In the same room Nikita had spoken with Sabre, the large white siberian tiger representative sat across the table from a scrawny looking black Jaguar who appeared rather meek looking - more meek than any other jaguar Nikita had met before.
"Mr. Balam. I here to interview as closest bastet representative. I assure you safe now." The tiger started, looking at the jaguar with calmness. He seemed well fed, his fur glossy but was not as muscular as a jaguar his young age should be. There were some very odd things about him. He had human piercings all over his ears, tail and tongue - quite odd for a bastet to do to himself.
"A-And the dragon? He's not here, right?" Eztli asked, looking around nervously for Longwei.
"Longwei?" Nikita didn't even rose an eyebrow. "Niet. Longwei not here and won't be. As per council regulation, Extraspecies be assessed by representative of race after such traumatic experience as charge in the programs. I Nikita Sviet, representative for all bastet. Normally other bastet do interview but only I here."
Eztli quietly stared up at Nikita with a hesitant smile, nervously flicking his tail back and forth. "O-Okay." He hesitantly said with a light flush, his purrs beginning to rev up in his chest. Eztli felt so safe and secure that he couldn't help the involuntary response.
"Let's start then." Nikita nodded. "You charge under human host Jacqueline Penske and companion of other predator charges at same time. That is correct, da?"
"Si. Jackie is super nice. She's the best host I've had." Eztli said with a cheerful purr, flicking his tail back and forth in satisfaction.
"... da?" Nikita looked the younger cat fidgeted in place. "You had other hosts?"
Eztli's demeanor changed almost in an instant. He hesitated before he began trembling in fright. "I-I-I want Jackie for this. I-I-I-I," Eztli nervously stammered in fright, wanting to have the comfort of Jackie's or even Sabre's pets while he went over his past. Just the thought of needing to remember in order to explain to the big bastet was frightening to him.
"What?" Nikita stood up, surprised at the sudden panic and fear the jaguar showed. "CALM. You fine. We alone here, nothing harms here." The council member stated as an order rather than soothing.
"B-Bu-But I-I don't like it … I-I don't like remembering. D-Do you have any mariguana with you? Some caapi roots?" Eztli asked almost desperately, his paws shaking in fright as his eyes began getting watery.
"Niet." Now Nikita sounded serious and narrowed his eyes. This wasn't the first time he had seen such a timid looking bastet before. He accommodated back in his chair, flicking his tail. "What happen? Tell. I promise I make sure all fine. You hurt. Humans hurt, da?"
"Y-Yes … e-e-even before I-I knew what it was." Eztli's voice trembled as he tried to speak but he couldn't find the words. Eztli looked up at Nikita, seeing all of his fluffy fur and being reminded of Jaska's fluff. "C-Can you hug me? Please?" Eztli asked, beginning to hyperventilate a bit and, without waiting for a response, he lunged over and hugged the big alpha, trying to bury himself into the thick fluff.
Nikita blinked, more surprised by the swift and fast action than by receiving a hug, something he wasn't used to either. He didn't return the hug but he let the scared kitten hug him. "You need tell all that happen about you. All past. It may be hard, but once you do I make sure to get revenge. You will be under council care, so no more hurt and no more humans."
"I … when I was a cub … I remember being auctioned … I-I was sent to a weird smelling man. He was … um, first, my first … host, I think?" Eztli said, his purring having stopped and he buried his face into the tiger's chest before crawling onto his lap and sitting comfortably on the tiger. "He … that's where I got some piercings, on my ears. It felt weird … everything that happened there. I can't remember a lot b-but as long as I was good, I was fed. If I was bad, like, if I bit him, h-he threatened to rip out my teeth … that's how I lost my baby teeth." He shakily admitted. "After a while, o-once I was older, a scary lady with wavy blonde hair came and picked me up … a-a-and that's when she gave me a lot o-of piercings, and that really hurt. On my tongue, my tail a-and my … ," Eztli trailed off, his jaw trembling too hard before he turned to Nikita and tightly hugged him, shaking and crying before telling him the rest.
Nikita listened to the horrible tale of abuse. The jaguar's story was one of the worst cases he had ever heard. It started with how the jaguar was kidnapped at a young age and abused right from the start. He had suffered abuse of every single possible kind. Some quite straight counting as torture and all of them heavily penalized by the council. This case certainly made perfect example on why humans needed to be held as far away as possible. "All fine here. You safe. Let it out." Nikita encouraged, letting the feline hug him.
"S-So after all that, I-I learned to be good … I was a good Eztli, her little kitty Eztli … I-I couldn't fight back, I was so weak … and th-then one day, she brought a friend over and I was s-so scared that I was a bad kitty." He cried. "I killed the zombie she had and snapped her neck before sitting in the darkness for days before S-Smith came." Eztli soft cries began to wear out, shakily breathing. "I was so scared. B-But Smith, she … she pet me. Super nice. I've never been touched kindly before that. She was so nice … and th-then I was sent to Jackie, who is also really nice. She made my fur glossy and gave me lots to eat, and even when I was bad she still fed me. She is so nice, she really is." Eztli cried. "I used to think I couldn't be anything. I couldn't be strong and I wasn't allowed to be sad, I didn't deserve to be sad because I wasn't a creature worthy of being strong … b-but now I want to be strong, I want to be strong enough to protect myself because I am worth it! I-I-!" Eztli cried, becoming hysterical before crying against the tiger's fur.
If anything, Nikita was even more angry after all he had heard from the black jaguar, but only his lashing tail showed any hint of his fury.
"U-Um, Mr. Nikita?" Eztli hesitantly said, looking up at the large tiger nervously.
"Da?" The tiger wondered with mild expectation if the younger feline would reveal anything more. He hoped not. Eztli Balam's experiences were already horrible enough.
"C-Can you train me to be a big strong kitty like you?" Eztli asked before his ear flickered, hearing the door slide open.
"That would require lot of hardships, Mr. Balam. Nikita Sviet is far more than a merely strong bastet." Longwei spoke from the door as he came inside the room with some papers in hand. With a high air of efficiency, the dragon turned to Nikita. "The host, Jacqueline Penske has been informed of her prompt departure; tomorrow morning she will leave without her charges."
Eztli whipped around, startled by the dragon's sudden appearance as his fur bristled in alarm. He gasped, frightened before he leapt back against the wall, trembling with his tail between his legs. His heart started to race, very clearly frightened of the scary dragon. "W-What, wait, you are sending my host away?!" Eztli shouted, frightened.
Longwei blinked in confusion but seeing the jaguar pace towards the door, the dragon stepped aside to let the feline run away, which Eztli did immediately without a look back.
"JACKIEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Eztli screamed, running out the door with the intention to find and protect her like a good strong kitty would do from the big scary dragon.
Once Longwei was alone with Nikita, he proceeded to tell all news and prepare the next interview.
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Jackie was laughing with Aleksey about the story of how Jaska became Antain's walking stash of ribbons when the door burst open. Immediately Aleksey jumped in front of the kittens, roaring and snarling with his claws out with his patchy fur bristling as Eztli came in and dashed to the other corner of the room to tackle Jackie.
"JACKIE!" Eztli screamed as she tumbled onto the ground, smacking her head against the wooden floors as he tightly hugged her, his eyes all misty and looking like he was going to cry from how scared he was. "Please don't leave us, Jackie! You're a really good host, a super good host!" Eztli cried, hugging her so tightly that her back started cracking.
"Ouch, ouch ouch! Eztli, Eztli be more gentle!" Jackie cried out in pain, struggling to move away from him but his grip was too strong. Jackie looked up at his face to try and push him away but froze, seeing that Eztli was actually crying. "E-Eztli, what's wrong?" Jackie asked, trying to pet his sides the best she could despite the death grip he had on her.
"The scary dragon said you are going away!" Eztli cried while hugging his host a bit too tightly.
"Niet, black jaguar." Aleksey corrected, staying firmly in front of his little babies. "Yes, Longwei and I go to host's house with host first, but you come too in few days after we evaluate premises for me." Aleksey explained, confused as to why the jaguar was so emotional over this.
"S-S-S-So you're not taking her away from us?" Eztli asked between his sniffling, desperately searching the tiger's eyes for truth.
Still maintaining his position Aleksey answered, his tail mildly flicking. "Niet. Did Sabre not tell yet? All charges assigned under host will finish term of contract. But I and Longwei go first to ensure place safe." He then huffed. "I'll have to get away from mate and cubs." He dedicated his cubs a small glance. "I not like. But I assure you it true. You join host a little after."
"S-So, so Jackie isn't being taken from us?" Eztli asked, sniffling back his tears as his grip on the host began to slowly loosen.
"No, Eztli, I'm not being taken, it's alright." Jackie smiled, nuzzling against him before she began softly petting his sides. "Just relax, everything will be just fine. I'll have to leave tomorrow morning but you will fly back after a few days, okay?" Jackie grinned.
"Okay!" Eztli shouted happily before he nuzzled up to Jackie all happy before turning to Aleksey. "I can help watch the babies while you're gone, like a big strong alpha!" Eztli excitedly purred while staring over the little fluffy babies.
Aleksey stared at the jaguar with a firm frown. He definitely disliked the idea of any other male watching over his precious cubs, let alone another bastet. This jaguar especially seemed much too flighty; but then again, uncle Nikita would likely stay with Sabre to help watch the cubs, and that was something he could accept. Aleksey gently laid down, protectively shielding the little babies but grunted from the painful effort of laying down comfortably.
Eztli loudly yowled in excitement before he pushed Jackie over, purring and rubbing over her happily. His claws lightly extended as he grabbed her waist and hips, pushing his paws against her sides like a massage while Jackie took his face in her hands and gently began rubbing his cheeks. Eztli needily moaned, flicking his tail back and forth as Aleksey looked back at them, estranged by the sexual noises coming from the jaguar. He stared as Jackie scratched the base of his tail, making him loudly shout in excitement before he nuzzled into her neck, shakily panting in happiness.
Aleksey slightly narrowed his eyes as his ears flickered. He tilted his head at one side and then at the other, weirded out not exactly by the noises Eztli was making, but at the totally out of context situation for the younger cat to emit them. After looking at the situation for a little bit and clearly noticing the hooman wasn't doing anything other than petting, he asked. "Hooman … why black jaguar doing those noises?"
"Oh, don't worry about it. That's just what he sounds like when he's being pet." Jackie admitted before petting his ears, making Eztli let out an excited cry before he clung to her tightly with his cheeks flushing in happiness.
Blinking, the tiger flipped his tail. "He make noises while being pet?" Admittedly he had only let himself be pet by Sabre and recently by this host but he had seen videos of some Extraspecies being pet and they often did do weird things. After some moments of thinking about it, he smirked mischievously. "So … any other charges do funny stuff while being pet? Sabre? Bratja? Tell me."
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With a solemn frown Dumisa slithered into the conference room looking annoyed and slightly wary. He detested the alpha b**** so much and now he would be stuck in the room talking with her. He heavily sighed, knowing that she was just going to be howling about how he should hurry up and return to continue procreating a powerful tribe, and she probably have political power to manage something, maybe even cut off his precious 20 year contract for what was left for the original 1 year. And all lamia's would support it. The more members the better. Dumisa's frown deepened, hissing in annoyance.
"Mr. Dumisa. The conference will start shortly." Longwei motioned to the disks on the floor in the middle of the room and stepped aside, positioning himself at the entrance of the room but aside Dumisa's way to let him take his place. "As you know and as stated by lamia protocol in concordance to the council's ruling, you will speak to your territory's leader. However, since you were away it seems your territory was taken over by new lamia leaders, which will be the ones to speak with you."
"Hmph. At last that top b**** was taken down." Dumisa miffed in annoyance before he watched the hologram pop up, revealing females. One a bit older than Dumisa himself and the one younger than him. Dumisa frowned in annoyance, not sure who the two woman were but they seemed vaguely familia. However, given the amount of Lamias he had f***ed in the past, he could have f***ed these ones too and just couldn't remember them.
The older lamia spoke first. She had long black hair in a straight cut and smiled quite candidly. "Hello Dumisa. It's been a long time since last time we saw each other. I'm happy to see you are well."
The younger one, who appeared more muscular and with shorter hair but still resembled the older one quite a lot, widely grinned in excitement as her tail flicked back and forth. "It's about time you took our calls! I was about ready to come over there and drag you back myself if you didn't pick up one of these days." She loudly laughed.
"And you are?" Dumisa asked with a raised brow of annoyance.
The older lamia blinked at him and then laughed melodiously while the younger one looked surprised and almost hurt. It was the older one whom spoke up. "Of course you wouldn't remember us, after all, last time you saw us Ashanti here was little more than a baby and you were a kid yourself." She then smiled at him once more. "That was before the territory was taken over and you were taken away."
"We are your sisters!" The younger one spoke, beaming. "My name is Ashanti, and she is Ebele. It's weird finally getting to see you, big bro. That b**** of an alpha never let me near you. Probably because she knew I'd kill her little political figures coming to take advantage of you so often." She grinned.
"Hm, interesting." Dumisa said, not sounding or looking very interested at all. "So, am I in trouble?" Dumisa asked with a bit of a cheeky smile.
"Why should you be?" Ebele, the older one asked. "This our first reunion in so many years and you first asks if you are in trouble?" Her smile then turned playfully smug. "Should you be?"
"Well, I bit my host, nearly killed her … and usually when I am contacted by the tribe, I'm in trouble for one reason or another, or someone is howling about how I must return and do my duty." He sighed.
"Nah, that's fine. If she dies you can just come back. Besides, Ebele here was a charge under contracts for a while and she bite someone too." Ashanti grinned. "Oh, hey! Want to hear how we took over the tribe?" She asked excitedly.
"Not really." Dumisa admitted with an aloof frown that went unnoticed by the energetic younger lamia that clearly held the position of a warrior type in the clan.
"It was amazing! We gathered up the whole family to come together and bring that venomous b**** down, and we even took over the surrounding tribes too! It took time, effort, and lots of bodies, but we finally did it! Now you belong to us, big brother. Isn't that great?" The Ashanti excitedly squealed.
"Fascinating." Dumisa said with a dead stare at the holograms. "And how did you two manage to take over the tribe?" He asked, knowing that the alpha, although old, was very strong and had many allies. Taking her down must have taken a lot of resources.
Without warning Ashanti was tackled over, surprising Dumisa before he saw a little lamia appear on the screen with a big and eager smile, her eyes glowing in excitement.
"Hey dad!" She excitedly shouted with a big blush on her face before she was pushed out of the way, replaced by a slightly older lamia, all while the older sister looked baffled before laughing.
"Hey, hey dad! Check this out, isn't it cool?" She asked, showing him a casket of lion bones. "I killed it myself!" She shouted before two girls knocked her asked, looking up at Dumisa excitedly.
"We're twins! Let's be friends, dad!" They shouted in unison before Anashti shoved them off.
"Get the hell out of here, you'll get your turn later!" She angrily shouted at them.
" … who else is there with you?" Dumisa asked with an uneasy frown. By family, did these two sisters mean that they went around and collected his offspring? His face paled in near horror, mortified to see the repercussions of the constant mating the previous alpha forced him to partake in.
Ebele pulled her long hair aside. "It's all the family … well, not everyone, we kinda stopped counting at around 836 girls and 1 boy. Some of them are in the room or outside." She then turned slightly more serious but never losing her warm smile. "That old snake clearly overused you, not only the tribe and the absorbed territories, but all her allies and the other favors … we know. Also she never let you see them even when you asked at first and neither did she let anyone related to you come even near." She then, fo the first time, allowed her smile to be replaced by a hateful gaze for a mere second. "We quite enjoyed it when we ripped her apart."
Ashanti then pushed the girls away and took the stage, placing her hands over her hips and sticking out her relatively flat chest in pride. "Yeah, the old snake screamed a lot if you wanted to know. Anyways, we gathered all the family and took over. Ebele here is quite good at thinking and you wouldn't believe it, but I'm quite a good warrior, so feel free to admire me."
" … it is not as though I intended for so many offspring. They were all political arrangements I had to entertain in exchange for their favors to one another. I never imagined there would be so many successful fertilizations." Dumisa admitted with a sadder frown than he intended, actually quite depressed. He never intended on being a father for those he mated with that were out of political favor. The fact that there were so many were very depressing to him. "And the young boy? What do you intend to do with him?" Dumisa asked with a sharper glare than intended, visibly shaking. Just the thought of them using him for the same things that he was used for … it was something that terrified him the most out of anything. Dumisa glared at the two holograms, waiting for an answer from them.
"Desta? He is fine. He was reunited with his sisters and is quite happy. He's about 15 in hooman years now." Ebele explained with a soft smile that twisted her lips somewhat. "I plan to hide him so other tribes don't come to bother him. I'll make sure no one dares to hurt any of my nieces or nephew, rest assured." She softly smiled in assurance. "I even think it might be good for him to go into the programs and learn more of the world." She dedicated a half smile to Dumisa accompanied by a knowing and secret wink to him. "I've been in a program too and I know that there are thing to learn."
"Are you kidding, Ebele? Why would we do that? It's obvious that we need to use him to make the family bigger. He even asked to start early, and boy is he insistent." Anashti said with an eager and excited grin. "We should take over more of the nearby tribes so he can get started right away, or at least start getting used to it. And, Dumisa, it will be so great! Once you get back from your contract you can teach him how to procreate right to make sure every girl gets fertilized. With the two of you together, our family will become so powerful that no one can stop us!" She eagerly laughed with a wide grin. "And the best part is that we won't even need to capture any male humans like those other stupid tribes. Ours will be sooo purebred compared to those others!" She excitedly chatted along while Ebele's eyes widened, casting a glance over at the younger sister in alarm.
Dumisa's expression twisted in immediate horror, feeling his blood run cold and his stomach churn. So that was what they wanted to talk about? To convince him to return and continue procreating, just like that other wretched alpha wanted to? The sheer horrific irony of being saved by his sisters only for them to want him to come back and continue procreating was so horrible of a prospect for him that he snickered. He shakily laughed before holding his gut, loudly barking up laughter of despair at his absolutely horrid situation. To be saved only to go right back to what he was doing before … he was so angry he could kill them if they were there in the room with him.
"Dumisa-," Ebele started before Dumisa angrily hissed, whipping his tail around before smashing the hologram devices with his tail, shaking while heavily breathing. He could never go back; if he did, he'd just be forced to resort to the same survival tactics as he had before.
Before Longwei, whom had been in the back of the room listening in his post as high operative, could do anything, Dumisa shot out of the room as fast as he could, slithering away towards where he could taste everyone's, especially the host's, scent more recent and strong.
The door to the room banged open once more, making Aleksey jump, roaring again to protect his cubs while the snake dashed inside and grabbed both the host and Eztli up into his arms, tightly squeezing them as he coiled himself up nice and tight in the corner of the room.
"Dumisa! Hola!" Eztli purred, enjoying the tight hug and trying to hug back but unable to do so thanks to the lamia's axphizating embrace.
"GAH!" Jackie shouted from the sudden tight hug of the serpent. She let out an achy groan, looking up at Dumisa as he tightly hugged them, slowing down his shaky breathing. Jeez, this was two charges on the verge of tears coming to get her. What in the world was going?
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Meanwhile, Kroc stepped into the conference room to see the devices smashed to pieces and a huffy dragon making some calls before seeing him.
"Excuse me Mr. Kroc, but your interview has been postponed due to technical difficulties." Longwei mentioned with a frown while stepping over the unusable pieces of tech. "However, I spoke with your nearest representative and it seems that one of the high australian representatives will contact you later tonight, so if you haven't been contacted by the traditional means of the rainbow serpent then do not be alarmed, it is quite normal."
"I'll be honest, mate. I don't really have a representative. Never heard of a rainbow serpent either." Kroc admitted. He was curious when they told him he would be speaking to a representative but he didn't actually have one - at least he didn't think so.
"You don't know?" The dragon studied Kroc for a moment, gauging his sincerity before exhaling some mist through his nostrils.
"Nah, mate. I spent most of my time in South Africa rather than Australia." He admitted with a shrug, not bothering to mention Ale was to blame for that.
"This is quite unusual." The dragon stepped aside, looking at Kroc. "Normally Extraspecies are held under the jurisdiction of their affiliated territory or a race representative. In some cases directly under a court too, however, Oceania has island divisions, the bigger one clearly being Australia, which it is divided by a mixture of races and territories in itself, all under the rainbow snake. She is one of the oldest surviving royal after all and a member of the original council even if not currently directly involved. She sometimes takes care of minor matters regarding the australian territory due to her abilities too; as for your own case, I am not sure who was the representative that was going to contact you given that the territory leader … well, with your father's death the territory is without a leader."
"True, mate." Kroc nodded, perplexed about that too. But, it didn't really matter. Kroc turned to leave, slipping out into the hallway. He cracked open his jaws, tasting the host's scent nearby. He might as well go and check on the sheela; a lot has happened to her so he was wondering how she was holding up. He walked over towards the room, opening the door and peeking inside.
At the sound of the door opening, Aleksey rose up once more, only to see the crocodile entering this time, thankfully not barging in and scaring the cubs. With a deep exhale he leaned down, twirling his tail and looking at the door as if expecting someone else, hopefully his mate, to come in next.
Kroc scanned the room, pausing as he spotted Dumisa tightly coiled around the host and Eztli. He cracked his jaws open, tasting the air and tasting something rather usual. He stared at the scene, seeing how tense the snake was around the host. He'd never be able to safely pry her out of that snake's clutches without hurting her. He let out a soft sigh before he left the room, only to return a few minutes later with a large heat lamp.
He walked over and sit it up over the distressed snake, turning it on before Kroc began to patiently wait for Dumisa's grasp to loosen up. After sensing that the snake wasn't loosening up, he merely crawled besides the heat of the host and charges and prepared to take nap with them for a bit.
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Jaska slowly walked through the halls of the snow lodge, admittedly feeling … empty. He felt emotionless after so many recent emotions, and that emotionless state weighed heavier on him than anything else. His uncle was right; he was pretty messed up in the head. He had done his best to keep it contained with the help of Ms. Smith but he broke under the pressure of his uncle; and now he had to face the consequences. Jaska let out an even heavier sigh, just imagining all the treatments and evaluations he'd have to go through to get through this. He was not looking forward to it but he knew it was necessary. He put it off for as long as possible so now he'd have to go through all that mental crap after his contract with the host.
Like the sad cat he was, he paced alone and quietly to the snowy terrace of the extra species's side of the compound, almost dragging his feet while getting out to lay in the cool snow. Not too long after, the sound of someone else coming out caught his attention.
"So you are here?" Longwei's voice softly spoke, barely getting the nervous tiger's attention.
"Da." Jaska spoke, glancing over at Longwei with his ears turned down, staring at the ground with a fairly empty gaze. After a few moments of silence the tiger turned towards Longwei, leaning in towards him before resting his head on Longwei's shoulder with a soft chuffing greeting. Jaska didn't really want to be alone at the moment.
"Jaska?" Longwei sounded surprised, but knowing Jaska for as long as he have, he knew exactly what to do and how bad the tiger was feeling. "Do you want a tea?"
"Da." Jaska said, looking rather dead to the world before Longwei turned tail and headed back to his room. Jaska silently followed, walking into the Chinese style V.I.P. room with hanging paper lamps that emitted soft light and walls decorated with some seasonal scrolls that he knew contained old lore and advices. He sat down, watching as Longwei pulled out some mixture of dried up leaves, flowers and bark, and slipped them into a small silk bag. The dragon then set it into a small pot, holding it with his red arm and bringing it to a boil quickly.
"Tell me, Jaska. What is troubling you?" Longwei asked, curious as his tail flicked back and forth. He knew of course many of what Jaska went through but he knew the tiger needed to say it outloud for himself.
"You hear from uncle what happen?" Jaska asked, glancing over at the dragon with a sad frown. Of course, that wasn't what was bothering him at the moment but it certainly was a big problem that needed to be addressed.
"Shi. " The dragon nodded. "You've been through much recently."
Jaska heavily sighed, looking at nothing in particular as he tried to get comfortable. " … you think less of me." Jaska stated with a firm frown, sealing his lips together tightly. He was tempted to go get a strong, stiff drink but knew that Longwei would not allow it given that there was probably only hooman alcohol around.
Longwei looked stern and then took a seat in front of Jaska before preparing his tea cup with a sprinkle of delicate spices. "I commend you for enduring so much. I do not like that you did not contact me or your uncle. I understand the situation, much more regarding the horrible hooman tactics to try and twist your mind; but it was unwise to remain hidden, regardless of reasons" Longwei exhaled some vapor. "Such fear can only cause pain, and pain you caused to your family. Not to mention some mistakes cant be erased and have consequences. "
" … da." Jaska softly muttered, his expression not changing in the least. "I … know. I know, it wrong. But I not bring self to even call. I … scared, embarrassed what they did. Mixing tiger gene with wolf gene is … very bad." Jaska admitted with a light shiver.
"Jaska … ," Mengyao Longwei put his cup down carefully and extended his red arm, placing his palm up. "A dragon of the northern ice shouldn't have a sunset fire dragon's arm either." He then pulled up his long sleeve to show the very clear cut where his red arm was attached to his bluish skin. "Do you know why I have this arm?"
Jaska fell silent, staring at the bright red arm in comparison to the rest of his Longwei's pale blue body. He always did wonder about that, thinking it was natural but now … now that he's bothered to bring it up, it made the tiger think that it was not natural at all.
"Uncle never tell, but I think I know." Jaska admitted, having gotten a rough idea of what happened due to his behavior. "Did hooman do that to you?" He asked, curious and hesitant. "No, rather, hooman make you lose original arm?" He asked. He and Aleksey had come up with lots of theories in the past but never had the balls to ask him directly since it was clear Longwei did not like to talk about it.
"It was worse." Longwei remained serious, his expression aloof as he refilled their cups of tea. "You probably heard about the cases where hoomans think some animal parts has some magic properties. Tiger bones? Some fish glands? Rabbit's feet?" The dragon made a pause to drink and swallowed hard. "Some hoomans managed to trick my family and captured us. We were not many but we gathered, and gathered we were captured. Small cages and many restraints to prevent change size of movement in general. The olders went first, organs, meat … everything. All harvested for the best buyer. Until only a cousin of mine, a sunset fire dragon, and I remained." He gazed into his cup before serving himself some more tea. "But they thought flesh should be fresh to be more effective and buyer wanted to see it was, so they arrange it. I lost my arm and Nikita came storming in, having followed the trail after so long and upholding the ancient pact bastet have with the dragons of the emerald sun. My cousin was barely alive when we got to him, but he, with his dying breath gave me his arm as replace. Nikita had the healers perform the attachment." He let out a cold huff that froze his tea in the cup, which he easily made it slide out of the container so he could chew the icy tea and take a moment to himself, always eyeing his arm. "My arm and I are all that remains of my line. This is one of the reasons why endangered Extraspecies never gather in large numbers."
Jaska stared at Longwei, finding himself speechless. " … I sorry." He apologized, glancing away. Jaska was being selfish acting this depressed when there were other Extraspecies out there in much worse conditions than he was. He had no idea that was where Longwei's hatred of hoomans stemmed from. He knew it had something to do with his arm but to think it was something as horrible as organ harvesting, or removing their body parts … he shuddered at the mere thought of it.
"You can be assured that though horrible the past may be, we are now here alive and relatively complete. And we have a debt to life to prevent this horrors from occurring again, but alas, you need to heal completely first, and the mind is harder to heal than the body in some cases." Longwei served the last of the tea in the cups. "Jaska, I think you should come back to Russia and receive treatment. I can arrange it to be immediate. I am sure I can cut off your contract so that you don't have to return with that hooman and wait for the contract to end."
"I … I not know." Jaska heavily sighed, running a paw over the top of his head. "I … like being charge." He admitted, lying on the table a bit as he tried to think things over. "After contract, da, I go back to Russia. But going back sooner?" Jaska muttered to himself in thought, considering it.
"I assume the company of other extra species has helped your psyche." Longwei exhaled some mist. "After all, wolves are pack creatures. But this hooman host is quite irregular, unapproved by the council, inexperienced and has caused more incidents than it would normally be allowed. To say this is highly irregular would be little. I trust you already know I will go asset this host's place?"
"So what you really plan to do … when, you go to host's house?" Jaska asked, curious and feeling uneasy.
"First and foremost I and Aleksey will ensure the environment is safe. I will also examine the hooman's behavior and ... put to the test her abilities as a host." Longwei allowed himself to smile, perhaps a bit too maliciously.
"And should host fail?" Jaska asked, sounding a little unnerved. He had better warn the host about this. She was a nice hooman; she really was. Too stupid to be malicious.
"She has already failed, I only need any small infringement. The punishments for this hooman, although heavy, will be meaningless in comparison to what we'll finally achieve regarding the bothersome contracts." Longwei said with a cheerful grin. "More tea?"
"No, I fine. Thank you. I going to go to sleep; it been long day." Jaska admitted with a soft sigh.
Longwei nodded and stood up to open up the door for him. "You are not alone Jaska, you are back with your family. And the council is here to protect you too. If you need it, I always have some tea."
Jaska nodded before leaving the room, heading down the hall as he began sniffing around trying to find the host's scent. He paused by a certain door, cracking it open and peeking inside before spotting the host resting on top of Dumisa and Eztli with Kroc laying against the side of the snake, all fast asleep. Jaska crept inside, careful not to wake the others before pausing as a certain scent hit his nose. He glanced over to the other side of the room, finding Aleksey sleeping with the little cubs in their basket. Jaska hesitated, knowing he should not go near the cubs, but he still walked as far away of the cubs as he could before he crawled up onto the snake's coils. He leaned over, gently shaking the host. "Host, wake up." He whispered.
She grumbled in her sleep, turning away from him as Eztli wrapped his arms around her, purring content as Jackie hid her face in the soft black fur. Jaska huffed, annoyed. So it didn't seem like the host was going to wake up soon. He flicked his tail around, trying to decide if he should wake her or not before letting out a sigh. He'd tell her tomorrow morning. She was too cute sleeping to disturb at the moment. Jaska arranged himself on the tight coils, resting his head against her side before he shut his eyes, slowly going to sleep comfortably amongst the other charges.
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After she had led Dumisa to his interview, Sabre had gone to make some calls and a plan started to form in her head. She knew she was in a very dangerous position and everyone would try to use her and her cubs one way or another, so she needed to act fast, and that included her settling things with the hooman coordinator.
With all her natural and trained abilities, Sabre stepped slid inside Smith's room. The coordinator wasn't there but this gave Sabre the chance to revise the security of the room and as she expected, the room was as safe as a safe room. Anything of what they spoke would remain secret.
Not long after, the door opened, and certain coordinator stepped inside. She paused in her steps, seeing Sabre in her room.
"Oh, hello Sabre. Did you come for a nice petting session?" Ms. Smith asked with a cheerful smile.
"If I wanted pet's I'd go to Jackie." Sabre immediately answered, puffing herself and knowing that Smith was even more dangerous than Jackie when it came to petting. "I'm here to talk business as you can probably guess. Nothing we say will get out of here, and I was never here."
"But of course. What would you like to talk about?" Smith asked as she calmly shut the door before taking a seat on her bed and patting the seat next to her, trying to entice the soft kitty closer.
"I'll start by informing you that I gained time." Sabre sat on the small sofa away from the bed and crossed her legs. "Nikita is going to allow all the charges to remain in Jackie's contract until the official time of it ends."
Smith's eyes widened a bit, surprised. She remained silent, blinking in confusion. "I can't say I'm not happy with that, but I understand you dislike somehow. Why would you do that?" Smith asked, genuinely confused before smiling. "Was it for Jackie's sake?"
Sabre of course would never admit how much she valued the host, it would be ammunition against her and the host. "For my own sake. And everyone's sake too. " The leopardess swayed her tail. "Are you aware that I … that my blood is royal?"
Smith's smile fell, becoming more serious. "And I suppose that would be thanks to the experiments done on you." Ms. Smith sighed. "You don't need to worry, Sabre. I will not speak a word of that to anyone." She promised with a gentle smile. "I'm really not as bad as you like to portray me as." She grinned.
Sabre let out a small growl as the tip of her tail curled. "And that's partly what I want to negotiate." She crossed her arms. "I had no idea how 'pure' the company managed to make my blood, but Nikita took a sample at some point while I was feral and he had it analyzed. The results are very surprising. A pure bastet, a royal one like it hadn't been in a while up to 90% pure I think." She groaned. "And apparently I have already been officially recognized by at least one court. The mermaids. You can start to imagine all the stir a sudden royal will cause, more so because bastet royales were supposedly extinct."
"So quickly?" Ms. Smith frowned. "Hm. And they don't find any of it suspicious?" Smith asked, sounding worried. "Who else knows that you are an experiment?"
"Only you, Aleksey and that stripped menace." She growled the last part. "And no, the mermaids are not suspicious because they have known all along that some bastet royals are still alive and hidden. It seems they have been in contact."
"Well, I suppose that works in your favor." She noted about the mermaids. "And Jackie? Is she aware?" She asked.
"I just told you only you, Aleksey and the stripped menace know." Sabre growled again, puffing and changing her position on the sofa. "And yes, that works in my favor if I wanted to be recognized, but that will draw attention to myself that I don't want. I'm sure by now many are planning on how to use this new little royal that wasn't raised by Extraspecies and surely will need to be guided and advised on everything. At the very least they will want me in their clutches, don't you think? I'm now a usable important political piece in many boards." She hissed.
"Well, I am glad you aren't letting this all go to your head." Ms. Smith smiled cheerfully.
"But yes, it is true. They would likely try to take advantage of you at every turn. My concern is what they will do to Aleksey." She frowned. "Being mated to a 'commoner' bastet won't go over well with them, even if he is family of the one Nikita Sviet." She warned. "So you need to make sure they understand that you are permanently mated to Aleksey."
"I know. But Aleksey is MY everything, and I'll do all I can and more to protect him and my cubs. " Sabre looked at Smith with determination. "But to achieve that I will have to get out of their reach."
"So? What do you propose?" Ms. Smith asked with a smile. "I do not want to take advantage of you like the other royals, Sabre. If there is something I can do to help you, then I will lend you my help. It would look amazing on the program to have you vocally support us, though." She teasingly grinned.
"I can't do that, at least not yet. If I say it outloud I'll look naive to the council, and if I don't support them, then I'll only hurt my own interest, so I first must ... establish my own power in any way I can to make a footing and prevent anyone's meddling."
"This is smart." Smith said with a gentle smile, anticipating what was coming next. "And I suppose you coming to me means that you need my help?"
"I don't have much Smith." She lowered her ears, but then perked up again. "However they can't predict how I'm going to act. And I also have WYLD, I made it myself and it has grown somewhat. Perhaps it's time we enhance the deal and supply all the programs that you have control over … or contact with. If this works your head might not be presented to Nikita in a plate."
" … I will see what I can do before I'm kicked off the top." Smith heavily sighed. "The higher ups aren't going to be happy that the council is so angry but I could feed some of my trusted employees the ideas for WYLD so they can get that in motion before I'm gone." Smith said with a sad smile.
"WYLD is more than money. It is also recognition of the general public, but that isn't enough." Sabre bit her lip. "I have an extra plan, I need you to pass the clause that allows Extraspecies to … settle and work here. I know that in your files there's the proposal of a clause that allows special economic zones. It's already presented and approved, it just needs to be implemented, and I have the perfect place in mind, and of course, I'll make sure the property is private."
"I suppose I could push that through as soon as I get back. And what place do you have in mind?" She asked with a curious smile.
For the first time in this secret meeting, Sabre smiled, smugly but happily. "You'll love the idea in general."
Smith blinked and then smiled.
Note to self: I love kitties.
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Once the negotiations with Smith were finished, Sabre headed back to her den with her little kittens inside. She lightly blushed, excited to return to her lovely mate before she opened the door and paused, looking over to see all of the charges piled up with Jackie sleeping in the middle. All of them. Sabre's eyes narrowed as she spotted Jaska, the stripped menage, resting peacefully besides the host, perfectly content and purring happily.
Quieting a growl, she began approaching slowly and silently. The stripped menace was a loose end she needed to take care of. He knew her secret and was a danger in every way to her. And why was he here, in the same room that her precious cubs as if nothing had happened before?!
She silently crawled up the side of Dumisa, peeking over the top at Jaska as her fangs barred. She really, really hated the stripped menace. It would be so easily to just kill him now and use the excuse that she went feral and couldn't control herself since he was in the same room as her precious fluffy jelly beans, and that would forever silence what he knew about her past too. Very quietly she reached over towards his neck, flexing her claws before pausing. Being a new mother herself, he would definitely believe that she just happened to go feral. But then again, Aleksey would be very sad to see Jaska dead. He already lost his brother once before and that almost destroyed him. Nikita also cared for the stripped danger and she needed the old tiger on her side too. But that wasn't everything, was it? Sabre held back a growl, reaching forward again to cut Jaska's jugular artery.
"Sabre?" Aleksey sleepily called out as she turned around, spotting Aleksey looking right at her. His eyes were sexily half lidded and he sleepily blinked, clearly not seeing the attempt at murder she was about to commit. "Sabre, come here. Don't join the others to sleep; I want to cuddle with mate." Aleksey asked with a soft purr in his chest, smiling with an innocent happiness.
Quite casually, instead of dealing a fatal blow to Jaska, Sabre grabbed the host as if it was her intention all along and pulled her out of the pile to carry her to her corner where Aleksey awaited. She dropped the host carefully at the side and accommodated besides Aleksey, bumping noses and rubbing her chin over him before giving him a few licks, cuddling against him.
Jackie sleepily mumbled, rubbing her eyes and sleepily glanced around at the new furry bed curled around her so instead of staying up for long, the host went right back into a blissful sleep, not even noticing the fluffy tail hitting her face.
"I love you, Sabre." Aleksey softly whispered before kissing her on the lips, surprising her at the gesture. Aleksey paused, pulling back. "What wrong? I thought you like human kisses." He teased, gently licking her cheek instead.
Sabre blinked, her blush deepening as she quietly assaulted Aleksey with a french kiss.
Aleksey smiled, kissing her more deeply before kissing her forehead. Sabre kissed his neck, noticing his lack in kissing before glancing up at him, seeing him looking over at Jaska sleeping soundly on top of the snake.
" 'leksey? Is something the matter?" Sabre placed her hand over his and leaned her body to share more warmth, her tail curling over his while the host slept peacefully underneath of Sabre.
" … I very worried, Sabre." Aleksey admitted, nuzzling back against her with a frown. "I very worried about Jaska." He admitted with a sad frown, twitching his tail back and forth. "I so worry, I wonder if I get stomach ulcer." He softly chuckled but it was a strained and forced laugh.
"Why are you worried?" Sabre carefully asked, not wanting to show her real animosity or share the opinion that the stripped danger could go die out for all she cared.
"I very worried for mental state. I so worried he turn permanent feral. Lost brother once, I no want to lose brother again." Aleksey admitted with a firm frown, his paws slightly trembling. "I so scared to lose brother again." He whispered, nuzzled against her as he slowed down his breathing to remain calm.
Sabre nuzzled back but remained quiet for a bit, admittedly uncomfortable. "Nikita is going to take care of him."
"Uncle can be … harsh. But even he know how dangerous wolf DNA with cat DNA is. He has fight both wolves and bastet and know how different are instincts for them. Jaska can turn permanent feral if not careful, uncle know that. I not help but be scared for Jaska. Messing with mental state much more dangerous than physical. He much worse off than me." Aleksey noted sadly, kissing her ear as he held her closer and nuzzled her gently.
Sabre nuzzled back again and gave a light kiss to his chipped ear, eyeing his wounds and carefully hugging him. "Aleksey … I know how much you care for that cat, hell, it was the reason why you went to the company and why we met each other, but … ," she took a deep breath. " … But he never showed such same dedication. Even when he learned that you were … well, dead as I thought it, he didn't show any signs of caring. He was merely happy into working for Smith and getting away from Nikita. Just that. Maybe … maybe he was mental since then."
Aleksey softly chuckled. "Jaska very quiet with emotions. He no like to say aloud how he feel. That why you get him drunk if you want to hear emotions." Aleksey teased with a grin. "Should have seen when younger, we steal uncle's good vodka, have little party. He cry like newborn kitten." He lightly laughed.
"Drunk, huh?" Sabre flickered her ears, clearly remembering how Jaska had practically vomited a bunch of 'emotions' after getting drunk with that skull bottle of vodka. "He just seemed unstable from the start."
"Da, that your good instincts. Even if you no realize exactly what, you notice something off. That is a very good, mate." He purred, licking her forehead. "While I gone, Sabre, try make nice. Please?" Aleksey asked with big kitten-like eyes.
"Nuuuh." She whined. "I want nothing to do with that stripped menace, Aleksey. You don't know how much … I just don't want him near. He is a danger."
"I understand, Sabre. But I love you both; you no have to love, but maybe tolerate? … but, da, keep away from babies. I no want him by them." He smiled with a small innocent kitty smile.
Sabre's eyes widened and her mouth was left agape at Aleksey's words. He didn't want the menace near her cubs? She of course didn't want so either, but he neither?
"Da, I love brother … but he unstable and I can't risk our cubs or you. Even if I ask to get along if needed." He then relaxed his expression and pulled the host closer along with Sabre. "I spoke long with host. I promise I give hooman chance and I did. She not seem as bad. So… please not be so murderous to bratja?" He winked while smiled, and before she could say anything, he kissed her deeply, hooman style.
Sabre deeply blushed, drunk off of the love of her mate. " … fine." She muttered, kissing him back in return before nuzzling against his chest, purring contently.
"Good. When I go to New York tomorrow, I make sure all is safe for kittens and make sure host is good host. But for now, I want you, mate. I without you for too long." Aleksey purred, pulling Sabre in for a deep kiss before rolling away from the host, situating Sabre on top of his stomach and chest while he kissed up her neck, determined to hold through the pain. He wanted her badly.
"´Leksey … ," Sabre moaned, munching on the fluff of his neck and letting her leg slide at the sides of his hips as she began rubbing herself on him.
Sabre pressed a gently paw against his chest, feeling his peck unknowing against a sensitive wound. Aleksey let out a pained groan, tipping his head back slightly and gritting his teeth at the painful touch and her weight over him.
Sabre gave him a slightly too hard bite and upon hearing his small pained groan, she rolled off him and almost over Jackie. "Aleksey? Are you alright?"
" … da?" He barely croaked out, annoyed at himself for not even having enough energy to properly satisfy his mate. "Let us continue." Aleksey said, trying to lean over her as he nuzzled her cheek, clearly struggling.
Sabre placed her hand on his face. "No. You need to heal first." She admonished with a worried look. "We'll do all and more once you are fine." Sabre smiled, giving him a quick kiss over the nose.
Aleksey heavily sighed, disappointed before he nuzzled her lovingly, falling asleep in the embrace of his beloved mate, not even caring about the hooman at their side.
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Surprise, we put it out early bc of Chaos's nagging. 10 REVIEWS PER CHAPTER for the next chapter, enjoy! :D Happy Halloween everyone!
Chaos-Dark-Lord: Yeah, I nagged about releasing this too :P
And know you know why Longwei has a red arm and hates hoomans or what happened to Jaska's parents. What do you think about Aleksey now that he got some time to interact with Jackie?
Anyways, I started my PHD/Doctorate, yay, less time for me XD but we are still making progress in everything. I thank for the idea about the twitter, although I don't know how we can implement it given that neither Peeko or I use twitter. But we'll see later, for now we'll keep advancing on the game and the story :3
I would wish you happy halloween but I celebrate day of the dead, so may your ancestors be proud of you!