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diddlesanddoodles · 7 years

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Mercy (G/T, human pets, hurt/comfort.)

SIDE STORY TO BITTER LEMONS MAKE.

You don’t need to read it to enjoy this story, but it will give some context.

Picture of Tommy and Evrik.

The room was the equivalent size of a school gymnasium, high bare ceilings exposing the metal structural beams that held bright white lights, and giving the floor a sense of sterile control. There were rows of plastic tubs, square and deep, sitting atop small metal carts and arranged in a grid pattern that ate up the majority of the floor space, looking not unlike a hospital’s nursery ward. Towards the entrance was a long table where an intern and two volunteers enthusiastically greeted people as they came inside, politely asking if they were registered. If the affirmative, and after confirming their names on their lists, they were given a brightly colored sticker to wear upon their person that marked them as being eligible to adopt from the event while those without a sticker were merely there for the novelty of viewing the wares on display.

The wares being Humans beings.

All the potential adopters and casual voyeurs alike were Feirgian. Beings who were very similar to the humans in the tubs save for a few key differences such as the large pointed ears, long sharp canines, and the fact they averaged 26 feet.

Each plastic tub, made of cloudy plastic, held a single human. Save for the largest of the tubs which was closer to the front and pushed along the side wall. This container held several of the younger humans, children, and of the domesticated variety. Dressed in plain matching cotton coverings, the children were all bouncing and calling as giants passed by. They were not shy in the least and were begging for affection from the all too willing Feirgians who gladly petted and stoked the smaller creatures.

Along the far back wall and nearly wholly neglected by most of the events attendees were the wild humans. A total of five, all fairly young, and mostly in a dour moods. Most of them were curled up in their blankets, one was sleeping, and another was nervously pacing. There was a young blue haired woman, covered in colorful tattoos, who stood close to the edge of her confinement, trying to see outside the clouded plastic or above the rim to watch the giants. When she pulled herself over the rim to see better, their handler came by and shooed her back inside with a mildly scornful frown.

“You have to stay inside, Claire,” Jarden told her, but there was no heat to his tone.

“I was just looking,” the woman replied dejectedly. “It’s dull as crap just sitting here. And I honestly might start ripping this blanket apart. Just to have something to do.”

“It’s just nervous energy,” he told her.

“Giving it a name doesn’t help get rid of it,” she replied. To which Jarden only shrugged.

“The doors just opened,” he said, raising his voice so all five of them could hear. “Have a little patience.”

Tommy wanted to say something snippy, something nasty, but he stopped himself. He had all but bold faced lied to get to this point, having scrapped through his evaluation by biting back every yell and curse word that bubbled up from his throat. The pretense of the whole ordeal was nearly lost when, during his evaluation, Dr. Weis declared that he would have to have two vaccinations. Unlike Astrid, having been seen before him, who did not need any. They had been unexpectedly painful. It was not as though he was not accustom to pain. He played high school football, he got knocked down constantly. He had broken both arms by the time he was ten and had several dentists visits under his belt, one of which included getting a palatal injection that honestly felt as though the needle had penetrated up into his brain. But those vaccinations had been an entire new level of discomfort. Whatever the serum inside actually was, Tommy was inclined to believe it was some kind of carbonated beverage for the way his arms and back felt after both. His skin quivered oddly and there was incredible heat and everything just below the skin at the injection site felt like it was bubbling. The pain lasted for a good five minutes and left him sore and irritable and he almost forgot to play the part of meek, obedient pet. But the giant doctor declared he was suitable to be adopted all the same and he then spent three days cooling his heels in a room with several other humans under the guise of quarantine.

Even now he had the very real fear that he was more likely to start yelling furiously at the first potential adopter to come near him than keep up his charade of the docile animal. Far more terrified than he had even been in his life, Tommy was pressed up to the back corner of his container, blanket folded neatly into a cushion under him, and he starred out at seemingly nothing. The clouded plastic material of his confinement allowed for him to see vague blobs that were the Feirgains milling about in and amongst the various other tubs that held the domestic humans, who seemed much more popular than the wild variety.

He was not entirely ungrateful for that. Even though his goal was to be adopted, it was more out a sense of self preservation than any real desire to degrade himself to nothing better than a lap dog. The whispered warnings had decided him. There were only three options for a wild human. Adoption, sanctuaries, or the zoo. Jarden had told them that sanctuaries were currently on a freeze and would not accept any more humans save for the sick or elderly as they were sustained almost wholly on visitor donations and as of late, visitor rates had dropped to a decade low and they were in a bit of a crisis. So any young or healthy human would either be adopted or sent to a zoo. The zoo had an unfortunate reputation and after hearing only a small bit of the supposed conditions, Tommy was desperate to be adopted. And so he found himself in a plastic tub. In a gym. In a strange world, a strange city, and surrounded by giants and waited for one of them to pick him.

It was enough to make him cry.

“You’re not looking too good there, little guy,” said a voice from above him and Tommy jerked to attention, not having noticed someone walk up. A Feirgian man was standing over his container, looking down at him with a mild mixed expression of curiosity and concern. “Need me to get one of the workers?”

“No, no. I’m fine,” Tommy managed to blurt out with more assertion than he intended, revealing his answer for the bold faced lie it was.

“You’re paler than milk,” the giant retorted, resting his arm on the lip of the container. “...and shaking.”

“I’m fine. I mean...I’ll be fine,” Tommy amended. “I’ll be fine.”

The giant glanced around briefly and said, “This all a little overwhelming for you, is it?”

Tommy could not catch himself and he snorted. “Oh, you have no idea, buddy. Overwhelming doesn’t begin to cover...” He stopped himself and let the angry snarling of his expression fall back into placid neutrality. “I mean...yeah. It’s...a lot.”

“Don’t feel obligated to censor yourself on my account,” the giant replied with the faint hint of a smile. “Might make you feel better to get it all out. Say it out loud. Does wonders for me.”

The human allowed his mask fall and he regarded the being before him with a pointed look.

“Trust me, you don’t wanna hear the shit-er, I mean, stuff that I have rattling around in my head right now,” he said.

“Try me,” dared the Feirgian in reply, smirking. “I might surprise you.”

He studied the giant for a moment with a critical eye, trying to gauge the seriousness of the challenge, and he decided if this big guy really wanted to know what he thought...well, he did ask for it. With a fortifying breath, Tommy began his tirade on the state of things from his view. How absolutely stupid it was that humans, particular wild humans, were immediately trapped, stripped of their humanity, and sold for profit directly after experiencing easily the most traumatic moment of their lives. If anyone thought being pulled through time and space by a cosmic hissy fit was pleasant, he suggested they find someone large and pay them five bucks to sucker punch them in the chest. Then they might have some semblance of understanding of what the true experience was like. Then have them stripped of all personal possessions, - “...down to you’re freaking tighty whities!” - and told to behave so you can be adopted or you might go to the zoo. Where apparently, people routinely commit suicide due to severe depression or out of desperation to escape crushing the monotony of a rigorously controlled existence where your one purpose is to parade around for the enjoyment of paying tourists and then breed so the resulting babies can be taken away and raised by giants and then sold as pets.

“And then of course,” Tommy continued on heatedly. “On top of all that fresh level of hell, you’ll never see your family again. I’m Italian. You know how big my family is? I have twenty cousins, buddy. Twenty! And they’re all gonna think some serial killer murdered me, hauled off my bloody corpse, and stuffed me in the woods somewhere so some hiker can find my bones thirty years later. My Mom will be wearing black for the rest of her life! And here I am, trying to be patient while some giant without any real understanding of what the fuck I am going through strolls in and decides I’d make a good lap dog because they like the color of my hair or because maybe I look like the pet human they had growing up and give me a stupid new name like Fluffy or Bosco or something stupid like that. I am not a pet, dammit. I am a person!”

He ended his ranting, out of breath and panting, and it was after a quiet moment that he realized his cheeks were streaked with tears. His breathing wavered as he scrubbed viciously at his face to wipe away the offending moisture, equal parts mortified and relieved. The giant had not been wrong, it felt amazing to say it out loud, but the relief was brief as the new fear of the giant’s reaction took hold.

Staring up at the Feirgan, Tommy could not tell what his expression was. Astonished? Mad? Offended? Would he tell Jarden of his ranting? Had Jarden heard? Would they void his approval and send him to the zoo? Had he just screwed himself over? Oh god, oh god...oh god!

“I admit,” said the giant at last, not sounding at all offended, but rather he seemed bewildered. “That I never even considered how wild humans felt about it all.” He stared thoughtfully, brows furrowing. “Or that I have ever given any of it much consideration. Humans I mean.” The Feirgian was silent for a few more moments before turning his eyes back to Tommy, who for his part was waiting with bated breath and slightly trembling. “What’s you’re name?”

“Thomas Contini,” he replied flatly. “B-but I go by Tommy.”

“I am sorry for your loss, Tommy,” the giant said gently. “I don’t know how much value there is in saying it, but...I am sorry.”

Even after the giant had gone, Tommy was left feeling oddly empty yet...content. Such a simple phrase, often meaningless in the face of such calamity and tragedy. But somehow, it felt sincere. A feeling of calm washed over him then and for the first time since coming to this world, he was able to sleep soundly and without nightmares.

He awoke about half an hour later to a Feirgian lady cooing at him and he was able to bare the indignity of it better than he thought he would. Thankfully, the woman seemed to lose interest in him pretty quickly and outwardly exclaimed her delight upon spotting Claire, with her brightly colored hair and tattoos.

Poor Claire.

Another group of giants passed by, all wanting to touch and pet him and though it made his stomach squirm and roil with indignation and moritfication, he allowed it. But in his head, he was cursing at them all. After what seemed like a solid hour of nonstop petting and general molestation by the curious giants, there was a lull and Tommy was able to catch his breath. He tried to arrange his hair back into something that might generously be called neat. Then he looked around to take stock and felt a start when he did not see the vague shaped blog that was Astrid inside the container to his right. A pang of guilt and sorrow hit him to realize she was gone. She had fallen into this world with him, just a little kid. With bright eyes and freckles and entirely innocent. He prayed silently that whoever it was that picked her out to be their pet would treat her well.

But he did not have much time to grieve as Jarden was suddenly at the edge of his container, grinning like mad. “Congratulations, Tommy.”

The boy blinked up at the dark skinned Ferigian. “What?”

“You got adopted.”

His mouth fell open and he visibly paled. “Wha...uh, but I...huh?”

“Vinya just gave me the confirmation papers,” Jarden said, clearly ecstatic. “Someone’s taking you home.”

Tommy immediately tried to recall every face that had come by to bug him and who might have showed enough interest to consider adopting him. His closest guesstimation was a young Feirgian woman who had enough audacity to actually pick him up and hold him. He had been far too shocked to do anything and perhaps she had interpreted this as him liking her. She had smelled strongly of perfume and was overly affectionate and did not say a blip of English to him during the entire encounter, only cooing at him in Feirgish.

His stomach felt as though he had swallowed a lead bowling ball. Oh god, he’d been adopted by Elmyra from Tiny Toons! He could just imagine the woman saying, “I’m gonna hug you and kiss you and love you forever and never let you go!”

If she could speak English at all, that is…

“This is a good thing, Tommy,” Jarden said, breaking the boy from his stupor. “I promise. You’re going to be fine, kiddo.”

Tommy could only nod absently even as Jarden reached down to gather him up. Everything else was a blur as they passed the grid of other tubs, some of them now empty. The front entrance was crowded with people and the volunteers were bringing various humans up to the intern who was busy doing something. The intern would call something out and a Feirgian would step up and be handed a bag and then a human. Tommy noticed a lot of the Feirgians were leaving with children and though he did look, he did not see Astrid. But he did see Elmyra. Standing amongst the throngs of people milling about and waiting, ostensibly to collect their new pets.

Tommy wished he were anywhere else.

Jarden walked up to the table where the intern was saying something to a Feirgian couple who were walking away with one of the domestic humans, an adult woman who seemed perfectly pleasantly peachy to be going home with them. The intern, a sandy blond haired woman with brown eyes, turned to Jarden and said something in a chipper voice. She turned and called out something that sounded like it might have been a name, but Tommy felt numb to it all and he did not catch it. His eyes were trained on Elmyra, waiting with his heart in his throat and wondering how the hell he was going to live with this woman…

But she did not move.

Instead, someone else eased out between the crowd with mutterings of apologies and made their way to the table. It was the Feirgian gentleman that Tommy had ranted to earlier in the day. He was on the taller side as Feirgians went, with a lean build, and a face that was only just starting to show his age though his hair was already streaked with gray. He wore a maroon sweater and brown slacks, a long black coat folded over his arm.

And Tommy was at an incredible loss as to how to feel. Even when their eyes met and the giant flashed a small smile, Tommy detected a hint of something else. Something in the man’s eyes. There wasn’t any of the anxious excited energy like the other giants picking up their new pets. He seemed rather...subdued. And it worried Tommy.

A lot.

“Evrik Viteur?” asked the intern as the Feirgian reached the desk. “Wetrim hect geir vos?”

“Jen,” replied the giant, pulling out a folded piece of paper from the pocket of his trousers and handing it to the intern. He silently put his long black coat on.

“Vank suden,” the intern read over the paper before turning to Jarden with a smile. “Ah! Jarden, hos ternum va?”

“Je’,” replied Jarden with a satisfied grin.

There was no sound to the world all of a sudden. People moved their mouths as they spoke above him in Feirgish, but Tommy couldn’t hear it. The only sound that penetrated the haze of panic was the hectic thumping of his own heart.

This was it. The moment. Papers were traded again between the Feirgian man – his owner – and the intern. He said something to Jarden and Tommy felt more than heard the giant’s reply in the form of the vibrations of his chest as he spoke.

He’d been adopted. His humanity was stripped away. He was a pet. Owned. Property. A thing. Having thought of this moment over the course of the last several days to an extent that came close to monomania, Tommy was surprised that he felt more sorrow than anger or fear. He would miss being seen as a person. As an equal to those around him. More than he ever thought he would before this whole mess. It was all he could do to keep from sobbing.

“Tommy,” Jarden said and he was broken from the noiseless maze of his mind. Sound returned with a vengeance and everything seemed far too loud now. He looked up at Jarden with wild eyes.

“H-huh?” he stammered.

“I said good luck,” the giant replied quietly with a smile and then his hands were pulling Tommy away from him, holding him out into the world. Tommy felt blind and naked and vulnerable in those outstretched hands. Like a new born calf, unsteady, confused, and filled with the instinctive yearning for his mother. “I want to thank you again, Mr. Viteur. I’m happy to see Tommy go to a good home.”

Mr. Viteur inclined his head slightly, his enigmatic smile never wavering and his hands came to take Tommy. “I am happy to provide him with one.”

The moment the unfamiliar giant’s fingers touched him, Tommy shuddered involuntarily and could not meet his eye. Tucked up against the thick wool of the black coat and cradled by one of his owner’s arms, Tommy was lost to the world once more as he retreated into himself. The intern handed a large plastic bag, the logo of the adoption agency plastered on its front, and heavy with its contents. With both bag and human in hand, Mr. Viteur turned towards the doorway and walked out into the noisy street of the city. At some point, his owner shifted him about so that Tommy was tucked inside the coat to shield him from the biting chill of the wind. Neither spoke.

The strange sights of the city were lost to Tommy as he sat miserable and lost and docile in his owner’s arms. The sound of the lively streets were abruptly cut off and the brisk chill was replaced with pleasant warmth as Mr. Viteur walked into a shop. By the smell of it, he wagered it was a coffee shop. Once more Tommy was shifted about and two warm hands placed him carefully onto a high table.

His owner’s face probed his personal space, eyes furrowed and mouth frowning. “Are you all right, my boy? You haven’t said a word and you’re still very pale.”

Tommy could barely bring himself to maintain eye contact and his paltry attempt at answering came out as a strange kind of warble. His eyes were watering…

“Tommy,” the giant said quietly, but firmly. “Talk to me. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”

After several false starts and fortifying breaths, Tommy managed to croak out a feeble reply. “I….I’m terrified.”

The giant did not seem surprised, but he did look a little sad. “Of me?”

“No. I mean...well, not so much you,” Tommy replied honestly. “I’ll be fine though. I just...I’ll be fine.”

“So you keep saying,” replied the giant, dryly. “But please know that I am not going to hurt you or do anything that would make you unhappy.”

Before he could stop himself Tommy muttered, “You already have...”

There was instant regret, a great wave of it, and he was certain now that his morose mood was now turning towards the suicidal. He should just shut up. Be quiet. Settle down. But his thoughts and feelings felt out of control, almost as though they were not his own. Everything felt out of control. If only he could gain purchase on something. Anything. If only…

“Sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. Not like it sounded. I’m sorry, I just...”

“Tommy,” said his owner, voice confusingly soft. He should be mad, Tommy thought. He should at the very least, scold his pet for disobedience. But instead, there was a soft, warm palm pressed to his back. The face ahead of him did not look an ounce angry or displeased. He looked sad. “I may not know very much in the way of humans as a species or what you’ve been through, but I do know people. And it seems to me that you might be having a panic attack.”

If anything, that broke Tommy from the death spiral of thought and feeling and he managed to look a bit dubious at the suggestion. “A panic attack?”

“Yes,” the large man replied. “You’re acting like a cornered animal.”

“Isn’t that what I am?” he replied. “An animal?”

“I quite clearly remember you asserting that you were a person.”

“What does it matter what I say?”

“It matters very much to me,” replied the giant frankly and then a ghost of a smile broke the mild annoyed frown. “Seeing as I just signed a contract promising to take care of you.”

“Why?” Tommy asked finally, getting to the real meat of his confusion. “After I literally screamed all my bullshit at you, you go and decided ‘Hey! He’s a nice kid. I think I’ll adopt him!’ I don’t get it. I don’t get you.”

“Is that why you’re panicking?” his owner asked, greatly amused and perhaps a little relieved. “Because I confuse you?”

“Sure,” Tommy replied disingenuously. “Let’s go with that.”

“Well,” he replied with a shrug. “To be blunt, it was pretty much a spur of the moment decision. I didn’t go there intending to adopt a human. Just to look. But what you said...”

He grew silent, his focus growing distant as he mulled over his next words. “I knew instantly that you were right. And everything felt disgustingly wrong all of a sudden. Those other wild humans and you looked and acted wholly different than the other ones. Like you were going to prison rather than a new home. It’s not like I’ve never seen humans before, but...”

“You didn’t see them as people. Like you,” Tommy finished, the uncomfortable churning of his guts beginning to ease and his mind began to settle. “And now?”

“And now I’m sitting in a coffee shop in the middle of downtown Raudenstein trying to convince a scared kid that I am mean him no ill will.” A pause. “Nor do I intend to change his name to either Fluffy or Bosco.”

Tommy didn’t have a ready answer and his tired mind was not coming up with any snippy retorts or humerus comebacks. So he just said, “So...why then? If you didn’t mean to adopt a pet, why go there? Why bother with any of it? With me?”

“Because you looked like you might need someone to care,” his owner said with enough perceived sincerity to be believable. “And I’m conceited and confident enough in my own abilities and position to think I’ll be able to help.”

“So if you didn’t adopt me to be a pet...then what am I?”

To Tommy’s surprise, the giant shrugged. “In the eyes of the law, you’re property. Bought and paid for. There’s nothing I can do about that.” He paused again and the large hand that had been settled around the human’s shoulders disappeared and the giant stood to his full height, placing his hands into his coat pockets and regarded Tommy with an open expression and looking nonchalant. “But as far as I am concerned, you are simply an unconventional, but still very welcomed, roommate.”

“Roommate?” Tommy echoed and found the corners of his mouth twitching into a grin. After a moment, he quipped a sardonic, “Well, how do you expect me to pay rent?”

The giant’s smile turned into a pleased grin and he winked. “We’ll work it out later.” He then offered Tommy his hand and for a moment, the boy was bewildered before recognition hit. A wave of relief, a warm comforting feeling, spread throughout his body. His internal panic subsided and there was something akin to genuine hope nesting in the back alleys of his subconscious.

He rose to his feet, albeit shakily, and placed his absurdly small hand, in comparison, into the giant’s and they shook.

“By the way, I’m not sure I ever introduced myself. My name is Evrik Viteur.”

This is a side story to Salty Lemonade and its prologue Bitter Lemons Make. Read together and they read ‘Bitter Lemons Make Salty Lemonade’. Get it? Well, I thought it was clever.

I may write more with Tommy and Evrik in the future, but I really need to start in on the body work of Salty Lemonade which follows Astrid through her life settling in as giant’s pet. Or rather two giants.

#Tommy #Evrik #GT #G/T #gt story #g/t writing #Salty lemonade #side story #Hurt #comfort

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