Mike could smell the old dung and urine smell that seemed ingrained into Brian's skin, especially when the boy's fingers cleaned his nostrils. The scent was actually somewhat pleasant to him, familiar and comforting. He grinned as Brian picked his eyelashes clean, fingers brushing gently over his eyelids. When Brian moved his hands to rob around the eye sockets, Mike grinned and opened his eyes - and gasped. The sepia-toned, oddly distorted vision was not strange - it was all too familiar. He had seen like this when he was a horse. Reaching up, Mike felt a protruding lower face and flared nostrils, not a horse's muzzle yet, but not fully human either. Brian was still using his fingers to massage around Mike's eyes, his expression content. The boy appeared to be happy doing his job. Which was apparently to turn Mike back into a Shire stallion. In truth, it felt really goo, but Mike had just gotten changed back from being an animal. "Brian?" He pushed the boy's hands away from his face, causing Brian to frown.
"I ain;t done!" Brian tried to work around Mike's eyes again, and the centaur caught the boy's slender wrists in his hands.
"Brian!" Mike was more forceful this time, and the former elf blinked and then looked confused. The
Brian blinked and sat down hard on the ground, staring up at Mike's face. "Oh! Oh, crap! I'm sorry!"
Mike shrugged. "No big deal. It felt great, but unless you guys want to trade a fighter in for a war horse, you need to stop changing me."
"I don't know if I can stop myself!" Brian looked miserable. "I mean, even right now, when I know you and remember myself, I see a horse that needs to be helped. It's like all the human stuff is hurting you, and I want to make you well. When I am working n you, everything feels so good, so... right."
"It feels great to me, too." Mike felt really bad when he saw how unhappy Brian was, and leaned over to scoop the boy up into a hug. "It's OK, buddy. If I end up a horse again, we'll figure a way to change me back. But maybe you could focus on the stuff that's already horse? You can change color, breed, whatever your stable boy self wants. That way I stay a centaur and we both enjoy ourselves."
Brian hugged him back hard. "Thanks, Mike! You're a great friend." The boy leaned back and grinned, then reached up and started to rub Mike's ears. His expression started to drift, and Mike felt a curious sensation of pleasure at the gentle massage that started to move ups the sides of his head. "Brian?"
His friend looked at him with a happy smile, then jerked his hands away. "Dammit!"
A quick check determined that Mike's ears were now a little higher and somewhat pointed. He also thought his hearing as a little sharper - this might not be all bad. "Stick to the bottom half."
Brian nodded and lay down in the grass against Mike's equine belly. He could still feel the need to use his equine magic, but he found that contact with the centaur's horse parts was comforting enough to stay where he was. Mike had said Brian could do whatever his stable by self wanted, so maybe he could relax. He stroked the powerful legs, then turned so he could rub the belly, and then the heavy black sheath. Yeah, there were a lot of things he could work with.