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[b][u][center]The Love of Toys

Part 8

For Taiko

By Draconicon[/center][/u][/b]

Gold had gone to bed hoping that things would sort themselves out by morning. They hadn’t. He worked hard through the week, hoping that the situation with Fine Silver would sort itself out and they would be able to get back to having fun with Chris and dealing with just the limited weirdness of Black being there without hurting someone. That didn’t happen, either.

The leopard returned to Chris’s apartment to find Chrome in the living room, sitting on the couch and staring at the vent at the top of the wall. He cocked his head to the side.

“Black pull another disappearing act?” he asked as he shut the door behind him.

“Yes. I’m starting to worry about him.”

“You’d think he’d be alright with Fine Silver. I mean, he’s not afraid of anything. Ever.”

“You’d think that…”

Chrome shook his head, and Gold did his best to shrug it off. It wasn’t easy, either. Much as it was difficult to get along with Black – let alone like him – the snake had always been this unshakeable pillar of confidence among the various figurines. If someone wasn’t sure about something, then it meant that Black was there to take care of things. He was an inspiration as much as he was a motivation to get something done right. If they did it right, then Black didn’t have to come out.

Now, though, the snake was disappearing every time that Fine Silver came anywhere near the apartment. Anytime that one of them walked in without knocking, the black smoke that was the snake’s secondary body disappeared like a sand castle on the beach against the tide. There was nothing left of him by the time that they entered the room, and seeing Black that scared was terrifying.

Gold pushed those thoughts out of his head, joining Chrome at the couch. They both stared at the far wall, knowing that they were alone for the moment, knowing that Chris was away for a little while longer. The human had gone out to the store, getting some food now that he had a little stipend from the landlord to pay for all the work that Chrome and Gold were doing. He’d be back soon, and then –

“Think we should talk to him about this Nigel guy?” Gold asked.

“It might be time.”

“I mean, if he’s talking about snakes…well, there’s only one snake around.”

“That’s what worries me.”

“You? Worried? Is it that bad?”

“It’s that…different.”

That was the big thing, he knew. It was one thing for them to help others change. It was something else completely to risk changing themselves. They had all been made for a purpose. Vague or not, it was a purpose that they were bound to fulfill. Chrome was there to care, he was there to help others grow and be better and brighter. That was just what they did. Having someone around that messed with a purpose – and Fine Silver was definitely messing with Black’s purpose – left him worried that the Maker might decide that their purposes needed to be checked and changed, as well.

Gold had helped other people before, and he had always enjoyed the work. Being something brilliant that others could aspire to be, something of a source of comedy, someone that glowed and shined for the world to see? That was a good purpose in life, a nice little existence. Sure, he didn’t always have to be the best – Chris was living proof of that – but he liked being out there and being so very good. He liked the spotlight.

Now, he was having to share it. That wasn’t so bad with Chrome, or even with Black, but what if the Maker decided that he wasn’t needed anymore? What if his style ended up being something that the Maker had second thoughts about, and someone like Fine Silver was sent after him, instead?

He shook his head. He needed to stop thinking about that before he gave himself a headache.

“So…Nigel?” Gold asked.

“Nigel,” Chrome confirmed.

“Well…here’s hoping we can come up with a good reason for Chris, then.”

“I think we will.”

#

It turned out to be surprisingly easy. Chris came home and actually mentioned how much better things had been since Nigel had stopped waiting for him at the front of the apartment to complain every day. Gold and Chrome had been able to guide the conversation from there, and it didn’t take long for Gold to decide that Fine Silver had a running mate for the title of ‘Worst Man In The World’. They left the apartment with Gold barely hiding a growl in his throat, and even Chrome didn’t look particularly well-inclined towards the other man.

“If there was every someone that deserved a visit from Black…” Chrome shook his head. “I’m surprised that we haven’t heard anything from him about this.”

“…Maybe we did.”

“Hmm? Has he said something to you?”

“Maybe. Let’s talk to Nigel, first.”

The pair of them had already decided that it was worth the risk revealing themselves to this stranger. He was already half-touched in the head, and both of them were sure that Jane would side with Chris when it came right down to it. After all, the fact that they were so impossible made it all the more likely that nobody else would believe Nigel if he started talking to the public about being ‘assaulted’ by animal people. All they had to do was remain figurines, and nobody would ever believe this guy.

Still, they were quiet and stealthy as they made their way to the upper floors, knowing that it was better not to be seen and spread the account of who else was living in the apartment. The copies of the master key that they had been given meant that they didn’t even have to knock when they reached Nigel’s apartment. They just had to go inside.

It was…fancy, in its on way. Austere, too, almost like something had been packed out quickly, sold off. The walls were well-cleaned, the floor vacuumed to a professional level. It definitely had the feel of someone that bought the services of different members of staff to keep it that way, though.

Gold stepped forward as Chrome closed the door, tapping his fingers against his palm with a click-click-click sound of metal on metal. There was a sudden gasp down the hall, which confirmed that someone was home.

“Come on out, Nigel. I think you already met one of us.”

“O-one of you? There’s…there’s others…oh god…oh god…”

The two metal males shared another look. Black had definitely come to visit.

A few moments later, a trembling man poked his head around the corner of the hallway. He was obviously shaken up, but at the same time, there was a way that he stood, some way of leaning his head back slightly so that he was looking down his nose at the pair of them. It was a shaky, sneering sort of fear, and it was so strange that Gold actually wondered if he had always been this way, or if Black had fucked him up a bit further than usual.

Gold sighed. This might be a little more complicated than he thought.

“Who are you?” Nigel asked.

“I’m Gold. This is Chrome. We’re here to talk about someone that probably visited you.”

“The black one. The snake.”

“Yes…he came here, then?”

“I…I stopped at the lake, and…and…”

Then he knew the Maker. That meant that their secret was probably safe enough. If it ever came out that he had been given this ‘gift’, then the Maker would be able to handle that. That was part of the contract, he believed.

Nigel shivered, unable to complete what he was going to say. Obviously Black had done something, then.

“Maker Oury gave you Black?” Chrome asked, obviously trying to guide it further along. “Why?”

“I – he could have given me something valuable. He gave that worthless Chris the pair of you, didn’t he? Something bright, something shiny, something worth money. So much money. And for what? Being ‘good’?” Nigel snorted, the first real emotion that he’d shown besides fear. “I am better than that. I deserve more than that. I am smarter, better. Nigel Roster, Esquire. That’s me. That’s me…”

[i]He’s gone completely off the deep end…[/i]

This wasn’t like Black. This wasn’t the usual work that the snake did, not when there were people that needed punishing. That meant that something had either gone wrong while the snake was working, or he wasn’t done just yet.

[i]But Black doesn’t abandon a job before it’s done. Is that why he hasn’t gone home yet?[/i]

That wouldn’t fit with the Maker calling him home, though. He would be following that order if he was done, but…

“You. You know him. The…the black one, yes?” Nigel said, jumping back to the topic at hand.

“…Yes?” Gold admitted.

“You do things…like him?”

“No. Not like him.”

“Then you wouldn’t punish me?”

“Oh, that’s not my job,” he said dismissively, waving his hand. “I’m just –”

“Then you wouldn’t be here to punish Nigel Roster, Esquire.”

The human stepped out from behind the corner, and it was suddenly clear that he had rather different priorities than the two of them. Gold and Chrome stared at the human dressed in nothing but his underwear, nipple clamps on his chest, weights pulling them down. He was stiff and hard, a fear-boner tenting his briefs. He panted softly as he looked between the two of them.

“You’re lying, I’m sure. Nobody would be able to resist tormenting someone like me. They would take one look and want to put me in my place.”

[i]…Oh.[/i]

That was all that Gold needed to hear. That was all that either of them needed to hear, he was sure. This ego, this utterly twisted arrogance would have chased Black off in a second. There was nothing here that could be punished, because under all this twisted hate and bluster, there was a narcissist that couldn’t be trained out of it.

It was almost insane to look at Nigel like this. The human reached up to his throat, caressing it.

“Look at me. He did this to me, you know. He couldn’t resist putting me through my paces. Couldn’t resist looking at me. Nigel Roster, Esquire. He made me into this thing, this little thing that would make others want to use me. You want to use me, I know it. Look at me. Look at me, what he did, what he made me…”

The human turned in place, almost like some sort of show animal rather than a person, and even Gold felt a stab in his stomach. Not just of pity, but of utter disgust. Nigel had been trying to ruin Chris’s life, and this was what he did when he was punished? Not get better, but retreat even further into his belief that he was the best, that he deserved everything that he wanted?

“Come on. You know that you want to do the same. I’m just that irresistible. All of you, consumed with envy for me, Nigel Roster, Esquire.”

“That’s not why we’re here,” Chrome said.

“Yes, it is. And he’ll be back, soon. He’ll come back, and he’ll finish the job.”

“Has he been back more than once?” Gold asked, trying to keep them on track. “Has he come back and…punished you more?”

“No. He will be, though. He’ll be back. He needs me. I know he needs me. Everyone needs me. Everyone else is too stupid.”

“He’s not here, though?”

“No. He’s always in the vents. Always muttering, always hissing. He scares me. Scares me…”

[i]Turns you on, more like it,[/i] Gold thought, looking down at the human’s bulge. It was harder than ever, the tip starting to ooze pre through the fabric, marking it and leaving it both stained and wet. There was no denying that this mark had been left by Black, but he knew that this wasn’t the way that the snake worked. This wasn’t someone that could be punished with attention. This man? This man needed someone that could fix him, not punish him, someone that could ignore him and then guide him.

That wasn’t Gold, and it wasn’t Chrome, and it sure wasn’t Black. The most that Black could do was shatter him so that the pieces could be put back together, and it looked like Black had already tried that. It was…horrifying, in its own way, to see that this was what Nigel needed to put himself back together as. Not as a better man, but as a victim, as someone that the world was just out to get, someone that was too special to ever need to change and be better.

[i]He thinks he’s gold, but he’s not even fool’s gold.[/i]

It left the leopard shaking his head, but it was filling in some of the blanks. Black had been sent here to punish someone, alright, but he had already done the job. Fine Silver was there to take him back because he was somehow able to ignore the Maker’s summons to come home. What was that about? And why would he want to stay?

“Come now. Punish me,” Nigel said, taking a step towards them. “Teach me a lesson. Don’t lie to me. You need me.”

“Not anymore,” Chrome said.

“Come on. Do it. Do it!”

They shared a look, and left. Locking the door behind them, they left Nigel to his insanity, and then gradually started making their way down the hall. There was another apartment on this floor that was empty, and they stepped inside, using the master key to let themselves in so that they could talk privately.

Gold found one of the vent shutters and pulled it closed, just to make sure that there was nobody that would overhear them. The last thing that he needed was for this to travel like it had the night when they were having fun. Chrome had already locked the door behind them, and the zebra looked grave.

“We’re changing,” Chrome said. “I…didn’t think that was possible.”

“Neither did I, but…well, growth, right?”

That was the best way that he could put it, and he knew that he needed the personal spin on it. If he didn’t have that, if he was just facing change without something to make it feel just a little bit better, he didn’t know if he could take it.

The idea of becoming something different had always been left to the mortals, something that they were allowed to do. The figurines, he and the others that the Maker had made, had always been static. Their lives had been happy, so why would they want to change? They were given good purposes –

No. Most of them were. Not Black.

“…Chrome…have you ever, you know…talked with Black?” Gold asked.

“…Not as much as with the others. Why?”

“Did he ever tell you how he felt about being what he is?”

Chrome shook his head.

“Me, neither. At least…not until just before Fine Silver showed up.”

“What do you mean?”

“Remember that day when he and I were getting into an argument? All that stuff about why we did what we did? When Chris was talking about what we meant to him and what he used us for?”

“Yes, I remember that. It was a very good day. And he was in fine form in the bedroom, later.”

“Yeah, well, there was a thing that happened between me and Black before we joined you. He called it ‘acting’, but…you know, looking back on it, I don’t think it was.”

“What did he say?”

Gold thought back to that moment. Black had been angry and sad, halfway to a full breakdown with the ‘acting’ moment. The snake had been on the verge of lashing out, of breaking the walls with his lashing tail. There’d been nothing that would have stood in his way, either, not with Chrome in the other room.

He pulled the words back, going through them one by one. Then, he quoted them.

“[i] I know what he made me for…I know it better than you do. I know it better than any of you. You all get to see the good, the love, the [b]wonder[/b] of humanity. Do you know how it feels to only get to walk the world when you’re being used to break someone? To do what I do every [b]single[/b] time?

“No, don’t even say it. You don’t know. None of you know. You live at the surface. You see the light. I don’t. I’m in the muck. I’m down in the dark, and that’s all I’ve gotten to see…[/i]”

Chrome stared at him when Gold came to the end of the line. He had remembered it all too well, all the way down to the facial expressions that had dominated the snake’s features. Black had been on the verge of a complete breakdown, alright, and for the first time, the snake’s honest feelings about what he was had come out.

They both stared at each other after he came to the end of the speech, neither of them quite able to find the words for the bombshell that they had just come across. It was…well, it was a wake-up call.

[i]He wasn’t acting,[/i] Gold thought. [i]I don’t know why I believed that stupid lie. I guess…maybe I wanted to believe that he liked it…[/i]

After all, the Maker had made them all perfect. The Maker had given them all a good purpose, something that they could enjoy. Gold to grow, Chrome to care, even Fine Silver had a purpose that was to take care of something dangerous, right?

But Black…

The snake had been made to hurt people, and despite everything that they had seen, Gold realized that didn’t necessarily mean that Oury made him enjoy hurting people. Maybe Black had to teach himself that, and maybe that had just been the way for him to keep himself sane over the years. Maybe that was the way that he had managed.

This time, however, there’d been the one-two combo of a person that had broken so horribly from the punishment to push Black away, and then the enticement of being able to stay with someone that actually cared, someone that could handle the ego that the snake had. Gold held his hands to his head, feeling the shift that was happening, the change that was already pushing at himself.

[i]I’m growing, not changing,[/i] he told himself. [i]Or…or…no. Change is part of growth. You can’t grow without changing a little…[/i]

That made the pain and headache that came with the concept a little bit better, and as Chrome pulled him into an embrace, he knew that the other figurine was doing his best to embrace his own shifting understanding.

The Maker had been perfect for them until that point. Oury had been the one to make the best of things, and everything that he had made had been made for a reason. Now, however, they could see the crack in the plan, the flaw in Black, the flaw that had been hidden from them for all this time.

Black [i]hated[/i] what he did.

If someone could be forced to do what they hated, if someone could make them and then force them to do something that they hated for all their lives, then that meant that the Maker was flawed. And if the Maker was flawed, that meant that they were flawed, too, that they might be doing the wrong things, that they were not necessarily in the right purposes for themselves. That they might need to be more than what they were made to be, made to do.

It wasn’t even the same as what mortals went through. Mortals, at least, were not made with a purpose in mind. They were born and had to find it, and that purpose would almost always be something that they could find some joy in, something that they could be good at and realize that they liked. Black had been [i]made[/i] as something that he hated, and had been forced to become something bad in order to enjoy it, to keep his head on straight.

And Oury had forced that when he made Black.

[i]No wonder Black is holding out this time,[/i] he thought as he was held in silence. [i]Who would want to go back? Who would want to let go after they finally had a chance to be…to be better than that?[/i]

Gold had never sought out change for himself, but then, he’d never felt miserable. He’d never been unhappy. Black, however…

[i]He has to grow, has to change, or he will never stop being miserable.[/i]

It was as big an insight as he had ever had, and he doubted that he would ever quite be able to forget that. He needed to find Black. They needed to find Black.

#

“Where are you?”

Fine Silver stood in the middle of Mr. Magpie’s apartment, his arms folded behind his back and his eyes flicking from corner to corner. Every slight movement drew his attention, even in the near-total darkness that he kept the living room in.

Mr. Magpie had been dismissed, heading down to the game store with money that Fine Silver had pulled from some of the other apartments. His fragmented understanding of the world had made it clear that finances were required for anything that occurred outside of the apartment world, and he had made sure that Mr. Magpie had sufficient funds to be kept busy for the next few hours.

That should be sufficient for his plans. Provided that Mr. Magpie was absent, Black would be drawn to him soon enough. The hunter had to come back to his lair, eventually, if only to pick up that which belonged to him. That which was precious enough to risk himself for.

Fine Silver had not missed the stallion figurine on the mantle. It had been touched again and again during his stay in the apartment, and it was clear that it was Black’s work. The touch was always just rough enough to be less than Gold, and just daring enough to be more than Chrome. The human’s art style did not match it, either. The difference in patterns meant that it was an invisible member of the group, and that meant Black.

Fine Silver twitched as he waited, feeling his body bubbling ever so slightly at the core. He was barely solid, holding himself in a state of readiness for rapid expansion. This was what he was made for. This hunt, this wait, this style of stalking: it was what the Maker had shaped him for, built him for.

[i]Though…it seems I am…in need of upgrades…[/i]

The loss to Chrome had been utterly humiliating. He should have been able to spread himself over the zebra like butter over toast, keeping him as a frame inside and using his strength to finish his job. Instead, the zebra had scraped him off with ease, like unwanted condiments on a sandwich, and then shaken him out like a naughty kitten.

He would not let that happen again. The Maker would be informed.

Black, however, should not be so difficult. He had been made specifically to capture that serpent. He had no flaws for Black to take advantage of, no cracks. He was pure. Fine Silver, without flaw, without impurities, without anything to turn him into an alloy or something that would be broken apart.

Black would be taken in, and that was all that mattered. And then, he could get out of this place of mismatched, impure things…

Mr. Magpie’s apartment was hardly the worst of them in this building, but it was still…problematic. Mismatched materials in the couch meant that there were bits of leather patched against cloth. The floor went from shag carpet to linoleum and then back again. The ceiling tiles were marked with smoke and worse. It was dirty, and it needed a deep clean, but more than that, it needed harmonization, to be brought back into a purer style of appearance.

That was what had bothered him in Ms. Forester’s apartment. Everything had been mismatched. Everything had been out of sorts, out of alignment. The bills that came in, the mail, had all been outsized and ill-packed. Every single time that he saw something that didn’t fit, that didn’t work right, that was not the same as what was next to it, he felt ill to his core. He felt like it had been made that way intentionally to mess with him and the way that the world was supposed to be, and he had to fix it. Had to, had to, had to.

Just like he had to fix Black.

He heard the soft hiss of gasses sliding through the gaps of the closed vent and knew it was time. He dissolved completely, falling into a puddle of silvery fluid on the floor, and rolled through the carpet and onto the linoleum. By the time that he reached it, the gasses had come down, forming the beginning of Black’s massive tail, and he flowed to either side of it, becoming a puddle that was more of a ring, something that surrounded the larger serpent.

In the darkness, there was no light to reflect off his body and give him away. He waited, nevertheless, waited for Black to completely form together. There was no need to jump the gun. It was always better when the target made himself vulnerable.

Bit by bit, the snake took form, and when he was fully, physically there, it was clear that the black-scaled punisher was confused. The darkness, the empty room: that obviously wasn’t right. Black narrowed his eyes, and Fine Silver struck.

He rushed upwards, creating a flood-wall of silver metal. It formed a dome over the snake that turned into a bubble, taking him off his feet. Black rolled backwards, trying to form into smoke again, but the sheer thickness of Fine Silver’s liquid body didn’t let anything out.

“You are captured,” he said into the bubble. “You will not resist.”

“Like hell I won’t!”

And Black suited his words to action, throwing himself against Fine Silver’s body with a fury that would have shattered any of the other figurines. At times, the sheer force of that tail pushed against his body with enough pressure that he worried for the integrity of the bubble, or would have, if this was not planned for.

“You will submit,” he said, slowly contracting himself around the snake, pressing his silver body against the black scales of the serpent. “You will be returned to the Maker for your failures.”

“I did what I was told! I DID WHAT I WAS TOLD!”

Claws slashed at him, but only dug furrows through liquid before it was replaced again. The tail trashed, only to slide into a sleeve of silver that held it, contained it, controlled it. Black screamed, and Fine Silver pressed down on his face, containing it and collecting it.

“You will submit.”

“MMMMPGH!”

“You will submit.”

“MMMPH!”

“You will be collected, and I will prove your inferiority. Maker Oury will see that his latest creation is –”

With a sudden surge of strength that caught Fine Silver by surprise, Black lunged to the side. Their bodies slammed into the stove, the wall, and the fridge, but most importantly, they hit the very edge of the vent. It knocked the vent open, and the snake managed to roar right into the opening.

“SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!”

Fine Silver pulled Black back from the vent, pulling all the tighter around the snake. Clearly, more correction was needed.

#

The roar echoed through the building, startling both Chrome and Gold from their embrace in the empty apartment. It rattled every vent, breaking through even the stifling chunks of metal over the opening.

“What –”

“Fine Silver. He found Black,” Gold said, pulling free. “Come on. We’ve gotta move.”

“Yes. Yes, you’re right.”

They ran out of the apartment and down the hall, swinging themselves around the stairs with the agility and power that only they could have summoned. Over, under, around they went, dropping down the levels of the building as fast as one could imagine.

They reached Chris’s floor, and they shared a quick glance. Gold would run for the apartment, while Chrome would guard the door. One way or another, they would catch Fine Silver before things got worse, and if Black tried to flee, then they would catch him on the way out.

As Chrome kept running, Gold darted forward, lowering himself into a hunter’s crouch. Things had gone far further, far faster, than any of them were used to. This wasn’t how any of their assignments usually went; this sort of interplay, crossing paths, working for and against each other was completely atypical. They had time to work, time to play, time to help their subjects and bonded human, and they [i]did not[/i] interfere with each other.

Until now.

The door to the apartment building was ajar, and that meant that Fine Silver was on the other side. Gold pushed it open silently, sliding into the room. Dark, but that was fine. Gold or not, he was still a leopard, and that meant night vision. He rounded the couch and saw the damage.

The stove and refrigerator were a total loss, completely shattered from whatever Black had done. The snake stood at the edge of them, one hand gripping the wall, the other trying to remove it from the drywall and plaster.

The problem was, Black was not as dark as he normally was, and there were two voices. One of which was slowly getting quieter and quieter.

“You cannot win. I am made to defeat you. I am your replacement. Maker Oury will see to it that this is done properly from now on.”

“This is wrong. Even you have to see that.”

“I am perfection.”

“You are emptiness. You are nothing but obsession. I am a curse, but you are a curse’s curse.”

“You will be silent. I have already –”

“All you are is a half-complete, unpolished, arrogant version of me. At least I [i]earned[/i] my confidence. What have you done?”

“I captured you.”

“Not…yet…”

“Soon…enough.”

They were fighting and they were fighting hard. Gold stood up just as the claws were pulled free from the wall, and the snake turned to face him. The black scales were gone, replaced by an outer coating of silver. Of Fine Silver.

“He is contained,” the snake’s mouth said before turning up in a grin. “There’s nothing to fear. After all, I [i]am[/i] the latest and greatest of the Maker’s creations, so of course I was able to handle –”

Gold didn’t know what came over him. Sympathy for Black, the utter wearing down that had come with dealing with Nigel Roster, the way that the world had completely turned upside-down for the poor leopard, and now the arrogance of Fine Silver in doing something that didn’t need to be done? Maybe a combination of all of it, for that matter.

All he knew was that he was at the door, and then he wasn’t. He flew through the air, and he punched the silver snake right in the nose.

[b][u][center]The End[/center][/u][/b]

Summary: Gold and Chrome dig into what is going on with Black and Fine Silver, including going to see what the hell Nigel Roster knows. Poor guy is about to get his head turned inside-out.

Tags: no sex, male nudity, human, leopard, lion, snake, zebra, magic, modern fantasy, philosophy, fight, fighting, control, possession, corruption, broken, series,