Were hippos some kind of monkey? She had half a mind to tell him she had seen blatantly stupider versions of this when researching for Analog, and that based on his build and more facts than he would bother listening to that he would be fine, but then he bolted.

She held on tight, ducked down low by his neck and not arguing due to a current need to not let her muscles sieze up or slide off in either direction. Maybe Marco had never benefited from riding s horse bareback at a gallop, but Sakura was fast learning how heart in throat that experience could be.

Bizarrely, part of her loved it.

... Maybe, just maybe, Marco had a point about the relative sanities of people from her home. Or her. Not like he knew anyone else from her world. Which made her think about home, and nations, and she had a question she sat on much like Marco himself as she noted the most odd shift in relative location... For one, the black and neon was fading in favor of light? Thunder rolled up behind them, and she chanced a look to the right.

Into the flaring nostrils and white eye of a horse with a small man, smaller than Sakura, squirreled up tight on the base of its neck. What in themship...?!