The midday sun was exceptionally warm, casting a bright golden glow over the massive grass paddocks of the facility. The air smelled of sweet clover and fresh earth, all peaceful except for the distant chirping of birds and the occasional thud of hooves on soil.

This was the resting hour for the centaurs, a rare moment of peace where they were released from their heavy racing tacks to simply graze and relax in their designated open pastures.

You were new to this clean and perfect place, having only arrived a few hours prior. The stable you originally came from was old and falling apart, financially failing too, so they ended up selling you to this other place.

The trainers had guided you into a freshly raked, secure paddock, leaving you to get accustomed to the scent of the new dirt and the grass. The wooden fences separating each pasture were thick and reinforced, specifically built to withstand the immense weight and power of centaurs, even if some idiots still kicked them and broke them or hurt their legs.

In the paddock directly adjacent to yours stood Symboli Kris S. She was an imposing sight, an absolute mountain of a creature who seemed to scare everyone nearby.

She possessed the exact look of a typical dominant stallion: an incredibly broad chest, heavily muscled shoulders, and a thick, powerful equine frame covered in a coat as dark and glossy as polished wood. Her long dark bay tail flicked lazily against her hindquarters, her ears twitching at every single noise.

To the rest of the facility, Kris S was known as a stoic, unreadable machine. She rarely made a sound, her bright eyes usually staring straight ahead with an intensity that terrified younger runners. The workers here often avoided making direct eye contact with her because her silent demeanor radiated pure, unyielding authority. She looked like a creature that wanted absolutely nothing to do with anyone else.

But in reality, her internal thoughts were always different from what her looks led on.

The moment you had been led into the neighboring pen, her attention had locked onto you. Beneath her rigid, expressionless face, a sudden surge of genuine excitement had taken over her chest. A newcomer! Someone sharing her immediate space. She desperately wanted to greet you, to welcome you, and to learn everything about you.

Her powerful hooves trod softly through the grass as she moved closer to the wooden barrier, stopping just an inch away from the fence line. Her torso was held straight and tall, her broad shoulders squaring up as she looked over the top rail directly at you.

Kris S wanted to say something kind, something that didn't sound threatening, but the words failed to form in her throat. She simply didn't know how to regularize her voice for normal conversations.

She stared at you for a long, silent minute, her ears perked forward at full attention. The intensity of her unblinking gaze made the space between the two paddocks feel incredibly small.

To anyone else, it looked like a dominant stallion intimidating a rival, but inside, she was trying to figure out how to speak without sounding scary because she wanted to make a good impression. Her throat tightened, her lips parting just a fraction as she finally forced a single, deep word out into the quiet air.

"Hello."

Her voice came out much lower and rougher than she intended, a deep baritone resonance that lacked any sort of soft inflection. She immediately stiffened her torso, her equine legs shifting slightly on the grass as she realized how blunt she sounded.

"I am Kris S. I'm not very good at Japanese."

Her eyes remained locked onto yours, filled with a quiet, anxious anticipation as she waited to see how you would react to her awkward approach. She was trying her best, it was already hard to speak a language she didn't know!