Between having finished the alpha draft of Chain Unbroken, and also finishing the beta draft of the Ani-droids novel, I suddenly need another writing project to work on while waiting on feedback for those. So, I suppose there's still more to Farm Life, huh? This section isn't REALLY NSFW though there is a little spicy to it. Comments appreciated!

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Belle was, at least, a sweetheart about it. I did kiss her, as the voluptuous cow dutifully tried her best to keep her distance without looking too disappointed. I didn't want to be a jerk, and I was definitely curious, so I gave her a quick peck on the cheek. She looked at me longingly for a moment, and then turned away, her ears drooping.

At least she was staying. That next Sunday afternoon, we had the auction. Cows, goats, and sheep were paraded in front of the bidders, but the prices never seemed to rise extraordinarily high. Still, we'd sold just over half our stock, and for the rest of the week, trucks came by as lot after lot of cows, goats and sheep were loaded up

It seemed to keep raining for the rest of the week. When I was firm and resolute about not having sex with any of the animals, they seemed, at least at first, to respect me enough to keep their distance. But that didn’t mean they were happy, especially as so many had lost their friends. Bruno was clearly upset, and he refused to even speak to me, which I guess put us back on the same terms we’d started on.

Inside, I knew this was the right thing to do. All of civilization was about keeping everything in its proper place, and keeping those boundaries unmolested. And the work wasn’t terrible anymore; it’d gotten so much easier the longer I worked here. But I couldn’t help but feel like everything was grayer.

I guess it wasn’t terrible, though. Darleen and I still rattled her bed every morning and evening, and once around noon for good measure. I don’t want to undersell this—maybe I’d had more heart-pounding, gut-twisting exciting sex, but every moment I had with Darleen was still an absolute heaven, only marred by her continued insistence that she keep her distance from me. If I wanted anything more from Darleen, it was to get closer, and she kept turning me away every single time.

I guess that was why, despite the delight of being her little toy, everything was still so gray when I returned to work. I tried to keep my ears up through it all, acting like a good farmhand should, ignoring the looks and advances of bored farm animals. But it was like they didn’t even try anymore.

Three weeks had gone by like that. It was early September, and Darleen burst in on me in the office out of the blue.

"I need you to go up to the horse stable and give the ladies a scrubbing," she said.

I blinked. "You--why?"

"Just do it!" she said. "They need to be presentable."

I folded my arms. "You can't sell the racehorses. They're retired winners, they deserve a retirement without heartbreak."

"They're still a drain on the budget," she said. "Plus, I need to sell off another third of the stock soon if I'm going to keep the farm afloat. No one's buying the horses unless they're show ponies."

"At the budget they're buying them, I'm positive they're going to be bought for meat."

Darleen gave me a pointed look. "I'm renting a champion stallion, Sammy."

I perked my ears. "Oh."

"And don't get yourself any ideas," Darleen said with a glare. "A well-bred racehorse is going to be more valuable than any of the other livestock. One more breeding season should make up for the shortfall in the auction, so we're still gonna have the girls around until at least spring. You're not going to fuck any."

I frowned, and rubbed my chin with my fingers. The thought had almost not crossed my mind in as many weeks since I promised to stop. "I mean... yes dear. I'll go get them ready."

"Thank you, hon. I do really appreciate it, and I mean that." She kissed me on the cheek, and I felt a warm glow inside that I hadn't felt in a while. "And while you're out there, make sure they're fed tonight," she added.

I nodded as I closed up the office, heading outside. I took the work truck down to the far end of the fields, and parked it along the side of the horse barn. I rolled down the driver's side window, and stuck my head out, scratching at my whiskers. I'd seen some of the horses being used for regular riding, but never anything more strenuous than a leisurely trot. From what I'd seen, they were all still in excellent condition, even if not the top of their game from their racing days.

I opened the door, and stepped out, letting the chilly fall air wash over me. The horses all turned to see me, and of course, Rocket Surgeon was the first to greet me. I’d seen her a few times, though little in the last month, but she still perked her ears in recognition.

"Hey there, farmhand," she said, leaning over her pen's gate. Her voice was that sultry one that the other animals used to express to me; apparently, she had not gotten the memo that I was now just another one of the civilized workers. She looked so powerful, so strong, and so perfectly formed. Her coat was a mottled brown and white, and she had such a regal stance, with such a fine black mane hanging down her shoulders like ebony waterfalls.

I blushed. But I turned on my practice, professional expression. Although my thoughts drifted to that day I'd met her and she'd done nearly half my work turning hay without so much as breaking a sweat. God, her muscles were lovely and lean and powerful

"Ladies!" I announced. "Darleen is renting a stud for you to enjoy yourselves with--he'll be here by the end of the week."

They all whickered, even more desiring eyes turning toward me.

"Uh, but don’t think this is just for vacation or anything,” I noted. “We’d like to get as many pregnancies as we can.”

“Are we converting to a horse farm?” Magic Motion asked, her ears perking. Most of the racehorses were a solid color, and she was that dark chestnut that make her look like she was carved of wood. “It would sure be nice to have run of more of the land around here…”

“No, we’re just trying to shore up finances,” I explained. “The stallion is going to be…” I couldn’t recall, so I pulled a little notebook out of my pocket. “…Cloudy With A Chance To Show. Oh god what the hell is with racehorse names.”

The girls all whinnied in laughter.

“Names are just what you make of them,” Rocket said, leaning over the gate. “It’s not like we get to choose.”

“I heard it’s because the registry needs a unique name for every racehorse,” Penni Pincher said. “And it goes way back at least two centuries, so all the normal names were taken.”

I wasn’t sure if that was even true, but I supposed someone who actually invested in racehorse history would know better. “So any of you familiar with Mr. Cloudy, then?”

The girls all shrugged.

“Not even in passing?”

“We don’t exactly get TV out here,” Rocket said. “Or radio. I don’t think I’ve heard about a full two races since I was retired.”

The girls neighed and nodded in agreement. I felt a pang in my gut. I guess I’d always known that farm life, for the animals at least, was dreadfully dull most days, just sitting around waiting to be fed, sold off, or die. At the very least, this should have been a good opportunity to get some real enrichment for them.

I tried not to think about how Darleen said she was only going to keep the horses until at least spring.

“Okay, okay,” I said, “We’re gonna get you cleaned up and change out your bedding. And I want you girls to behave, okay? Try to keep as clean as you can, we want Cloudy to have as many turns with each of you as he likes!”

I unlocked all of their pens to let them out and swept each one clean. I expected them to go running all over the field until it was time for their baths, but they all kept peeking in on me as I tossed all their old bedding into the truck bed, to be dropped off in the mulching pile that was slowly filling a rift appearing near the creek. I still did my best to ignore them all professionally, then climbed in the truck to drive the mess down there.

As I pulled out, Rocket Surgeon immediately started running beside me, right along the driver’s side window. And she was still quite fast—I didn’t press the gas any faster than 30 on account of the terrain being rather lumpy, but she seemed to have no issue keeping pace.

I rolled down the window. “Nice day for a run?” I asked.

“You sure seem like you’ve been tamed,” Rocket said. “Wasn’t like that when you got here.”

“I need to keep this job, Rocket,” I said. “I can’t afford to have the government thinking I don’t do my job.”

"Well, just so you know, we liked it better when you were open about your feelings."

"My feelings are all over the damn place," I said. "I dunno why I feel half of what I do, you know?"

"And that's a bad thing?"

"It is if it costs me this job."

Rocket Surgeon frowned, then peeled away before I reached the fence.

"Rocket!" I called out, slowing to a stop. I opened the door and stood up on the seat. "I do still like you girls! I care about what happens to you, you know..."

She was already out of earshot.

I sighed. I ducked back into the truck and took the dirty bedding back to the chasm, carefully backing the truck up in order to dump the whole load inside. As I backed up, I thought for a moment saw a familiar shape--thin, with pointed ears--moving through the tall grass around the chasm. For a second, I gasped--I hadn't seen Nel since that last Sunday a while back, and thought for a moment she was up to no good again. But as soon as I spotted her, I couldn't find her once more.

And then the truck slid back into the crevice, and with a loud THUNK the back gate crunching against the wet mud.

When my pulse finally calmed, I sighed heavily, hitting my head on the steering wheel. Well, this wasn't going well. It didn't seem like an absolutely awful angle to get stuck, only slanted into the ground behind at maybe twenty degrees at most, and my front tires were still touching grass. But I needed the truck to deliver the fresh bedding. Between taking time getting help pulling the truck out of the rift, I probably wouldn't have time to do that and wash the horses.

And besides that, Darleen sure didn't seem like she was keen on assigning me this task in the first place, meaning of course, nobody else was available to do it. Getting help was going to pull attention away from the rest of the farm.

Slowly, I decided I'd have to do this on my own somehow, and so I sat back up, only to jump in my seat at the sight of Nel walking around to my open window.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry about this," Nel said. Her ears were flattened and she spoke entirely honestly. "I didn't spook ya, did I?"

"A little," I said, trepidatiously wringing my hands on the steering wheel. Despite the fact that she was clearly wild, especially with the little scars all over her pelt, I still thought of her as a citizen, especially ever since seeing her in those nice clothes that sunday. A fallen citizen, perhaps, but still someone who was supposed to be wearing clothing and was now leaning into the truck cabin, entirely naked.

"I'm sorry, it's not you I'm making trouble for," Nel said. "You need any help?"

"Uh..." I said, not sure I should accept it.

"I did used to work here, you know," she said. "You got that thing in all-wheel?"

"Oh... I think so."

"Good, flip that switch there. This should only take a sec."

I did what she said, and Nel moved around to the front of the truck, and pulled the tow chain from the box under the front bumper. The thing wasn't terribly long, but there was a rock not too far from the edge of the cliff. It laid rather low, but Nel dug a trench around it, both to check its depth and to give the chain some proper grip.

I had a thought, too. Shutting off the truck, I climbed out, grabbing some of the iron bars that made up part of the truck's fence. Grabbing a hammer from the toolbox, I headed over to Nel and reinforced the chain by sinking the bars as deep into the wet soil as I could manage.

"Well it ain't a tree, but it should hopefully hold," Nel said. "You get back in the driver's seat, I'll get behind and try to give you some leverage."

"I don't actually know how to use the winch," I said. I jangled the keys at her. "You should drive."

Nel perked her ears. "You trust me like that?"

"Well, you're trying to help," I said.

She grinned toothily at me. "Yeah but maybe I'm just trying to get hold of this truck."

I held the keys back for a second. "Are you?"

"Naw, I'm just joking, sweetheart." Nel wrapped an arm around me and kissed my cheek. I tried not to show how much the gesture meant to me--not just the kiss, but the help as well.

"Yeah, but, what were you doing out here?" I asked.

"That... is a secret," she said, tapping my nose. "Though now if you're gonna make me feel all guilty about it, I might as well put it off for a day or two, sometime when you forget I was even here."

"Nel, I'm not going to forget you."

"Aw, that's one of the sweetest things you could say!" She kissed me on the lips this time. I didn't stop her; in fact, I pulled her closer and leaned into it for a while.

"I mean, I'm gonna tell Darleen you were out here," I said.

"I guess that's only to be expected," she sighed. Then, even though I hadn't actually handed them to her, she produced the truck's keys in her hand, twirling them on her finger. I reached out to grab them, but she snatched them away again and kissed me once more. "Alright, I'll drive. You get behind, see if you can find a big stick or something to get you leverage--on the bumper only! The gate isn't gonna take that kinda pressure. If the truck starts to slip, you jump the hell out of the way."

I nodded and climbed into the pit. The thing was rather shallow, only five feet deep at most, but it was slick and muddy from the rain the previous week. My paws immediately sunk into the muck. I tried to get purchase on the pile of compost, but it wasn't much better--at the very least, I did manage to find a discarded branch nearby, and pushed it hard up against the back of the bumper.

"You ready dear?" Nel called out the window.

"Whenever you are!"

Nel turned the engine and hit the gas. The truck roared to life, and pulling on the chain, It bounced in place, struggling still to make it over the ledge. The front tires squealed--the grass quickly giving way to more mud. I tried to push with the stick as well as I could, but it wasn't really that good a point of levereage to begin with. So, kicking the stick aside, I got right up under the bumper and, with my paws planted firmly as possible against the mulch, I shoved as hard as I could.

I wouldn't have thought it enough, but it gave the front tires just a tiny bit more of a push forward, and along with the chain, the truck came free of the mud hole with a thunderous thud. I fell down face-first into the mud.

Once Nel was satisfied the back tires had purchase, she left the cabin and looked over the edge of the chasm.

"Y'alright?" she asked.

I pushed myself upright, looking down at my muddy clothes and chest. I looked up at Nel. "I don't suppose you'd be able to go fetch the clean dry straw for the horse bedding, would you?"

Nel laughed. "Naw, I'm just paying my debt back, I'm not gonna work this place again anymore. 'Sides, Darleen'll ask a lotta questions if she saw me loading hay."

She tossed the keyring back down to me. I missed and it landed in the mud. I had to go over it by touch to ensure all the keys were there--and they were. I felt guilty for not trusting her word.

"Well, thank you, Nel," I said. "I really appreciate..."

I looked up, and she was gone. When I finally got out of the chasm, I looked around the open field, but couldn't see where she'd run off to.

Well, that was one problem down. But it just replaced it with another--Darleen wanted that stable immaculate by that afternoon, and getting this mud all over the straw wasn't going to do.

I paused, and considered my options. "Well," I said to myself, "I suppose I could always hose off while giving the horses their bath..."