Meet Mary! (This time properly). I'm going to say this right away, the slave girl does not happen to have the happiest story behind her. This will be quite a read, I assure you.
Mary is Charles' most prized possession. Pretty much everyone around is well aware of that. The two are together almost all the time. Wherever Charles travels off to, given that it's not dangerous, he always takes Mary with him. Mary, at the same time, is more than happy to accompany her Master. However, not all know how this came to be...
A surprisingly long time ago, on one of the worlds lost in the endless vastness of the multiverse, Mary lived happily with her family. It wasn't too big of a family. She had a father and a mother. The city they lived in... was not the most prestigious city one could imagine. Complete iniquity, law enforcement entirely bribed off by crime syndicates, the governors corrupt or, in case they happen to disagree with how things are done, forced to "retire". The realm and Mary's homecity in particular just didn't happen to be great places to live or spend one's childhood. Surprisingly, though, Mary kept being positive. She helped her parents with everything she could and believed that one day she and those she held dearly would be able to leave this decaying city and find true happiness in life... However, the world did not see it that way. Around when Mary was 19 years old, her father got in some serious debt with the wrong people. There was no malicious intent from him, he simpy believed he saw a chance to get those he loved out of this awful place, but he was wrong. No matter what Mary and her family tried, they were unable to pay the debt off. One terrible night, the door to their flimsy little apartment was torn down and armed men broke in. Our redhead girl was forced to watch in pure horror as her father was beaten to a pulp by the very mobsters he owed money to and all she could do is scream fruitless pleas, as masked people pinned her and her mother down to the ground. Then... they took her away. The family was poor and had nothing to repay the debts, so Mary was taken away, no matter how hard her father begged the intruders to be merciful. Mary was torn away from her family and she never saw them again.
The girl was forced into a life of a slave. Tied down, not allown to talk back, tasked with satisfying her captors' needs, no matter how awful their demands were. Mary was punished often and punished harsh. Her new owners made sure the slave would know her place with frequent and cruel disciplining. Her crying screams for help were silenced by a gag and she was used in ways her masters saw fit. She spent long nights weeping in her cold cell with no light of hope at the end of this gruesome tunnel. Mary could only assume her mother was forced to undergo the same treatment and that her father would be lucky if he was to be alive somewhere out there. Mary spent a horrid, dreadful year as a simple plaything to be toyed with by the crime bosses of the city. Putting the girl through all kinds of mental and physical torture for their own amusement... the captors eventually got bored with her. Initially, they thought to simply get rid of her. Perhaps cement her feet and drop her off into the lake nearby... but the hunger for some profit took over and they decided to auction the girl off, hoping to at least make some good money off of her in the end.
By this point, Mary was entirely broken down. No more will to resist left in the girl. The auction has been scheduled and all our pale girl could do was sit in her cell with a lost and defeated gaze on her bruised face. The date arrived. Mary, along other "goods" was transported to the location of the event. They outfited her with a revealing dress, chained, collared and leashed her... and it was time for her to walk out on stage to be sold to the highest bidder from the hungry crowd. The crowd, though... was not quite an ordinary one. Sure, you had your typical folk who attend these kinds of events. Perverts with extra money, rich of the city, looking for a new toy... but among all the scum there was a certain induvidual, who stood out even to them. A tall blue... cat in stylish clothes, glasses, a weird face and a long tail that ended with a sizable gemstone. Nobody saw him around these places before, and you can be sure not a single sould knew where he came from... not that they cared much. He proved to be the paying kind, so he was more than welcome at such events. Charles sat in the crowd, watching the stage with his bored eyes. He has been travelling various dimensions for around 3.5 hundred years and he was simply hoping to add a new pet to his collection, yet nothing seemed to phase him. Such a long lifespan is bound to eventually run one into complete apathy, and lately the Desire Keeper felt as if he was sinking into it himself. Then... Mary was dragged on stage. The moment he saw her, his heartbeat jumped. She was in awful condition, had bruises all over her body... and a blank emotionless stare, through which you could see all the sadness that her heart was filled with. Some bids were voiced, but none of them were even close to the sum Charles named. The girl was his without anybody being even close to put up a competition. Charles got Mary. She was in extremely poor condition, but he knew that he was going to try his best to change that.
Most certainly, Mary's depressive state was broken by the sheer shock she experienced when, once Charles lead her away from eager eyes, he proceeded to open a green shining rift in the fabric of reality, claiming he's going to take her to a new home. She resisted, screamed for help, feeling the dread rise, and so the tall slaver grudgingly was forced to help her go through. Travelling through the wormhole in space, she... she felt surprisingly and even unnervingly easy. Mary ended up in a desolate world, that's far removed from any other dimension. A Castle in the middle of a seemingly deceased world. The castle itself, however, was rather appealing... or at least the part of it Charles lived in seemed so. Mary's wounds were tended, she got new clothes and a bedroom of her own. The girl was terrified of her current predicament. She didn't understand who... or even what was her new master and she surely had no idea of where he took her. Multiple worlds?! Travelling through dimensions..?! Mary felt as if she was going crazy. Charles... tried to talk to her, to get to know the girl and what got her here. She wasn't willing to talk. Scared, hostile to her new "Master", she wanted nothing to do with all of this. The tall cat understood that the girl was traumatized and did his best to help her. He did not ask anything of her, did not force her to do anything and gave her space when she needed it most, he had his servants help her and fulfil her needs as she tried to grasp her current reality. Time went and, slowly, with Charles' caring approach, Mary started to soften up. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of a supernatural being her new owner was and what plans could he possibly have for her. Mary was ready to talk to Charles. He happily took the opportunity. When his new slave carefully asked who or what he was, he satisfied her query with a detailed answer. Charles told Mary about Desire Keepers, special beings bonded with Desire Gems, wielding power over people's most intimate urges. Yet he explained, that despite his bond with the Pet Play Desire... he saw far more than a simple pet in Mary. He... he felt compassion towards her, and he was on the brink of losing that very feeling before meeting her. As time went on, Mary built up more courage. She finally told him about her past, her family, the horrible world she lived in and all the terror she faced. He tried his best to console her.
Shortly after, the slaver cat traveled back to Mary's home world. He had a couple goals in mind. First, after gathering some intel around, he paid a visit to people responsible for Mary's kidnapping... and they stood no chance against the power of his gem. He made sure there wasn't a single responsible soul left without punishment. He simply couldn't understand how somebody could be this twisted and low... and he made sure nobody would have to try and understand that after his visit. Next, Charles tried to look for Mary's family, but his efforts were fruitless. No matter how hard he tried, there didn't seem to be even a trace. It was safe to assume they were long gone, and Mary was lucky to survive everything she's been through. He went back to Mary and, when the time was right, told her that he was unable to find her family... and that those responsible for harming her paid a dear price.
Mary's days as Charles' slave followed one another and, in due time, she started warming up to her owner. His caring approach did the work. After all the suffering, she finally felt.. safe? Perhaps it was the Stockholm Syndrome kicking in, perhaps she truly fell for Charles, but over time she opened up to him. They sat by each other's side when having meals, she started to accompany him on his trips around the multivese, curious to learn more about the infinite worlds, she even shared his bed at night, slowly starting to enjoy his warm caring hands hugging her at nights. Eventually, Mary lost all shed of fear she had of her new Master. He gave her care, he comforted her, tended her deep trauma and she felt that he truly had genuine feelings for her. They talked more and more, went on dates, and quite the dates, considering one's ability to travel to any corner of the multiverse. As time went on, Charles showed that he put her safety above even his own, he risked his life when her's was at stake, he truly saw something else in the girl. Eventually, Mary opened up completely and she fell in love with her Master. He was simply too kind and caring, giving her the love she missed, chained up in captivity. Now... she's by his side, and, knowing just how much he cares for her, she returns him the same, being his most loyal slave, his absolute favourite slave to this day... and that's never going to change.
Despite everything she went through, Mary manages to be a very upbeat girl that looks at life with shining optimism. She's always emanating endless joy and happiness, especially being by Charles' side, where she feels truly safe and loved. She's happy to learn about distant warped worlds, extremely excited about keeping him company on his travels... and she's always happy to cheer him up when he returns back home all tired. And they've been together for 98 long years.
But... how? Just how come Mary's able to stay around her ageless Master for this long... without changing in appearance even for the slightest?! Well, there's a reason for that, and that very reason is glowing bright green on Charles' tail. The Desire Gems gift their keeper the power over specific sexual fantasies, a perk of never aging and ability to travel through multiverse at ease. However, one's existance would be awful, if they were to be stuck by themselves without any soul to accompany them on their endless journey. The gem allows its Keeper to select a Chosen One. The love of their life that would accompany them in their eternal existance. Such a Chosen One would share their lover's property of never aging and would always be there to make sure their pair is happy. To pick a Chosen One, all the Desire Keeper has to do is find a suitable candidate and reach intimacy with them. After that, provided the fact the Keeper has an intention of making the candidate into his Chosen One, the candidate's soul gets bonded with the Desire Gem and they stop aging from that point onward.
Mary is Charles' Chosen One. After they got really close, after she dropped the feeling of feer of the tall cat and felt nothing but honest love for him, she was finally ready to take his offer of being his Chosen One... and so she made her one in what can only be described as the peak of their love for each other and their unconditional trust. Since then, Mary's always by her Master's side, always ready to help him if he needs her help, always knowing that he would do anything she desires. This... is how Mary became Charles' favourite slave. And, arguably, much more than that.
Although... some speculate that everything might not be as bright as it seems. Mary's eyes seem to coincidentally match her Master's gem color, and people around the Castle know that that's a clear sign of a fact that one might be under the gem's influence. Mary simply rolls her eyes at such claims, she knows her love for Charles is real, and the affection he gives her is most certainly far from fake... but... just maybe, just like a Desire Gem slowly washes away a Keeper's memory of their past, Charles' gem might be dissolving Mary's traumatic memories into nothing? If so, perhaps it's better that way...
Quite a read, isn't it? Apologies if the wall of text is too vast, hoped to include in it as much as possible. This is most definitely the darkerst bit of T.A.D. lore that's out there yet. I'm sorry, people. This took me quite some effort to write, as even I felt as a disgusting human being while typing this out... but that is Mary's origin... and it doesn't happen to be all sunshine and rainbows. At least she's happy now, right...?
Also, fun little piece of trivia for y'all! Mary first appeared in the background of one of my Kinktober 2019 pieces. No special reason, just thought I'd put her in then as a sneaky little thing that only I and a couple close friends at the time would understand, hahaha. Mary's a really fun character that I love very-very much (despite some of what you've read above). For the longest time ever she existed as simply a concept with no real design. I knew Charles had an extremely loving slave girl by his side, but had no definitive design for her in mind. Of course, that was ages ago. Now you see her in all her adorable glory. Don't you want to pet that fluffy head? C'mon, don't lie to yourselves! :3 I really hope you all will love her :)
