The Flaw

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN AI NO KUSABI OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS.


Chapter 4

The next couple of days at the harem went smoothly. Training was progressing well and Daryl and Katze were close to select the line-up for the show. They would only announce their selection a day or two in advance to keep motivation high and prevent rivalries. Even the more problematic pets had shown progress, except for one – Ephebus. The young pet kept being rebellious not taking their instructions seriously, teasing Daryl and undermining their authority. He was more careful with Katze probably realizing that he could be a more real danger to his amusing life than Daryl with his gentle disposition would be. Katze was not amused. He had to find a way to make Ephebus work and he would find it. Not only because he was proud and stubborn, but because the pet had an abundance of raw talent even with rather mediocre academy training the ex-furniture noticed the potential. He itched to have the opportunity to bring Ephebus to full bloom. He had had several discussions with Daryl about the pet and was resolved to take him aside for a conversation.
Since their days had been long and busy, Daryl had grudgingly agreed to delay the shopping spree. Katze had just ordered a couple of basic pants and shirts and other essentials to the apartment to hold him over until they had more time. He knew he had disappointed the younger man, but he was determined to make it up to him after the show and take him out. It would be a celebration of the hopefully successful show and an opportunity to thank him. Katze was grinning as a plan for an evening off formed in his mind. He was walking down the long white corridors towards the kitchen to pick up dinner for the pets. Daryl had yet to return from his furniture duties and was going to be rather late, since his master had decided to have company this evening. Entering the kitchen Katze noticed the change in mood right away. The chef still disliked him and made him feel it at every opportunity. The man’s face turned grim the moment Katze walked in and his relaxed pose was quickly replaced with something awkward and stiff.
“Good evening. Is dinner ready to be served?” Katze inquired pretending to overlook the stiff lipped visage of the older man.
“Yes, Mister Katze. Would you like to dish it out or shall I?” The over exaggerated friendliness was stressed with a tight lipped grin. The chef had not appreciated, how the ex-furniture checked each and every dish to make sure it was well prepared and made to specifications. Daryl had never done so. No, the younger man had certainly known his place. He was a good chef, one of the best available and yet mere furniture had criticized the spiciness of one of his dishes. He had been more than slightly put off and though prudence demanded he would be courteous, he was going to make sure that the other man knew how annoyed he was.
Katze just decided to ignore the sour mood that he attributed to his presence. “No, that’s alright. I would rather you plate it tonight.”
The casualness of his tone was painting a scowl on the chef’s face. Katze was pleased. He quickly went through his routine inspecting the different plates of food before he put the heating domes on. It looked like he would serve the food on his own tonight, which he quickly found much less entertaining than doing it in the company of the young furniture. After finishing his task, he decided it was time for his talk with Ephebus.
He moved down the hallway into the main exhibition hall for the harem. It was an opulent feast for the eye with long bands of sheer sky blue fabric draped around tall windows and lush, thick ivory coloured carpet. It was mainly used for private shows held by Raoul or for inspections. But Katze and Daryl had been using it for practice, encouraging the pets’ to use it in their free time as well. It was much smaller than the stage that their show would be at, only about 10 meters in diameter, but Katze and Daryl could walk around the pets during practice studying their moves from every angle and correcting errors.
He circled the huge padded stage that was at the centre of the room. Picking up a couple of the large multi-coloured pillows that had fallen off and putting them back in place, he quickly moved through the room to get to the pets’ quarters. He walked down the wide hall until he reached room 17 and knocked before he slowly entered. The sight slowly revealing itself as he opened the door surprised the ex-furniture. The young pet was curled up on his side on the bed, blue black hair in wild disarray around his head, his attention consumed by his datapad. Suckling on the side of his left hand he anxiously scrolled down the text with his right one following every line greedily. Katze went unnoticed until he cleared his throat loudly to get the boys attention. The pet jumped up startled with a low shriek, but immediately scrambled for composure. He pushed the pad under his blanket to hide it and sat up straight on the edge of the bed. Only then did he slowly raise his gaze to meet Katze. “What do you want?” He hissed trying to sound haughty and annoyed, but the ex-furniture was not fooled.
“I did not know you had an interest in reading?”
“Yeah, well. I don’t think you made your way to my room to discuss my literary choices!” Ephebus growled defensively.
“No, you are right that was not the reason, though it does surprise me that you picked up such a hobby.” Katze looked around the room for any indications of other unusual talents this pet had. The room was a blank canvas. More luscious than the servants’ quarters he was staying in, the bed was larger and the covers were a deep dark red. There was an abundance of pillows thrown about on it. There was no desk as there was in his room, but instead the larger room held a plush couch and loveseat. Nothing seemed different from all the other pet rooms, yet on the sofa table laid several data pads in a heap. Katze casually glided over towards them.
“May I sit down Ephebus?” He asked calmly.
“I guess if I can’t get rid of you. Why are you here anyway? This is my time off. We rehearsed today already and I didn’t ask for anything!” The young pet was calming down, but fighting it. He obviously wanted to be upset with the older man.
“I would like to talk to you about certain behaviours...” Katze went silent more for effect than to actually think about what he was going to say next. He took a seat on the couch opposite the bed, where the pet was still steaming and carefully flipped through the datapads in front of him. “Daryl and I concur in considering these behaviours unacceptable.” Suddenly his voice was hard as steel.
“Katze, spit it out. What behaviours? Don’t make this so dramatic! We both know, you can’t stand me and I admit I can be difficult!”
“That you can. I am glad we agree on something. Anyway, the behaviour I am referring to is your constant disregard of Daryl’s orders during training. We do not need your respect, but we need you pets to follow our instructions. You undermine our authority!” The ex-furniture looked sternly at the younger man trying to catch any immediate reaction. The one he saw baffled him. The pet started grinning, first it was just a small twist of the perfectly shaped red lips, but it turned wider and wider until it became barely suppressed chuckles. “What is so funny?” Katze’s cool was lost, his voice now angry, he had not expected such an open display of defiance.
“What authority are you talking about, Katze. Raoul bought me, not you. For that matter, Raoul owns you and Daryl, the same way he owns me. I don’t need to bow to anybody or listen to anyone as long as I please my master!” Ephebus began to cackle. Anger boiled in Katze’s veins just begging to let him hit the pet or maim him in some way. The former Black Market leader knew he was being goaded, but it did not matter. He had prided himself in always keeping his cool, yet right now that was forgotten.
As a respected or at least feared man in Midas and Ceres, he had witnessed the destruction of everything he had within days. In his last year as a free man, he had taken verbal and physical abuse despite his citizenship. He had paid for his freedom.
“You listen to me, Ephebus. I am not owned by Raoul. I earned my citizenship and at least Daryl doesn’t have to spread his legs to keep his job like you and your kind. He is not a pampered sissy looking in the mirror all day long developing delusions of grandeur. He will not become a cheap whore in some brothel once Raoul loses interest in him!” Katze’s voice trembled with anger. It took all of his control to keep it low, but he could not keep his emotions out of his voice. He slowly sat back into the couch and breathed deeply. He would not let this pet get the better of him. He had dealt with far worse.
Across from him, Ephebus had quieted down, clearly shaken by his outburst, though there was still a small smile on his face and glitter of triumph in his dark brown almost black eyes was unmistakable.
“Calm down, Katze. We wouldn’t want this to get out of hand,” his voice was even and low clashing with the tension between them, “I don’t know what your master… ooh, pardon me employer would think. All I want to get across to you is that you cannot intimidate me. I don’t need to like you or Daryl or respect you to do my job and that I will. You might think my brain is too small to realize the consequences of a bad performance. But I assure you, I did not get my brains fucked out. I am not a dumb pet and I will try to stay here as long as I can, because I happen to like it here.” A slight smile returned to Ephebus face and his eyes looked passed Katze. ”But do not mistake me for your average, dumb, obedient pet. Your tricks will not intimidate me and playing nice will not make me your friend.”
Now Katze was dumbfounded. He could not believe that a mere pet had played him and played him well. He had gone from overconfident fool over angry moron to amazed idiot in a matter of minutes. The smirk on the boys face told him that he knew. He looked at the opponent in front of him, his features still that of a child dallying with the first experiences of puberty - smart and perceptive certainly, but inexperienced, rebellious and impatient as people his age were.
“I am glad that I do not have to play games with you, Ephebus. I also realized from looking at your file, that you have been performing much better here than at the academy. You are right, I have no authority over you and as long as you perform well and Raoul is pleased, it doesn’t matter what Daryl and I say, but we want you and the others to perform well – our livelihood depends on that as much as yours. We do not ask much.” His calm and controlled voice regained, Katze smiled softly not wanting to seem patronizing, since that would only aggravate the teen.
“I know that. It is just; I do not react well to threats. I do not like them and I like my freedom.”
“We all do, but sadly we never had a choice as to how much freedom we were allowed. Let me tell you honestly. I have dealt with my share of pets in my life and I have seen many of them come and go. I saw were they were taken. I often had to take them there myself. You do not want to go there. If you do what we ask, you might not have to.” It made little sense to Katze to tell the pet the truth, that eventually he would be send to one of the horrific places he knew well regardless. There was no point in scaring him and it would only make obedience or compliance less likely.
His last statement seemed to really get through to Ephebus. The boy looked down defeated, slim shoulders hanging as if all the fight had left him. Katze knew he had achieved as much as he would today. The boy needed his rest and time to mull this conversation over. The capacities for introspective thought were rather limited in pets by design. Thoughts about the self and one’s future were rather undesired.
“Why don’t you just try to be less antagonistic around Daryl. That is all I am asking for. Listen to him, obey him and do not tease him as much as you have. I don’t know why you pick on him as much anyway!” Katze slowly got up and moved past the bed to the door, patting the boy’s glossy curls in passing.