Brothel: Chapter 4
chapt 4
"Good morning ladies!" I greeted all the girls in the kitchen. It was now just sun up, and the house would be opening to receive clients soon. For the moment the panther was left in my room, he insisted that he have some room to breathe and accept the reality that was now his life. He was still shaken up and half sobbing but he wasn't angry anymore, just more defeated.
Of course I told him that it wasn't as bleak as it could be, but I didn't hide the fact that it would suck no matter how you looked at it. I also apologized about his mateship being essentially ruined, and also apologized that what was would most likely would never be again. He came around to accepting that fact and even though it tore him he handled himself well, at least before I left him alone in my room. He promised he would not try to run again, which even if he did he would be found and brought back.
I was still very interested in what his mate was like, and what he did before he was brought here. However I decided those subject were best saved for later as he was not in a very good state for discussing such things and might cause him to break down again. So for now I had to accept that my curiosity was peaked and ignore the nagging thoughts in my head.
"Good morning Alki... Oh dear. Babe your fur is all messy. Did you forget to brush this morning?"
I took a look at my arms and legs and gave myself a mental facepalm. I again added another on top of that due to the lack of clothes I was wearing, with my only covering being a loincloth. "Have I really been that focused that I forgot to even dressed?" I thought silently to myself half paying attention to the girls pointing at me giggling.
"Shut it, it's not like you haven't seen naked men before. I mean you service them everyday don't you?" That got them to be silent before Aino cleared her throat and pointed to my loincloth.
"My dearest Alki, your loincloth is torn right down the middle. We can see your... fox parts. Which is, as I'm sure you know, quite a turn on..." That is all Aino could manage to say before she fell on a chair laughing uncontrollably. All the other girls giggled with paws over their muzzles.
"Oh, and I'd bet you would find a panthers even better wouldn't you. It would be minus the knot, but with the addition of a barbed penis." I said in rebuttal to see what they would have to say about our new addition.
"Huh?" Aino coughed. "No panthers ever come to the islands, and live on the mainland 13 days travel south. So why would anyone have such desires? It's just unrealistic and very unlikely to happen. Plus rumor has it they mate for life, and sleeping with another fur is viewed as a grave sin. Plus there is also the fact that they are very loyal and attached to whoever they decide to mate with."
I cocked my head to the side but kept my muzzle shut. "Did they not know about the new boy yet?" I thought to myself. I quickly figured the Mistress Eir must have had him delivered shortly before I got home, when everyone else was asleep. I also figured that for now it must have been a secret shared between just me and her, most likely for the very reason Aino just shared which was in fact a very useful piece of information. I gave me some immediate insight on why the big cat was so obsessed about his mate and refusing to "service" strangers.
I was going to excuse myself but I felt a familiar paw grasp my shoulder. I turned around to a stoic looking Mistress who cocked her head in a "follow me." fashion until she noticed my lack of "cover". She simply shrugged her shoulders and turned around leading the way out. We both walked back out into the hallway and towards her office, which was served as both an office and her personal room. It was also located directly behind the bar and had a small one way window right in front of her desk so she could watch us as we worked.
Entering the office she closed the door behind us and took a seat down at her desk, motioning for me to come over and sit next to her. Opening a drawer to the left of her, she pulled out a stack of papers, the first having the title of "Indentured Servant Contract." I immediately knew what that paper was about since I was shown mine, and no doubt the rest of the 6 or so papers in the stack would be the same.
"This is my new property's papers. I brought you in here Alki to help you better understand why I have purchased the panther, and to show you why he was taken. Apparently, or so it says according to this dept paper, that his family owed a great deal of coin that was never paid for keeping their land, and since they had been on the move for the last 3 years leaving their land abandoned it was hard to track them down." She paused bring up the next page. "They Sentries were originally after the eldest son, but heard from panthers tribes Krishna's parents stayed with for a while that he had ran off long ago. That meant Krishna was next in line to be held responsible for paying off the dept. Are you with me so far Alki?"
I nodded my head affirmingly and she continued. "The Sentries cornered Krishna's family relaxing on a deserted beach about 19 days ago, took Krishna to a boat to be transported here, and... killed his parents"
She stopped and let the moment sink in for a few minutes, and even she seemed to be effected negatively. "His parents were killed for, as I'm sure you know, evading dept and running is a severe crime, both by themselves punishable by death. I am sorry but he will never get to see his parents again. The papers don't state anything about relatives or a mate so according to this report they are alive and well if any."
I looked down at the floor in deep thought thinking of all the things I could ask the Mistress about Krishna, as well as to just take in the information I was told. I figured I would start my questioning with the most relevant of the information first.
"Have you told Krishna about his parents yet Mistress?"
"No. As much as I hate to say it, there is no need to. He will be a servant until he is older than you, but that could be more or less years depending on how good he is at working. His dept paper here..." again she pause the flip through the papers. "states his family owed, somehow, 7,000 quid. Alki that's three time more than you owed, and quite insane. Some of it comes from evasion so the money it took was tacked onto there, so the original dept was... 5,530 quid. Yours dept when you first came here was 5,070 quid."
"I see... but don't you think it will be a little immoral not to tell him?" I looked at the back of my paws that were resting on my knees. "And does he have a chance at real freedom?"
"Understand that he, just like you, is an investment. If I tell him his parents are dead and that he will never see them again might make it so that he becomes worthless to me, and he will be sent elsewhere. I know thinking about it this way is wrong, but by the time he pays off the dept his parents will be dead anyway. As far as the freedom part, working here as a whore yes, but the paper estimates he will be about 50 years old before he will be free."
I nodded my head understanding, but silently wrestled with my morals and ethics. He deserved to know what happened to his parents, but now might not be the best time to tell him. Then again when would be a good time? I let out a silent sigh which the Mistress caught and cocked her head.
"What would you have me do Madam?" I asked looking straight into her eyes.
"He is an investment to me, this establishment, and to the rulers of the land. He needs to be trained, learn how to work. Prepare him Alki, and do your best to make him understand that other servant position are actually a lot worse."
With that she waved me off, so I bowed and left her office. I'm sure he would still be in my room, so I headed back to go check on him. The mistress left me with a great burden to bare, and although I could not say I was happy about it I understood it and her job. We were all investments, servants, giving only the basics to live and it was up to us if we wanted something improved and we had to use our own coin whether it was tips or our repayment out of the coffer. At times you felt like you were trapped until you remembered what the other servant jobs entailed.
Working this job as a whore really was not that bad once you broke it down. You only worked from sunup to sundown, and never past high moon unless there was an appointment, which you were always informed of, not to mention paid premium amount of coin. You were also fed, could bath in your free time, and if you did a good deal of clients were entitled to have a few drinks from the bar.
I opened the door to my room finding the panther sitting with his legs crossed looking out past the open curtain into the backyard. His ear flicked when I walked in so he knew I was here, but he did not turn around. I wanted to hug him, tell him how sorry I was, how I wished he was still with his dead parents, but I could not. Instead I wanted to fall on the floor myself and just pass out, now having to live with two tragic memories. I could easily admit mine was easier to live with and accept than his, but at the same time it was his parents fault there were killed. They must have known the laws, and for whatever reason kept running, kept sealing their fate.
My parents as far as I knew where still alive and healthy. I was living along when I was captured and brought here, and how they found me I wasn't sure and most likely would never know. When I left my parents to go live on my own, I never told them I was leaving, or where I would be going. I never knew that they owed dept to the clan, not that it would have interested me to know if they did. However if I did have that knowledge beforehand, maybe I would have been better off and more prepared.
When I left I picked a place deep in the forests where no one ever traveled or hunted to go live. There was no villages or cities within a 9 days walk of me, and all I had surrounding me was nature. I had picked a place at the base of a not so well known mountain which to my fortune had a stable cave that was more than spacious enough for me to live in. the opening also faced the opposite direction of the wind so I was always getting a breeze, and it overlooked a canyon that was absolutely majestic.
Finding food and water for myself was easy, there was a stream to the right of the cave that was about 50 feet away and at the time I mostly ate berries and there were plenty of those, along with tree nuts and some edible roots. It was really a paradise while it lasted, and if I ever get out of here I am going straight back there to live out the rest of my life. The question was however, what was Krishna going to do when he was set free?
I placed a paw on his shoulder and knelt down next time him, staring into the backyard just as he was. Most likely we were thinking about the same subject, just in a different light. Neither one of us said anything for a few minutes, merely just enjoying the presence of each other.
"I should have known this was going to happen" He finally said in the most normal tone I have heard from him so far. "All of the running, reassuring words, all of it. They were trying to prepare me for this, without telling me about it. They knew... they knew one day it would come to this. Why does this happen to us? Why did our parents leave it so we make up for their mistakes? Did they really not love us?"
I wasn't sure how to answer his questions, let alone how to begin to understand the answers that could be given. I knew that my parents and I weren't all that close, even with me being the only offspring. They always seemed to be more interested in the village's doings more than what their son was doing. Krishna however seemed to regard his parents with almost God-like status, something I could not admit to.
"Krishna, I'm sure they loved you. My parents and I weren't that close and I left when I was a young adult. They never paid much attention to me, just enough to feed me when I was a child and make sure I came home every night. The way you talk about your parents makes me think they cared about you a great deal. Maybe they kept running cause they didn't want to lose you, and knew the mistakes they made. However I'm not your parents, I wasn't there, so I cannot tell you for sure. You should never just assume the worst in these situations, rather just try to view it as... just another event in your life you must overcome."
We both sat for a few more moments in silence watching the grass sway from the ocean breeze. It was one of those serene moments where everything was calm and life didn't look that bad. A moment where you forgot who you were, what you have done, and your problems. Krishna must have thought the same things as he adjusted himself and laid down on his back and closed his eyes. Of course it could have been the complete opposite and he was trying to sort his thoughts.
"Did you have any siblings?" Was the next thing I heard. I knew I was drifting off to go back to sleep but the way he asked it didn't make it seem like he had already stated the question.
"No, I was the only child. My parents acted as if they didn't even want to have one, and after me they certainly didn't have any more. I always wanted a sister, but it is a good thing they never gave me one. She would have probably been taken as well to pay off the dept."
"Are we sharing this room?" It was an odd question considering the previous subject, but he was probably just trying to get sorted and asking the first questions that came up.
"For the next few night until you are comfortable most likely, or until you start working. There are free rooms in the house that we sometimes rent out for clients or visitors to sleep in, but once you are given your own room, it will be yours. The Mistress allows us to decorate to taste, as long as what we do is not permanent. I just... never bothered, I get flowers every now and then and maybe some candles but that's about it."
"Who is the scary looking lioness?" I had a short giggle at this knowing full well it was a serious question. I had asked the exact same question to Fauna in the exact same tone and she had a giggle too. Krishna was giving me a quizzical look with both of his ears splayed slightly, which although made him look cute still made him look pissed. Then again that was a thing with all cats, splayed ears always made them look pissed regardless.
"Sorry I um.. asked the same question the same way" I explained splaying my ears which looked in comparison much cuter and tame. "She is Mistress Eir, Daughter of High Council member Madam Isis. She is royalty, and a purebred. Though she owns us, and we are investment to her and her family as well as servants to pay off our dept, she cares for us a great deal more than she should. It is not all bread and butter though, she expects us to work, earn coin, and not be wasteful or lazy. She is not afraid to reprimand you, or cuts rations if you are not making enough, but she won't let you starve or work you if you are running a bad fever."
"So, to her we are like favored slaves than?"
"No, favored servants." I put emphasis on 'Servant' "Slaves don't make money, and are generally criminals that have broke the laws many time, killed someone, and ran from the military that they signed up for. They work until they die, and are treated cruelly. We have it a hell of a lot better here than anywhere else. The field work is from sunrise to sundown, and you a few short breaks with two meals which you have to make yourself. Being a builder is worse and not even going into."
"So, selling your body for sex is really the best option... nothing else comes close?"
"No, I'm sorry there isn't. This is really the safest place, and me and the girl will look at for you just as we do for each other. I can't promise it will be easy, or that it will get any easier. You just have to learn to detach yourself just enough to make it not seem so bad, while still being you. That's the one thing I can tell you for certain, never forget who you are and what you have done."
Krishna opened his eyes and stared at the roof. He seemed unfocused but I knew from experience that he was trying his best to accept what has happened. I wasn't going to tell him yet that Mistress Eir had instructed me to teach him how to work, and I was going to leave that until he was a little more balanced. For the first few days here, he would learn to serve tables, clean, and how to dress appropriately for the job.
"You feel like eating?" I asked delicately not sure when he had last ate. "I promise there is no poison in the food, we can cook our own and the ingredients are provided by the house."
"That would be... nice. I am extremely thirsty too."
"Come on, we can fix that." I took his paw into mine and started towards the door until I felt him stop moving. "something else on your mind?"
"Will I be bedding women... or men... or both. What do you bed?" he asked with the look of fear in his eyes.
I was honestly expecting that question, and was surprised we got this far without it being asked. Maybe he had either forgotten or was too scared to ask before. "I bed mostly men." I grimaced releasing his paw expecting him to pull his hand away from me in disgust, which he surprising did not. "It's a choice that the Mistress allows you to make, but I have bedded a few women in order to make enough coin to avoid her being cross with me." I didn't bother asking him what he wanted to bed since a had a feeling that he wanted to bed women. He just appeared to be that type of male, and I was afraid that he would hate me now that I said I was a deviant.
"So that is why you dress more like a woman... Did you know from a distance you could actually be confused as"
"Shut it cat, I've heard that line a hundred time before" I cut him off putting on a friendly smile so he would not think I was angry, even though it did irritate me a little. For some reason I could never get a big frame, and even for a Fennec Fox I was a little small for a male. "Come on I'm hungry too"
"Wait! Aren't you going to put something over that torn cloth of yours? Or is it normal for everyone to walk around without clothes?"
I was going to slap myself, but figured I might forget something else. I released his paw and quickly went over to my dresser, tossed away my current cloth, put on a fresh one, a pair of plan tan cotton pants, and walked back to him?
"Better?" I asked before noticing a weird look on his muzzle. "What's wrong?" I asked out of curiosity.
"You just... changed in front of me."
"I'm sorry. It is just what we are used to doing here. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable or weird. I should have thought about before I did it, but honestly I change in front of the girl all of the time. When you have seen what we have, changing in front of each other hardly elicits a response. After a while you don't even notice you are doing it, just becomes an everyday things. I'm not saying we undress and dress in front of each other all the time, it just sometimes happens due to... well whatever event that caused it. Again sorry but it is one of the things you are going to have to get used to around here, after all this is a brothel."
He just stood there looking at me with ears splayed to either side and it took me a moment to let the real statement to click in. "Wait... you bed males?" I said out loud in that voice when you have a sudden realization, I even cocked my head to the side and straightened my ears fully.
He looked down and the floor, rubbing his paws in front of himself in embarrassment. "It's ok" I tried to reassure him. "Mistress Eir will let you have your preferences, she lets all of us choose who and what we prefer to bed."
He looked up at me with his dark green, sharp primal eyes and moved his jaw to speak, but no words escaped. We both stood for a few moments looking at each other, but at the same time passed each other. "In Panther society, it is a great evil to be attracted to the same sex. I never told my parents, and my mate never told his. We kept our love secret to just ourselves, and we often had to go far away from the tribe if we wanted to do anything intimate. We never got a chance to... have sex. We were waiting until we could be sure we could make it on our own, be able to go off and fend for ourselves. The problem was that he didn't want to leave his younger brother yet. He cared a great deal for his brother and wanted to make sure that he would have a good fond memory of him. A memory which his parents could not deny was true when the time came for questions."
I was taken back by this information and my mind was at a complete loss of words, proverbs, even basic speech. I had, and could never understand how Krishna felt, and I was about to pretend to. "I'm sorry" was the only thing I could manage with my ears folded flat against my head. He simply nodded, and stopped rubbing his paws together.
Offering his right paw to me, I took inside of my own and gave it a squeeze to give him some reassurance. "Come, let's get some food ok. The girls say my cooking can make even the Mistress docile" I said with a grin forming across my muzzle. He didn't say anything back, though there was a reaction since he flicked his ear showing the he heard, and was most likely interested. However I had never had any experience with reading felines other than the lions, but they rarely showed any other outgoing emotion besides anger, detest, and disgust. I'm sure Krishna would have no problems reading them, and maybe could teach me to do the same.