The Calm Before the Pain (The Alien's Plaything, Chapter Ten)

[None]

Kalin roused gently from his slumber. During the night, he had managed to get free of Zara’s grip, and his attempt to roll away from her had seen her wrap her arms around him from behind in a much gentler embrace. He ran his fingers along the green forearm closer to his face. It felt almost like a dream, knowing what the rest of her looked like. He danced his fingers back along its length as a sort of warmth seemed to swell in his heart: the big spoon behind him was the most beautiful woman in the universe. He shifted in the bed, trying to get comfortable again. The minor discomfort of the lingering pain from yesterday’s activities that had served as little more than entertainment for his captors and their visitors remained, but momentarily waned as he prepared to drift back off to sleep.

The sleeping Zara, however, had other plans that did not involve her little spoon moving away. Without waking, she swept her lower arm down, her open hand landing between Kalin’s legs with a muffled thud before she pulled his waist back towards her stomach. He coughed and spluttered as she pulled him back in, the noise finally rousing her from the slumber too.

“Good morning, my toy,” she whispered.

Through the pain, the hairs on the back of Kalin’s neck seemed to dance as her voice sent tingles throughout Kalin’s body. She couldn’t help but smile through the pain as he whispered, “good morning,” back.

She pulled her right arm out from under Kalin’s neck and rolled onto her back. “Did you sleep well?” Kalin could almost hear her mind shut down as she began to question her own tone and phrasing before her inquiry even finished passing her lips.

“Best night’s sleep I’ve had in weeks,” he grinned, rolling over to get a glance at Zara’s face in the morning light. “How about you?”

Her face suggested she was wrapped up in a distant thought. “I slept well. I’m really interested to see how things today for the first experiment you’ll be participating in willingly. The others have submitted quite a few ideas. There’ll probably be even more to read this morning. It’ll be exciting!”

An element of dread came over Kalin, but the prospect of Zara comforting him afterwards did have its appeal. He rolled onto his back to enjoy the softness of the bed relative to his previous sleeping arrangements.

Zara stood up and checked one of the monitors. “Apparently the others really liked Zania’s idea.” She leaned in closer to the monitor. “Zylara’s already run the numbers on the risk to you,” she mentioned, glancing back at Kalin, “and she doesn’t seem to think there’s any risk of lasting damage to you, though I have no doubts it will be extremely painful just like everything seems to be down at confluence point one. I guess Zania’s finally get her chance to play with you today.” What warmth there was in her words seemed to fly straight over any consideration for his no doubt excruciating pain and land squarely on a happiness for Zania.

Kalin’s fears grew. ‘This must be what it must be to be a Viridian’s toy,’ he thought to himself. It was hard to really say whether Zania’s sadistic streak ran deeper than Zara’s, but the question had crossed Kalin’s mind. Whatever Zania’s idea was, it would no doubt be so painful as to reduce Kalin to tears.

“Come, we’ll get some food before the experiment,” Zara grinned.

Kalin climbed down from the bed and followed Zara. She was still wearing her soft white clothes for sleeping. They passed a few of the other Viridians in the halls in their own sleeping attire as well. Kalin wasn’t quite able to tell whether these were leisure hours attire that were also used for sleeping or whether they were dedicated pyjamas. Some seemed to be simply viewing him as a lesser life form. Others viewed him more as an object they be utilising for their own catharsis or entertainment were he not accompanied by Zara at that instant. The prospect of how safe the halls would be for him to wander without her crossed his mind. Was he Zara’s property that they wouldn’t dare touch? Or would he likely fare no better than when Zylara had found him during his ill-fated escape attempt? Kalin contemplated asking but his train of thought was derailed as Zara stopped very suddenly and his face almost collided with the centre of her back.

Zara had stopped to talk to Zania and their ensuing conversation had already begun without Kalin. He wanted to hide behind Zara, with her being one of only two individuals on this moon taller and more imposing than Zania. However, the glee she also seemed to take in hurting him did seem to make Zara a poor protector, even with the limited emotional warmth she might have displayed that day. The attempted hiding did not last long before Zania peered around Zara to see Kalin. “Awww, are you still scared of me?”

Kalin tried to shrink away but it was no use.

“Still thinking about me crushing your bloodline?” She asked mockingly, holding up and clenching her fist before him. He winced as she did so, prompting a laugh from both Zania and Zara. Kalin noticed an eyeroll from Zara.

“Oh, he can’t even handle pantomimed violence,” she joked, prompting another laugh from Zania.

She leaned in towards Kalin, locking eyes with him with her golden irises. He wilted in her gaze like a dehydrated flower in the hot sun. “Don’t worry, toy, if you do well in today’s activities, nobody will be hurting your vulnerability orbs for a few weeks. We want to give you a real incentive to try your hardest!” She turned her attention to Zara and tapped her on the arm and moved off down the corridor. Her positivity made Kalin anxious. Zara lead Kalin into the room Zania had just come out of.

It was a small dining hall. Two large tables with four chairs each and a large cavity against a far wall. Zara approached the cavity as she no doubt had countless times before. She paused, her fingers lingering over a button above the buttons just above the cavity. “You’d been having the brown bricks, right? Did you like those? We’ve made sure to feed you adequately, but since you’ve made the correct decision to submit to me, perhaps we can reward that with some more enjoyable food.”

“Uh, yeah, they were a dark brown. They were fine, but a little bit bland.”

Zara crossed her arms, pausing to think. She brought a hand to her face, one of her black nails gently tracing the outline of her black lips as she ran through a few possibilities. “Can your species handle capsaicin? It’s a toxin for many species but some Viridians enjoy the flavour it adds.”

Kalin considered it for a moment. A simple yes or no would not cut it. “In pretty small amounts, I think. We use it for seasoning. I wanna be really careful before you give me a block of pure capsaicin and I manage to die from eating that after surviving all the violence directed at my nuts,” he chuckled nervously.

“Nuts?” Zara blinked. “I thought I’d misheard you yesterday. Is that another word for your vulnerability orbs? Like, as in you named them after a food we crush to sprinkle on other food? All your names for them are literally all just trying to inspire Viridians to hit them as hard as we can, huh?”

Kalin blushed slightly.

“Sometimes it feels like humans aren’t meant to possibly be taken seriously. You’re all smaller than us, have such a pronounced weakness at a confluence point and even your own names for the orbs suggest they’re for playing with or crushing. Are humans even real? Or are you just some joke species written to be the butt of every, uh, ‘punch-line’?”

Kalin shifted awkwardly under the weight of Zara’s musing.

Zara leaned in and gently whispered, “let’s keep that one between us. It will probably inspire even harsher cruelty from Zania if she hears about it.” She winked and returned to the buttons above the cavity. She pushed a few buttons and summoned a brick with a rich terracotta colour to it, offering it to Kalin. “This one is on the mild side, but I quite like it.”

Kalin took a cautiously small bite and chewed it a little. He could detect the spice in the dish, but it wasn’t overwhelming. “That’s better!”

“Good, I’m glad there’s literally one context in which you can handle a little kick,” Zara replied, chuckling to herself as she handed him the dish and summoned another identical one for herself.

They sat down at the tables after considerable effort from Kalin to get up without looking foolish. As they began to eat, Kalin noticed that Zara’s face seemed to suggest she was deep in thought.

“Are you ok?” He ventured.

“Hmm? Oh, I’m fine. I’m just thinking about some stuff. Don’t worry about it.” The words would have been less reassuring if they hadn’t been accompanied by a genuine smile, but the vast gulf between what he knew and what he didn’t scarcely felt more apparent.

“Is there anything you want to do before that experiment today?” he asked nervously.

Zara leaned in, with an enthusiasm in her eyes. “Kalin, kicking you there would be fun, but we should really hold off until after today’s experiment in case it contaminates the data.”

Kalin quickly realised what his inquiry was being taken as and leaned back. He tried to cover up his misunderstanding with a few nods of agreement and a well-timed grunt.

She leaned in across the table. Her emerald eyes glistening in the bright light of the dining hall. She slid her hand across the table, her rich green skin contrasting his as she grabbed his hand. “Maybe we can have a day off from experiments sometime soon and I can have some fun with you, just the two of us.”

Kalin didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t yet sure how that would play out and he currently had more immediate concerns in the form of Zania’s experiment. “What can you tell me about Zania’s experiment today?”

Zara let go of his hand and pulled away from his and sat back up. “I’m not sure how much I can share, but you don’t need to worry about anyone kicking you today. We’ll be testing you in other ways and not just hard impacts.” She got up and gestured for Kalin to follow. “Needless to say, I’ve given her full permission to do whatever she wants with you: so, try to follow along. I don’t want the others thinking I’ve gone soft just because I’ve taken you as my toy – my property.”

They navigated the other corridors back to the lab. This time, the glances of the other Viridians seemed to be accompanied by sadistic smiles, suggesting they all knew what was coming for Kalin.

“Kalin, I’m going to use a gesture Viridians use to show affection. Close your eyes.”

Kalin was uneasy about it, but he had genuinely believed Zara’s comments turning down the perceived offer of letting her kick him. It seemed she genuinely didn’t think it was a good idea to kick him. He glanced up at her, gazing deep into her beautiful green eyes. Her black lips curled into a small smile as she looked down at him. He closed his eyes, and the sight of her smile instantly morphed into the grin he’d seen on her face as she repeatedly and savagely slammed her boots or knees or hand into his tender area. He saw the glee in her eyes as she endlessly crushed his testicles without remorse. As his mind raced, rushing through the possibilities that might befall him, he felt Zara’s hand settle anticlimactically on his shoulder.

“Actually, never mind.” He opened his eyes and saw her as she pulled away from him, Zara’s face filling his view. “Good luck in there today,” she said. With a hint of mischief in her voice, she added, “you’re probably going to need it.”

“Do you think you could convince her to go a bit easy on me in there?”

Zara furrowed her brow. After a very brief moment, she reached her hand out, seizing Kalin’s manhood. He let out a sharp exhale, anticipating a crushing grip that never came. He grasped helplessly at her forearm, but nothing changed.

“You agreed to participate in these experiments literally yesterday,” she said sternly.

Kalin glanced down at her arm. It was abundantly clear to Kalin that if Zara began to squeeze any tighter, it would become painful very quickly; but right now the grip was only tight enough to prevent his escape and send a message.

“Right, right, sorry!” Kalin whispered, his body beginning to surge with adrenaline in anticipation of pain. He looked up at her, her demeanour softening as she saw that he understood.

She looked off to the side, wistfully. “I’m so excited to see what Zania does with you today.” With her other hand, she tussled his hair and smiled. “I’m glad I can share my toys.” She released her grip and stood back up straight, towering over him. “Now, don’t have too much fun without me. I’ll be back after I get changed.” Zara strode off down the corridor. Kalin breathed deeply as he looked up at the door in front of him, and his mind raced as he thought of the torment that would begin once it opened.