Toy Dolls 27 Date Tuesday, April 16, 2024 - 03:16 AM PST Topic Entertainment Note: Previous chapters can be found -here- ***Chapter 27*** And with that it was time to go. I paid the bill and we stepped outside to hail a cab. Rose gave directions to the cabbie and we were off. The drive was uneventful, if silent. We both sat in quiet contemplation of what lay before us. I watched out the window as the neighborhood outside changed slowly from business to upscale homes to rural suburbs. The house at which we finally came to a halt was what the real estate agents would call a 'ranch style rambler'; a big spread out house that looked like it had had rooms added on at random. We stepped out of the cab and Rose tentatively led the way to a surprisingly unimposing front door. The lights in the house were on and from the sounds, at least some of the residents were home. I knocked and listened for any sign that we had been heard. A few moments later the door was opened by an obvious house slave in a French maid outfit. She was pretty in a hard kind of way. Her body was rounded in all the right places, but something about her eyes said that she had stopped caring a long time ago. I had to remind myself that I couldn't save the entire world as we stepped over the threshold and entered the lair of the beast. I stepped in front of Rose and tried to look like I knew where I was going as I led the way. Rose came to the rescue by tapping my hips as we came to a hallway so that I would know which way to turn. I couldn't resist a smile at her ingenuity and the teamwork that we so naturally found. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but the unprepossessing living room with bad carpet and even worse couches was not it. I stood on stained brown carpeting that looked like it had last seen a vacuum when they were a new invention. The air was tainted with the scents of stale smoke and spilled beer, cheap beer at that. In a lounge chair that may have once seen better days I spied Ariana. She sat with a haughty dignity that belied the ruin of her surroundings. "Just what the hell do you want? I assume you're not here to hand that runaway back over to me." Ariana spat the words as she rose to her feet. Her face was already the mottled red of rage and I began to wonder if the discoloration had become permanent. I stood my ground, waited for her to finish and spoke in my calmest voice. "Not at all Ariana; I am here to request an audience with Dream. I have an offer to make her and I believe that even under the circumstances she has the right to hear me out and make her own decision." It sounded just like I had rehearsed it in my head, calm, not too pushy, clear about the rules of the game. Now I just wished I had rehearsed what I was going to say next. I had my offer all figured out, but if Ariana put up a fight I was going to have to wing it and think fast. "Request? Audience? Are you stupid?" Damn, that sounded like a fight. "Dream is my property, I say to whom she speaks and when. Her time, her attention, her mind, everything that she is or has is mine. You cannot request so much as a glance at her without my permission. And I don't give it. Now fuck off." She turned away from us, ostensibly to stalk out of the room. I could feel the moment slipping through my fingers. "Ariana!" I was thinking fast but so far all I was coming up with was stalling techniques. "Don't you think it’s only fair to give Dream a chance to think for herself? I wouldn't say that except that she came to me a week ago and asked for my help. I think that implies a lack of confidence in your leadership. And if I remember right, consent can be revoked at any time. If you deny her right to leave your house..." I paused. I knew I had her, I had to. "If you lock her in a room after she has asked to leave, then it is rape. Is that what you do Ariana? Is that why your slaves leave you and need years of therapy? Are you a rapist?" I stopped speaking and held my breath. At that moment I wasn't sure what to expect. She might capitulate, she might scream, she might pull a gun and end the whole argument in a puff of powder and lead. At first all she did was spin and stare. If looks could kill I'd have been a pile of smoking cinders, fortunately they could not and I stared right back. At this point the ball was in her court so I held my silence and met her gaze calmly. For a moment I was reminded of schoolyard staring contests and I was tempted to laugh until I remembered that a young woman's life hung in the balance. Finally, just when I thought I was going to burst and say something remarkably stupid, she broke the silence. "What exactly do you think I'm doing to this girl? She has asked for my hospitality and in exchange she has agreed to stay indefinitely. That is it. If I remand her to her room from time to time it is only so that I can keep the peace of the entire house. I assume you will grant me that right?" I watched her pace and kept my silence. I wasn't about to grant her anything, but the longer she kept talking, the more time I had to think. Thankfully she did keep talking. "She made her pledge; she knew what she was getting into. I am not some kidnapper or rapist who dragged her off the street and locked her away for my own amusement. She asked, she pledged to be mine. Who are you to question my authority and her requests, here in my own home?" "I'm me." No time for stalling, I was just going to have to balls it out as I went. "And as a fellow member of the human race, I have every right to care and enquire about the well being of another member of the race. I'm me and as a member of our little club, our sub-culture, our lifestyle, I have every right to question your authority when there is reason to believe you are abusing those over whom you hold that authority. Consent is not a one time event. It is not something that once given in a blanket sense can never be revoked. And it is definitely not a license to destroy another human being. There are elements of all these things that may be consented to, but if at any moment a member of our group voices a revocation of that consent then it is gone." I was working up a good head of steam now; I just hoped I wasn't blowing hot air. "I do not claim any form of ownership over Dream, that is for her to decide; I only challenge your claim to her. Let her out of her room, let her speak her mind. Are you afraid she will leave you of her own accord? Or is it worse than that? Are you afraid that once these other poor sods-" I gestured at the other in the room. "-see her claim her freedom, that they will take steps to do so themselves? Have you so abused everyone around you that the only way you can save yourself from being alone is to rule through fear?" I stopped to catch my breath and decided to wait. I lit a cigarette and watched calmly as Ariana's features clouded even further. I expected to hear thunder in response to her anger but there was only the quiet murmur of whispered conversation among her followers. And then the thunder struck. "Fuck you; fuck you and all you sanctimonious bastards who think they make the rules for the entire world. Just because we are different from the mainstream, just because we choose to follow a different path you think that makes you our leaders. You know what? You are wrong. We are different from the vanilla crowd yes, but that does not make us the same and it does not make your Devon and Kali some kind of de facto rulers over us. So just fuck off, you run back to them and tell them I said their little messenger boy failed and there is no way I am going to bow to them the way everyone else does." She was screaming now, but I kept my voice calm and low. "This isn't about who rules the club, or who is in charge of our sub-culture. I am not here on Devon's, Kali's, or anyone's behalf other than Dream. She came to me and asked for my help. I am here rendering that help. This is not even about the club. The rules I quote are the same rules that allowed you to stake your claim over Rose’s freedom in the first place. If you will not allow her the option she has asked for, that of choice and consent, well that only reflects on you. I am neither judge nor jury and I'm sure as hell not executioner. You have to be those things on your own behalf, as do we all." "I am just here to witness Dream's decision and make sure you abide by it. I will not attempt to influence her; I will not try to lure her away. I will stand here when you bring her to us and if she says she wishes to leave I will take her outside and then let her decide whether she wants to continue on with me or go her own way. If she wishes to stay, Rose and I will leave the way we came and with any luck you and I will never cross paths again. Once more for the peanut gallery, just in case you didn't hear it the first time, this is not about us, it's not about rulership or even rules. It is just about what is right and decent in any world." I stood silent then and waited. This was the moment that would decide things. If she said no now we would have to leave and find another way in. If she said yes, I had to stick to my word and watch silently as Ariana tried to cajole Dream into staying. I felt Rose begin to stir behind me and reached back to still her; but then I saw Dream. Two of Ariana's muscle-bound house boys were leading her into the living room and by the looks they were exchanging with Ariana, they were not doing so in response to a silent signal on her part. It looked like I had managed to spark the fuse of mutiny and I began to hope fervently and selfishly that we could get Dream and get out before the true explosion happened. Dream looked, well, under the mess that she had become; she still looked radiant and beautiful. But on the outside, where it really showed, I could see the price her time here had cost her. Her once beautiful hair was a ragged mess of tangles. Her face was smeared with dust and from the tracks of her tears she had been crying herself to sleep every night, at the very least. Her clothing, a simple black skirt and a long sleeved black shirt looked two sizes too large and I assumed that they had been given her mere moments ago to hide further evidence of abuse. Her fingernails, once sleek and shiny with color were now shredded to the quick as though she had alternated between chewing them and trying to use them to dig through a cement wall. My heart bled and it was all I could do to stand resolute and not rush to her to take her from the room and then from the building. I tried to put all my love and all the care I felt into my eyes so that she could at least see that and take support from our presence. I heard Rose stifle a gasp behind me and once again reached back to still her but this time she whispered in my ear. "Her wrists and ankles look, LOOK!" And when I did look I had to spend a long moment remembering why I was trying to do this non-violently. Both her wrist and her ankles bore the raw, angry red marks of long bondage. There was blood crusted around the marks, showing how tight and rough the rope had been. Those marks looked to have begun healing over themselves, ensuring that there would be scars there to remind her no matter how far she got from this house. I swore then that if this did not go as planned I would screw honorable means and rip through the walls to get Dream out of there. The two bully boys brought Dream to a halt at a point equidistant between Ariana and me. They looked at each other and then at Dream. I saw there eyes take in, probably not for the first time, the welts and gashes on her wrists and ankles. I saw them turn to look at Ariana and then at me. For a moment I could have believed that they were going to take Dream out the front door and solve the whole problem for me, but they just stood; silent and implacable. Ariana gave a dismissive glance to the trio in front of her and then another to myself and Rose. Her body language said she could care less, but her eyes told another story. She was afraid. I could only assume she was afraid that her little kingdom was about to fall down around her ears. She drew herself up and addressed herself to the room, much like the Queen she obviously wished to be. "These, people." She spat the word as she gestured at Rose and me. "These people have come here to challenge Dream's request to live here and be my slave. They have agreed to stand silent while she gives her statement, isn't that correct?" She leered at me and I nodded mutely. "Very well, Dream, kneel at your mistress's feet like a good girl." The brutes on either side of Dream looked like they would hold her back for a moment, but they relented and Dream swayed on her feet. She was about to fall flat, but she caught herself and stood, drawing from an inner strength I did not know she had. The good news was, she stood. She made no motion to kneel before anyone. "Dream! I will not tolerate this misbehavior; you of all people should know that. Now come to my side and let's see this little charade done and over with." Still Dream maintained her stance; although she was beginning to sway a bit more than I thought healthy. She looked from Ariana to me and back again. I could see the confusion in her eyes and in her stance as she tried to make her mind work again. If everything I had heard and dreamt was true, Dream had spent the time since I had last seen her in solitary confinement. She had very likely shut down most of her mind in self preservation. "Xeno, Ariana, what is going on?" She continued to sway in place. And I gestured in silence for Ariana to explain. "Xeno and Rose have come on the supposition that I am mistreating you and that I should release you from my service. Is it true? Am I so bad that I should take away my love and kick you out of the house? Am I such a monster that the only way I can love you is to banish you from my sight and never speak to you again?" I knew she was going to make this difficult, but I had to admit she was good. She was twisting everything so much that Dream would think she was the bad person here and that she was losing more than she was gaining if she couldn't make her way through the labyrinthine logic that Ariana was using. I wanted to rail, I wanted to scream, I wanted to explain what was real to Dream, and I wanted to punch Ariana for not making it a simple yes or no choice. I did none of these things. The fight to hold to my end of the bargain had become much easier once I decided to break my bargain in another way if this went poorly. Such is the way we trick ourselves I guess. I looked steadily at Dream, ignoring Ariana as much as possible. "I'm..." Ariana started and stopped. "I..." She looked more confused then ever and I suddenly feared she would stick with the situation as it was through the simple expedient of fainting. I was wrong, but still. "I must make a choice, yes?" Her English was stunted as though it was a second language, or as though she hadn't spoken in a long time. "Yes Dream, you must make a choice. Stay here with me, or leave and go into the world to seek your fate. Of course you know you always have a place here with me, or at least you do as long as you don't disrespect me or my house by walking out on me. Make no mistake Dream. If you leave now, there is no coming back." Well, I knew she was going to play hardball. "So if I leave, I can't come back, and if I stay, I can't leave?" Ariana nodded, the smile on her face becoming larger and more predatory by the moment. Dream turned to me. "What happens if I do leave? Where will I go? Do I come with you? Or..." She trailed off and my heart broke as I watched her wait for an answer, any answer perhaps, but more likely, an answer I could not possible give her and be fully honest with her at the same time. So I took the easy route, I wimped, I let my brain slow the media wheel and just told her the first thing that came out of my mouth. Interestingly enough, it was the truth that came easiest. "Dream, I cannot make you any guarantees, not about us, your future or anything that I think really matters to you. I can say that Devon and the rest of the high mucky mucks have a retreat all set up and you don't have to worry about a roof or food. You are already invited; your ticket is independent of anything that happens in the next few minutes." I paused, lit a cigarette to cover the shaking of my hands and addressed the question she had actually asked. "As far as we go, that is where the lack of guarantees comes in. We have spoken long and hard online, but we had only just met when all of this-" I gestured to take in the surrounding and all the accompanying circumstances. "-when all of this began. I won't lie, I do like you, I might even love you and I would love the chance to find out. I won't promise you exclusive access to my heart or my time, Rose and I have become closer that I would have thought possible throughout this experience. I can promise you equal access to me and all that I am; I just can't promise it will be all that you need. Only you can decide that." I looked around the room, noting the expression of pain on many of the faces surrounding us. The look in Dream's eye was one of mixed pain and hope. It made everything that I had to say all that much more difficult. I didn't know what would 'make it better'; I didn't know what she wanted to hear. I could only push on and tell her what she needed to hear. "I won't subject you to this kind of treatment, not at any point during our life together, regardless of the path it might take." I let a note of heat enter my voice and held Dream's gaze as I went on. "I may beat you, I may tie you to strange furniture, I may even lock you in a cage; but I will never take away my love. I will never shun you. And that, in a nutshell, is what I can offer you outside of these walls. I will never turn away from you except that you know the completion of that turn will bring you back to me. Oh, and I'll use better paddled shackles." And on that note I shifted my gaze from the depth of Dream’s eyes to the shallow murk of Ariana's haughty stare. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water until finally, sound began to emerge, quietly at first and then gaining in both strength and volume until we rocked back from the vehemence in her voice. "You have no idea what you are playing at do you? You little peon, you come here spouting some party line that you heard just the other afternoon. You don't understand the offers you are making or the needs of those to whom you make that offer. You are a child playing in a very adult sandbox." She took a deep breath, no doubt intending to launch into even more colorful metaphors at my expense and I decided that we had all had enough. "And I'm taking my toys and my dolls and I'm going home. Rose, let's go. Dream?" I extended my hand hoping beyond hope that my flippant exit would provide enough impetus to goad her into following. And to my mixed surprise and joy, she did. Dream took my hand in hers and stepped to my side. I turned and Rose took my other hand and together, we walked out the door and into the uncertain future that lay before us. EPILOGUE Contrary to every fear I held, neither Ariana nor her bully boys came flying from the house to reclaim Dream. We walked away unmolested and in a blur of cabs and limousines we found ourselves boarding a steamer ship bound to points know only to the heads of our little club. Dream opted to join Rose and me in our cabin on the ship and we wasted no time getting reacquainted. Dream decided that while she wanted to be with me and with Rose in a very long term sense, she needed a bit of time to free her heart and mind from Ariana. She slept in our bed, was very awake in our bed, and spent nearly all her time with us, but she held back in the way that only the recently scarred can. Rose and I learned to anticipate her moods and offer her quiet companionship when Dream was in one of her introspective moods. There was some definite healing going on, but there were also needs that had been awakened, needs for a control more complete than I might ever be able to provide. Dream and I discussed the topic of domination and submission to death and resurrected it more than once just to repeat the process. We shared the belief that everyone has the ability to go all the way to any given extreme, but the fact remained that ability was not proclivity. And one man or woman's version of extreme may be another's foreplay. By the time land had been sighted we had decided on a wait and see approach. Dream's needs far outstripped my experience, but that in no way meant I would not find joy and interest in following her to and pushing her over my own limits. The fact that we had no guarantee that I would ever reach that summit of domination was the final argument that kept us from bonding ourselves for any length of time. It was decided that should it prove possible, Dream would claim a single room near to but not connected to the one that Rose and I would share. Nothing was heard from Ariana between the moment that we left her home and the time we boarded ship. It was assumed that she had retreated to lick her wounds and rationalize a new way to lay the blame for all her woes at our feet. In reality, we could all care less and by the time we set sail, or steam or whatever you call it; we had all decided to just ignore the topic of her existence except where it directly intersected with our own reminiscences. And of course, the final landing of the good ship whatever it was called left us standing on the shore of a land all our own. The beaches gleamed with brilliant white sand; the scent of a dozen species of tropical flowers pricked at our nostrils and from the center of it all rose the central spire of an honest to goodness stone castle. The group of us, led by Devon and, Kali tromped through a barely discernable trail in the undergrowth and stepped free of the jungle on the doorstep of our new home. From the half complete walls hung a massive pennant that read "Welcome Home" and it was home, and it was exactly what we all needed. It was the perfect home for all us dolls. ~An End~ This article comes from Shmeng http://www.shmeng.com/ The URL for this story is: http://www.shmeng.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=830