I Am Become Scum

"Yea. She gets so weird when it comes to Chess. What"s up with that?"

"…if I knew that, don"t you think I would"ve done something about it? I"m not a fan of being touched all over either, you two."

"I kinda wish she"d stop putting her paws on you like that though…"

"Why"s that, Mabs?"

"Hmmmm…no reason."

Once we were in the clear from our mother, we decided to take our time making our way to the Zoo. There was no rush, and we had all the time in the world.

The guards would constantly look at us with disgust and irritation, but otherwise made no comments or actions toward us. The slaves looked at us jealously, and even hatefully; likely thinking about how unfair the treatment was between us.

Even amongst slaves, there was a hierarchy; And we were at the top of the food chain.

Not that it really meant much, considering we were still considered slaves in the end. We just had a few more perks and advantages than them. We were considered like…slave royalty?

How stupid it was; to be envious of us. We"re ALL biting into a s.h.i.t sandwich, and it shouldn"t matter if we get the best parts. It doesn"t change that we"re still eating s.h.i.t.

But it"s emotions like this I love to see.

You see, there"s a reason why I"m able to "play" around with people the way I do. Decisions are driven by one of two things.

Emotion or Logic.

You could argue a combination of the two is possible, but one side will always prevail over the other. I"ve worked using both methods, and emotions are by far the easiest to manipulate.

Emotions are automatic, whilst logic requires cognitive effort. It becomes a battle between the mind, and the heart.

When you"re angry, you KNOW what you should say, but the rage prevails, forcing you to make rash decisions; you would say things you"d later regret, don"t truly mean, or intentionally hurtful to express how wronged you feel.

It could even escalate into things like obscene acts, violence, or murder, in my case.

Logic, however, isn"t so simple. Everyone that uses logic are separate, complex machines with different thought processes and mindsets. Their foundation of rationality is dictated by a plethora of experience and knowledge I would have no way of knowing, unless I dissected them carefully and creatively.

It requires more effort to work with…but it isn"t impossible.

"…he"s ignoring us again." Said Karv, in a hushed tone.

"It"s your fault, you know?" Said Mable, equally quiet. "You always cackle randomly, freaking us out."

"Or maybe it"s cuz you don"t leave him alone, like ma…creep."

"What"d ya say?!"

I wonder when they"ll realize whispering doesn"t work with beast-men when we"re this close together. I suppose I can"t fault a near-five year old for being ignorant, though.

"Relax, you two. I was just thinking about some things."

"What about, bro?" Mable asked.

"Mother mentioned their was a new girl being moved here, so I guess I was just a bit curious."

"Who needs friends?" she said, crossing her arms in mild irritation. "You have us; you only NEED us, right?"

"Yea," Karv affirmed, "she probably won"t stay long anyway, Chess. So why bother?"

I can"t fault them for that. Every kid we"ve tried to make friends would always disappear after a bit, taken by some rich folk.

Mable could get a bit more unreasonable when it came to females, though.

I shook my head, "I don"t think it"ll be the same this time. She"s been taken to the Zoo, and everyone there is too "rare" to be sold."

"There"s more to the world than just us, so I think it"d be good to meet her."

Mable didn"t like what I had to say, but nodded begrudgingly.

Karv didn"t care so much, and shrugged his shoulder.

"I don"t mind, I guess. The only time we"d see her is at the Zoo, though. I doubt she can be let go like us."

"That"s fine," I said. "And if she"s really that bothersome, we can just ignore her."

Mable took a shine to that as her ears perked up, as if finding a good chance.

"Yea, we can just ignore her! Heh heh~…"

"…"

"…"

Karv and I just looked at each other, shaking our head. We mutually understood our sister was hopeless. She clearly wasn"t going to give this girl a chance.

[>>>] FAST FORWARD

With some further idle banter, and some convincing on my part to get Mable to behave, we finally reached the Zoo. The entrance was like a cavern with a few guards posted at the front; it was kinda useless to have them there, if you ask me.

Even if someone could escape from this area, it was just a small section of the whole slave-prison facility.

And though I call it a small section, it was actually very large; holding hundreds of different races here. That might not seem like much, but imagine this:

When you go to a zoo, how many tigers, elephants, or monkeys do you actually see when you visit their pen? Every zoo is a bit different, but you would typically only see a handful, correct? Does that mean there"s only a handful of tigers, or other animals in existence?

Absolutely not.

So while some of the nicer looking, or rare ones, were on display, the rest of them were in the mines or other facilities working laboriously and unfairly.

The Zoo only keeps a few of the collected races that are actually in stock at "The Pit." If there are hundreds of different kinds here…how many thousands, or tens of thousands are actually here, overall, in this h.e.l.l hole?

I don"t think I should have to say it, but this place is unimaginably large. I have a few speculations about what purpose this place actually serves, but I"ll hold those thoughts for now.

"…"

"…"

My siblings noticed I"ve been ignoring them again.

"Let"s go find the old man, you two."

As we walked, we took in the surroundings once more, amazed with the concrete structure that held so many people It almost seemed naturally constructed with the way it looked; not man-made at all.

As if Nature purposely designed this place to jail others; but I knew better.

I"ve come to learn a few things about this world, and magic is a phenomena I"ve just begun to scratch the surface of.

And the best person to go to for that kind of information was the old fox, Casper, who we"re visiting.

…

After strolling for a few moments, we finally arrived to his personal cave/cell and entered nonchalantly as we usually do.

Everything looked to be the same since our last visit, with a thin blanket in the corner of the room and another door on the opposite side of where we stood. This door was connected to his exhibit, so when it came time to showcase the different races to any civilians or visitors, they would simply open the door and be immediately on display for others" viewing pleasure in their appropriate, environment-themed pen.

To the side, I could see an old man with stark white hair that was pulled back into a ponytail, revealing his fox ears in plain sight. Behind him were several silver-white tails wrapping around some object in front of him.

For a clearly aged old man, he looked immensely fit and powerful with muscles compacted in every nook and cranny. It was an amazing sight, and I"d even say he"s probably the healthiest looking slave throughout the prison. I wouldn"t mess with him, to say the least.

"You little b.a.s.t.a.r.ds…do you not get bored annoying me to death?!"

"Sup Gramps! We came to play!" Hollered Mable with a grin.

"Hey old man, how"ve you been?" I added.

"…"

Karv was silent, peeking over my shoulder as he silently stared at the old man while nodding his head, as was normal for his usual greeting.

Karv was always timid when it came to communicating with others. He was practically silent the whole time, which is strange considering how often he trades verbal blows with Mable when it is just us.

Said old man"s brow twitched a bit, in clear irritation.

"Do you three have nothing better to do than rattle my brittle bones?"

Brittle?

Can I have "brittle" bones like yours, too?

Mable laughed, "You"re funny! You look stronger than even papa, so how could you say you"re weak!"

He shook his head, "Don"t judge without knowing anything, brat. Your b.a.s.t.a.r.d of a father is a monster on a completely different level."

He paused while looking at me curiously, "But that"s not why you came here, right? You only come when ya need something."

"So," he said, crossing his arms. "What brings you here, ya rascals?"

His eyes were trained on me as he spoke. My siblings would usually just run around, pulling his hair, playing with his tails as I talked with him. He knew they wouldn"t normally come if I didn"t have something to talk with him about.

"Well, there"s a couple reasons, actually," I began. "First, was we heard from mother that your grand-daughter was brought to your cell recently, and we wanted to see if we could get to know her better."

"That crazy b.i.t.c.h…of course she"d tell you little devils about that." He muttered and annoyance.

"And second, I just wanted to ask you some more questions about how "Magic" worked."

"Hah~," he sighed. "Alright, alright. I"ll satisfy your insatiable curiousity, kid."

I nodded. "Thanks old man, but I can wait. We"d like to meet your granddaughter, right guys?"

"No."

"I guess."

Well…at least they were honest.

His brow twitched, and his teeth began to grind a little audibly.

"I actually don"t want to. In fact, I wish you brats never found out about her; you"d be a bad influence for her."

"What"s that supposed to mean, gramps?!"

Mable clearly was annoyed by what he said.

"Your att.i.tudes are G.o.d-awful, you don"t bat an eye to the death around you, and not to mention you"re HIS children."

He huffed wit his chin turned up, "Quite frankly, I don"t expect you three to be good people in the future."

He wasn"t wrong there. I knew this for a while, so I wasn"t all too bothered.

I"ve been called worse.

"You," He said, pointing at Mable who flinched back a bit at his accusatory tone. "Are violent and speak just like you filthy-mouthed mother. You also seem a bit…"

He turned to look at me, not finishing his sentence. I knew where he was going with his words, and I"m a bit thankful he didn"t finish.

"…and you," he shifted his eyes onto the timid Karv who was staring blankly at Casper"s tails.

"You"re…just creepy; and too feminine. Stop staring so much and giggling like a mad man."

I agree.

"As for you," he said, finally turning his attention toward me. "…you"re dangerous."

He didn"t need to explain himself, and I have to give him some credit. He was wise, and very observant; he likely picked up that I was very calculative. I wasn"t trying to hide myself, though, and openly asked questions that no one my age should be curious about.

I was too mature in his eyes, and he probably saw something in me that was unsettling.

"But," he groaned. "While I don"t like to admit it…it would be good for her to have some kind of interaction with others, outside myself."

"You kids are the only ones who can move about, like you do. And I don"t know how much longer I"ll be around, either."

Begrudgingly, he began to unfurl his tails as a figure began to reveal itself to us.

It was an adorable little creature that looked to be our age, hugging onto one of his five tails. Her hair was like his, a silvery-white with a single, bushy little tail that poked out of her generic tunic all the slaves wore.

Her skin was a pale white that clearly showed we rarely saw the sun. It wasn"t sickly in complexion, however, and looked fairly smooth and clear; absent of any flaws or scars that the average slave would possess.

Her appearance, outside of my sister, was the closest to what I expected from a beauty in fantasy. My mother, too, if she didn"t have clear evidence of physical trauma and abuse on her body.

"Don"t be shy, Neva." Casper said, trying to calm the shivering ma.s.s that had been buried in his tails till now. "They won"t do anything to you; not while I"m here."

That was a pretty rude statement that only I seemed to catch, since my brother and sister were having two different reactions.

My sister looked shocked as her fists seemed to tighten as she carefully took in the appearance of the little fairy before her.

My brother, however, had a gleam in his eyes. It was strange, because he would alternate looking between me and her in short intervals.

"Nyufu, fu…"

…and cackle in my ear.

…I"m really curious to know what he"s thinking, but I don"t have him all figured out yet. Mable was so much simpler.

"…"

She slightly poked her head out to peek at the intruders of her furry little sanctuary, and nodded her head in greeting, similarly to Karv.

He proceeded to cackle even more.

"These three will be your…friends."

That was quite the pained look he just gave. We"re not THAT bad yet.

Keyword…yet.

"They like to stop by and bug this old man every so often, so can you help me keep them off my back when they come?"

It"s amazing how he could be so consistently rude.

"…No."

Her eyes peered over my shoulder, looking into my giggling brother"s eyes.

"…he"s weird. I don"t like him."

If Karv"s feelings were hurt, he certainly didn"t show it.

"I think I"m in love." he responded, smiling.

"…you"re gross." She said, tongue sticking out as she feigned a hacking sound.

…why are you still smiling, Karv?

"Your fur is pretty," she said, looking at me while nodding her head. "I"ll play with you."

Oof…

Calling my fur "pretty" actually hurt me more than I thought; one of my few weaknesses. I looked to my brother to see if he was disappointed that she seemed to like me more than him, and yet…

Why is your smile even brighter, Karv?

While on the opposite end of the spectrum, my sister was starting to fume.

"b.i.t.c.h…" she uttered lowly, but everyone clearly heard.

Casper was about to say something, but Neva beat him to it.

"What"s your problem?" She asked innocently, with her head turning to the side in confusion.

I"ve only known this girl for moments, and it"s clear to me that she is a brutally honest person.

"You are," said Mable. "Stop looking at my Chess like that."

The only unique look this girl gave to me, was admiration of my fur color. I suppose, even that was too much for my sister and crossed a certain line.

"Chess…that"s kind of girly, don"t you think?"

Oof…

Another strike.

"But," she continued. "I like it."
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She returned her attention back to me, ignoring Mable"s dark look of frustration at being pushed to the side as an afterthought.

"My name"s Neva. I"ll try to get along...for grandpa"s sake."

Something told me this girl would be troublesome.