The day goes on at the dairy, and Halia focuses her efforts all on what Rhannah has her do. The horse has to admit that she never actually thought of what working at a dairy would entail. Still, the whole experience is proving to be quite energizing.
Things start off rather simple enough. The equipment has to be cleaned, and everything needs to be in tip-top shape.
"I'm really sorry about this, Halia," Rhannah says. She leans back in her milking station, her teets squeezed with the alternating pump. The cow acts as if this Giger-esque contraption was something most people would be okay with. "But, well, newbies can be a little… overproductive sometime.
Halia sighs and rolls up her sleeves, getting the mop and bucket and wheeling it over to the station where the young Beth sits detached from her device and covering her face. "I'm… I'm so sorry! It just slipped out and-"
"How's the old saying go??" Halia says, sopping up the spilled milk. "There could be a lot worse that could have happened. Be thankful it's just a little milk."
As she rolls the mop bucket back to the cleaning closet, Halia notes how some of the girls have detached much more cleanly. Obviously, the girls would need to take breaks, or else they'd be sucked dry. She watches as the cows gently converse with one another, or just sit and stare wistfully out the window, or other peaceful tasks. Her fingers twitch. Who's looking out for them? What is the security like? Are the keycards enough, are-
Her phone buzzes, and she knocks the bucket over into the drain with a jerk. She fumbles for her phone and answers. "Yeah."
"Haliah… there's a buzzing going on by tank number 12. I think there are some tools in the closet. Could you tighten things up and see if that won't fix it? The inspector is coming on Thursday, and I'd rather not have to call her today."
Haliah drops whatever thought she had brewing in her mind and takes the toolbox and marches on over to the offending device.

She thought that perhaps having some semblance of a chain of command would ease her into the routine. It is the utter strangeness and openness that makes things so oddly anxious. Seeing these cows, these women, all so casually naked, with pumps attached to them, obviously getting off to their daily routine, and yet not letting it get to them… could she ever have that sort of relaxation in her life?
She wonders this as she tightens the bolt on the number 12 tank. The thing was surely buzzing something awful, but the tweak got it to work. She runs her hand along the cold steel, letting her palm feel the cool metal and letting the slight hum take her away towards the flow of the sea."
She latches onto that memory, perhaps one of the only good ones, and puts the tools away. When heads back, she is knocked right out of her fantasy and back into reality.
"Careful there, assistant," coos one of the dairy cows. "You almost tripped that cord!" She's a stockier build than the others, fit and using her time to do a few curls and to work pedals underneath her seat.
Fantasy shifts back to reality, whipping her head into this cold dairy room. A moment there, things were hotter, drier, and dangerous. Halia freezes a moment, her heart beating. She clutches at her chest and turns towards the cow. "Yeah? Well, keep your place neat if you don't want people running into your stuff! Can't you just sit back like everyone else around here?"
The cow snorts. She's been curling a dumbbell while keeping eye contact upon the horse. "Fat chance. I got to keep myself in tip-top shape. That tube is exactly where it's supposed to be, as per my contract. You need to take a chill pill, filly. I'm just telling you to watch out."
"It's in the way! Look, you could hook it right over there, and you can still work out."
"Clara, can you please not antagonize your fellow employees?" Rhannah asks from her own station. "It's not very becoming from a champion."
Clara clicks her tongue and drops her bell. "Fine, fine. But I can't do it myself, all tied down like this. You want it moved, Halia, you gotta do it yourself."
Halia gets down to her knees, undoing the suction on the large cow's udders. The device on this cow is so tight against her, it makes a loud pop when the horse pulls it way. Teets quiver and leak a little milk, which makes the horse shudder slightly.
"Something the matter?" Clara asks. "You gonna admire them all day, or are you gonna get moving?"
"Maybe I wouldn't have to move if someone knew how to efficiently lead a line." She says and somehow winds up having to pull the milking device around the leg of Clara's station before hooking it over the walkway and back down. She has to lean in this time, becoming face-to-face with Clara, her hands down at the cow's stomach.
"Take a picture, it'll last longer," Clara teases.
Halia doesn't break eye contact, reattaching the device and making sure she tightens it up just a little bit more than before.
Clara grunts, hiding her discomfort through a confident sneer. "Triumph through adversity, filly."
Halia stomps off, heading towards the break room, and leaving the girls alone together.
"Heh… what's her problem," the Clara says, looking to one of her milk mates.
"Clara, can you please not antagonize the new employees?" Rhannah asks, leaning forward, her fingers laced, elbows placed upon the tray in front of her. She rests her chin upon her hands, watching the whole exchange with keen interest. "You might not like what happens if you do."
"Oh, yeah, boss?" Clara asks. "She as tough as she looks?"
"If my own experience with her is any indication, then, yes she is," Rhannah says, a soft chuckle on her lips. "And I know I am not looking forward to having to work with HR in whatever aftermath the two of you get into."
"Heh, what is she, military? Sure has that stick shoved up her ass, doesn't she?"
Some of the other girls laugh, but Rhannah's gaze turns toward the door to the breakroom, a pensive tapping of her hoof as the pump drains her of her money-making fluid.
Inside the breakroom, Halia makes her way past Bertha and Beth, who take a break from a long morning of milking to enjoy a little snack. Halia stands in front of a vending machine. The horse taps her hoof against the floor and her finger against her elbow, arms crossed over her chest. She stares at the device, not caring about the blur of packaging that's in front of her, taking slow and deep breaths.
Her cheek throbs. She suddenly reaches into her pocket, fumbling around for her pills, but cursing under her breath when she realizes she left them, where? Rhannah's house? Her own apartment?
"So, dear, any exciting plans?" Bertha asks. Halia's ear twitches.
"Oh, yeah, Adaeze wanted to go to the movies, and I was thinking about joining her."
"Aw, that's so good of you, getting out of your shell. You going to tell her about your new job?"
"Mo~om!" Beth whines.
Halia pulls her hand out of her pocket, a crinkled bill in her hands. She slides the thing into the vending machine, mashing any combination she can find.
The machine spits the bill back out.
"Honey, there's no need to be quiet about things. You should be proud of what you do and who you are."
Halia places the bill against the corner of the machine, running it along there to straighten it out.
"Yeah, yeah, it's just that… I mean, it's just so lewd, isn't it? And when I… well…"
Halia jams the bill back in. This time, the item she selects pushes out towards the front.
"Honey, you'll get used to it. Eventually, it'll just be another  day at work, and you won't find it so exciting."
The package falls forward, hitting the window and dangling onto its perch.
"Yeah, but… I don't know if I can make it without embarrassing myself again, momma… it's just so hard, and-"
Halia snorts, and connects her hoof to the side panel, cracking the plastic. Her randomly chosen snack topples down, along with a selection of a couple other traits.
The two cows pause in their conversation, and Halia squats down, grabbing the packages with a trembling hand. She stands up, glancing over towards them, first at Bertha, and then at Beth.
"Kid… stop being so scared! Can you fucking hear yourself? Wah, wah, I hate so much, I actually come when I'm paid to sit around and do nothing!"
"Now, wait just a minute here!" Bertha says, pushing herself up. "What gives you the right to badmouth my daughter like that?"
Halia keeps her eyes upon Beth, placing her hand upon the table in front of her. She tosses one of the snacks in front of the younger cow, and she says, "If you have problems with this job, quit. If you aren't a quitter, then suck it up and embrace your feelings. What's the matter, afraid of a good time?"
"I… I…"
A hand clamps on Halia's shoulder.
"Look, you-ah!"
In a blur of motion, Halia gets the attacker in a joint lock, her fist rushing forward, only to stop inches from Clara's throat. Through tiny points of pupils, the horse stares at the disabled cow, her entire forearm quivering with the force that could have sent the bully into the afterlife.
Halia shoves her back, rushing past her with a dark muttering. "I need a drink."
Beth and Bertha sit there in stunned silence. Meanwhile, Rhannah enters, pulling her robe over her shoulders. "Where did she go?" the boss demands.
Clara, sitting on her knees upon the floor, lifts a trembling hand in the direction of the rear exit. Without another moment's thought, Rhannah rushes on out to follow Haliah.
The back door swings open, and Rhannah heads out, still, only in her robe, half undone, but seeing the horse make her way around the corner. "Halia!" Rhannah shouts. "Halia, please, wait!"
Halia stops, clenching her teeth, clenching her fist, her muzzle feeling like it could pop off at any second. "What!?" She snaps. "Why? So you can sweet talk me, some more? Make me feel good for doing a bunch of meaningless nothing and be treated like trash, I… I just!?"
She spins around, seeing the state that the cow is in, so exposed and out in the open. She glances around their locale, the sunny, chilly, breezy day makes her stop and consider a moment something faraway. Something different.
"Halia… you're here. I'm here. You can get through this." She takes a few steps forward, but Halia takes a step back, herself.
"What are we doing here, huh? Trying to mess with me? Trying to make me look bad in front of these… pampered, spoiled… self-centered fucks!" She stomps at the ground, tearing up a clump of dirt. She does it with so much force though that something pops, and she collapses onto the ground, a wail of surprise and shock going through her.
Rhannah stands still there, being a fixture for the horse, even as the tears come down, the mare breaks down, her anger-fueled resolve crumbling.
Perhaps now, progress can actually begin.