Tripped
"Welcome home, Master Victor Nikiforov!"
The warm and eager welcome startled Yuri, left him bewildered in fact.
The travels back to the Colbran planet was long and tedious; a numbly anxious and distraught Yuri didn't bother to take in the sights of the voyage and didn't care where or what his new owner's place looked like. No, not until a lineup of young girls called out in unison to their Master at the foyer of Victor' impressive, gothic-inspired estate.
The lineup consisted of three girls exactly all dressed in identical, modest, long sleeved, tea length dresses save for the color. Yuri figured the different colors were probably a good thing when he quickly realized the girls were triplets. All of whom were petite with round faces, around eighteen, with pulled up brown hair, healthy skin and brown eyes. One was in purple with pigtails, one was in pink with a braid, and the last one was in blue with a bun.
"Girls this is Yuri Katsuki, please introduce yourselves and take care of him," Victor ordered in a monotone as he handed his jacket to one in purple. "Once ready, show him to the kitchen."
"Yes, sir!" The girls chorused with no care in the world.
'What the? What's with this place?' Yuri wondered.
The girls flitted around and began to push Yuri to go along with them.
"This way, this way," Purple coaxed.
"Let's go, let's go," Pink encouraged.
"He's dirty," Blue added bluntly.
"Hold on, s-stop pulling!" Yuri blurted.
The girls giggled, save the one in blue, and each of the girls continued through a nearby corridor and down a hallway until they had reached what Yuri assumed to be slave quarters.
The quarters were far from the foyer to the right, downstairs, in the basement. The room had a low ceiling, with wood floors and several beds.
"We all share, it's just the three of us, well now four. We are always busy since Master Nikiforov has never bothered to have a ton of bodies running around but you'll like it here," Purple spoke in such cheeriness Yuri was just beside himself in surprise.
"H-how can you be so happy? As slaves no less?"
Purple just shrugged. "It is how we are treated that matters. The name is Axel, my sisters are Loop and Lutz," she introduced by pointing to the pink and blue dressed sisters respectively. "If you like to refer to our uniform colors go ahead. Master Nikiforov does all the time."
"Who on Earth named you?" Yuri deadpanned.
"Whoopsie daisy!" Axel Purple pushed Yuri clothes and all into a sudsy bath Loop Pink and Lutz Blue had prepared.
"O-Oi! What was that for?" Yuri sputtered while getting the soap out of his eyes.
"To answer your question, no one on Earth did, silly." Loop Pink giggled.
"Your filthy, this takes care of you and the laundry at the same time," Lutz Blue added dryly.
"Still though, what the heck? Plus, it's a saying. I know Earth is long gone, I have read about it in my books back home."
The girls hushed, gathered and knelt around the tub eagerly, almost simultaneously.
"W-What now?" Yuri stuttered out of surprise.
"You? You can read?" Loop Pink asked with widened eyes.
"Yeah...my father, who adopted me, kept all kinds of books, very old books."
"That's exciting," Axel Purple whispered, barely able to keep her excitement under control. "Tell us what you know, okay?"
"S-Sure. I guess." Yuri stammered, surprised the girls couldn't.
Axel let out a squeal, got up and helped with Yuri's hair despite his protests and began to ask him a barrage of questions. The bath water was long cold before Ms. Purple let Yuri out.
"Sorry, Yuri," Axel apologized. "Here, take this towel. We will leave out some new clothes on your bed we had prepared for your arrival and give you some privacy. Hang up your wet things over the tub and meet us back upstairs when you are ready. Please quick about it though, we have to prepare dinner soon. Master Nikiforov is known to be surprisingly patient, but any master will have their limits."
Yuri followed the instructions, but by the time Yuri was ready the girls were long gone. The color began to drain from his face the moment he laid eyes on the garments. On his bed, was a dress. Crimson, it was the same style as the girls' uniform complete with underpinnings, black stockings and shoes.
"Is this a fucking joke?" Yuri muttered. "How the hell did they even know my size? Do I even look like I have girl's fee- bloody hell?"
The shoes fit. Much to Yuri's dismay. He had always been teased about looking like a girl with, supposedly, a girl's name to boot. Yuri figured the triplet's may have mistaken him for a girl like Christophe had, but figured clothes were better than no clothes. It wasn't like he had any choice and he was shivering like mad. Once changed, Yuri left and met with the girls once upstairs.
"Aw, you look so cute, Yuri!" Axel and Loop squealed in delight, taking each other's hands while big smiles graced their features and Lutz stood apart, vacant with folded arms.
"Sorry, but my sisters are rather dense," Ms. Blue bluntly remarked.
"Aw," Axel complained, "Yuri looks cute admit it!"
Lutz rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Yuri is a boy, dimwits."
Axel and Loop's faces became those of surprise, they silently looked at each other and looked at Yuri up and down once more. Yuri was beet red by the time he was up the stairs and he could only guess how much redder when the ignorant sisters finally realized their mistake.
"So. Cute!" The two cried before they both pounced and squeezed Yuri in a big hug, never minding the young man's protesting.
"Aw, not like we could help it anyway," Ms. Purple shrugged. "Sir Christophe and Master Nikiforov were the only boys we had around here until now. It's not like we had anything else to give Yuri to wear."
"Yeah, it looks good on Yuri anyway. I'm sure the Master will like it, no?" Loop continued to justify with a mischievous smile.
Yuri pushed the two eager sisters off. "And what do you mean by that? Your 'Master' couldn't tell you I was a boy? What, is he some kind of perv?"
The sisters rushed and clamped a hand on Yuri's mouth or shoulders. "Shush," Axel warned firmly. The sisters all had scary faces complete with dim-lit eyes.
"Don't let him hear that. We owe Master a lot."
"Surely he has made a deal with you too. That's why you are here, no?"
"Silence, newbie."
'A deal huh...Yuuko…' Yuri bit his lip.
Thinking about such things as well as Yuuko, caused Yuri's eyes to well up with tears. Sensing the mood, the sisters, save for the emotionally detached Lutz, hugged the newcomer with sympathy.
"I bet you miss your family too," Axel soothed in a low tone just above a whisper.
There was a lingering pause. Yuri felt dull and and unsure, but nodded.
"Come, let's get busy," Loop piped up eventually. "Perhaps we can ask Master Nikiforov for more appropriate clothes, no? Sorry, if we embarrassed you," she added, taking a step back to turn away and get to work.
Touched by their words, Yuri nodded and silently followed the sisters.
"We clean as the rooms are needed," Axel Purple explained. "Master Nikiforov is not one who needs the whole place cleaned at all times. We have worked under two other masters before him and let me tell you, he is by far the most laid back we ever had."
"Quiet, Sis, I hate for you to get in trouble," Ms. Pink warned. "We do not want to make the Master appear something he is not."
"Indeed," Lutz confirmed with a nod.
"Yes, yes," Axel sighed. "Here we are! The kitchen. Lucky for us, Yuri, we hardly need to worry about preparing a lot of meals unless the Master has a rare party."
The kitchen was black with stainless steel counters. There were fresh ingredients and produce everywhere, definitely more food Yuri felt one person could possibly need in a lifetime.
"All right ladies -er- and gentleman, listen up. It's the middle of the week and Master Nikiforov expects his typical dishes. Let's get to it!" Ms. Purple encouraged.
"Er...I don't know how to really cook, it's not like I had a lot to work with," Yuri confessed feeling inexplicably awkward.
"That's fine," Axel shrugged with a grin. "Grab ingredients as we need them, it will help you get acquainted with the area."
"Sis! We are out of chives!" Just as Loop declared this fact a bell tone went off. It was for a pager phone and Yuri stood there impressed when a little screen on the wall by the kitchen door appeared, but he became irritated when the image was Victor himself.
"Sir," said Axel, and her sisters dropped what they were doing, lined up straight and stood at attention with their hands at their sides.
"Ms. Purple, I need you and Mr. Katsuki to go into the city. I have several, heavy boxed items at Dulea's Keep. I need you two to go and pick up for me. Get whatever food you may need for dinner too while you out."
'Well that was uncanny,' Yuri thought, about the chives right quick.
"Yes, sir," Axel replied while Yuri kept quiet. "Yuri," she hissed under her breath.
Yuri cursed under his breath and strode over to stand beside Lutz to face the screen. "Yes...sir," he replied flatly, trying to hide any disdain for the sisters' sake.
"Mr. Katsuki, when you're back, come to my study alone please with the parcels," Victor ordered.
'Oh great, that's what I need right now.' Yuri berated in thought.
Lutz poked Yuri's side swiftly.
"Er- Y-Yes sir."
The screen dimmed and turned itself off. The instant it did, Yuri felt a tug on his right ear.
"Come on then, sour puss, let's go. Sisters, get what you can ready or finish our other chores while we are gone."
"Ow, ow, ow, like hell I'm going out in this dress dammit!" Yuri cried.
"Tough," Axel replied after letting go once they were out in the hallway. "Once we have permission make do with what you have. Come on, this errand is really irregular so let's get going so we can get back on schedule. We servants have an old vehicle we can use to carry those items back here, but clearly you are coming with me to do some heavy lifting."
"Wait, did you say vehicle?" Yuri questioned in genuine curiosity.
Ms. Purple kept walking and briefly looked over her shoulder towards Yuri and smirked. "Oh yes, what, did you think we would walk? This isn't the Alborja moon anymore, Yuri. You are about to see some amazing things. For now, and lucky for us, Dulea's Keep is located not terribly far from this estate. It's one of the many postal, or mail, hubs of the Capitol."
"B-But how does he trust us to go out?" Yuri stammered.
She put her hands on her hips. "Simple, Colbran Nobles have their means. Trust me, it's nice to not see him angry. I've seen other Masters angry; it ain't pretty."
"We humans didn't have chance in hell did we?" Yuri muttered.
The ride to Dulea's Keep was but a twenty-minute drive. Axel and Yuri had no time for real sightseeing, regardless, Yuri found himself in awe by the roads paved with blue-tinted stone, driven on by a grand multitude of speedy vehicles of different shapes and sizes. As they approached the outskirts of the Capitol there were even more vehicles and various sized buildings to behold. Some had flashy lit signs while other signs were simple, or artistically painted.
Dulea's Keep itself was a two-story building with a brick wall exterior all painted green while the interior's floor, walls and counters gleamed a shiny bronze. The place was full of busy bodies sorting and reorganizing; a fellow human dressed in tan and light blue greeted them at the door and showed them a dozen or so boxes ready to be taken. It was a tight fit back home, needless to say when the transportation was small already, but they managed.
"Whew, okay, Yuri, we made it. I'll help you carry them one at a time to the outside of the study, but from there Master Nikiforov wanted to speak with you alone."
"How could I forget? As if I want to be alone with that weirdo," Yuri muttered to himself.
"What was that?" Axel shot back.
"N-Nothing! Just, ready to help," Yuri was flustered and conceded with a nod.
Ms. Purple put her hands on her hips. "Good."
'Sheesh. Am I sure she isn't the slave driver around here?' Yuri deadpanned to himself.
After several trips all the boxes were stacked close to the wall nearby the study out in the hallway.
"All right. Done. Okay. Quick trip for water and then I got to check up on the girls and you need to finish this task. Got it?"
Yuri nodded while deep down became increasingly anxious.
'I don't know what's worse. Me in a dress or showing another male I am in a dress,' Yuri dreaded, lost in his own thoughts.
After some quick refreshment, Axel waved good-bye and headed off.
Once she had gone, Yuri found himself staring at the ominously tall, black door which led to Victor's study.
"To hell with it," Yuri muttered while mustering up his resolve to go in despite a thudding heartbeat. "The sooner I'm in the quicker I can be dismissed.
With a shaky fist, Yuri knocked on the door to be allowed into the one place he'd sooner die.
Notes:
The triplets are the best, no? lol
Dress inspired by best girl and maid in Black Butler
Love to hear your feedback! :D
