Golden Ink

Tick-Tock

|| Content Warning|| This section includes swearing and some hitting.

"Did you have a nice nap?" Aislinge's voice cuts through my sleep.

Eoin's head was resting on my shoulder but he's lept to his feet now. "Aislinge, what do you want?"

Aislinge grabs my chin and pulls me towards him. "Is that any way for a pet to speak to its master?" He slaps hard enough to send me to the ground. "I get that you're new to this, but really, you need to know the rules."

I force myself to my feet and stand as close to him as I can, jutting my chin out defiantly. "Make me."

Aislinge smiles and slaps me again. "I guess we'll just have to work extra hard to house break you. Now, I have a very important question." He holds up two collars. "Which one do you like more?"

I spit on his shoe and Eoin's eyes turn into quarters. He shivers a little but doesn't do anything. "So did you decide I'm going to be a puppy for you?" I smile.

Aislinge kneels and smiles. "Yeah, but I don't know quite what to name you yet. I mean, Spot is pretty obvious, but you, I have no idea."

I push myself up from the floor. "Maybe Kaori, it has a nice ring to it."

Aislinge punches me again and then kicks me. He keeps at it until I'm coughing up blood. "First rule of being a pet, don't talk back to your master." He kicks me again. "So if I say, you're a bitch?"

I smile. "I say, and you're an dick."

Aislinge shakes his head disappointedly. "I knew you'd say that. Why do you insist on being so difficult?"

He hauls me to my feet by my wrist and punches me again, holding me firm so I can't fall to the floor. "I think I'm gonna have to take you to your new room to train you."

He grabs the scruff of my collar and pulls me through the hallway. "Spot, hands over her eyes, now!" He yells.

Eoin puts his hands over my eyes, struggling to keep up with Aislinge's brisk pace. I manage to catch glimpses of the hallway, flashes of lights overhead, but Eoin is doing his job well and by the time Aislinge releases me I am fully disoriented. "You can stop covering her eyes now Spot." Aislinge says.

Eoin removes his hands from my face but doesn't move. Aislinge snaps his fingers and Eoin rushes to stand by him. Aislinge muses his hand through Eoin's hair, twirling the curls on his fingers every so often. "This is what a good pet looks like." Aislinge sighs. "It obeys its commands and it doesn't speak out of turn. I believe this is in fact the very room I trained Spot in." Eoin trembles slightly but doesn't say anything.

I do my best to resist the temptation to look around but my curiosity gets the better of me. There's a metal table with restraints and a harsh light shining on it in one corner. In another is a cage. A third has a strange dollhouse-like feel. It's carpeted and has a dining table along with a countertop, a hanging clock, and a small window that opens to a brick wall. The final corner is devoted to storage space. There are tool chests on wheels and shelves full of different tools that appear to be designed purely to cause pain.

I do my best not to, but I shudder. "You see," Aislinge smiles. "I knew you would see it, reason. Once we got in here you would see that you should just listen to me."

He grabs me by my hair and pulls me over to the dollhouse area. It's only now that I notice one of the chairs has leather restraints on the arms and legs of the chair. He throws me into the seat and whistles a sharp note. Eoin rushes over and robotically begins tightening the restraints while I struggle.

Aislinge sits across from me and leans forward, stapling his fingers. "There are some things I want you to know before we start this whole process." He gestures around the room. "These four walls will be your life for the duration of time it takes for me to train you. The reason I'm training you is because the goal at the Society for the Betterment of Humanity is to take the trash, like you and dear Spot here, and make them less intrusive. I would rather learn about you, but our first priority is to neutralize any threats."

He leans closer. I gather as much saliva into my mouth as I can and spit on him. He responds with a slap but I do my best not to react. "There are a few simple truths that I will ask you to repeat during this, until I disallow speech. No one is coming for you. No one wants you. And the only place where you will not be killed is by my side. I'll take care of you. Repeat what I just said please."

I shake my head. "No. You're wrong. Viola is coming for me and she and," I stop, they know about Viola but not Tsula. I can't risk her. "She and other people care about me. And I can take care of myself just fine."

Aislinge smiles and shakes his head sadly. "Oh Kaori, if that was true don't you think Viola would have come for you by now?"

"It's only been a few days!" I protest.

Aislinge rubs his eyes like a disappointed parent. "No, it's been months. You've just been so disobedient we've had to sedate you."
I try to lunge forward but the chair holds me back. I push myself forward harder, bringing the chair with me so that I'm leaning against the table. "Even if that was true, I can take care of myself. I'm a god in case you forgot."

"Ex-god." Aislinge reminds me. That's never hurt before but from his mouth, it stings. "And if you could take care of yourself, how did you end up here?"

His words hit me at my core. Those thoughts had been pinging around in my mind for a while now, but I had been able to fight them off. "Spot, don't let her out of her chair. I want you standing guard right here." He points at a spot next to the door. He turns to me and smiles. "Once you've had some time to think, I might just give you some water."

He leaves, the lights turning off as the door closes. The clock ticks monotonously. Right now it's comforting, but I'm sure soon it will turn maddening.

Minutes bleed into hours. The only thing for me to do is sit and listen. To sit and listen and count the ticks from the clock in the dark.