Swallow Your Affection

Routine

With Carl.

He grins at your laugh, walking up to the gate and holding a hand out, "What's with that laugh? Sure he's only the... fourth fastest... but he's a solid horse, alright?"

Wordlessly, you place the bucket into Technos outstretched hand, watching him take it and walk back to Carl.

The bucket is hooked to the side of the fence as soon as Techno gets close enough, and Carl digs in to the grain there the moment Techno moves his hand away.

Tech looks at you. Still awkwardly standing next to the gate.

"You can come in if you want." He says, to which you shake your head.

"Naw- I don't think Carl would appreciate it."

He squints at you, but doesn't push, only looking back to Carl and grabbing at the velcro on the horse blanket.

With the blanket off Carl, he hung it up on the fence post, unhooking a brush and pressing the bristles onto Carl's fur.

Is this what Techno did in the morning? Take care of Carl?

Hell, you didn't even know Techno had a horse out here. Carl never neighed, so you'd never heard him, and you never went outside, so you never saw him.

What a way to start a morning.

You figured he just woke up, and ran out into the unknown.

"Is this what you do in the morning?" You ask, observing just how much care he put into brushing the thick fur.

"Pretty much."

"Ah."

You stared at him for awhile longer as he worked on brushing the fur, before saying, "So why'd you wake me up again?"

Techno huffed, "Just thought you might want some fresh air."

You scoffed. You could get fresh air anytime you wanted.

But it was cold outside.

And you didn't want a repeat of last time.

So having him there would be an assurance.

But Tech was never here in the afternoon-

...

You guessed his reasoning worked well enough.

Whatever.

You watched him work his way to the horses neck, swinging the long mane out of the way to reach the fur.

Maybe-

On no.

Bad brain- for getting ideas-

But staring at how long the mane was on Carl-

You wanna braid it now. Or at least put in a small little braid- or maybe several small little braids.

Mmmmmm-

MMMmmmMmmm-

"Can-... Can I braid Carl's mane?" You ask, and Techno doesn't even spare you a glance, just muttering, 'Sure.' And continuing to brush Carl's fur.

After a moment of thought, Techno tacks on, "You're gonna have to untangle it first though- there's a comb on the hooks."

You look to where Techno grabbed a brush, and true to his word, a comb was hooked up there as well.

You stare for a moment longer, at Techno, and Carl, and the gate placed between both of you.

Your will cracked, and you slipped into the stable, closing the gate behind you and going straight for the comb.