literature

A Little More Trust Cpt. 56

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The next morning came bright and early, flooding the living room in sunlight. Bryan yawned as he walked out of the bedroom, still in boxer shorts and with mean-looking bags under his eyes. He paused and stared at the cage on the coffee table for a few moments, still unused to seeing it sitting there. Bending over, he peered in at the two little people from above, noticing that they had both fallen asleep on the floor despite there being a bed not an inch away. Whatever- he didn’t care where they slept, so long as it was within the confines of the cage. Standing up once more, he stretched his arms above his head and sat heavily on the couch, waiting for Felicia to wake up so that she could make him some coffee.

Felicia came out a bit later, her hair tied back in a ponytail with a thin ribbon. Since she was going to the lab later, she needed to make sure it wouldn't get in the way. She smiled at Bryan as she passed through the living room. Even though she wanted to go and see the little people in their cage (they probably looked their most adorable when they were asleep), she went straight to the kitchen. Bryan would need his coffee to be able to greet the day with any awareness, and she always liked a little pick-me-up too. The routine came so easily that she could probably prepare the coffee blindfolded at this point.

Adrian didn't recognize what he saw when he first opened his eyes. He frowned, perplexed, wondering why he felt so exhausted. Then, a second later, it all came rushing back to him. He hadn't fallen asleep at Charlie's, in the walls or on the couch. He sat bolt upright, peering around with wide eyes. He'd fallen asleep in a cage. And... there was Bryan, sitting there on the couch. Adrian whipped his gaze to the door when Felicia walked in, carrying two steaming mugs of what smelled like coffee. The memory of that human, coddling him and playing with him like some doll for hours, brought a wave of shivering to him and Adrian scooted subconsciously away from her approach.

While she was preoccupied with handing Bryan one of the mugs of coffee, Adrian glanced over to where Colfax lay. He hadn't woken yet. He never was quick to wake up, and Adrian knew he'd gone to bed with a pounding pain in his head. Adrian swallowed thickly and wondered if he should try to wake him before the humans decided to. He reached out a tentative hand, but it shook more and more the closer it came to Colfax's tense shoulder, and finally Adrian had to draw it back.

“Thanks,” Bryan mumbled, taking the coffee from her and inhaling deeply. He took a slow sip of it, feeling the warm liquid slip down his throat. Already he felt more awake. With a sigh he put his feet up on the coffee table, unbothered that they were resting right next to the cage. Adrian looked to be upright, at least, but he couldn’t see whether or not Zack was awake yet. It didn’t really matter- they wouldn’t be filming things until after breakfast. If Felicia wanted to play with them first she could certainly wake up Zack, but Bryan for one didn’t care. Pulling out his phone he took a look at the time- it was about nine. Given an hour for showering and breakfasting as usual, he would have a little over an hour before class to start filming like he wanted. He’d do more after class too, of course, but he was eager to start. It was all very exciting.

Felicia sat next to Bryan on the couch, sipping on her own mug. She'd learned by now that it would be silly to try to talk to him so early after he woke up. He needed his coffee time, and until he had it anything she said would either slip right past him or make him cranky, the poor tired man. He always ended up working so hard right before bed, it was no wonder he woke up so sleepy.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, she leaned forward to peer curiously into the cage. Adrian huddled on the cloth she'd put in there, and Zack lay not too far from him. Had they both ignored the bed? Maybe they didn't know what it was for. She frowned faintly, wondering if both Charlie and Sawyer had made them sleep on simple swatches of cloth. Adrian at least should have rested on the actual bed, considering he took a number of punishments on Zack's behalf already!

Speaking of... Zack was still sound asleep, his dark hair falling in his face slightly. The little one looked so tense, even in sleep. A faint frown lined his face even now. Adrian still watched her with that nervous look in his pretty blue eyes. If anything, it only reaffirmed the fact that they needed something to help them relax. "Good morning," she cooed softly, smiling sweetly. Adrian didn't respond, which was rather disappointing, and of course Zack hadn't heard. "Good morning," she repeated, a little louder and more insistent.

Adrian took a few deep breaths, understanding that Felicia expected a reply. He glanced sideways at Colfax, who still slumbered, before looking back up at the human face peering in at him. The way she looked at him, so fascinated, put ice in Adrian's stomach. "G-g-good m-morning," he stammered out in a timid voice.

At Adrian’s quiet words Bryan glanced down at him, sipping on his coffee interestedly. Felicia was surprisingly good with actually getting the little ones to talk, the kind of speech they wanted from the two that is. He supposed it was because she was used to working with animals- she knew the kind of behavior they would respond to favorably. Now that they were trained up a bit, of course. He didn’t comment on it, however, just smiling slightly as he kept drinking his coffee. It was kind of amazing that Zack was still sleeping, despite the two of them coming in and Adrian and Felicia talking. No wonder he got caught, with that lack of instinct he’d probably walked right into Charlie. It also meant the little person was practically helpless every morning; really, it was a miracle their species had survived this long being as weak and vulnerable as they were.

There was a glimmer of awareness, and Colfax started to drag himself out of sleep. If he didn't wake up quickly, Sawyer would probably just prod at him. Colfax might never be able to be a morning person, but he could at least get himself more used to waking up before the human had the chance to bother him awake. But... why did his head hurt so badly? Why was he so sore, had he rolled off his makeshift bed?

The viri pushed himself up to sit with one hand, the knuckles of the other trying to rub the heavy sleep from his eyes. "You left the damn blinds open," he groused, his voice still thick with sleep.

"Colfax, this isn't Sawyer's," the frantic, nearly inaudible whisper caught his attention. Colfax looked to the side and saw Adrian sitting next to him, huddled up, terrified, his face a little pink and his eyes puffy from what had to have been tears. He was shaking.

Cage. Kidnap. Humans! Colfax looked up in surprise to see Felicia's stern face frowning at him. It all came rushing back, bringing a new wave of throbbing pain to the now-familiar bump on his head.

"You watch your mouth, Zack," Felicia warned gently, raising an eyebrow. Really, being sleepy was no excuse to talk that way. She'd hoped he might not be so foul-mouthed by today, but it didn't matter. Bryan would continue his training, and later she'd be able to give him something to calm some of that bad attitude.

Since his feet were already on the table, Bryan gave the cage a swift kick, sending it skidding a few inches even while calmly taking a sip of his coffee. Despite his relaxed demeanor, however, there was a feeling being exuded that he shouldn’t be messed with, lest that calm shatter into something darker. “Wake up and shut up, Zack,” he demanded coldly. “If you’re planning on acting up today like you did yesterday then it’s going to be a bad morning for all of us.”

He had also hoped that Zack might have kept some of the lessons apparently learned the day before; perhaps it was simply due to the little person not quite having woken up yet. Still, that was no excuse for such behavior- and if Zack put so much as one more little toe out of line, Bryan was ready to start up training again. It wouldn’t be pretty, either, what with him not having even showered and eaten yet. In his opinion it was much too early to have to deal with unruly little upstarts.

The sudden movement of the cage sent both viri sprawling backwards. Adrian yelped, completely taken off guard by the jolt, while Colfax fell onto his back with a wince. At least his head was a little cushioned by the cloth. Colfax regretted his words, if only because he knew they set the tone for the day regardless of what Bryan said; it was going to be a bad morning anyway. Colfax suddenly had a grim appreciation for Sawyer's chipper attitude in the morning. The frigid tone in Bryan's voice promised a difficult time.

"Bryan's right, you little potty mouth. No need to start the whole day with an attitude like that," Felicia pointed out while she went to stand. She looked over her shoulder at Bryan with a smile, pointing to the far corner of the coffee table where she'd left the key, in case he wanted to unlock the cage. Honestly, it was likely enough, if Zack kept up his bad behavior. "I'll throw some breakfast together," she told him.

Colfax was in a foul mood on most normal mornings; but, as Felicia stood and left to cook breakfast as if she weren't keeping two people prisoner on her coffee table, Colfax let out a frustrated sigh. He pushed himself to his feet and put his hands on the bars of the cage, resting his forehead heavily against one of the cold metal columns. He glared away from Bryan, not wanting to let the human see the look on his face in case he took it as something defiant.

In truth, Adrian was similarly exhausted, minus Colfax's tendency to forget himself in the morning. He swallowed dryly, glancing over at the container of water across the cage. After such an abrupt wakeup call, he wanted to go and take a long drink from it; but that would put him closer to the human, more in his sight. Adrian remained huddled close to the doll's bed, hoping to go unnoticed while the man finished his coffee.

Bryan sat quietly on the couch for a few minutes, drinking the rest of his coffee and listening to Felicia humming in the kitchen. Well, at least Zack seemed willing to listen. Maybe today the both of them would be better and do as they were told like good little people. Once his mug was empty he sat up, taking his feet off of the coffee table and replacing them with his coffee cup. Without so much as a word to the two in the cage – he didn’t have anything he wanted them to do yet, so what would he say? – Bryan left the room. The sound of a shower was soon heard. He would be much more awake after cleaning up and getting some food, not to mention the coffee would start to kick in. Then the real fun could begin.

Viewing the room from behind bars, Colfax idly mapped it. The other sofa, the TV on its stand, the meticulously-organized DVDs and what looked to be a video game console or two. Just yesterday, he'd been playing one of those stupid things. Thinking things weren't so bad. Sawyer may have been kind of a grabby human, but he never squashed Colfax or tried to hurt him. Now, he probably had no idea where Colfax was. He would find out after Bryan gave the world the evidence he planned to collect. By then it would be too late to help, because then everyone would think that Colfax and Adrian belonged to Bryan and Felicia. The very thought almost made him sick, despite the gnawing hunger in his gut.

Adrian stood carefully after Bryan left the room. He wandered absently around the cage, kicking lightly at the shiny baubles in there with them. He picked up the bread that had all fallen to the floor and put it back on the doll table. The less it looked like some kind of depraved animal's cage, the better. Though with the cluttered mess of stupid toys and haphazard doll furniture, who was he kidding?

Adrian dragged his hand back through his hair. He winced when he nearly caught it in a mess of tangles. Felicia's constant ruffling of his hair had left him looking so bedraggled. He probably looked like an animal. Adrian knelt next to the huge container of water and scooped some up to drink, quenching his thirst. The smell of what was probably eggs and toast wafted into the room, making the viri's stomach protest at him loudly. The stale bread would do little to help. Even as hungry as he was, Adrian just didn't feel like eating. He was scared. He wanted to be anywhere else. He slumped with his hands over his face as he thought about how, if he hadn't been kidnapped yesterday, he'd probably be chatting with Charlie right now over morning tea and probably a scone. Instead... he and his best friend were experiencing every viri's worst nightmare.

After a few moments the sound of running water gurgled to a stop. Minutes later Bryan appeared in the living room again, his dark auburn hair wet and still sticking to his face in some places. He was wearing real clothes now, a casual button-down untucked over dark-wash jeans. As he paused to roll up the cuffs to his elbow he glanced down at the cage, smirking at the sight of it. Every glance was a reminder that the little people in it existed, and that he and Felicia were on the cusp of something amazing. Once done with his sleeves, he continued on into the kitchen, from which the delectable smell of breakfast was wafting.

“You’re teasing me, sending that smell through the house,” he told Felicia with a smile. Coming up behind her while she was standing at the stove he wrapped his arms around her waist, giving her a kiss on the cheek before resting his chin on her shoulder. He inhaled appreciatively, his mouth already watering. A wide smile spread across his face. The new day had brought with it new possibilities, and the longer they got away with it the better he felt about it. After all, what could possibly stop them now? He was going to go to class and completely fool Charlie and Sawyer, the idiots, Felicia was going to get some medicine to help calm the two little ones, and Bryan was going to finally start filming properly. Today was going to be wonderful.

Felicia was in a similarly cheerful mood, and Bryan's sweet disposition only lifted her spirits further. "Well, you certainly earned a king's breakfast, hmm?" She loved the way he took charge with a no-nonsense focus, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't like this side of him too. She tilted her head so they were cheek to cheek and continued with the food. Eggs, potatoes, toast, and of course bacon made up a very hearty breakfast, something she normally saved for weekends or special occasions. This certainly felt special.

When the food was done, Felicia carefully extracted herself from Bryan's arms so she could dish it out onto clean plates without anyone getting burned. "Oh my gosh, it's such an exciting day. I seriously can't wait to see if we make any breakthroughs," she said with a wide smile.

“I think it’s going to be a great day,” Bryan agreed, sitting down at the kitchen table. He dug into his food, giving Felicia an approving nod. The meal was delicious; they’d certainly earned it, putting all this together. He felt like they were taking charge of their own future finally, and he could hardly wait to do all the things he wanted to. It was a shame he had to go to class; but if he didn’t then Charlie might suspect something, knowing him. As it was he needed to go, if only to act completely normal and field any suspicion cast on him. It was vital that their possession of the little people stay a secret until they were ready to show them to the world- otherwise everything might fall apart.

"I never noticed how good breakfast foods smell," Adrian muttered.

"I won't argue," Colfax replied in an equally quiet voice. They sat leaning their backs against the foot of the doll bed. Each viri had a piece of stale bread in his hands, though they had only taken a few bites. It was even tougher to eat it while the humans were just in the other room, eating so well. Sure, they'd grown up not being able to partake in the wonderful meals humans were capable of making, but they usually had better options stored away than stale bread and room-temperature water.

After a pause, Adrian sighed heavily, the sound carrying his defeat and despair with it. "We need to keep up our strength," he insisted lamely, lifting his bread to his mouth.

Felicia was no less chatty during breakfast than she'd been the day before. Much to her delight, Bryan seemed more attentive than broody. She couldn't help musing about all the tricks they might be able to teach Adrian and Zack once they were trained to obey. She even thought about eventually being able to view them from a scientific standpoint. Of course, nothing too intense- these ones were hers, and she could save the real discovery for other specimens. Felicia was excited, and she imagined she'd have a spring in her step all day and into the weekend.

When they were nearly done with breakfast, she glanced at the clock. Bryan had almost an hour and a half before he had class. "Are you going to work with them a little before you leave this morning?" she asked with a curious smile.

“I’m planning on it,” he replied, scraping up the last of his eggs. No use in wasting good time, after all. “We’ll see how they get on, I might end up having to spend most of this morning in training if they’re still being disorderly.” He smiled at her and added, “But that’ll get better once you get back home from the lab tonight, I’m sure.” Scooting his chair back he stood up and stretched, lifting his arms high above his head as he thought about it. “All the same, I’m going to try to get some good footage. Even a bit of unruly actions might give us some decent clips to use, so long as it’s certain that we have them under control in the end.”

Really, it wasn’t just about showing them to the world and proving their existence- he and Felicia also had to prove that they were capable of being domesticated. That way rich companies would get involved and the media would most certainly win out, instead of some governmental institution swooping in and stealing them before they could see a dime of the potential profit. It was a risky game to be playing, and he didn’t want to take any more chances than he had to.

Felicia nodded. His reasoning was sound. "That's a good idea," she agreed, getting up to clear the table once more. "It will give you enough footage to show a progression. Lets the people know they don't just come trained, if I'm making sense." One of the things they cautioned about in some of her classes was people who thought they could handle a certain pet that they couldn't. Exotic things especially, like the little people, would most certainly require more attention than the conventional dog or cat. "Even though they can talk they're clearly wild."

“Certainly,” Bryan agreed. “It’s no use hiding our hard work either- it’ll all be much more impressive if they can see how well we domesticated them. All the same, I don’t plan on tolerating bad behavior just because of that. If we let them run wild in front of the camera they’ll never learn how not to do it otherwise.” He started in the direction of the living room, before turning to give Felicia a smile. “Whatever happens now, though, I know we can do it. They’ll learn quickly- they’ve already improved from yesterday.” He wasn’t often so chatty, or vocal about his thoughts; but he was in a good mood this morning. They were going to use the opportunity they’d seized, and damn if it wasn’t going to be a good one.

The muffled sounds of human conversation continued, though neither Adrian nor Colfax could hear what was being said in there. But, when they heard the distinct clinking of plates against each other, they both tensed. It sounded like breakfast would be over very soon, and then the humans would return. Adrian's mind filled with the memory of being constantly handled like a doll, and he trembled. Next to him, Colfax kept thinking of how close he'd come to getting Adrian hurt, and how he'd had to give in to Bryan's demeaning game in order to keep his fellow viri safe. He was terrified that he wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut.

Bryan passed through the living room into the office again, before returning moments later with the video camera- fully charged now. Setting it next to the cage on the coffee table he began shoving some of the other things, like his empty coffee mug and the fruit bowl, to the other side of the tabletop. He wanted a bit of empty space to be able to parade the little people around on, but he still needed objects around to provide scale. Otherwise their future viewers might mistake them for actual people; that would be a disaster. He sat on the couch and turned on the camera, getting everything ready.

Felicia beamed. She rushed to clean off the dishes. She didn't want to miss out on any of the excitement. After all, she and Bryan may be rocketing to the big time because of their initiative. Felicia would also jump to the fore of her field for being one of the first to discover the little people. And she and Bryan were sharing the experience! She just couldn't quit smiling.
A camera is never a good thing for a viri... the nightmare continues. u.u


Adrian, Colfax, & Felicia: :iconpl1:
Bryan: :iconlaescritora:


:star:A Little More Trust Cpt. 1
:star:A Little More Trust Cpt. 57
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ABrandNewUser's avatar
"By then it would be too late to help, because then everyone would think that Colfax and Adrian belonged to Bryan and Felicia. The very thought almost made him sick, despite the gnawing hunger in his gut."

God.

I'm absolutely devouring this story - I prefer it to the first one, actually - and something about this line set off some sort of...guttural rage inside me. Like legitimately I kind of squeezed my knees together in anger/frustration.

I think that is a testament to how likeable you made the characters and how clear you made their goals - I'm both outraged that they are treated like this and also kind of outraged on their behalf that the species is going to be exposed. 

That was weird. I haven't commented on any of the other chapters, despite enjoying them hugely, but this one I had to because something about this line in particular was just...I don't know. Augh! I'm not used to stories making me feel that way, ANY story - published, online, whatever. I think my own personal enjoyment of and passion for the giant/tiny theme obviously helps, but it still wouldn't happen if the story itself wasn't good.