SageShooter
🎨 Media Gallery
Death Pit
Cells
Saya was with her fellow crew members more often than not in the coming weeks. Unlike her, they left daily to train in fighting. The trainer for William and Aiko had come and gotten them and Saya was alone once more. Her own utility to the Kuvexians was not something she was reminded of for a few weeks, until one day when the self-described lord came back.
He was with two short Kuvexians, dressed in bodysuits rather than his gilded robes. They looked at Saya with a look she was familiar with- the look of a medical professional studying their patient.
The lord spoke, "Surely you would like better quarters than these?"
To say the weeks had been draining on the usually bubbly Medic was an understatement. When she wasn't healing William or Aiko, she left them alone. Content to sit silently in the corner of her cell away from contact, the bright spot of the Kaiyo crew had wilted like a flower left with no sun. Her hair hung along her side, dirty and out of her braid, some parts clumped up a bit, the usual life and zeal in her eyes was gone, replaced with a distant stare, and the definition she had gained from daily exercise had reverted to the standard Neko body build.
She looked sick and defeated, and for good reason in her eyes. It was her fault they were here. She had messed up, failed in the infiltration mission, and now they were here and had to suffer. Or she had to sit here and wait for them to return while they suffered truly. They were made to fight in life or death matches and then come back, just for her to heal them and send them back out...
How many times had she just wished she wouldn't wake up, so this nightmare would end? But then the words of the Kuvexian would ring in her head. That William and Aiko would be forced into their bodies if they died, and that always made Saya push forward. If there was a way she could atone, it was by keeping the two out of a Kuvexian form. She didn't care if it meant using every last drop of her blood to make sure they stayed alive, she wouldn't let them die.
When he showed back up... She peered up at him with the cold distant eyes she had shown her friends for some time now. She could see that look, she could sense his scan of her body, his eyes over her form not in a cruel or mocking way, but one of interest in the well being of her. His words caused her to blink once before she spoke, her voice a bit raspy.
"Why?" It was a simple question she posed to him, though there could be many answers depending on him.
The lord nodded to his side and the Kuvexian next to him rifled in their pocket and quickly took out a handheld device. They seemed wary to approach Saya, staying a good distance away while looking at their device before inching closer. Their eyes looked over the readings and quickly backed towards the Kuvexian lord.
"You were right, my lord. Gestation is almost complete."
The cakey edges of the lord's lips bent up in a smile, "That's why. You don't want to usher in your next generation of Naykova- uhh," the name of Saya's species gave him trouble once again, weeks after it fist had, but he persevered, "in this filth, do you?"
"Then let me go. Let us go, let us go home and I won't have to." Saya's words were weak as she pleaded, she knew they would fall on deaf ears, but she figured it was worth a shot. As she had been scanned she had shied away a little but knew it was pointless. Most anything could scan from a distance these days and their tech was no different. She figured though, they would take her away regardless. Of course no mother would want to bring their child into the world in a cell... But she wasn't sure why they were trying to take care of her.
"Why would we do that when we have perfectly good accommodations for you? Come right this way..." He extended an arm, showing that the way into the dim passageway. There were two guards flanking it, giving her space to exit the cell and ready to lead her away.
The fight had been taken from her, and frankly that meant the same for a fight against going with them. She let out a sigh and whimpered a little as she stood from her spot with a small struggle to her feet. Tight and sore from her position in the corner, Saya eventually stretched out enough to walk and follow along behind them. Shoulders slumped and head hung low, she looked like a death row prisoner on her way to execution as she followed them.
One of the bodysuit Kuvexians made a motion to help Saya up, but the other one that had scanned her held them back. The Nekovalkyrja was expected to walk along in the middle of the caravan and she did. They climbed some stairs and one of the guards entered a code into a double set of doors. Eventually they were in a more well lit room, cleaner too. There was some medical equipment out and locked cupboards, as well.
The two beds in the room had restraints on them and the medic that had almost lunged for her earlier spoke finally "Lay down. I am Alba, a doctor that's going to take good care of you."
She kept to herself as they walked, silent, until she was spoken to in the room. She let out a sigh and did as told as she sat on the table first, then laid down. Eyes turned aside and away, she refused to look at the 'doctor' in the eye. "If you want to take care of me, let me go home." A hand rested over her stomach a bit defensively as she lay there.
"You'll be going home soon enough," said the Kuvexian lord. "First you need to give us a little fighter. You wouldn't want to travel home and have something bad happen to either of you, now would you?" asked the lord. Without waiting, he looked to the other doctor and said, "Let me know when something happens."
"W-wait... Give you a fighter?" Saya's heart rate spiked as she suddenly felt a surge of adrenaline course through her. For the first time in weeks... She felt alive, and scared. She tried to sit up and spoke. "Y-You can't take Tsubame! I won't let you!" It felt like her mind had come from a fog as the idea of losing her daughter shocked her from her stupor. But in her confusion...
"N-no..." She said with a small wince. Her hand clutched her stomach moments after the Lord had spoken, and they would be alerted to the sudden beginning of her labor.
The doctor rushed out of the room, calling into the hall, "It's happening now, lord!"
Dr. Alba, meanwhile, put her dark purple hand on Saya's shoulder, "I've begun the normal preparations. Is there anything I should know about your species' births?" There was a touch of concern in her voice that was more genuine than the lord's. Her inky black eyes were surrounded by a face of worry and comfort, somehow, as she was searching Saya's face for the answer to her question.
Saya wanted to swat the hand away from her but her focus was on her child just then. She let out a huff and ignored the concern, instead she fell into her own Medical Training. "It is no different from most others. Live birth, shortened time, far fewer complications if any.. Simple and straight forward...' If it meant that her child would come into this world safe and healthy, it meant she would work with them for now...
Dr. Alba's strained expression softened, "That is better news than I could have hoped." She looked up to the other returning doctor. "Some of my colleagues believed the Yahmatoen soldier births would be far more complicated. She moved a tray away from the bed and eased her hand off Saya's shoulder. "Then try to relax and let the contractions take place in conjunction with pushing from you."
"I-I've delivered children before..." She let out a huff and laid back with her eyes shut. She began to simply concentrate on herself and blocked out everything as she began to time her breaths. As time passed she began to feel her body begin the process, and she worked with her natural functions to eventually bring forth her daughter. The first breaths taken with her own lungs were taken as the pale skinned mini neko peered around. Blue eyes and a orangish pink hair seemed damp still. It clung loosely around her ears and eyes, blinding her for a moment before a tiny hand brushed it away. She peered around as her mind raced through the vast stores of information that her mother had imprinted on her as eyes narrowed at the purple and blue skinned people around her. "Enemies..."
"It's a girl," said Dr. Alba. "Quite adorable, despite her assertion. Pocket-sized. Do you have a na-"
"H-hey," said the other doctor. "Guards! Lord!" Before there was much time for Dr. Alba to even move aside, three guards had come in and one of them made to grab at the top of the little Nekovalyrja's head.
"That's not how to hold a chi-" Dr. Alba began to protest. Another guard came up behind him, readying to grab under the miniature being's armpits.
Eyes narrowed slightly at the group around her before she acted. Like the creature she was named for, she ducked down first to avoid the first hand that had reached out for her head, before she lifted into the air and twisted away from the hands that reached out for her armpits. She was up and away, into the air as she scanned the room methodically for a way to escape. While her mother may not fight, it seemed the youngling may have no qualms about it.
"He-aye!" yelled the doctor. "Close that door!" The door was closed and the guards fumbled around. One of them almost careened into Saya, but Dr. Alba put her torso out to shield the new mother. The door quickly opened again when the Lord entered and added to the chaos of the room.
"Catch that child!" he yelled, waving his many robes and chains of golds about.
"Don't hurt her!" Saya cried out as she reached up a weakened hand toward her child who was airborne. The initial burst of speed had been impressive, but it had been a fight or flight reaction, and with the surge of power gone... The Youngling was far slower than she had been before. Instead of remaining in the air, she instead landed on the highest piece of furniture she could in the room. Saya in the mean time had sat up fully, big blue eyes on her child in worry. "Don't hurt her! Leave her be!"
When Saya had raised herself up, the warden of the prison had come closer to her, pressing a hand against her shoulder to try to maneuver her back down on the bed. Meanwhile, he had yelled in words she did not know, pointedly growling out his words while looking at the small Nekovalkyrja. The doctor that had been the most helpful to Saya was now pushed off to the side of the room as the chaos of cornering and attempting to catch Tsubame continued. The second doctor had taken off his large medical coat and threw it up like a net at the youngling while guards stood ready to spring at the possibly trapped Neko.
"Le-Leave my daughter alone!" Saya cried out from the table as she was pushed down into the table and struggled to regain her stance. She had far more difficulty than she would have liked, the malnutrition of her extended time here, coupled with the exhaustion from her recent child birthing, she had none of her past pep or power behind herself as river blue eyes watched in horror as they tried to corner and corral her freshly born daughter.
Tsubame for her part, made sure to make herself as difficult as possible to capture. Tiny feet pattered across the top of the cabinet she had landed on as she tried to conserve her strength and energy, instead trying to escape to the side and get away for a bit.
Though the doctor's coat had landed on a now empty and dusty top of the cabinet, a guard seemed to be at the right place at the right time and took advantage of such, clasping their sticky suction cup palms and fingers onto the tiny Nekovalkyrja.
"Heh heh," they chuckled, poking one free finger against Tsubame's head. "Got them."
"Good," said the warden, "In with the others for now. Who in the everdeath straits knows when it'll be able to fight, but maybe I can find out..." He looked towards Saya as two of the guards left with the child. "Do you know what will happen to you if you don't clue me in on when it'll be big enough to be seen by a crowd?"
Tsubame did not seem to enjoy being touched. The tiny Neko thrashed and fought tooth and nail as she was capture. She kicked, bit, punched and twisted as much as she could, but she was barely five minutes old and was unfortunately no match.
Saya for her part never heard the warden. Her focus was on her daughter as she screamed and fought to get to her. Tears flowed freely as she mimicked her daughter and tried to get even a little closer to her child who had been taken. For once, the medic swung in anger at someone, anyone that had a hand on her to hold her down.
"I'll ask you one more time when I can- Ah!" Saya's sudden shift to hostility made the warden shirk away from her. "Take her away! Port 3!" He yelled to the guard taking his place. Bending down to speak closer to where the guard was straining to keep Saya against the bed, he said, "You have a child to tend to."
"Give her back! GIVE HER BACK!" Saya's wails grew hoarser and hoarser as her struggles began to dwindle in strength. Eventually the guards would win out and Saya would fall limp against the table, crying as she reached for Tsubame weakly. "Tsu! Tsu!" She cried out even as the weakened Neko Youngling was eventually wrestled down and subdued.
Once the child was out of the room, the guards had a difficult time containing Saya, and so they eventually drugged her and carried her limp body to the port the warden had specified.
When Saya awoke, she was in a bed, soft and cushioned. A barred window let in a bit of light of late day. She was in a small furnished room with a bathroom and shower attached. On the dresser of the room was a small pile of folded clothes. A dress with a loose collar and undergarments. The door of the room was locked from the inside, though.
Saya awoke slowly, eyes fighting to say open as she eventually sat up and stretched a little. As loathe as she was to make use of the facilities... The access to a shower made her crave it far more than she cared to admit. It disgusted her that she enjoyed the sensation of being clean again, but as she sat in the bed, freshly washed, she had to admit it made her feel a little more... normal.
A few minutes after she had bathed, a knock came at the door and the turning of the lock on it. A Kuvexian looked in, then spoke in Trade.
"Alright to come in?"
Saya sat on the bed, back to the headrest dressed in the fresh clothes and knees to her chest. All she could focus her mind on was the fact that her child was gone, taken from her, at least until the knock and the words snapped her from her depressive downward mental spiral. She looked to the door and huffed a bit as she hugged her knees to herself a little tighter. "What does it matter?" She asked in a far to bratty of a tone.
Saya could hear the Kuvexian sigh, then speak, "They said you might be a problem. If you don't do as you are told, there will be consequences." The Kuvexian had approached from the door, holding a sort of handheld tool. When they pointed it at Saya, they added, "I am told it is painful."
Saya watched the Kuvexian approach, eyes on them for the moment before they lifted the device and threatened her. She simply turned her head away as she heard the words and laid an ear on her knees. "Do whatever you want, I won't resist."
"Very well," they said, nodding and putting the device away in their robes. "Come with me, please." They led her out of her room, through a few adjoining rooms. The structure and build of the house was similar to the Kuvexian home Saya had raided months before to save Oleera Boyer's grand daughter, though it was different in some ways and not the same house. The Kuvexian led her to a room, then stopped short of the door.
"My wife, she isn't able to care for our child and I have bought you to be his nursemaid," the Kuvexian explained. "He needs feedings twice hourly while he is awake and once every few hours in the night. I expect of you to care for him in every way an infant needs, such as changings, talking to him, you know."
"While my child is gone... doing... whatever you people are making her do... I have to sit here and care for someone else's child? I've never raised a child, I've never done any of this...And now you are making me do it for someone else's child?" Saya asked as a small flare of anger and resentment burned to life, before it was eventually smothered down. She let out a sigh and slumped down her shoulders. "Will this... Will it at least protect her?" The medic asked.
The Kuvexian had listened, nodding, but now stared blankly. "I don't know anything about that. I inquired about a slave that could care for my boy. There isn't anything more that I know about you beyond the price I paid."
"And yo-..." Her words were cut short as she sighed and looked aside, defeated as she nodded a little. "Where is the child?" She asked. "And what tools and technology do I have at my disposal?"
"There's not much we expected you to need. Changing station is in his room. In the kitchen are some bottles and the last of the concentrate we've been feeding him while we waited for you to be able to nurse him. He-" the Kuvexian stopped speaking as a wailing had erupted from the room they were at the door at. "He's in there." With a pointed look, he added, "Sounds like he's hungry, too."
Dead blue eyes looked between the door and the Kuvexian, before the Neko simply let out another defeated sigh and headed inside. Eyes searched the room for where the formula was, her own milk production would need to catch up and fill in, something she had activated here but moments before. Hopefully the formula would last long enough for her to catch up. She gathered the bottle after a bit of searching, the cries of the child drowned out for the moment part at that moment, and instead she went about her task mechanically.
She warmed the bottle and picked the child up as it warmed to bounce him softly in her arms. Insincere playful words were whispered to the alien child as she waited, and was glad when the bottle seemed to be warmed up. The nipple to the child's mouth, she prayed it was good at latching onto the rubber impostor and that it would soon quiet down.
The child was used to such and hungrily drank up. Her first night on the job soon blurred into the next day and the day after. Soon the concentrate was no more and Saya's role entailed wet nurse, as well. The Kuvexian child was small, helpless, and much more innocent than their adult counterparts. Saya found that the child's mother hadn't been able to produce milk and had entered a sort of postpartum depression, rarely seen by Saya except during ghostly passing.
Saya didn't fare far better than the mother. The major difference being she could produce milk simply based on the fact that she was a being created to be well... perfect. But the thought did little for her during the late nights she spent with the child feeding him, burping and caring and doing everything she was supposed to be doing for Tsubame...
Every time she looked down at the child in her arms, the only thing that stopped her from simply ignoring the child, or worse... Was the fact that it was an infant, free from the sins of their parents. That didn't stop the ache in her chest as she yearned for Tsubame, yearned to hold and play and care for her child. And she knew every day she was there, was another day Tsubame suffered. And she wasn't sure she could ever forgive herself.
The Kuvexian man stopped into her room one night, his smile full of promise.
"Mind if I come in?" he asked, then went on to tell her, "You asked about your child and I looked into it for you. If you'd like, you can come with us to see her at the arena you are from tomorrow. I... I must warn you that if she dies..." He trailed off, not knowing where he was going but sure he wasn't ready for his son's new caretaker to have more reason to be sorrowful. "I'm sure that won't happen."
It had been a while since Saya had felt anything, and if the Kuvexian man had thought such a consideration would make the woman feel good... The strangled gasp that slipped from her throat would be in opposition to that thought process. She had been sitting in a chair after having just gotten the child down and had to cover her mouth to stifle the sob that wanted to escape. Eyes wide and fearful, Saya could feel her worst nightmares coming true as she processed what the man had said. Against her better judgement and desire, her head nodded a solemn yes.
The Kuvexian's mouth opened, realizing perhaps the full impact of what he had said. With a furrowing of his bright blue brow line and a closing of his mouth, he seemed to swallow the truth and nodded.
"If you don't want to go, you don't have to. I'm sure she won't- I am sure it will be fine." He left, slipping to the rear room to tend to his own saddened partner rather than Saya.
Saya's arms wrapped around herself as she shook began to zone out. All she could think, all she could remember was her daughter as she fought to escape, and she feared to see what condition Tsubame was in then.
Cells
Saya was with her fellow crew members more often than not in the coming weeks. Unlike her, they left daily to train in fighting. The trainer for William and Aiko had come and gotten them and Saya was alone once more. Her own utility to the Kuvexians was not something she was reminded of for a few weeks, until one day when the self-described lord came back.
He was with two short Kuvexians, dressed in bodysuits rather than his gilded robes. They looked at Saya with a look she was familiar with- the look of a medical professional studying their patient.
The lord spoke, "Surely you would like better quarters than these?"
To say the weeks had been draining on the usually bubbly Medic was an understatement. When she wasn't healing William or Aiko, she left them alone. Content to sit silently in the corner of her cell away from contact, the bright spot of the Kaiyo crew had wilted like a flower left with no sun. Her hair hung along her side, dirty and out of her braid, some parts clumped up a bit, the usual life and zeal in her eyes was gone, replaced with a distant stare, and the definition she had gained from daily exercise had reverted to the standard Neko body build.
She looked sick and defeated, and for good reason in her eyes. It was her fault they were here. She had messed up, failed in the infiltration mission, and now they were here and had to suffer. Or she had to sit here and wait for them to return while they suffered truly. They were made to fight in life or death matches and then come back, just for her to heal them and send them back out...
How many times had she just wished she wouldn't wake up, so this nightmare would end? But then the words of the Kuvexian would ring in her head. That William and Aiko would be forced into their bodies if they died, and that always made Saya push forward. If there was a way she could atone, it was by keeping the two out of a Kuvexian form. She didn't care if it meant using every last drop of her blood to make sure they stayed alive, she wouldn't let them die.
When he showed back up... She peered up at him with the cold distant eyes she had shown her friends for some time now. She could see that look, she could sense his scan of her body, his eyes over her form not in a cruel or mocking way, but one of interest in the well being of her. His words caused her to blink once before she spoke, her voice a bit raspy.
"Why?" It was a simple question she posed to him, though there could be many answers depending on him.
The lord nodded to his side and the Kuvexian next to him rifled in their pocket and quickly took out a handheld device. They seemed wary to approach Saya, staying a good distance away while looking at their device before inching closer. Their eyes looked over the readings and quickly backed towards the Kuvexian lord.
"You were right, my lord. Gestation is almost complete."
The cakey edges of the lord's lips bent up in a smile, "That's why. You don't want to usher in your next generation of Naykova- uhh," the name of Saya's species gave him trouble once again, weeks after it fist had, but he persevered, "in this filth, do you?"
"Then let me go. Let us go, let us go home and I won't have to." Saya's words were weak as she pleaded, she knew they would fall on deaf ears, but she figured it was worth a shot. As she had been scanned she had shied away a little but knew it was pointless. Most anything could scan from a distance these days and their tech was no different. She figured though, they would take her away regardless. Of course no mother would want to bring their child into the world in a cell... But she wasn't sure why they were trying to take care of her.
"Why would we do that when we have perfectly good accommodations for you? Come right this way..." He extended an arm, showing that the way into the dim passageway. There were two guards flanking it, giving her space to exit the cell and ready to lead her away.
The fight had been taken from her, and frankly that meant the same for a fight against going with them. She let out a sigh and whimpered a little as she stood from her spot with a small struggle to her feet. Tight and sore from her position in the corner, Saya eventually stretched out enough to walk and follow along behind them. Shoulders slumped and head hung low, she looked like a death row prisoner on her way to execution as she followed them.
One of the bodysuit Kuvexians made a motion to help Saya up, but the other one that had scanned her held them back. The Nekovalkyrja was expected to walk along in the middle of the caravan and she did. They climbed some stairs and one of the guards entered a code into a double set of doors. Eventually they were in a more well lit room, cleaner too. There was some medical equipment out and locked cupboards, as well.
The two beds in the room had restraints on them and the medic that had almost lunged for her earlier spoke finally "Lay down. I am Alba, a doctor that's going to take good care of you."
She kept to herself as they walked, silent, until she was spoken to in the room. She let out a sigh and did as told as she sat on the table first, then laid down. Eyes turned aside and away, she refused to look at the 'doctor' in the eye. "If you want to take care of me, let me go home." A hand rested over her stomach a bit defensively as she lay there.
"You'll be going home soon enough," said the Kuvexian lord. "First you need to give us a little fighter. You wouldn't want to travel home and have something bad happen to either of you, now would you?" asked the lord. Without waiting, he looked to the other doctor and said, "Let me know when something happens."
"W-wait... Give you a fighter?" Saya's heart rate spiked as she suddenly felt a surge of adrenaline course through her. For the first time in weeks... She felt alive, and scared. She tried to sit up and spoke. "Y-You can't take Tsubame! I won't let you!" It felt like her mind had come from a fog as the idea of losing her daughter shocked her from her stupor. But in her confusion...
"N-no..." She said with a small wince. Her hand clutched her stomach moments after the Lord had spoken, and they would be alerted to the sudden beginning of her labor.
The doctor rushed out of the room, calling into the hall, "It's happening now, lord!"
Dr. Alba, meanwhile, put her dark purple hand on Saya's shoulder, "I've begun the normal preparations. Is there anything I should know about your species' births?" There was a touch of concern in her voice that was more genuine than the lord's. Her inky black eyes were surrounded by a face of worry and comfort, somehow, as she was searching Saya's face for the answer to her question.
Saya wanted to swat the hand away from her but her focus was on her child just then. She let out a huff and ignored the concern, instead she fell into her own Medical Training. "It is no different from most others. Live birth, shortened time, far fewer complications if any.. Simple and straight forward...' If it meant that her child would come into this world safe and healthy, it meant she would work with them for now...
Dr. Alba's strained expression softened, "That is better news than I could have hoped." She looked up to the other returning doctor. "Some of my colleagues believed the Yahmatoen soldier births would be far more complicated. She moved a tray away from the bed and eased her hand off Saya's shoulder. "Then try to relax and let the contractions take place in conjunction with pushing from you."
"I-I've delivered children before..." She let out a huff and laid back with her eyes shut. She began to simply concentrate on herself and blocked out everything as she began to time her breaths. As time passed she began to feel her body begin the process, and she worked with her natural functions to eventually bring forth her daughter. The first breaths taken with her own lungs were taken as the pale skinned mini neko peered around. Blue eyes and a orangish pink hair seemed damp still. It clung loosely around her ears and eyes, blinding her for a moment before a tiny hand brushed it away. She peered around as her mind raced through the vast stores of information that her mother had imprinted on her as eyes narrowed at the purple and blue skinned people around her. "Enemies..."
"It's a girl," said Dr. Alba. "Quite adorable, despite her assertion. Pocket-sized. Do you have a na-"
"H-hey," said the other doctor. "Guards! Lord!" Before there was much time for Dr. Alba to even move aside, three guards had come in and one of them made to grab at the top of the little Nekovalyrja's head.
"That's not how to hold a chi-" Dr. Alba began to protest. Another guard came up behind him, readying to grab under the miniature being's armpits.
Eyes narrowed slightly at the group around her before she acted. Like the creature she was named for, she ducked down first to avoid the first hand that had reached out for her head, before she lifted into the air and twisted away from the hands that reached out for her armpits. She was up and away, into the air as she scanned the room methodically for a way to escape. While her mother may not fight, it seemed the youngling may have no qualms about it.
"He-aye!" yelled the doctor. "Close that door!" The door was closed and the guards fumbled around. One of them almost careened into Saya, but Dr. Alba put her torso out to shield the new mother. The door quickly opened again when the Lord entered and added to the chaos of the room.
"Catch that child!" he yelled, waving his many robes and chains of golds about.
"Don't hurt her!" Saya cried out as she reached up a weakened hand toward her child who was airborne. The initial burst of speed had been impressive, but it had been a fight or flight reaction, and with the surge of power gone... The Youngling was far slower than she had been before. Instead of remaining in the air, she instead landed on the highest piece of furniture she could in the room. Saya in the mean time had sat up fully, big blue eyes on her child in worry. "Don't hurt her! Leave her be!"
When Saya had raised herself up, the warden of the prison had come closer to her, pressing a hand against her shoulder to try to maneuver her back down on the bed. Meanwhile, he had yelled in words she did not know, pointedly growling out his words while looking at the small Nekovalkyrja. The doctor that had been the most helpful to Saya was now pushed off to the side of the room as the chaos of cornering and attempting to catch Tsubame continued. The second doctor had taken off his large medical coat and threw it up like a net at the youngling while guards stood ready to spring at the possibly trapped Neko.
"Le-Leave my daughter alone!" Saya cried out from the table as she was pushed down into the table and struggled to regain her stance. She had far more difficulty than she would have liked, the malnutrition of her extended time here, coupled with the exhaustion from her recent child birthing, she had none of her past pep or power behind herself as river blue eyes watched in horror as they tried to corner and corral her freshly born daughter.
Tsubame for her part, made sure to make herself as difficult as possible to capture. Tiny feet pattered across the top of the cabinet she had landed on as she tried to conserve her strength and energy, instead trying to escape to the side and get away for a bit.
Though the doctor's coat had landed on a now empty and dusty top of the cabinet, a guard seemed to be at the right place at the right time and took advantage of such, clasping their sticky suction cup palms and fingers onto the tiny Nekovalkyrja.
"Heh heh," they chuckled, poking one free finger against Tsubame's head. "Got them."
"Good," said the warden, "In with the others for now. Who in the everdeath straits knows when it'll be able to fight, but maybe I can find out..." He looked towards Saya as two of the guards left with the child. "Do you know what will happen to you if you don't clue me in on when it'll be big enough to be seen by a crowd?"
Tsubame did not seem to enjoy being touched. The tiny Neko thrashed and fought tooth and nail as she was capture. She kicked, bit, punched and twisted as much as she could, but she was barely five minutes old and was unfortunately no match.
Saya for her part never heard the warden. Her focus was on her daughter as she screamed and fought to get to her. Tears flowed freely as she mimicked her daughter and tried to get even a little closer to her child who had been taken. For once, the medic swung in anger at someone, anyone that had a hand on her to hold her down.
"I'll ask you one more time when I can- Ah!" Saya's sudden shift to hostility made the warden shirk away from her. "Take her away! Port 3!" He yelled to the guard taking his place. Bending down to speak closer to where the guard was straining to keep Saya against the bed, he said, "You have a child to tend to."
"Give her back! GIVE HER BACK!" Saya's wails grew hoarser and hoarser as her struggles began to dwindle in strength. Eventually the guards would win out and Saya would fall limp against the table, crying as she reached for Tsubame weakly. "Tsu! Tsu!" She cried out even as the weakened Neko Youngling was eventually wrestled down and subdued.
Once the child was out of the room, the guards had a difficult time containing Saya, and so they eventually drugged her and carried her limp body to the port the warden had specified.
When Saya awoke, she was in a bed, soft and cushioned. A barred window let in a bit of light of late day. She was in a small furnished room with a bathroom and shower attached. On the dresser of the room was a small pile of folded clothes. A dress with a loose collar and undergarments. The door of the room was locked from the inside, though.
Saya awoke slowly, eyes fighting to say open as she eventually sat up and stretched a little. As loathe as she was to make use of the facilities... The access to a shower made her crave it far more than she cared to admit. It disgusted her that she enjoyed the sensation of being clean again, but as she sat in the bed, freshly washed, she had to admit it made her feel a little more... normal.
A few minutes after she had bathed, a knock came at the door and the turning of the lock on it. A Kuvexian looked in, then spoke in Trade.
"Alright to come in?"
Saya sat on the bed, back to the headrest dressed in the fresh clothes and knees to her chest. All she could focus her mind on was the fact that her child was gone, taken from her, at least until the knock and the words snapped her from her depressive downward mental spiral. She looked to the door and huffed a bit as she hugged her knees to herself a little tighter. "What does it matter?" She asked in a far to bratty of a tone.
Saya could hear the Kuvexian sigh, then speak, "They said you might be a problem. If you don't do as you are told, there will be consequences." The Kuvexian had approached from the door, holding a sort of handheld tool. When they pointed it at Saya, they added, "I am told it is painful."
Saya watched the Kuvexian approach, eyes on them for the moment before they lifted the device and threatened her. She simply turned her head away as she heard the words and laid an ear on her knees. "Do whatever you want, I won't resist."
"Very well," they said, nodding and putting the device away in their robes. "Come with me, please." They led her out of her room, through a few adjoining rooms. The structure and build of the house was similar to the Kuvexian home Saya had raided months before to save Oleera Boyer's grand daughter, though it was different in some ways and not the same house. The Kuvexian led her to a room, then stopped short of the door.
"My wife, she isn't able to care for our child and I have bought you to be his nursemaid," the Kuvexian explained. "He needs feedings twice hourly while he is awake and once every few hours in the night. I expect of you to care for him in every way an infant needs, such as changings, talking to him, you know."
"While my child is gone... doing... whatever you people are making her do... I have to sit here and care for someone else's child? I've never raised a child, I've never done any of this...And now you are making me do it for someone else's child?" Saya asked as a small flare of anger and resentment burned to life, before it was eventually smothered down. She let out a sigh and slumped down her shoulders. "Will this... Will it at least protect her?" The medic asked.
The Kuvexian had listened, nodding, but now stared blankly. "I don't know anything about that. I inquired about a slave that could care for my boy. There isn't anything more that I know about you beyond the price I paid."
"And yo-..." Her words were cut short as she sighed and looked aside, defeated as she nodded a little. "Where is the child?" She asked. "And what tools and technology do I have at my disposal?"
"There's not much we expected you to need. Changing station is in his room. In the kitchen are some bottles and the last of the concentrate we've been feeding him while we waited for you to be able to nurse him. He-" the Kuvexian stopped speaking as a wailing had erupted from the room they were at the door at. "He's in there." With a pointed look, he added, "Sounds like he's hungry, too."
Dead blue eyes looked between the door and the Kuvexian, before the Neko simply let out another defeated sigh and headed inside. Eyes searched the room for where the formula was, her own milk production would need to catch up and fill in, something she had activated here but moments before. Hopefully the formula would last long enough for her to catch up. She gathered the bottle after a bit of searching, the cries of the child drowned out for the moment part at that moment, and instead she went about her task mechanically.
She warmed the bottle and picked the child up as it warmed to bounce him softly in her arms. Insincere playful words were whispered to the alien child as she waited, and was glad when the bottle seemed to be warmed up. The nipple to the child's mouth, she prayed it was good at latching onto the rubber impostor and that it would soon quiet down.
The child was used to such and hungrily drank up. Her first night on the job soon blurred into the next day and the day after. Soon the concentrate was no more and Saya's role entailed wet nurse, as well. The Kuvexian child was small, helpless, and much more innocent than their adult counterparts. Saya found that the child's mother hadn't been able to produce milk and had entered a sort of postpartum depression, rarely seen by Saya except during ghostly passing.
Saya didn't fare far better than the mother. The major difference being she could produce milk simply based on the fact that she was a being created to be well... perfect. But the thought did little for her during the late nights she spent with the child feeding him, burping and caring and doing everything she was supposed to be doing for Tsubame...
Every time she looked down at the child in her arms, the only thing that stopped her from simply ignoring the child, or worse... Was the fact that it was an infant, free from the sins of their parents. That didn't stop the ache in her chest as she yearned for Tsubame, yearned to hold and play and care for her child. And she knew every day she was there, was another day Tsubame suffered. And she wasn't sure she could ever forgive herself.
The Kuvexian man stopped into her room one night, his smile full of promise.
"Mind if I come in?" he asked, then went on to tell her, "You asked about your child and I looked into it for you. If you'd like, you can come with us to see her at the arena you are from tomorrow. I... I must warn you that if she dies..." He trailed off, not knowing where he was going but sure he wasn't ready for his son's new caretaker to have more reason to be sorrowful. "I'm sure that won't happen."
It had been a while since Saya had felt anything, and if the Kuvexian man had thought such a consideration would make the woman feel good... The strangled gasp that slipped from her throat would be in opposition to that thought process. She had been sitting in a chair after having just gotten the child down and had to cover her mouth to stifle the sob that wanted to escape. Eyes wide and fearful, Saya could feel her worst nightmares coming true as she processed what the man had said. Against her better judgement and desire, her head nodded a solemn yes.
The Kuvexian's mouth opened, realizing perhaps the full impact of what he had said. With a furrowing of his bright blue brow line and a closing of his mouth, he seemed to swallow the truth and nodded.
"If you don't want to go, you don't have to. I'm sure she won't- I am sure it will be fine." He left, slipping to the rear room to tend to his own saddened partner rather than Saya.
Saya's arms wrapped around herself as she shook began to zone out. All she could think, all she could remember was her daughter as she fought to escape, and she feared to see what condition Tsubame was in then.
