Chapter Text
They say the best way to fix a bad situation is just to start over entirely.
Well, maybe not a lot of people say that. But enough to the point that it clouded my mind for weeks. There’s no point in telling you what made me need change. I think we all reach that point in life where the constant rustle and bustle of the big city just becomes too much. It has to be a bad sign when city life becomes mundane.
To be totally honest, I didn’t expect for things to go this route. Finding the farm land for so cheap on the internet seemed too good to be true. I let it sit there for a few days, thinking someone would jump on the chance. Besides, I knew nothing about farming, nothing about raising animals besides for a house cat or some fish. But it didn’t take long for me to begin browsing forums and websites that gave me the basics of such a life... and soon, I was looking at the listing for the farm again, shocked that no one else had jumped on it...
So I got a loan. Used savings. Sold nearly everything I had. Told only a few close friends and family where I was escaping to. Most of them acted as if this was an adventure that I’d come crawling back from within a few weeks. It only put more fire beneath my feet, eager to prove them wrong. It was just farming. Wake up early, tend crops, clean animals, feed them...
There was no reason to act like it was such a huge deal.
The moment I saw my new home, I realized why the listing was so cheap. A sense of regret bubbled in my throat, but I swallowed it down. There was no point in feeling remorse, not when I sold absolutely everything to get here.
Traveling here was great. It was a long drive away from my old life, surrounded by mountains and dense trees, before opening to wide fields of farm land and the occasional fence of animals grazing in the misty morning. Mountains sat nearby, making the entire valley look pristine and like something out of a post card. The valley was simply called Pine Valley, named after the lush pines that surrounded many of the fields. It wasn’t all too creative - but hey, it was easy to remember.
I passed a town - probably considered large to the locals but shockingly small compared to the high-rises and busy streets I was surrounded by. The biggest building in town was the city hall, large letters spelling out “Akatsuka Town Hall” above the main entrance. A close second was a tall church, everything else in the town seeming to either be small shops, or homes.
The town hall was my first stop. It wasn’t anything extravagant, though I wasn’t expecting much. A kind lady helped me sign a few papers that I needed to hand over for the deed to the ranch I had purchased. She wished me luck, though with her tone it reminded me of the words my family and friends had given me - a disbelief I’d make it far out here.
Oh well. I made note to explore the rest of the town later - after settling into my new home.
It was a rather anticlimactic end to the long journey. I wasn’t expecting absolute beauty, not with the cheap price I spent on the place. But I was at least hoping for something... functioning. The farm land looked as if it hadn’t been used in years, with rocks and weeds riddling the entire area. I knew I’d have to plow it soon, but I was suddenly forgetting every single thing I read up on the internet - which was a luxury I didn’t have out here in the middle of nowhere!
Four buildings sat on the ranch (my ranch... it still felt so weird to say). One was a barn - really big, although it definitely needed some... rather huge repairs. A coop sat next to it, old feathers stuck in the mesh fencing around it, which only worried me on how long they had been there. It didn’t seem too damaged, just a lot to clean. A shed also sat near the barn and coop, and looking inside only gave a sudden blast of stale lumber and metal scent, everything inside ranging from old tools to broken hoses and spare pieces of wood. At least I could maybe use some of that to do quick repairs on the barn and coop...
Of course the last building was a house. My house. My new home. On the outside things didn’t seem too bad - shabby, sure, but livable. Going inside only cemented in the feeling of worry. “Old” just wasn’t cutting it, trying to find words to describe the interior. Decrepit, perhaps. The air smelt stale and damp, something akin to a dimly lit basement. Spider webs cluttered nearly every corner, and it was full of furniture that looked like it could belong to a little old woman in her nineties.
Luckily turning on some lights and tearing plastic off of a few pieces of furniture made things feel a little more at home. A few things in the house were my own - a few boxes of things I just couldn’t let go, shipped earlier so that I knew it’d be here when I got here. I knew that this place would come with a lot of furniture, but I definitely wasn’t going to take an old bed without totally changing the sheets...
There was one other building on the ranch, but it was barely anything worth mentioning. An old dog house that was so broken it was mostly just spare wood... Good thing I didn’t plan on getting a dog anytime soon.
All in all, the ranch brought one word to my mind: Work. A lot of it, and that was just to get it going. I had hoped to spend my first day settling in, and visiting the town, introduce myself. But instead, my time went to just making the main house habitable. I found enough cleaning supplies to at least do my best at scrubbing the inside down. No more cobwebs, no more dust. I’d have to buy a vacuum soon, but this was all good enough. At least it felt... cleaner.
By time I had cleaned up what was now my new bedroom (complete with a huge bed! My sheets didn’t fit, but I at least laid my own blankets over it...), it was already well past dusk. I could only assume that a place like this had stores and markets that closed early...
I was an idiot. I didn’t even think about food.
I started the next morning with my stomach gnawing away at itself. It compelled me to move faster, packing a few things into my car as I started off towards the main town. I wondered for a moment if I should be thinking of trading this car in for a truck. A truck seemed much more adequate for farm life, and perhaps a nearby car lot would settle for a straight across trade.
I didn’t have a lot of money to be spending on trucks. In fact, what I had on me was probably just enough to get me started out here. The first plan was some chickens - a food source not only for myself, but something I could harvest and sell for some money. After that, some seeds... The shed back home at the ranch had some simple tools, enough to get things underway. As soon as I had a small steady income from animals and crops, I could begin to relax a little bit...
There was still a lot to stock up on - usual “home” living things. Simple foods (it was only me, after all), a few more cleaning supplies, a proper sheet for the bed at home... the list kept getting longer, which only made a bubble of fear well up in my stomach. A new mantra of “this wasn’t a mistake, this will be just fine” kept repeating in my head, reassuring my mind only a little as I trekked on towards Akatsuka Town.
Luckily, the townsfolk seemed to curb my worries. I had assumed the same nihilism that everyone else had given my way, but the stores were full of absolutely wonderful people. I did my best to introduce myself, hoping to make good friends and good ties quickly out here. Many of them were quick to talk about themselves, or their friends, which somehow made me feel more welcome. I was told of places to visit, local areas where people enjoy to hang out and talk, or where to go when I need help. I even had a run in with the town’s doctor - a tired looking young man with thin wire glasses and messy hair. He didn’t seem all too interested in my moving-in-announcement, and only told me not to overwork myself with a slow and droning voice. Part of me felt he only told me because he didn’t want the hassle of fixing me up in the future.
There were still a good handful of areas I wanted to visit, but knew I didn’t have the time. A quick stop to a bookstore gave me a good handful of reading material on farm animals and taking care of crops, though I wondered how much time I’d even have for reading. There was also the church (which a few suggested visiting, though I found no need), a large market area, a bar...
I stopped by the latter, only for a bite to eat. I couldn’t stay long, but I was able to meet a few new faces. The girl working at the bar was shockingly adorable, with overall shorts and pigtails... I believe her name was Totoko - she promised to take care of me next time I came in. The way she said it caused my cheeks to grow hot and flushed, although I knew she only meant food and drink.
Before I really realized it, the trunk and back seats of my car were filled. Everything from supplies, food, cooking equipment, and a few bags of seedlings for the farm... The day was almost over. Almost.
There was still one more important stop... Hopefully I still had enough room in this car...!
The nearby farm was... Actually a little underwhelming.
I had to get directions from a few others, but eventually found the small farmhouse a ways outside the city. I had expected lush green fields and a few grazing animals to look up at me as I got out of my car, but instead the place seemed... bare. Bare enough to make me worry I had the wrong place. But the small sign near the road reading “Dekapan Farm” assure me this was, indeed, where I needed to be...
I felt nothing but nerves as I knocked on the front door of the main house, unsure if this was even where I should be knocking. There was a barn nearby, but no one could be seen outside on the farm. I worried that no one was home, or perhaps I had come too late and these were ‘off hours’, and I’d only be intruding. I even wondered, just for a moment, if I could dash back to my car fast enough and drive away before anyone would come to answer the front door.
The sound of the door unlatching and opening was enough to make me jump, quickly giving a small bow and feeling my shoulders tense as I quickly apologized for the late visit. But the kind laugh of a man in front of me pushed away a few worries, looking up to see a rather large person, boasting an even larger smile. Though, the most shocking part was the fact that the man had on no shirt at all, only a pair of jeans and a large hat, something resembling a cowboy’s hat.
I stepped away, bowing my head again in apology, knowing I had to have come at a bad time. But he waved off my apology, stepping out onto the porch of his house as he itched his exposed belly.
“What can I help you with?” he asked, voice boisterous and seeming unashamed of his appearance. I wasn’t one to worry much about a man without a shirt on, but it did at least seem a little unprofessional. Even so, I cleared my throat, pushing away the nerves in my gut.
“I-- uh, I came hoping to buy an animal or two...?” As soon as I said it, he began to walk towards the large barn that sat down the dirt road a bit. I quickly followed, unsure if that was enough or if I should keep going, taking a quick gulp before I continued. “Perhaps... a chicken or two? As well as some feed. I only have a small coo--”
“No chickens!” He said, continuing his way ahead of me.
“Oh-- well...” Crap. Chickens would be the absolute cheapest route, and the barn had a lot more repairs to do than the coop... “Perhaps a goat...? I don’t have too much money, but I was hoping to at least--”
“No goats, either.”
“N-none...? Maybe... a cow?” Definitely not cheap... but milk is a good product, I could make back the money soon.
“Nope. No cows.”
I paused, standing still as the large man continued on his way, undoing the latch on the front of the barn. What else was there that could be in my price range...?
“Okay...” I began, taking a deep breath and trying a different approach, catching up with the man as he opened the barn doors. “What do you have for sale?”
“Hmm. Ah, well! We have a horse.”
“I don’t need a horse...” Want and Need were different things - A horse would have been nice for getting around, but it wouldn’t give back at all. He had to have something... a sheep would even do fine, although they only give wool every now and then...
“Hmm...” He gave the hum as he walked into the large barn, and I quickly followed once again. “Well. We do have one thing for sale. Or, ah... a group. I can only sell them as a group.” His words only brought more worry to my gut, fearing for my wallet. Was there any other farms around here that’d allow me to buy livestock? I could ask around, perhaps... Use my now very-limited internet connections to find a nearby farm...
We walked further into the barn, though I was quick to note that none of the stalls had any animals in it. He was right to say they didn’t have anything at all here. And what they did have, I probably couldn’t afford.
“Ah- excuse me...? If it’s not too much trouble, I could come back another time...”
He didn’t answer me, only walking to a doorway to one of the stalls, unlocking and opening it up quickly. “There’s six of them! We’ve tried separating them before, but they throw fits and refuse to cooperate unless they are together, and are always sent back. So it’s all of them, or none. Ah! I could always give you a discount, though! Consider it a “Welcome to the Valley” bonus!”
My eyes quickly narrowed, unsure how the large man knew I was new, but quickly deduced it to being quick word of mouth, and the fact that there’d be no other reason for me wishing to buy animals unless I had recently moved into the old ranch. I gave a sigh, but stepped into the stall, knowing there was still a good chance I’d have to say no to his offer.
A hasty prank - that’s what first popped into my head as I looked at the six other figures in the stall. An assumption caused by the fact that all six figures were young men, scattered around the hay covered floor, all of them looking my direction as I followed the large man inside. But the thoughts of stupid pranks left me as a quick hint of alarm and panic rose in my chest.
All of them were naked. It probably should not have been the first thing I noticed, thinking back on the moment, but it definitely was. Every bit of them was nude, making my cheeks burn and eyes dart elsewhere. They were... definitely males, I could discern that much from just a quick glance. A bubbling feeling in my stomach told me to leave fast - why on earth would six naked men be in a stall, just waiting for someone to walk in, unless...?
But darting my eyes away from their obvious lack of clothing caused me to catch what was more important. They obviously all had dicks (there’s no point beating around the bush - all of them had no shame in not covering themselves...), but each of them also had very obvious breasts, also shamelessly uncovered as they watched my gaze quickly shoot between them all.
It all came to me fast, after that. The hoofed feet, swishing tails, large floppy ears that each held a colored numbered tag... Even a set of horns peeked out from their hairline, sharp and intimidating looking, even with how short they were.
“Moo...tsu?” The name fell from my lips, not so much worried about their nude bodies any more, but the animal they seemed to be meshed with.
My thoughts were broken as the large man next to me gave out a loud laugh, causing the ears on all the boys to twitch and fall low as they looked towards him. “You won’t hear such a silly nickname out here. I believe the name you’re looking for is ‘holstaur’.”
Another blush crept to my cheeks. This time not so much for the room of naked men, but the fact that I had uttered a rather embarrassing term. Quick memories of school days flashed in my mind, recalling the rather mild and nearly passed over lessons about the large list of hybrids in the world, and how rare they were or how they contributed to humans in the form of goods that could be harvested. Of course, you’d always find more online... things they wouldn’t allow to be taught in schools, let alone get past the school internet filters.
Holstaurs were one of the few creatures many teens would eventually learn about, usually finding their ways to forums and video tags consisting of milk or lactation kinks. The nickname “Mootsu” started somewhere in the spirals of the internet, but it was a term I became to know them by. Centaur, satyr, harpies, minotaur (and their close cousin - the mootsu), sheep boys and sheep girls...
There were more, so much more, but I didn’t have time to reflect on my (rather inept) knowledge of hybrids. I knew only basics about mootsu - or, holstaurs. I knew they gave milk. I knew the males gave milk, too. I knew they were less common than dairy cows, but more common in terms of hybrids. And I knew they were expensive.
Way too expensive for my budget.
I finally gave a sigh, rubbing between my eyes and letting them close, finally not staring at the naked mootsu in front of me.
“I-... Thank you, for the opportunity, Mr-, ah... Dekapan?” I looked to him as he gave a nod to the name, so I quickly continued. “But, there’s no way I could afford even half of a mo--H-... Holstaur, so there’s no possible way I could afford six...”
He began to nod again at my words, hand moving to scratch at his chin. The mootsu in the room didn’t seem all too interested in him, instead fixing their gaze back on me, and making me quickly wish to exit the stall.
“We haven’t been able to get anyone to keep them, you see - they send them back, so they’ve been in and out of homes for years.” I nodded along to his words, trying to tell myself not to fall for any sort of pity party. “We figure the only way to remedy that is to send them to a new home together. But no one wants to pay the price!”
“Why don’t you just keep them here?” I tried to direct my question to him, but kept finding my eyes dancing between the men in the room. My head didn’t know what to focus on - the clear animal anatomy, or their nude bodies. I tried to focus on neither. “They... look identical? Faces at least...”
“Brothers - sextuplets actually. You very rarely see that from a holstaur! Makes this little herd quite the rarity, actually.”
“Does that... make them even more expensive, too?”
He only gave a chuckle, which made me hold in a groan. I was really going to have to start out with some seeds and shitty soil. How the hell was I going to make money...?!
“I’ll make you a deal.”
The words made my shoulders perk up, looking at the large man as he took a step towards the group of mootsu. “You’re right! This group costs quite a pretty penny - I wouldn’t expect a new farmer to pay that sort of sum! How much do you happen to have?”
I didn’t bother pulling out any money, quickly going over what I knew I spent today in my head, and telling him the small handful I had left.
“Hmm.” He gave a nod, large hands being placed on the shoulders of one of the boys. He directed the mootsu to walk away from the others - causing the boy to give a small panicked glance to his brothers. The group all watched with their eyes and ears alert, and it made me wonder how often they really were separated like this. Just torn away without any real explanation.
The man guided the mootsu to stand in front of me. He had a small numbered tag in his ear - purple colored with a “4” written on it. His body was thicker than the others, and was a little shorter than me, which quickly made me wonder about their age.
“How... old are they?”
“Full grown - in fact! They should be starting to produce milk any time now.” He said it as he pulled back on the boy’s shoulders, which caused him to stand straighter, chest protruding out. It made the large breasts even more of a focal point for my eyes, and I had a hard time not staring. Even still, the boy didn’t seem all to shy about them, only looking nervously back at his brothers, ears high and twitching.
“I-... uh, okay,” I wanted to say more, but I honestly wasn’t sure if this was something I should even be agreeing to. “What... sort of deal are we talking about?”
“We’ll send them home with you, free of charge. For now. I’ll even help transport them - I doubt you have a trailer big enough with you!”
“Free...?” The word made a sudden swell of excitement grow in my chest, though the following words of ‘for now’ rang louder. “You mean... on a loan. I’d owe you money, right?”
He gave a nod, letting go of the boy’s shoulders. As soon as he was free, the mootsu hurried back to his brothers, standing far away as possible from me, and the other five standing promptly in front of him.
“Holstaur will make a lot of money - their milk is sought after for a lot of reasons. You will make that money back in no time! Ah - of course, we can’t allow you to buy any other animal from our farm until the debt is paid off.”
Pay back. Debt. The words were swimming spirals in my head, entirely too much to take in so fast. But he was right - even I knew holstaur milk was expensive, and I only knew that from seeing the stuff on the shelf. Three times as much as normal dairy cow milk, which was the main reason I never once bothered to try it. So being able to sell it... from six of them...
I let out a small groan as I rubbed at my face, knowing that somehow this had to be a good choice if it scared me so damn much. “I--... okay. Okay, yeah, that sounds okay to me.” I turned my attention to them again, all six of them staring me down, and I knew they must be quite timid of me.
“Do they... talk? Don’t they understand what we are saying right now? That they’d go together...”
Dekapan began to shake his head then “Normally, Holstaur of this age would understand most words their owners say, and some even talk back. But their constant moving of homes seems to have stunted that. They seem to understand most key words! But teaching them more - that’d be up to you!”
I gave a slow nod, racking my brain for ways to even start teaching speech to a baby, let alone a full grown person. But the money... boy, the money sounded nice. I could live with being in debt for a few months...!
I gave one more nod, my shoulders moving back as I felt a bit more confidence in my stance and in my choice. “Okay...! We can do this. Should we sign papers...? Ah-- What do holstaur even eat...?”
He gave a laugh, waving his hand and walking out of the stall. “Come with me, come with me. We can discuss all of that inside.”
I left the rancher’s house with a few pieces of paper, and a scary amount of debt to my name. These holstaur, the... mootsu, were mine now. All six of them. They didn’t even have names, I found - really only numbers. It was almost a little sad, and I figured I’d try to remedy that once I had the chance. For now, numbers would have to do.
Dekapan was nice enough to secure me with some feed as well. I found that their diet was mostly vegetables and fruits, but they processed the ability to eat grass and hay as well. Their stomachs were built like a cows - four sections, which made the feat possible. It also meant I had to be very careful about feeding them anything such as strong sweets.
There was another man on the farm - I saw him as he loaded some bags of vegetables into my car. He gave a wave to me, but didn’t say much, though something in me felt like asking Dekapan why the man had such swollen cheeks. I figured the comment would sound rude, though, and kept it to myself, walking to my car and watching as the big-cheeked man got a small traveling trailer ready for the mootsu.
“They are transported with that...?” I asked, turning away from the trailer to watch Dekapan walk up, a thick rope bringing the six mootsu behind him. I rose an eyebrow, following how the rope was strung through a new collar the brothers all wore - a bell fixated on each one. Though despite the collar, it didn’t seem the man bothered to put any clothes on the boys, making me keep my gaze above-the-belt.
He gave a nod as he got to me, “It’s much easier this way! Though it’s not often we try to put all six into the trailer, never too safe... ah - I know.” He glanced back at the boys before turning attention to me with a smile. “You can fit one in your car, right? The passenger seat seems bare - it’d allow you to begin to bond a little!” He didn’t seem to wait for an answer, walking away from me and tugging the boys along.
I didn’t have much time to argue - the two men seemed skilled at coaxing the mootsu into the back of the trailer by now. But it did seemed cramped with the six of them shoulder to shoulder, remedied by removing one of the brothers as the door swung shut. It was quickly followed by a desperate struggle, the big-cheeked man holding the distraught brother tightly as he basically drug the boy toward my car.
In that moment, I had the desire to call the entire thing off. It was making a sick feeling well up in my stomach, even if I knew the brothers would be reunited as soon as we made it to my farm. They could just stuff together in that little trailer, and I wouldn’t have to hear the panicked cries of the five mootsu locked inside.
Was this humane? The big-cheeked man was putting one of the boys into my car, which wasn’t seeming to go over too well. I didn’t know if I should be more worried for the boy, or my car, seeing as he began to press against the glass as soon as the other ranch hand shut him inside. He didn’t seem to know all he had to do was pull the door handle, which filled me both with a bit of relief.
“Are you sure...” I began as Dekapan neared me again, “that this is okay...? We can just let them ride together...”
“Not too far,” he said, nodding to the big-cheeked man, who nodded back and began to enter the truck that pulled the trailer. The engine starting drowned out a few of the panicked noises from the mootsu. “They’ll be fine, it’s only a few minutes. We know where to go!”
It was the last thing he said to me, taking his leave and walking back towards his house, giving me a wave. I raised my hand slightly to give one back, feeling nothing but hints of dread and guilt about this whole situation. He left into the house after that, leaving me alone outside, my car swaying slightly as the mootsu inside moved around in the seats.
I went to the driver’s side, the boy following my gaze. He climbed into the driver’s seat and pressed against the window, before tugging and pushing on the driver’s wheel. I gave a small sigh, tapping on the window, unsure how the hell I was going to get him to move over, let alone how I could drive with this thing in my car.
“That’s my seat,” I said, knowing he couldn’t have possibly understood what I was saying. “Move over, or we can’t even get going.”
He only answered with a glare.
The big-cheeked man didn’t seem to be waiting for me, the sounds of the truck pulling away making both me and the angry mootsu pick our heads up and look toward it. Luckily, it caused the boy to clumsily push himself into the passenger side, face right up against the window as he watched the trailer pull out of the gate. I took the chance to dash into my car, flopping down and closing the door, taking a deep breath.
He didn’t even seem to care that I was in the car now, only glancing at me for a quick moment before watching the trailer again. I wasn’t even going to bother trying to make him buckle down into the seat, but at least secured my own belt, starting the car and beginning to pull out of the front gate as well.
Even once we were on the road, he didn’t stop moving. The trailer was pretty far ahead of us, which was only seeming to send this one into a panic. Number one, I saw, from the little red tag on his ear. The oldest, then. Still no name, just number one, pushing and slapping his hands against the windows and doors, hoofed feet unable to really secure his footing in the car.
It was making the car wobble, and honestly just hard to focus on driving. I gave a sigh eventually, pressing my hand into his upper chest (avoiding those... breasts...), and forcing him to sit back. He struggled as soon as I did, but I took his chin then, directing his face forward.
“There - do you see?” He had to at least understand a few of my words. We had caught up more with the trailer by now, but I let the car go a bit faster, bringing it into proper view. “We are chasing them, okay? They are in there. Will you stop freaking out...?”
His eyes locked onto the trailer, and it made his body finally calm down. He sat still then, hoofs situated on my dashboard (Oh well... I did want to trade this in anyway), watching the trailer bounce ahead of us.
“Jeeze...” I gave a sigh, both hands returning to the wheel and looking ahead as well. We were lucky these country roads were long and straight, allowing the trailer to stay in view most of the time. Whenever a twist or turn happened, and the trailer disappeared from sight, the boy would lean forward, seeming to panic for only a moment, calming again once he could see it again.
His calmness at least gave me time to get a more proper look at the boy. All of the brothers seemed to have a different pattern, this one having the most well-known coat with white fur and black splotches. The hoofed legs were a bit to get used to, the fur gradually moving up his legs but stopping near the upper thigh. It gave more focus than usual to the fact that he was nude, the soft dick just happily sitting there with no care in the world, tufts of pubic hair sitting just above it.
I gave another sigh, rotating my shoulders and flexing my fingers, focusing on other things besides... that. These were cattle. Livestock. But still... human. At least, half. Respect was due, so I couldn’t just stare. If it wasn’t for the fact that the boy freaked out every time the trailer wasn’t in view, I’d have run by a clothing store and picked up... anything. Anything at all to help cover them up.
As soon as I opened the passenger door to my car, the Number “1” mootsu flew from the seat, running (or... prancing? seeing those legs move was something else!) toward the trailer. The big cheeked man opened the door, filing the others out, letting the group meet eyes with the brother that was torn away from them. Seeing their ears perk up and smiles wash over them only made me feel worse about separating them, even if only for a few minutes.
As soon as all six of them were together, the man closed the doors to the trailer and got back into the truck. He gave me a wave before driving off, leaving me with nothing more than a goodbye. I didn’t even get his name - but that was the least of my worries for now.
I looked to the group of mootsu, walking toward them and being given careful stares back. There was no way I could imagine their confusion, especially without knowing any of the words that must have been said around them.
“Okay... Well,” as I began, their ears perked up, watching intensely as I moved to grab the bags of ‘holstaur approved food’ from the back seat of my car. If anything could coax them into the barn, it had to be food...
“Food,” I began. “Eat. Follow me.”
They only gave slow blinks to my words.
This was going to be a long few weeks.
The barn was riddled with holes. It took me over an hour to nail in boards across the holes and seal in the air from outside, and this wasn’t even counting the roof. I let out a huge sigh once the last board was nailed in, wiping my brow and looking back to the group of mootsu that sat in the center of the barn. The whole lot of them seemed content, eating quietly with messy hands and mouths as they watched me move around and hammer nails.
“There’s a carpenter in town,” I said, knowing they couldn’t really understand me, but the act of at least talking things out made my plans feel more set-in-stone. “I figure I can talk with him soon about getting some proper repairs done. Make this place look nice, yeah? Your old barn looked so nice, so this must feel like a huge downgrade...”
None of them answered, looking away from me to only share a few vegetables or fruits with the others. Oh well, I wasn’t really looking for an answer back.
“Money is the main issue...” I said with a sigh, running a hand through my hair as I put the hammer back into a small metal box. “Though, I guess it may be possible to wait until you all begin to, ah...” it was impossible to talk about it without looking at them fully - all six of them with an array of different sized breasts. I had done a good job so far ignoring them, but it was becoming more and more difficult.
“Milk...” as I said it, a few of their ears twitched, making me wonder if it was a word they understood. They... produce it. It was worth a lot. But in all of this chaos, I never once thought about how that milk is collected. Was it... done with machines? Or... a breast milker? The types that mothers use...
Or should it be done by hand...?
I gave a groan as I rubbed my forehead - none of this was stuff I knew! I only knew... what the internet told my curious-teenage self about mootsu, which was all usually very sexual and exaggerated things...
“Okay, okay. I- uh...” I walked past them, thinking quickly about any words they’d recognize. “Home,” I began, gesturing to the barn around them, wishing it was a bit more luxurious. “Stay, uh... I... leave? House... Oh, this is bad.”
They only gave hard blinks to my words, watching as I walked away from the barn. Their eyes didn’t even leave me as I closed the doors, and I hoped they’d be tuckered out from the drive and big change that they would all just sleep.
Tomorrow... Tomorrow I would figure all of this out.
I left the light on in the barn, worried it’d be too dark for their first night in a new place. My dinner was small, but decent enough, seeing as I needed to try to make what I had last until I could secure some more money. It was already getting dark outside, so saving gardening and such for the next day would be the best, and it allowed me to read up on some of the books I had bought.
Of course, I didn’t buy any about holstaur. I’d have to check again tomorrow, and see if I could find anything at all. Until then, slow internet and farming forums would have to do.
The thought of milking them kept creeping into my mind. It made my cheeks grow each time I imagined it, and I had to keep reminding myself that it wasn’t sexual - it was simply just farming. Acquiring the milk, selling it. They probably wouldn’t even care...
Sleep sounded wonderful, and a good way to get all of this off my mind. I dressed into a simple tank top and shorts, peering out my window at the barn nearby. Lights still on, door still closed. I’d have to invest in locks, too, but seeing as the one mootsu couldn’t even work my car door, I doubted they’d be able to work proper latches.
Tomorrow is a new day. I’d get to know them, work on some words, feed them some treats, buy some clothes, if not just letting them borrow some of mine...
And soon, in the future... make a lot of money off something as simple as milk.
There was no time for dreams. If I did, they were just of the day ahead, running over my to-do list for tomorrow. But a sudden shifting on my bed awoke me before dreams could come, the panic surging through my body causing me to bolt upright in bed, eyes struggling to adjust to the dark room.
I blinked my eyes hard to push away the sleep, a million things rushing through my mind of who could be in my room. But the outlines of ears, horns, and tails brought a quick wave of confusion, followed by a realization. I gave a groan as I rubbed the remaining sleep from my eyes, narrowing them to focus on the new figures in the room. I silently counted them - all six were present, carefully watching me.
Seeing them here only made me feel exhausted - I’d have to bring all of them back into the barn and figure out how to really lock the door this time. I didn’t even think about locking my own front door - a stupid mistake I’d have to be careful about in the future. But the sound of heavy rain pushed those thoughts away, and I glanced toward the window, of course unable to see the storm but knowing full well it must have been coming down hard.
“Mmm,” I moaned out, rubbing my neck and closing my eyes again, wanting nothing more than to fall back asleep. Of course the spring would bring showers - and the barn still needed some serious repairs. So they came inside... In a way, I felt a little flattered. But I also somehow knew they must not have come straight into my room - odds were my house was thrashed, and in need of clean up in the morning.
“Well... come on, then,” I said it as I patted the bed with my hands, and as soon as I did, the entire lot of them crammed onto it. It was a big bed - for that I was thankful, but to hold seven people... I groaned a little as I realized they were wet, and probably covered in mud, but they didn’t seem to mind at all, not even bothering with blankets as they all found soft spots to call their own. They draped over each other entirely, perhaps used to sleeping in piles, and it was way too dark to tell any of them apart.
I found myself not caring too much, laying back down with a groan and a sigh. Babysitting. In a way, I was roped into babysitting. Or, perhaps, full on adoption. Can you even adopt adults?
It was too much to worry about, and my tired mind would have none of that. The bed continuously swayed as they made themselves comfy, and I did my best to ignore it. I felt warmth against my sides soon, and I could tell that I had become a part of this pile. Or... perhaps not even a part of it, but just an object beneath it, since they paid me no real mind as they made themselves comfortable.
Eventually they all stopped moving, instead filling the room with soft snores. I did my best to ignore this too, and eventually drifted off once again, now with more added warmth.
There was shuffling. It woke me, but only enough to make me stir before giving a long sigh starting to fall back asleep. But there was a new warmth, making my mind become more conscious, foggily aware of the warm hand that laid against the skin of my chest. It caused my breath to hitch, body stiffening, but I quickly told myself to give... whoever it was, the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps they were just looking to get comfy, and didn’t understand anything about personal space.
But the warm breath that hit my neck made me all too aware that I was bare - my top pushed up to reveal all of my torso. If that wasn’t enough to cause me to gasp out, a sudden warmth had made itself known, a tugging... suckling sensation.
A broken gasp left my mouth as my eyes shot open, looking down and seeing the furrowed eyebrows of the boy hovering over me. My eyes already had trouble adjusting, but the red tag labeled “1” at least made me aware of which one was currently... latched, very eagerly, to one of my nipples.
The sight caused my entire body to become hot and flushed, shoulders hunching up as I attempted to scoot back from the boy, but only having him groan in protest as he quickly clung closer, both hands now beginning to kneed and massage the soft skin around my chest.
“H-hey...!!” My voice felt like gravel, and only made his ears give a small twitch. My hand pressed at his forehead, causing him to pop off my skin, a strand of saliva still connecting us. “I don’t-- I can’t...” How could I even say it?! What words would he understand? Was he looking for milk - I sure as hell couldn’t give any!
He nodded my hand away with a gruff sound, mouth latching back into my skin and continuing to give small suckling motions. My body felt ridged again, feeling his tongue flicking against the sensitive nipple, too afraid to knowledge that it felt amazing. Pushing on his forehead again only brought more grumpy sounds, causing him to suck harder and nearly bring a noise out of me.
I was about to get up - just push him off entirely, and perhaps resume my sleep on the couch downstairs, but there was the sway of the bed next to me, another one of them waking and moving closer. Whoever it was, they placed their chin on my shoulder, groggy eyes watching their brother gruffly suck, not getting anything in return. It must have sparked a sudden interest in the second mootsu, seeing as he then proceeded to, also, move towards my other nipple.
I didn’t have time to tell him to stop - though I doubt he would have understood me - following suit and latching on as well. I noted the “3” on his ear tag, and told myself never to let these two mootsu into my room again. With this one, the suckling was soft. Tired. In fact, the only gave a few tired suckles before seeming to slowly fall back asleep, mouth still attached to me, occasionally giving a small sigh and a few weak sucks before totally drifting off.
A shaky sigh left my chest - one was passed out, the other slowing but with furrowed brows, kneading and sucking. He wasn’t going to get anything out of this - I had no idea what to tell him. Was this normal...? Do they do this to each other from time to time? I doubt they’d try with their previous owners - none of them seemed to like the large man and his big-cheeked partner too much. Plus, I really didn’t want to fill my head with the thoughts of them trying this sort of thing with those guys...
Though, at least the thought of that was helping the fact that my body had become... embarrassingly aroused by all of this. I hated to admit it, but it was painfully obvious to me. I was happy that neither of them seemed to care, the one with the “1” tag closing his eyes and starting to fall back asleep himself. Which didn’t make this situation any better - now I just had two of them, latched onto me, now asleep.
This was bad. The pressure between my legs kept reminding me how intensely bad this idea was.
I hadn’t even begun to plant seeds, and I was already regretting the farming life.