{"sf1_id":929838,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Commission: The Great Enslavement - chapter 1","author":"Palantean Writer","words":2565,"posted_at":"2015-11-03T20:05:00.000Z","tags":["Commission","Female","Jack Russell Terrier","Jai","Male","Mouse","Raccoon","Rexorchid","Slavery","Snow Leopard","Vyvi","Weasel","digby","lotus","mitsy"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/929838-commission-the-great-enslavement-chapter-1","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/929838","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=929838\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Time. Meaningless word for me some years ago, but now means much.\nWe all grow, and change, as it passes. There is nothing static in\nthis world. Time begets change, and change happens to all. It is a\npart of life...a necessity. Without change you are not alive, you are an\nautomaton, a cog in a larger machine, unable to do anything as things\nhappen to you. Not alive...dead...something that happens to us all. The\nfinal change, one we are all destined to go through...the only question\nbeing how it comes about. By choice, or having it thrust upon us...or\ngiving it up in battle. Is it right? No. Do good people die? Yes.\nBut these were not good people...taking life, as necessary as change,\nsometimes. People fight. Die. Right, wrong, conflict...battle.\nThe dawn rose over the forest, heralded by the chirping of birds as\nthe light filtered through the green leaves and down the brown trunks of\nthe trees, reaching down to the ground as it went. A quiet, peaceful\nday started to begin. Down on the brown leaves, red mixed in. Gunmetal\ngrey. A face twisted in final agony, unable to scream for the wound\nacross the throat.\nWhat is right? How is that decided? Is it by power? Is there a\nhigher power above us? Is there some codex of laws that we must\ndiscover, or is it all irrelevant, and there is no right at all?\nRed in the water. Another body, human, lies on the edge of the\nstream. His hunting rifle sitting at the bottom of the stream. Shell\ncasings lie nearby, glistening as the sun touches them. The sun greets\nthem all, staring down, slowly illuminating another three bodies as the\ndawn finished, the smell of copper thick in the air.\nRegret. What did I do? What I had to. But it was not\nright...according to them. But part of me says it was...why do I regret it?\nThey would have done the same to me. Why should I weep for them when\nthey would not for me?\nOne final figure was touched by the sun but the sun warmed this one,\nilluminating his reddened, matted fur. Left ear ripped half-off, eyes\nbloodshot, he blinked slowly as the sun rose, blinding him. His black\nand grey striped tail twisted back behind him. Blood dripped down from\nhis right arm, falling on the once-white bandages striping his shoulder\nand abdomen. Another river of red in this bloody morning. His toes\ncrunched through the earth as he walked, or hobbled, his bruised thigh\nfailing him as he moved slowly. Tears in his pants opened, letting sun\nflow through to his grey legs. The anthropomorphic raccoon continued,\nblood dripping off his knife slowly, his fingerless gloves providing\ngood purchase against the hilt. He dared not look back at the bodies,\npanting a bit as he walked on, a filthy mess. A breeze blew, ruffling\nhis fur, and he shivered as it touched his skin on scarlines on his\nneck.\n xXxThe tree house had always seemed as alive as its occupants. It rocked\nto and fro of course, for it clung to the uppermost branches of an\nancient oak, but there was more to its arboreal activity than that. It\noffered two ways for a fur to get inside: a selection of ropes that\nswung languidly in the wind, and a spiral staircase climbing up and\naround the trunk for those in poorer physical condition, or for other\ntimes when the ropes just weren't fit for purpose.\nThe tree house's parts, so carefully crafted to fit together, also\ncreaked continually against each other to make a dry, squeaky and\ncomforting background noise that perched at the edge of the attention of\nany fur nestled inside. This movement was imperceptible to the eye to\nits occupants but present all the same. In all of its years the tree\nhouse had never settled or stilled, and never would.\nLotus stood among the furniture and artworks and cushions of the\ncommunal tree house, painting. He'd always been a keen painter but the\nsubjects he'd found for his current project were really rather lovely:\nan arrangement of coloured glass vases filled with flowers of\ncomplimentary colours, picked with his own plush hands. The snow leopard\nhad planned this still-life piece meticulously, gathered potent colours\nwith which to paint and completed his chores early especially to set\naside time to create his artwork.\nThe image was coming together on the canvas beautifully - the dark\ntones of the bookshelf behind the vases showed through the coloured\nglass, their straight spines thrown into curves so that nofur would\nguess what the darkness was. His delicate brush strokes were now\nbringing an extra depth to the cornflower petals and if he could only\nhave a few more moments before the sun went down he would complete-\n//Haiyaa!\\ An immature boy's voice cried at the same time as Lotus'\nworld exploded. Stripey grey fur collided with him and his easel,\nknocking him painfully to the wooden floor. When he looked up to see who\nhad done this and why, he saw Jai, laughing so hard he had to grip his\nbelly and bend double.\nShock turned to an unpleasant cross between anger and deflation.\n//Jai.\\ he said before his rage truly surfaced. He looked from the\nlaughing raccoon adolescent to his canvas which now sat face-up on the\nfloor. Around three quarters of it was smudged beyond repair, and Jai's\nrump and shoulder were smeared with orange and green and brownish\nyellow.\n//Jai, why... Why did you do this?\\\n//Surprise!\\ the raccoon answered, smiling much wider than he was going to in a moment, if Lotus had his way.\n//My art... My art is ruined.\\ Lotus said, still unable to believe\nJai had done such an inconsiderate thing. His shock failed to get a\nreaction - indeed, Jai gave him a bright-eyed look as if all was well in\nthe world - and that was when Lotus saw red.\n//Why must you always destroy?\\ he said, struggling and not quite succeeding in not raising his voice.\n//Oh come Lotus, I have done no harm. You have too many artworks anyway. It would only end up stacked with the others.\\\nLotus shook his head. He made more finished paintings than he could\nstore in this one tree house, it was true, but that was not the point.\n//I do not destroy your possessions Jai. All I ask is that you do not\ndestroy mine. Please.\\ Without saying any more to the raccoon he bent\nto set the easel on its legs again and to allow the painting to dry. He\ncould see that he wouldn't be able to salvage it but at least it would\nnot make a mess when he threw it away. The smudge, making his artwork\nugly and redundant. It made his heart sink to look at it.\nMeanwhile Jai picked up one of the vases, pulled out the flowers and\nlooked down the neck to spy Lotus through the base. //Why are you\npainting see-through things anyway? It seems pointless.\\\nLotus gave him one of what Vyvi called his 'tranquil glares', took\nthe vase out of Jai's grip with a twist to avoid the tug-of-war that\nwould most likely result, and began the process of tidying away his art\nsupplies with quiet dignity.\n xXxMitsy took a taper from the batch before any of the others thought\nto. After the day she'd had she wanted to be the member of their group\nto usher in the evening. She lit it and went out onto the balcony to\nlight the candles that hung from the hanging jars Lotus had crafted. She\nwatched each one flare into life and throw flickering shadows against\nthe woodwork of the tree house balcony and trunks and branches beyond.\nSix there were, and when she lit the sixth she blew it out and savoured\nthe smell of smoke that vaguely triggered her danger-sense. It felt\nsatisfying.\n//Which game would you like to play tonight?\\ Vyvi asked as she\ncrouched by the cupboard they kept their games in. She had already\nspotted Mitsy's suppressed anger and looked to the weasel for an answer,\nher ears unfurled, her dark eyes wide.\nMitsy smiled despite the tension in her chest. It felt good to be\nnurtured and the mouse had a knack for making her feel better. //I would\nlike Four Walls.\\\nLotus gave an assenting purr, Jai didn't seem to care and Digby\nlooked like he was looking forward to it already. But then, Mitsy\nthought, Digby looked forward to any activity with his friends at all -\nsuch was his manner as a naturally enthusiastic Jack Russell terrier.\nShe followed Vyvi onto the balcony so they could set the Four Walls\ntiles out on the table. The moon had begun to rise and it added straight\nbeams of silver light to the curling gold of the candles. Mitsy smiled:\nall she needed was a game or two and the chance to tell the others what\nhad happened.\n//Would you like popcorn?\\ Digby asked the group at large. He got a chorus of yesses in reply and set to the task of making it.\n//Lotus, did you make your picture?\\ Vyvi looked at the snow leopard for an answer as she set out the tiles.\nLotus held his breath for a moment before he answered, and glanced at\nJai. //I was unhappy with it in the end. They don't always work out.\\\n//Oh, but you looked everywhere for the vases,\\ she answered, clearly surprised and even a little saddened by Lotus' news.\n//I did. Perhaps I will try another time.// Again that glance at the\nraccoon. Something silent passed between them and the mouse seemed to\ngain some understanding.\nMitsy suspected Jai had played some kind of prank on Lotus. She hoped\nhe'd had his fill of pranks - she didn't want his games tonight.\nThe group sat down, chatting in twos and threes or stopping to listen to each other.\nDigby began the game by breaking the wall and dealing to the others.\nMitsy examined her tiles before turning her attention to Vyvi. //Father\ntook us hunting today,\\ she said.\n//How did it go?\\\n//It was as I thought,\\ she answered grimly. //He has no trust in\nme. He insisted I hunt only insects. He says that runts like me are not\nto try hunting anything too big because we will make fools of ourselves.\nAh, it makes my blood boil!\\\nLotus took a tile from the live wall and formed a pair.\nJai to his right took a tile also. He'd hidden his tiles behind his arm and was looking disinterestedly at his selection.\n//But I don't understand,\\ said Digby, his brown eyes bright in the\nmixed light of the moon and fire. //Weasels are smaller than their prey\nanyway. Size isn't the issue, surely?\\\nVyvi and Mitsy looked at each other before answering. Digby was\nwonderfully interested in everything around him, sometimes to the point\nof not thinking about context. It made him a good companion but\noccasionally a frustrating one. //That is true enough and I believe he\nis wrong, but he insists.\\ She took a tile and returned one of her own.\nHer hand was not good. //I feel as if he wants me to fail!\\\nThe turn had returned to Jai who took another tile. He still looked disinterested - in both the game and the conversation.\n//I find it hard to believe he wants that for you,\\ rumbled Lotus.\n//But I wonder if he is thinking ahead, about the problems he may be\ncausing you.\\\nMitsy huffed and shook her head. //He told me I will become an\nexcellent hunter of crickets and grasshoppers. They are good to eat I\nsuppose, but I want to hunt properly. He will not accept my requests.\\\n//Maybe you can find a friend who can teach you,\\ Digby suggested. //A weasel friend.\\\n//Will any of your brothers or sisters teach you?\\ asked Vyvi.\nMitsy was just about to answer when Jai called out //Four Walls!\\ He\nretracted his arm with a flourish to show a set of four and a pair. //I\nam the winner! Woo!\\\nLotus made a throaty sound between a purr and a growl. //Yes, well done Jai.\\\nMitsy, however, felt herself growing hot with anger. What had been\nthe point in the game when she was destined to lose to soon? //Did you\ncheat, Jai?\\ she demanded.\n//Oh please, spare me. It doesn't suit you,\\ he said, feigning the same disinterest in her words as he had in the game.\n//No Jai, I want to know! Did you cheat?\\ She found herself gripping the edge of the table and glaring at him.\n//No, I didn't. But I wish I had - perhaps I will next time just to\nwatch you fail,\\ he answered with a smug grin. Then he took a handful\nof popcorn and chewed it smugly. //So you were saying you're a bad\nhunter. Keep talking.\\\nMitsy found herself speechless.\nJai laughed again. //I need a drink, this popcorn's too salty.\\ He went indoors to get a cup of water.\nMitsy sunk a little, her skinny elbows on the tabletop and head on\nher black hands. Her day with Father and his attitudes about runts\nhunting, her siblings blindly agreeing with his - blatantly incorrect -\nattitudes, and now Jai's usual tricks and acid tongue. //I didn't need\nhis attitude tonight. Lotus, must you continue to bring him over?\\\nLotus looked surprised even in the meagre light, but gathered himself\nswiftly. //I am sorry. He used to be nicer to talk to than this, quite\ninnocent. He has become worse.\\\n//He has a funny way of showing his friendship,\\ agreed Digby before throwing a little of the popcorn into his mouth.\nMitsy had good peripheral vision and could see the familiar movement\nof Jai's bushy tail out of the corner of her eye. He was close -\nhalf-hidden in the shadows just inside the doorway. Listening,\nevidently; she couldn't say she wasn't pleased he could hear what they\nthought of him. Perhaps it was wrong for her to feel that way, perhaps\nit was just misaimed, delayed retribution for what she felt towards her\nfamily. But Jai was unpleasant to be around. His insensitivity came through at the worst possible times.\n//You asked me about my painting Vyvi,\\ Lotus continued. //The truth\nis that Jai destroyed it in a prank. I liked how it was coming along,\nbut now...\\\n//So what are we going to do, then?\\ asked Mitsy.\n//I will stop inviting him. If he comes over by himself I won't let\nhim in.\\ Lotus looked around at the others for agreement, which he got\nwith nods.\nMitsy took a better look at Jai. His shoulders were slumped and his\ntail lay on the floor. By the look in his eyes he'd heard and\nunderstood, and Mitsy? The weasel felt cruel but vindicated. He visibly\ntook a deep breath and joined the group again, water glass in hand.\nVyvi and Lotus shifted uncomfortably and Digby rather doggedly set up\na new game. When he dealt to the others Jai put a hand up to refuse a\nset. The game could manage with four.\nTO BE CONTINUED..."}