Page 5 of The Toymaker
“It wasn’t like that.” Kit sometimes forgot what people would initially think when they first heard the story. “The guy who bought me was kind of like my Uncle, he gave me a place to stay, and I had to help around the shop when I was older. It wasn’t a bad deal.”
Trig tilted his head. “He used you for free labor, and it wasn't a bad deal?”
“It’s not like I was slaving away all day in rags and starved or anything. I got to go to school and have friends. I just had to lie and say he was my Uncle, and I didn’t get paid for working the shop as a teenager, but I always had enough to eat and decent clothes. I even had toys as a kid. A lot of teenagers and kids don’t get paid for working at the family business.”
“But why on Ymir’s dirt did your Father sell you?”
“The crop failed two years in a row because of storms, and gorvin mold kept growing on whatever was left,” said Kit. “We lived on the edge of the Glasswood Kingdom. We had poor relief, but it didn’t help when Father drank nearly every coin we had, and he was meaner than a boar.”
He still remembered always being hungry and how Father would kick him around while calling him stupid. Mother had often ignored him and seemed downtrodden by her life and marriage, although it wasn’t much of an excuse to let her child be treated so roughly. She'd always done whatever Father said, and Kit was sure she knew and didn’t argue when he was one day taken to a man outside of town and sold for a few coins.
Father probably spent them on booze instead of food. Kit had been treated more like a roommate than a son by the guy who had bought him. At least he hadn’t been hungry anymore, and his new Uncle hadn’t yelled at him when he cried a lot in the first few days, confused and overwhelmed by the drastic change in his life.
“This guy randomly adopted you, except he paid?” asked Trig. “That’s…I don’t think I’ve heard of that.”
Kit shrugged. “Kind of. He felt sorry for me and decided I’d have it better with him. My Father approached him at the tavern, and what if he’d said no? Father would have found someone else, and they might have been horrible. I guess he felt like he couldn't walk away.”
“All right, I can see that.”
“I always had enough to eat, and I didn’t get smacked around anymore. The business ended up failing when I was fifteen, and Uncle was getting too old to deal with it or take care of anyone, so he gave me some money and told me to find my own way since I was grown enough and could take care of myself. Since then, I’ve moved around and worked odd jobs, and when I was older, I grew interested in heavy kink. I’ve had lovers who kept me as a pleasure slave for short periods, and Perry kept me for almost a year.”
“Was a year agreed on, or did you leave for another reason?”
“I was supposed to stay, but I was let go.”
“What for?”
Kit bit his lip. Two people parting after an agreed time or simply deciding that it wasn’t going to work out long-term was one thing. Being kicked out was another. “I…had a tendency to be a brat about certain things. Perry wants a slave who does as he’s told in all ways at all times. I was good for about six months.”
“How did you disobey?”
“If he put a cock cage on me, he wouldn't lock it and wanted me to simply accept it. I’d end up playing with myself in secret after a few days because the opportunity was there. He’d punish me for it, and I didn’t like disappointing him. I love pleasing the other, but I think I kept being a brat because he wouldn’t truly force me to behave. I asked him to lock the cage to makeme obey, and he didn’t want to. He said I had to want to obey and just do it. I used to, and I don’t know what happened. I also stopped cleaning as well as I was supposed to, and I'd even forget stuff like folding his clothes. I talked back a few times too.”
“There’s nothing wrong with a bratty streak in some ways if both are into that,” said Trig. “Riju can be a little bit of a brat at times, which I don’t mind, but he’s generally well-behaved overall. He has…issues, and I’m helping him be better. He was my apprentice here at first, and when things changed, he became my submissive. It’s mostly in the bedroom, and there aren't many rules for him. If you and Perry’s preferences clashed or you hate cleaning, he should have thought about that before he accepted you.”
“I want to learn self-control,” said Kit. “I was good at first. I don't hate cleaning either.”
“Do you like being a brat?” asked Trig. “Some people might find they like it after a time. If youneedthat in a relationship and aren’t satisfied with anything else, we won’t work out. Mistakes happen, and I’ll punish you as needed, but it’s so you learn. When I have a slave, I expect obedience and not someone who forgets or refuses to do basic stuff.”
“I’d rather learn to be a good slave who can obey. Being a brat isn’t my thing at all. If I can learn to be a good pleasure slave, Perry will take me back. Truly, I don't want to be a brat, and I never did before. I just couldn't seem to behave after a while.”
Trig hesitated for a long moment as he kept stroking Riju who was completely limp and must have been enjoying the touch. Kit wasn’t sure what Trig meant by Riju having “issues.” Maybe he was shy around new people?
“In the future, I’d say you should find someone else. Someone you work better with, I mean, but it’s not my place to tell you what to do in that regard. If you want to be made to behave, I’ll definitely make you. I’m strict, and I think after a year with me,you’ll be an obedient slave. If you’re disobedient and keep acting up, I’ll reduce what little freedoms you’d normally be allowed until you have no option but to behave.”
“All right.”
“The thing is, if you agree to this, you’ll be in a cock cage for a year. It’ll be locked, and it will never come off during that time. No matter how good you are, you won’t be permitted orgasms. Also, once you agree and sign, you won’t be permitted to back out for any reason.”
Kit had never heard of a pleasure slave who wouldn’t be allowed to break his contract or verbal agreement and leave. If they weren’t permitted to go, it was like real slavery which was illegal in the Kingdom of Eveningwood, except for Raven’s Landing, since the worst criminals were permitted for practice in the Edge. That could technically be counted as slavery. No one was allowed to buy, sell, or keep a person as a slave.
If he agreed to it, and nobody knew, no one would get in trouble, right? It wasn’t like they’d snatched him off the street and forced him into the role. It would also make him stick with it which was what he needed.
“Okay.”
“For my experiment to work, there are no safety words or signals either,” added Trig.
There hadn’t been any safety words or signals with Perry either, which was typically considered quite dangerous and a huge no-no, but Kit had never felt truly endangered.
