[b][u][center]Standards for His Assistant Chapter 1: Finding His Assistant For Taiko By Draconicon[/center][/u][/b] “There is no need to charge me. You find it a pleasure to drive orcs around; for you, it is no different from taking your break.” “Yeah…no different from…taking a break…” “Now unlock the damn door and let me in.” Click. The sound of the taxi door opening was the first good thing that had happened to Bruha so far. The orc grumbled as he pulled it the rest of the way open and slid inside, feeling the leather seats pushing at his kilt, almost exposing him in the simple act of sitting down. Not that he minded, and he knew damn well that the dragon…thing…in the front seat wasn’t going to be bothered by a little full-frontal. “Start driving.” “Yes, sir.” “Master.” “Yes, Master.” The driver – someone he’d mistaken for a weird-colored human, at first, before he got close enough to see the face spines and hand-claws – pulled away from the curb, getting into the flow of traffic and taking him down the street. Bruha grumbled under his breath, leaning back against the seat as he looked out the window. “Damn that Alek…” “Is there something wrong, Master?” “No. Just keep driving, Scales.” “My name is Keven, Master.” “Keep driving then, Keven.” Not that the name mattered. Bruha could give him any number of them if he really wanted. Hell, if it wasn’t for the fact that he’d have to uninstall the name later, he was tempted to take one of the enchanted gems from his beard and name the dragonoid ‘Assbutt.’ Immature, childish, and nothing but a juvenile prank, but that was where his mind was at the moment, and that was all he could think about. Alek. That damn hybrid had managed to take his harem from him again. Twenty-four dragons, this time. Twenty-four. Getting right up there to the point where he nearly had enough to have a dragon for every day of the month. More than enough to have three for every day of the week. They’d been happy, if a bit dull-minded. He took good care of them, made sure that they had food, a roof over their head, gave them affection in his own way. [i]Couldn’t he just leave well-enough alone?[/i] Probably not. Alek was a powerhouse, but he never flexed that power for any reason that Bruha could understand. The orc had gone up against him so many times, and every single time, he had been beaten with humiliating ease. No matter how many times he built up that harem, it was taken away before he could settle in for good. And now, he was having to start all over again, [i]again.[/i] “You know any places where dragons congregate, driver?” Bruha asked. “I know a few scaly bars, but they’re not open yet.” “Are there any places where they gather for worship, or for coupling?” “Uh, you mean churches and dating sites?” “Hmmph. Whatever they’re called.” “Well, I don’t know any real dragon-specific churches, Master, and all the dating stuff happens online these days.” “…Online?” “Yeah, you know. Internet dating.” “…” “I can tell you some scaly dating apps, if you want, Master. If you’ll take out your phone –” “Shut up and keep driving.” “Yes, Master.” As the taxi continued driving around the city, Bruha bit his lip to keep from tearing off on a blue streak. It was already bad enough that he struggled to get hotel reservations, that he stuck to Novus Ager more due to the fact that he didn’t understand the ferry and plane systems than anything else. Now, technology was making it even harder for him to indulge in the only pastime that he really had left. [i]Damnable devices…[/i] Even looking out the window, he could see dozens of people playing with their phones, tapping clawed and smooth fingers along flat screens. Whatever they were doing, he couldn’t guess, but in this day and age, the power of magic and discipline seemed to be rapidly losing the battle to the forces of technology and convenience. The feeling that he got whenever he saw someone stuck with a phone or a laptop, calling it work whatever they did, just sent a growling tremor of annoyance through him. Not helped by the fact that he didn’t understand how they worked. He huffed, leaning his head back against the leather seat. If people still acted the way that they used to, doing this in person rather than having to use all these faceless systems, then he would be completely fine. He could find a dragon bar, walk in, and hypnotize a half-dozen of them into his service before walking back out. Everything would be sorted, and he’d be set for at least a week before Alek started to notice the scaly population dwindling again. But noooo, now he had to figure out how to find them [i]properly.[/i] He had to do it [i]fairly[/i], without using his magic. His spells could only work in person, and setting that up was not easy these days. The last time that he’d tried, he’d ended up getting banned from the library after blowing up a computer desk…and the four computers on it. [i]Wasn’t my fault. I was merely trying to extract the data into a proper form. Paper is what they should be examining, not screens.[/i] Nothing worked the way that it was supposed to, anymore. He had tried to fit in, but the orc was increasingly pushed to the outskirts of society, or at least, so it felt. Last time that he’d been kicked out of his home and stripped of his harem, he had gone to a hotel. After all, he was used to buying rooms – or, well, ‘buying’ them in the sense of making the staff give him one – and he had expected it to be no different this time. Instead, he was told that he needed a ‘reservation,’ that he needed to ‘book online,’ that they had no rooms left for him and that he was out of luck, no matter how much money he had on his person. [i]Since when does money buy nothing, but information gives everything?[/i] Technology really had outpaced the orc’s understanding, but Bruha struggled to resist that reality. The idea of having to rely on something else – or someone else – made him feel like an old man, like the sort of person that was on their way out. No longer relevant, they had to use someone else to link them into the real world. That wasn’t supposed to happen. He hadn’t kept his youth this long to be told he needed to retire now. He thought back to that night at the hotel again, remembering one of the humans there. A staff member, a man with skin black as coffee, with snake-like braids across his head and down his back. [i]He,[/i] at least, had been respectful, had given the orc what he needed. [i]He[/i] had shown some understanding of proper service. “Would you like to stop for some food, Master?” “Is there a place that will deliver proper steak and stew?” Bruha asked. “There’s a burger joint around the corner.” “…Fine.” # The orc grumbled as he munched on one of the burgers that the fast food restaurant offered. It was not a steak, nor stew, but it was better than nothing. He would have preferred to be in a pub, or failing that, a fine restaurant where the staff could be made to respect his age a bit more, but this was better than nothing. And it helped that Keven was under the table, massaging his balls and keeping them properly churning. [i]At least this boy knows his place,[/i] he thought, taking another bite of the meat sandwich. [i]He didn’t take long to do what he was told.[/i] Remarkably little time, actually, now that he thought about it. The dragonoid had slipped into a hypnotic trance almost as soon as the orc had started wagging his beard. The jingle-jangle of the bells hanging from his chest had been almost entirely lost to traffic, or he might have expected it to happen even faster, but even the flickers of light against the enchanted gems in his beard had been enough to drag him down. [i]Maybe it’s the bloodline. Or maybe I was just angry.[/i] Angry spellcasting wasn’t always a good thing. Sure, one could get more power from it, but it did tend to burn through the ‘battery’ a bit faster than you wanted to. Might have been the case here. “Excuse me, sir.” The orc paused in the middle of a bite through the burger, looking out of the corner of his eye. A ferret in the blue and yellow uniform of the establishment had walked up to him, looking nervous. “Uh, sir, I, uh, I mean…the manager wanted me to ask you…” Bruha opened his mouth, lifting one finger to push the bun of the sandwich off of one of his tusks. The hole he'd poked through the meat and bread remained as he turned his head. “Your manager wanted you to ask me what?” “If you could, um, not have your…your companion…under the table…doing…that…” As the ferret’s voice trailed off, Bruha’s eyes flicked from the slinky male in front of him to the chubby-looking boar standing just around the corner behind the counter. The older, glasses-wearing pig was trying to hide behind some of the cooking machines, looking out at the room, watching to see what the orc would do, no doubt. Bruha snorted, pushing himself to his feet. The table screeched as he pushed at it, the metal legs on it sliding across a tiled floor that did not like the pressure. His cock, having been teased for nearly three minutes, was actually hard, the fat green meat flopping out on the table. Of course, most people would be staring at him. Bare-chested, hard-muscled with the beginnings of an age-gut, Bruha was nevertheless a tall, distinguished orc. The silver bells that hung from piercings through his nipples jingled as he crossed his arms, his beard over thick limbs as he looked down at the ferret. “Are you objecting to a customer taking his pleasure?” “Uh, no, not me, just…just my…my manager.” He had not known that ferret voices could rise so high. It had almost become a squeaky parody of itself, something that sounded more suitable for a dog toy than a person’s voice. Bruha shook his head. “Your manager is forcing you to bother a customer. You will go back to him and tell him that if he thinks I’m not allowed to take my pleasure, then he can tell me his damn self.” “But…but sir…” Jingle-jangle. Bruha flexed his shoulders, his pecs, and the bells rang, the sound a soft one, but nonetheless, it silenced the ferret in short order. The smaller male blushed, his cheeks burning, but his eyes were glazed over slightly. As the orc nudged one of the gems in his beard, he felt the power tingling through it, a power that he drew on as he spoke. There was a rumble to his words, this time, one that seemed to echo through the air and floor. “Tell him that, if he wants me to stop, he has to come out himself. And you…may go outside after that, and satisfy yourself. Obviously, the sight of a proper orc man has overwhelmed you.” “Y-yes, sir…” “Master.” “Yes Master.” The ferret was off like a shot, ducking back behind the counter and running over to the boar. As they spoke in hushed voices, Bruha sat down again, his cock flopping out on his driver’s face. [i]…For all that it’s plain, this burger is not bad,[/i] he thought as he went back to eating. After another jingle to knock the dragonoid under the table back into a proper frame of mind, Keven went back to pleasing him. As expected, there was no further problem with the manager. The boar stayed behind the counter, though he kept sending the orc dirty looks throughout his meal. Other customers would occasionally look, stare, and then look away. It didn’t bother him. After all, an orc like him deserved a servant, and a servant, as all knew, was required to serve their master in whatever way that they were asked. Of course, explaining that to the police was a bit of a different matter. # “Um, Master…am I going to be in trouble?” Keven asked as they left the restaurant. “No.” Well, possibly. It [i]had[/i] been something of a rush job to get the half-dozen cops that showed up to let them leave without any further problems. The suggestions that he’d left in their minds were probably not the most secure, and if someone questioned them about today, they might remember more than he wanted. But…dammit, they had spoiled his afternoon. What little pleasure he had been getting from his food and from his servant had been completely taken away, and now, they were back on the road, back on the same pointless search for dragons that he could add to his new harem. “You know, if you don’t have a phone, Master, you can use mine.” “Just drive. Don’t talk. Just drive.” “If you say so, Master. But it might be easier if you used it. You could schedule a meet-up with another dragon and –” “Just…stop. I’ll figure it out.” The dragonoid nodded, going back to driving. [i]He’s lucky that he’s cute,[/i] the orc thought, shaking his head as he looked at Keven in the mirror. They’d left the driver’s shirt behind at the restaurant, something that he believed improved the look of the blue-scaled male considerably. He was reasonably fit, and certainly looked better with it off than he ever had with it on. But that was not enough. He needed to find more than just the one, just the driver. Particularly if he wanted to be satisfied tonight. [i]If he would just stop talking about the phone and these…things.[/i] The fact that he didn’t have one of these devices, save for an aged flip-phone that a family member had forced on him, had been a point of pride for him. He had pushed away the world’s insistence that he have one of these stifling devices, made a life for himself that didn’t require them. He’d made the entire world fuck off. And now, it was coming back to bite him in the ass. Not only did he not have one of the devices, he honestly did not know how to use them. [i]I need an assistant,[/i] he admitted. [i]I don’t like it, but I need a damn technology assistant.[/i] It would be temporary, he was sure. He would eventually learn how it worked, provided that he got the right one. Someone that respected him and didn’t talk down to him. Someone that gave him the right information, someone that knew how to give him proper service between teaching him how this worked. No, not teaching. Informing. Yes, that was the proper role. He would not be under anyone; they would be informing him as a service, not teaching him because of a weakness. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the [i]time[/i]. He leaned on his fist, staring out the window once more. There were many people on the streets, and most of them were very focused on one device or another, obviously well aware of how to use them. Most of them could probably teach him how to use them, but the other quality would be lacking. The respect. The service. The proper attitude. [i]Where’s that human when I need him?[/i] The one that had helped him at the hotel. The one that had made everything okay. The one that had served him in the bedroom and given him so much pleasure that the orc had sworn that the dark-skinned man had some dragon blood to him. Even thinking of that eager tongue on him again was enough to make his cock stiffen beneath his kilt. He pushed it down, grumbling. [i]Don’t count on it. He wasn’t at the hotel.[/i] That had been a disappointment. When he’d been left harem-less again, he’d gone to the hotel in hopes of finding that human again. It had taken a while, due to not knowing the man’s name, but eventually he was able to communicate what he wanted. What he needed. And they weren’t able to give it to him. [i]He left our place of employment,[/i] they told him. [i]Took a job overseas.[/i] And that meant that there was little to no chance of Bruha ever seeing him again, as the orc didn’t travel far unless someone else booked his tickets…and traveled with him, if they really wanted him to turn up on time. He sighed, shaking his head and rubbing one hand down his face. It was probably for the best. He needed to get used to this world, and if he leaned on someone as a crutch – The taxi came to a stop at an intersection, and as Bruha looked outside again, he froze. “Not…possible…” Standing across the street, waiting for the light to change, was the very man that he’d been thinking of. His jaw dropped as he stared at the human, seeing him chatting on the phone, seeing him carrying four different bags in his arms, and looking ready to drop. Despite that, he still had the same efficient demeanor that he’d had at the hotel, still had the same focused look on his face, even if there was a new wrinkle or two in the forehead. [i]He’s here. He’s perfect.[/i] “Driver.” “Yes, Master?” “Over there. Now.” “But Master, traffic rules –” “Screw the rules. Over there. Now.” “Yes, Master.” The dragonoid floored it, and suddenly they were on the far side of the intersection, and most of the people on the sidewalk yelped as they jumped back. The dark-skinned human went wide-eyed, but whether he was just confident about not moving or too tired to do it, Bruha didn’t know. He did, however, kick open the door and grab the familiar man by the shoulder, yanking him in. “You’re late.” “Wha –” “I said, you’re late, now get in!” As soon as the human was seated next to him, he slammed the door shut and told Keven to keep driving. “Pardon me, sir, but I need a moment,” the human said. “I’ll explain in a second,” Bruha said. “Just getting some –” “Not you, sir, the sir on the other end of the line.” “Other –” Right. The human – Darren, he finally remembered the guy’s name as being – had his phone out. He’d been in the middle of a phone call. A phone call that he’d interrupted. A phone call that was sounding increasingly annoyed. Suddenly realizing what he had done – kidnapping, at minimum – the orc went into immediate damage control. He grabbed one of the gems from his beard, pulling it free and tapping it to Darren’s forehead. “Repeat after me. ‘I resign.’” Simple commands worked best with this sort of magic, and this was no exception. Darren suddenly stiffened, his eyes going wide for a moment. Bruha felt a stiff resistance to his power, one that lasted for two, three, four seconds before the human relaxed again. “Sir, I resign,” he said into the phone. “Repeat after me. ‘Do not call me back.’” “Do not call me back.” “End the call.” There was a moment’s hesitation, but the dark-skinned human pulled his hand down, tapped the screen, and the call was over. Bruha took the phone and threw it out the window, tossing it into the nearest alley. “Drive, Keven. Far as you can. Winding pathways. I want to get as far from here as I can, as fast as I can.” “Right away, Master.” As he sat back down, he pulled the gem from Darren’s forehead. The human blinked, looked down at his hand, then back the way they’d come. The alley rapidly disappeared into the distance, and Bruha started to notice things that he hadn’t noticed before. One. Darren was dressed in a fancy sort of suit. Not a formal tuxedo, but a suit and tie like some of the modern people would wear to board meetings, as he’d heard them called. He didn’t know why they would turn up dressed like that to be tied down to stiff boards, but he didn’t understand much of the modern culture. Two. The human looked tired. Very, very tired, beyond what simply dragging several bags around with him over the course of the day would account for. He looked like he had been put through the wringer, spat out, and then put through it again for good measure. Third. He did not look happy, and he did not look like he was ready to just accept his situation. Bruha pulled a different gem from his beard, tapping it to the human’s forehead. “Sleep.” Once more, the tingle of power from the gem passed between it and his fingers, and the human slumped down against the leather seat. The orc shook his head, putting the gem back where it had hung previously. The seriousness was settling in, now, and he could feel himself sliding from his grumpy, angry with the world mindset to something a bit less familiar. It had been a long time since he had to deal with a crisis, but he had been through enough in his long time in the world to know how to handle them. It was almost a relief to know that he still could, actually. “Keven.” “Yes, Master?” “Take a winding trip back to this address.” He reached down to his kilt, tearing off one of several pieces of paper he kept there for hypnotic commands (it worked well for telling one-night stands where to go after work). “Take the long way around, and make sure that if anyone follows you, you shake them. Do you know how to do that?” “I…I’ve seen movies, Master.” “I’ll take care of the details. Just don’t let anyone follow you for more than a few blocks.” “Understood, Master.” “And Keven?” “Yes, Master?” “When we find a place for you to park, I’m going to need a blowjob.” “Of course, Master.” As the dragonoid continued his trip through the city, Bruha sorted through the magic that he still had to his name. Most of his spells were still in the crystals in his beard, though he had some back-ups back in his burrow. They were far away, however, and would not be useful to him right now. [i]A spell of silence,[/i] he thought, pulling one of the crystals free. [i]A spell of inconspicuousness, and of speed.[/i] The combinations would give them a very, very quiet taxi that wasn’t invisible – he’d learned how bad an idea that was a few years back – but very innocent, not worthy of attention at all. And just in case they needed to run, speed would be very, very useful. He leaned forward after activating them, leaning them against the taxi dashboard. It would do for now, keeping the vehicle from being noticed by any police that had spotted his little kidnapping. Looking down at the human again, he wondered what was going through his head. This was criminal in a way that his antics usually weren’t. Oh, he had stolen dragons off the street before, and he was planning on doing the same with Keven, but that was different. Those were dragons, not really on the same level of people. This…this was a human. A human that had someone that he’d been working for, a human that obviously would be missed. [i]I need to cover my tracks. Fast.[/i] That was all well and good. He was used to doing that. One did not live to his age without learning a few tricks about keeping under the radar while doing some not-entirely-legal things. What he wasn’t used to was the urge to do it in the first place. [i]Why you, human?[/i] he wondered, stroking a hand along the human’s sleeping face. [i]Why you?[/i] That was what he didn’t know. While Darren had been incredibly useful and respectful those two nights in the hotel, it wasn’t as if the human was a dragon, as if he was particularly attractive to the orc’s eyes. He wasn’t someone that pulled at his libido, demanded to be taken and held in service. He was capable, but surely there were many others just as capable. People that he could lure with money rather than with kidnapping. People that he wouldn’t be breaking the law to hire. Or dragons, he supposed. Dragons that would be useful in that capacity as well as in the other sort of service. [i]Why you, human?[/i] he wondered. # Far away, in a city that was surrounded by tropical jungles, there was a snow leopard that still stared at the phone in his hand. It was beeping softly, the line dead, and he had yet to redial the number. Kai Lee cocked his head to the side slowly, running his thumb along the edge of the screen to keep it active, refreshed. The beep, beep, beep of the dead line repeated for another few seconds before finally ending. “Hmm.” He put the phone down on the table, tapping one finger against the surface. “You are putting me in a difficult position, Darren.” Of course, he knew that his assistant hadn’t quit. The rapid change in the tone of voice from progress report to resignation was too extreme for there to have been enough of an offer to change the human’s mind about who he worked for. That much was clear. And there had been another voice, just loud enough for him to hear. Of course, that was to be expected; he had given Darren the best equipment to do his job, not merely something suitable. [i]Repeat after me…[/i] He could hear the voice in his head, and the snow leopard closed his eyes, forcing the memory to repeat itself. [i]Repeat after me. ‘I resign.’[/i] The snow leopard pushed the memory again and again, cutting out inconsistencies in tone of voice and inflections until it repeated as truly as any recording would have. If he heard the voice again, he would know it. But that wasn’t enough. If the line was dead, then there was a good chance that the phone had been ditched by the kidnapper. A kidnapper with either sufficient force of arms to make Darren surrender to a demand, or, more likely, someone that had managed to use a form of mental manipulation to get what they wanted. Kai Lee imagined the latter. The change of the vocal tones was what sold that idea to him. Too extreme, too quickly for it to be duress by threat of harm. Shaking his head, Kai Lee lifted his phone again, turning it to contacts. It rang three times before a breathy, huffy voice answered him. “[i]Mmmm, oh yes, oh Spotty, Fluffy, Grumpy One?[/i]” “Saunak. You have contacts in Novus Ager, yes?” “[i]Of course. I am – mmmph – the prince with a cock in every city.[/i]” “Get in contact with someone who knows the streets well. I need a guide when I arrive.” “[i]Oh? Since when do you take vacations?[/i]” “This isn’t a vacation. This is a rescue mission.” “[i]…Okay, okay, get off me for a minute, Vance.[/i]” He heard a grunting on the other end, knowing that the mongoose was shifting around and pulling off of a lover. What else was that prince ever doing? “[i]Who’s in danger?[/i]” “An assistant of mine.” “[i]Please tell me that you aren’t going to blow up the city? I like it there.[/i]” “I am not so crass as to go that far.” “[i]I’ll get in touch. Just…don’t go overboard, okay? You know what happens when you go too far.[/i]” “I am in control. I merely wish my assistant back. That’s all. Now, make your arrangements, and I’ll make mine.” Kai Lee hung up, already on the move. An airplane would be ready shortly. [b][u][center]The End[/center][/u][/b]