Where'd I go wrong? [Shizzy!]

[Rhi-Rhi]

Huddled on the top bunk in an otherwise empty cell, Teidra hugged the single crisp white pillow tightly to her chest as she stared at the door, waiting for...well, she wasn't quite sure. The whole day had been one big mess of confusion and so much had happened that she didn't even know what was going on anymore. The last thing she really remembered was walking around on some space station...the...Can ker? No. Cancer. Yeah. Hm. Same difference, she supposed. Anyway, she remembered that...she remembered talking to a few people, remembered talking especially to this one woman...and then...

Everything got sort of fuzzy after that, and the next thing she knew and she was being woken up, being escorted down sterile hallways until, finally, well...here she was.

One of the first things that had come to her mind while she was still groggy was that she was in a prison. It seemed likely when she was lead into her cell. The place looked like something she'd expect in a prison, the bunk bed against the wall, the toilet and the sink, except it was still so clean, not a speck of dust anywhere. Something also told her that prison wardens didn't typically wear clean white lab coats and carry clipboards around with them, and the beeping sound in the background, reminiscent of medical equipment, sounded really out of place, too.

Shifting a little, her right hoof caught at the sheets and she winced as the fabric tore with a resounding rrrrip! Oops. She always forgot that sharp hooves and cloth just didn't mesh. Feeling restless and deciding that sitting up here while restless would be a bad thing, since she'd probably end up tearing apart the mattress with her fidgiting, she set the pillow aside, sat back, held both legs up, and scooted awkwardly to the edge of the bed. If anyone were watching, it probably looked quite humorous but it only took a few seconds. Lowering her legs over the side, she simply hopped down from the top bunk and--

Well, she would have landed gracefully if it weren't tile. Another little detail she was too distracted to remember.

Her hooves hit the smooth tile and her legs immediately shot out from under her as she slipped forward with a little yip of surprise. A second later and she'd landed hard on her rump, legs splayed awkwardly and grimacing as her bottom and tail ached. Owww...darn it...tile. She hated that stuff! Never agreed with her, and it wasn't like ice at all. Her home world had a lot of ice and a lot of snow, but she had no problem walking on that; her hooves were sharp and actually had good traction on the bottoms specifically designed for gripping ice, and the toes spread to help her walk through snow. But you couldn't exactly dig into tile, so that failed miserably.

With a sigh, she drew her legs in and clambered awkwardly to her feet, slipping a few times before she managed to stand. Then she just...stood there, anxiously brushing her white hair out of her face--well, white except for the strips of black in the bangs. All right. What now?

Well...now she supposed she just had to wait. She felt awake now, finally, and once someone finally came she had a lot of questions to ask that really needed answers! If this was some freaky jail...she hadn't committed a crime! They couldn't just keep her here! Maybe it was a mix up. Or maybe she had really done something wrong...she'd been staring a lot at the humans on the Cank--Cancer--but that was because she'd never really seen any before. Maybe that was considered rude? Maybe she'd made some people mad...she hadn't meant to do that...but the humans had been staring at her just as much! And she understood that. After all, she hadn't seen any others of her kind around, and she supposed she was rather odd to a human. All white skin with black stripes down her spine and the backs of her legs and arms; fluffy white hair; two golden horns, the left one broken off; a little black and white tail; legs that were human in shape until just below the knee, where white fur grew and the legs tapered off into cloven hooves, partially hidden by long black fur; long, pointed ears.

Aside from that, she looked pretty much like them! She even dressed like them! Some human styles had reached her homeland from those of her people that had ventured out there before. She'd made sure to dress appropriately and everything, emulating human styles as best as she could. She couldn't wear pants like them, though, she had to wear shorts cut off above the knee because pants just didn't work for her legs. Too awkward.

Still, she knew she was different and she could understand them staring. She didn't mind. It just made her kind of happy because they seemed to find her as interesting as she found them.

Pawing absently at the tile and lightly rubbing her aching bottom, she bit her lip and stared at the door with wide green eyes. She'd just have to explain. That was all. They'd understand, right?

[Anonymous]

The day had been...well. There was no day. No Night. Time was just strange that way. He still hadn't figured out time. It was man-made, that much he knew. Still, it was just...strange. Time...distance...a ll of it was relative really. He gave a sigh as he looked to the clock. 0239. Hm. Still technically early. Had he actually gone to bed? No, he had been up for a day and a half actually. He was studying something, it was a dynamic link between two different energies that could co-exist only in someone who had the special gift of...magic.

He hated that word. It went against everything he believed in...and yet it went with everything he ever studied. Ugh. It shouldn't exist and yet it did. He couldn't believe that. Then again, there were a lot of things that shouldn't exist and yet they did. The universe was full of mysteries and he was going to crack each one of those mysteries one day.

One day at a time.

Slowly he pushed off from his large steel desk, cluttered with file folders and papers, small personal data computers scattered everywhere as well. One of them was beeping too, a red light flashing on top of the grey pad. He picked it up, yawing as he looked at the screen. He had a new assignment. Apparently they had captured a new magical being and he had been chosen to experiment on it. Ugh. Doesn't he get to rest? No. He didn't need to rest. He reached over to the desk to grab a strange needle and large bottle of some sort. He loaded the bottle into the top of the needle and pressed it into his arm. Pressing a button he sighed as the liquid streamed into him.

It was a pick me up. Not drugs. Just a bunch of enzymes and nutrients...plus a bunch of other things that would keep him going for quite a few more hours. Usually five or so, just what he needed. He put the needle away in the desk and stood up. He looked tired, but he felt more awake now. He got his lab coat from the chair and pulled it on, doing it up and grabbing some things from the desk. Instruments he used to scan and test reflexes and what not. He grabbed the pad that had his instructions on it and headed out of his room. He finally managed to find himself wandering past some people, and soon got to the Alpha Wing.

He stood in the observation room beside a few of his fellow scientists. They were all taking notes just like he was, scribbling madly on the pad with the stylus. The thing he noted the most was...she looked like a deer. A deer...It was incredibly scary. He watched her though as she awoke and started to get out, and he couldn't help but smile as she tore the sheets with her hooves. "Subject is clumsy...Female...a ny idea on an age?" He looked around at the men in the room with him, and they all shook their heads. "Age unknown then. Appears to resemble a deer." He watched his new subject carefully as she hopped from the bunk bed.

And promptly fell onto her behind.

Alright then, that was just...funny. He cracked a small smile as she slowly got back up. "Subject is unable to walk properly on tile. Alright guys. You can go to bed, I'll take over from here." He held a bit of respect, a bit of power here, but only so much. She seemed...scared really. Timid. Just like a deer. "Goodnight Doctor Mazz. Good hunting." Mazz gave a grin to the man. It had been a joke, not only because she looked like an animal, but because everyone knew Mazz hunted for the answers to some of the deepest questions out there. It wasn't his fault he was possessed he just...he had to figure out those answers. He needed to know. He just did.

He grabbed a gown from the stack on the table and headed around in the hallway. He took a deep breath. She was a person too. Not just a test subject. She was a test subject technically but still...Ugh. He hated his job. He loved it too. It was doing good for the world, but at the same time...he was hurting...and sometimes killing people. Some just said that pain went away, others told him not to think of them as people, but just as lab rats.

Of course.

None of them had once been persecuted when they were young. Absently his hand went to his arm, where a tattoo was. It was a bunch of numbers with a red line through it. A Mordecai had accused him of being a mage when he was little, and there were various tests, and they branded him...he was about ten minutes away from getting a big metal collar bolted in his skull.

Stupid fuckers.

It was also probably why he stayed up for so many days. It took away the hurt, and it made him work harder. He had to find the answers. He had to get them to stop. He had done horrible things of course but it was in the name of science and to stop the horrible atrocities.

He pressed a hand to the door console and entered a few numbers. The door slid opened and he put on his most detached expression and headed inside the room. The door shut right behind him and he looked to the new test subject. A deer woman. A fucking deer woman. He still couldn't believe it. Of all the luck...She had to be a deer woman. He had a thing for animals...they were...he wasn't sure but he liked animals. They were interesting creatures. They had colonies, packs, swarms, that sort of thing...it was amazing how they all interacted with each other and what not with each other. They even had wars and territory battles!

"Good morning. My name is Doctor Mazz. You have been brought here because you are a mage, you have magical abilities, or you display traits of a magical entity. You are in Thanatos Research Institute of Metaphysics, or TRIM for short." He neared her and put the gown on the bed before he started to write things on the special electronic pad, even taking pictures of her with the build in camera. "If you would kindly put this gown on, we can proceed. I am going to start first by writing down some of your story, then we will move onto taking samples of your hair, fingernail scrapings, imprints of your feet and fingerprints....and we will then proceed to draw blood, do some Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Electronic Magnetic Readings of your electrical fields, Deep Tissue Imaging scans..." And then I'm probably going to run you through various tests like shocking you, burning you, cutting you, applying stimuli both pleasurable and painful to various parts of your body, bombard you with painful radiation and no doubt end up killing you, he thought bitterly.

The easy tests were simple. But they had them run through mazes, starved them, injected them with new research products. Some of them were interesting. He gave a tonic to one person that had grown exception strength, speed, and senses...but the subject flew into a rage and killed itself. Tried to bite through a power cable.

A shame. She had been beautiful.

Another injection...well... That one had been locked away. The person had gained an increase in memory and intelligence. Vast intelligence. Any code and language was broken, any question could have been answered...eventual ly they found the subject dead, suicide. He had fashioned a knife and left a note in the wall before stabbing himself in the heart. Something about how he would run out of things to do, experience, think about, and his life would hold no meaning, so he wanted to die before that happened.

The things he could have learnt from that man...

That project was shut down. Too dangerous. Too tempting.

Tempting. That reminded him of one of the contractors. A strange benefactor who had very deep pockets and got TRIM to test 'Pharmaceuticals' on people. They were strange things too...drugs really...some thought they were illicit substances...but... they were paid to test, not to think for themselves. However the man supplied antidotes to also be tested. If only he could remember the name...Something like Kabua Technology or...Ubaka Industries. He couldn't remember but...luckily he hadn't been assigned anything yet to test on this deer woman.

"Please try not to fight this too much. It'll be easier if you just accept your fate. That's the only way you'll survive here."

[Rhi-Rhi]

The door suddenly slid open and Teidra gave a skittish little jump, tail flicking nervously, before her eyes fell on the man that entered. He was a good foot taller than her--at five feet even, she was average height for her kind--so she had to look up to really get a good look at him. Human, too. Jeez. Humans were always so tall. And he even had white hair and green eyes, she noticed--just like her. That was a strange coincidence, yet for some reason it soothed her a little. Maybe that was a sign, everything was going to be fine here.

Then she gave herself a slight shake, remembering that the height and coloration of humans was the last thing she should be thinking about right now. Right. She could be in prison right now! She needed to keep thinking about that and get some answers.

Folding her hands respectfully in front of her, she opened her mouth to speak, but he got to it first.

...And answered a lot of her questions.

Doctor...?

He was a doctor? So...this was a hospital? A hospital for mages? Her eyes moved to the gown on the bed and back to him, realization slowly dawning. Oh. That made sense. So that's why everyone was in lab coats and that's why she heard that beeping--it really was medical equipment! That was a funny name for a hospital, though. Research institute of meta-whatever. And he seemed like he was taking pictures of her with that thingy, which was also weird. Hmm...maybe they did research on the people's ailments? Maybe it was a special hospital just for mages because they had specific needs? That made sense. Her muscles relaxed and she gave a small, unsure smile up at him, relieved by his explanation. Okay, so everything was all right. She wasn't in a prison and--wait, why was she in a hospital?

As he instructed her to put on the gown and listed off the tests he planned on running, most of them soaring over her head, she furrowed her brow in confusion. She wasn't sick...she didn't think. Then again, what had happened on the Cancer? She'd been talking to that woman and then...she was waking up here. Had she passed out? That would make sense. So that woman had probably called for help or brought her here. Oh no...maybe she'd gotten sick. Shaking her head, she rubbed her right temple and tilted her head. Something was weird.

"Um...pardon, Doctor, but...I'm not sick," she told him. Her voice was soft and quiet, timid, but she offered up another small smile and met his eyes as she said it, though this smile was a little shaky. "I don't think I am, at least. I felt fine earlier! I was on the Cancer I think it's called and I felt fine. I think I might have passed out though...I was feeling kind of tired, it was a long trip and maybe I wasn't used to the oxygen levels yet, I might have gotten a head rush, but really, I'm okay! It was probably just something silly, nothing to worry about. Last time I was at the doctor's they said I was perfectly healthy. I've never even had a cavity."

Then she shifted her feet a little, scraping one hoof over the tile. "At least...I think I'm fine...unless something happen--oh no!" she exclaimed suddenly, giving a sudden jerk of alarm. "Why didn't I think of it? Maybe I'm not immune to everything here. I...I thought I got all the proper vaccines, but I've never been around humans before, you see...maybe I got something...I don't know..." She chewed on her bottom lip, holding it between surprisingly sharp canines, then brushed the hair out of her face even though there wasn't any there; it was more a nervous habit than anything. Maybe she should go through with the exam, even though she hated doctor visits, all the poking and prodding and shots, blech. Yet at the same time, he might know something she didn't; nurses might have been observing her while she'd been asleep. Best to be on the safe side, right? Still, that'd be just her luck to come to a great new place and contract some nasty virus.

What he said next only made her worry more, and she gave him an odd look as he talked about accepting her fate to survive, her eyebrows raising. That...didn't sound good. It sounded like he thought she had something bad. Teidra swallowed; her hands felt clammy. "There's no need to be so dramatic, Doctor, I'll do the exam, you don't have to say it like that..." she said slowly with a shaky laugh. Erk. Yeah. If he was getting that serious about it, looked like she really should cooperate. "At least...I hope not. I mean, I hope I don't have anything...bad. Or contageous. Or anything at all..." she said, once again biting her lip as she turned around to face the bed.

She carefully picked her way over to it, her hooves slipping occassionally though she managed to make those few steps there without falling. Hospital gowns. They were the worst. So cold and breezy usually. Frowning at it, she glanced back at the doctor, then back at the gown, then shrugged and slipped out of her clothes. Her people weren't shy; there was nothing inappropriate on impure about an unclothed body. Still, she left her undergarments on and slipped the gown on quickly, as was procedure at any hospital she'd been to, at least for check-ups. She hoped it would just be that simple...

Teidra folded her clothes and set them down on the bed before sitting down as well, just short enough so her head didn't touch the bottom of the top bunk. "Oh yeah, I'm Teidra, sir." Then she paused. "...You named a lot of tests. Um...do you...really think I have something bad?"

Indeed, she really had no idea what was really going on.

[Anonymous]

Mazz noted that same thing when he saw her up close finally. White hair and green eyes just like he had. That was terrific. Absolutely terrific. Completely unfair for that matter. She shouldn't...look like him. He'd feel like he was a Mordecai doing experiments on himself. There was a sick joke happening here. Maybe she was just an alien and after he did some tests he could release her. Please. Let that be so. Give him a new assignment, something that wasn't a deer person with his eyes and his hair and...

Fuckers.

This internal conflict was hard but he remained calm. Professional. Even though in the back of his mind he knew. Those who came here, stayed here. They didn't make mistakes in TRIM.

Oh never.

The poor girl seemed...confused.. .but the word Doctor seemed to...oh no. Please don't think it was a hospital. That...no. He couldn't...he did. He would have to tell her just what this place was. Great. How did you explain to someone that because they displayed traits of magical origins, they had forfeited their lives and were going to be test subjects for the rest of their lives, which probably weren't going to be for too long? You pretty much just had to explain it like that. He hated that part. Why couldn't they test these things on people who deserved it. Back in the old days, he read about how at first it was hardened criminals, one who were sentenced to death would be tested on. Then they got volunteers for money...but then some ass hole said "Hey, we can cut costs by taking out the middle man! And the bottom man...and the top man!" And so TRIM was pretty much taking the unruly mages and what not from different cities and doing it that way.

Hell. They probably got PAID for taking them off their hands. It was win-win for TRIM.

The woman just seemed to babble on about how she had done nothing wrong and she had felt fine and she looked...so innocent. She had to be a Doe didn't she? He could have handled it if she had been a he and he had been a Stag but...she was a doe. Beautiful, Innocent creatures from earth. Of course there weren't many around anymore, just here and there in pockets of areas, mostly mutated but...they were in books and in data recordings. Sometimes Mazz wished he had been several hundred years earlier so he could have been an animal researcher instead. Now a days there was no money there. There was good money to be made here in this field...and good scientific breakthroughs as well.

He just wished he didn't have to do this....

His thoughts were distracted slightly when she stripped out of her clothes suddenly, seemingly like she didn't care that he was in the room. He tried to keep it professional, but he was a male, and she did have a very remarkable body for that matter. He took a few snapshots of her though while she was changing, sending them right away to the database. He had taken a few aura pictures, maybe they could decide she wasn't magical. He hoped so. Maybe all these tests would show that she wouldn't be a good test subject...

When she sat down on the bed he sighed and slowly sat down beside her on the bed, folding the pad on his lap as he didn't look at her. "You're not sick Teidra...also you don't have a name anymore. You're test subject number five eight seven nine three three four zero one. That's 587933401. TRIM is not a hospital. It's a research centre. We get the cast offs, the mages and such that aren't needed anymore. The ones that are too unruly, too hard to handle, they're sent here and we...we test on them. We get various products and tonics, potions, drugs and what not and...we test them on these mages. Sometimes we get bounty hunters who sell people to us...and I guess you were unlucky enough to be caught. I'm sorry." He stood back up, taking down a few more notes and then looking to her. A doe woman. He still...

It was so unreal.

"Stand up and follow me. It will..it will be easier if you just accept this, like I said." He pressed a small blue button on the side of the pad. It would alert the guards to come and help escort Tei-Subject 587933401 to the examination room. Two men entered the room, armed up with electric stun batons and special magic resistant armour. Not to mention he'd seen the armour take quite a beating without breaking. They were all black and had large dome helmets that didn't show their face. He only knew the guards by name. Never by face. They weren't really allowed to associate with the guard. No. That was unfair. He just never associated with them.

Because he was pretty sure some liked their jobs.

"Guard Neilan, Guard Stezzen, please escort the subject to Examination room 3." They gave a nod and Mazz was off. He got there right away, while they would take Teidra to a sterilization chamber first. It was a simple room that would flash her with specials lights that would kill most germs that normal washing failed to achieve.

It took a few minutes but eventually there was a knock at the door. It was a simple room, a strange plastic bed in the middle surrounded by strange instruments. A counter was off to one side with even more instruments, needles mostly and sedatives. There was a large ruler that went from the roof to the floor, and a few scales off to one side. The ruler was to measure height and reaction time. He'd drop something and she would have to close her hand around it. The more she grabbed, the slower the reaction time, the less she grabbed, the faster the reactions time.

He saw no drugs though. She wouldn't be tested on today. He still could request a transfer or...or something.

Maybe tonight he could figure out what he could do. Maybe after this whole thing he could falsify the reports...It was hard to say what he could do at this time...but he was going to try.

The door opened up and the guards led the little doe woman into the room and he moved away from the examination table, gesturing to it. "You haven't been selected for any drugs today, that means you are going to be examined today and selected for a drug tomorrow probably. We have a back flow of mages right now...so you might just be here for a while. Please take a seat on the examination table. If your bra has metal under wire or metal clasps please remove it and deposit it into the bin over there. It could be fatal to wear while we take a magnetic resonance image." Well, not fatal exactly, but it could ruin the...well everything. "If you have any rings or metal pieces on your body, they must always be removed." He could remember one mage had a total of twenty seven rings and studs...and she had thrown each one at him while cursing his name.

He was surprised though that when he had given her something to drink, she hadn't just started leaking everywhere. That was a ridiculous thought of course, he knew it wasn't possible but still. It amused him just a little bit to think of that...but then he saw the doe woman again and...well...ugh. All thoughts of being amused left him.

He went over to one of the many trays around the room and got some equipment that would allow him to take fingernail scrapings, hair trimmings, brush her hair and collect whatever might be in her hair and tail, blood samples, retinal scans, fingerprints, that sort of thing. Then they'd move to X-rays, MRIs, EM Scans, Deep Tissue Scans, all that sort of thing.

Ugh. He was NOT going to give her a pelvic exam or anything like that. She was female, and she was humanoid, that's all they needed to know, and that's all he wanted to know.

"I'm ready to begin Subject. Please take a seat on the plastic table."

[Rhi-Rhi]

At first, there was a wave of relief as the doctor told her she wasn't sick. When he first sat down beside her, looking all distant, her heart had skipped a beat because, well, that was usually what they did when they were about to give the patient some very grave news like that they only had five days left to live or something like that. But then he spoke, and for all of three seconds those words were the greatest ones she'd heard that day--until he continued.

And told her she no longer had a name. Just a series of numbers.

It was like a sudden punch in the gut, except there was no physical pain. Her breath caught in her throat and she just stared at him, unblinking, as he spoke and she tried to absorb it. But that was strangely difficult. She saw his lips moving, heard the words, but it all sounded like one big, sick joke. Research center? Tested on mages? Tested drugs and tonics and chemicals on mages? Caught? Sell people? What? Her eyes began to burn from not blinking so she finally did so, but she was still staring up at him blankly, not really registering what he was saying even as he apologized and stood up. But her body had gone cold all the way down to her hooves, the blood pounding in her ears, as it slowly began to sink in. No name. Bounty hunter. Caught. Testing.

It was amazing how in so few words Teidra went from viewing the "doctor" as a kindly man trying to help her to a monster that was there to hurt her.

She jumped, wincing when she bumped her head on the top bunk, when he told her to stand and follow him, and that seemed to be about the time she woke up from her dazed shock. With a gasp, she scrambled to her feet, slipping awkwardly on the tile, but she made no move to follow him. Quite the contrary, she snatched up her clothes and scrambled as far back in the room as she could get, her back bumping the wall next to the bunk bed. "Y-you're joking...th-that's not funny. This...is a joke, right?" she said far too quietly, looking around the room desperately for some way out, and she jumped again when she saw him do something with his pad. Her heart felt ready to burst out of her chest. "W-what are you doing? What did you just do?"

That was when two armored men entered the room, complete with stun batons and everything. Teidra didn't even hear what Mazz said at that point, didn't even see him leave the room. Cold panic gripped her as the men approached, each twice the size of her at least, and all she saw were faceless predators coming right at her.

Instinct kicked into high gear.

With a small cry, she abruptly dove to the side, landed on the bottom bunk, and launched off of it in a wild attempt to get around the guards. But the moment she landed on the tile she started to slip and pitch forward, and it didn't take much at all to catch her--she practically did their job for them by falling right into them. Still she struggled wildly, hissing and twisting and trying to claw and bite them, even managing to land a kick to one, but all that accomplished was earning her a broken claw, a throbbing leg, and a warning that if she didn't calm down, they'd have to stun her. She didn't even leave a mark on their armor.

The threat of being stunned seemed to subdue her, though--or maybe it was just that she'd finally accepted that struggling was useless. But shortly after they said that, the fight just seemed to leave her as quickly as it had arrived as the futility of the situation sank in and an odd sort of shock, a strange numbness and acceptance of the situation, flowed through her. It was an odd feeling, and in a distant sort of way she recognized it for what it was; not quite shock, but a psychological defense mechanism in her kind. When there was no way out, no possible escape, all that was left was a strange, almost blissful surrender.

It was a small mercy, really. If you were about to be killed, the endorphins ensured the death wasn't too painful. If you were just hopelessly trapped, it ensured you wouldn't have a heart attack or a complete breakdown.

But by the time she'd been through the sterilization chamber, brought back out, and taken to the examination room, she slowly began to come out of her stupor as her body began to register that, no, this wasn't a life or death situation--yet. She began to shiver and perspire as she started to come back to herself, and by the time they reached the examination room and she was lead inside, Teidra was quite aware again and trembling from head to hoof, looking quite like, well...a deer caught in headlights. The sight of the examination room did not soothe her frayed nerves any, though, especially when the first things she saw were a multitude of needles and strange instruments that she didn't know the names or purposes of. Maybe it was her imagination leaping into overdrive, but they looked like medieval torture devices to her at the moment. She'd read about stuff like that in the literature other Tuathi brought back from their travels to other worlds...

And then her eyes fell on Mazz. The person who had looked like a kindly doctor at first, even had her hair and eyes...and now...now...

She still looked a little dazed and defeated as he spoke, watching him dully. No drugs today...drugs...no, she didn't want to be tested on...she just wanted to leave...

Then he was saying something about bras and metal clasps and telling her to get on the table, something about magnetic resonance...somethi ng. About rings and metal and something being fatal.

Teidra mostly registered the "fatal" part.

There was a long pause as she just stood there, blinking. Then she slowly met his eyes and shook her head, instead taking a careful step away from the table. Clearly she had no plans of listening.

"No..." She glanced around the room like a cornered animal before she once again locked her eyes on him, then acted like she was about to grab something, but that was when she remembered, vaguely, that the guards had taken her clothes away. She lowered her hands back to her sides and curled them into fists.

"You can't do this...you can't..." she whispered. She gave another fearful look around the room and took a few more steps away from the table and away from Mazz. Though coming out of it the more she moved and spoke, she still looked fairly shocked. "Father said human laws were like ours...you can't just capture people and do things to--" And then she cut off, a horrifying thought crossing her mind right before she could finish the sentence. Unless these humans were the predators of their kind. It sounded like it. The way he spoke, it sounded like they preyed on their own people, too. If that was the case, it wouldn't matter what the laws said.

If it was at all physically possible, Teidra would have paled. But her face was already white, just like the rest of her body. She did, however, start to look ill. "What...are you going to do? What's a...a magnetic...what you called it? What does it do? How many days do I have to stay here? Will you let me go if I do the tests? Nothing...nothing is going to be...permanent, is it? I...I don't want to do this. You can't...and I'm not 'Subject'...I have a name, it's Teidra..."

[Anonymous]

How come he never got the easy jobs?

How could he always got the ones that were either really clueless or really belligerent. He could handle the belligerent ones, they didn't make him feel...all that sorry...he still felt guilty but...he had a job to do. This was his life. He'd gone through all the tests before with the Mordecai. Honestly he was surprised none of them ever ended up in Wing Omega. That would have been a sweet day, to be able to get a Mordecai under the knife. Yet they were too smart it seemed, either that or everyone knew just not to mess with a Mordecai. Which really was probably the best idea. They had leverage after all...but TRIM could pull its fair share of weight when it came to reputations.

She didn't seem to get it as he spoke, all of the things didn't seem to matter to her. She just stared at him and he hated that. He really did. She was such a lovely creature, probably had just been in the wrong place when a bounty hunter had decided to knock her in the back of the head. If that was the case, he would have to do some cranial scans. Oh maybe he could say that's why she was no good. If anything showed up then...maybe he could pull this off.

He couldn't torment this being. Not when she looked like him...not when she was a fucking deer person.

Always animals. That ALWAYS got him.

Sad eyes looked to her when she jumped up, bumping her head and then scrambled to her feet. She was going to fight. He couldn't blame her. The Mordecai had to drag him kicking and screaming after all. No one ever went quietly cause this was not what people wanted to do. People did not want to be led to their deaths after all. "No...I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I wish this were a joke. I wish my life were like that...but no." If only a bunch of her friends would suddenly pop out of nowhere and yell surprise! If only this whole damn thing was some elaborate fucking ruse just to trick one person. "Calling security." He said simply as he waited, and of course...the men came.

He had no idea what was going to happen...well...he had an idea that she would try to escape, that she would try to fight the men in armour. The armour was amazing really, as it had shock absorbing material and was designed with that in mind. When pressure was placed on it, it would evenly distribute it to all parts of piece in question. Not to mention a psychic couldn't even breach the special helmets, using radio wave transmitters to create psychic interference. Honestly, if they could only come up with such stuff like that here.

They might actually make a difference if they came up with such ingenious stuff like that.

When the subject came in he watched her carefully. Shaking, trembling, looked spooked out of her wits. It was heart-wrenching to see her like that. The poor thing probably had led a nice life and now she was here. She had no life now...she would do what she was told and that was about it. There was no time for the 'patients' to be thinking of what their lives had been like. No. There was nothing for them now. He wished he could help her, he wished that someone would come down and say this was all just a big misunderstanding and she really shouldn't be here. Maybe he could keep her alive long enough to get into contact with her people and they could mount some sort of protest...they could get her free through political means.

"No?" This...this was going to be another forced examination wasn't it? They would tie her down, keep guards in here at all times probably and she would be forced to take the examinations. The guards were never gentle with those. Some of them even seemed to enjoy that sort of thing really. "Yes...TRIM can do this. They have a certain status...that gives them this right." After all, people really didn't get to hear about this part of TRIM. The part where people were forced in here against their wills to become test subjects for dangerous experiments and what not. His eyes were closed as he tried not to think about this whole situation. She had mentioned her family. That just hit him like a punch to the gut. Why did he have to do this.

"A magnetic resonance imager takes a picture of your entire body. We're then able to look at your body on different levels to see things inside you. ...as...as for your other questions," Mazz took a deep breath as he slowly opened his eyes. Okay. You can do this. "You're here until you die. We won't let you go if you do the tests, and we're...we're going to do them whether you cooperate or not. Things might be permanent, things might not be, it all depends on what experiments we're...I'm...supposed to test you with...and..." Mazz put the pad down and went to the table, picking up a few things to occupy himself while he said the next bit. This one he hated. Stripping people of their lives and identity was always the hardest.

"You don't have a name anymore. You're subject 587933401. There's only...one choice you get here. You can either come over here to the table...remove any metal objects...or I can get the guards to come in here and do a full cavity search of your body...and they're never gentle. Please. Don't make...don't make this harder on either of this. Right now, you're not going to get hurt. I'm just going to run some scans and a few tests to learn about you. I'm...not going to hurt you. At least...I'm going to try not to." He spoke as calm as possible, with the most soothing tone possible, but it was evident in his troubled eyes that he didn't want to do this anymore than she did.

"Please. This will be over before you know it...then you can go back to your cell." Then he would start his day. Pour over all the data he got from the test, and then he could file some formal complaints and what not. Most of them would fall on deaf ears but...he would also start researching. He had to find a way to get her out of this situation.

It would become his obsession, because technically it had to do with work. Just not with working directly. Why did she have to be so nice through all of this, or at least, try to be nice? It just pulled at his heart strings and made him feel like a complete monster. Really he was. He had done bad things, many bad things, and called it all scientific, said that he was doing this to stop the torture, to stop TRIM from continuing on like this.

Maybe that was the truth, or maybe he had begun to see it in a different light. Right now he couldn't be sure, his mind was in a tizzy at this time. There was so much right now. Work was important...this deer woman was work...but...he couldn't. He just felt like screaming and leaving, telling the guards to take her back to her cell but...that would look bad on his monthly evaluation. After all, no matter how cute or innocent the person, he had never in all his years here stopped working on a patient. This could be a first.

After a few deep breaths he was ready though. They were just simply painless tests. That was all. Except for the blood drawing test. That might prove interesting.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Teidra didn't actually expect her protests to make a difference, but it didn't stop her from trying. After all, he had apologized. She didn't know why he would apologize about this since he was the one doing this to her; he was the captor, he had a choice, didn't he? So why would he be sorry and why would he look upset about all this? He wasn't the one trapped...unless... he was being forced to do all this too? That sounded ridiculous, though, yet at the same time the way he was acting confused her, and she wasn't sure whether to feel better or worse because of it. Was he really sympathetic? Or was he just trying to calm her down so she didn't mess up the tests? The latter seemed likely because how many other people had he tested on here? He couldn't really feel bad if he did this for a living.

Either way, it didn't make her feel any better because she was still stuck in this situation whatever the case may be.

She expected his answer, that this place could do what it wanted, but the fact that he added that it had status--that's what chilled her the most, made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Shuddering, she wrapped her arms around herself as though hugging herself, trying to comfort herself. No one had told her about this place. Here she had been assuming that maybe what they did wasn't legal, that they were just predators, but if it had status...no, that meant it was legal and that there was no hope, however small that hope would have been anyway, of higher officials storming the center and cracking down on this place. God, why hadn't anyone told her? Probably because none of the other Tuathi knew about it...

He explained what a magnetic resonance thingy was and, while she still wasn't exactly clear on what it meant or how it worked, it sounded easy. Taking pictures. But even though she did want to know what it was, it wasn't what she wanted answered the most.

When he answered them, she almost wished she hadn't asked, that she could have just remained ignorant.

Here until she died...

"No no no...you can't do that...you can't do this...you can't," She shook her head again and hugged herself tighter, but she was still shivering like it was freezing in the room. Then again, she was also wearing a thin gown with just her undergarments on beneath; that could have had something to do with it. Right now, though, it had little to do with why she felt so cold.

"My people...they'll find me...they'll get me out...please don't do this, please..." But not even she believed her own words. How would they even find her? And Mazz kept talking and it just kept getting worse and more hopeless and the more she came back to herself, the more real it all became and the harder his words hit. Here until she died. No choice. She might as well be in prison, though prison would have been preferable; at least there was a chance of getting out and they didn't take away your name--and even your body. It was like he was telling her that she no longer belonged to herself. No, that was what he was telling her...that was exactly what he was telling her...

He couldn't do that. She wouldn't let him take that, too.

It seemed that finally sparked something in her, something that snapped her completely out of her shock. "Stop calling me that, it's not my name, I'm not that. It's Teidra. Teidra! You can't take it away, no one can! It's not yours to take...it's mine...it was given to me..." she cried, reaching up to swipe at her eyes when her vision started to blur. She didn't care, though. Who wouldn't cry? And she wasn't the sort to try and pretend to feel something she didn't feel or to be stronger than she really was. But this...oh no. This was the one thing she wasn't going to let him take away.

The spark died again, though, when he brought up the guards and full body cavity searches, any momentary braveness replaced once again by cold fear and a small squeak of fright. Another shudder coursed through her and she squeezed her eyes shut tightly, still trembling. No...she didn't want that. The guards scared her, far more than Mazz did now; at least she could see his face. Mazz said he wasn't going to hurt her. For now, at least. They were just...just going to do the resonance thing, right? That's all she could remember at this point. Everything else seemed to have happened a very long time ago.

"O-okay...I'm sorry..." she whispered, not finding any comfort at all in his voice or words. It sounded hollow and fake to her. She inhaled deeply, her breath catching with repressed sobs. "Please d-don't call the guards, I'll...I'll cooperate..."

She didn't know how exactly she did it, but somehow she managed to remove her bra while remaining under the gown. Well...staying under the gown was easy enough, but with how badly her hands were shaking, she was surprised she could undo the clasps at all. Slipping her arms back through the armholes of the gown, she walked forward unsteadily, keeping her head down and not looking at Mazz, and deposited it in the bin he'd pointed to earlier. Then, holding onto the table with one hand to help support herself, she stood on one leg and slipped a silver chain anklet off from around her hoof, where it had been hidden beneath the black fur there. She dropped that into the bin, too, and wiped her eyes quickly before the tears could travel too far down her cheeks. Oh no. She'd been sterilized, after all. Didn't want to make herself dirty, now did she?

For what seemed like a very long time to her, she just stood there by the table, staring at the ground and brushing away tears. Then she finally climbed up onto it, sat down with her legs hanging over the side, and wrapped her arms tightly around her stomach.

"I...I don't feel very good..." she said quietly.

[Anonymous]

He apologized because he didn't want to do this anymore than she did. This was a horrible thing, a horrible place, but he couldn't quit it. It had become his life, it had literally become his life. All he did was work, once in a while he was forced to take a mandatory vacation or a sick day (Or week in some cases) but he always kept on working. He looked for that one tangent, that one equation, that one tonic that might solve their problems. Mazz still could not understand why the Mordecai imprisoned mages as slaves. It just went to prove that even lazy people still wanted to get things done...just by forcing others to do so. They weren't used as energy, even though their natural energy that they seemed to command could be used, plasma and dimensional conversion energy had pretty much replaced the need for such weak energy that a made could make.

Still, he wished they wouldn't bolt the silver band right into the mages skull. That always just...it creeped him right out. This coming from a man of course who regularly watched people become hideous monsters from strange products they were assigned to test.

"It's a painless experience as long as you don't have any metals on you." That was the key. No metal, no pain. Simple enough. Nothing he planned on doing today was actually going to be harmful to her. These were all tests that would allow them to know a whole lot more about the strange woman. Maybe she had different organs. Maybe she had three stomachs, more livers, after all, she had horns and a fluffy tail...not to mention hooves for feet. You had to be careful how you described people like this, when you started talking about horns and tails, you got more into the Demon Talk.

That was dangerous talk after all.

"You would think that we can't but...this place has no laws. There's no governing body who patrols space and enforces planetary law." He had heard a superior talk like that once. Laws and morals were for people who worked on planets where ideas and society could easily reach them. Isolated on a big space station however you were pretty much above all that stuff...literally too. He did notice she was shivering, and he was wondering if it was cause of the temperature or because of the news. He wrote that down on the pad though, it could be an interesting note after all.

Mazz looked at her as she said her people would find her. He hoped so. He really did. They might want to do it fast, because she might not be alive next week. Some drugs were harmless, and some of them were really deadly. If she got a drug from that...Kabua industries then she'd be fine. None of those...pharmaceuti cals were actually deadly. Most of them were just mind trips and dependency, which seemed to be the most common theme in all the drugs they sent. Dependency. Might have been an insurance matter? He never questioned it though.

Still, there was that one tonic that had no antidote. Compliance Drug, forced people to do anything with a simple command word.

His thoughts snapped back when she began talking to him. "Anything you own, TRIM can take. Name. Body. Soul. None of it belongs to you now. That's how TRIM operates...and...it's easier on me not to think of you as...a real person. A number can't be hurt. A number can't affect me." But a person can kill me and make me drink.

Mazz wasn't one for alcohol, but sometimes it took the sting away. Mostly he just stuck to his liquid nutrient diet. Sometimes you drank it, sometimes you injected it, and sometimes he just kept an IV Drip bag taped to his arm and let himself get fed slowly all day. Taking the time to eat was just...too much of a time waster. This way he could also get a jolt of energy from caffeine, gaurana, and a few other special mixes that would give him the needed boost.

"Thank you...that...that is for the best." He had given in a long time ago to TRIM. He may have hated their policies, the way they operated, but this was how things were. He couldn't change it, no matter how much he tried there was no way they'd change. After all. He was just someone they gave a paycheck. That paycheck could be given to someone else and that would be it for him.

He was actually surprised she managed to get her bra off while still under the gown. Mazz blinked a few times but said nothing as she also removed a silver anklet and dropped it into the bin. "That's all of it then?" He asked as he pressed a button on the bin and the clothes dropped into something and disappeared. He hadn't a clue where they went though. Probably down to the furnaces to get burned. It wasn't like they would keep them after all. Still...that would have been interesting. Maybe somewhere in TRIM there was a place that had walls and walls of clothes and such. Just stored there for some unknown reason. Mazz was pretty sure everything was turned back into base elements and sold for extra money. Or used in the Ionic Propulsion Drive that made sure TRIM stay in proper orbit.

The subject, Teidra...finally sat down on the table, her legs over the side and her arms tightly around her stomach. Slowly he went over and put a hand on her shoulder. "I know...this...this will be over soon. Just sit right there." He picked up a comb and a small collector, moving around to her back and he began to brush her hair. He was collecting any samples from her hair in a small plastic container. He was also pulling dead hair for analysis. Was it like long fur, or was it actual hair? That had been a question he wanted to know really. After a few minutes of combing through her hair he was finished, screwing a lid onto it he put it onto a counter and got another small container. Mazz moved to her front, holding a small nail file of sort. "I'm going to be cleaning your nails now...I'll...start with your hooves and then move to your hands. Please try not to move." He got a small stool and sat down on it, carefully taking her hoof and raising it. He scraped and cleaned them both carefully, getting any foreign material from the cloven feet.

Next came the hands, and he gingerly took her hand from about her waist and slowly cleaned under the fingernails. Then he got a small container after the nail scraping to get a sample of saliva. One hand went to her chin, just barely touching it. "Just open your mouth please..." When she complied he swabbed her cheek with a small cotton ball on a stick, putting that into another container. "Now for a blood sample." It was a small device. They /used/ to stick needles in people and draw copious amounts of blood...but now they didn't need to. Now all the did was have a needle puncture the skin faster than the body could tell there was pain. A single drop of blood was needed, not even that really. He took a small device and placed it against her palm, pressing the black button. She would feel maybe a pinch, and that was it. No blood was spilled, as the hole was small and clotted quickly.

"Now we need to take an MRI." He helped her to lie back with her head on the small pillow. While she was down there, he leaned down, pressing a few buttons on the machine to see if she was accurately aligned. He wasn't far from her face, and he whispered to her gently. "I'm going to help you Teidra. I don't know how...but...I'm going to find a way to help you. I promise you." He made sure to be quiet of course. Though the rooms weren't bugged, still anyone could walk in and hear them so he had to be careful. "You might not be freed, but...I'm going to try to stop them from experimenting on you...somehow."

[Rhi-Rhi]

The more Mazz talked, the more dismal everything became, and yet, even as he said that she was just a number now, that TRIM could take away even her name and soul...no. She wouldn't let them. They could call her what they wanted and make everyone else call her what they wanted but as long as she still knew who she was, they could never take that from her. It was still hers, it would always be hers. They couldn't touch it.

Her clothes, her body, they could tear those to pieces. But not her--whoa! Teidra jumped when her bra and anklet in the bin suddenly just...fell away down a chute of some sort. Blinking rapidly and wiping away her tears to clear her vision, she leaned forward a little as though to see where it had gone, but of course she couldn't see a thing. So...her other clothes must have been put down something like that, too. Where were they going? Would she get them back? If fear wasn't keeping her mouth glued shut at the moment, she would have asked. Maybe it was stupid to worry about something so trivial now of all times, but at the same time...they couldn't expect her to wear just this gown...

Yes they could if they wanted her to, she reminded herself.

Any further thoughts on the matter were disrupted when Mazz touched her shoulder, making her jerk a little at the unexpected gesture. It would be over soon. She wasn't sure if that was comforting or not, but she gave a small nod nonetheless and sniffled. Not like she had a choice anyway. It was either this or the guards and at least Mazz seemed like he was trying to be soothing, whether it was genuine or just an act. Then Teidra blinked when he pulled out a comb and a small container, but she held still even as he moved behind her.

And started combing her hair?

What the--what was he...? Why was he brushing her hair of all things? For a second or two she was so startled that she even stopped shivering, though she did wince every now and then when the comb found a tangle--not something he could help, her hair was short but it was thick. It seemed odd that he'd want to pretty her up now, but she doubted that's what he was doing. He was probably checking her hair for lice or ticks or something--which she didn't have, thank you very much! If she wasn't so scared at the moment, she might have been a little offended, but before long it was over and he had put whatever it was he'd found into a container, come around to her front, and...pulled out a nail file. And said he was going to clean her nails.

She blinked again and reached up to wipe away stray tears as he went to work on her feet, and she just watched him. She was no longer really crying even if her eyes were still watering; something about this whole thing was just distracting...not to mention there was some strange, artificial hope that took hold as he scraped her hooves. Maybe this was all a big joke after all. Maybe he was just going to do her hair and nails and send her on her way. A forced manicure? Seemed odd and unlikely, but she needed something to hold onto, and the thought was so sickly amusing that it made her relax a little--except for the part where he collected everything in a container. It was only then that she was reminded that, no, this was for real.

Then he finished with her hooves and took her hand off her waist so he could clean under her nails, and after that it was a saliva sample, apparently, because he took her chin and asked her to open her mouth. Well, that ended the pleasant illusion of manicures and pedicures, yet it still hardly felt real...that she was really a prisoner. This was just what any doctor would do yet Mazz wasn't any doctor, he would have been testing drugs and chemicals on her if they'd been assigned to him today. By some miracle, like he said, he hadn't been assigned any today, though...that was the only reason she wasn't being tested on and was instead just being examined, and the thought instantly brought back that sickening, twisted feeling in the pit of her stomach. She opened her mouth and let him swab her cheek, though, and watched him put that sample away as well.

Right...just samples...that's all she was now to these people. Numbers and samples. She bit down hard on her bottom lip as the emotions started to swell back up within her--and the cold, harsh reality that she was, indeed, stuck here until she died.

Or until she got free. She was not going to give up...

Teidra actually whimpered when he announced it was time for the blood sample, and she instantly looked over at all the needles, her eyes wide and her body starting to tremble again. Many of those were huge and thick. Oh no, not one of those-- "Eep!" She gave a little squeak of surprise when, while she was so focused on those huge and scary needles, Mazz apparently took the blood sample. It wasn't that it had hurt--the most she'd felt was a pinch--and in fact, she'd reacted more just to the sudden feel of something cold against her palm than the actual pinch itself. Drawing her hand away from him, she examined her palm up close but couldn't even find the puncture wound. He'd already taken the sample?

Apparently so because then he was talking about MRIs and making her lay down. "That...that was it...?" she asked as she scooted up on the table and laid her head on the pillow. Maybe she could fall asleep like this. Maybe when she woke up she'd be back on the Cancer.

Shutting her eyes, she listened to Mazz fiddle with the equipment, press buttons, talk--

Her eyes snapped open when she registered the whispered words. "Wh-what...?" But if she thought that she'd maybe heard him wrong the first time, or maybe she'd been hearing things because she was hoping so much for something like this to happen, he just continued right on. He was going to try to help her. She might not be freed, but he was going to get them to stop experimenting on her. For a few long moments she just stared at him. She...wasn't sure what to make of that, though. He was whispering, so obviously he didn't want anyone to overhear, but...did he mean that?

Or was it some experiment to gauge her reactions?

But then she thought back, remembered how miserable he'd looked and how careful he'd been this whole time...and then realized he'd actually said her name just then. God, she didn't know if he was really just toying with her or not--she wasn't feeling very trusting--but that thread of hope was being dangled right there in front of her nose and she was certainly going to bite. It was all she had now. She didn't know why he would say that or why he'd want to help, but...now wasn't the time for whys.

Mazz's face began to go out of focus and she blinked several times to clear her vision. "You...you mean that...? I...you...th-thank you...thank you..." she whispered, and she reached up with a shaky hand to brush some of the white hair away from his face. It was an affectionate gesture, or supposed to be; she didn't know how else she could really show her gratitude. Besides, she also sort of just wanted to touch him to make sure he was real and actually saying that to her. But he looked and felt real, and this close she actually got a good look at his face for the first time. Sure, she'd looked at him before...but she'd never actually looked at him. He really did look sympathetic...

Maybe it had been a good sign that he had her eyes and hair.

But then, as though realizing what she'd done, she quickly drew her hand back, brushing his nose in her haste, and laid her arm back down on the table. "Sorry," she whispered, suddenly embarrassed. He was a human. Humans, she'd learned, could be very weird about the whole touching thing, whereas her people were very physically affectionate. It wasn't unusual to kiss someone in greeting, or at the very least nuzzle noses or touch horns.

And she wasn't free yet. She was still on a table in an examination room.

But suddenly, things weren't quite so dismal. He was going to help her. She still wasn't sure if he really would, but...still...

Suddenly she didn't feel quite so alone.

[Anonymous]

Mazz knew that things were going to seem bleak and dismal. Hell he had been through he same sort of speech personally. No life, no personality, doing whatever you were told to do and no choice in any matter. Yeah. This wasn't a life that he really liked to inflict on people, but...it helped when it was really not him inflicting this sort of thing, it was more or less just TRIM doing this...I mean he still felt the hurt and pain from all of this but...he was going to just grit his teeth at this point.

She would get other clothes to wear eventually, they had simple prisoner clothes for people to wear. They were mostly Velcro, something that the prisoners couldn't harm themselves or guards with. Mazz knew they'd have to get special clothes for Teidra, considering that she had a tail and all that. Probably just cut a hole in a normal pair of pants or shorts, whatever she chose she wanted. She only had a choice of pants or shorts though so...there wasn't too many options at this point.

"If you need to cry just cry...it'll help take the sting away. Trust me, I know that much." When the Mordecai took him, he had cried a lot. It seemed like he had done nothing but cry for that time. He even cried when they said there was a mistake and he wouldn't be taken into the mage induction program. Oh those had been tears of joy for that matter. He was going to try and make this all as painless as possible for poor Teidra, but it wasn't that painful, these were just samples after all. Nothing too harsh to do.

"You're hair is so thick and...nrgh...knots." Mazz muttered as he held the hair tight and tried to pull the comb through it without ripping it from her scalp. She really had thick hair, it was quite interesting. It felt almost like fur of some sort. "Is this hair or...is it fur? It's shaggy but...it's nice." Mazz spoke quietly as he continued to slowly brush her hair with the comb. She didn't have many foreign particles in her hair, but he was sure he found just a small bits of wood and grass. Made sense though to him because...she was a deer woman.

At least she somewhat had a concept of modesty and what not.

Mazz slowly ran his finger along the hoof, after he wiped it with an alcohol swab just in case there were any diseases on it. He retracted his finger and swore quietly to himself, looking at it. "These hooves of yours are sharp. I can't believe you have trouble walking on tile with these things." Oh he had seen her tripping up and falling onto her rear. It had been quite humorous to see her trying to walk on tile. He looked at his finger and put some strange gel on it that sealed the wound up almost instantly. Ah. Much better. "I'll um...look into getting you some sort of...shoe to help you walk." He grabbed a small scanner from one of the trays and ran it over her hooves, getting dimensions. Alright. He could probably get something made or ordered from somewhere. He sent the dimensions to his home computer system.

Her nails went a lot better. It was much easier than her hooves, which were sharp for that matter. He was surprised...she could have killed him right there. Stuck those large black feet into his neck and probably killed him right off the bat. Maybe she knew that she would get into more trouble, or maybe she just didn't think of it. Either way, he was grateful that she didn't assault him right then and there. She didn't even try to bite him when he swabbed her mouth for that matter. Those teeth looked dangerous really, almost everything about her looked really dangerous. Teeth. Horns. Feet. Those nails might have been able to do him a little damage no doubt.

How she managed to get caught he wasn't sure.

Mazz knew that she would be scared of all those needles. Most of those were for injecting things like medicines and what not, or helping the sick out. Sick people were often treated, the longer they lasted, the more experiments could be done. Most of the things in this room right now he wouldn't use on her at this time. There was no point. "Yes, those other needles are for other things. Things I don't have to do today. All examination rooms are outfitted like this, just in case." They never knew what examination room they'd be getting, and the people who cleansed the rooms never knew who was going to be in the room so they simply put everything out. "This test won't hurt you, you just need to lie as still as possible." He explained to her as he helped her get comfortable.

"I mean that." He whispered. "I'm going to find a way to help you." This wasn't a test, this was the real deal after all. She didn't seem to believe him, and he couldn't blame her for that either. It almost seemed like a test didn't it? He had never tested someone with a psychological torture like this. Mazz didn't have the heart to do this.

He smiled when she brushed hair from his face, and he did the same. He did want to help her, and he was going to somehow.

"I'll get you out of here somehow. There's got to be a way." He wasn't going to be the man responsible for killing the deer woman. He wasn't going to go down without a fight. Somehow he'd save her here. Suddenly though something happened that got his attention.

Her hand brushed along his nose...and he began to sniff. He suddenly backed up from her and he seemed to be having a small attack of some sort. "It's...ah...ah..." And then came a loud sneeze, though he covered his mouth with his arm before hand. Then another sneeze came. Then a third one. "I can't...have...people touching my nose." He held his nose with a small tissue, his eyes closed. Ah damn it. That was the worst thing. His nose made him sneeze when people brushed it or rubbed against it. H e had no idea but it had to do with the nerves.

"Ugh. Pardon me." He wiped his nose and mouth and threw the tissue away into the biological waste receptacle.

"Alright...starting the MRI machine. Please stay still...Subject Teidra." He pressed a button and a strange white bar lowered from the ceiling and slowly started from her head to her toes. It did this a few times, making a loud humming noise as it moved. After a few minutes it was done and he pressed another button. The bar suddenly unfolded until it stretched from her head to her toes. "This is an x-ray device, it's going to take photos of your bones. Just lie still." To think back in the old days this would cause sterility, but after they perfect precise radiation bombardment, there was no chance of it. A bright light flashed and the bar folded back up and receded into the ceiling.

"There. MRI and X-ray complete...I just have to take some bioelectric reading and listen to your heartbeat and then blood pressure." Mazz went around and helped her sit up gently, getting a few more instruments and placing it onto the centre of her chest. "Just relax and let the machine do it's work." He got on a stethoscope and placed the pressure pad against her back, listening. "Just take a deep breath in...deep breath out." He also had to make sure her lungs worked accordingly. Then he listened to her heart beat for a few minutes and then smiled, taking the device that was clinging to her chest. It also read her blood pressure, as well as her bioelectric pulse, so that was a two-in-one test.

"Alright your tests are completed. You'll have some clothes waiting for you back at your...quarters. I'm going...I'm going to see you tomorrow. I won't sleep tonight but I'm going to figure something out...some way to help you." Mazz went and got his digital pad, holding it and pressing the button to call the guards. Once more the guards entered and he gestured to Teidra, taking on his most disconnected and arrogant expression. "Guards, take her back to her quarters. I'm done with her for now. I take my leave of you now."

------------------------

Mazz stayed up...all day and all night. He had to inject himself a few more times with his special injections of course and was pouring over thousands of laws, documents, anything to give him an edge. He found it though. It was an idea that really he never expected. It was a request form.

For a pet.

They didn't put any specifics on it or anything like that. All it said was where the animal was currently, species, name, and that sort of thing. It never said he couldn't take a subject from here after all. So he wrote down what he knew...but he had to find out more things. Race for that matter. He couldn't put down Deer Woman after all. He was going to find out about her so he could finish off this form. He even put down he was willing to take a pay cut and lose seniority for this transfer. If all went accordingly...he might be able to save her.

Mazz bristled down the hallway, remember where Teidra's quarters were. Only one guard was posted there at this time, and he slouched a little bit it seemed. The man must have been there a while. Let's see...Guard Rizen. Ah he remembered that one. The man didn't really have the heart to be a Guard. He seemed so lazy. "You're dismissed Guard Rizen." Rizen quickly stood up straight, surprised, no doubt actually sleeping while leaning against the door. "Yes...Sir." There was a yawn and the guard walked off. A few buttons were pressed on the door console and it slid open, letting him walk inside. "Teidra?" Mazz looked around as the door slid shut behind him. Well. This was it. In a few minutes they might know if he could save her...or if it had been all for nothing.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Teidra wasn't feeling too talkative as Mazz examined her, pondering over whether her hair was hair or fur--Teidra only gave a shrug at the question since, to her, that was the same thing and she couldn't see the difference--and wondering at her sharp hooves, even cutting himself on one. Teidra had to wince a little in sympathy; they were sharp, but not sharp enough to cut into tile and get a good grip like they could do to ice. She only blinked blandly as he scanned her hooves. Rubber shoes to help her walk. Kind of like what they had in her world, she supposed, to use when cutting someone or something up was a risk. She didn't think much on it, though. Her mind was elsewhere, her stomach trying to tie itself into one big, horrible knot.

Still she was compliant.

There were a lot of reasons that she didn't assault Mazz then. For one, fighting simply wasn't in her nature so it just wasn't her first impulse. While she was by no means a pacifist and would defend herself if attacked, as she had with the guards, at the same time she wasn't the most confrontational creature and she tended to shy away from from conflict. If Mazz had whipped out a scalpel and asked her to lay down, or brought out some strange tonic and asked her to drink it...it would have been an entirely different story. She would have kicked, she would have screamed, she would have clawed and bitten until those guards came and held her down. But right now Mazz wasn't hurting her, he wasn't threatening her, and she knew that if she did try and resist at this point...those guards would come in and this situation would be a whole lot worse.

And where would she go even if she managed to take Mazz down and escape the room? There were a lot of guards, all of them with that inpenetrable armor. She was fast, yes, but she also didn't know the complex or even where it was. Was it out in the middle of space? Was it on a planet? Even if she did manage to evade security, avoid dead-ends, and by some miracle make it to an exit...if they were out in the middle of space, that wouldn't do her any good.

She was trapped.

And she saw no reason to make things any worse than it already was. Being told you were a prisoner, that your life was no longer yours...Teidra's breath caught in her throat, body shuddering on a sob. Another person may have fought anyway, even if they knew how futile it was, just to make a point but Teidra wasn't that person. It was a noble idea and all, to go down swinging all the while, but what did it really matter? Even if you went down swinging, you still went down. No, now wasn't the time to fight a pointles battle. She needed to clear her head and think


And doing just that seemed to pay off.

If she had tried to fight, Mazz obviously wouldn't have offered to save her, though she still had no idea why he even made the offer. Why her? It didn't matter just then, though. She didn't care. All that mattered was that he had said that...and she was going to hope it was true.

She bit her lip, blinking rapidly as tears welled up in her eyes as he brushed back her hair and said he meant it. She gave a little nod, drew a shuddering breath, and opened her mouth to speak--but then something happened.

He seemed to be having an attack.

With a gasp, Teidra sat up, wide eyed as he backed away and afraid that something horrible was happening to her one chance out of here. "Doctor--?" she began...and then...

He sneezed.

Teidra's shoulders slumped with relief as he sneezed not once but three times and explained what had happened once he was able to talk again. All that just because she'd touched his nose? The corner of her mouth actually twitched upwards, as though a smile wanted to form. It was kind of amusing...and another time, she might have laughed about it, too. But then the situation had passed, he mentioned the MRI, and she quickly laid back down and let the machine do its work. Or machines, rather, because then she was being X-rayed.

Then he was helping her sit up and explaining the last few tests, which sounded harmless. Blood pressure, heartbeat...they did that at a normal doctor's office. Filled with hope, it was a little easier to relax as he fitted her with a strange device and--she gave a little yip of surprise when he pressed the stethoscope against her back, finding it cold, but the shock of that faded and she took deep breaths in and out as instructed.

Then it was over. Mazz put the equipment away, told her he was done, and she took a deep breath and nodded. "Thank you..."

This time, when the guards came, she didn't put a fight at all. They still terrified her, she still couldn't help but cower a little, but they weren't quite as scary this time around.

This time she had hope.

-------------------------

Mazz wasn't the only one not to get any sleep--or at least not good sleep.

The rest of the day after she was escorted back to her room was horrible, but fortunately it passed in a sort of dazed blur. She was returned to her room where, indeed, some clothes were waiting for her. She ended up choosing the shorts, noted everything was held together by velcro, and then, after that...well, it was just a lot of waiting. There wasn't really anything to do to pass the time but curl up on the bottom bunk (which she chose over the top one after her last experience) and, no matter how much she fought it--cry.

Alone and with no more distractions, with no more strange machines flashing lights at her or taking samples, she finally had the time to actually think about the situation she was in and what it meant. And it also finally sank in. Here forever. Just a number...and maybe she really had gotten her hopes up. Maybe Mazz wasn't being honest. He had seemed sincere and she'd let herself believe him for those few minutes, but now that she thought about it more...now she felt really foolish. It made no sense. Why would he want to help her? He <I>worked here, this was what he did. If he helped her, he'd be risking his job, and surely he knew what he was getting into when he chose this as his profession? And why her? Why not anyone else? Or maybe there were other people...

But it was unlikely.

He probably just said those things so she wouldn't struggle, so she'd keep calm. And next time he saw her, it'd probably be the same thing. He'd tell her each time that he was working out a way to help her, he'd tell her each time that he was getting closer to freeing her, but he'd never free her. He'd just tell her all that to keep her calm and compliant while the tests just grew more and more horrendous.

He probably told everyone the same thing.

She'd never leave this place except by a miracle.

Morning brought breakfast, new clothes, a shower, and the promise of an hour of exercise later on. Apparently, they got two hours a day where they could be outside their cells to exercise and mingle with the other "subjects", but the first time Teidra actually saw the others were at the showers. Or shower, rather. The center was effecient; male and female alike, the shower was communal and they were all made to strip, enter the chamber, and get blasted by the water. That wasn't the part that bothered Teidra; she wasn't bothered by nudity, and it wasn't even the feeling of being treated like cattle that disturbed her. It was the other people. You could almost tell just by looking at them who had been here a while and who was fairly new. Some still had that spark of defiance in their eyes. Others seemed defeated. But what was worse was that some bore obvious marks, scars, and shaven heads that she could only assume was a result of various experiments. Still others had no marks at all except for an expression that said that they'd been through a lot more than anyone should, and that scared her the most.

When she returned to her cell, she couldn't even think anymore. All she could do was sob uncontrollably into her pillow, not caring or noticing that her claws were shredding it to ribbons in the process. All she could see were those people, a lot of them much bigger and tougher looking than she was. If none of them could get out...how could she?

Then the door to her cell slid open and she jumped, banging her horns against the supporting bars of the bottom bunk. Quickly she wiped her face and looked up...then scrambled backwards on the bed on her hands and knees when she saw it was Mazz. She didn't want to tear up the bed with her hooves, not because she cared about it but because she was afraid of getting in trouble for it. She was still clinging to the pillow, and after a downward glance at it--and what she'd done to it--she quickly shoved it behind her back and stared up at him like he was a lion and she was a gazelle.

"Wh-what?" she asked hoarsely, voice raw from crying and her eyes red. "More tests?" There was an accusatory note there.

After all...she'd seen what they did to people. Now she really knew. Now it was really real. He did that to people...

[Anonymous]

He may not have liked his job, and he wanted to be able to help her of course but still...This was his job, it was as simple as that wasn't it? This was job, and he had to do it. It wasn't like he could fight against that now could he? There were times when he tried to stop himself from doing his job, from even thinking along the lines of his job, but he couldn't. He was always curious, always trying to think things out for that matter. He wanted to know how she walked with her hooves, how good her balance actually was, how her legs worked, that sort of thing. It was his nature, it was his obsession after all, and it worked great for him. Sort of. Sure his body was complaining about the lack of sleep, the constant pumping of drugs and what not, but still...he worked.

He was always trying to work.

Always thinking like a scientist.

Never like a normal person.

Mazz wished that she wouldn't cry, that she wouldn't look like...a really sad deer. He felt so bad...even to see her just on the verge of tears like that. It was really hard to see her at this point, because...he just reminded her of him. Scared. Alone. Crying. He would help her. There wasn't going to be something that would stop him at this point. He knew how special freedom could be...how fragile it was. It could be taken away so easily too.

Mazz was glad that he could help to calm her down without threats. Just...a promise. A very sacred promise at this point. It wasn't a ruse, it wasn't a jest, he was going to save her somehow. He had all the time at this point, or in the very least, he'd have a great deal of hours.

"I hate my nose." He muttered quietly as he rubbed his nose carefully just in case. He wouldn't deny it of course, this was a pretty bad thing to have. It was just a bunch of blood nerves. He had thought about corrective surgery, but really...he liked his nose as is. It was quite a cute nose some people had said...a lot of people seemed to want to stroke it for some reason and he was defensive about that. He was getting good at his karate chops and hand blocking. Oh yes, he had to be quick after all.

"Sorry about that...anything metal in this place stays extremely cold. I did a study on that once...Turns out the sterile storage closets couldn't have any heating in them or else impurities might get in." Still, it couldn't hurt to have controlled metal pads or something like that. "Please don't thank me now Teidra...Thank me when I actually manage to free you....somehow." He hadn't a clue how this would happen...but...

There had to be a way.

There was always a way.


---------------------------


Mazz looked over every case file, every data assistant and even had to go and TALK to people about it. Of course he chose who he talked to very carefully, and he also was VERY careful not to mention names or specifics. Just a passing curiosity he called it, if someone had ever gotten free from TRIM, paperwork and what not. He was going to expend every bit of energy possible, and then shoot himself with more energy of course so he could stay awake longer. There were times when it seemed hopeless, but he just tossed away what he was doing and went on to something new.

Once in a while he went to check on her secretly. See what they were making her do. Sometimes she was in her cell sobbing quietly, there was the shower time that he stayed away from of course, and then there was the activity time. It was a horrible thing really. He hated it that they let the mages and such get to together, for even just an hour at a time but still.

That wasn't it.

It was the fact that they let them get together and be...friends.

Companionship.

It was complete bullshit.

They got to meet people, try to meet them anyways and talk to them, get to know them, and you'd secretly know that they weren't going to be alive later. You had hope that each time you went to the recreation time, you'd see them but...you'd never see them after sometime...or maybe it would be you who wouldn't come back. There was no telling what was going to happen though...and to him, it was a horrible thing to do. He was pretty sure that everyone was doing it just to give the people a false hope. Hope...that was really the only thing these people had...they didn't have their powers, they didn't have their lives or family, they just had hope, and even then it was being stolen from them...This place was sick, there was no denying that.

When he got into the cell, she seemed so scared and...she had been crying of course. Slowly Mazz went over to the bed to stand in front of it...she looked at him like...alright. She looked at him like he expected.

Like he was a monster.

Which he was...

"No Teidra...No I need answers actually." He took a seat on the bunk bed, showing her the digital pad in his hand with the Pet Adoption Request Form. "This is the answer...this is your salvation. I just need more information for the form. I need the name of your race...height and weight...and age." Once he had that, he'd send it off to the central data system for review, which should only take a few minutes...and then it'd come back to him and well...he'd know if it was denies or accepted. This was a big risk none the less...if it was denied, there would no doubt be a formal investigation. If it was accepted though, there would be almost nothing. Well. Teidra's name would be stricken from the database, replaced as Teidra, Pet of Mazz L. Tombs of section 3, Room 284.

Oh.

He'd have to get more clothes. Probably she'd want to eat food as well instead of just taking injections. Nobody really liked his way of getting sustenance, they hated it for some reason. He'd also need to find her a bed or something like that. Ugh. A female companion in his space...That would be...erm...interest ing. After all, this woman didn't seem to really care that she was naked here and there...and Mazz was always aware of his own nudity, and others for that matter. Of course, his senses for that had been dulled over the years, but he still got nervous and embarrassed for people who weren't. "So if you could tell me that sort of thing...we'll get you out of here. I promised you after all...and I never break those promises."

[Rhi-Rhi]

As soon as he said "no" and held up the pad, Teidra's body relaxed a little, and it wasn't much longer before gripping fear was replaced by curiosity--and, no matter what she told herself, hope. Her salvation? In that little pad? Information? Ever so slowly, she scooted forward on the bed, still on her knees and careful not to snag the blankets, until she was kneeling beside Mazz and peering over at the pad. It didn't matter that just moments ago she had been convinced he was just toying with her, and she still thought that maybe he was. Yet at the same time she was <I>desperate, and what she had seen today only fueled that desperation all the more. She listened to him list off the things he needed as her eyes scanned the device, and then she went stock still when her eyes fell on four certain words.

Pet Adoption Request Form.

"How...is that going to help...?" she asked slowly, looking up at him before looking back down at the form. Her voice was still scratchy and raw, a little thick as well from her stuffy nose, but the tears had stopped falling at least. Pet adoption. What did that have to do with her? It seemed so random, yet he called it her salvation. She may not have trusted him just minutes ago when she'd been wallowing in self pity and horrified by what she'd witnessed, but now that he had produced something solid, something she could touch if she wanted to, something he called her salvation...that feeble trust and hope had returned. Right here was a plan, right here was proof that he hadn't just been toying with her. He meant what he'd said.

And she certainly hadn't meant her question to sound rude. She just didn't really understand. But she realized it could have easily been taken that way, she she quickly dove to cover it up, just in case he decided not to help her because she was rude. She put on a small smile and lightly touched his shoulder. "I'm sorry...I don't mean to sound ungrateful. I am. It's...just been a long day. But thank you, thank you very much, I truly appreciate this. Ah...anyway...your questions..."

Shifting a little and withdrawing her hand, she carefully sat back and stretched her legs out in front of her, hanging them over the side of the bed. Pointless questions aside, she'd answer the ones that counted; she figured the sooner she did, the sooner she was out of here. "Well...we're called Tuathi. My race that is. Me? Last I got measured I was five feet, with my horns. Weight...ah...I don't really check these things, but somewhere around one-hundred and seven pounds. And I'm sixty years old, even." Teidra paused. "I...think they said that'd be about twenty to a human." Another pause, this one longer. And then she just couldn't help it.  She was about to burst from curiosity. "I don't mean to be rude, Doctor, but may I please ask how a Pet Request Form is going to--"

Then she stopped. Her eyes had traveled further down the screen, casually reading, and it was then that something finally clicked. Those same questions he'd asked her...they were questions on the form.

Her green eyes went wide, and she slowly looked up at Mazz. Then she cleared her throat, looked back at the pad as though to make sure she hadn't read wrong, and then looked back to Mazz again.

"...M-me...?" she asked very quietly, pointing to herself.

[Anonymous]

She had seen what he had done, and he wondered if she would...no longer want to be near him. He wouldn't blame her for that either, considering all he had done and such. He wasn't the best person in the world, but she was all he had. This was an answer, a way to get her away from all of TRIMs experiments and such. It wouldn't get her off this station, but it...it would stop her from being tested on. After all, pets were treated with a little more respect than the mages and psychics, even if said pet just happened to be a mage or psychic. She would have all her freedoms back, just maybe not so much in public...but in private she would. That's all that he cared about. Getting her freedom back.

"It's alright Teidra. You just have to answer the questions." With those questions filled out, he could finally finish his promise to her. He smiled right back to her, she actually...touched him for that matter. That was a good sign. She didn't...really hate him. He felt much better after knowing that, since he thought she wasn't going to want his help anymore.

"Tuathi..." Let's hope he could spell that. It sounded almost phonetic so he was pretty sure that would be able to get it right. Didn't matter too much of course. Heh. She was kinda short wasn't she? He was maybe a foot taller than her of course, but still...five feet even with her horns. He entered in her weight and then...he blinked about her age. She couldn't be sixty years old. She was so young and...how did that even work?! Then she gave human standards and he decided to enter that instead. Yes, it would be much easier to go by the human standards after all. He looked over to her when she started to ask a question and...she didn't understand it all.

At least.

Not right away.

She seemed to get it pretty quickly though and he smiled. He ah...he hoped that she wouldn't be offended of course by all of this. She was going to be a pet in the eyes of the system, but hell if he would actually treat her like that. She was a intelligent, sentient being after all. There was no way he could treat her like a real pet. Though, he did want to brush her of course, but that was the animal lover in him speaking. "I'm sorry if it seems insulting but...I'm going to adopt you as a pet. There are like...five of these requests a year, and they're not even looked at. TRIM has better things to do, so they're filed away neatly and no one bothers to look at them." With advancement came bureaucracy, and that was one of the most exploitable systems to ever be invented. Well. That and Lordship, because you could do anything you pleased and no one said boo about it of course.

"This is the best I can do but...you'll have your own space in my quarters, I can get you some proper clothes and order a bed for you...I'll start taking more desk jobs instead of...hands on jobs so I can be at home and keep you company." He really had everything planned out. Other TRIM Technicians could do the experimenting, and he'd just pour over data. That would mean he could stay at home if he wanted to, and it really didn't mean long hours either. It was basic stuff that he could do really.

Plus he was afraid that she'd go stir crazy being cooped up.

That's when he hit the send button on the form and waited. It was away. This was going to be pure torture though. Just waiting. Maybe they'd read it. Maybe they'd catch him...what would happen then? He could be labelled a sympathizer, but then again, he could just call himself an animal lover. So many thoughts and questions swirled amongst his head as he waited for some answer. After five minutes of silence finally there was a small flashing icon on the pad. He clicked it.

Request accepted.

"It...it worked. Teidra it worked!" So he hadn't had TOO high hopes but...it had actually worked. His plan had really worked! This was perfect. She almost was made out to look like an alien pet on the form, so who could really blame it for working? Mazz looked over to Teidra and smiled. "Come on. Let's get you out of here. I can take you back to my place now. They said that I should initiate transfer immediately." They just didn't know that she was already on TRIM and such. Ah. This was perfect. Mazz stood up, tucking the data pad under his arm as he held a hand out to Teidra to help her up. She was no doubt going to have some trouble walking on the tile right now but...he'd get her some rubber shoes. The order had already been placed for that matter. They'd fit her like a glove too!

[Rhi-Rhi]

Adopted?

As a pet?

Teidra continued to gape at Mazz, still pointing at herself, though she slowly lowered her hand back down to the bed and kept quiet as he explained. No, she didn't like the idea of being a pet. Tuathi didn't have pets, but she'd learned about what they were. Humans liked to keep lesser creatures under their control and treat them like...like children, really. Pampering them, feeding them, coddling and cooing at them--yet also keeping them on a leash. Pets weren't free. And even if they seemed to be treated well, they were still owned and at their owner's mercy.

She wasn't a lesser creature...she didn't want to be owned...the thought of being owned sent a cold chill of horror down her spine, but then she realized that she already <I>was owned now. TRIM had her. And they wanted to destroy everything about her, take away even her name.

No...owned or not, pet or not, she could see the benefit of this...adoption process. Pets were treated well, right? And being a pet would mean getting out of this horrible place, it would mean not being experimented on, it would mean living. She looked away from Mazz to stare down at the bed, gnawing on her lip again, hands clenching and unclenching the blanket. The more he talked, the less horrible it sounded, though. A place to live. A bed. Real clothes, not these prisoner's clothes or a thin gown. Her own space. And, most importantly of all, she'd be out of here. She'd be safe. But...how would he treat her? Would she have to dumb herself down? Would he be...mean?

Somehow, the idea of him being mean sounded highly unlikely. He'd kept his promise and if anything he'd been nothing but horribly kind and sympathetic this whole time. If it weren't for him, who knows what would have happened to her...if she'd gotten another doctor...Teidra shuddered at the thought, closing her eyes. Still, this was all really scary, though, since all of this was completely out of her control and, well...she didn't really know him or what was going to happen...or if she'd ever actually be free again. Truly free.

But that was a thought for another day. One step at a time. Right now he was trying to save her life, and beggars most definitely could not be choosers.

She looked over at Mazz again in surprise when he mentioned taking more desk jobs so he could stay home with her, and still all those questions were there, eating away at her brain, questions she wanted to ask but didn't dare voice. She wanted to ask him why her and why not anyone else, why he was willing to sacrifice aspects of his job for her, and just...why? It wasn't like she was complaining; she was just confused. Had he done this for anyone else? And if not, what was it about her that made him willing to risk so much? And made him care so much?

Those questions would have to be asked another time, though. Right now it just seemed rude, and she also didn't want to risk him changing his mind.

"I understand. I...just...this is all...I'm just a little scared. About this whole thing," she admitted softly, even though that was a lie. A little scared? Terrified was more like it. Her life was in his hands and she was basically throwing herself upon his mercy--the mercy of a complete stranger. And after what she'd seen, after what she'd been told...her emotions were all over the place, though luckily by now she was just worn out. Crying, stress, and lack of sleep did that. "But I believe you. You kept your promise..." she added, looking up at him again and lightly but briefly touching his arm once more, as though to try and assure him that she meant those words and the words that followed. "You...you're risking a lot, aren't you?"

Then he'd finished with the pad and they lapsed into silence, Teidra absently kneading the blanket as they waited. Please let it work. If it didn't work...no, she couldn't think like that! Just let it work. She didn't want to be a pet, but she wanted to be experimented on even less. Waaay less. As much as she didn't like the idea, God, she'd bark like a dog or meow like a cat if it meant she didn't have to be here, she didn't have to be treated like a nameless number, she didn't have to be hurt or see all those other people get hurt.

Part of her felt a little selfish. She got to go free if this worked, but what about everyone else?

It wasn't fair.

The minutes dragged by and Teidra was starting to find it a little hard to breathe as the anticipation peaked, but finally something happened. Something got Mazz's attention and he clicked a flashing icon on the pad. Heart in her throat, Teidra turned her head and tried to look, but he spoke before she could read it.

It worked.

"It did? Really?" she exclaimed, sitting up straight, but he was already standing up, already telling her that they could go to his place now, and Teidra couldn't have been more eager to get out of here. She didn't need to be told twice. Quickly, she took his hand and launched herself to her feet, but she didn't stop there. A second later and she'd wrapped her free arm around his middle in a tight, clinging hug, the fingers of her other hand interlinking with his. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she whispered, eyes closed and throat feeling oddly tightly. Her eyes started to sting again, but she just squeezed her eyes shut tighter. Her head hurt, her nose was stuffy, and she didn't want to cry anymore...even if now they were tears of relief and happiness. If the hug didn't make that quite obvious, well, that little tail of hers was certainly wagging.

Finally she stepped back, though she was still holding his hand as though afraid that if she let go, he'd vanish and she'd be stuck in this nightmarish place. "Where's your place?"

Hopefully it was far from here.

[Anonymous]

She seemed surprisingly quiet about this sort of thing...

It scared him.

"Please you won't be a normal pet. You're sentient after all. In the eyes of the system and probably some of the people who live here you'll be a pet but...that's only them. We don't really care about them of course. I have no intention of keeping you like a pet." Hell, if he looked like a weirdo now for not sleeping and being obsessed weeks on end with even small questions, keeping a doe woman and treating her like a complete pet would...well they'd talk more about him. He didn't much care for that, and he couldn't treat her like she was a pet. She wasn't...

She was a person.

Deer woman...thing. Ugh.

He felt slightly horrible for this now. Why was he trying so hard to save her and not everyone else? Maybe it was because she tugged at his heart so. He couldn't...he wouldn't think on that. He knew he was a monster, and really he was fine with that at this point. He couldn't save everyone, he didn't want to save all of them...It just didn't seem like...well...He didn't want to save them. Maybe they had never sparked him so...like this deer woman.

Why did she do this to him?

They all tugged at his heart perhaps but..Teidra just...tugged differently at him. She made him want to help her. She was so innocent and so much...like him when he had been captured. To think he had met so many mages and such over his life time but this one...this was the only one that affected him. Green eyes, white hair, and looked like an animal. This was going to work. He had looked into it all very carefully and it just...it had to work. That's all there was to it at this time.

"I'm terrified personally Teidra." He was. He hid it well, like all of his other emotions. He was good at doing that, he had to do that in order to survive this whole life of is. She didn't hide hers well...fear riddled her face, sadness as well...it was all over her expression and her actions not to mention. She had a right to be scared though...she really did. "Thank you...that means a lot." When she touched his arm he gulped slightly, moving it away from her as he slowly pulled it up to show her the tattoo down the underside of his forearm, showing the tattoo of number running down the skin, a red line through hem though. "The Mordecai, a group of...people with a natural ability to ah...suppress magic came to my town one day and said that I displayed traits of mages. They took me away from my family, branded me, and ran some tests on me. I was about five minutes away from getting a metal collar bolted into my skull when they realized their mistake." He rolled it back down, hiding the tattoo once more. That's one thing that sickened him.

They bolted it to the skull.

"That's...one reason I do this. I want to stop that. People shouldn't have metal collars bolted directly into their skulls. There has to be another way really. I was hoping to find a way to do it...an injection perhaps...but the collar is efficient. It can't be removed, can't fall off, you don't forget about it but...if you could just take one injection and it would stop them forever...Maybe they wouldn't need to bolt things in their skull..." That scared the hell of him. Getting something bolted in their skull...it was a horrible thought. He didn't like that thing.

"Yes. It worked really. No kidding." He told her standing up with a smile. Then suddenly she hugged him, her arms wrapped around his middle tightly. Gah! That was...surprising to say the least.  "It's alright Teidra! You're...ah...you're horn is sort of...poking me." He told her quietly as she interlinked hands with him and he smiled lightly at her as he used his other hand to run through fur...or hair gently. Though her tail seemed to moving excitedly, it was really cute to say the least. She just couldn't stop being adorable could she? He smiled more and put the pad under his free arm and started walking with her. "It's in the Main Wing. We're going to go there right away. I promise."

And that was it. They were off. They headed toward the main area. Luckily no one was really out right now. They made it to his residence without incident, letting them inside. It was such  stuffy little place, and not to mention cluttered. There was a kitchen of course, a living room, bathroom and bedroom off in one corner. Most of the furniture was covered with data pads and old paper records. So many paper records he had collected over the years. Synthetic paper of course, as real paper was quite an oddity. "Here we are um...I'm going to clear the couch off for you. You'll have to sleep there for a few nights I'm afraid..." There was a package waiting in the mail slot though, he'd look at it in a minute. Quickly he gathered up the papers on the couch, straightening them all up and then putting them down beside the couch. "That device there is a remote there and it'll turn on the large screen over there. Hundreds of channels that will allow you look at news...entertainmen t, that sort of thing." He told her as he went to the Mail Delivery area and picked up the plain package.

Slowly he opened it and looked inside before smiling. Oh it arrived a whole lot sooner than he could have hoped! He took out two rubber little boots and grinned at Teidra. "Here we go Miss Teidra, we've got your rubber booties for you. You'll finally have traction on all the tile that's just...well everywhere here. Hell I'm sure you'll be able to walk up walls with these things." He said as he tossed them over to her gently. Well then. Let's hope she could...cook. He had food stuffs for when people came over once in a while but he never really...cooked much. Though he was told by some of the Biologists and Gastro-internal Doctors that he had to eat, or else his body might start eating itself. Ugh. Always telling him what to do. Damn Doctors.

He was a Theoretical Man. Quantum Physics and what not...but he had picked up lots of Medical Knowledge. After all he studied a lot for that matter.

He'd be studying more now...he wouldn't really need to study people that much anymore...now it would be different. He was going to take desk jobs, more digital work and such. That would hurt less on his heart and mind.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Teidra was, to say the least, shocked at Mazz's confession, at the sight of that tattoo on his forearm. He'd been a prisoner, too? Collars bolted into the skull? She didn't say anything, though. She didn't know if it was her place to say anything, and she couldn't really understand his reasoning too well. He...he hurt people to prevent people getting hurt?

She didn't think she'd ever be able to understand. And now wasn't the time to ask. She didn't want to be rude or for him to get any second thoughts, so she held her tongue. However, she could still empathize, and it did help her understand a little why he seemed to care about her so much.

There would be time to ask more about it later, though. Like when she knew him better and was more secure in her place here.

"Oh! I'm sorry," she said when he told her that her horn was poking him, and she reached up to pat his chest apologetically where her horn had been. She hoped she hadn't cut him or anything, but he didn't seem upset. In fact, he even ran a hand through her hair and that calmed her a little. Even if she was a little on the shy side, physical contact was reassuring, even from a stranger.

After that, Teidra followed Mazz eagerly as he lead the way through the station and toward the residential area, and each step away from the laboratory made her muscles relax just a little more. She never wanted to go back there. Ever. Now her next step would be getting out of this place entirely, but...she knew she had to take this one step at a time. Right now, she just had to be happy with what she had, and she definitely was. Tired still, nervous and out of her element still, but thoroughly grateful.

She kept her eyes lowered as they walked so as not to look at any of the other scientists that they might pass--not that they passed many--and her hand squeezed Mazz's tightly. Luckily for him her claws were retractable, otherwise that might have been pretty uncomfortable, especially since she kept slipping here and there and having to readjust her grip to support herself. Finally, though, they reached their destination and she slipped inside after him and looked around curiously.

The place was tiny and cluttered, and she couldn't help but smile a little at the sight. It was such an obviously male residence. It looked like he lived alone, then, but neither the clutter nor the small space bothered her; in fact, it made her feel more comfortable. It felt rather cozy and secure in here and it was nice to know that he wasn't a neat freak or anything. Neat freaks always made her nervous, like even breathing would displace something, and she preferred a casual environment.

"That's okay, I don't mind. I'd, um, take a couch over those bunk beds any day," Teidra said as she watched him clear off the couch, wondering vaguely what all those papers and pads were for. She waited patiently until he was done, gazing around the room, and then turned her attention back to him when he pointed out the screen and explained it. By that time he was also done clearing off the couch, so she made her way over to it and sank down onto it gratefully, leaning back against the cushions, closing her eyes, and making sure to keep her hooves firmly planted on the ground so she didn't damage his couch. After all the stress of the other day and part of this day, she really was exhausted, too exhausted to focus on any programs, and yet...

With a small sigh, she sat up straight and picked up the remote, pointing it at the screen to turn it on. Actually, now that she thought about it, flipping through the stations would probably be a good idea. For one, it would keep her awake and she thought it would be horribly rude to sleep so soon after being rescued, and two it would be a good way to get a feel for this place. Er, well, maybe not this place specifically, but humans in general.

And it was also a nice way to fill in the sudden, awkward silence. Now that she was no longer an emotional wreck and in a complete panic, her shyness was kicking in and she didn't know what to say or do. This whole situation was just strange. She'd been abducted, brought to a research facility, and had just barely been rescued by a scientist who she was now technically the pet of and who she was now going to be living with. Thank goodness the whole pet thing was just a cover up and she didn't really have to act like a pet and he wasn't really going to treat her like one! So while Mazz went off to do whatever it was he was doing, Teidra adjusted the volume to a lower setting and flipped through the channels. Maybe she could find a news station.

She was still browsing the channels when Mazz returned, and she twisted around to look back at him as he held up two rubber booties. "That was quick. Didn't you just order those yesterday? Oh, and you don't have to call me miss. Just Teidra is fine," she said, reaching out to catch them as he tossed them too her. Turning back around, she lifted a leg so she could work one of the boots onto a hoof. Then she gave a small laugh. "I don't know about walking up walls," she said as she pulled the other boot on and stamped both feet on the ground to ensure they fit properly. "Well, maybe if we're in zero gravity I could do it! I mean, I could try it but I think I'd just end up hurting my bum. Thank you, by the way!" she said as she stood up and walked slowly across the room toward the screen, testing them out.

The traction was good, and they held fast. She didn't slip once, and when she turned around to head back to the couch, she jogged the distance there. Not that she could jog very far as the room was tiny, but enough that she could tell that she wouldn't be falling due to slippery tile any time soon.

"Oh, these things work really well!" she told Mazz with a smile as she walked around the couch so he could see them on her, though she shifted her weight from leg to leg a bit awkwardly. "And I can sleep with them on so I don't, ah...wreck your couch. I was kind of worried about that and...oh!" She had been gazing down at the ground shyly when she'd caught a glimpse of her clothes, which were of course the clothes she'd been given to wear as a test subject. "Um, I hope I'm not asking too much, but do you maybe have some clothes I could borrow?" she asked, motioning at her clothes. "I feel funny in these..."

She didn't want to feel like a prisoner anymore.

[Anonymous]

Twisted logic was still logic. He hurt people to stop people from being hurt. Eventually they wouldn't need people, they would just need to use clones. Except proper cloning was so far away, at least for the time being. He only wished it wasn't...then there would be no need for capturing real people. They could just use clones. Clones had no souls, they were clones. You could clone the body, but not the soul.

Yes, Mazz believed in the soul. Even though there was no scientific proof of there being a God, Goddess, or incredibly higher power, he still believed people had a soul, that they had this...extra part of their body, this energy, this power in their body. TRIM had done more than their share to release the energy, this...higher consciousness. They were free though. He was still stuck in here though.

At least he was able to help one person.

Spare them from a terrible fate.

"No it's alright. It was just a little uncomfortable. That's all." Mazz smiled gently at her. He loved her hair...though still, he wasn't sure if it was fur or hair. Didn't matter though, it was...it was nice to pet her. He felt better when he was running his hand through her hair...fur...stuff. She was...sort of like a pet but...he had to remember she was a human being. Well. She was a sentient humanoid creature.

At least none of the people that they passed really asked questions or watched. Except when she slipped up and he had to catch her from falling. Really, this just wasn't very handy now was it? When she got her shoes things would be much better though, she wouldn't be slipping up and she probably wouldn't be cutting sheets and clothes up with her hooves.

Those things were quite deadly.

Mazz's house would probably be a lot cleaner if he didn't spend so much time on work. He could very well clean it all up if he wanted to, he had the energy, he could have just cleaned it all in one full day but he liked to work instead, well, he had to work instead. That was just it. He had to work instead, he couldn't just...not work.

"I think it folds out into a bed but I can't actually be sure..." And if it didn't, he could always order one that did. Hm. Maybe he shouldn't force her to sleep on the couch. He could sleep there, and she could sleep in the bed. Hell. He didn't use the bed that much anyway! He didn't sleep after all...What was he thinking? He couldn't just let her sleep on the couch while he stayed awake for 3 days. This wouldn't do at all would it?

At least she was...was getting used to living her in this place. Once she got used to this place, things would be better. Still. He didn't much like the idea of having to take her out of the apartment wearing a collar around her neck and a leash attached to his arm. It would feel just...wrong...yet if she wanted to go outside she would have to wear it and...at least she wouldn't have to wear a muzzle! That would be just wrong. Still, she'd have to booties and stuff though.

Mazz nodded as he looked at the package once more. "Hm. I hit the expedited package button I guess..." He told her with a shrug as he tossed the package in the trash. She had the hoof boots now and it would be all good now wouldn't it? "We all could walk up walls in Zero Gravity Teidra." He was a big fan of zero gravity, it just felt...neat for that matter. Of course, there was the matter of losing bone integrity and muscle matter so really he didn't frequent places in TRIM that were lacking in Zero Gravity.

He gave a smile as he watched her walking about. This was good! She could walk, run, jog, it was good then. The boots worked perfectly. "This is good, eh heh...right the couch..." He was about to bring that up when he said something about her clothes and he blinked. "Oh. Clothes. Right...we'll have to get you some clothes as well..." Well. He'd give her a catalogue pad and she could pick out what she wanted. Thankfully they wouldn't have to leave the place to get it. He didn't much...feel like watching her try on clothes. There were...things like underwear and what not that he probably shouldn't really...see her model for. Ahem. He went to bedroom quickly to grab some clothes for her. A blue shirt with long sleeves, green pants, and a pair of black boxers. Ahem. She'd probably want these just in case. Though, no doubt on her she could wear them like shorts.

He chuckled as he folded the clothes up carefully and exited the bedroom and handed them out to her. "Here you go Teidra. These will be temporary of course...which reminds me." He sat down on the couch, getting a pad and tapping some things on it. "We'll order you some clothes right now." It was a simple place that you could look through a catalogue, choose what you want in your size, and then you could get it delivered. "Just choose whatever you want, undergarments, dresses, skirts, shorts, shirts, whatever it is you want." Mazz said as he held the pad out to her. "It's fairly simple. You can get changed after ward though, I want these ordered before they close for the day."

[Rhi-Rhi]

Teidra tilted her head curiously and blinked when Mazz exited the room at her mention of clothes, wondering where he had gone but waiting patiently where she stood. Oh, he was probably going to get her some clothes to borrow, maybe. Hopefully he had something that would work, he was much taller than her, after all. Not that it would matter for now. She really just wanted out of these clothes...

He returned shortly after, though, carrying some folded up clothes, and she smiled brightly up at him as she took the offered clothes. "Thank you! These will work fine for now!" she said, peering down at them. A shirt, pants, and boxers. No bra, of course, but what she wasn't really expecting him to have any on him. She'd be a bit worried if he did. The clothes looked pretty big, but no matter! She set the pile down on the back of the couch and was about to start undoing the velcro to change right then and there, not caring if Mazz was right there--why should it matter? She'd taken a group shower earlier, perhaps these humanoids didn't mind nudity as much as she had originally thought--but that was when Mazz handed her a pad.

Blinking, she took it and looked it over curiously as he explained, then looked up at him in surprise. "Anything I want?" she repeated, eyes large. Anything? Well...he'd said whatever she wanted...and here he was, handing her a pad, giving her free range. Peering back down at the pad, she nibbled on her lip and began to browse through the categories. Oh man. This would probably take a while. There was so much stuff, and all of it looked great! She certainly couldn't wear a lot of the things they sold in this catalogue on Ren'unis, where the temperatures were sub-zero for two thirds of the year and cold for the other third. Besides, they generally had more important, practical things to worry about than fashion

Teidra glanced back up at Mazz as though to double-check that this was okay before, with a small shrug, she started to order things. She wouldn't order too many, though; she was afraid about whether or not he could afford it and she didn't want to seem selfish or greedy, which were some of the worst things you could be labelled among her people. So she only ordered a few outfits, a week's worth of clothes and undergarments, mostly shorts and short-sleeved shirts and tube tops, but a few frilly skirts also caught her eye, and a pair of barely there underwear piqued her curiosity, so she ordered those as well.

When she was finished, she handed the PDA back to Mazz and smiled softly, clasping her hands behind her back and peering up at him with her head tilted to one side. "I didn't submit the order yet, um...I...didn't want to get too much, and I thought you should look it over first in case it's too expensive," she explained. "If it's too much, I can get rid of some stuff. Thank you, Mazz. Um, I'm gonna get changed now, okay?"

Then she turned back to the clothes she'd set on the couch and, without skipping a beat, she did just that. Pulled apart the velcro, shrugged out of the prisoner's garb, and pulled on the shirt that Mazz had picked out, which was large on her as she had expected and could have covered her in and of itself if the shirt hadn't caught on her tail in the back, which she seemed not to notice or care about. The pants and boxers confused her, though. Maybe he'd given her both so she could decide which worked better for her? In that case, it would definitely be the boxers, but...there seemed to be something weird about them.

Turning around to face him again, she held the boxers up and raised an eyebrow. "Why do these shorts have a hole in them?" she asked, wiggling a finger through it demonstratively. "You don't have a tail..." But then she shook her head and slipped them on, putting them on backwards so that, indeed, she could use that mysterious hole as a tail hole.

Poor Mazz. It seemed he had quite the interesting experience in store for him.

--------------------

A month had passed since that strange day, and it had passed rather well. Being a "pet" wasn't really so bad! It was true, she missed home and the people she'd left...but at the same time, this life was--she was ashamed to admit it--better. It had started out on a frightening note, but after Mazz had rescued her from being a test subject, and after she had gotten used to living with a complete stranger--who was now no lonnger a stranger--things had just kept getting better.

She didn't have to worry about getting eaten. The temperature was perfect. Mazz gave her whatever she could need or want and took her out whenever she wanted, so she didn't go stir crazy. Sure, she had to wear a collar and leash then, but it wasn't like she had to crawl around and bark, it just meant she couldn't walk faster than him. It was a little annoying and she didn't like her freedom being inhibited like that, but at the same time she also understood: they were stuck on a research facility and it was the only way she could be kept from getting experimented on.

She missed the outdoors, though...the snow, the trees, the fresh air and unpredictable weather. Here everything was controlled and regulated and there were no trees or birds or anything. She wasn't used to that, and she didn't really like it here, but Mazz was really nice and everything he did for her made it all bearable, and he'd even started to pet and cuddle her a little, which made her feel better. At first the lack of it had made her feel alienated, since her people were very physically affectionate and it was a sign of familiarity and friendship, but she'd come to realize it was just a human thing. They got awkward about the strangest things...

It had its downsides, but it had its perks, too, because it really was a stress-free life. Kind of like what those humans called a vacation.

Speaking of which.

Teidra was sitting on the couch in the living room and leaning back against the cushions as she waited for Mazz, a small bag resting at her feet--all the things she'd need during said vacation. Apparently they were going to some sort of beach, where there was a lot of water, and that intrigued her. She'd never been to a beach before...but now she'd get to, because Mazz had been told to take some time off for once.

He really was a workaholic...and she was really looking forward to getting out of this facility, getting some fresh air, and seeing some new sights.

[Anonymous]

"They're only temporary I promise. Sorry I don't have any...support for you but ahm...I don't need them and such so..." And it wasn't like he had regular visits from women, leaving them here either. Mazz was a workaholic, so women were never the biggest factor for him. Once in a while he would go on a date, a coworker wanting some sort of contact, but...there was nothing more to it. Mazz wasn't sure he really liked dating someone within the tight-knit community, it could end in trouble really, and he wasn't a big fan of trouble. It always seem to show up when you least expected it.

Teidra was probably lucky Mazz was paying attention to the pad, he didn't even notice her trying to remove her clothing at this point. Had he seen her, he probably would have objected and started turning around and covering his eyes. Fortunately for him, the pad distracted her. He nodded with a small smile. "Yes. Anything you want." He didn't really see her splurging, and it didn't matter too much. He had been working here on TRIM for many years, and put in a lot more overtime than they expected, so he earned the money in his savings account. He had a limit though, he wasn't going to buy her every article of clothing in the catalogue.

He sat there patiently near her, watching her as she went through it. She was...interesting. He'd never seen anything like her, probably wouldn't ever unless of course...she wanted to go to her home planet or something like that. He wasn't really sure if they ever would, but still, if he kept being forced to go on vacations and sabbaticals...well he might want to see what is out there. Before returning to work of course because...well that was his job and there were always things to look for. He needed to learn, needed to do it. It all had to be done, someone else would do it and they might make the biggest discovery of TRIM and it would be nice if he it were him. It would make it all worth while for him.

If only.

That was just a pipe dream though. The only thing he really did was test drugs and what not on unwilling people. But there was no telling what could happen with one of the many experiments. It was the thrill of it all that kept him here, knowing that he would probably change the world somehow with a discovery or a pharmaceutical.

However that wouldn't be any time soon, at least, not now that he had Teidra.

Mazz took the PDA from her, smiling as he flipped through it. He started to blush as he got to the underwear and just...skipped passed that as quick as possible. Yes, it was all fine! Very fine! He coughed uncomfortably as he hit the submit button and nodded, "Now it's all fine Teidra. Don't worry about it. They'll ah, they'll look good on you." And of course, in the repressed part of his mind, that part he buried for the most part, he knew the underwear would look good. Of course, that thought wasn't a very conscious thought, as it didn't really matter to him. "Hm? Alright." Mazz's face went burning red as he quickly looked down tot he pad and just stared at it. S-she was getting...changed right here! [/i]HERE[/i]. How could she...and...this is irk.

"A-ahh...ah...um. T-the hole? What in the...shorts?" He tried to think without looking up but he had to take a peak up at them and he coughed uncomfortably. She was naked. Here. Just. Naked. "N-no I don't have a tail...it um..." He blinked as he noted that she put them on backward and he just. He couldn't help but smile and shake his head, laughing quietly. "That...works perfectly Teidra. Eh heh heh heh."

Life was going to be really interesting with her living here. He would have to really...change his habits.


------


It had been a rather...interestin g month for that matter. Mazz had taken it upon himself to basically keep his work at home. He didn't really like treating Teidra as a pet, but she had grown to start accepting it. It had been awkward, as she was very loose and free in her way, he sometimes had to remind her about clothing and that sort of thing. He had given her the bedroom while he crashed on the couch...when he crashed of course. He only had to sleep every three days after all, so there was no real problem there.

He had to make sure there was food for her, and once in a while he joined her for dinner or lunch. Of course, he had to take her to the exercise area, which really wasn't that bad. He would get on one of the elliptical bicycles, and she could have free reign of things like the treadmill. She seemed to like those...more so because you could adjust the treadmill's angel. She seemed to enjoy running downhill. Mazz noted that a lot of people liked to watch her for that matter. Ugh. Men. And a few of the women which...was actually a little interesting for that matter. Still. He just...cycled away while she did her thing.

Mazz learned that he should be nice to her, and by that, he should be more...erm...physic al with her. She liked to be touched, she liked to be pet, scratched behind her ears and cuddled with. She loved human contact it seemed and...at first he was a little wary of it all, but it was just that she wanted to be near someone. He figured it was because of her animalistic nature, where they stayed in close groups; deer did, so why didn't deer people for that matter? It made sense to him and he started to accept it and well, enjoy it for that matter.

It was nice to have someone there that just wanted to be around you and what not.

This wasn't as bad as he thought it might be. TRIM didn't even really seem to care either.

Of course they did seem to be a stickler for one thing about him. That was the fact that he hadn't gone on a vacation in quite a while. That worried them as always, and so they sent him a nice little message that told him that his work was 'suspended' for the next few days and that he had to go on a vacation for a week and a half. As per usual, they were going to send him to the regular place. A planet with a resort spa, and a long beach with a sparkling clear ocean. It was almost like TRIM had created it, because there were no dangerous creatures in the water or in the forests. Small things were there, vibrant less dangerous things, birds.

Plus there was a guilty pleasure...it wasn't really the planet itself but...

They gave the person their own shuttle to travel with. Mazz couldn't lie. He loved to pilot them. It was just such a rush for that matter. He didn't really know why he liked it but it was just...fun. It was part scientific, making sure the engines, shields, harmonics and such were in working order, but at the same time, it was just that thrill.

Exiting from his room with a small suitcase, he saw Teidra on the couch with a bag at her foot. She was all ready then for her trip. He strolled over to her and attached around her neck the collar while he wore the bracelet. It was the best leash, as you couldn't get choked by it or anything like that. It was magnetic for that matter, and when you got out of reach, the strength would intensify and stop the person from being able to leave the radius. It didn't attract metal objects either, as it used specific frequencies for each bracelet and collar. He reached down and picked up her bag and smiled at her.

"Are you ready Teidra? We'll head to the main room, to a docking bay, and then we'll board a shuttle and we can leave for the planet."

It took a little while for them to get onboard the shuttle, but they were finally there, Mazz in the pilot's chair with Teidra on the chair beside him. They were moving on their way now, heading off the planet. This was going to be...this was going to be amazing for that matter. Already Mazz looked better as he held his hands on the wheel, a rather pleased look on his face. "You'll enjoy the beach Teidra. I'll take you scuba diving and you can see the coral reef...all the fish...we can go out for nature walks and...you don't have to wear the collar. In fact..." He reached over to her and removed the collar with a click, throwing it and the bracelet behind him somewhere. He didn't want to even think about her as a pet.

She was Teidra now, and she would be Teidra for the week and a half.

"I hope you packed everything...if you forgot your swimsuit, we can always get one at the resort. Though...we'll have to cut you a hole in the back for your tail...that should be no problem."