By Necessity: Duress
By TerraMGP
A lone lump of grey fur hunched in the bright red and white booth overlooking the university commons. The young woman huddled with the heels of her boots pressing against the edge of the booth. Her body covered by a familiar blue-grey military jacket that she had turned backwards to wrap around her body like a blanket.
Outside everything went on as it always had. Young men and women darting to and from tunnels and lifts as they raced towards their next classes. Patch-furred corpsec guards wearing campus security patches trying desperately to talk up some exotic looking Vaga girl who made little attempt to hide her utter disgust. A few levels up the long maglev tram pulled into the station ready to whisk a new batch of students and faculty to and from their various station wide destinations.
Brinna looked down at the table before her. A massive plate of cheese fries that had been idly half eaten, an utterly untouched burger still holding just enough of its heat to remain on the proper side of appetizing and a half dozen fluted milkshake glasses resting empty and thoroughly cleaned out along with a nearly empty to go bottle of water.
A small HUD window popped up in her view. The dormouse looked over the small set of listed goods before finally tapping the random button and retreating back to her cascade of audio and visual stimulation. Her hand snaking into the long baggy jacket sleeve every now and then to snag another fry.
It was an odd sensation. A return to her old sensory fortress. The lack of people in the building helped quite a bit. Brinna able to melt away into distraction. Even still the world felt far more raw, and terrifying. Her eyes darted up from the solid-white plastic of her table to trace over nearly a dozen other patrons scattered about the eye stingingly bright reds and whites of the restaurant. None of them were harmful, naturally. None dangerous. At least from a rational standpoint Yet every time Bri closed her eyes she was almost sure she could feel them. Their presence. Each one seemingly surrounded by a bubble which pushed down heavily upon her and shook her very core with discomfort. It was an irrational sensation. An imagined sensation. Some twisted little trick her mind had played on her since before she could remember.
And knowing that fact did absolutely nothing to ease the discomfort
The sensation only grew worse as the waitress rolled up with yet another milkshake. It wasn’t anything wrong with the smiling yet obviously worn out feline. Just like there was likely nothing wrong with the other customers. Or the cook working the printer. Nothing wrong at all, save that they were there.
The waitress said something or other that Bri didn’t quite catch. The dormouse gave her server the most polite noncommittal gesture she could and then waited for the woman to leave before yanking the milkshake in close and taking a deep pull on the straw.
Chocolate cranberry toffee. Not the worst pick she could have gotten.
She’d just about gotten herself back into the deep pocket of sensory overload once more. Flipping between songs and shows and simplistic games with an anxious infrequency. Before long she was on the cusp of slipping out of the world entirely. A few more nibbled fries, a few sips of her drink, even a first bite of her cooling burger all done on reflex. It was comfortable. It was safe, or as safe as she could feel out here in the world. A safety which shattered when a hand came to rest on her shoulder.
A scream of shock greeted Bri when she fumbled her headphones off of her ears. Suddenly and with little warning Brinna found herself on one side half curled into the booth with her arm propping up the rest of her body, now tangled up in the coat.
“Jesus, Bri. Calm down. It’s just me.” A squirrel boy in a beret looked down at Kanina. His silver-tipped tailfur bristled in shock from her reaction
“Oh, I, uh… hey Gar. Sorry.” The mouse muttered the words though trembling lips and pulled herself back up to sitting. Her eyes fixed on the squirrel even as she twisted and tugged at her coat to get it comfortable once more. She watched the young man fiddle around in his pocket while trying to shake off his own shock and surprise.
Hey, I know people give you a lot of slag, but I wanted to say that it’s good to see you back, Bri. You kinda had us all worried there.”
“I did?” Brinna blinked “I mean, I don’t know why. The teacher said I wasn’t going to be in for a while, right?”
“yeah, but you don’t usually see a student up and duck out for half a semester, even if you see a package with her name on it pop in with the other assignments now and then It’s kind of freaky, yah know?”
Brinna shook her head solemnly “I can’t say I do, really. Sorry.”
“Well I mean there’s no reason to be sorry. Granted a lot of the other students started talking. Tons of rumors. But I think most of them were still at least fairly glad you weren’t hurt or something. It’s pretty scary to think about something happening to one of us, you know. Just a reminder that bad things can happen to anyone.”
Brinna fell silent and nodded. She yanked her milkshake closer to take a deep pull on it once more. Garret reached his paw over without so much as a simple request and snagged a few fries, In one smooth motion he slipped the little printed planks into the residue from one of the finished shakes and took a heady bite chawing happily while looking down at Bri.
“Needs paprika sauce. And maybe an Aether to wash it down. Not bad though.”
Bri did her best to hide her growing revulsion. Gar resumed fumbling in his jacket pockets and she stopped herself just short of questioning the behavior. Nice as he was being she had no interest in prolonging the interaction.
Fortunately she didn’t have to After another minute or so of searching Gar finally produced a thin black plastic box from his pocket and set it down before her. “here ya go. You left this at the fabric printer. You took off before I could give it to you. I was going to rush it out to you, but I still had to wait for my quartz to properly form.”
“Thank you.” Bri said softly snatching the box up and shoving it into one of her inner coat pockets. “T-though how did you know I would be here?”
A few of the others sent me a message on their way out. I figured I still had time. And if not I’d just run the thing back in and you could grab it tomorrow.”
“Makes sense.” She nodded.
“So, uh do you mind if I…” Gar winced watching Bri pull one of the headphones into her ear and looking back down at her food. It was the closest to rude that the girl ever really managed. Still it was enough for the boy to take a half step back. Eyes shifting slightly while Bri whimpered apologetically.
“Hey there.” A rather gruff bunny voice chirped up from behind the boy. “Everything ok here, Bri?”
Brinna nodded and glanced up at Kanina. She wore a pair of cutoff shorts, a mesh top and a slightly-too-small sports bra under it. Something far less suited to the running Kani had always focused on though typical enough when the pair were in school.
The bunny didn’t say a word. Instead slipping in to the booth by Bri and waving her hand to place her own order. She reached over to pat Bri on the head and smirked softly. “Been wondering where you went off to. Hey, thanks for keeping her company kid.
Gar stood flabbergasted. Kanina’s presence strong enough to drive him a step back before a word was even spoken. “Y-yeah, sure.” He nodded “Look, Bri. I’ll see you in class. Ok?” He muttered.
“Y-yeah. Sorry. Thank you.” She muttered. The poor dormouse apologetic to the point of tears.
Gar simply nodded and walked off, nether he nor Kanina noticing Bri slipping the box deep into one of the old pockets that had once been used for simple armor plates to be inserted in the jacket.
“Nice kid. Can’t read signs to save his facking life. But nice. He didn’t do nuthin to hurt you, did he Bri?”
Brinna shook her head and pushed the burger a bit closer to Kani. She watched the bunny pick it up, sniff it a bit, then set it back down and use a knife to cut it right down the middle, taking half and mowing on it hard.
“Y-you can have the rest, too.” Bri chimed up.
“Nah, I’m ok Squeak. I nabbed a bit of a snack while you were in class. I don’t know if it’s the garbage the old man put in me or the junk Sean loaded me up with but I’ve been really really hungry lately. I think I’m still getting used to the power drain.”
“Sorry.” Bri muttered again. Both girls fell quiet after that. Kani largely from devouring her meal. Bri simply slipping the headphones on and setting the selective sound filter for Kanina’s voice. A small smile finally crossed her muzzle after the first five minutes of Kani being there. Her eyes fixed firmly on the bunny girl as Kani finished the burger half and a handful of fries. The squee from Kanina was almost overwhelming when the waitress rolled back up on her ball skates and set down a nice big honey jalapeño milkshake.
“So squeak, clue me in.” Kani muttered between heavy sips on her shake “Why didn’t you call me to grab you when you got done? I mean if you’re that hungry you know I’m always up to chow down.”
“I guess I just wanted to eat.” Bri muttered.
“Phh. Come on, you know that weak sauce won’t work. Don’t give me Slag, Bri. I know you way too well. What’s up?”
“Promise you won’t be mad?” Brinna asked.
Kanina pointed to the plain black collar around her neck and rolled her eyes “Mad? I mean, after this?” She teased, nudging Brinna “Come on now. What the hell could you do to make me upset, huh?”
Brinna took a deep, sucking breath and let it out slowly. Her cheeks going pink as she curled harder under the jacket. “I, well… You really really gotta promise not to get mad, ok? It’s really stupid, and silly, and dumb.”
“Oh you say that about everything.” Kani muttered “out with it. What’s up?”
“I wanted… I wanted to see if I could do it.” Brinna finally mumbled. “I wanted to see if I could spend some time out here. Just on my own. Like, without getting too bad.
Kanina stopped chewing and gazed at the mouse for a long moment. Mouth full of fries and glasses slipping down her nose tip. She leaned in slightly and poked Brinna’s nose tip firmly. “You doing ok there, Bri? You didn’t hit your head or something, did ya?”
“What? No.” Brinna shook her head.
“Well then why would you go and do a silly thing like that? Come on now. You literally just came back to school, or work, or whatever this is, today. We even rode the tram here. This is by far the most people exposure you’ve had in weeks”
“it’s not enough.” This time Brinna’s voice was stronger. A firm, resolute tone pulling itself a few octaves above a whisper. “It’s bad enough you’re stuck following me around. I should at least be able to go out like normal people. Otherwise we’ll both just end up trapped in the apartment all day and get shuttled off to Masters suites now and then. I can’t put you though that, Kani.”
“Bri.” Kanina sighed, curling her arm around Brinna and nuzzling into her head just behind her ear. “Will you stop bein’ so dumb? You’ve been though a lot You already got your ass out of the house and went in to class. It’d be one thing if you were still sitting there a year later, but you’re putting in an effort. Nobody says you have to go full throttle right away. Hell even before all of this, how many times did I have to snag you from the wrong tram stop or lift because you got turned around?”
Y-yeah, but I mean that’s not fair. It’s not like you can babysit me my whole lie.”
“First of all, since when. Second of all, that’s kind of my job, now. At least that’s what this thing around my neck says.” She smirked pointing to the collar. “And third, Hanging with you is like, the best time of my day every day. You really think I’m going to bitch about grabbing a burger and shake with my best friend? And I get paid for it. Well ok, not paid. More a free chrome upgrade and all the food I want but that’s mostly what I’d spend the jink on anyways. So please, for the love of every god you pray to, just relax and stop worrying so much about me.”
“Y-you mean it?” Bri whimpered. A small flick of her ear by Kanina given in reply.
“Now stop being silly and eat your burger. You already proved any point you were going to prove. We both know the evening rails are going to be packed with crazies and pervs, and I’d rather not break any arms today.”
With that the two friends settled back and began to work though what remained of the food. Brinna allowing herself to slip her head on to Kanina’s shoulder. Just letting her mind wander
--------------------
“Surprise!” Sean bellowed happily.
“M-master, seriously, what?” Brinna whimpered.
“Yeah, uh, what the hell, man? This isn’t exactly how I thought this would go.”
“You’re in a collar, leash, and maid outfit.” Sean smirked ‘how exactly did you think this could go?”
“I donno.” Kani muttered “Maybe in a direction that makes one Woz-damned angstrom of sense?”
Sean reached down and gripped Brinna’s hand to the end of the leash, smirking proudly. “oh come on, girls. This makes all the sense in the world. Kani, because of our little… arrangement, you are mine. Correct?”
“Yeah…” she nodded
“yeah what?” Sean chuckled gleefully.
“yes, Master.” Kani spat.
“Right.” Sean murred. “And my poor little Brinna here, well, it’s very clear she needs someone to help her To care for her. To make sure she’s safe. Namely, she needs a Handmaiden.”
“A handmaiden?” Kani wrinkled her nose “The slag even is that?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. A handmaiden sticks by her owner as much as possible. Tends to her needs. Advises her when things might get a bit confusing. Offers comfort, companionship. And if someone might pose a threat, it wouldn’t hurt to have a handmaiden who, let’s say, had a bit of skill in defusing such dicey situations.”
“Um, Master? I don’t know that Kani would really want to do any of that. I mean, she’s my friend. Wouldn’t it be kind of weird to-”
“Oh, my little gem, it’ll be fine. And if not, we will simply find a different arrangement. In the meantime I see nothing wrong with providing you with some comfort, and perhaps a bit of protection. Besides, cute as that little bunny rump is, I doubt I’d have the time to do much with it in the short term.”
The blush on Kani’s cheeks grew a shade darker as she drew a slicing motion over the general area of where most people had their jack put in. A common insult in her circles. One that Sean either didn’t know of or chose to ignore.
The bear was sadly undeterred as he cast his eyes on Kani and licked his lips in an over exaggerated manner.
“You know it might help if I at least knew more about this ‘arrangement’ you two have before I said yes.” Brinna muttered “This is all starting to feel super awkward.”
“That, my dearest, is not my place to say. I think it’s best left up to Kanina here. Though I do ask that you not push her too hard on it.. Still.” Sean crouched down and gripped Bri by the chin, looking deep into her eyes and snarling softly. That small predatory snap that sent her knees to jelly and melted her spine. “I never said this was a request, now did I? She is yours, if that is to change later, we will discuss it then.”
Any further protest was quickly stifled by a hard kiss. His muzzle pressing up against hers and conquering her soft pink tongue. Slowly pressing it this way and that before pulling back and kissing her on the forehead. “Am I understood, girl?”
“Y-yes Master.” Brinna muttered. It took all she had not to fall to her knees on the spot. One ear lopping down far more than the other while she teetered side to side. Heart thumping like a drum.
“I suppose I don’t have a choice in this either, sir?” Kani muttered. She did her best to keep the sarcasm in her voice at a manageable level, and failed.
“Not at all.” Sean laughed. He slowly moved the bulk of his body around to one of the comfortable chairs resting by the fire. Flopping down into it and gesturing to the other. “Now then, Bri. Why don’t you and your new Handmaiden get comfortable. We have quite a bit of ground to cover, so we may as well get started.”
--------------------
It was hard to tell just what was different between the two of them. There had been a thousand trips like this in the past. Bri curled up in her coat as she washed out the sounds of countless worker drones and entitled Class 2 brats looking basically the same as she had when they were twelve. The bunny stood beside her, hand on the upper grip bar, providing a membrane between the dormouse and the world beyond, just as she always had.
Kani cast her gaze around the car. Small HUD indicators sparking to life and flashing out various threat assessments and warnings. Her first rudimentary jab at putting all the shiny new chrome in her to use. In a way that was absolutely new. The normally relaxed buy tensed and primed as she looked over every passenger for some sign of a threat. Playing up the whole role. ‘Handmaiden’. Bodyguard. Whatever it was supposed to be. That certainly seemed quite a bit different from their usual dynamic.
Then again, was it? She’d been doing this since the two first met, almost. The weak girl always needed someone to protect her. Really outside of the new tech and the increased reason to worry, what was the difference?
The question nagged at her. Because there was something different. She simply couldn’t put her finger on it. Shifting and twisting just under the surface. Stirring up emotions she simply couldn’t identify. She watched Bri yawn loudly and curl herself up into a ball on the seat just as the next stop chime blared.
That was the real problem. It was all so much the same. Despite everything. Despite all of the changes. It was all just the exact same. Everything the same as it had always been. Exactly the same. Except for one thing. One thing that finally clicked into her head. Looking down, transfixed. There was one very big, very clear difference. Last night.
--------------------
“You sure you don’t want to come over tonight?” Kanina chuckled. It was probably a silly question. Brinna was clearly wiped out from the looks of it. The classic trembles of acute over stimulation stating to set in after a very long and confusing day.
“Maybe, in a bit. I think I need to lay down first. Watch my shows. Just kinda… something. I don’t know.”
“As you wish, Mistress.” Kanina chuckled happily “You know you’re more than free too me over and see your property any time you wish.”
“W-will you stop it.” Brinna whined. “It still feels weird. Like, super weird. Like… I don’t know. It just feels”
“Weird. I know Yeah. The big bad bear said, though. So if you wanna obey him I guess you gotta get used to it.” Kanina punctuated this by sticking her tongue out and tussing Brinna’s hair.
Bri quickly batted the hand away and shook her head “you know, I still don’t get it. Why did you agree to this? Sure I find the idea romantic. Collars, the exchange of power, the intimacy. B-but whatever Master has to keep you around It’s gotta be something temporary, right? This all seems really kind of extreme. It’s just not like you.”
“Oh it’s not like I haven’t been though basically this stuff before. And now that you’re my Mistress I can give you all the nice, juicy details of what Mom and I did to earn our way up to class 3 status. You know considering all the training and experience I got as a lil rabbit kit, I’d say you guys got a real bargain.”
“S-stop it.” Brinna whined. “I’m being serious. Kani, I don’t want you to end up trapped and miserable. Whatever it is that Master is helping you with, or you’re doing for him, or whatever… I can talk to him. You don’t have to wear his collar.”
“oh, but it’s not his now is it? It’s yours.” Kanina giggled again, though it was far more awkward and stilted than was usual for her. A small blush creeping over her cheeks. “Well, you know if you want to come over, you’re free to. I’ll probably be up all night. I think ‘Master’ put a sleep regulator in with some of the other stuff and I’m still trying to figure out how to get it set properly. And don’t worry, I was just teasing about having mom show off all the old Holos people made of us way back when I mean, yeah, she and I did… stuff. But I’m just teasing. You know that.”
Brinna didn’t say anything. She watched Kanina as she glanced slowly from one side of the floor to the other. Scratching the back of her head and trying not to let that nervous little laugh though. Thousands of wheels turned and twisted in the dormouses’ mind. Her eyes transfixed on her friend, for the first time ever, rambling and struggling to keep the silence at bay.
And then it clicked. All at once. The two were suddenly locked at the lips Brinna gripping her best friend firmly by both hands, The kiss at once deep and passionate, yet chaste and innocent. Sudden enough to leave Kanina stunned still and utterly confused.
Then, just as quickly as it hit, the mouse pulled back A long string of saliva dangling from her tongue where she’d rolled it around over Kani’s Hot, heavy breath breaking over the purple fur of the bunny while Brinna clutched Kani’s trembling paws in her own,
“I… I think I… I think I Like-like you too.” She blurted out. Brinna barely able to get the words out as her head swam. Before Kani could respond Brinna had let go and darted quickly into her apartment, leaving Kani there to try and process what had just happened.
--------------------
“What do you mean ‘makeover’?” Brinna whined. The duo paced slowly down the familiar old hallways of their hab block. Long rows of identical doorways on either side of the narrow hall melting away the clinging apprehension that gripped Brinna out in more refined and upscale parts of the station.
Kanina smirked ear to ear and practically skipped along. Careful to match the pace of Bri’s dragging shuffling.
“Oh come on, Squeak. I know your usual handles on the grid. I’ve seen stories you’ve favorited. The whole forced makeover thing is like, number eight on your list.”
“My list?” She swallowed hard and shook her head “So what, now there’s a list? I kinda think I should be informed if there’s some kind of list involving me.”
“remind me. I’ll send it to you later.” Kani chuckled “you really don’t want to know what number three is. Though I bet Chepi might.”
Brinna blushed furiously at that slugged Kani in the arm as hard as she could. The blow barely seemed to register until a few seconds later when Kani let out an exaggerated yelp and cartoonishly rubbed at her shoulder.
“You’re a mean Mistress, you know that, Bri?” Kani pouted.
‘Not funny.” Bri whimpered back “You know this is really confusing for me, too. I don’t even know how we got to this point. One day you just show up with a collar on and tell me Master is bailing you out of something. He keeps hush hush about the whole situation. He just keeps assuring me he won’t lie and that it’s not his place to say. A-and you know that my therapist said all those lie of omission things are still dishonesty. And I should call him on it.”
“Oh Woz. Breath, Bri Breath No burning your brain out on one of your tangents.”
“I’m not.” Bri snapped. “I just, wish I knew what was going on.”
The smile faded from Kanina’s face. She paused, leaning into the small space between two doors and looking at her friend. The air around them suddenly growing solemn and still “Bri, Sean’s not trying to do anything to hurt you. None of us want to hurt you. I really don’t want you to worry. I don’t. and that’s why we’ve been putting off telling you everything.”
W-well, well if it’s part of why you’re my ‘handmaiden’ or whatever, you don’t have to. I mean whatever it is, I’m not going to make you stick around me like that just because of whatever happened B-but I do want to know. I think I… I think I deserve to know.”
It wasn’t what Kanina wanted to hear. She could felt her heart sinking into her stomach with those words. She locked eyes with Brinna, the typical streaming data effects from her augmented irises quickly grinding to a halt returning the to the relatively normal red. “Kani, I… That gang that took you. I was the one who alerted Sean.” She bit her lip as she said it. Those bucked bunny teeth almost drawing blood. “I didn’t know about it until it went down. But I knew, I knew some of the guys who carried it out. Not the ones who took you. But enough. I couldn’t save you myself I knew I couldn’t. So I told Sean, and then I, I went to stop the other people.”
A pause hung in the air. Brinna trembled slightly as she looked at Kanina slack jawed. The bunny could see her friends mind racing and grinding in some attempt to put the concepts together. Kani shrank back against the wall, bracing for a backlash.
“you… took them on?” Brinna whimpered.
“Y-yeah?” It wasn’t the first question Kanina expected Truthfully she didn’t know what to expect.
“A gang. The gang who kidnapped me, you took them on? W-what are you, Crazy?! Kanina, why did you do that?” Before Either of the knew it Brinna was on top of her The timid dormouse leaning in to her friends face eyes burning. Hands balled into strained fists and her arms rigid as steel beams beside her. “What on earth were you thinking? It was a gang! A gang with guns! They could have hurt you. They could have killed you! Even if you knew them, how do you know they didn’t have help? What would I have done if they’d Facking killed you?”
Those balled up fists hammered on Kani’s chest a few times, before the mouse finally wrapped her arms around her best friend. Tears streaming down Bri’s cheeks as she hugged as hard and as tight as she could. “Stupid. That was so, so stupid. Did they hurt you? Was that why you were gone after that? Kani, promise me you won’t do that again.”
“Bri, I-”
“Promise me!” Kanina pulled one arm free and put it around the mouse. Her chest heaving hard as he bit back tears. “Bri, you know I can’t do that.” she sighed. “Not just because of this stupid slavery, collar, handmaiden bullshit. I… I’m not going to lose you. I’m just not. If people fack with you I’m going to do everything I can to end them. That’s just a fact. I don’t care how much danger it puts me in. I’m not going to lose you.”
“I’m not going to lose you either.” the word came out in a half snarl, half sob. “A-and You.. If you’re not going to stay safe when stuff like this happens, then, then you’re going to come back to me. You’re going to promise to come back to me. I.. I ‘order’ you to come back to me! No matter what.” The words finished in another hard sob. A sloppy wet crying fit that eased only as Kanina started to stroke Brinna’s hair.
“As you wish, Miss.” Kani sighed softly. It was a promise she knew she couldn’t be sure to keep. An order she knew she may not be able to obey. But she could try, if only for Brinna’s sake.
Eventually the mouse pulled herself free and wiped her nose on her jacket sleeve. She looked back at Kani with skewed glasses and coughed until she could breath properly once more. After yet another long pause Brinna reached into her coat and pulled out the small black box, pressing it into Kanina’s hands. “I-… I’ll see you tomorrow.” She sighed. The mouse putting a small, tender kiss on Kani’s cheek before making her way to her apartment and slipping inside.
The whole thing perplexed the poor bunny as she shifted and dug her shoes into the shallow carpet. She slowly traced her thumb over the box until it found the latch, pulling it open to reveal a strip of slate grey true leather. Thick steel-colored stitches running along the top and bottom with heavy, intricate patterns more carefully etched between the stitching. At the throat a heavy D ring sat at the center, lined with evenly paced steel spikes. Kanina reached down to trace her finger along one of them. Each one having a small bit of carefully cut amethyst placed at the base, looking as if it grew from the metal base and transitioned to the spike proper. The inside was a lighter grey and felt velvety to the touch. Slowly rolling it between thumb and forefinger to feel how it would rest on her fur.
She gazed longingly at the item a moment Reaching into her pocket and pulling out the small box for the dice charm she’d been given before. Kani held the little bauble up to the collar and let out a sigh of frustration. Eyes slipping shut.
