I’m posting my one active story over here from the other forum, and… yeah.
For what was happening, I expected… more. Background checks, in-depth interviews, or a social security number, even. Apparently though, all that really mattered was both sides agreed, and everything beyond that point was just formalities. Hell, the staff even walked me through the subsidies I could apply for and how I could use this as a tax break, and just like that, I was almost being paid for what amounted to taking ownership of three women, permanently.
“Everything seems to be in order.” the woman helping me said at last. She had told me her name at some point, I knew, but I had past the entire proceedings in something of a daze, and that detail, among others, had slipped past me. The fact that I could see bright red scales, boldly contrasting against her literally golden hair, rising distractingly from somewhere beneath her shirt and up her neck to frame her face didn’t help the matter, either, and in my head I had just taken to calling her Scale Woman. I had the impression she wasn’t expecting much from me, conversationally or otherwise, but I couldn’t bring myself to care that I was playing into her low expectations.
Scale Woman smiled professionally. “The three of them have been prepared for transfer, so if you’ll just bear with me for a moment I will bring them right over.”
I blandly agreed with her, and as she rose from her chair, I tried to distract my whirling mind by wondering where, exactly, those scales began, but it was short lived before the issue that was consuming me: Miranda.
She and I were never anything, I had no illusions on that front, but ever since I had first met her I had been entranced by her beauty… and she knew it. My staring early on had hardly been subtle, and she had caught me several times before I learned to manage that habit, but it had never provoked more than a knowingly raised eyebrow from her. She never made anything of it, never mentioned it to her boyfriend, who I had known since college, or anyone else, as far as I knew. We were never close, only seeing each other when meeting with friends, and I was pathetically grateful when we eventually fell out of touch, freeing me from such temptation.
And then I found out, recently, that she had been Min’d, and her whole life had went to shit. Jarret, as it turned out, was one of those who was less than accepting of Mins and their lot; Miranda had no family, and her friends were either unChanged or uncaring, and without anyone willing or able to take custody of her, she ended up in the system.
And then, eventually, she had one of her minders call me.
I wasn’t stupid. I knew she didn’t like me, didn’t want to be with me, or anything like that, even before she had explained exactly what she wanted out of the situation. Miranda and her friends had talked about it, apparently, and decided that I was, objectively, a better option than living in what was basically a human kennel for the rest of their lives, even with whatever liberties I would inevitably take with them. A heartwarming sentiment it wasn’t, but I took her deal all the same, to the surprise of neither of us.
Still, the carefully blank face she showed me as she walked in, her head barely above Scale Woman’s knee, fed the bitter feeling that had been growing inside me ever since, sending it roaring to new heights.
If she had just asked, just told me she wanted help, I would have taken her and her friends in a heartbeat, without any of the dramatics she had opened with. I would have wanted her still, of course, but my wandering eyes aside I have never so much as touched her before in my life, and even with the legal freedom to do so, I like to think I still would have treated her with dignity, respected her rights as a person… even if, in the eyes of society, she really wasn’t anymore. The fact that she didn’t think that was possible, to the point that me taking advantage of her was never even a point of contention in her mind, was insulting. Stung, I had accepted her terms without an argument, and the freedoms it gave me over her, but even then I still intended to do the honorable thing.
But now? Now I wasn’t so sure what I would do, and our arrangement meant that things like ‘honor’ were no longer relevant. In all ways that mattered, Miranda had given herself to me, and she was a gift I would not longer force myself to ignore.
I’m not sure what she saw on my face then, how much of what I was thinking was apparent for her, but in that instant she flinched, ever so slightly, her expression shifting for a instant, faster than I could read it, before she expertly hide it behind her facade of indifference.
Oblivious, or perhaps uncaring, to the atmosphere between the two of us, Scale Woman moved forward, Miranda obediently following in her wake, before setting the case she was carrying on the table in front of me. About the size of a cat carrier, it was sturdy, with large panels of what I knew was some sort of one-way material on the upper half. A Min transport, designed to isolate them safely from the outside world when being moved.
“Miranda, as you can see, is right here,” she began, gesturing downwards towards her feet, not even looking to see if the woman in question was actually there, “And now we will confirm the presence of Amber and Mia.”
I frowned briefly, before I realized she was talking about the friends. The ones I had never met before. Lovely. As she opened the cage, I glanced from it to Miranda. For once, she was not supernaturally aware of my gaze, instead focused on the two figures staggering out the transport. A expression of joy and relief filled her as she saw them, and I eyed it hungrily, the way her smile lit up her face, changing her presence to something warm and inviting.
I wanted that. I wanted that expression, that face, to look like that to me, for me and for me alone, and in for a long minute I was filled with a nearly overwhelming desire to simply grab her and make her look at me. Instead, I forced my eyes away, towards the clearly judging face of Scale Woman.
“Well?” she asked. “Can you confirm their identities?”
I didn’t actually know what they looked like, but there was no way Miranda would be that happy to see some random Mins. Still, I peered over at her, her face once again carefully blank, and received a slight nod in response.
“Yes, that’s them.” I said confidently, as if everyone there didn’t just watch me check with someone else.
Scale Woman, true to form, completely ignored the byplay and nodded. “Excellent. Then may I be the first to congratulate you on your new acquisitions.”
