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

Part 10

For Taiko

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

Chris had been distracted the last few days, what with one thing and another coming up and demanding his attention. The urgency to finish his next bit of writing, the sheer change of living with two figurines, then three, which he still hadn’t figured out, the expense of living with people that were rather, well, dangerous to his apartment, the emotional stuff that he had to figure out – oh, the emotional stuff had been more than difficult, and he was still sorting that out. But there had been plenty of distractions, plenty of them, and that’s what he kept reminding himself of as he felt the guilt for not stopping this in its tracks welling up somewhere down in his guts.

[i]Just under? No, above the stomach, that sick spot just under the throat…[/i]

He made a mental note of that. Stimulation, physical emotions, those were always good for writing. It made the thing feel more real when he was describing it. That mental noting was another distraction, something else to keep him from thinking about what they were here for and what they were doing.

Chris looked at the water in front of them. He could just make out something below the surface, something that hadn’t been there before. Kneeling down on the bank of the artificial lake, he narrowed his eyes, trying to make it out.

[i]Some kind of tunnel?[/i]

Something impossible, for sure, something that wouldn’t have been there without Oury making it with some sort of magic. That was why they were –

Splash.

He jerked back from the lake, barely avoiding the backwash of toxic liquid. It lapped at the edges of his shoes, half-corroding them in short order, and he hissed as he realized how close that had come to touching his hands, or worse, splashing up around his ankles and touching his skin, or melting his socks to his flesh.

Fine Silver poked his serpentine head out of the water. For a moment, he looked a little guilty. But only for a moment.

“Come. The Maker has invited you in. This is a rare gift.”

Chris cocked his head to the side. He remembered just how pompous Fine Silver had been before, but this was something else. This felt almost like disdain, that now that the mission was done, Fine Silver didn’t understand why they were still there.

[i]He…he really doesn’t get it, does he?[/i]

Then again, neither had Nigel on their various interactions. It was like there were some people that just didn’t understand how other people fit in the world. He had hoped that Fine Silver would learn like some antagonist in a story, but…

Well, maybe sometimes things didn’t work out like stories.

“We’re not going…down there, are we?”

He looked back at his landlady. Jane was pointing shakily at the water. He looked back, shaking his head as he stood up.

“I think we have to.”

“That’s insane.”

“Well, is it as insane as living figurines?”

“Well…”

“Or having someone steal from you without being found for days?”

“…”

“Or seeing a giant whale pop out of the water and talk to you?”

“I hate it when you’re logical.”

“It’s not really logic, it’s more story stuff. I’d like it if it [i]was[/i] logical.”

Because logic would make sense. He had been writing stories for so long that he knew that most of them weren’t that logical when you got right down to it. They were more about feeling right than actually being right. Anti-logic could stand up to scrutiny provided that it still felt right as a structure, that it still felt fair.

This…this was something that didn’t entirely feel fair, but still felt consistent. Fine Silver, by all rights, should have started to learn something by now. However, he was still static, still not quite a real person. Definitely not the same as Gold and Chrome, who were more like people, though with a definitive purpose.

[i]And…and more affection…[/i]

Chris blushed a bit as he remembered all that they’d done, and he hoped that this wouldn’t be the end of that. It was bad enough considering the loss of Black. He didn’t want to see them disappear, too.

“We’re not going to get hurt, right?” he asked Chrome.

“No. Our Maker is…a good person,” the zebra said.

“Usually, anyway,” Gold confirmed.

That was the part he was a little worried about. The way that Fine Silver talked about Oury, the Maker seemed like something of a godlike figure, and that had been similar to what he had encountered when he had gotten Gold and Chrome in the first place. Oury was a benevolent creature, someone that wanted things to be good for others, someone that wanted to be appreciated. He had picked up on those themes, those focuses.

Yet, the same person had made Fine Silver, and that…that felt wrong. That felt like it was breaking the theme. It…

He didn’t know what to think. Shaking his head, he looked at the tunnel. It seemed slightly higher, now, and the water was draining in the middle. That had to be the invitation, right? Telling them that it was time?

[i]Well…here goes nothing…[/i]

Chris took the first step, putting his shoe down on the mud just inside the tunnel. He slipped a little, but he didn’t fall over, nor did he take any further damage from the residual water. The tunnel looked like it would hold, too.

“Come on.”

The others followed, the figurines first, and then Ms. Forester afterward. They made their way into the underwater tunnel, and he couldn’t help but admire it as they made their way along. It didn’t have the same standard fantasy feel as the figurines did, but it still had that sense of magic, of iron and coldness that kept the demons back. He rather liked the idea, and he made another mental note to use that in a story sometime. Cold tunnels, cold metal that made it so that the demons of the ancient world could not get to these safe passages.

They followed it down, though he found that it quickly got dark. All the metal didn’t have any way of letting light in, and once they were past the opening to the surface, it was impossible for the light to actually follow them down. He ended up walking with his hand pressed against the wall for stability and for safety, shaking his head as he moved along.

“We’re going to be able to leave again, right?” Jane asked.

“Of course. The Maker wouldn’t keep guests without their permission,” Chrome said.

Chris, on the other hand, could all but hear the silent ‘usually’ that he was sure that Gold wanted to say, though it wasn’t a feeling like Oury was bad, just...just that Gold and Chrome were still questioning their Maker. There was something about this story that they were all putting together that made him feel off, like some other author had just taken the pen from the original one. This had started almost as his story, but then it had become Black’s, and then there was Fine Silver being written in, someone that had never been intended to come into being before something had gone off the rails.

It was a weird, meta feeling to say the least, and it was odder still because it was happening in real life, rather than in consuming some other story and having to figure it out from that.

Shaking his head, he was about to take another step into the darkness when he ran into something. The sudden grip of a tail around his leg told him exactly who it was, too.

“Stop doing that!”

He pushed the coiling tail down from his leg one more time, feeling it on the verge of touching his crotch once more. He shivered as he felt that, trying not to think about how wrong that was. It was one thing when Black did it, but when Fine Silver did it, there was none of that cautious curiosity that happened when Black joined Gold and Chrome in his bed. Instead, there was just this…squeeze. This tight possessiveness that didn’t want to let go.

[i]Is Fine Silver even a character anymore?[/i] he wondered. [i]Or is he just a prison cell taking on Black’s personality and wants?[/i]

It was another question, another thing, another…another weird piece that made him feel like he was missing something. Maybe he needed to stop thinking of this as a story.

“Where do we go now?” Jane asked. “I can’t see anything.”

“The Maker is readying his workshop for you humans,” Fine Silver said. “If he was not so gracious as to invite you, I would already be there and fulfilling the end of my mission. If it were not for his generosity, this would already be over.”

[i]No, he’s still a character,[/i] Chris thought. [i]A one-note character, though.[/i]

Thankfully, they didn’t have to wait for long. The metal barrier between them and the rest of the passage opened a few minutes later, and they were finally given light in the form of glimmering bulbs and balls. He recognized them as discarded bits of rubbish, lightbulbs that had been somehow refurbished with different wires spread between the metal bits on the inside. They glowed with many different colors, ranging from a simple white to a soft blue, from a gentle pink to a warm magenta. They created a series of underwater tones that were like a miniature fantasia of welcoming lights.

As the lights played out over the workshop underwater, little tools could be made out. Little things that were meant to be worn over a fingertip, ranging from a little brush to little carving knives, were laid out over different tables, some of them embedded in the wood, others in furniture. Driftwood, ancient iron, precious gems and metals that had been lost over the years: all of them could be found either hanging from the workshop ceiling or half-buried in the floor, drawn out and restored over time.

“Sit, sit,” Oury said as he drew himself from the water around them. “It’s finally put together. I’m sorry for the delay.”

“No trouble,” Chris said out of habit.

Furniture happened to be a little lacking, but in such a fantasy land, he was more than willing to overlook something like that. There might not have been anything beyond the restored lawn chairs set out for them, but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t something unique about them. The bands stretched across the frame for a back and a seat had been replaced and shined, made to reflect the light of the various bulbs around them, and the metal itself had been given a loving polish, almost looking like something that might have been made into a figurine itself.

[i]He puts his love into everything, then?[/i] Chris thought as he ran his hand over the chair. [i]It’s beautiful…but…[/i]

So was Fine Silver. For all that his personality was flawed, there was a great deal of beauty to the former-lion, now-snake. The silver color had been polished and shined to the greatest extreme, and even now, he reflected the light of the bulbs above him, making him look like something grander than he was. Chris looked at the figurine posing at the far end of the room, looking up at the forming Oury as the whale pulled himself limb from limb from the water around them, taking shape as he did.

[i]He worships Oury…the others just respected him…[/i]

Was that intentional? It might have been, but he didn’t know. There was so much that he didn’t know.

He shook his head. Jane was walking past him and he was about to sit down when something else caught his eye. It was a half-finished figurine on the far side of the room, sitting on the workbench. It was rough, mostly made of wood and unpolished, but –

“Are those…”

Chris hurried over, even as Chrome reached out to slow him down. He ducked the zebra’s hand, pausing as he looked down at the table. Oury muttered something, but not enough to distract him.

“Those are violin strings,” he said, his voice picking up, turning excited rather than confused as his grin grew. “You’re building violin strings into a figurine? Oh, that’s brilliant. He’s going to be wonderful.”

“O-oh? You think so?” Oury asked.

“Oh, brilliant is the word. You’re embedding music into his very soul. One of the universal languages, to convey tone and wonder, to give that, that emotion to everything that he says and does? Oh, that’s going to make someone so happy in the future,” he said, leaning in and looking the figure in the face. “Is he going to be young? Old?”

“I was thinking middle-aged, actually,” Oury said, and there was a hint of excitement in the whale spirit’s voice, too. “You know, get that reminder out that there’s more to manhood and good men than just the young, strong guys.”

“Oh, good idea. Variety is important.”

“It’s good to hear someone else that thinks so.”

Chris nodded. He was just about ready to geek out with the spirit when Fine Silver cleared his throat, drawing all eyes in the room back to him. Chris, unfortunately, had to do the same.

“I believe that we need to talk about [i]me.[/i]” Fine Silver whipped his snake tail from side to side. “After all, I [i]have[/i] been successful in my mission, and I believe that I deserve a little thanks for that.”

“Oh, yes.” Oury nodded. “You –”

“Wait one moment on that,” Jane said. “You are not going to give this jerk any sort of congratulations until I’ve had my say.”

“Your say matters little,” Fine Silver said, shaking his head. “I was tasked by the Maker to do this. All actions I’ve taken have been sanctioned.”

“Really? And you think that you can just walk in and do whatever you want because some ghost that lives in a lake tells you what to do?”

“The Maker is more than a ghost. He is –”

“Completely irrelevant to whatever you do when you’re in OUR world.”

Chris knew that voice. Jane was working herself into a frenzy, and not without reason. Fine Silver’s theft from her various tenants, combined with all the other chaos that the new figurine had caused since he was forcibly introduced to her life, gave her every reason to be pissed off right at that moment. Stepping away from the workbench, Chris made his way to a chair and scooted that as far back from the pair as possible.

Fine Silver started on another diatribe, only for Jane to poke him in the nose, shoving him back with the firm finger-jab. He yelped, staring at her.

“Don’t you start.”

“I will say what I want, human.”

“Really? Just going to do what you want, say what you want, regardless of how it affects other people?”

“I do what I must for the Maker. He made me to fulfill this purpose, and I did it flawlessly.”

“Flawlessly?! You ruined one of my apartments, you stole from everyone –”

“For the purpose of returning a danger to the world to this workshop!”

“…It took you a week, Fine Silver,” Oury said.

And that, of all things, was what caused the snake to stop talking. He looked down at the ground, abashed for the first time since the whole conversation had started. Oury shook his head slowly, and Chris saw the disbelief that was slowly dawning on the whale’s face, something new, something different.

[i]Ah, he’s getting it,[/i] Chris thought. [i]We’re starting to get back on track for a proper story.[/i]

That expression was the epitome of someone questioning their own decisions, someone that was at sea for what should have happened. Actually, now that he thought about it, he imagined that had been his face in the tunnel, though no one could have seen it. It certainly looked how he had felt. Something had happened that wasn’t in tune with the rest of the world, and he didn’t know why.

Oury turned to Jane.

“What happened, precisely?”

“What happened? I think [i]you[/i] have a better idea of how it started than me.”

“I…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“He’s one of yours, right?”

“…”

“Aren’t you going to own up to that?” Jane asked. “I thought you creative types always owned up to what you made, whether it was good or bad.”

“I’m the best thing that he has ever made,” Fine Silver said.

“If that’s the case, I feel real fucking sorry for the rest of his creations.”

That got a group wince out of Gold and Chrome, and Chris had a half-wince of his own. Whether that had been intentional or not, Jane had just hit hard. No creative liked to have their stuff devalued, and her comment hit both Fine Silver’s problems and the implications that carried for every other piece that Oury had made.

He reached out for Gold, taking the leopard’s hand, and the leopard squeezed back. There was a hint of pain on the feline’s face, but it wasn’t so bad as it might have been.

Eventually, Oury sighed. The whale rubbed the back of his neck.

“I…made him, yes.”

“So how did I get him? I didn’t go through anything that Chris said that he went through.”

“…”

“You snuck him on me, right?”

“…I did. I needed someone to –”

“Right. You know how it started, then.”

“Don’t you want to know the reason?”

“After everything that happened, not really. I don’t think that there’s a justification for everything that’s happened.”

“You don’t know Black.”

“And I don’t care. It doesn’t justify everything else that’s happened.”

[i]Hmmm, now that’s interesting…[/i]

Another flight of fancy, another little idea that popped into his head as he watched her work. There was something about Jane that was short-circuiting the whole thing that Fine Silver was trying to present, and something that made it harder and harder for the pair of them to paint Black as the bad guy. For all that they had lost control of someone, they had also gone about trying to get it back in a very dangerous way. Everything that Fine Silver had done had put them at risk, pushing the limits of secrecy and what they could get away with in the mortal world.

Oury seemed to realize that, too. The script had been flipped, and he was trying to justify himself. Jane didn’t let him.

“Your little friend has turned my life upside-down. He has gone through my mail. He has intruded on every level of privacy I used to have. He has made problems for people that rely on me. He has left me sleepless and worried sick about my own safety. AND he’s going to cost me massive amounts of money with the repairs that are going to need to be done after the fight that he started.”

“…I…this can’t be…”

[i]And there’s the shocking revelation…[/i]

Yes, it felt like they were just about back on track now, heading down the rails towards the right sort of ending for a story like this. Oury was shocked at the outcome and the actions of his creation, Fine Silver was stewing at being outed, and the whole room was silent. Chris could almost guess what would happen next. More hammer-blows for the whale? Yes, that seemed about right, and they would come from –

“Maker Oury…”

Chrome. The zebra stepped forward, bowing at the waist as he looked up at his creator. Chris pulled out a notebook that he had stashed in his shirt pocket, taking notes on everything that was said. Any of this could make for great material in a book later.

“The latest events have…worried us,” Chrome said as Gold stepped up to stand beside him. “You have always made us for a purpose.”

“Yes, and good ones,” the whale insisted. “Every single one of you, save for the Curse Black, has a purpose noble and good.”

“But…things change.”

Oury blinked. Chrome waited, politely as ever, then continued when the whale spirit did nothing to fill that silence.

“Black [i]was[/i] a Curse –”

“He is, and shall never change,” Fine Silver said.

“Was…is…Perhaps he is,” Chrome admitted. “After seeing what he did to Nigel, I cannot deny that there is a possibility that he still retains what he used to be.”

“That punishment was…regrettable,” Oury admitted.

Jane opened her mouth, but Chris caught her eye and held out a hand, asking for her to wait. She bit her lips, but did what he asked. She seemed almost as curious as he was. After all, Black had never gotten around to telling him about this.

“We went to see the victim after,” Chrome said. “Nigel was…changed. Black had stopped before completely breaking him and punishing him. There was no lesson learned, just a change from what he had been to something else that invited that sort of attention and punishment. It was as if Black had stopped partway through, sickened at what he had done, and unable to continue.

“Whether that is the case or not, you would have to ask him, but I believe that he reached a point where he could no longer continue his work. And, failing to finish, he must have found a loophole, something that prevented him from being instantly called back to you.”

“…He was sickened,” Gold muttered.

All eyes turned to the leopard. Gold sighed.

“I…thought that he might have been playing it up, getting ready for another of Chris’s acting sessions, but he wasn’t well. He hated himself, what he was, what he was made for. Every time that anyone mentioned the fact that he was a Curse, he got angry, and when it was just him and me…well, he was honest. For the first time, I think, to someone else.”

[i]Ah, that’s what that hissing was…[/i]

Chris remembered that day. He and Chrome had gone to the bedroom and they were waiting for Gold to join them. There’d been a delay, followed by a massive amount of whispering and hissing from the other room. Gold hadn’t told him what that was all about, but now? Well, he knew what it was now.

Why didn’t he ask? Because he’d been focused on other things. He’d been trying to write, trying to figure out how to deal with having two very loving figurines and one very strange third one. He had been trying to sort out his life.

Maybe if he’d just asked…

No, no, focus. Focus on the story. See where it was going.

“But that means…” Oury shook his head. “You must have misheard.”

“No, I didn’t. Black didn’t want to do that anymore. He stopped before he could finish his work with Nigel, and he came to us. He came to Chris, because we were there and he knew that he could slip into the group,” Gold said. “And he’s been different. He hasn’t tried to hurt anyone. We watched, and then watched a little less, and then a little less than that, and…and he hasn’t hurt anyone. Not one punishment, even when stupid stuff has happened.”

The way that Oury shook his head, it was clear that the whale’s own preconceptions were shattering. Chris found the story fascinating. It was not just an insight to whatever had been happening when he had been working, but it reminded him that they lived in such a different lifestyle. Someone changing didn’t mean that much to the average human, but for those made for a specific purpose –

His pencil scratched to a stop on his paper as he realized something he’d failed at. He’d been so busy with them, using them, being with them, that he had never asked them what was going through [i]their[/i] heads with everything that they were doing. He was just enjoying it, going with the flow, taking what they had to offer. He hadn’t actually figured out how he was supposed to interact with them except for what they offered him.

[i]Am I actually being good to them?[/i] Suddenly, he wasn’t so sure.

“Black changed, but for the better,” Chrome said. “But…that means that we can change.”

“We don’t need to,” Fine Silver grumbled.

“Perhaps not, but it means that we [i]can.[/i]” The zebra shook his head. “Black changed for the better…but what if we changed for the worse? If we are not made in stasis, to remain one thing, if we are capable of change…what keeps us from becoming something horrible?”

More notes were hastily written, dragged across the page as he realized what a powerful plot that would be. A species that had never changed, that was born with a purpose of good and believed that they could never be less than good, finally getting hit with the realization that things could change? That would be world-shattering. That would be –

“Chris.”

Jane stood behind him, tapping his shoulder. He looked up from his notes, glancing at her.

“I think that might be a bit much.”

“What do you mean?”

“These are your friends, aren’t they?”

“Well…yes…”

“Look at them.”

He knew what was going on, though. These things could be forgotten if he didn’t write them down. And Oury –

He looked back at Gold and Chrome, and this time, he realized what his landlady meant. The two figurines looked almost lost, emotionally fumbling for something, anything that would give them something to hold onto. Oury was saying something, his rumbling voice low enough that Chris couldn’t quite make out what it was, but…

[i]Oh.[/i]

Looking down at the notebook, he slowly closed it. He’d been doing that again. Getting obsessive, getting…getting out of it. Just like he’d been doing since getting Gold and Chrome and even Black. With everything going on, he obsessed over the little details and didn’t remember that there were other, actual people involved.

[i]Oh.[/i]

He shook his head. They had already changed subject. Gold and Chrome looked…better, though not fully soothed. They stepped back, and Oury slowly turned his attention to Fine Silver.

“This has been…troubling,” the whale admitted. “I sent you to bring the Curse back, and you’ve done that.”

“Yes, I have!” Fine Silver beamed. “He is completely contained.”

“Is he, though?” Chris asked.

And then, it was his turn again. All eyes were on him, and they ran the gamut between the irritation of Fine Silver, the curiosity of Gold and Chrome, the worries of Oury, and the relief of Jane. They were all paying him full attention, and the audience…

Well, it worried him ever so slightly. He was not used to that much of an audience hanging off his every word, at least, not in person. It was one thing to write books for people, but another thing to tell a story when everyone was interested.

“Um…I’m just saying. Ever since he encased Black…he’s kind of been acting like him.”

“I have [i]not[/i]!” Fine Silver protested. “There is no way that I would ever lower myself to act like a Curse.”

“Well…you’ve been doing things that he would do…knowing how to use that tail, and, well…” Chris tapped his fingers together. “You [i]have[/i] been channeling some of his wants.”

“I – preposterous!”

As much as Fine Silver was complaining, however, Chris could see that Oury was paying more attention now. He glanced at the snake, then back at him, and the whale spirit winced ever so slightly.

[i]He’s seeing it, now.[/i]

“I don’t know how Black used to be, or what his purpose was,” Chris said. “I…don’t entirely know what the Curse thing you keep talking about means.”

“Oh, that’s really simple. I can tell you, if you want,” Oury said.

“…I know what someone looking for a distraction sounds like. No thanks.”

“Oh.”

“But it’s not important, is it? I mean…you’re asking if Black could change. I can’t tell you that. I can…I can just tell you how he was with me. And why it matters to not punish him for that.”

“…Then tell me.”

Chris nodded, trying to put his thoughts to words. He had been good with the figurines, had worked well with them, but until now, he’d never really gone far in thinking about how he meshed with them. He’d only described them for the stories that he was putting them in, and that was an exaggerated version of them, characters that fit with the plots that he was telling, not really what they really were?

[i]What is Black?[/i]

He tapped his fingers together again, taking a few deep breaths. He started, cautiously, but slowly picking up speed.

“Black…was different to Chrome and Gold. They cared for me…a lot. A lot. They felt like they were just…there, though.”

“Hey!” Gold protested.

“Not like that! I mean…I felt like…I felt like I’d have what I got from them no matter what I did. I guess, in some ways, I kinda treated them different. Took them for granted. I just…expected it.

“Black was different. He felt like…like he was trying to earn something from the very start. Everything he did, he did with 100%. With as much intensity and focus and everything else that he could summon. Anything less was too much. It was…hard to follow, sometimes, but he pushed himself hard, like he was trying to make up for something that he hadn’t done yet.”

“Or everything that he had done up to that point,” Fine Silver pointed out.

“I don’t know what he did before. I can only…I can only talk about what he did with me,” Chris repeated. “And what he did with me was wonderful. He was intense, but careful. He was powerful, but restrained. Whether he was trying to make up for his past or just trying to be something different, he threw himself into everything he did with as much effort and passion and strength as he could. He made me feel like…like something that was worth earning, rather than just accepting it, and…it felt amazing.”

There. That was as much as he could think to say. He just hoped that it made the point that he was trying to make. Oury looked at him, then slowly turned back to Fine Silver. Whatever he was thinking, it was clear that he had been hit with something that he hadn’t expected, something that he didn’t know what to do with.

“We need to talk to Black,” Oury said.

“What?! Maker, there is no need. He is a Curse. He deserves punishment for defying you.”

“If my creations can change…then I can make mistakes. Let him out. I want to hear what he has to say.”

[i]…Exactly on script,[/i] Chris thought.

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

Summary: The group enters Oury’s workshop, and a great deal of revelations and arguments start adding up.

Tags: No sex, leopard, snake, whale, human, zebra, various species, magic, fantasy, modern fantasy, series, arguments, trial, character development, emotional,