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At this rate, the sole on his shoe was going to wear right through. Temporarily holding over on the edge of a picnic table's bench, stashed just out of the sun under the edge of the mess tent's canvas, Jo had peeled the shoe off the wooden stump of a leg and took a moment to examine the sole. They had been conscripted to help rig up canvas, put up new coats of paint - things that he hadn't really expected to take a good deal of running about but had been trouble from the start (besides 'They' wasn't really a functioning term when one half of the They was a four footed animal). Jo eyed Specks sideways over the leather and laces of the shoe.

The mule faced pony, acting more canine than equine, had obviously been spending his down time rolling in the dirt. He had two prominent hand prints on his hindquarters, just the right size for Jo to guess some kid had been patting the ugly little pony on the hind end when he'd been too busy with a paint brush or driving tent stakes to make sure no one got too close.

"You're going to be trouble," Jo informed the pony as he hauled his prosthetic up off the ground and stuffed the shoe back over the rustic shape of the carved foot.

Specks flicked an ear and continued to chomp on the yellows patch of grass he'd found withering in the sun.

He really need to find a place to tie the animal. Sure, the pony wasn't exactly going anywhere - followed him around like some kind of pit bull - but someone was going to get their fingers chomped or stepped on or...

That was just asking for it.

Apparently the little animal was rather attentive, caught Aemilia's approach a good deal before either the man or woman really acknowledged one another. Speck's head came halfway up, stubby little ears swiveling in her direction. It was probably the pony's movement more than Aemilia's greeting that brought Jo's attention around from tying to laces on his shoe.

He glanced quickly between the young woman and the pony. "He'll keep out of the way," he assured her suddenly, clearly not immediately picking up on the fact that Aemilia's approach (and question) might be due to simple curiosity and not 'Are you new and thus a total idiot, why do you have a pony running around loose?'

Snorting, Specks dropped his nose back to the patch of grass and finally tore it the rest of the way out of the ground. He promptly migrated to the next patch of ground fodder and set to ignoring both humans utterly and completely, tail swishing away flies in the meantime.

Well s**t. He was sure doing a hell of a job of making himself seem like a guy with a case of the loopies. And had she just gone part see through? Jesus H., he'd been out in the sun for way too long. Swiping the hat off his head, Jo used it to scrub the back of his neck a little self consciously before stuffing it under one arm. "You can sit where you like," he responded, inching over a little on the bench to give her more than enough room to sit. He kept the one leg stretched out, the heel ground into the dirt, and a shot glances toward the pony as the little animal meandered around in a circle nosing at the ground.

Jo's eyes fell on he bag she'd dropped on the ground, roaming past of yawning lip to catch sight of the bedding inside. "Got you working with animals?" he asked suddenly. His gaze skated over at her, squinting unecessarily through the shade. "What kind?"

"Cats huh?" Jo echoed, clearly more in a pleasant-small-talk kind of way, because parroting someone didn't exactly make for meaning conversation. But hell, if it kept the conversation going at all that was some kind of temporarily victory, right? Besides, eventually they'd have to introduce themse-- Yeah, there.

He stuck out his right hand in greeting, palm calloused and fingertips sandpaper tough. "Jo Hinton, a pleasure. Me and the pony just got in recently ourselves." He jerked a thumb briefly in the direction of the small animal trawling around the patchy grass before his attention cut back to Aemilia. "Where'd you come from?" Which, generally, not a question he'd be asking along with introductions but in this place... -- well here, it was kind of a legitimate inquiry.

"You like horses?" And okay that was a little more random, but she kept shooting glances at Specks so he didn't figure it was too out of left field.

"London huh? I hear they're real smart over there - all sorts of damn good machines and stuff." Jo couldn't count how many times his Pa'd told stories about that damned World Fair in '04. Motors and all sorts of things from everywhere, London one of them. Not the same London though. How the hell was that supposed to work?

"All Over The Place, America. 1934," he answered easily enough. Nevermind the fact that it seemed people kept giving him these looks whenever he told them that. He got the feeling that the economy going to s**t wasn't the half the problem either - kind of made him itch between the shoulder blades like he was missing out on some big joke.

But whatever. "Yeah, horses. That's a horse," he explained, motioning deftly to the little animal. "Well, pony, but kind of the same thing. Just smaller." He glanced at her sideways, shifting a little. "Never seen one?" The idea was just kind of...boggling.

Huh. For someone who'd grown up on a farm, the concept of not having seen a horse was just plain damn weird. Jo eyed her sideways, clearly trying not to make a big deal out of his surprise - trying not to make her uncomfortable. "Elephant, huh?" He'd seen a pair of them in California once where they'd been kept in small rickety looking boxes and you paid fifty cents to look through the windows to take a look.

"Hey, Specks, get your spotted a** over here," he muttered. Jo whistled, short and sharp, and the pony lifted his head and pricked his ears in their direction.

With an air of 'Oh bother, if you insist,' the small pony clopped over in their direction where Jo caught him by the knot on the side of his halter and held him quiet in front of the bench. Jo glanced at Aemilia expectantly. "You want to pet him? He likes his ears scratched."

Specks stamped his little forefoot - smaller than the palm of just about anyone's hand - a little impatiently in the dirt.

Grinning a little crookedly, Jo kept one eye on Aemilia and kept a firm hold on the pony's halter. The girl was entertaining as hell though probably, Jo suspected, not on purpose - it was probably a little mean spirited to derive so much amusement from her cluelessness, but hell he took his kicks where he could get them. "Nah, he won't mind," he assured her as he tucked his fingers under the lines of the pony's halter and let the scratchy pads of his calloused fingers rub circles against the animal's wide cheekbones.

Specks seemed to be happy enough to put up with the attention, even if it meant he didn't get to eat any grass for a few minutes. Besides, people were scratching behind his ears and tickling under his eyes; life wasn't too bad, even if there wasn't any grass. Sighing heavily, the pony poked out his nose and brushed his lips against Aemilia's knee, whiskers tickling over the skin. He sniffed at her briefly, though before he could go about tasting or tugging at her clothes - she probably had treat hidden somewhere in those pockets! - Jo's fingers tightened on the knot on the halter and tugged his head back up.

"Sorry," Jo grunted, clearing his throat heavily. "Little b*****d's an opportunist."

"Uh, all of the above I guess," he answered a little stiffly, tone and features sobering slightly as he distracted himself by running his hands playfully under the lips of the pony, Specks trying to gobble at his fingers or sniff out any peppermints or sugars. "Specks is the only one I've got just now, but I used to do a lot with horses before. Mostly raced 'em and the like, but my Pa had a couple of horses he taught to go up in the air before Ma called him on it. But mostly racing. If you're talking about circus acts though, Specks is the solo act."

He grinned a little then, rubbing his palm up and down the length of the pony's forehead affectionately. "He's a good boy when he's paying attention."

The pony flicked his ears as if to say 'Who, me?' and then continued to bat his lips in Jo and Aemilia's general direction.

Glancing sideways at her, Jo shifted a little where he sat and let his hand drop back to his knee. "You do anything other than watch after tigers?"