Friend and Slave chapter 1 - Sold
"Sold"
Nicas still remembers that moment from nearly thirteen years ago when he was only three, the day his master selected him. Back then, he didn't even know what it meant to be owned and, in fact, at first it felt more like he was simply making a new friend. The wolf stares out from the bars of his cage to the dark world beyond the window sitting parallel to where he sits, thinking to himself, remembering his first few years with his master, Cole. It had gone so smoothly for the longest time. Sure, over time he came to learn what being owned meant and it wasn't quite as easy for him to come to terms with the facts of such an existence, but in contrast to then, it felt so different now.
Shifting, Nicas looks towards the mouse sleeping soundly on the bed beside the window sill his cage rests atop. He can't help but shiver a little bit, he'd been with Cole for so long and yet the sheer massiveness of the rodent still made him cringe.
"And they wonder why we're so hesitant to follow orders sometimes..."
He lies down atop the clump of cotton in the corner of the cage, sighing and closing his eyes. He figures he should get some sleep before he ends up tired for the coming day.
*ZAP*
"Agh!"
Nicas wakes to the pain shot through his form by his new collar. He'd forgotten about it until, well, now. The wolf stands and cringes, shivering all over as he tries to force himself to get up before it happens again. It's time to wake his master. Like clockwork, one minute after the collar zaps him a small exit from his cage opens to reveal a small extending tunnel and should, according to what his master told him yesterday, lead him to the bed. He climbs into the hole and walks the length of it to the foot of the giant mouse's bed. Upon exit he's greeted by the sight of two towering pink soles each with four toes wriggling lazily above his head.
"I'm happy he washes his feet before bed, at least." Nicas grumbles, feeling a headache coming on from the shock his collar gave him earlier. He remembers what his master told him yesterday: "You're gonna be my new alarm, Nicky, since my old one doesn't always wake me up. Try to be gentle about it, alright?"
"Gentle..." Nicas looks over his master's huge form.
He pokes at the mouse's heel a few times but only gets several flinches from the rodent. He decides to be a little more forceful... he bites the flesh on the side of the mouse's foot. Unfortunately, this causes it to jerk a little which throws the wolf onto his back. Before Nicas can stand, the heel comes down and presses him heavily into the mattress. He yelps and wheezes out, feeling great pain in his abdomen. He struggles and pushes up at the foot, hardly able to move, hardly able to breathe.
"M-ma...master..." He speaks in barely a whisper due to the immense pressure over his abdomen, hoping that, somehow, Cole would hear. Luckily, Cole's mom didn't have much faith in the micro's ability to wake her son and in she walks to find the micro struggling and wheezing beneath her son's foot.
Nicas stares up at the massive mouse giantess towering even higher than her son does above him. He lowers his ears, not daring to ask for any help, especially since it was his duty to wake Cole up on time.
"This is what you've been doing for the last seven minutes?" She asks dryly, giving a light glare before she reaches down and grasps her son's ankle, lifting it slightly and jerking her head to the side, signaling to Nicas to get out of the way. Quickly, Nicas gathers himself despite the pain racking his body and he moves away.
"Wake up, Cole. You're going to be late if you sleep for any longer." She says, watching as her son shifts and sits up, rubbing his eyes.
"Mom? Where is Nicky?" He frowns slightly, shifting to sit up. Unfortunately for Nicas, he hadn't moved far enough. As Col slides out of his bed, the little wolf gets caught by one of his toes and thrown off of the side. He tumbles for a moment and falls to the ground, hitting the thankfully carpeted floor but, before he can stand, Cole's foot lands atop his frame, pressing him to the floor and leaving him struggling spread-eagle beneath his master's paw.
Despite the pain and humiliation, the wolf's reddening flesh is due mostly to the fact that he has bumbled so much this morning. He groans as his master shifts his weight before suddenly lifting his foot and peering down at the wolf beneath it. The mouse blinks, "Nicas? Why are you down there? You were supposed to wake me up this morning."
The giantess shakes her head and starts to walk out of the room. "Hurry up, Cole, you won't be late for school again today or else you're grounded."
Cole winces and moves his foot, leaning down to grasp Nicas and run off to the bathroom. Between the mouse's fingers, Nicas sighs and lowers his ears. He's definitely not going to have a good day today.
*knock knock*
"Just a minute, you took forever to wake up, Cole. Kia and I will be out soon."
"I can't be late today, sis! Mom's gonna cream me if I don't get there on time. Comeon, hurry up!"
"Learn to wake yourself up, then!"
It's a full five minutes before the door opens and out walks a female mouse with a tigress held in her paw. "It's not my fault Nicas can't, apparently, even handle just waking me up." Cole glares down at the wolf but Serenity, Cole's sister, fixes him with her own glare.
"It's not his job to wake your ass up! You know what? Screw it, take your shower." She rolls her eyes, walking past while Kiara, the tigress, smiles sympathetically to Nicas, causing the wolf to calm down a little bit. He was always happy that he had people like Kiara and Serenity to defend him even if their help seemed rarer as of late.
"Whatever." Cole grumbles, walking into the bathroom and clasping Nicas even more tightly. "Sometimes I think you're more trouble than you're worth, Nicky." He drops the wolf onto the counter-top and begins to strip down.
"I'm sorry, Master Cole. I tried to wake you up but I uh, well, you shifted your foot and I couldn't get from beneath it. I really did try..." He looks away, knowing Cole wouldn't want him staring while he is nude. Cole shrugs a little bit, "Whatever, but just for that, you know where you're riding today."
Nicas cringes and nods gently, "Yes... sir." He looks to the side as Cole settles a bowl full of warm, soapy water down next to him and he climbs in to bathe while his owner showers. He dreaded riding with his master's gym socks, but it's the usual punishment for his ineptitude. It's definitely better than the punishments he hears of some of the other micros getting.
After showering, Cole grabs Nicas and heads back into his room to dress. "Did the collar work, Nicky?" Cole asks, peering down at the miniature wolf while dressing.
"Yes, it woke me up and opened the door to the cage."
"Good. We'll have to test the other features out later. It's supposed to expand on what we can do with you guys without hurting you or something. That's for later, though, for now..."
Cole pulls a sock out of his backpack, dropping the thick tube sock down before his tiny pet. "Get in, Nicky."
Nicas lowers his ears and looks up at Cole once more. He thinks about trying to plead but he knows it won't work. Sighing, the wolf gets on his hands and knees, starting to climb into the sock. As he crawls more and more deeply into the sock he can smell the sweat and musk of his master's feet from the previous day of gym. Some of it is still damp so his clean fur picks up the scent rather quickly. Once completely inside, Nicas just sighs and pulls his legs up to his chest, waiting and then cringing as the sock suddenly moves.
Cole picks the sock up and stuffs it into one of his gym shoes before placing the shoes into his gym bag. With everything packed, he rushes off to catch the bus, spotting his sister already waiting at the stop.
"I made it! Thank God, mom was going to kill me..."
"Where's Nicas?" Serenity asks, peering towards him along with Kiara who is settled between the female mouse's ears, holding onto purple strands of hair.
"In my gym sock." Cole grins. "He's gotta learn how to do his job, Serie. They all do, you know that."
Serenity eyes her brother with a frown before sighing. "There are better ways, you know. If onl..." She shakes her head, remembering when Cole used to be less demanding on Nicas. Her brother is right, though. Nicas does need to follow directions...
Kiara hangs on to Serenity's hair, feeling a bit bad for Nicas but she knows she can't do too much about it.
The bus arrives and they both board.