{"sf1_id":946615,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Commission: The Great Enslavement - chapter 5","author":"Palantean Writer","words":2341,"posted_at":"2015-12-20T17:27:00.000Z","tags":["Capture","Female","Humans","Jai","Male","Raccoon","Red Panda","Rexorchid","Slavery","enslavement","tong"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/946615-commission-the-great-enslavement-chapter-5","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/946615","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=946615\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"The tree cover wasn't anywhere near thick enough for Jai and Tong to\npick up parts of the machine and stash them anywhere dry. That was\nclearly and undeniably true but Jai looked around anyway, just in case\nhe could see somewhere dry enough. Just in case somewhere here would be\ndry enough to save his plan to reassemble the machine. There was\nnowhere, and even if there had been there were too many parts to carry\nbefore something got clogged up with water. The raccoon gave up on the\nidea with something approaching despair.\nBut he refused to stay in that kind of mental state for more than a\nfew seconds. Not with Tong around. If Jai himself got depressed, he\ncouldn't imagine how bad the red panda would get. We will be fine,\nhe assured himself. //Come on, let's find shelter,\\ he said, forcing\noptimism into his voice, and scampered back the way they'd come, Tong in\ntow.\nEarlier in the night they'd passed by a rock formation, not quite a\ncave, more like a chunk of rock overhung by a lip. They could climb up\nand in easily. It would be cold but it would do.\nThey found it without too much searching around: the rock smelled\ndistinctive and led them to it. They stood in the rain and looked up at\nits rough, pock-marked surfaces. //This way,\\ he told the red panda and\nled him up into the space under the lip. It was cramped and a few drops\nof water were seeping in from above, but it would have to do. He sat,\nhunching his back because it wasn't high enough for him to sit straight,\nand curled his tail around his feet. He tucked his legs close to him\nwith his hands to stay out of the rain and to warm his hands in his\ntail. Tong did much the same.\nJai fumed as they sat nestled in the rock. Why did it have to rain now? We needed to put the machine together! How are we going to get home without it?\nHe was angry with the weather, he was angry with Lotus' uncle for not\nkeeping the secret room more secret, and he was angry with Tong for\ndepending on him so much. He sat silently, determined to keep to\nhimself, and Tong pretty much did the same thing. Although, Jai did\nnotice that the red panda didn't look angry, only sad.\nDuring their time of silence they sat side by side listening to the\nrain, mostly because it was too dark to watch it. Before too long Jai\nrealized that this was going to be a very boring night unless they\nspoke, so he relented on his anger.\n//So what's the deal with your family?\\ he asked.\nTong looked at him, surprised. Then he looked pained.\n//I mean, you call Lotus and his family your family, but you're clearly not.\\ Jai continued doggedly. //They're snow leopards; you're a red panda. So what's the deal?\\\n//I was adopted,\\ came the simple answer, quietly spoken over the rain.\n//Oh.\\ They sat silently for a while longer, mainly because Jai\ndidn't know what to say to that. Maybe Tong would say something. When it\neventually became clear he wouldn't, Jai continued: //So what's that\nlike?\\\nTong fidgeted with his tail for a moment. //I wish I'd known my real\nfamily. But I was given up as a newborn. I was put on the doorstep of\nthe orphanage in my native country without any note, so nofur knows why\nmy family gave me up, but it was probably because they were too poor. A\nlot of families are in that part of the world.//\nIn most other circumstances Jai might have made fun of a fur from a\npoor family, but who was there to make fun of Tong to? But he didn't\nknow how to be supportive either, not with something like this. //I\nguess that kinda sucks,\\ was the best he could do.\nThe way Tong curled his tail back around himself, tight and high, spoke the volumes his voice didn't.\n//I've always enjoyed my family,\\ said Jai into that silence.\n//Except for my sister. I mean, we're still family but we don't really\nget on. You know what I mean?\\\nTong looked at him sadly for a moment, but then seemed to make a\ndecision and brightened a little - although given Tong's low-key\npersonality, it didn't express itself as outright excitement or\nanything. //I always wondered what it was like to have real brothers and\nsisters. To actually share blood with another fur. I might have them\nsomewhere in the world but I'll never know. It looks really fun when I\nsee others with siblings, though. I wish I had that.\\\n//I wouldn't really say fun,\\ countered Jai, still thinking of his\nsister. But then he relented. //Sure, I guess it can be fun. You're\ndefinitely close to your family. I am,\\ he corrected himself.\nTong smiled but then hugged himself again. //I've always known that I\ndidn't belong in my new family, but now that they're divorcing-\\ He\nstopped talking abruptly as if something was stuck in his throat. Even\nin the vague moonlight Jai could see his eyes getting wet and glassy.\n//Hey Tong - you know - don't do that,\\ bumbled Jai, uncertain of\nwhat to do if Tong started crying. //Everything that happens, it... you\nknow, it happens for a reason. It'll be okay in the end. You know that,\nright?\\\nTong gave him another of those looks, the ones that seemed to mean, you don't understand.\nBut then he smiled once more, sniffed and pinched the space between his\neyes as if to dry them. //I think you're right. I'm sad about it and\nactually, kind of scared if I'm honest, but what's the worst that can\nhappen?\\\n//Yeah, that's the stuff!\\ answered the raccoon cheerily, feeling\nlike he'd failed in some way but baffled as to what else to say to Tong.\nThe way the red panda had rallied seemed strange to him, false, maybe.\nBut he'd take that over a crying companion any day.\nTong fell silent and listened to the rain again, and Jai noticed that\nhe had his hand on his chest, just under his throat. He seemed to have\nsome kind of pendant there which he'd taken to touching. He held it\nsecurely in his fist through his tshirt for a moment as if deriving some\nkind of comfort from it.\nJai decided against asking about that.\n xXxHe awoke to the scent of wet stone, sunlight turning his eyelids a\ndull glowing pink from the inside. He already knew something wasn't\nright but for the moment his mind was still too sleepy for him to figure\nout what it was. His tail was wrapped around him as if that was his\nonly source of warmth and the ground beneath him felt cold and hard, and\na little bit sharp. He rolled over to stretch and banish the ache in\nhis muscles from laying on such an unforgiving bed. His limbs creaked\ndespite his young age and he recognized that he'd roughed it last night.\nAs he reached the pinnacle of his stretch his feet came up against somefur else's warm fur. He forced open his eyes and looked. Tong.\nThe red panda lay in a slowly-breathing ball, red and ivory and fluffy.\nThe push from Jai's feet seemed to stir him to wakefulness and the red\npanda stretched too, rubbed his eyes, farted and looked around as if to\nremind himself of his surroundings.\nJai looked around too, the memory of the previous night finally\ncoming back to him. The storm had passed and obviously left a clear sky\nin its wake because beyond the rock was a clearing dappled with sunlight\nand sparkling with dew. He'd never felt so glad to see daylight, never\nfelt so happy to see the grass and trees look so green. It felt to him\nas if, whatever their challenge, they could do this. They could find\ntheir way home.\n//Tong,\\ he mumbled, yawned, and spoke more loudly. //Tong, are you ready to get walking again?\\\n//I guess,\\ said the young red panda. The two slid out from their\nshelter and planted their feet on the grass. //Do you think there'll be\nanything to eat around here?\\\n//Maybe we can find some apples or something,\\ said Jai, rubbing his\nbelly. He was hungry too. And thirsty. //Let's get walking. We'll find\nsomething.\\\nWith the light he found it easier to navigate. The forest cleared a\nlittle to one side and he led Tong, keeping the sun to his left. The\ngrass was thicker there and left thick rainwater and dew on their calves\nwhich saturated their fur and soaked them in-between their toes, but\nthey didn't care. All they wanted was a way home.\nThey gradually angled towards the open ground to their left, and it\nturned from open grassland to fields. They passed by one, they passed by\ntwo, and when they found the third one they saw a house at the far\ncorner. The field itself was full of a strange, heavy-seeded grass,\nswaying in the breeze.\n//What kind of crop is that?\\ asked Tong, quietly as if he was half-asking himself.\n//I don't know,\\ the raccoon answered anyway. But he didn't care about the crop. //The house looks interesting.\\\nTong hmmed as if half-interested, half-cautious, but it was Jai who\nmade the decision to cross the field and get closer. He set off,\nbreaking away from the forest completely and traipsing through the crop\ngrass, seed heads scratching the backs of his hands and batting against\nhis lower belly.\n//Uh - Jai? Do you think we should go around? I mean, it's disrespectful to trample a farmer's crops.\\\nJai looked over his shoulder at the red panda wading carefully\nthough. //We're not trampling anything. I don't know about you, but I\njust want to get indoors, somewhere. I want a hot drink and I want to\nget dry. Why go around? We can get there faster in a straight line.\\\n//I don't want to upset the farmer,\\ said Tong uncertainly. //And what if he doesn't want to take us in?\\\nYou don't want to upset me either, thought Jai, but he didn't\nsay anything. All he wanted was those home comforts and he'd make sure\nhe got them, sooner rather than later. And anyway, why would the farmer\nturn them down? They could always offer to do some kind of manual work\nin payment.\nThe house was... imposing. He paused at the edge of the field and\nlooked up at it. Three storeys, tall windows and decorated on the\noutside like a mansion. Expensive-looking. //Must be some farmer,\\ he\nmumbled before making for the door.\nHe realized he was approaching it alone and turned back to Tong. //Come on! Don't you want to get warm and dry?\\\nTong was just standing there, nervously rubbing the back of one hand\nwith the other. //I don't know about this, Jai. Something doesn't feel\nright.\\\nJai sighed and turned away from his companion. //Whatever,\\ he\nmuttered, took the three steps up to the front door, and knocked. He\nwaited for an answer but there was none. He tried again.\nNothing.\nHe looked around. Beside the house, half-obscured until they'd approached more closely, was a barn.\n//Maybe he's already working,\\ he said and trotted down the mansion steps to check it out.\n//Jai,\\ Tong repeated, his voice tremulous, //I really don't feel safe.\\\n//Shut up Tong! It's fine.\\ The barn was well-made with solid walls.\nHe was fairly close before he heard a sound. Quiet talking. Several\nsets of furs talking in fact, spaced out beyond the barn wall. Rustling\nall along, like many sets of feet on straw or dead leaves, constant\nactivity of some kind or another. And further than that, he could hear\nclinking metal, like heavy chains moving. //What in the world?\\ His\ncuriosity thoroughly inflamed he went around the side of the barn where\nhe saw the double doors were opened.\nNo sooner did he see the inside of the barn than he saw dozens of\npairs of eyes looking at him from the gloom. He'd been right about them\nstanding on straw but he hadn't imagined that they could all be bound in\nchains, though. They looked haggard, every one of them, wide-eyed and\nunprepared to have seen him. A few had open mouths as if about to speak,\njust as soon as they'd thought of something to say.\n//What-?\\ he began to ask right before he heard Tong cry out in\nterror. He looked around, his heart almost exploding out of his chest.\nThe panda was in the grip of a creature at least twice his height,\nmaybe more. Mostly hairless except for the top and bottom of its head,\nwith pale-ish skin. Swathed in clothing and stocky with muscle.\nIt spoke, examining the red panda despite Tong's desperate attempts\nto get out of its grip, but Jai didn't understand the language.\nSomefur from the crowd in the barn shouted to him in that same\nguttural language. He didn't know the words but they were shouted with\nurgency. \nJai's legs tensed as if to prepare to run, but how could he? When\nTong was in trouble, when he didn't know where to go? When there were\nmonsters about like this hairless monstrosity?\n//What do I do?\\ Jai blurted, panicking. All he got in return was a\nsea of tired and confused expressions, a few worried here and there. How\nwas he going to fight the monster on his own?\nTong's panicked cries suddenly cut off and the fur on the back of Jai's neck stood on end.\nWhat did it do to him?\nThe farmer approached fast on long legs, batted Jai upside the head\nwith the back of one heavy paw, and Jai's world turned black.\nTO BE CONTINUED..."}