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Thok

The sound of bamboo hitting a smooth stone snapped splicer from his pensive dream. He looked up from the flower bed he was studying, towards the shishi-odoshi returning to its upright position, ready to be filled with water once more to repeat the cycle. What was he doing here? It had been a few weeks of weird assignments since he had to blow that badger bastard, at least it felt like a few weeks, he only ever knew what time it was, his eye display never gave the date, so he did his best to keep track of the 24-hour segments. Every time he knew a time of 24 hours passed; he'd etch a scratch on the coffee table in his room.

Thok

43 scratches, 43 days. But for all he knew it could have been more than that, his body never needed to sleep but he was forced to at the end of every day, how could he be sure that he woke up the next morning? Maybe he would go through multiple days in that odd dream space the nanites put him into every night, floating through his own head as if he was seeing his dreams from a movie projection booth. He hasn't even seen Laguna since that day, all his assignments since that hide and seek torture were inane things like "file some stuff on this computer here" or "clean one of the office floors." He was never told to clean his room but anytime he left and came back he knew someone was in there doing who knows what. Every time he got back, he'd count and recount those notches in the table making sure it was the same number. Running his fingers over the empty space in the wood some days felt like the only hope he had of ever escaping, a promise to his future self that all those notches would mean something one day.

Thok

The money he got for his tasks were astronomical, ludicrous amounts of money for such menial work, but when he saw the total subtracted from his 'debt', it was like trying to put a bonfire out by spitting on it. Some days he didn't know if he would ever get out, he watched the instructions in his eyes, messages and orders from his tormentors and just wished he could go back into his bed and curl up. Today was one of those days, the order to get in the elevator was always the same, further instructions always appeared on the ride or when he got to their desired floor. Fighting the elevator order was useless, no matter how often he tried to resist, the shocks that corded through his body always forced him on eventually, the longest he held out for was 2 minutes and he had no idea how such blinding pain could vanish instantly upon crossing a threshold.

Thok

The ground floor, why was he here? He stood in the elevator door waiting for an order but not hung showed up in his vision. He spent a solid 5 minutes waiting and the elevator didn't close nor did anything change in his vision.

"Helloooooooo?" Splicer called out, finally getting the nerves to step one naked paw onto the cold tile floor of the lobby. When he heard no one reply he shot out and started running to the front door and gripping the handle with all his energy pulling.

Thok

"Yeah, figures" he muttered, realizing trying to open the front door was a little too obvious when finally, his eyes lit up in pink text.

Try the back door puppy

No way this isn't some sort of trap, he figured as he made the journey off the cool tile of the lobby to the dingy carpet of the cubical hallway he entered so many notches ago. It was disgusting on his feet, he knew very few people occupied the building, if not just him and the badger, so it had to of been purposefully made so dirty. What a stupid trap they set, and yet I feel for it all the same he thought, kicking himself. Wishing he had some shoes to protect his feet, or socks or really any clothing that wasn't that damn cage that wouldn't come off or that collar and tag that bounced off his chest with every step he took with a light jangle. He reached the back door that was oddly tinted completely opaque, bracing himself for a shock, or a trap or whatever shit that might be on the other side of the door and pulled it open to the last thing he expected to see.

Thok

"What... the... fuck?" Splicer asked unsure if what he was seeing was real. The entire area was a massive garden beyond comprehension. It stretched out for at least at least a kilometer in any direction surrounded by a fence that had to be twice his height. He walked up to the fence and raised a timid paw up to it and gripped the chain links thinking it might be an easy climb. But almost as if reacting to his thoughts he felt a light electrical tingle in his paw, if he climbed higher, it would be a lot worse. No one told him that, but at this point he began to be able to intuitively know how the nanites inside him would react to him doing certain actions, and climbing that fence would net him a punishment that he couldn't fathom. It almost felt like the nanites were quivering with fear thinking about the shock to my system they'd have to deal with if my feet even left the ground while touching that fence, he smirked letting his paw drop to his side.

Thok

At least the scenery was nice, the noise that bamboo made was a little grating though. He walked among the various beds of colourful flowers. He couldn't name them or anything, but he could tell varieties from around the world were here. He looked down at a specific flower bed upon finally finding a flower he could recall, it was named a blue welter, native to his home country and only found high in the mountains. It was a national flower back home, known for how hard to farm them it was, and how expensive they were. And yet a whole flower bed full of them were right in front of him, thriving despite being in much too hot a climate and far too low an elevation for them to. He rubbed one of the three blue petals between his fingers feeling the soft velvet of the inner flower caressing his finger, remembering the last time he had seen on back home. How long had it been? Was there anyone who'd even remember what he looked like from before he became a freelance intelligence agent? God, what would they think of the pathetic spot he was in right now? It brought a smile to his face thinking about his old life, before it became such a complicated mess, he touched the stem, brushing the light blue leaf that came out from just under the flower when...

Thok

The sound of bamboo hitting a smooth stone snapped Splicer from his pensive dream. He looked up from the flower bed he was studying, towards the shishi-odashi returning to its upright position, ready to be filled with water once more to repeat the cycle. He looked down at the now severed flower in his hand, cut off from its own body, cut off from its life. What was he doing here again?

He continued his walk on down the path, tucking the flower from his home into his collar, keeping it close. He liked the feeling of the petals brushing against his cheek fluff and it also gave him a new desire. Once he got out of here, he would take his money, and go home to farm blue welters, up on the mountain where they deserved to be. The hope waited slightly as he walked towards a bench, shaded by a tall maple tree, with a familiar suited figure facing away from his, no doubt observing the garden. His heart sank, but still he moved forward, knowing that this peaceful garden stroll obviously would have ulterior motives. As he got closer, he imagined grabbing the badger's neck from behind and squeezing as hard as he could, but as he lifted a hand to gauge the chances of success, he was cut short.

Thok

"Well," Laguna laughed, not turning his head "I suppose I have to hand it to you, you really are a fighter!"

"Can't make it long in the business if you're not." Splicer sighed, sitting on the bench next to the pink badger.

"What do you think of my garden? I see you've taken a liking to one of the flowers if nothing else." Laguna asked reaching a hand up to touch the flower on Splicer's cheek.

"Don't touch it!" Splicer shouted, not wanting the badger to take it or crush it in his paws, perverting his one connection he felt to his home. He tried to recoil away or move, but his body was frozen, the nanites in his body stopped everything. Maybe they were unsure if he'd lash out at Laguna or honestly wanted to help him calm down, he didn't know what the things that kept him alive thought or if they even could think. But he shook in place as Laguna's hand paused for a brief second as if he was unsure of his next action before he brushed his hand along the wolf's cheek, avoiding the delicate flower in the process.

"You know, despite the situation you find yourself in, I promise you it's not all bad, we're not all bad." Laguna said with concern in his voice.

"We're?"

"Evertech, me, both, who can say really? We're just doing what we have to do, and I have my part to play, and you yours."

Thok

"Yeah whatever, as if I care about you or your company, or whatever fucked up part this is." Splicer made a grand gesture over his naked body, from collar to cage with a hand flourish.

"Well, I didn't grow this garden just for myself out here, well I mainly did to be fair, but I don't see why I can't share it with others."

Thok was that getting faster?

"You grew this? All yourself?" Splicer's mind stared racing again thinking of how long all this would take.

"Well I'm a fast worked, and truth be told I did have some outside help, but it still took longer than expected."

Thok why was it so loud?

43 notches wasn't enough days, how many days would this all take?

"How many days has it been?"

THOK

"Since what?"

"You know what I'm talking about..."

"Of course I know, but I'm afraid that the length of this experiment is on a grade classified above pets."

THOK THOK THOK

Was that the bamboo or his head pounding like that? Splicer couldn't tell, knowing the notches didn't mean days was earth shattering, if not a day did it mean multiple days, weeks, months, years? His body had full control, but his blood was still frozen. He lowered his eyes to his paws and sat there in silence.

Thok

The shishi-odoshi returned to the steady rhythmic pace it was previously at, if it had ever left it as the wolf sat in silence looking at the ground.

"Puppy..." Laguna started, unsure of what to say or do in the situation. "If you just gave up it would be so much easier..."

No response, Splicer couldn't if he wanted to, he was biting his lower lip and seeing the dirt below him start to move. As if it was made of water. The rippling sand kept moving when suddenly he saw a dark splotch appear below him on the ground.

"Great, it's raining..." Splicer said to himself between his ragged breathing. But as more drops fell, hitting the exact same place causing the dark splotch to grow wider he knew it wasn't the rain. Tears were dripping from his eyes at a steady pace, for the first time since he got to this place he found himself able to cry, for whatever reason. Before in his room on some nights he tried, but the tears never came. But now the flood gates were open and all the built up emotions were flooding out. His breathing was jagged as he had to keep stopping mid breath for his diaphragm to spasm. No sounds came from his mouth aside the laboured breathing. He sat the like that for hours, it felt like hours for sure, but when he finally felt the tears stop, still looking at the ground between his paws, only thirty minutes had truly passed.

Thok

He used his paws to wipe the last tears desperately clinging to his eyes before looking up to what he assumed would be a smug badger but instead was met with empty air. He stood up and dusted his fur off in an attempt to regain composure before marching off to the building. Only stopping for one final moment with his flowers, laying the one he ripped from the ground next to its headless stem.

"I-I'm sorry... I don't know if I can do this or not..." Splicer said over the body before solemnly standing back up and going straight back to the building with one final, echoing noise following

Thok

door closed behind him and when he got back to his room, he saw a new decoration in his room, a plant pot filled with blue welters was sitting on the coffee table, directly over his notches. With immeasurable anger he grabbed the pot and readied it to be launched against one of the walls, shattering it to pieces, but halfway through the motion gave up. The nanites did nothing to stop him, he just didn't have the energy to follow through with the act, whether physically or emotionally, he laid it back down on the clean, notch-less table and got to work.

1

2

3

...

44 notches.

Outside, Laguna was still watching the wolf from a distance, making sure not to get spotted, he watched the flower funeral from afar and after the procession, went to the grave site and picked up the flower, twirling it between his fingers. Walking back to the building he couldn't help but feel a genuine twang of pity for the wolf inside.

Thok