Differentials: Part 11 - Preparation
#12 of Differentials
No messages, apart from the fact that part 10 is rated adult, so you'll have to either enable adult content or create an account of you've not got one. That's it for messages, so enjoy part eleven :3 -
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The fox woke up. He took a peek at the clock and noticed that it was seven in the morning. He was happy that he woke up on time, but it was quite early and there would be no chance of getting back to sleep now that he was awake. The vixen wasn't awake, so at least he won't get a wake up call like yesterday. The fox decided that he should just close his eyes and get whatever rest he could, especially if he was going to be going out to town. The fox snuggled back up next to the vixen, closing his eyes, waiting the two hours before he needed to get up.
After what seemed like a long time, he felt the vixen start to stir and stretch out. It was just past half eight in the morning so the fox decided to get out of bed, get dressed and wait for the vixen while she did the same before going downstairs.
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Liz and Dan had both woken up earlier than usual in anticipation of their slaves' first trip to town. They were both worried, and were downstairs trying to talk the stress out of each other. However, all they seemed to be doing was digging up more and more horrible things that could happen to the two foxes when they went into town.
"Let's hope they don't have another mob like they did a couple of months ago", mentioned Dan.
Both of the Humans shuddered at the thought. It started when a Reklan slave made an attempt for freedom. The Reklan had nearly made it to the front door before it was intercepted by the owner's fourteen year old son. The son tried to stop the Reklan, but the Reklan made a swipe at his face causing a very bad injury which damaged one of the son's eyes. Later when the wound was examined, the doctor declared that the son would be forever blind in that eye.
The Reklan dodged around the son and ran out the front door in an attempt at freedom. However, the Reklan didn't make it very far as a different owner that had seen the escape took a shot at its leg, making it unable to run. They then captured the Reklan and returned it to it's owner's house.
The owner, enraged at the harm of his son, made a public display of torturing and mutilating the still-alive Reklan. The owner had all his and his friends' slaves be forced to watch as he used whips, chains, knives, fire, anything to make the escapee feel as much pain as possible. Liz and Dan hadn't seen it personally, but the news spread quickly about what had happened. The pair were disgusted by what had happened, but it seemed that everyone else supported the owner of the slave, or that any people who opposed that argument kept quiet about it for their own well being.
However, the owner of the slave didn't stop there. Fueled by rage, he got together a band of around twenty people, made up of him, his son and various friends and started openly mobbing any Reklan walking around by themselves, making a show of them just as they did the first slave. The mob actually gained more support, the numbers increasing to around forty and the members starting to attack groups of more than one Reklan and even went after Reklan that were walking next to their owners.
For weeks afterwards, any owner who didn't want their slaves to be killed kept them securely inside their property and it was a full month before anyone risked sending out any Reklan to town again, and even then in groups of at least five. Liz and Dan definitely didn't want a repeat of that event to happen today.
"Hopefully that shouldn't happen again", replied Liz.
"But they would be dead meat if it did, and there's also the chance of some person taking out their anger or drunnkeness on them."
That too had happened many times before, where an angry or drunk person made claims that a Reklan was acting as it shouldn't have been, even when it wasn't doing anything wrong, and had it killed or publicly hanged. What was worse for Liz and Dan was that nobody even batted an eyelid, they just carried on, the owner of the dead slave just buying a new one. Liz was starting to not want to send out the slaves, but she had to if she wanted them to be more useful and maintain their charade of not caring that much about the slaves.
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The fox was standing at the door, listening as the Humans listed off the various ways that he and the vixen could potentially die while in town. All the talk made him very uncomfortable and he even whimpered slightly. The two Humans fell silent, probably after hearing his expression of worry. The fox slowly opened the door and walked into the room, noticing that Liz and Dan were looking at him. The fox decided to explain the sound they had heard.
"I heard what you were saying about what could happen if we went into town", the fox said with a worried frown. He hoped he wouldn't be scolded for eavesdropping by the two Humans.
"Sorry if we worried you more than we should have. Those things only happen very infrequently, but we couldn't help but worry about you two going out today", said Liz.
The fox chuckled inwardly at the first comment. Worried? They had made him scared for his life, although it was nice to hear that they cared that much for him and the vixen. Liz made them sit down and explained the rules they would have to follow when they went to town.
The fox memorised everything he was told. He should always keep his head down and never make eye contact with a human unless they told him to do so, even if they were talking to each other. He should only speak in answer to a question that was asked of him. With every sentence Liz spoke, the segregation between Humans and Reklan became ever more apparent.
Liz proceeded to explain how Reklan had to walk on a separate part of the walkways to the Humans. No Reklan were allowed to use the same public services as Humans, ther were separate toilets, benches, everything. On public transport there was a reserved area at the back where Reklan had to stand while Humans sat at the front.
The whole town was fraught with discrimination, yet nobody cared because this is what it had been like when the Reklan were first introduced. No Humans had ever been harmed by it, only the Reklan had. For every rule the Humans listed, another five would come into mind and by the time everything was explained, it was almost half past nine.
"We'd better have breakfast before your guide arrives", Liz said as she got up and walked towards the kitchen.
The fox hoped he would be able to remember everything he was told, knowing that there could be serious consequences if he didn't. The rules weren't dissimilar to what he was told when he was under his previous owner, but things were definitely a lot stricter than before.
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The four were all eating their breakfast together when they were interrupted by the doorbell ringing.
"I'll get it", Dan said, getting up from his chair and walking over to the door. The fox could hear him opening the door and the conversation that followed.
"Hello, you're Ben's Reklan, right?", Dan asked.
"Yes, sir", the slave responded in a submissive tone.
"Just wait here while I get my two."
The fox could hear the door close and saw Dan poke his head into the room.
"Chop chop, your guide's waiting outside for you", ushered Dan.
The foxes quickly shoveled in the rest of their food and got up to leave.
"Now remember", Liz warned, "behave, or else there will most likely be consequences."
As Liz talked, she sent a pointed gaze towards the vixen, indicating the message was for her in particular. The two walked over to the door where Dan opened it again, revealing a Reklan who looked a lot like a black labrador.
He was around the same height as the two foxes and well muscled. The Reklan was a bit stockier than the foxes, but had the same general shape. He had a broader snout than the two foxes and instead of the pointed-up ears that the foxes had, he instead had ones that flopped down much like that of a domestic labrador. Instead of the sharp, cunning eyes that were prevalent among the foxes, his were soft and brown in colour. His tail was shorter than that of the foxes, and was considerably less fluffy than theirs.
The three Reklan stood looking at each other until Dan broke in.
"Go on then, make sure you're back here by five, and don't get into any trouble."
The two foxes stepped out, after a few seconds hearing the door shut behind them.
"So, what do we do now?", Voss asked the guide.
"I guess I start showing you around and also, what are your names? I can't exactly go around calling you 'fox one' and 'fox two', can I?"
"Not really, my name is Voss and her's is Fionn", the fox answered.
"And what's your name. Unless you want me to call you 'doggy'?", Fionn added.
The vixen had those malicious eyes and her mischevious smile on her face, and the fox felt sympathy for the dog. Voss had been on the receiving end of the vixen's 'fun' plenty of times before and knew how uncomfortable it was, but he couldn't help but be relieved that it wasn't being directed at him this time, at least not out in the open where anyone could see. The dog was shifting uncomfortably as he answered, unnerved a bit by the vixen's attitude.
"My name is Sam", the dog replied.
"Well, doggy, I think we'll have lots of fun together, don't you think?"
"Come on Fionn, remember what I said. No messing around when we're meant to be doing something."
The fox's comment must have struck the vixen in some way, her body stiffening in response to what he said. The vixen stood there for a moment, the fox wondering whether he'd upset her with the comment. He stood there thinking until his train of thought was interruped by a voice.
"Snap out of it, we've got to go. People will be wondering what we're doing if we stand here any longer."
The fox felt a clawed finger tap on his shoulder, and realised it must have been Sam who was speaking. The fox felt embarrassed that his thoughts had wandered off so much and he saw that the vixen was thinking the same thing as him, a slight blush on fer face as she realised that she'd been standing there for no visible reason.
"Sorry", the fox said, "we were thinking."
"Well don't think any more, otherwise we'll gain attention. Attention towards a Reklan is usually a bad thing, especially if that Reklan is yourself."
The fox was taken aback a bit by the dog's outright comment. However, they were soon walking down the path towards town, the fox hoping that nothing bad would happen when they were there.