"Kneel," The order doesn't have the malice or irritation to it that he's come to expect from the ranch hands. If anything the human sounds a bit like he's going down a mental checklist. The lack of open hostility is a relief. After his run in with the evil eyed human, the hands had run him hard. Past exhaustion to just wanting to lay down in the middle of the training yard and die. Their daily 'exercise' always left him tired, but there had been spite behind the number they'd made him run today. They'd wanted to show him off as their tame mindless centaur. His attempts to escape the evil human's grasp had upset them greatly.
Keith carefully does as he was asked. Getting to his knees and hocks laying his underbelly against the ground, "John, support his arms." The disinterested human orders, and the ranch hand who's been leading him around all day jumps to obey. The one ordering is different from the normal ranch hands. He's stood out from the second Keith spotted him waiting by his stall. Not because of size, physical appearance, or even the cloths he wears. All were only minutely different from the other humans, but something about his presence projects calm and importance. An aura that says this is someone that should be paid attention too, "You," The human makes sure he catches Keith's eyes before continuing, "Don't try to move on your own, once I cut the ropes. You'll only hurt yourself."
The human stays within Keith's line of sight, as he slowly pulls out a knife. Keith can't help the way all his muscles tense at once. Rationally, killing him just as he starts to do what they want makes no sense, but the blade is sharp and he can imagine how easily it could slice his flesh, while he's unable to do anything to stop it from his current position, "Easy now," The calm human soothes, "It's just for the ropes," Carefully, slowly, making sure Keith can watch the whole time, he moves the knife back to Keith's arms, "Remember don't try to move once they're off."
The human is as gentle as one can be when sawing so close to somebody's skin, the ranch hand holds his arms up as the support of the rope falls away, and Keith grits his teeth against the sting in his skin from their removal. Soon enough, the only thing holding his arms behind his back is the ranch hand. He can't quite see the way the calm human runs fingers along his abused forearms, but he can feel every disturbed rope burn and bruise as the human comes across them, "You like to pull don't you," The human says softly. It takes Keith a moment to realize he's the one being addressed and a response is expected. No one here but Shiro goes through this much effort to address him kindly.
"They're the ones who tied me to a post," Keith says in his defense. The human shakes his head with a sigh. Keith doesn't like how childish and petulant that response makes him feel. Like he's a colt shouting 'they started it' at a rival.
"Your arms are a mess of bruises, but you've been very lucky and avoided any major bloody spots," The human pets his lower back. It reminds him of Shiro trying to keep him calm, "In the future, please be careful. Pulling on your lead, like you have been, could very easily lead to open wounds and infection. If no one catches it in time, you could get very sick and possibly even die." The man chastises, but gently, like he's actually worried about Keith's well being. Shame creeps up on him. He has a tendency to act without thinking. Most of the time he gets by on quick thinking, but sometimes, like now, he just hurts himself for no payoff.
"Alright," The human pats his back, "Lets get these arms stretched out. I'm sorry, but this will hurt. If it gets to be too much, tell me and we'll stop while you catch your breath. Ready?" The human puts his hands on Keith's bicep and forearm, but waits for Keith's nod to begin.
The flood of pain as his elbow is unbent steals his breath away. He thought having his arms bound and pulled on for days on end was the height of pain. He was so wrong. His eyes water, as the human carefully straightens his arm and checks to make sure everything still has full range of motion. Each joint and muscle yelling their protest at the now unfamiliar movements. When the human finally lets go, Keith's gasping for air like he's just ran a race, "There you go, you're alright." The human is rubbing his back while Keith catches his breath, "We're halfway done. You ready for the next one?" No, but it's better to get these things over with. Keith grits his teeth and nods again. It's just as bad as the first time.
Even after his arms are fully stretched out and hanging limply by his side, the human doesn't leave immediately. He sends the ranch hand off for a bucket of clean water, and then carefully washes the raw skin on Keith's arms. Getting rid of the dirt and grime so he can examine them again for anything that might need more attention. Only once he's certain that Keith is going to be okay, does he get up to leave.
He finds himself speaking without meaning to as the man closes the gate, "Thank you," He's been the kindest human and the most interested in Keith's welfare since he came to this forsaken place.
"You're welcome," The human smiles at him, "I'll check on you again soon, to make sure everything keeps being alright. Just remember what I told you about pulling," The human waves as he leaves, and for a few minutes he finds himself looking forward to seeing him again in the future.
The man had been nice. He could have just cut Keith free and left him be to deal with the pain on his own. The extra presence had helped, made things much less miserable than they would have been otherwise. He was grateful for that…grateful…grateful for a scrap of kindness shown in this hellish place…grateful one of the humans working at the ranch had spent a few minutes worried about his comfort…grateful…Keith stares at the black bruises interspersed with the red rope scratches mottling his arms. He needs to get out of here. He needs to get out of here now.
He's becoming like Shiro. Starting to see light spots in his captivity. Beginning to even like some of his captors. Forgetting everything else they've done today because one person treats him with the mildest standard of kindness. If he stays here much longer, they are going to own him. He can't wait anymore. Next time he sees Shiro, they have to escape.
End Note:
Took me a bit to figure out how all this was going to go down. Had to give Keith a kick in the rear, so he didn't get too comfortable.
The guy in this chapter is kinda the Ranch's medic. He's not a specialist with formal training of any sort, but for most things that could go wrong with a centaur's health, he knows what to do.