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Chapter 46 - Hobbies

Once through the door, Ember sighs, feeling a relaxing calm affect him in a way that he’s never felt to such degree, even when returning to the cabin after a long day of work. Cal takes the pack and the hamper into the dining room to start unloading and washing while Alek draws the attention of the remaining wolves.

“I’m sorry the picnic got a little heavy,” he apologises, “I always just get a little upset when I think about the reasons why I do what I do.”

“It’s alright, Master.”

Hess steps over and wraps his arms around the human who hugs him back and smiles sweetly.

“You didn’t say anything we don’t already agree with,” Voigt suggests reasonably.

“I know I know,” Alek sighs, “I just regret bringing it up while we were having a nice time outdoors.”

Hess draws the attention of the Master and presses their lips together into an embrace.

“You’re forgiven, Master,” he says cheekily when their mouths separate.

“I’ll see you at three.”

Alek smirks and gives a firm tug on the fat wolf’s collar before pulling away and returning to his study.

“I guess everyone has a little bit of trauma in this house,” Ember supposes, now that the three of them are alone.

“I think everyone experiences something negative in their life,” Voigt muses quietly, “It shapes us.”

“I haven’t.” Hess sways on his feet with a haughty grin, hands stuffed in his pockets.

“And you’re the most damaged of us all. What does that tell you?” The older wolf chuckles derisively, and receives a narrow-eyed scowl.

“You were bullied, that’d account for something.”

Hess turns his attention back to the black wolf.

“That was ages ago though, I was just a kid. I don’t ever think about it.”

“Alright, alright.” Ember holds his hands up defensively. “So what do we do now? I’d like a bit of a distraction to stop myself thinking about the session I have later.”

“Warhammer?” The short wolf suggests, bolting his ears upright.

“How about something more constructive?” Voigt counters making Hess’s brow furrow again. “Have you ever done wood carving or whittling, Ember?”

“Yeah, I helped make spears and arrows for the tribe, but nothing beyond that.”

“Hess,” Voigt leans down to reach his muzzle closer to the little wolf’s ears, “how about we involve him in our little project?”

“Yeah …” he thinks about it and nods, “Yeah alright.” He looks around and the two wolves invite Ember up the stairs.

At the landing, the young wolves dump their clothes into their respective rooms and join back up with Voigt who, by this time, has also stripped down into the preferred state of undress. Having now finally seen inside this room, Ember takes a minute to look around, nosily. Keeping his hands to himself, he observes the pale blue walls, reminiscent of a sunny day’s sky, making the array of potted plants on the windowsill and the ivy creeping its way up a narrow wooden trellis seem all the more fitting. There are books of gardening, woodworking, bird watching, fishing, animal husbandry and DIY, and several more magazines like the ones he saw in the shed. By the side of the bed are a pair of reading glasses and a bookmarked book with a bizarrely designed cover with caricatures of people and fantastical ideas.

One of the desks isn’t really a desk and more of a hobbyist workbench with a thick and heavily scuffed wooden topper. By the side of it is an open-top box filled with scrap pieces of various types of timber, some of which showing unfinished or erroneously shaped carvings. On the desk itself and on the wall above is a wide variety of tools, all with their own place and outline for precise storage-keeping. Beside the workbench is an actual desk, with more tools, but these seem more electronic in nature, along with some pencils and paper with several sketches and designs laid on. There are shelves on the wall beside the door holding translucent boxes that seem to contain a lot of household DIY items like light bulbs, spanners, screwdrivers and other repair-kit type things. Atop the unit is the familiar green medical bag he’s seen more times than he’d like to admit since coming here.

“So do you two work together to make stuff?” Ember asks, looking at some of the hand-carved figurines on a floating shelf above the desk.

“I’m no good at the fiddly bits,” Voigt mentions and flicks his head to Hess. “He designs, etches and paints, I measure, cut and carve. He’s a very useful boy to have around, aren’t ya?” He adds playfully, ruffling Hess’s head fur.

“It’s cute that you have an activity you can share … y’no, that isn’t fucking.” Ember laughs awkwardly.

“Ha ha, too right. Now,” Voigt lowers his voice, “It’s Cal’s birthday in just under three weeks, and Hess and I have been working on something for him, but we’re a little worried we might not finish it in time. However, with your help, we might just make it.”

“Oh really? I’d be happy to help where I can, what is it?”

Voigt looks at Hess and he hurries over to the bed to pull out a plastic box with yet even more wood. Ember steps over to peer inside and finds a beautifully etched and stained chess board with six fully carved and painted chess pieces, and three more that are still bare.

“Oh wow, you guys, these are so cool. I’m really nervous now, you’re doing such a good job, and I’m worried I’d ruin the set by making shit pieces.”

“Nonsense, nerves are good. I’d rather you be trepidatious than confident; it means you’ll be more careful.” Voigt slaps a firm hand on Ember’s back and takes out one of the pieces. “You may notice that they aren’t like normal chess pieces.”

The black wolf nods, noticing that it is shaped like a feral, black wolf sat down looking very determined. “Are they all going to be wolves?”

“Yes, this is a pawn, which will all be feral, and the back row will be werewolves.”

“They’re beautiful, Voigt. How long did that take you?” Ember asks, taking the little pawn wolf in his hand and admiring the carvings.

“About an hour just to whittle. Hence why we’d be very grateful for your help. If you and I each got one done by the end of every day, we’d have it finished in time.”

“I’ll give it a go, I can’t promise it’ll look very good though.” The black wolf looks at the little model, biting his lip as he thinks about how he’d copy it.

“Considering this one’s finished, why don’t you spend your time here until I need to go for my session, working on copying that wolf. We need 14 more of them.” Voigt chuckles and goes over to the workbench.

“And you do all the painting?”

“I do a few bits. I also engrave the little details and the patterns on the base.”

Hess picks out a finished rook and presents it like a gameshow host showing off the grand prize. The piece represents a hunched werewolf with a stocky build and a hat shaped like a crenellated turret. Its physique is not that dissimilar to that of Ember’s.

“It’s really impressive. I hope I can make stuff to the same standards.”

“Get over here lad; quit your whining.” Voigt commands and waits for his student to plonk himself down on the stool. “Now, I’m going to make one, and you’re going to follow exactly what I do.”

“And I have one that should be ready to be painted by now,” Hess comments as an aside, pushing himself off the bed and wandering to the desk.

Ember does his best to follow along, doing exactly as instructed. Eventually he produced a very angular and low-definition dog shape with one ear bigger than the other. Voigt tells him that he can consider that to be battle-damage and should just continue.

“If you spend all your time perfecting how to walk, you’ll never learn to run,” he says primly. “Finish the piece. If it’s shit, start again, but always finish it. Because every time you do something, right or wrong, you’re learning, and the finer details are no less important to practice.”

“Yes sir.” Ember nods, returning his eyes to the work and continuing.

By the end of the hour they spend together, Voigt has produced a well defined wolf, sat in near the exact same pose as the reference model. Ember has managed instead to make a very wonky creature with dishevelled fur, three legs, half a tail and even less of an ear than before. He sighs and knocks it down on the tabletop, despairing at the masterful work of the original.

“Perfect!” Voigt exclaims, and grabs the corrupted wolf. “I’m going to leave that right here on the desk.” He places it very prominently at the opposite edge of the workbench.

“Let me see,” the brown wolf pipes up, setting down a fine-tipped paintbrush. “Ah it’s not so bad. You should have seen my first attempt.” He chuckles and goes back to his own work.

“I’d rather you binned it,” Ember sniffs, inadvertently taking a sharp intake of paint fumes from the other station.

“No, that right there is going to serve as your reminder. Not as a sign of failure, but as a milestone of progress. You just carved your first figurine.”

“And it’s shit.”

“Yes, it is. It’s simply awful.” The older wolf grins and hands Ember back his knife. “So do it again.”

He looks at the blade and at the blocky glitch of a wolf and sighs, taking it and a fresh piece of wood to start afresh. Voigt, in the meantime, spends some time refining the one he made and hands it over to Hess.

“I need to go for my session now,” the chubby wolf utters cheerfully, standing himself up. “Can you put on a really thin layer of the 50/50 linseed so it can be drying? It’s in that pot. Use the blue brush, yeah, that one. Thanks.”

Hess is already at the door and out before Ember has chance to wish him a good time. He knows it isn’t needed though, the look on his face was proof enough.

—

Over the remaining hour, Ember tries again, following the instructions of his mentor, producing a slightly improved, less mangled dog with all four legs still intact. Voigt holds the two together and points out differences, teaching better techniques and giving positive critique. He sets the new one next to the old one and it clicks in the black wolf’s head how much progress he’s actually made now they’re side-by-side.

“You pick it up pretty quick lad,” the grey wolf praises, pulling away from the desk and putting down his tools. “When you’re done playing your game with Hess, come back here and we’ll give it another go later if you want.”

“Yeah … I think I’d like that.”

Ember helps put away all the carved pieces and hides the ones drying so they’re not as easily noticed.

“Right you, out of my room. I don’t like anyone in here when I’m not there,” he insists, shooing the wolf out of the room. “And remember, not a word of this to Cal. The master knows though if you want to update him with what you’re doing.”

“Don’t worry, I’m pretty good at keeping secrets.” Ember smiles and exits the room.

He watches as Voigt disappears into the study just as Hess makes an appearance. He looks particularly exhausted. His dick is hanging out of his sheath, plump and twitching dryly as it swings with every step taken. He trundles past Ember, producing a wheeze of recognition before disappearing into his room, likely not to be seen again for a little while. Cal shows up at the top of the stairs moments later carrying an empty washing basket.

“Ah, I was hoping to find you when Voigt went in for his session. Were you two having some fun again?” He chuckles, leaning on the corner of the wall.

“Heh, maybe we were,” Ember lies. The nervousness of fibbing to Cal only adding to the credibility.

“Well, I want your clothes, and I didn’t want to just walk into your room without permission.”

“You’re welcome in any time Cal. It’s not like I’ve got anything worth protecting anyway.”

“Still, I prefer not to until you’ve settled; I know how important having a safe space can be. Please go get them for me and I’ll grab Voigt’s. I’ve already been in and got Hess’s, since I knew he’d just dump them on the floor anyway.”

Ember keeps his mouth shut at this, quickly going into his own room to pick up the clothes he too had carelessly tossed to the ground. He returns to the hall and scrunches them into the basket.

“I’m kinda free for an hour now, do you have time to show me some of your music?” Ember asks, hoping to not be left alone with his thoughts for too long before the Machine.

“Hmm, I suppose I could.”

Cal smiles, collecting the last of the clothes and leading the shorter, yet larger wolf to his room. He steps in and sets down the basket and Ember immediately notices a small pile of lined paper filled out with paragraphs of text.

“Hey, what’s this you’re writing?” He asks, but doesn’t get chance to read any of it before Cal quickly flips the paper over.

“N-nothing, nothing,” he stutters, avoiding eye contact and pretending to tidy up a single pen. The black wolf grins and steps a little closer to him.

“What have you been writing, puppy?” He wraps an arm around Cal’s waist and pulls them together side-to-front. “Is it naughty?”

He presses his muzzle into the side of the other wolf’s neck and produces a low rumble of a growl. Cal remains silent, just looking away and nervously whimpering slightly. When his collar is tugged he lets out a gentle whine, flopping his ears down.

“Y-yes sir,” he admits, reluctantly.

“Mm good dog. Tell me what you‘ve been writing.” Ember commands, always feeling more confidently dominant when he’s alone with him or Hess.

The white wolf becomes noticeably distressed, blushing hard, but wanting to be a good dog he flips back over the page for it to be read. Ember immediately peers over and starts examining the contents, finding that he and Cal exist within the narrative. His grin widens as he realises that this is a detailed write up of the tickle torture session they shared on his first night since being let out of the basement. However there are some alterations, insofar as them being able to cum was not available at the time. The story cuts out before Cal in the fiction gets to orgasm, but he’s made sure to put considerable effort into describing how good Ember’s cock looks when he unloads all over his body and face.

“Oh my, oh my,” the real Ember drones lewdly, turning his attention back to the white wolf that he still has clutched to his front. His penis having grown halfway out now and pressing into the side of Cal’s sheath. “Did the puppy miss out on getting a big load dumped on them? I bet you got jealous when you saw master covered in my seed.”

Cal, still radiating heat from his face nods slightly and woofs quietly. His body is fidgety and his own cock proves how much he’s enjoying this embarrassing treatment.

“Such a good dog. I promise then, next time I get to cum, you’re getting the whole lot. I want to soak your fur in it.” He grins, realising from the fictitious story how much Cal seems to enjoy getting sticky. “Maybe I’ll rub it in with my cock, make it really difficult for you to wash off.”

“P-please …” he whimpers, gulping down the drool from all the horny imagery. “My dick aches so much. This is really hot, but it needs time to rest a bit.”

Ember chuckles and releases his grip on the submissive wolf. “Alright, I’ll lay off the torment for now.” He looks back down at the paper and presses his finger onto it emphatically. “But you’d better finish this, I want to read how turned on you are in the story and how hard you cum.”

“Y-yes sir,” he nods, still glowing red and trying not to touch himself because he knows it will be sensitive.

“Horny aside,” he adds, stepping around the chair and picking up the paper, “it’s really good. It makes me wonder if you’ve written anything else.”

Cal shifts his eyes towards the shelves behind Ember and then quickly corrects them.

“Um … m-maybe.”

Ember turns around to see what he looked at and sees a red, unmarked binder. He turns back to the wolf who’s awkwardly tugging his lip muscles. Grinning again he pulls out the binder and opens it up, finding a lot of paper with a mix of handwritten and typed lettering, all tabbed and and indexed.

“Wow, are these all erotic?” He asks, lifting some of the tabs and recognising the names of the other wolves, the Master and also several other characters he assumes are non-representative of real persons.

“In that one … yes”. Cal confirms shakily. “The black one isn’t.”

Ember turns around and sees a black binder. He tilts it and sees that it’s half as full, maybe less, as the red one. He turns back to Cal and raises an eyebrow.

“I like writing smut,” he huffs with a little shrug.

“Have the others read any of these?” Ember queries, wondering if it’s a similar situation to Hess with the secret drawings.

“Yeah … I always show them.”

“Were you going to show me this one?” He asks, putting away the red binder and looking back at the unfinished piece.

“Eventually.” The white wolf turns and sits on the piano stool. “When it was finished … and I wasn’t so nervous about it.”

“Heh, well, for what it’s worth, I love it and I can’t wait to see if you write anything more about me”

“Thanks dear. I was worried you’d find it really weird.”

Cal fiddles with the keys of the piano, depressing random ones, but they don’t make a sound as it’s turned off.

“This week has been a world of new discoveries for me; this isn’t that weird by comparison. In any case, with this and Hess’s drawings, you two could make a really horny comic one day.”

“Ha ha, we’ve actually talked about that. It’d be cool, but quite a commitment, for him especially.”

“True.” Ember nods. “I’d love to read more by the way, if you’re willing to share.”

“Heh, yeah … I could select some of my favourites, perhaps. If you really want?”

“Yes please.” The black wolf sits down at the desk and faces the other. “You know, I found an erotic novel once on a bookshelf for charity at the local supermarket. It was heterosexual, as to be expected, but I enjoyed putting myself in her position.”

“Oh really?” Cal smirks. “Was it any good?”

“Don’t give me that look. I just wanted to read the bits about the guy.” Ember frowns, but not seriously so. “And no, it wasn’t very well written.”

“Good to know the bar is low then.”

“I think your work will far exceed the quality of that rubbish.” They share a smile. “Now, since we’re on a creative flow, why don’t you play some music for me?”

Cal lifts his head with a look less agreeable and more cheerfully placative, and pulls down a thin booklet from a shelf. He opens it, and rests it open on the stand at the rear of the piano. Ember notices that the pages seems to not have any printed notes, only blank bars for them to be drawn on. There are dots and lines and notes of all sorts written on the page.

“So, it’s still a work in progress, and I only have a few bits of it finished.”

“It’s ok, I’m curious to listen.”

Cal turns on the keyboard and adjusts himself at the edge. He takes a minute to familiarise himself with the notes on the page and the starting positions of his hands and foot at the pedal before taking a breath and starting to play.

The music is melancholy and slow, but altogether very pleasant to listen to. Ember finds himself shutting his eyes so he can enjoy the sounds as they flow into his ears and trigger emotions of anguish and loss. It stops as Cal breaks the tune, apologising for not having designed a connecting piece for the next part of the song, which he then starts playing. The melody remains the same, but some keys are louder and more pronounced, adding a hopeful and more exciting timbre to the underlying sadness that retains throughout. It stops again, abruptly and Ember opens his eyes.

“That was lovely,” he says softly, not wanting to damage the lingering presence of delicate sound. “I felt a lot of emotion in that.”

“It’s supposed to represent my induction here. I want there to be a violence between those two parts, and then end it with a key change to symbolise the transition into civility.”

“I can really see that. It’s going to be beautiful when it’s finished.” Ember commends again, making Cal’s blush return.

“Thank you, love. I’m really glad you like it. I hoped you would recognise its impact the most.”

The wolf decides to play his audience-of-one a few more pieces that he has learnt over the past couple of years, each with a different overall tone. Ember remains sat and listens intently to them all, happily engaged in the atmosphere as it shifts and flows with the colours of emotion. When he’s finished, the black wolf claps, disregarding the silliness of being the only one to do it.

“Thank you,” Cal obliges sheepishly, and puts away his sheet music. “Do you know how to play anything?”

“No. There were some musical folk in my tribe, but I never picked it up.”

“Do you think you’d like to? I don’t just mean piano either.”

“I don’t know, I never gave it much thought.” He thinks for a few seconds and shrugs. “Guitars sound quite nice, as to violins.”

“A string fan eh?” Cal smiles “I would very much enjoy duetting with you sometime, if you find the inspiration to learn.”

“I feel like I don’t even know what I like, so it’s hard to pick when given endless choice. I don’t want to just learn everything and be average skill for all of them.”

“Understandable, but how will you find out what you really enjoy until you try it all? You could be an artist, or a computer programmer, or a singer. We just need to find out what your niche is.”

“Maybe my talent is just being a sex servant.” Ember chuckles meekly and rubs the back of his head.

“Hey don’t knock it, I’ve heard it pays well.” Cal winks.

Reminding himself from clock on the wall that he has only a half-hour to go, Ember drops into pensive thought.

“I’m still nervous about this whole thing.”

“Remember, I can come in with you if you want?”

“Yeah … I think I’d prefer that, if it’s not going to bother you?”

“Now why would it bother me? Seeing you strapped to a chair and made infinitely hornier from a drug and then given any sexual stimulus you want until you cum again and again. Boy, that sure sounds bothersome,” he mocks with a laugh.

“Yeah yeah, alright.” Ember folds his arms.

“Right, if I’m going to lose some time to do my duties, you can come with me and learn how the washing machines work.” He stands up and picks up the laundry basket.

“I know how washing machines work. There was a place I’d take mine …” Cal looks at him accusatorially, suggesting this to be a lie. “Sometimes,” he adds, guiltily looking away.

The two wolves head down to the washroom where Ember is shown a laminated chart of instructions for different types of clothes. The laundry to wash is divided up and split into two machines, which he is granted charge of. Following the guide, they set off the machines and Cal spends the remaining time they have walking around and illustrating his duties. This way, should Ember next have time to spare and isn’t needed by the other two wolves, he can be put to the housework. They do a circuit of the house, inside and out, as the list of butler duties grows longer and longer. Eventually they end back at the landing after coming down from the attic.

“You do so much work, holy fuck,” Ember pants as he reaches the landing step.

“Well, not all at once. My job main is to keep everything looking nice and presentable. But I also serve the guests and do a lot of management work too.”

“You’re a super-butler.” The black wolf rights his back as he stretches.

“I’m just a butler,” he corrects modestly. “And that’s about time.” He checks his watch and flicks his head towards the study door. “You ready?”

Ember immediately feels his nerves prickling and the butterflies start flapping anew. “As I’ll ever be, I guess.”

“Come on then. Let’s get those heavy balls drained.”