Nandi's Pets
I. Ellie M.
p e v e r t e d . i n t e l l e c t u a l g m a i l . c o m
Chapter One: Nandi Waters
"Hello! I would like to buy an Ox Boy please!" asked a busty young woman with a loud cheeriness that hurt Huginn's head. The store attendant looked down at her. She was short and tan with golden brown eyes that looked determined as she stared through her fringe at him. Of course she had eye watering red hair too.
"And how much do you have young thing? And how long do you wish him for?" asked Huginn in low, measured tones. He was a Roc man. His brother, a Nightingale, stood outside the store, busking their wares.
"Forever! And I have two thousand to pay for him!" she cried, and showed him a huge piggy bank, rattling it hard.
"Where the hell did you get that kind of money?!"
"I'm rich of course! And I'm only going to get richer! I'll buy an ox and buy a farm! And a plough! And I'll plant the seeds myself!"
"Ah huh."
"Do you want my money or not?!" cried the girl who was really much too loud.
"I think the answer here is 'not'. Good bye and please do not come again," said Huginn as he took a Polaroid of the girl for evidence for the police in case she stole anything on her way out.
"I'm sorry! Look! My name is Nandi Waters! I'm from the Waters line. I have my own money; I just want to make more of it! I've been handed everything. And if you've been handed the entire world, shouldn't you make use of it? I'm not lazy; I just don't know how to make my way in the world. No one ever thought to tell me! Though I can play five different instruments and speak Latin! And I can ballroom dance!" She yelled and beamed at him.
"That's all rather useless. Why don't you just enjoy life then? Not everyone needs to work for a l-"
"I know! I know it's all useless! But I'm trying so hard! I just got my first aid certificate! I'm getting less irrelevant by the day!"
"I'm sorry but I'm not a career advisor. I'm a store clerk. I sell Pets, slaves, livestock, collars, correctional tools, cages and pet related paraphernalia for my Mistress. I do not help women in their early-life crisis unless by helping them you mean selling them a Cat boy. Cat boys are always popular. We also have Bat boys and Wolf boys. Do you like Twilight Miss Waters?"
"Yes! That's exactly what I don't want to be: a stupid big headed idiot in the year 3,000,000,000 A.D. who doesn't know how to do anything because it's all done for her! I'm going to be like Ares Sen Kenlin except I'll work on myself! And no, I want an Ox! Why would anyone need a Bat boy?!"
"Actually," said Huginn, raising a sleek black eyebrow, "I've come to the decision that I won't be risking any slaves or Pets in your care. You obviously have no idea of the world around you. Mistresses are supposed to protect their pets. You'd probably lead yours out into heavy traffic."
"I know how to cross the road! I'm ignorant not idiotic! Please! There must be something!" Nandi almost cried in desperation. Everything had gone wrong: the cooking attempt had given Noah food poisoning, the dress-making had been an abortion not long after it had been conceived, no one had gotten back to her about her resume (and she looked awesome in the photos) and well, every activity that she tried to do just seemed to have so much to it 'behind the scenes' that no one was really willing to show her. And now getting a pet on her own, something that had seemed so god damn easy had simply turned in to another big waste of time.
"How about me? Would you like me?" Glister breathed as he wondered into the little shop. It was small and stuffy, really just a hole in the wall. Some Pet shops sold baby boys who hadn't grown in to any sort of ears yet but Madame Frigg was older, and poorer. She no longer had the time to take care of babies and was too fond of her pets to make them do so either. This shop only sold the equipment and made connections with fully grown pets and potential Mistresses. Glister often came to this shop in hopes that someone might buy him, if they couldn't afford little boys to train up or prize species like Unicorns or Lions in the prime of their life.
So far he'd been unlucky.
"Go away Rat! You weren't wanted here three days ago, what makes you think anything's changed?" asked the Roc as he leaned back on his counter, taking in the sight of the limping, hunched over Rat with detached worry.
"It's been a long three days Huginn. Please!"
"I'm sorry; we don't have any connections for you. I'd let you know if we did."
Glister peered at Nandi. She was a sun kissed beauty in the prime of her adolescence though her nose had a slight hook to it and her voice a distinct whine. He wasn't sure how to feel about her. She looked nothing like Mistress Bathory, plump, pale and refined. She looked nothing like any Mistress he'd ever had or known and there was no comfort in her alieness for whatever beauty she might have in her own right.
He felt like crawling back to his basement and not be mocked for the filthy bruises all the way down his body by this strange young thing. He was comfortable in his filthy skin and had grown accustomed to the scars his Mistress inflicted on it.
And yet: "What about me Mistress? Am I good enough?"
Nandi looked at Glister and wasn't sure if she liked what she saw either. Though it would have been different if he'd been a Woman. A Woman could seriously harm her but a slave wouldn't dare. Under the law anything he did to Her would have him put to death if She so chose. If she owned him She could even do it Herself.
And Nandi desperately wanted something to show for all this. "Yes! You'll do! How much are you?!"
"Anything, anything you ask," breathed Glister before he collapsed.
***
Nandi was not as confident in first aid as she thought she'd been and was so relieved when the Rat man she was about to buy moaned ever so slightly as she whacked his cheek. Huginn and Nuginn pulled him to the backroom with difficulty. Their bird bones were old and frail but they'd tried their hardest.
The Rat, whose name was Glister according to Huginn's records, rasped steadily. Nandi stayed with him, not really knowing what to do except watch him get better. Huginn had been quiet when she'd suggested an ambulance. Maybe he knew something they hadn't bothered to teach her in first aid. Likely.
Huginn, for his part, looked at the Rat who had come to his shop so many times. He knew the signs: though he would testify he'd thought the cuts were due to life on the street, perhaps a beating, his mind's eye showed him every kiss of the whip that had created that distinctive pattern on the Rat's back.
Huginn's brother came back with the papers Nandi would need to adopt him under contract through the store. Usually contracts were only from owner to owner, but Huginn had come across a lot of men who had no Mistress and sold themselves into slavery rather than be legal non-entities in so many areas of life as to be unable to function.
Of course too, there was always the occasional one like Glister. And Mistress Frigg didn't ask them whether they already had a Mistress or not as she sold them to the few owners who would accept broken men. Huginn followed Her example and started filling out the paperwork for them both.
After some thought, he gave the fee as $405.00: $400 for his Mistress and $5 for Glister to be given to him if he ever left Her service gracefully. Life for those with a Y chromosome weren't worth much in this world.
"Sign here," he said the Glister's new Mistress. And she did.
***
"Hullo!" said Nandi, trying to be as quiet as possible. "I got you a sandwich. And apple juice."
Glister looked up at his new Mistress. She smiled at him. One of the shop brothers helped him sit up slowly. He sipped juice that was too sweet for him and looked around the too bright room.
"How are you!?" cried a too loud Nandi.
Glister nodded his head and looked at the sheets. Something black had come off him onto them. He hadn't washed for a few days and really did smell like garbage and sweat. He wondered why the other people in the room hadn't noticed.
He kept taking small sips of the juice.
"He'll be alright soon but maybe you should leave from the back entrance," said Huginn without his usual drawl.
"Leave?! With him?!"
"Well yes, you paid for him and he's yours."
"Oh no! I was going to get an ox boy and put him in the barn! !"
"Well you'll have to take him somewhere," said Huginn.
Glister coughed. Nandi tried to look him in the eyes but his gaze was blank as he looked back at her. He looked like a broken doll.
She could leave him here of course. There was nothing stopping her from tearing up the contract which he hadn't signed yet.
She could stick him in the farm house that was all set up for comfort for an Ox man.
Hell, her mother wasn't here anymore! She could stick him in her room though he'd need to use her bed until they could get something else set up. Maybe.
Nandi whimpered. She really didn't know what to do.
---
A/N: Okay, here are your three options readers:
1) Leave Glister
2) Take him to the farm house
3) Put him up in her room
Put the number you choose in the first line of your review. The number with the most votes wins. Voting closes next Friday and the story will recomence the Friday after that.
---
Thank you for your reviews Sassydiamond19 and Laniessa Rosewindi!
As you can see, yes there will be a little darkness but this is my attempt at silly. I'll be adding small descriptions as I go and as the boys are introduced (or in Glister's case as he heals up a bit). Because it's anime/manga think gijinka: mostly human with animal traits stuck on haphazardly (usually jut ears and tail) as opposed to furries who have fur all over their bodies and usually a developed snout.