I have decided to add the remaining chapters to this story, that is already updated on Archive Of Our Own, because I have received a several messages requesting it. I still prefer Archive because I can interact with the readers and take special requests who want to see certain things in the story. I will update the chapters weekly. I hope you enjoy in.- Ani
Bean sat on the sofa, stiff a board trying not to tremble. Master Iason had left his punishment to The Pet and after what had happened on the balcony he wasn't at all sure how safe he was. He could handle scolding and beatings, even torture. He had claimed understanding that he might be terminated, but he didn't really want to die, and certainly not the way the mongrel had intended. The idea of being dropped off a building. He barely managed to suppress a shudder as he watched The Pet work on the main console.
Bean studied the long, slender fingers that quickly and expertly typed commands. He wasn't sure why The Pet wasn't using the voice option, which would be more efficient, but he didn't dare ask, because he didn't want to draw more attention to himself. Every now and then he caught the beginning of a verbal warning from the machine, a sure sign that whatever was being done was either covert or illegal. The Furniture rules were implicit that such activities be reported, especially when the breaches were made by a pet, but speaking up now might be the end of him so he held his tongue.
The mongrel had demanded the full details of what had been done to the Furniture Cal, how Bean had tricked him, drugged him and then sold him. The Pet had demanded to know how this could have happened as Cal belonged to Iason and only a Master could purchase or sell Furniture. Bean had been surprised that Riki knew anything about Furniture rules, and was forced to admit that he had forged documents on behalf of Iason, which had not been closely examined as the people at Ranaya Uugo rarely bothered once a sale was made.
Bean felt no shame at fully confessing what he had done. Cal got what he deserved, he had been too close to The Pet and had been trying to usurp Bean's position. Bean was more upset to have been caught and forced to appear so vulnerable and shameful in front of Iason and worse, Riki. Bean hated himself for the feelings he could not control that had put him in this situation.
Why would anyone keep a pet Riki's age? Why would he, as Furniture be expected to care for an adult mongrel in such a fashion? Riki was uncouth, belligerent and broke the rules at every turn! He was ungrateful and rude and totally unworthy of an Elite of Master Mink's status.
Bean glanced up as the warning came again and he noticed that Riki had closed his eyes in thought as his fingers paused over the console. Riki did have a lovely resting face, soft and smooth, almost innocent looking. Bean had watched Riki sleep many times, whenever Master Iason was not at home. Long lashes over dark lids that held even darker eyes; eyes that seemed capable of staring into your very soul. It must be that loveliness in that darkness, that exquisite beauty, danger and pride that had attracted Master Mink to such a mongrel.
Bean caught himself, lowered his head. He hated Riki for doing this to him, for making him feel this constant anxiety. The alien female had mentioned that his feelings were not his fault, these feelings, and he had to agree. It was all Riki's fault. Riki's fault for seducing Master Mink and convincing the Elite to let a mongrel be his pet. It was Riki's fault for treating Cal so kindly and him so horribly. He would not have angered Master Iason if it was not for Riki acting like a whore he and making him feel this way. It was al Riki's fault!
"Bean!"
The furniture blinked and glanced at Riki, realized that the pet was no longer working on the console and that he had changed into a shimmering white and gold tunic, dark slacks and a long black drape coat. Bean couldn't help but stare, for Riki was beyond beautiful in these clothes.
"You're allowed out of the city, right? You can drive?"
"Y…yes. Of course. I often have to go on errands for Master Mink."
"Then come on." Riki turned and shouted. "Yiela!"
The young woman appeared almost instantly. "Yes, Maku."
"Riki. My name here is Riki. Don't make me repeat myself." He blinked as he realized how much his words sounded like something Iason would say and that added to his temper. "I mean…Try to remember, okay?"
She nodded. "As you wish, Riki."
Riki stared at her outfit of strategically placed scarves. Fuck it, it might work better this way. "Come with me." He glared at Bean. "You too, we're going for a drive."
Bean's eyes widened. "Without Master Mink's permission?"
"I have his permission, or did you forget that he left your punishment up to me?"
Bean nodded, returned to his room for a jacket and a moment later returned wearing the small tunic that matched his uniform. "Are you…"
"Don't talk!" Riki snapped as he strode towards the door. "Just shut up and follow."
Bean nodded timidly and did as he was told.
They entered Iason's personal garage, where the Blondie housed several different vehicles and Bean followed Riki over to the fanciest car Iason owned. He slid into the passenger side as Bean settled into the front and Yiela climbed in the back seat.
"Let's go already!" Riki ordered.
"W…where are we going?"
"Ranaya Uugo."
Bean stiffened.
"Do you remember who it was you sold Cal to?"
"It was just the receiver manning the desk."
Was Riki going to sell him to those people, because of what he had done to Cal? He'd rather have gone over the balcony. He swallowed, hard as they pulled up to the garage gate and he showed his credentials. Once they were out of the garage he asked.
"Are…are you going to sell me to him? A…A pet can't sell Furniture. You can't…"
Riki glared at the young, trembling boy. "Iason said you're my problem to deal with, so I'm gonna deal with you my way."
Bean bit his lip and lowered his eyes, refusing to cry anymore. He knew he deserved all of this, knew that what he had done was unconscionable, but The Pet was such a dark force, worse than the Blondies because there was no guessing what he might do.
"Yes," he returned quietly. "Your way."
Riki nodded, spotted a pair of sunshades in the side console and slipped them on, they hid most of his face as they were sized for a Blondie. They had no issues escaping Eos, as Furniture could go anywhere on his Master's orders and Bean's registration number was all that was required. What would have taken him four or five hours on his bike took only an hour and ten minutes with the high-end vehicle to get to their destination. Once they arrived Riki stepped out, pulled Yiela from the vehicle and then shoved Bean in front of them.
"Tell them we're here to make a sale."
Bean blinked, glanced at Yiela who showed no expression at the news she would be sold, then he moved into the main building. Ranaya Uugo held neither the future architecture of Tanagura nor the rich decadence of Midas. Looking at the dilatated structure around them, which seemed to grow worse as they stepped inside, Riki could only say it was maybe two steps up from the slums.
A bored looking man sat at a walled in desk behind a security window, the booth was the only thing that looked reasonably solid.
"Yah, whadu want?"
"We're here to make a sale."
"Goods?"
Riki pulled Yiela forward and watched the man's eyes light up greedily. "I want to talk to the man in charge."
"Whut fur?"
"I don't deal with desk warts."
The man stood up angrily inside his tiny booth. "Whu yuse says to me?"
"Wonderful, it's a deaf desk wart." Riki glared at Bean. "You told me this was the best place for the best price, but it's obviously just another rat hole."
"I…" Bean was shocked by the superior way that The Pet looked at him, for the annoyance was worthy of a Blondie. He felt his head bowing in apology before he could stop it. "I was told they would. Perhaps the vendor in Midas would be better?"
Riki sniffed distastefully at the guard. "Yes, she'll could bring in thousands a day in their brothels. I should have gone there to begin with. Fine, we'll go back…"
The desk clerk was out of his little booth in a shot. "I bring the man. I bring him here. Yuse stays here."
"You've got five minutes," Riki warned and watched the man hurry off down the corridor behind him. Before the desk clerk was even out of sight Riki was inside the booth and working the console. Bean glanced at Yiela nervously who still seemed just as serene as before.
Just as they heard the clip-clop of boots coming from the corridor Riki darted out of the booth and took Yiela's arm again.
"I'm Mr. Toles. What is this all about?"
The administrator was a more educated man, but he did not seem pleased to have been disturbed.
"She is." Riki lightly shoved Yiela towards the man whose interest raised exponentially.
"I see. Where is she from?"
"Who knows? I won her, but I already have enough girls in my club. I was told you would offer the best price."
The administrator walked around Yiela, poked and prodded her a bit, but Yiela remained still. "I'll need her clothes off to confirm a price."
"Fine, but not out here."
"Surely you are not worried over the modesty of a whore?"
"I never show my full hand to outside players." Riki glanced at the greedy looking desk wart. "It leads to unnecessary complications." He watched Mr. Toles follow his eyes and see his employee practically salivating. "She's for your eyes alone," he continued. "Until a sale is confirmed, then you can show her to whoever you want." Riki eyed the lustful guard again. "I don't offer freebies on any of my merchandise."
Mr. Toles sighed impatiently, but his eyes were lit with money signs. They rarely got a woman here and an exotic, alien woman with such dark skin! He'd make thousands a day, he could just strap her up and let them have a go at her, could charge five times the normal amount. Yes, she would be a great profit indeed.
"Fine, we'll go to my office then, will that suit you?"
Riki nodded and they followed him back down the corridor and through a secured door to a shambled hallway where most of the lighting was burned out and what lights were in use flickered ominously across a stark gray hallway.
"This way."
Riki, Bean and Yiela followed quietly, trying to ignore the sounds of moans and screams coming from the other rooms. His hand on Yiela's arm grew firm as he felt her start to shake. This place would probably be quite a shock for her.
In front of them, he watched two men exit a room laughing and as he passed the room he saw a figure on the bed, naked and bleeding. He blinked in surprise, then continued on. They stepped into a small room that was set up with a single computer console, a couple of chairs and a food storage unit.
"She better be worth it." Mr. Toles clapped his hands together, turned to them with his lustful, greedy eyes on Yiela, and Riki's fist bounced off his jaw, the administrator fell to the floor without another word.
"What are you doing?" Bean exclaimed, horrified as he bent to check the man's pulse. "Was this your plan? To come in here and be arrested for assault?"
"No." Riki crouched and unclipped the pass card on the administrator's belt, then rose and peeked out the door. "My plan was to see the names of the people who paid to use Cal, but their system is coded so now I have a new plan."
Bean grabbed at Riki's arm. "Why? What difference does it make? What's done is done and…"
Riki roughly shook the Furniture away. "It wasn't done to you, was it?" he snarled. "I can change my mind and sell you to this guy and you can be the one who's tied down and fucked!"
Bean paled and stumbled back into Yiela, who remained still and unmoving.
"Stay here and keep quiet." Riki ducked out of the room and walked down the corridor to the room he had passed earlier from which the two men had exited earlier. He used the passkey and stepped inside a dimly lit six by ten-foot cell.
The door closed firmly behind him in a room lit with a blue light that held only a ratty bed and a wall full of instruments of sexual torture. The figure on the bed was naked, his back to the door and it was obvious that those instruments on the wall had been used on him multiple times, given the welts and scars on what had once been pristine, smooth skin.
"How do you want me?" the dulled voice asked.
"Standing," Riki replied as he pulled off the shades. "Though you belong on your knees." He saw the uncertain hitch in the scared, naked shoulders, then the figure rose and turned, his eyes wide.
"R…Riki?"
Riki had mixed feelings about seeing Orphe's once prized pet. The beautiful young boy who had snubbed him at every turn now sported a bruised, scared body and a haggard face that had aged well beyond his years. This was not the Jana he remembered, but he felt no pity for his prior nemesis.
He knew that it had been Jana that had told Iason about him and Mimea, and because of that Riki had suffered horribly. Granted he had only been with the female to piss off Iason, to rebel against the Blondie's control, but he had not expected the severe punishment Iason delivered. He could blame Jana for ratting him out, but in the end, it had been Riki's decision to do it and he would have told Iason regardless, because that was the point after all; to shame the man who had shamed him.
Remembering what Jana once was caused him to recall what Orphe's new pets had tried to do to him when he had been the Blondie's prisoner, how he had suffered and struggled…He rolled his shoulders, shrugging off the memory. He was here for something more important than a petulant pet and he refused to allow even a grain of sympathy to touch him at the sight of the once proud young man.
Jana stumbled forward and threw himself at Riki's feet, desperately curling his arms around Riki's legs, almost throwing the former mongrel off balance. "Riki! Riki!"
Jana had always treated him with such disgust in Eos, Riki couldn't imagine why Jana would react this way, and he quickly kicked the pet back.
"Get off me!"
Jana remained on the floor, even as he looked up at Riki and tears filled his eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I just…a familiar face. It's been so long since I saw…" Jana wiped at his reddened cheeks and assumed a submissive kneeling position and waited silently for a command.
Riki tried to swallow his own revulsion at how complainant Jana had become but in a way, he could understand it. He knew how it was to have his choice ripped from him repeatedly, until submission was the only way to survive the hell that his life had become.
"I need information," Riki stated.
Jana kept his head lowered. "I don't know anything."
"Bullshit, you had spies all over Eos to feed you shit about me, so don't give me that."
Jana lifted his eyes, sadly. "I never leave this room. I don't talk to anybody, I just lay here and wait for the next person to come in and use me. I can't help you, Riki." Again, tears formed in his eyes. "I wish I could. I wish I could be useful again."
"Are you sure?" He had checked the records when the desk clerk left but they didn't record names of the customers, only numeric codes. "You never heard anything about a Furniture being brought in a few days ago?"
"Furniture?" Jana looked up, startled. "Furniture don't come here."
"This one did, by mistake. I need to know who used him."
Jana slowly rose settled on the bed, and not for the first time wished that he had at least a sheet or blanket to cover himself with. They kept the temperature in the room fairly warm so the whores did not get a chill or become sick, and covers were impractical as clients paid to use the whores, not sleep with them. "Furniture would be useless here, they can't feel pleasure, they have no sexual organs. I don't understand."
"Fine. You don't know anything. I'm wasting my time." Riki started to turn away but Jana flew at him again and caught the edge of his cape.
"Wait! Is…is this for Iason? If I help him can he get me out of here?"
Riki shook him off again. "Iason doesn't know I'm here."
Jana crawled back onto the bed. "You're still running around at will then, still disobeying your master?" A touch of the old Jana returned. "Why are you so special? Why does Iason care about you so much?"
"I haven't a fucking clue, but he does and he's told me to handle this thing with Cal."
"Cal?" Jana's head snapped up. "Cal was the Furniture that was sold to this place?"
Riki almost kicked himself for over playing his hand, but curtly nodded.
"No. Oh no." Jana dropped his head in his hands remorsefully. "He was such a sweet kid, always so kind and cute. He used carry peppermints when he worked for Master Jahns and he'd always give me one when he saw me because he knew they were my favorite. That's not right. This place…he…that's not right."
"Look, can you help me or not?"
Jana shrugged helplessly. "I can't." He watched Riki move towards the door and spoke again. "I can't, but there is someone who might."
Riki turned back. "Who? I need a name."
"His name is Ren, he's a guard here, and works the day shift."
"What's he look like?"
"He's about six seven and bald on top. He has a long shaggy black beard. He'll sometimes give extra food or medical treatments to those who have what he wants. If Cal came here he'd know about it, he processes all new whores."
"What is it he usually wants?"
Jana shrugged. "What everyone who comes here wants."
Riki considered his options. He wasn't about to offer some guy sex just for information on the fuckers that hurt Cal, those days were behind him and besides, Iason would kill him. "He won't exchange information for anything else, like credits?"
"No, they make pretty good pay here. They all just want to trade sexual favors." Jana watched Riki's expression. "I…I could do it for you. He likes me, he's wanted to do me for a while, but I'm always on lock down, unless I'm being used, and he can't enter my room unless he's escorting a customer."
"Why are you on lock down?"
Jana shrugged. "I used to try escaping, but I gave up after the last time when they broke both my legs." Jana shuddered as he remembered being harnessed so he could still take customers, and had to endure the pain of his broken legs besides.
"Yeah." Escaping was great, only if you didn't get caught. Riki understood that well enough. "And what would you want in return for this favor?"
"Nothing. The only thing I could want you can't give me."
"You want out."
Jana nodded. "I know you can't do that. No one escapes from this place, and even if you are Iason Mink's pet, it wouldn't matter here."
Riki needed that information, he needed to do this for himself and for Cal, who'd been wronged in the worst way. "What time does this guy come on?"
"Sometime just after sunrise, I think." He paused and looked around his windowless room. "What is it like outside? I never know if it's day or night here."
Riki thought about how often he used the balcony in Iason's condo, needing to see beyond the city even if he couldn't reach it. The idea of not even having that almost made him shudder. "I'll be back." He moved to the door found it had locked again.
"You need a pass to get in and out."
Riki used the administrator's pass and the door opened. He glanced back at Jana. "I can't promise you anything."
Jana nodded. "I know. It's okay."
Riki pulled the shades back on, checked that the hallway was clear and quickly returned to the room where Bean and Yiela were waiting.
"Where have you been?" Bean demanded, forgetting his current situation and thinking only of the rules being broken.
"Shut up." Riki crouched by the administrator who was still out cold. "There are no cameras in the hallway," he said as he pulled the administrator up and hefted him over his shoulders and gave Yiela the pass. "We need to find an empty room."
She nodded, stepped out into the hall and started listening outside of the doors. Any that she heard silence from she used the pass to open. The first cells three held young, naked men and the next one held a woman. Her heart went out to them, more so when Riki instructed her to close and secure the doors again, locking them back in.
Finally, she found an empty cell, just as the sounds of boots started towards them. They darted inside and closed the door. Riki dumped Mr. Toles on the dirty mattress then selected a set of restraints and a ball gag from the instrument.
"What are you doing?" Bean demanded, appalled.
"Did I say you could talk?"
Yiela stepped forward and helped Riki restrain the man to the bed. "What will happen to him?" she asked quietly, thinking of the poor souls in the other rooms.
"He'll be fine, we just need him to disappear for a while."
She nodded and straightened from her task. "Your will be done."
"We can't do this!" Bean insisted. "When they find him he'll identify us! This will shame Master Iason, and blame him for allowing his pet to run wild…" Bean's head whipped back by the force of Yiela's blow and both he and Riki stared at her shocked.
"You are no longer deemed worthy of my consideration," she stated in a calm, quiet voice. "My Lord has ordered you to hold your tongue, until he gives you permission to speak and you will do so, youngling, or I shall make it impossible for you to speak ever again."
Bean's eyes grew wide but he remained silent.
Riki moved to the door and listened to confirm that the sounds of the boots had gone, then he carefully unlocked it and glanced out. The corridor was once again empty.
They headed back up the hall and were stopped just before the doors.
"This place is a joke," Riki stated. "I won't sell my goods here."
"Where's the administrator?"
"Said something about paperwork in his office. Now move, I want to wash the stench of this place off of me immediately."
The guard paused suspiciously and Riki nudged Bean.
"We will have to hurry, sir, or we will miss your meeting with Master Lagnat."
Hearing the name of the Chief Blonde of Midas had the appropriate affect and the guard stepped aside to allow them out the secured door. They walked past the front entrance where the desk wart eyed them suspiciously, then stepped outside and returned to their vehicle.
"Drive twenty minutes up the road and pull over," Riki said as he started to pull off the cape and outside tunic. "Yiela, are you okay?"
Yiela nodded at Riki. "I am feeling relieved to be free of that place. It has so much harsh energy."
"Yeah." He paused. "I wasn't really gonna sell you or anything."
"Your will be done, M…Riki." She smiled when he scowled. "I will do whatever you command of me. I do know you would not allow me to be hurt."
"But you could be hurt, if you stay here. You know that, right?"
"I am for you, Riki. I wish only to help you in whatever way I can."
Riki sighed. "Yeah. I know." She was way too innocent to be here on Amoï. "I'd better…" Riki winced as a familiar pressure started in his head. "Aww...fuck…not now!"
Yiela glanced at her Prince, concerned when Riki grimaced again and closed his eyes as if in pain. Bean showed no reaction, but continued to drive as ordered, then pulled off the road and shut down the vehicle to wait as Riki had requested.
