was probably the best idea to get it done right now. The forms were fairly simple and she reached in her purse to grab the sheet with previous volunteer work contact information to hand over to him.
When he mentioned the different ideas for volunteering she stopped writing and listened intently. They both sounded like things that she could handle. Her sunshine personality sometimes grated people the wrong way, but it could be something good for them. The situations they came from were mostly gloomy, so maybe she could show that it was possible to be happy in the future. The animal options also sounded quite interesting, but she wasn’t completely qualified to do things like that since she wasn’t becoming a veterinarian in any sense. “Oh goodness. Maybe working with the kids would be good. I really enjoy doing activities like you’ve listed, but I can certainly help out with the animals if you need an extra hand.”
“We’ll mix it up a bit, see what you like,” Neal offered, as she filled out the forms - he was good with giving Rapunzel a whole bunch of different volunteer tasks to start with, and then they’d go from there. Maybe she’d find something that she particularly enjoyed and wanted to keep doing. “One day, you can shadow me when I work with the kids on their activities - “ And she could help set up and clean up, stuff like that, “...and then another you could shadow one of the ranch hands when they work with the animals? You know, exposure, I hear that’s a good thing.”
She seemed very bright and capable. So Neal could definitely see giving her a variety, rather than only offering a slice of what all went on at the ranch.
“I think that would be fantastic. Variety is the spice of life and all of that,” Rapunzel was in agreement with him and she was finishing up the forms when he mentioned shadowing him and a ranch hand. That would probably be the best way to get her some exposure to what was going on and be able to see what sort of tasks she would be able to handle.
A hand reached up to brush some of her blonde hair out of her face as she signed the bottom of the sheet and then handed it over to him with a smile, “Shadowing is a very good plan. What would you like me to do in regards to a schedule? It may possibly be only on the weekends or evening that I would be able to come due to school and other obligations. I hope that’s not a bad thing.”
Neal took the paperwork back - just a lot of official stuff, had to have all this junk on file, no big deal. Honestly, sometimes he hated all the admin bullshit but it was a necessary evil. Couldn’t run a ranch smoothly without all that. “Nope, not a bad thing,” he reassured, with a smile. “It’s your time, and you’re giving what you can. Weekends are always busy around here. How about we give it a try this upcoming weekend - you can come by, say, Saturday morning? And jump right in for a few hours.”
The ranch hands worked all kinds of hours too, so it didn’t matter - not like things just stopped, simply because 5:30 on a Friday had came and went.
“Sure! I can make it that morning. Want me to come around 7am?” She had no issue with getting up early, so it all depended on when he thought things would be happening. She didn’t want to miss some of the more important things that she would be dealing with. At least she was learning that her help would be greatly appreciated on the weekend, which didn’t surprise her at all. This was hopefully going to be a lot of fun and she really enjoyed Neal so far, “So, would you be willing to give me a quick tour around the place? I don’t want to take up too much of your time.”
Considering Neal was at the ranch before the sun came up, pretty much everyday, he was definitely compliant with a 7:00 am arrival time. “Sounds good to me, if it’s good for you. Don’t worry, we have coffee in the breakroom,” he promised with a laugh, then rolled his chair back so he could stand.
A nod to the door, easygoing as usual. “Come on, we’ll have that tour. It’ll be five-star, I promise.” And a good way for Rapunzel to get her feet wet - he was glad she decided to stop by. They could always use more eager volunteers, to make ranch life just that little bit easier.