Page 94 of The Toymaker
“You want your own shop.”
“I can’t do that here since children aren’t allowed in the Edge. I’d need to be in Raven’s Landing to have a real go at it.”
“Can you do it with the savings you have and the money from the account? I’m not sure how much a license in the city would cost.”
“Erm.” Riju closed his eyes. “I think it would be best if we stayed here for a little while. We have plenty of things to sell at the moment, so as long as we sell a good deal of it, we'll recoup the loss and then some to have extra padding. I could do special requests if needed like carving a name into a paddle or whatever. I can make small things, have a few sales, and work the stock overall so there’s almost nothing left by…” He looked up. “It’s November, and the current license runs out a week into December, so a six-month license would give us until June. If we sold enough, we'd recoup the cost of the license and the rent and still make a profit.”
“You could look for something in Raven’s Landing, although I don't know if anything would be available so quickly.”
“While here, I’d rather shift my focus to making kid’s toys. I could start stockpiling them and buy supplies as needed. I have dolls in my room I’d be willing to sell, so there’s something right there. Whatever income we make, we can live off of and save. It would help. If you want, you can stay here with me. Later, you can come with me if you still want to give things a go.”
“I would. I can be your apprentice?”
“I’d prefer you to be my co-owner if you still want to come with me. Technically, you’d be my apprentice too since I’d have to teach you things. I still want us to be equal in the business, which means you’d have access to our account, and we’ll both own the license.”
“Do you actually want to be alone, or are you saying you want to try a relationship with me because you think you have to?” If Riju felt pressured, Kit didn’t want that. Riju needed to make his own decisions. With Trig gone, he needed to use the opportunity to do what he truly wanted.
“It’s not that I want to be alone. I want independence. If we go into this business, we’ll make decisions equally. It won't be one of us telling the other what to do. I needed separation from Trig. You haven’t given me a reason to want separation, and you don’t treat me like him. I don't feel like I have to do anything with or for you. If I do, it’s because I want to. But…I do want a break.”
“What do you mean?”
“For a while, I think we should stop sleeping together. No sex or kink. I need time.” Riju stared at the edge of the table. “I’m sorry, and I know we were having sex and whatnot, and I love you being here… I still think I need more than a few weeks. I might need months.”
“It’s no problem,” said Kit. “I get it.”
“I know it probably seems strange…”
“Not really,” said Kit. “You were with Trig for a long time, and considering how everything ended, I think you need time to heal. I don’t think you’d get over seven years in a few weeks. Sometimes, I got into new relationships a bit fast. They weren’t nearly as long, but I mean…after Perry, it didn’t take long before I was here. I kind of had a reason because I wasn’t sure if he’d find a guy if I waited. Either way, it’s probably not healthy.”
“It was so you could go back to him.”
“That’s not happening now, and Trig was an arse, but he was right about one thing. Despite Trig breaking so many rules, I was getting something here that I wasn’t getting with Perry. I think together, we can give each other what the other needs, and only when you’re ready. Don’t rush yourself. I’ll still be here, and a break might be good for me too. For now, we can be friends.”
Riju gave him a small smile. “Thanks. It’s nice to say what I truly need and not be dismissed or told differently. We also need to think about the cock cage.”
“You can keep me locked up. It’s not ready yet.”
“The cock cage needs regular sexual interaction of some sort to absorb sexual energy. You could get away with using a phallus on yourself on a daily basis, but that’ll likely be boring on your own since you won’t get anywhere. Or you could volunteer for classes and let people do things to you. Besides, if we’re technically not in a romantic relationship, and we’re friends, I shouldn’t be keeping your dick locked up. Having someone in long-term chastity isn’t something I seek or care to do anyway.”
“I don’t want to volunteer for classes or edge myself. But months have gone into this thing too, and you could sell it later, so...”
Riju shrugged. “I don’t care about it anymore, and it was Trig’s project anyway. He’s the one who bought the spell and wanted to create the cock cage. If you don’t want to wear it anymore, don’t. I could sell the spell to the lord and let him find someone willing to make the cage. He could do the ritual himself with his wife if he wanted. If you take it off now, it won’t work, and you have to start the ritual and the year over again.”
“What’s the ritual?”
“You abstain for a month. Trig and I couldn’t even masturbate. That wasn’t a pleasant month. Afterward, on a full moon, you make a pentagram to channel energy similar to the one for lightning channelers and fuck in the pentagram with the cock cage inside it too. It absorbs the energy afterward when a person wears it, and it requires more sexual energy. The wearer can’t spend a year without any sexual contact. It’s not at all complicated, but it takes a lot of time, and that’s why it’d be a pain if anyone wanted to produce a lot of them to sell.”
“The lord might not want to spend so much time in chastity himself. A year is way too long for some.”
“If you want to take it off, I’ll get the key. It’s in Trig’s room.”
Kit looked down at his caged dick. He’d gotten used to the constant feel of it, carefully cleaning himself despite it beingthere, and not having control of the part except for pissing. He’d agreed to the whole thing to be a better slave for Perry, but he didn’t want to go back to Perry, and he’d never been a bad slave to begin with. Perry had been a bad Master, and so had Trig.
Trig had just been nicer in general when he got what he wanted and was capable of following certain customs such as aftercare. In the long run, he’d been bad because his true colors weren’t pretty if the other didn’t let him have the control he wanted.
Kit reached for the ring in his left nipple. “I don’t want anything from Trig, and I don’t want to wear his project either. I'm going to remove these too.”
“I’ll get the key.”
