Home sweet home <3

[Anonymous]

It was hard to see the little road that wound across the wilderness near the Karidja Rift, though it wasn't hard to miss what it led to: the fenced compound of the Maverikko Mage Breeding and Conditioning ranch.  For the longest time it was a dark blip on the horizon, but now Constance could almost pick out the individual buildings' roofs peeking over the fence.

She sat up so far that she almost rose out of her seat completely, pressing her hands against the dashboard to steady herself.  They were so close, it'd only be a couple more minutes and she'd be back at the ranch for another two months.  Her month away felt like it'd been years and despite calling home at least once a day to annoy anyone unlucky enough to pick up the phone, she still couldn't wait to get back and go see everything she missed.

"You can go climb out on the hood if you want to be the first back home," Uncle Ilika teased, laughing deeply.

Constance pressed her back into the seat and stared at her lap, biting her lip and trying not to look up again.

"One of your mages, I think she is waiting for you to return.  For the last week she's looked like she's been ready to pop."

Not Tea, hopefully not Tea, let it be Myo-un... oh wait, Uncle Ilika was probably trying to start another conversation.  He loved to talk and would keep fishing for topics to make others talk to him.  "Which one is it Uncle?  Do you remember?"

"Um..." he scratched his uneven black beard, looked upward a second and then tapped a finger on the steering wheel.  "Um... she's...err... the one with the brown hair."

"Oh no," Constance squeezed her knees and huffed.

"Uh oh..." She didn't have to look at Uncle Ilika, she knew he was slowly raising his eyebrows, hoping to draw more details out of her.

"It's Tea," Deep breath, in and out.  "She had to have a Cesarean last time because her child wasn't coming.  It took her a long time to recover afterward, I was hoping she could have a natural birth this time."

"Don't worry much about it.  As long as the baby isn't squashing her guts flat just let 'em stay where he is, he'll come out eventually."

Constance fished her PDA out of her purse, pulled the stylus from its side and began tapping the screen.  Then she stopped and peeked up at Uncle Ilika, who had an amused grin on his face.  "Don't tell anyone I brought this Uncle, please?"

Uncle Ilika laughed.  "If it keeps you coming back to us sane, I'll forget you have it."

Constance bobbed her head up and down, and continued navigating to her calender.  Tea was getting close to her due date, but it was still a couple more days until it arrived.  With a sigh of relief, she popped the stylus back into its place and hid her PDA in her purse.  "She'll be ok, for now."

"What I say?" Uncle Ilika laughed again.

Constance glanced upward.  They were even closer, not even five minutes away.

Those five minutes were spent hearing Uncle Ilika talk about a particularly feisty child in the Walkers' bay.  Apparently Uncle Ilika had a lot of fun chasing the child around the room, much to Suzanne's chagrin.  Once the gates began to draw open, Constance sat up again and began tapping a boot against the floor of the hydrotruck.  Almost there!  For a moment she felt the speed they traveled from Tynova back to the ranch would apply to her entire two months back, that she would wake up the next morning and it would already be time to go back.  Constance slumped in her seat again, hoping Uncle Ilika wouldn't speed past the gates into the main compound.

"You want me to drop you off somewhere?"

Constance almost jumped out of her seat and hugged him.  "The Expecting Bays please.  Just tell everyone I wanted to check on Tea and Myo-un before I start unpacking."

Uncle Ilika gave her a thumbs-up and swerved the hydrotruck around the buildings until they reached one close to the main house.  When he stopped, Constance threw the door open and slid out of the hydrotruck, pulling the edge of her blue shirt dress down with one hand while she shut the door and waved Uncle off with the other one, an honest smile crossing her face.  Before he could start driving again, she raced into the Expecting Bays.

An hour later, Constance crept out the back door of the Expecting Bays, glancing one way and then the other before creeping off and making her way around to the Stud Bays.  She didn't want to head into the main house just yet, she hadn't thought of a good excuse for why she was coming back without any new prospects.  No one should have been at the Stud Bays at this time, unless they were talking with one of them.  The only thing she could do while she stalked around the Child's Bays and the Female's Bays was hope that her luck hadn't run out yet.  Once she got to the Stud Bays, she cracked the door just enough to slink around it and froze, listening for any familiar voices.

None.  Good.

Constance walked down the corridor to Kane's bay.  It would make sense if she was in there with him.  He was the sire of both of the babies her mages were expecting.  She stopped outside the barred door to his bay and kicked a bar.  "Kane!  You awake?"

[Anonymous]

They liked to play music to induce certain moods. Right now a soothing melody wafted softly out of the speakers that occupied three corners of the ceiling of Kane’s bay. In the forth corner sat a small security camera, which wasn’t monitored, simply used for recording. It would take a massive amount of manpower to watch all of the many camera’s throughout the ranch.

The melody was an attempt to calm him down, not that he’d shown any sign of aggression. They just expected he’d be pissed.

They were correct.

Little over an hour ago Kane had learned that a fellow stud by the name of Marco had tried to force himself on one of the females during their assigned mating that morning. The girl in question, Naris, was known for being shy and she’d never been paired with Marco before, so she had refused him. Marco was young and stupid and had decided to force her, which was allowed for a time apparently, until he had struck her, at which point they were separated.

Kane had learned all this from one of the cleaning staff, who had also said that Naris was going to be punished for refusing to mate. The thought drew an angry grunt out of Kane as he lay on his bed, hands laced behind his head. True, you were supposed to do as you were told, but they shouldn’t have paired the two if they weren’t sure that Naris would go along with it.

Punishment aside, it was Marco that held the majority of Kane’s anger. No one hit the girls, no one. Well…a few of them had actually gotten a taste for the whip, but Naris wasn’t one of them. He wanted desperately to teach Marco a lesson, but was stopped by the fact that the males were almost always kept separate to stop such conflicts occurring.

The fact that he was worried about Tea didn’t help either. She’d had it rough last time, and this time she was worried, so that made him worry. He didn’t get to see them as much as he’d like, the pregnant females. He’d like to spend more time with all of the girls really. Since Connie had been gone his social time had dwindled a little. She was good to him.

As if by divine providence there was a sudden bang at the door, making Kane quirk an eyebrow and lean up slightly. “Connie?” he called out stupidly. “Connie!”

Springing to his feet, Kane crossed the distance across his small room to the door, brushing off his black t-shirt and tan pants to get the creases out of them.

“Come in come in!” he called excitedly. Of course, he couldn’t stop her from coming in, she could come and go as she pleased, but he liked to be proper.

[Anonymous]

Uh-oh, soothing music.  She'd have to ask him what happened.  Usually if Kane was upset about something, there was something wrong with the other mages.  One of them was being disciplined or wasn't feeling well.  There was nothing she could do about a mage being disciplined, other than making sure they go cleaned up afterward and their injuries didn't get infected.  Illness was another story.  Illness was definitely bad for business, especially if it was something contagious.

Once she heard Kane's voice Constance fished for her keycard, which was nestled snugly at the bottom of her purse.  Everything she was currently looking for seemed to find its way there.  Shoveling the other things out of the way probably drove the next thing she was going to look for down there too.  She swiped it through the card reader on the door and pushed it open, dropping her keycard back in her purse and snapping it closed.  There really was no need for her to kick his door before she came in, but she liked to make sure he was in his room before walking in.

"Hey Kane," she said, shifting her purse from her arm up to her bare shoulder.  While she picked up the individual pieces of her outfit while she was in Tynova, it was similar to what she usually wore: a shimmery blue shirt dress that hung to one shoulder and draped around the other, dark green leggings and knee length boots the same colour as her shirt.  Her purse was the same dark knit bag her older sister made for her years ago.  "What happened today?" she glanced up at one of the speakers and then back down at him, stepping into his room and shutting the door behind her.

[Anonymous]

The resounding thud of metal bars sliding back signalled the opening of his door. It opened inwards, which Kane had long believed to be a design flaw, since he could have hidden behind the door and ambushed Connie should he have had a sudden urge to make his dash for freedom.

He stepped back to let her in, then smiled at her. Her dress was pretty, all shiny. Like fish scales, except without the scales, the smell and the general grossness of fish. Probably best not to compare the dress to a fish, however good his intentions.

“Hi Connie,” he replied, sounding eager. His face fell a little when she looked at the speakers. Damn things. They stopped him form being able to hide his anger, not that he could from Connie really, she knew him too well, but still. He didn’t like being angry, but he didn’t like other people knowing he was angry even more. Trying to stall the conversation he wrapped his arms around her shoulders in a loose hug, resisting the urge to squeeze her tightly as he would one of the mage girls and whispering, “I missed you, we all missed you, especially Tea.”

The hug was only brief, and once it was done Kane pulled back and looked around furtively. Seeing no escape from it, he began to explain.

“Well, you see, Naris and Marco were paired this morning but she wouldn’t have any of that. She doesn’t see Marco as having much standing see, the girls they have this mentality…” He trailed off. Connie didn’t need the pack mentality of the mages explained to her. The girls were raised, as much by each other as the Maverikko’s, to rank the males in terms of magical ability, among other things. That put Kane at the top of the list, with his diverse and powerful magic. It was that diversity that had saved him from the Mordecai’s collar, since he was more useful for breeding those abilities into a new generation. Marco on the other hand was a shieldcaster, a type of mage useful in military applications. The most powerful shieldcaster was guaranteed a place in the Consul’s retinue. Marco was not the most powerful. In fact a well aimed punch could break his most powerful shield. Thus, he had been placed as a stud in the hopes his offspring would share his talent and not his power supply.

“Anyway, Marco apparently tried to force her, and she tried to stop him and he got violent… So now I hear that poor Naris is getting punished. And she didn’t do anything wrong Connie, she didn’t mean nothing by it I swear! Let me talk to her, she’ll listen to me.” He became more frantic at the end, hand gesturing to emphasise his point and face pleading with her. It wouldn’t work. Naris had done the wrong thing, and that was the end of it.

[Anonymous]

In this situation, there wasn't much separating Kane from his freedom if he decided to make a bid for it.  Typically, when entering a mage's bay, Constance would have her bullwhip and a radio.  If she couldn't trip the escaping mage with the whip then she could call for help on the radio.  From what she heard, the design was the brainchild of the ancestor of hers that originally built the ranch.  It was another test, a big obvious flaw that would tempt any mage that dared think about their freedom, so they could be punished.

She patted Kane's bicep he hugged her and smiled when he said the mages missed her.  It was awful to admit, but the mages' displeasure was something she was betting on if she had to leave the ranch once she was married.  Usually, the discomfort of a few mages wouldn't upset anything, especially male mages, but if enough female mages were bothered by it, they might consider letting her stay.  It was her trump card.  All she had to do is hope that Nigel didn't marry some girl that would come in and start spoiling the mages right away.  They might transfer all the affection they had for her to the new, softer person.

For a second, Constance wondered if Kane was trying to think up a lie to cover why he was angry when he was glancing around.  She'd have to make sure she crossed whatever he told her with whoever was relevant.  She watched his face closely when he began talking, easing up when he made eye contact.  She crossed her arms and listened...

She sighed once he was through talking.  "I'm sorry Kane, there's nothing I can do about Naris.  It isn't her place to decide whether or not she wants to mate with her partner.  It's not a grave offense, so it won't be a harsh punishment.  She won't get the lash, probably bastinado and not too many whacks.

"I can reassure you," Constance's eyes almost seemed to shimmer.  "That Marco will not go unpunished for this.  He's new, so he needs to be educated.  He will probably go to Uncle Amiel for conditioning.  However badly he hurt Naris, he'll hurt worse when Uncle Amiel is done with him."  Constance smiled a little, nibbling on her bottom lip a bit.

When it came down to punishments on the ranch, most of her family members were more or less equal when it came to meting out punishments.  The mildest were Suzanne (who was in charge of the younger children) and Grandmother (who handled minor female punishments and supervised all punishments against the pregnant females).  On the other end of the scale was Uncle Amiel, who was in charge of discipline for hard cases or mages sent by the government because their Mordecai couldn't control them.  He was the only one of them that ever killed a mage while they were being punished.

[Anonymous]

“Well, good I guess,” Kane mumbled, still not looking pleased. He liked Naris, and anyone that hurt her should have to answer to him. Marco’s name got added to his ‘People to take revenge on’ list, which he kept in mind in case he ever decided to make an escape attempt and stop to take the time to get revenge on people.

“Uh,” he started, a hand scratching at the back of his neck as it did when he was feeling awkward, “So, how are you Connie?”

He really wanted to ask how Tea and Myo-un were, he hadn’t seen either of them in over a week now, but he held his tongue. Kane never got as much time outside his bay when Connie wasn’t around, for two reasons. For one, she was generally nicer to all the mages, and for another Kane never defied Connie, ever. Generally he was well behaved, but there came times when he had dug in his heels and refused to budge, and no punishment would make him move, only a word from Connie could eventually convince him to give up.

Fidgeting a little, Kane offered a sheepish grin, hoping that her being back would signal him getting to spend more time outside.

[Anonymous]

The idea that Naris was being punished wrongly never crossed Constance's mind.  There were reasons Naris was paired up with Marco.  No one sat around with a bunch of names in a hat, picked one male name and one female name and arranged for them to have a child.  

She did wonder if any of the other girls were getting punished for refusing to mate with Marco and if that was why he became violent.  Maybe it would be good to take Kane up on his offer to speak with the females.  Maybe a different form of punishment might be necessary to make the females less likely to refuse their mates.

Constance put the idea on the back burner when Kane asked how she was.  Technically she shouldn't be airing any grievances around the mages.  Family business wasn't supposed to be something that concerned them.  For all she knew, he'd have the same opinion Mama did... it'd make sense.  Constance sighed and leaned against the wall.  "Better, now that I'm back.  I don't belong in Tynova... it's going to take awhile for me to get used to staying out there.  Maybe things will get better once I'm married."

[Anonymous]

“Mmm,” he hummed, nodding thoughtfully. “I am glad that you’re getting married Connie, but I’ll be sad to see you go.” She was so good to them all.

Kane brightened, a thought occurring to him. “Maybe you’ll have lots of children and they can come look after the next generation eh?” He smiled, showing perfectly white teeth. Hygiene was important for keeping them healthy, as much as diet and exercise. Cleaner mages meant less sickness and more productivity. Regular injections also helped to stave off illness, meaning that it was rare for a mage to be out of commission.

“Uh….have you seen the girls yet?” he said innocently, meaning the two pregnant females. He was prying for information on them, seeing what he could wriggle out of her. A hopeful gaze betrayed his intentions.

[Anonymous]

Constance didn't have the heart to tell him that while she was getting married and her parents had some potential fiancés in mind that they couldn't just match her to them like they did the mages.  Humans worked differently.  It was more awkward, especially trying to convince a potential partner that they were the best match because they would have the best children.  Humans didn't tend to think about their children when they chose a mate - they thought of their sexual pleasure or chose out of affection for the person.

She actually felt a little jealous when Kane gushed about her children coming back to take care of the mages.  Not so much of a pleasant thought, she wanted to stay at the ranch so her children wouldn't have to come back, they'd already be here.  The envy probably would have crept into her voice if she answered him vocally, so she just nodded.

The change of subject perked her up though.  Work, good old work.  "I just saw both of them.  Tea is worried, she thinks this birth will be like her last one.  We need to find a way to null her magic for a few days so she can give birth safely.  She's a good girl, her magic is just too persistant."

Tea was a life mage, an odd one.  Her magic was monstrously powerful, so much that she could cure broken bones and stop most diseases in their tracks.  While she could control it when using it on other people, she couldn't control it when it came to herself, every little nick and tear inflicted on her healed immediately.  During her last birth, every time her water started to break, her amniotic sac would heal itself, trapping the baby in her womb.

Constance sighed.  "If she has a hard birth this time, we'll probably have to send her back to the military.  We can't risk her life for children with unknown magical abilities.

"Myo-un,"  Constance smiled.  "She's caught a little of Tea's nervousness, but I think she's going to be fine.  It's her first child, she's expected to worry a little.  The babies should be born fairly soon."

[Anonymous]

Kane could only scratch his head at Tea’s predicament. He had no idea how to null her magic. His own magic was great for manipulating the land, a perfect terraforming tool, but when it came to matters of the body he was no more useful than any other man. Finding a mage that could block or temporarily remove her magic before she was due was an impossible task, so perhaps the answer lay not in getting rid of her magic, but by stopping it somehow.

The talk of sending Tea to the military made Kane’s brain work faster. He was quite fond of her, and would be upset if she had to go.

“That’s good,” he said airily, distracted by his thoughts. His brow furrowed as he tried to think of a solution. Not that he had much chance, if the family hadn’t come up with something. Still, Kane held on to the notion that a great idea could come from anyone, even if they didn’t have the know how to implement it.

Perhaps the answer lay in the limits of Tea’s magic. No one’s power was limitless, so perhaps if she had too much to heal…

“What if…” he started, then swallowed and finished the horrible thought. “What if you numbed her and then cut her, or poisoned her or something? Something that wouldn’t hurt or kill Tea but would tax her magic, make it focus on the major wound before it could stop the baby? I dunno….that might be to hard on her…” He trailed off again, somewhat ashamed of suggesting they hurt Tea. It would be a lie to say it was in the interests of the baby. No, he was being selfish; he wanted to find a solution so she could stay.

“I’m sorry. It was a bad idea. Ignore that…”

[Anonymous]

If she had been breathing air, she would have huffed at her current situation. As it was, huffing could do some serious damage to her lungs, so she refrained. Barely.

She had just arrived and she already had mixed feelings about the place. She couldn't even see anything. They'd wrapped her up to protect the glass during transport, so she'd spent the last twenty hours looking at the very scenic packing foam lit up so romantically by the blue lights at the bottom of her tank. At least, they were usually at the bottom. However, at one point in the journey she could have sworn she was sideways.

It was very hard to tell in liquid. You couldn't even spit to tell which way gravity was going today.

There'd also been a malfunction in her communications system, and she couldn't here a damn word they were saying. So she also didn't know exactly where she was going.

She was sure they'd explained it to her, very carefully. But she probably hadn't been paying attention.

She was moving again. A smaller truck. She could feel the vibrations in the liquid, and hear the drone of the motor. She also thought she felt her tank sway...

Eep. She froze while images of falling over and broken glass and spilled fluid came to her... and then the inevitable tingling in her fingers and every part of her body in contact with something grounded.

It all begins with that static feeling. That snap and crackle as the liquid too quickly dries and your skin itself begins to snap and crackle...

Luckily, those "accidents" had been very limited. And she had always been quickly dumped into a back-up tank- one which she dearly hoped that this new facility would have available- before the real problems began.

The tank and vehicle rumbled to a stop, then pivoted. She heard warped voices on the other side of her walls- a mixture of glass and something non-conductive (she forgot what, exactly). The light at the bottom of her tank brightened as the power was switched from the battery to whatever outlet this facility used, and she felt everything lower to the floor.

She wished they'd fixed the communications before they'd left... she'd like to know what's going on. She hated having to use her broken sign language to communicate.

And she really hoped they weren't going to leave her in the back of a storage room somewhere. Because, technically with the tank pumping in her life support and nulling her electrical... talents... they technically could leave her to grow old in a back cellar somewhere.

That would be more boring than the past 20-or so hours she'd just spent looking at packaging.

She turned around, eying where she thought she could hear people. Ideally, she'd be facing the direction they'd choose to open. She hated being caught with her back to the spectators.

She felt a bit of pain in her lungs and realized she was breathing the liquid a little too fast. Slowly, she let herself float to the bottom of the tank, where her bottom bit was just barely hidden by the lips of the containing mechanics, and where the glow of neon almost blinded her.

Sitting there, stark naked, arms curled around herself... Solai listened to the machine whir and to the faint, indiscernible sounds from without.

[Anonymous]

Constance listened to Kane's suggestion.  He was a mage, no matter how many hours she spent wading through gigs of speculation on the nature of magic he would know it in a way that she never would.  It was worth listening to what he had to say.  

Cutting Tea was out of the question.  A C-section was pretty much a numbed cut.  Trying to heal the cut over and over again and losing more blood than she could regenerate was why she spent so much time recovering.  Poison however...

"No Kane," she furrowed her eyebrows a little.  "You might be on to something.  She can't bleed herself out trying to cure herself of poison.  It'll have to be something weakened with a known and trusted antidote, but it's worth a shot.  I'll have to do some research."  Connie looked at her wrist watch and squeaked.  "I need to leave.  I'll do some research on poison.  See you soon Kane."  Connie clapped a hand on his shoulder, turned on her heels and darted out of his cell.  

There was no way Uncle Ilika could have distracted everyone for this long.  At least she would come back with some knowledge that might prove valuable.  If she was lucky, it would remind Mama and Papa of how useful she was.

~

It hadn't been that bad.  Her punishment to running around the complex without her whip.  Constance was to excited to think about it now.  The new mage was here and Grandma, delighted with Kane's suggestion, approved her being there to orient the new mage.  

Whenever a mage arrived, one of their current mages was brought out to talk with them.  To let them know what their lives would be like at the ranch.  Usually they matched male with male and female with female.  Constance felt that Kane would be the best one to speak with this new female mage though.  She owed it to Kane to let him out of his cell more since she was back and in a way, she thought of it as a reward for coming up with the idea that might save Tea's life.

Constance ran a finger along the bull-whip at her belt, pacing nervously back and forth in the receiving room of the Female Bays.  She bounced excitedly when she heard the truck pulling up and began prancing back and forth when she heard Uncle Ilika and John talking with the driver.

"She's here Kane."  Constance clapped her hands and pulled out her PDA, tapping it a few times with her stylus.  "A lightning mage.  Says she has to have a special... container.  I'm sure they just meant a cage or something."

Then Uncle Ilika spotted the transport truck's forklift into the tall door of the receiving room and she saw a box.  The new mage was wrapped up like a present.  Could she even breathe in there?  

Gesturing for Kane to follow her, Constance approached the box as the forklift began backing up.  She stared, amazed, as John took a crowbar and pulled down one side of the box and it's foam packaging.  Then she was looking in a... a tank and the woman inside.

[Anonymous]

“Oh…ok,” Kane replied sheepishly, a somewhat ridiculous tone for a large man. He still thought it was a bad idea, but if Connie liked it…well, Connie was always right. After all, she was Connie.

“Uh, bye Connie!” he called as she left, leaning out the door to watch her for as long as he could before she disappeared out of the stud bays. His face falling a bit, Kane looked down the hall, aware of how easy it would be to run away. She has left the door open after all.

After a moment he shrugged, retreated to his room and pushed the door shut behind him, the bolts sliding into place as he did. Connie needed to be more careful, he was fine, but the other males might not all be as willing to lock themselves up if she forgot to do it.

Laying down on his bed, Kane settled into the soothing sounds again, thinking about how they were mostly unnecessary now. “I liked your dress Connie,” he mumbled to himself, realising he’d forgotten to mention it while she was there.
[center:1tvnv6fq]…[/center:1tvnv6fq]This room was new.

He’d never been in this room before.

Like a puppy in a new house, Kane’s eyes flicked to every corner of the unassuming receiving bay repeatedly, as if some new treasure might have popped into existence since his last glace at them.

The word ‘happy’ couldn’t begin to describe Kane’s exuberance over not only being out and about, but in a new room. There weren’t many rooms he’d never been to, but this was one of them, since normally only the females came in here. He felt somehow humbled.

Unlike Constance, Kane stood with his back a few inches from the rear wall, giving himself a good view of the entire room and the large receiving doors, that were open and waiting the new mage.

“She is?” Kane asked gleefully, face unable to show any more joy. Trotting happily behind Connie, Kane came to a stop in front of the box, glad that he’d stopped behind her as the front fell open. That would have hurt.

Inside was…

We he wasn’t exactly sure what it was. He’s seen fish before, swimming around in a little tank in the house, and that was the only image that even came close to this. A woman, in a tank. Questions bombarded Kane’s mind, like how did she breathe, why was she in there, and if she was naked should he be naked too? The last posed a particularly difficult problem for him.

He had no problem with nudity, having seen many naked women and been asked to strip himself for tests or for show, but when a female was nude it almost always meant it was time for them to breed, which made him think he should be naked too. It was not so much that seeing this newcomer naked aroused him either, it was simply a trained response for him to be ready when it was time to mate.

“Hi,” he said simply to the girl, head tilting to the side a little. He had no idea if she could even hear him in there. “Connie…uh….am I meant to be naked? Is it time to mate?” He peered down at her, looking confused. This was just strange.

[Anonymous]

No, she couldn't hear them. Well, she could hear very muted voices. But nothing discernible through the glass and liquid. She smiled and waved at them, then moved forward to tap on the glass and point to the interface of the machine part of the tank, where there was a happy little green button labeled "Communications".

She now saw that it was simply deactivated- not broken as she had previously thought. Someone must have bumped it in the moving prep.

Now she looked more closely at the pair. A man and a woman. Light eyes with thin dark blue rings around them then proceeded to look at what parts of the bay she could see. Failing that, she turned back to the two. To be polite, she gently nudged herself off the bottom of the tank to a floating-standing position, hands at her side and her toes just grazing the bottom. White hair floated around her, the longer bits gathered in a ponytail at her back that would probably go down to her butt. She tilted her head to the side inquisitively, expressing the most pressing question on her mind quite keenly:

Where am I?

[Anonymous]

Constance was so entranced by the new mage that she nearly missed Kane's question entirely.  She could see how he would get confused though.

The new mage was naked.  The males didn't usually see the females naked unless they were going to mate.  It wasn't good to tease them.  This new mage though, Constance checked her PDA again to see her name - Solai, they'd have to find something for her that wouldn't be uncomfortable in that liquid.  Most of their females wore dresses but, even if they got Solai a dress that wouldn't be destroyed by constantly being submerged, the skirt of the dress would probably be constantly drifting every which way.  She didn't want to imagine what it would be like taking waterproof pants off underwater.

"It's not time to mate yet," Constance said, shaking her head and looking at the mage as she waved and pointed.  

Because this was an orientation, Constance couldn't wear her usual attire with her whip belt at her hips.  She had to wear the jacket.  The ranch, like others, had its own uniform for meetings of any sort.  The Maverikko ranch's was styled like an old fashioned military uniform.  A knee length, double breasted coat with a mandarin collar.  The coat had brass buttons, green pants and boots in faux leather, dyed brass.

Constance dreamed about setting it on fire a few times.

For a meeting like this one.  Which, technically, no one outside the ranch would see; she could get away with wearing just the jacket.  That presented a different problem altogether.  Constance didn't have any proper ankle lengths pants other than the pair that went with the jacket.  Hadn't had any since she was able to buy her own clothing.  The jacket could pass for a strange sort of dress though.  She just buttoned all the buttons, cinched her belt tight and wore a pair of black shorts she usually wore under dresses with unpredictable skirts.  Since she would have looked odd in a knee length dress with the uniform's ankle boots, she wore a pair of knee length beige boots instead.

Constance followed the mage's finger down, seeing the 'Communications' button after a second of looking at the machinery at the bottom of the tank.  She looked up at the mage, then back down at the button, then at Kane.  Then she pressed the button, holding it down just in case it worked like that.

"Welcome to Maverikko Ranch," she said warmly.  "Have you been told why you've been sent here?"

[Anonymous]

“Oh good,” Kane hummed pleasantly, quite happy that he wasn’t breeding today without having been told in advance. That still didn’t explain why the girl was naked though.

Connie went over to press a button, which Kane supposed was to talk to the girl. There was an intercom system set up around the ranch to let the staff communicate, so he supposed it was the same thing.

With his magic Kane could sense the liquid surrounding her, feel it to a degree, but something was odd. It certainly wasn’t water, the feeling was too fuzzy, too vague. There was water in there, but it was mixed with things that Kane’s magic didn’t reach, chemicals he supposed.

Stepping closer, he hovered just behind Connie and off to her left. He wanted to be closer to the new girl, to look at her, to touch her, to touch that big tank, but he wasn’t supposed to touch things like that without permission. She was like a fish, in a big tank. Maybe she couldn’t breath in the air. If that was the case, then how were they supposed to breed? Was he meant to hold his breath, or keep his head above the liquid?

All those questions were pushed aside as he smiled innocently at her, a hand coming up to wave. She was a new friend, a new person to add to his pack, and he liked her already.

[Anonymous]

She'd worn clothes a few times. But perhaps her former owners didn't want to put in even more money in them, considering her current rather high-cost upkeep. She'd simply gotten used to being naked. And she'd found it kind of funny every time a new person walked into a room and gaped at her.

She'd been naked for a good long time. Her clothed times had been between the ages four till six. She didn't really give too much thought to it. Animals go naked, right? She'd seen some animals in tubes that weren't like hers. The liquid in those tubes looked sick and some of the animals didn't move. That was a while ago, though. When she had to be put in that room while her tank was fixed.

Maverikko Ranch. She'd never heard about it. But then, she'd never heard about many things, sheltered as she was. She took a slow, deep-ish breath before she spoke.

"No, I haven't been told, Miss."

Her voice came through the speakers, sounding a little warped but discernible. She was careful to speak slow and steady, and to keep her voice in a low tone. A higher-pitch seemed to lose translation quality, although it was easier to hear. She simply answered the woman's question, having been trained to do only that all her life. It was not her place to be a pest.

[Anonymous]

Since taking her hand off the button might disrupt the girl when she was talking, Constance kept her finger on it, thinking that she needed to see if the tank came with a manual.  Uncle Ilika was talking with the crew that transported her here, hopefully he remembered to get any sort of instructions for the tank.  Tinkering with the tank while the mage was still inside it wasn't that good of an idea.

Constance smiled at Kane and then looked back up at Solai.  "Mages are sent to Maverikko ranch for two reasons: because they need to be disciplined - which you aren't here for - and for breeding.  Kane here," she nodded at Kane.  "Can tell you a little about how we run things and answer any questions you might have."

Then, just to make sure because some mages were raised like that, Constance smiled gently and said, "Questions are alright."

[Anonymous]

Kane was used to answering the questions of the new mages. It was his job, of sorts, to be the most informed. For the males he was expected to be a role model, for the females a warm figure, but to both he was a leader. Being the most knowledgeable helped maintain the pack order.

"Here on the ranch you will be cared for, so long as you behave. Do as your told and you'll be treated well. I'm not sure how it'll work with your...tank...thing um, but normally the females stay in the female bay. I believe you've been paired with me," he looked to Connie for confirmation, "So we'll be spending some time together, and you'll also get bonding time with my other females. There will be no breeding until you're comfortable."

He paused, checking there was nothing else to tell her. Everything else she could see for herself. How they were going to move her around was an interesting question.

"Do you have any questions?"

[Anonymous]

Breeding? She tried not to frown, instead keeping her gaze on the female while her mind turned inward, remembering a few documentary shows she'd watched when the tv was her only distraction.

Something along the lines of... The male lion approaches the female lion with a steady saunter, his mane is one of the things the females look for, though it is uncertain if a bold, full mane is more desirable or not...

That, and some other shows, about genetics and breeding programs for canid-types were generally all she knew about breeding... Except that one time where there were humans acting it out... Her keeper had very quickly changed the channel.

The male's voice... Kane's voice.. quickly popped her out of her thoughts. She listened politely, perhaps a little more attentively than she looked. She was a little tired today- from worrying whether or not the idiots in the truck knew how to drive. Questions.. Questions.. Yes, she had a question. Two, actually.

"Umm.. Yes.. do you have a back-up tank for emergencies? Did they tell you the extent of my.. magic? Is there television?"

Oops, that was three. The last one kind of just... popped out there. She blushed a little, a smile emerging apologetically as her eyes flicked back to the woman.

((sorry for the wait <3))