Seventeen

He watched over the sleeping form of his Pet as the other lay there beside him, thoroughly exhausted and asleep, having emptied himself many times over earlier...

Iason was surprised at how Riki had behaved in bed tonight, as if possessed by a sex craving so strong his own desires and hunger mirrored his lover's, begging the Blondie in such a lovely way to do him harder, deeper, letting the Master fuck him as possessively as he wanted, even allowing himself to be tied down in a little play of bondage, the Pet ring left to sing between his groins to further his starvation.

In the end, this brought out a hidden demon within his Master, Iason delivering on his word that he would cure the other's lonesomeness with his mind-numbing presence and caresses, giving Riki a run for his money. Yet somehow, it also felt the other way around, the Pet ostensibly testing his new-found endurance for these things with none other than the fiercest and most devoted lover Tanagura has to offer.

"More!" he had cried out, even as the Blondie had already battered inside him unceasingly, turning all his thoughts into a persistent red of passion, wanting to be filled, as if the reasons for his being could only be restored when he had tumbled from the very peaks of pleasure that way. And tumble he did...from such a deadening height...held tightly by this beauteous god, the Man's hand squeezing at him until the very last drop. Then doing it all over again.

Iason did not recall how many times they had done it, but he could remember the way Riki moved and trembled every time, the way that flesh quivered in his grip, the way the Pet had screamed his name out loud: "Iason! Iason! Ia...son!" as he climaxed, and even before that as he had impaled himself over and over onto the Blondie's own machine, the length piercing him effortlessly as the other received the opened orifice with his own thrust upward.

Only after countless unions had they parted, though after the Blondie had pulled out, Riki had stayed melded in his embrace, dozing off immediately into sleep, drenched with sweat, cum and covering marks once again left on his skin by the insatiable Master who was joined tonight by his rather equally insatiable Pet…

As the moons gave way to the blinding light of day, Iason stayed looking at the face of his beloved slumbering in his arms, indulged to an excess, glad that at least the other was granted this peace.

"Good night," whispered the Master tenderly, kissing his Pet's hair lovingly then waiting as Riki stirred to once again settle into the folds of dreams…

--

Two months had already passed since Riki had awakened, Iason quick to return to the life he left off as a Tanagura Blondie although his was now an even heavier burden to bear. His Pet had been having troubles however, though the Master was relieved that he was back to being a little more of his own self the last few days, nonetheless, with some changes of note.

Riki had taken to some unusual interests lately, including studying it appeared, often in conversations with Katron about how things functioned in the Palace, peeking into the security framework every now and then, or asking how he may alter this or that in the controlled environment of their home. Sometimes, he would pause, only to awake from the brief intermission to tell the Furniture a node in the house was broken somewhere.

Katron had been patient and indulgent, surprised even that Riki could spot the subtle quandaries in the Palace before they became malignant. Although the Pet found a faster way by interfacing directly and using his will, often unconsciously, to fix the troubles in an instant. There were times when he lapsed off while having sex, taking Iason with him, the two seemingly leaving their gyrating bodies to trance through some part of the System.

His Pet did not fear this whenever it had happened with Iason, on the contrary, it was almost close to an acceptance of the change, though apparently there were always those moments when Riki hurt because of it, as a human would hurt, becoming the lonely soul he'd already been and getting affected once more.

One such instance was during that day, the day when the amended Pet Laws were to be announced to the general public, Iason waking up to a missing Riki who would have otherwise stayed just right there beside him. Roaming about, he spotted the Pet on one of his favourite seats, on one of the chairs surrounding a marble table, on the plateau overhanging the grand waterfall feature of the Palace's inner gardens. The Ocean was visible beyond the clean glass of the dome. His beloved seemed to have fallen asleep.

"Riki, are you awake?" he asked.

There was no response. Leaning in, he could see quiet tears streaming down his Pet's face, immediately making the Blondie worry.

"Riki..."

To his surprise, the Pet jumped into his arms, hands reaching to clasp the fabric of the thin robe he had put on in a hurry, trembling, instantly burying his face against his Master's shoulder.

"Tell me you love me…tell me you won't leave me…" Riki's pained voice broke through.

"Why are you so worried?"

The Blondie peered at him with his blue eyes, a reflection of skies and the light depth of the waters beyond them outside.

"I feel like I'm dying inside Iason. I'm dying!"

And Iason could only passionately kiss his Pet, a way to once more ease the utter fear and sadness Riki felt inside...

He reached his gloved hand to his lips at the recollection. He could still feel his beloved pressed there, the memories of these short moments an imprint to his very core, but concerned, yes, that he might be losing Riki to a different malady this time.

--

The day started in nearly the same way, but as Iason came through the doors of his penthouse office, he was greeted by a stack of envelopes, and Raoul standing with a hand balanced on his hip, already in his robes for the Council Meeting later, just waiting for his best friend.

"What's all this?" Neu-Jupiter eyed the luxurious letters, some made from exquisite papers of amazing shades. A few rare ones in velvety texture. He seemed to have had an idea even before the other Blondie replied, "Invitations, to pet Soirees and some."

Although now the most influential and most powerful of all elites, Iason Mink had been rarely visible in public, difficult to come by even in the Markets, choosing to be aloof, deciding to be discreet on all possible opportunities. Likewise his Pet, Riki, despite becoming a stunning presence himself and now the butt of every other master's curiosity and still the subject of every other pet's scorn, was also scarcely, if never, seen outside at all.

Neu-Jupiter sighed in exasperation. "I do not want to carry Riki into these trivial gatherings," he declared. "An Exclusive's body will not be spoilt for such a purpose."

Of all his brethren, Raoul should understand. The other Blondie also shunned the spotlight of these affairs had he not, preferring his laboratories and calculations over them? Although there were other reasons for Iason altogether.

Even if the invitations become as a flood that would clutter his table, begging for their attendance to these common and customary parties, Iason will continue to refuse them all. Riki has not fully recovered as he had wanted him to. The Blondie would sooner bring him to Ceres if he asked it, rather than carry him to these contrivances that he so hated ever since, if only that meant he wakes up from the current sorrows he was weighing himself down with.

This none in the Council knew about else Iason would not have heard the end of it. Luckily enough the System was not showing any outward signs. Or was it that he as Neu-Jupiter had reigned over more of their layered domains to quiet what the Pet's control would have openly displayed as broken?

"Of course," Raoul meanwhile was rather quick to agree, which made the top Blondie suspicious. The other had waited until he had seated. "I will have Orphe or Aisha deal with these so that you need not bother yourself with them.

"However…"

Ah, here is the clincher - as always. Iason knew his best friend well enough to be aware that he'd argue on every chance on any possible topic most especially if it was about what their roles as Blondies were. "However, you need to realize that your attendance every once in a while can help boost the trade as well as the ardor of the unforgiving masses."

The statement made Iason smile. "You're not going to give this issue a rest are you?" he asked the other.

"Because it's a truth you're neglecting. And what would you have to be apprehensive about?"

Iason recalled a similar argument years ago, when the latter had resorted to threatening to alter his thinking if he did not cease with the obsession over his mongrel Pet. Somehow, the current discussions they've been having were a bit tolerable now than how they had been. Though Raoul was still heavily persistent, and may not stop until he gave him a final negation which the latter wouldn't certainly accept in this case.

He could say 'yes' to it, very easily, but then he also wanted to consider how Riki would feel at this point. The Pet was not amiable to these events. Raoul appeared to have read that in his friend's expression.

"It's not similar to what it had been before, Iason," Raoul continued. He emphasized, "Riki is no longer forced to do anything - you can just keep him beside you. The Exclusive, after all, is exclusive."

Those words made for Iason a vivid picture of how life was to be for them both: forever spent one close to the other, which wasn't entirely terrible. The superior Blondie looked at his friend again, wondering that if there be anyone who would be able to persuade him to commit to anything, it was Raoul.

Neu-Jupiter took things into some manner of consideration, eyeing the pile in front of him. He bet there would be several others and even more than that to come in the near future. After all, if there had been masters before who had been interested in his and Riki's affairs when the latter was but a mere mongrel Pet, certainly they are quite interested in them now as Neu-Jupiter and his Exclusive.

Iason sighed once more, resting on his chair, a hand drumming on the table. He was thinking about what Riki could be doing at this very moment. Was he still moping...or had he sought the company of his nurse? As he could imagine his Pet walking with him into these Soirees, more or less free and unchained, the Exclusivity his greatest ornament.

"All right," Iason gave his approval after some quiet minutes. "But only one event this month. Have Orphe make the selection." He waved a dismissive hand, seeing Raoul smile triumphantly before making a small bowing gesture, "Of course. Only the best…

"...for Neu-jupiter."

--

It was again late into the hour when the other Master of the house had arrived, immediately tended to by the Furniture. They were already making a quaint routine out of all this, and Katze would be proud to hear it, but Iason took it as a sign that things were yet incorrect. For Riki not to have qualms about it, for living in seclusion, and for not seeking the thrills he had enjoyed in the past...the behaviour was simply disturbing, prompting Iason to ask if the mongrel in his Pet had finally been diminished completely?

The Blondie narrowed his eyes. Though he had aimed to further polish this breathtaking being to be the diamond he was now, it felt all wrong. Somehow, in every day he had hoped for Riki to just be Riki. He wanted him to fight, to struggle, to curse him if it must be. Because Iason knew in that the other would be happier. And nothing was more important than his happiness.

"Home with me but your mind wanders. Have I lost you?" he asked, finding Riki perched on the railing of one of the many balconies in the larger Palace.

He had been looking down upon the city of Tanagura this time, its glinting lights casting a near-eerie glow on his features, hair tousled by the occasional whisper of the wind.

"Not exactly," Riki smiled for the first time this week, which was utterly beautiful that it took the Master's breath away. "I just...I had a dream while you were out."

"Oh?"

The Blondie moved to kiss him and he let it, allowing his Master to settle standing between his parted legs, hands ghosting over his back and lower, heat penetrating from skin to skin even with a boundary of gloves and clothing in between. Riki had been encasing himself in darkness again, not only in the manner of the shirts and jeans that he wore, but in mind and perhaps heart.

Iason understood this now for some reason, perhaps even more than he used to. It seemed the Pet was not the only one who's changed. They both did.

"Care to tell me about it?" the Blondie's fingers slithered, curling over his Pet's covered organ and squeezing, immediately rendering Riki helpless and needing. Goodness…when will this stop feeling so cursedly good?

The Pet swallowed, breathing heavily, holding on as his lover pressed closer, turning into the only anchor that kept him from falling over. Their kind of love had always been a dangerous one. But it was also the same that could save them.

"A year of peace married to you and far from here…we were so happy," Riki told him. "...but then I woke up, and realized I'd been thrown back here."

He arched, the hand caressing him outside making it in, gently easing his shuddering length free of its confines, the sudden cool of the night causing an unusual sensation. It would be another night of mindless ecstasy. Riki had long ago accepted it to be his saving grace.

"Is that so horrible?" he met his Pet's gaze, now glazed with lust and wanton hunger. Iason began to slowly stroke, to pump Riki's cock in preparation for some later delights. "We have each other. As we will always do…"

He stopped short of the head and teased the slit, pressing for the tiny evidences of his Exclusive's desires, the stickiness a damp his fingers beneath the gloves could feel. Riki cried out. The Blondie's other hand had likewise broken through the band of his jeans and was now feeling for his opening, surgically finding it and worming his finger in slowly, nearly making his Pet jump.

"Would it be so bad to belong to me now?" and Iason gave him his first marking bite of the day, licking the reddening skin when he'd left it.

Blankly, Riki had thought of the matter. "I…" he panted, opening his eyes. He was now looking up at the endless stars, having thrown his head back at these addictive motions, opening his body to all feeling for the first time today.

"I guess not…" he whispered, before letting his senses be drowned by his Master's storm.