Time Warp: Angsty (Squish)

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October 2013

Mehhh.... homework.....

Phoenix stared blearily at the book open in front of him, barely even aware of what subject it was for anymore. He was still basking in the after-effects of his latest hit, so any attempts to actually study just ended up being reading one sentence before being distracted by some imaginary object moving in the corner of his eye, which he would stare at until whatever it was disappeared and repeat the process over and over.

Mehhhh....

Eventually he gave up on his pursuits and rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling and watching constellations swirl around in his vision. He vaguely wondered what Oriel was doing. Maybe he should text him. Or... Something... Phen didn't know, would Oriel want to hear from him? It was all so confusing, what he was feeling for the younger boy, and he didn't want to seem too... clingy or anything. He knew he liked the sex. And he liked the guy, despite him kinda being an asshole sometimes. Mrrrr....

Whatever. It wasn't like it was going to become serious or anything... Phen was too broken for that to happen.

He didn't remember that he actually had texted Oriel not too much longer before, since everything was kind of blurry and confusing at the moment anyway. What he'd wrote, he couldn't remember either, but it likely involved explicit things that would make most people blush.

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Fuck……fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!

Oriel was stressing himself out, thinking of the same things over again. Again. Then when he finally thought he might stop and move onto something else, he’s start again. It was a maddeningly endless cycle. Why…? Why couldn’t he sto——?

The brooding boy stood up sharply from his usual corner of his bedroom. This was stupid, Oriel was not going to lose sleep! Not tonight. Not over….that guy. That fucking nerd-horder! He gripped his hands so tight his sore fingers - already bitten raw and red - throbbed into his palm. It hurt…it hurt! He needed something…something…someone to fuck! Something to do!

The first person who came to mind was Phoenix. That stupid drugged-up pixie. Oriel didn’t know why he kept going back to that skinny-assed chink, but so long as the fucking was fucking good, he didn’t fucking care. He was fun, anyway. Kid was a fucking bitch, he’d sub himself to anything Oriel said. A buzz came to his phone. Oriel smirked.

Speak of the devil. Oriel flipped his phone open and slooooowly read the message…..Fucking stoner! Oriel had enough problems understanding the shit people wrote, Phoenix didn’t need to make it harder by sending him some nonsense about….Oriel wasn’t even sure what he was trying to say, but it had to do with pink lions or something, what? Though he did also decipher the words ‘dick’ and ‘jizz’. As if Oriel would give him the time of day right now, when he was high as a fucking kite.

Then again…if he didn’t go over, Oriel would instead just be sitting here glowering at nothing again, until he psyched himself out. And besides, Oriel needed a hole to fuck right now, and Phoenix’s did nicely, doped-up or no. So he trudged over with a scowl, neglecting to knock on any doors along the way, and entered into Phoenix’s room. “Oy! The fuck’re you doing sending me this weird-ass shit?” Oriel held the phone up to show off the nonsensical message. “Didn’t I say, you best not be fucking high when dealing with me?” Oriel hated drugs with a passion, and Phoenix was always dipping his fucking nose in them. It irked him that the pixie might be looking at something else while looking at him. Phoenix only needed to look Oriel, ever.

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Phoenix was oblivious to Oriel’s mental stress. He was oblivious to pretty much anything at the moment, really, except what was happening at the exact moment in time. Like that weird, fat whale that was swimming around in the air above his head… Heee….

He stared at the creature for a while, wondering what its purpose was. What did it eat? How did it sleep? Did it have a family?

Family…. Mom…

He shook that thought out of his head, letting himself get lost in his dust-produced haze once again. He didn’t have any problems if he didn’t think about them, right? Nope…

Phen thought about Oriel again, vaguely aware now that he had messaged him… Or something… Hadn’t he? He forgot… What had he said? He went to reach for his phone, but it was on his table across the bed, and the pixie was too lazy to roll over and get it. Mmm… He would just lay here…

He startled up at the sound of his door unlatching, squinting blearily at whoever had just came into his room. Mmm… Lion…? Right, with that mane, it had to be Oriel. He grinned stupidly at the younger boy, waving him over to the bed. “I thought I’d texted ya~” he slurred, pretty happy with this situation now. Oriel over meant fun and ignoring homework. He tilted his head, not remembering what ‘weird shit’ he’d sent. “Eh? What’d I write?” he asked, slumping his painfully thin body into a sitting position. Oriel was showing him a screen, but it was blurry and he couldn’t make it out. “Uh…. Try tellin’ me that when I’m high…. An’ I won’t remember,” he giggled. “I forgot~”

He lifted his arms up as though to embrace the boy, but Phen didn’t lean forward, just expected Oriel to come in closer. “Hi gorgeous~” he slurred. “Y’look like… A hot lion….” Yep, he was definitely still high as a kite. “Make me… Your lionness~’ Phoenix burst into giggles again, flopping back onto the bed and rolling onto his side in his mirth. Oh, he was so funny~

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Oriel glared down at the sqinty addict, unimpressed with his behavior. Oriel had reasons for being unhappy with drug-use, though he had no intention of going into them anytime soon. If it weren’t for….fuck, why was Oriel even giving this yellow-bellied freak the time of day? He should….just….

Oriel wasn’t going to leave, and he knew it. He was attached, and he hated it. Why did it have to be Phoenix that he sought out that one day when he ran clear from the lake to the dorms? Phoenix had been there for him when he was feeling like….he promised he wasn’t going to leave….by this point, Oriel was already possessive of the older pixie and thinking of their relationship in terms of owner and property. No, he’d been thinking like that from the first time they shared a bed. Phoenix was just a toy! he told himself. A convenient thing to fuck when Oriel got overstressed.

There definitely weren’t any feelings involved.

Yet seeing Phoenix doped up again and rolling around like a fucking lunatic irked the shit out of him even more than usual. Why? He already said so didn’t he? Oriel grinned like the wicked as he leaned down over Phoenix, sitting sideways off the edge of the bed. “That so…? I see…” With a quick movement, Oriel snatched up a handful of the crack-head's jet black hair, pulling it taught until Phoenix’s head was arched back. “Is that what you want?” Oriel snorted, disdainfully. “Didn’t you forget something else, Phoenix?” Before Phoenix could answer, Oriel had already taken his lips in a deep, messy kiss. There was the smacking sound of spit when he finally pulled away. “You’re mine. And ‘I forgot’ ain’t a good ‘nough excuse for disobeying my orders.”

Oriel leaned in so their faces were almost touching, but he pulled against Phoenix’s hair again, lest he try and close that short distance. “Just for that….you ain’t getting shit tonight.” A shame too. Oriel was looking forward to fucking. But…hell, he’d turn this into a game, and if Phoenix did well enough at it, maybe, just maybe, he’d get himself a nice reward.

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If Phen had been clear-minded, he would have remembered Oriel’s feelings about his dust. But… That was the thing. He was high on the stuff right now, so all sense had fled his mind, and all he’d thought about was that it’d be nice for Oriel to come over and give him some attention. That wasn’t too much to ask for, right?

Wrong. Phen was in for it. But he didn’t know that, because Oriel was still here staring down at him, so the pixie just grinned stupidly back at him, eager for the boy to do… Something! Phoenix was already laying submissively on his back when he’d walked in, and it would take little effort for Oriel to get him back into that position if he so wished. Hell, all he had to do was point. Phoenix, in his doped-up state, was at Oriel’s command (although really, it was like that even when he wasn’t high, wasn’t it?)

Look, Oriel was smiling! He was happy, right? Phen giggled as that smile (evil grin) came closer, and his hand reached up as though to stroke the boy’s face, but he didn’t quite reach. “Kitty~” he giggled. He continued to grin dopily at Oriel until a sharp pain in the back of his head made him gasp and yelp. Ow!! What was that? “What’re ya doin’?” he whined, not realizing Oriel had just grabbed his hair. All he knew was it hurt. And he was staring up at those constellations on the ceiling again. Where had Oriel gone? Oh, wait, there he was, mashing his mouth into Phoenix’s so hard that he felt like his lips would bruise under the pressure. Phoenix mewled and mashed right back, his hands flailing around until they found a grip on the younger boy’s shirt and clung there. He was breathing hard when it was over, and now there were lips up in the constellations, sucking up the stars like cocaine…

“I’m yours…” he repeated in a daze, not really understanding what was going on. “M’Lord…” He’d disobeyed? What had he done?! Nothing was happening straight in Phoenix’s head. “I’m sorry…!”

He managed to focus on Oriel’s face again as he came closer, and kept it there, even as Oriel’s eyes turned into little balls of fire and his long, wavy hair turned into writhing tendrils. “H… Huh…?” Phoenix whined. “Oriel…!” His fingers, still clutching Oriel’s shirt, lifted to clasp onto his face, and none too gently. “I’m so dizzy… And I want youuu….” Any attempts to teach the boy a lesson tonight would probably be unsuccessful. He was totally out of it. “I want…. Your thingy… Inside my thingy…” He started giggling again, letting go and flopping backwards. “Even though you have scary flame-ball eyes and tentacle hairrrr~”

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Fuck, this chinkerella was long gone, Oriel was sure of he. He probably didn’t understand half of what Oriel was saying like this. When the pixie pat him on the face and called him a kitty….Oriel’s face dropped for a moment. He stared at the boy with pitying eyes. He was so pathetic….why did seeing him like this make his chest tighten? It made him….it grated on his nerves, nothing more.

Oriel put his mask back on, sharp eyes and furrowed eyebrows. He wasn’t going to go easy on Phoenix, no matter how many times he looked at him with those pathetic, child-like eyes. Oriel sneered at the whining boy. “Sorry? You think that’s going to erase the fact that you disobeyed?” No, words didn’t erase actions, no matter how much you wanted them to. They didn’t make a lick of difference to anyone else, so why should they to Oriel? “You’re not sorry. You’re just sorry you got caught.” He just didn’t want to be punished. It had nothing to do with respect or nothing, just that he didn’t want to feel his Lord’s wrath.

“You think I’m going to do that? You want me to pleasure you when you’re still….?” When he so out of it? Oriel was a dick and a control freak, not a rapist. He would never knowingly fuck someone who was high or intoxicated. At least, he wouldn’t now. Back in NYC, he’d probably do it without a thought. “You’re not even cognizant enough to appreciate it, so why would I waste my dick on you?”

Oriel released the boy’s hair and let him flop around on the bed. Oriel didn’t need to deal with this shit….but fuck he wanted to fuck. How long did Phoenix say his dust lasted? Hour? Half-hour? All he had to do was wait it out…in the meantime, Phoenix was going to continue rolling around like a child and essentially bugging the hell out of the younger boy. Oriel crossed his arms and leaned his ass against the edge of the desk. “Oy, Jaundy Boy.” Yes, Oriel was fucking racist. “Get over here….you know, if you can manage to stay upright for more than 2 seconds.” He pulled the chair out from the desk and motioned for Phoenix to sit in it.

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Phoenix wasn’t acting like a dope on purpose to try to win Oriel’s sympathies, or whatever. He was really and truly out of it, though the worst was likely over and he would gradually gain back his normal (though still pretty dopey) senses. And then he’d realize how much of an idiot he’d been for asking Oriel over while he was like this.

Those sharp eyes and dark expression didn’t do anything to him. Well, okay, it made Oriel look like a scowling kitty, so Phoenix just giggled more, not realizing the ‘trouble’ he was in. “I said I’m sorryyyy~” he whined uselessly. What else was he supposed to do? “If… I didn’t…. Wanna get caught… Why would I ask you over?” he fumbled in a brief moment of not-as-crazy. “I just wanted t’see you….” His voice was plaintive, needy, and his very dilated eyes big as saucers. “You must’ve…. Wanted t’see me too…. ‘Cause you came…!” He smiled and tried to hug the younger boy. “You caaaame~” Yup, Oriel must really like him!

He tried to think about the questions that Oriel was asking him, but a school of fish floating above Oriel’s head caught his attention, and Phen seemingly stared into space for several long moments, watching them swim around. “…. Huh…?” he asked after a moment, remembering Oriel had been talking. “What does… Cognoisine…. Mean?” he mumbled, fumbling the word. “Is that what you named your dick…?” He’d said something about that too, right? He really should pay better attention, whoops…

Mmmm the bed was soft… Phen relished the softness as he laid there, still giggling on occasion. He was, of course, oblivious to Oriel’s thoughts, but not of the fact that he was still there (even though he still looked like a lion…. Although his mane didn’t seem quite so big, so maybe the stuff was starting to wear off?). “Hmm…? Is that me?” he slurred, managing to push himself upright and blink blearily at Oriel. He, of course, didn’t get the insult, and nodded eagerly at the request. “Okay~!” He stumbled to his feet and, with halting, unbalanced steps, managed to make it over to the chair without incident. He beamed at the younger boy like he’d just completed a marathon. “Do I get a prize?” he asked with a stupid smile. His hand reached up to stroke Oriel’s “mane”, captivated by the boy. “I choose… You… As my prize…!” Then he fell back in the chair and had another fit of giggles. Give him a few more minutes, though, and he would slowly start to ease out of his dust-craze. “Heehee… Kitty.”

Yup... Just a few minutes.

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Ugh! It was impossible to get anything across to Phoenix when he was out of it like this! It was frustrating for the young, dominant boy, who drew a glorious amount of pleasure from having complete control over a weakling like Phoenix. If Oriel tried to punish him physically…yeah, he doubted Phoenix would respond to that either. He might not even feel it at all. If he couldn’t feel it, then Oriel couldn’t relish in his screams…nor could Phoenix tell him when Oriel had gone too far. Things could get more dangerous than Oriel was willing to take it. Oriel was cruel and controlling, but he wasn’t about to break his toy beyond the point of repair because he was too fucking stupid to wait until Phoenix was fucking sane.

Oriel didn’t even want to respond to anything the dope-head said anymore. “No, excuses,” he said anyway. “You know I don’t like it when you’re on that shit, so why’d you fucking think it a good idea to call me over after you sent yourself to la-la land?” Oriel knew his words were useless, but he couldn’t help but say them anyway. He scowled even more when Phoenix pointed out how Oriel still came despite knowing Phoenix was dusted. “Must’ve imagined it,” he said, denying those accusations. Why would Oriel want to see an ugly skank like this anyway?

Because he was something to do and Oriel needed something to do, badly.

Cognoisine? Right, Oriel wasn’t going to bother trying to talk to him anymore. It was just going to make him more frustrated. The only thing he’d do was give the pixie that simple command and move on. Maybe. “Good job,” Oriel praised once Phoenix seated himself in the chair. “Now stay there.” He hoped Phoenix could do at least that much.

There was a severe lack of tools to use in Phoenix’s room, but Oriel was an innovative improviser, so it wasn’t as much of a problem as it could’ve been. He grabbed a belt that Phoenix had lying around and strapped it around Phoenix’s torso and the back of the chair, securing the boy to it. Then he took his own belt and did the same to Phoenix’s legs, securing them together. Oriel was out of tools now thought….or so it seemed. He smirked and headed out the door without a word, leaving Phoenix strapped down like that. He’d return in several minutes, after he’d retrieved a few things from his bedroom and prepared a couple more.

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Nope, Phen was out of it, completely oblivious to Oriel’s frustration and threats. Punishments would likely, yes, just result in him getting really hurt, and not realizing it until later, and then crying and whining and… It would be a mess. At least Oriel had the decency to think that way, despite the pixie’s mistake.

“I’m not makin’ up ‘scusessss~” he whined, still flopping around like a limp fish. “Forgoooot…” Why was Oriel so maaad? Phoenix pouted up at the younger boy, then made a grumpy face, imitating the expression he saw the “lion” making. “Your face s’gonna stick like tha’~” he announced, completely ignoring his chiding. It wasn’t like Oriel was really mad at him, right? Oriel liiiiked Phoenix~ Yes he diiiiid~ Didn’t he? Or maybe Phen was thinking of someone else…. Uh….

“Rue?” he said out of the blue, staring at a corner. Nope…. That had been a quick figment of his imagination, and now it was gone. “Imagined it!” he agreed, thinking now that Oriel was talking about what Phoenix had just “seen”.

He beamed like the proudest kid in the world when Oriel praised him for the simple motion. “I can do that!” he agreed when the boy told him to stay put. Yep yep, he could watch the funny colors and stuff from where he was…. But where was Oriel goooing~?

But okaaay… He could do this. He could! And then Oriel would be sooo pleased with him! He didn’t realize what Oriel had in mind to make sure he really obeyed. “Huuuh wha’s that?” he asked as the younger boy started strapping him down. “Are thooose… Tentacles….?” Had Oriel sprouted them somehow? They looked like that but…. Huh… Okay… He just stared stupidly at them, not really realizing they were pinning him down, and didn’t look up again until Oriel had left, and Phen blinked several times, lost about the whole situation. Was he going to come baaack….? He hoped so!

In the time that Oriel was away, the dust craze started to die down, and Phoenix slowly became more aware of his surroundings and what was going on. He frowned down at the belts holding him down, realizing now what the other boy had done. “…. Mean…” he pouted. Was he coming back? “Oriel!” he called out, wondering if he had just left to go to the common room until Phen came to his senses. He realized now what a bad mistake he’d made. Shit… What was Oriel going to do to him? “…. I’m not… High anymore….” He started struggling weakly against his bindings, but it hurt his scrawny chest when he pushed against it too much.

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Don’t break your toys. Use them and take care of them so you could use them again. That was Oriel’s motto and he stuck to it religiously. The act of having to take care of something(one) made it(him) his, and his alone. It proved ownership. Oriel could use that toy for whatever means he wished as a result. Like something to control. Something to fuck.

Something to punish.

He just had to wait little bit longer and the reward would be well worth it. Oriel wouldn’t do anything to him in this state, but once Phoenix snapped out of his dust-induced daze, Oriel was going to make him regret he even had dusty wings in the first place. Make him regret even thinking about going against Oriel’s word. Oriel was a selfish, selfish human being, and he wasn’t about to share his favorite toy with a bunch of drug-born abstractions. Hence why he had long since stopped listening to the ridiculous things the pixie was trying to say. None of it even made sense.

Roo? Was he seeing kangaroos now?

Well, whatever. He could just go on watching those kangaroos until they faded away, once Phoenix’s dust finally wore off. Whenever that would be. Hopefully by the time Oriel got back from his supply trip. Oriel took his time. He wasn’t in any rush. And the longer he took, the more likely it was that Phoenix would realize his mistake and that would make him more receptive to Oriel’s commands. What better way to make up for disobeying than becoming even more submissive?

Oriel returned with a shoulder bag of….stuff. It hung heavily and was bulging with the items it contained. He glanced over at Phoenix, still tied to the chair. Was he sane yet? He turned back to the bed, still ignoring anything that the pixie had to say and shuffling through the items in the bag. Oriel had basically just grabbed a bunch of stuff from his collection, took time to wash them, and carted them over. In all that time, he still hadn’t quite formulated a plan. He glanced down at the book still lying open on the bed. Heh…was he trying to do homework while he was high? That was over before it even started, no doubt. Still, it sparked a bit of an idea for his plan. “You’re taking bio?” he asked, nodding his chin over at the textbook.

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Phoenix began to quiver a little as he waited there, wondering if Oriel was going to come back. Would he really just leave him here like this? What if he had to… Pee or something? Phen knew he should expect some sort of punishment for what he’d done (as unfair as it might seem to other people), but… But this was too much! A small whimper escaped past his lips as he waited in torment. He hadn’t meant to text Oriel when he was in that state, he just hadn’t been thinking…!

“Oriel!” he squeaked when the younger boy returned. Phoenix tried to crane his neck back around to see him, but he could only catch a glimpse of the long-haired boy and something big he was carrying… A bag? “Wh-what’s that?” he stammered, shrinking in the chair. When Oriel ignored him, he whimpered again. What was he supposed to do? Was he getting a silent treatment or something? Or… Was Oriel preparing for something more?

That bag had him worried. Phen knew the kinds of things Oriel kept in his room, and he had no doubt that he’d brought them with him. He gulped hard enough for his Adam’s apple to bob. “H-huh?” he squeaked when the boy finally spoke. “Bio….? Y… Yes?” Why was Oriel asking about his class? Oh, right… He’d tried to study earlier…. Whoops. “Wh… Why….?” Again, Phoenix tried to twist around to see the boy, but his shoulder pressed painfully against the belt and he let out a pained yelp. “…. Can you let me go now…?” he whined. “I’m s-sorry, I didn’t mean to call you while I was….” Phen trailed off. Oriel had never been a forgiving type, as far as he could tell.

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Oriel knew better than to leave his new toy unattended for too long. He’d been learning about this stuff more properly, yes, but even before then, Oriel wasn’t about to do anything that would put his toys in serious danger. He just…wanted the pixie to squirm a little, heh heh heh…

Though….looking at the tied up boy, Oriel was wondering if it might’ve been better to blindfold him too? What kind of sounds would he have made in that instance? How desperate might he have been? Hmph…Oriel would have to keep that in mind for next time.

He refused to say anything, despite Phoenix’s whining, until he noticed that textbook. Oriel picked it up and gazed down at the page. He blinked. Fucking thing….the page was so busy with words, it was giving Oriel a headache just looking at it. “Now why would I want to do that, Phoenix?” he said, flipping through the pages idly. “You look so much better with your face twisted so desperately.” Yes, Oriel liked to see him flail and squirm. If he cried…even better! Oriel closed the book loudly, cutting off Phoenix’s request. “Sorry….doesn’t make it so it didn’t happen, now does it?” He sneered, walking behind Phoenix and trailing his finger from one shoulder, across the back of his neck, and down to the other. “I should never…ever…have to hear the word ‘sorry’ come from your mouth again. Because you are going to follow my instructions perfectly from here on out…right?” Of course he was. “That way…you will never have to be ‘sorry’ for disobeying again.” He smirked, snorting in his evil amusement.

“What chapter are you on?” he asked, setting the thick biology textbook in front of him and patting it with the palm of his hand. Oriel leaned against the edge of the desk and crossed his arms.

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If Oriel was trying to make Phoenix squirm, well, he was doing an excellent job. If the belt hadn’t been holding him pretty firmly in place, the pixie would have been squirming even more; as it was, the seat was even shifting a little as he whined and tried to escape, at least until Oriel got back and he dared not try anymore.

He pouted when Oriel ignored him, wishing there was something he knew he could do or say to make the boy listen to him. But it was pointless, so he sighed and whined once more, but said nothing else, waiting for the younger one to speak. His head snapped up a little when Oriel did finally respond, but…. “You’re cruel…” he mumbled, as though he hadn’t already known. And he knew this was probably the least cruel thing Oriel had in store for him, knowing the boy… His eyes followed the ink manipulator when he came closer, shivering under the touch of Oriel’s finger moving across his skin. “… Yes…” he said softly, dropping his gaze. “It w-won’t happen again… I promise…” He hated the submissiveness in his tone, but Phen didn’t know what else to do. He was helpless under the other boy.

But now he was talking about his textbook again…? Phoenix had no idea where this was going. “U-uh… Eleven, I think…” he struggled to recall. He couldn’t even remember what he’d been reading about. “Why…?” His expression was full of confusion as he peeked up at the younger boy. “It’s not ‘bout reproduction or anythin’, if that’s what you wanna know…” Or maybe it was, hell, he didn’t know. “Though… I’m sure you know…. All ‘bout that already…” As if the text book was about sexual practices and not biological functions.

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How much could he push before Phoenix had all he could take? This was hardly the extent of what the ink manipulator could do to the pixie. Actually, Oriel had already done worse, so this should be a walk in the park for Phoenix. He was just tied up, after all.

How bad things got from here was entirely dependent on how much Phoenix decided to cooperate.

Honestly, Oriel hoped he’d put up a bit of a fight, just so he had an excuse to punish the pixie extra hard. “And how long have you known me?” he replied to Phoenix’s ‘accusation’. Oriel snorted, completely convinced that Phoenix enjoyed the punishment and that’s why he tried so hard to disobey so splendidly. Oriel slid his finger under the older boy’s chin and lifted it up so Phoenix had no other place to look except into Oriel’s eyes. Because if he closed them to avoid it…well, that would only result in more punishment, now wouldn’t it? “I think….you’re lying through your teeth. Why, Phoenix? Why would you lie to your Overlord so blatantly?” Because they both knew that Phoenix was going to screw up again. Sooner or later. “You know you shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.”

Heh heh heh….was it terrible that Oriel couldn’t wait for the chance - or rather excuse - to abuse his little whore again?

“Eleven….alright,” Oriel breathed, flipping the textbook open slowly to the chapter, page by page. His smile stayed yet revealed nothing to his captive pixie. “Oh, I know.” Oh, he knew, most certainly. That was chapter 16 and Oriel had already glanced over all the pictures they had there with the interest of a curious child. “….you have to read the whole chapter?” he asked. “Just checking. So….what you’re going to do foe me is…” he started with some dramatics. “…you’re going to simply read the chapter to me. Out loud.” Oriel snickered, covering his mouth slightly and looking own at Phoenix with amused eyes. “Easy, right?” As if it were ever that easy.

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Okay, so sure, Oriel could do much worse… And honestly, that was the worst part of this. Not knowing what was coming next. Because surely this wouldn’t be all that the younger boy inflicted on Phoenix, knowing him. All the pixie could do was whimper and look pathetic and hope it pulled on some of Oriel’s seemingly non-existent heart strings (Phen knew he liked begging, at least).

“U-uh… I dunno…. Couple months…?” Phoenix mumbled. He didn’t remember exactly. Long enough to know the younger boy’s typical behavior. It was true that he took some pleasure in being diminished to a whimpering, cowering mess, but he wouldn’t admit it! His throat bobbed as Oriel tilted his face up, and Phoenix blinked slowly at him, still feeling a bit foggy from the dust. Oriel’s eyes looked red… “Why would I lie?” he mewled. “I-I’m only sayin’ that I’ll try…!” Though it was true, Phoenix had fairly little self-control and had a habit of doing things he shouldn’t, so the ink manipulator was probably right. He gulped again. “I-I’m sorry… I was only tryin’ t’be good…” But good just wasn’t enough for Oriel, was it?

Phoenix watched Oriel’s every move; a drop of sweat slid down his brow as the younger boy flipped through the pages. “You do? Oh….” Well, there went that theory. Phen really had no idea what this was about. Why wasn’t Oriel just getting out the whips and chains? “U-um, eventually, yeah…” he mumbled. “We’re just s’posed to read the first two sections for tomorrow though…” No way he was going to get to that, though. But then Oriel was giving his orders, and… Phoenix’s brow furrowed in even more confusion. “J-just… Read?” he asked, bewildered. “…. Right…” No way was Phoenix trusting this, even in his slightly bleary state. There was definitely something that Oriel had in mind that he wasn’t telling.

Still… Phoenix cleared his throat and started nervously reading. All living organisms n-need energy t’grow an’ rep… repo…. repoduce, m-maintain their structures, and respond t’their env…environments…” He was stammering quite a bit as he spoke, and had to swallow with his dry throat after the first sentence. He looked at Oriel quizzically, like “is this really what you want me to do?”