I can pay you with shiny?

[Anonymous]

Assume this is before Michael/Sasha events. He's gone round the south of Connlaoth and into northern Serendipity, and when he finally gets a horse he'll head up to Reajh...where Michael will eventually meet him and hijinks will occur!

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The livestock markets weren't usually where he set up shop. He knew his way around the pens as well as anyone could, but...yeah. Something about the smell - lanolin, dust, the towering mountains of muck each with a little civilisation of glossy black flies hovering above it - tended to put people off buying stuff like furs, and mead, and basically all the things that were his stock in trade!

There was a better market in Serendipity than in Connlaoth for some things - especially obsidian and amber and such like he was carrying in his pockets even now; something about them made them excellent for the little magics, household charms, minor fortune telling and such, and it'd been well worth making the trip. Further south than was his usual stomping ground, and he'd be cutting it fine on the return trip buck up Hyoite way, but...after the colic incident (poor old Nigella, the kindest thing to do in the end was to kill her, rolling around on the ground in agony with her guts all knotted) the plain and simple truth of it was that he needed another horse.

Sasha was big. He was strong. He'd pulled the Wonder Tent himself for a while after the colic incident - just until he could find a decent beast to take the load again - and it hadn't been so very difficult for him, not enough that he wouldn't do it again if he had to. It was just that a horse was faster, and if he didn't make it up into Sionad on schedule...well.

He'd freeze to death when winter caught him on the way, and half the tundra settlements might not have enough stored to have everyone last through either. There. If you asked a sionadyaki about winter, they didn't laugh much!

He rolled a bead across his knuckles thoughtfully, and tried to find a good place to start looking for another horse.

[Anonymous]

Eshe had never been this far north before and she could hardly keep her eyes in her head. It was so different from Adela and Essyrn and the villages between. Absently stroking the nose of one of her horses, mostly sturdy powerful planes ponies, though she still had a few of the sleek, graceful desert horses. They seemed to be much more popular up north than the ponies.

She wasn't sure why. Sure, they were fast and quick, but they lacked the staying power of the ponies. But the people here seemed so obsessed with looks. Yet they were all intimidated by Eshe's great beauty! Not many people talked to her and they all kept staring at her.

Huffing, the okapitaur tossed her head, shifting the myriad of tiny braids off her shoulder to behind her back. Though there finally seemed to be a customer! A huge man with a giant beard that had Eshe's attention immediately. She wasn't all that used to beards yet, her people didn't grow them!

"Woooow! It's so big! Can Eshe touch it?"

[Anonymous]

He'd thought it was a child at first, so he looked down.

Nope. No child. No one there, except some legs that definitely didn't belong to any of the horses he'd been looking at. Unexpectedly...stripy...legs, too slender for horse legs, with neat little white-socked hooves on the ends. More than the usual allotment of legs for a person, too.

Well now, this was new. So he looked up.

"Oh, hello!"

It was a woman. Well, sort of a woman. A different kind, shall we say?

Very tall. Taller than him, which he had to admit was probably a first. Very brown, with long hair and long limbs and her lower body fading off into rich brown fur and those stripy not-horse legs...and not a scrap of clothing anywhere, unless the roughly seven thousand beads braided into her hair could be made to count.

She was grinning at him. It would have been really, really hard not to smile back. Especially with the whole 'I-have-no-clothes' thing going on. Free cleavage was always a bonus in his day, even if he didn't know quite what sort of a person it was attached to.

"I'll tell you what...if you can find a way to get me up there..."

(That was a sentence he'd honestly thought he'd never have cause to say!)

"Eshe? Is that your name? If you can get me up there, you can touch my beard."

He paused to think about it for a moment. Her...fur (it was fur, and he had to distinguish it from the braids somehow) seemed to lie very flat, very smooth. Like close cropped velvet.

"Be careful though. My hair's not like yours. Beards can be prickly!"

[Anonymous]

Eshe gave a loud laugh, already liking the man, "Eshe can each you just fine!" She had gotten used to bending down to interact with Sita and other humans, plus, he head was just about level with her chest, which made touching his beard easy.

Her delicate hands came up and smooshed into his beard, another delighted laugh escaping her, "It is prickly! So stiff! Eshe likes it!" Her hands rubbed along in vigorously, her thumbs playing with the part above his lip, "How do you kiss girls with it!"

[Anonymous]

Sasha laughed.

"I guess that depends on how she likes to be kissed. How do you kiss boys without one?"

Wait. Wait. There was a thought trying to get in here...

He'd heard of centaurs before. He'd seen a couple of goaty-legged people around, once or twice. Still, short of her hanging a big sign around her neck (and covering up the free cleavage, what a shame) he'd have no idea where to start guessing what her back end might be! For all he knew, they hatched. Or burst out of each other's heads fully formed. Or...something.

"People like you...they do have boys, right?"

[Anonymous]

Eshe paused, blinking as Sasha's question. She was perfectly normal and people's lack of understanding about her race made no sense to her. Of course they would know!

"Why wouldn't there be boys?" She laughed and rubbed his beard again, lowering her face down to rub a cheek against his beard, squealing in delight, "It's so weird! All prickly!"

Finally she let Sasha's face go, still smiling brightly at him, "Eshe likes you! Eshe give you good deal!"

[Anonymous]

"Begging your pardon, sweet thing. I just haven't seen anyone quite like you before, and I'm an ignorant old donkey who asks silly questions."

Sasha leaned on the railing of the stockyard. There were plenty of sturdy looking animals in there, but coming from the south...

"Have you got any horses that would be okay with cold?"

[Anonymous]

"Donkey? You aren't a donkey!" Eshe laughed again, adoring the funny old man that was talking to her. He was like Sita in some ways, which made Eshe like him more. She hadn't gotten to spend as much time with Sita this year as she normally did, with all the traveling to come this far North.

Turning her attention to the horses, she ignored the leggy desert breed and pointed out a few of the smaller, shaggier ponies, "That one, that one and that one. They are good. Very tough. That one," Eshe pointed to the first one again, "She has the stamina of a bull! Feisty and stubborn. Good pick!"

[Anonymous]

"This one? You think this one, hey?"

Sasha peered at it. Shaggy bay, almost as round as a barrel but solid with muscle rather than fat...good teeth when he slid his thumb under its lips to check (though he had to jerk his hand back again pretty quickly afterwards!)...

"See, where I live is very, very cold, much colder than this. I don't want her to be uncomfortable or sad. You trust me?"

[Anonymous]

Eshe actually had no idea how cold things could get, as she was from the jungle, but many of the ponies came from the mountains, so she nodded, "Yes yes! She comes from the high up! See her thick coat!"

Reaching over, Eshe stroked the bay's neck, ruffling the long mane, "Why? You think she not sturdy enough?"

[Anonymous]

"She's perfect. I'm more worried about me. You sure you want to give one of your good, strong ponies to me?"

Sasha winked.

"After all, I'm mean and nasty. I'll probably just end up insulting her and putting the wrong colour beads through her mane."

[Anonymous]

Eshe frowned, arms crossed under her breasts, "Eshe wont give her ponies to anyone mean. Don't insult Eshe by saying she would." Puffing her cheeks out, one hoof stamped irritably, "You are nice, even if you haven't told Eshe your name."

[Anonymous]

"My name?"

It took him a second to realise what she was talking about, but eventually it got through. Sasha slapped himself on the forehead.

"Oh! Oh, yeah. Sorry. How rude of me." He bowed theatrically, and kissed her hand (with bonus extra whiskers, since she'd been so entertained!).  It seemed like a good thing to do at the time. "I'm Sasha."

[Anonymous]

That had Eshe squealing with laughter, her annoyance vanished at the feel of his whiskers, "Noooo! They are so scratchy! Sasha is like a brush!"

With another squeal, Eshe hugged him against her chest, giving him a face full of her small breasts, "Eshe likes Sasha! What a silly name!"

[Anonymous]

"Whoa!"

For someone so lightly built on the top half, Eshe was strong! It was probably something to do with the four legs bracing her in place, but he had to be impressed that she could jerk him around so easily...ah well, at least he got free hugs out of it. Free breast hugs too, and personally he'd always considered those the best kind.

He was pretty sorely tempted to blow raspberries or something, just to see her reaction. Maybe it wasn't the best place to do it, but the thought was a nice one. Apparently beardy kisses were hugely entertaining now?

He laughed.

"What's wrong with my name? I like my name! I've had it since I was a little boy!"

[Anonymous]

"It's funny on Eshe's tongue! Sasha, Sasha, Sasha!" Eshe giggled again, still cuddling him against her chest. She tended to spend a lot of time with Sita like this, so it was second nature for her to curl against a human again.

[Anonymous]

"How is it different to yours, Eshe my Eshe?"

Yeah, he was shitstirring. But it was fun. Her peered up at her.

"So...I can have the horse? And it doesn't matter if I don't make her look as pretty as you?"

[Anonymous]

"Because Eshe is a normal name. Sasha is a funny name." Eshe pouted, her hoof stamping again, "Eshe doesn't have a silly name. And maybe Eshe wont let Sasha have a good pony if he's going to be mean."

[Anonymous]

Oh dear. She seemed upset. Sasha...had honestly never seen such an impressive pout!

And then there was the stamping. If she wanted to, Eshe could probably crush a man's toes to pulp with those hooves.

He might have to fix this, and quickly, or he'd be stuck pulling the Wonder Tent by hand for the term of his natural life. Quite possibly with pulped-up toes. You'd have to be a bit on the crazy side to think that sounded anything like an appealing prospect for a man.

"I'm sorry. I was only joking. I didn't realise you'd be upset, sweeting, or I never would have said it. Eshe is a very nice name, very pretty. Better than mine. Much better than mine. Mine's only a nickname, you know, for little boys?"

He smiled.

"You want I should make it up to you?"

[Anonymous]

"Yes. Eshe is a beautiful name for a beautiful desert flower!" She had adored Sita from the moment he had called her that and she used the term now, still pouting at Sasha, "Eshe was nice to Sasha and giving him a good pony and he was mean! Eshes is a delicate lady!"

Reaching over, she jabbed his chest with a finger, "Sasha better make it up to Eshe good! Or Eshe wont like him!"