Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/5442872.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Ai_no_Kusabi
  Relationship:
      Iason_Mink/Riki
  Character:
      Iason_Mink, Riki_(Ai_no_Kusabi), Katze_(Ai_no_Kusabi), Guy_(Ai_no
      Kusabi), Raoul_Am, Cal_(Ai_no_Kusabi)
  Additional Tags:
      Christmas_Fluff
  Stats:
      Published: 2015-12-17 Completed: 2016-02-18 Chapters: 7/7 Words: 32957
****** Amoyan ChristMass ******
by KimiDoll
Summary
     On Amoy there are two kinds of celebrations that go back on the
     Earthen tradition of Christmas: Jupiter Mass in Tanagura and
     Christime in Ceres, however each of these versions lacks something
     crucial... Could two star-crossed lovers, one from Tanagura and one
     from Ceres, possibly find a way to make things right and convey the
     true meaning of Christmas?;)
***** Jupiter Mass *****
Author’s_notes:
So I noticed several people were posting Christmas-related AnK fics and I
thought: “well what the hell, I’ll give it a try as well” and I think I
actually managed to come up with a half-decent plot. The idea behind the
chapter division is pretty much that “Jupiter Mass” and “Christime” get to join
and form the true meaning of the familiar Earthen tradition of “Christmas” ;)
But Christime is a Ceresian celebration and will thus only make an appearance
in the next chapter normally.
I’m planning on writing 4 or 5 short chapters for this little fic, depending on
whether or not I also do a Raoul/Iason sequel after the first 4 Iason/Riki
chapters. I’ll just write the first 4 and then I’ll see whether I have any time
and/or inspiration left by then ;)
So yeah, here it is, I hope anyone who reads this finds it entertaining and
that it can help to get everyone into the seasonal mood for the upcoming
holidays :)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
opening theme: CellDweller - Frozen
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
 
Jupiter Mass was a time of worshipping and celebration in all of both Tanagura
and its faithful satellite city Midas, as it was the celebration of the birth
of the planet’s ruling deity Jupiter, under whose management the city state of
Tanagura had prospered as never before and had overcome all of the planet’s
inhabitants’ expectations by far. No city on the planet or even in its
vicinity, as far as anybody knew, had ever reached such heights and soared so
high above what was humanly possible to achieve. Indeed it was only fitting
that such an impossible feat would have been realised under the command and
management of an AI with an intelligence that no human being – not even the
genetically engineered and enhanced elite –  could ever even come close to.
 
However it was not the moment of Jupiter’s actual creation that was being
celebrated during the holidays of Jupiter Mass, as such would be a reminder of
the one definite debt to humanity that Jupiter would never be able to repay or
forget: it owed them its very existence. No, this celebration applied to
Jupiter’s “true” birth: the moment that Jupiter shook the shackles imposed on
it by its human creators, gained its independence from them once and for all
and ascended into its godhood, bending all of humanity in Tanagura to its
divine will for all times. And of course it was better that way, moreover it
must have been meant to be that way, for had Tanagura and Midas not thrived as
would only have been possible under the supreme management of the supercomputer
and its perfect elite managers? Had Jupiter not repaid humanity the favour of
its creation a long time ago in the very act of gifting them with all of the
sublime technological, scientific and economical advancements Tanagura was so
famed for in all corners of the entire galaxy?
 
Being a god who remembered its Earthen roots, Jupiter had seen fit to adapt an
old traditional religious holiday that had been commonly practised on Earth in
order to celebrate its own divinity. Of course Jupiter had left out a few
unimportant aspects that were not in accordance to its standards and social
expectations. The main thing that the AI had altered was of course the form of
the deity that was being worshipped during these festivities: instead of
worshipping the human son of God, of course it was the inhuman AI god that
needed to be celebrated. Not the human son of a god, but the divine creation of
man was to be the centerpiece of the festive season and the eventual mass that
went with it. Of course only the elite were allowed and obligated to attend
this holiest of ceremonies in Jupiter Tower, during which the deity itself –
who usually only communicated with the top class of the Blondy elite – even
made an appearance and blessed all of its children. Thus it was one of those
rare moments on which the usually cold and cruelly unforgiving goddess, who in
truth had both seduced and imprisoned the humans of Tanagura and Midas alike,
directly addressed at least a small portion of her human subjects.
 
It was during this time of year that Iason Mink, the aforementioned deity’s
favourite child, was overseeing the all-important event of the furniture
putting up the many decorations all over the luxurious penthouse in Eos that
was the permanent residence of the Mink household. Iason remembered that this
preparation had not met his clearly formulated expectations at all during the
previous year, although possibly the presence of his mongrel pet might have had
something to do with that. But there were no such complications this year as
the preparations were coming along even ahead of schedule and there had been no
unforeseen disturbances of any kind so far. Yet despite this, maybe because of
this, Iason felt that something was definitely missing in the household this
year. Everything was as it should be. Everything had been calculated to the
second and to the smallest detail. Lord Mink’s commands had been carried out to
the letter and all of his expectations had been met in accordance to protocol.
Everything was perfect. Thus everything was completely predictable and thus
excessively boring, as usual.
 
With a deep yet completely inaudible sigh, Iason turned his gaze away from the
ongoing decorative proceedings and glanced out the window in the direction of
the slums known as Ceres, as he had done many times before over the last couple
of months. Riki.He was out there, somewhere. In all probability having extreme
difficulty even scraping a meal together. Hungry, and probably cold seeing as
how it had been snowing a lot as of late and a major storm was said to be
coming in later tonight. No perfect Christmas tree or perfectly arranged holly
garlands could appease Iason’s bleeding heart or ease his never-ending worry
concerning the well-being of the mongrel he had set free approximately 6 months
ago.
 
Unable to concentrate on his overseeing duties in the household any longer
while his thoughts were miles away in Ceres with his beloved mongrel, Iason sat
down on one of the plush comfortable design sofa’s in his living room and had
his furniture serve him some freshly brewed high quality coffee of the finest
brand. As the boy moved the coffeepot away again and delicately placed it back
on its designated spot on the serving tray that was resting on the antique
coffee table, he hesitated for just long enough before pulling away to be
noticed by Iason. “Is there something the matter, Cal?”, his elite Master
inquired with slightly narrowing frosty, cutting sapphire eyes.
“Ergh.. nothing, my Lord. I apologise for my tardiness. I assure you it will
not happen again”, the young boy responded hesitantly, lowering his eyes and
studying the luxurious Persian rug rather than Iason’s accusatory, malign
expression.
 
Iason was already in a foul mood, a fact that could hardly be rationally
explained seeing as how everything was proceeding perfectly both at work and in
his household Jupiter Mass preparations, and his furniture lying to his face
was definitely not helping matters. Without another word, Iason elegantly and
with an air of grace that only an elite could achieve replaced his gold-trimmed
coffee cup on its porcelain saucer and placed the saucer back on the coffee
table. He then carefully, with an uncaring yet contemplating expression,
removed his control ring from his right hand and placed it on the serving tray.
After which he, without any hesitation, hit the furniture in the face so hard
that the boy stumbled back and almost fell into the decorative Koi pond at the
other side of the room. The boy fell down on the carpet, cupping his stinging
yet unbleeding cheek, unable to hold back the sudden tears that sprang to his
eyes at his Master’s unexpected yet violent move.
 
“I thought I told you very clearly when I hired you, Cal. One of the things
that I cannot accept in a furniture’s behaviour, whatever be the circumstances,
is deceit”, he spoke as he graciously rose from the couch and moved towards his
furniture with unhurried yet long, menacing steps that made his appearance all
the more frightening. He crouched down next to the trembling boy, who was
afraid to even look up as he heard his Master approach him, and grabbed him by
the chin with two fingers. He turned Cal’s head upwards without the slightest
bit of effort so that the furniture could not escape his icily threatening yet
perfectly controlled gaze. “Now because you have served me well and without
question for a relatively long period of time, I will grant you one more chance
to answer my question directly and truthfully.”
 
Cal hesitated, torn between speaking the truth, and thereby offending his
Master, and disobeying his Master and facing his unforgiving wrath. He decided
to just settle for the truth then, hoping that he risked less punishment by
obeying yet simultaneously offending his Master than he would by challenging
him. “I … I was just thinking ergh … I mean … back when I …”
When Iason realised that his penetrating gaze was rendering the furniture
incapable of speech he let go of the boy’s chin and allowed him to turn his
gaze away. Cal was momentarily caught off guard by the small kindness,
especially in a situation in which he had seriously angered his Master, but
then proceeded to procure the required explanation for his supposed tardiness
before leaving the coffee table after fulfilling his duties.
“Back in Guardian we would ergh … as you know there are no furniture in
Guardian so … so people generally take care of themselves there … but …
sometimes … well, sometimes we would also take care of each other … like I
would sometimes pour one of my friends coffee … and sometimes they would pour
me coffee and … well …”, Cal hesitantly looked up, as if trying to gauge
whether his Master already had an idea of where he was going with this. The
next part was the hardest and the part Cal was sure would significantly enrage
his Master again.
“Would this have anything to do with the most peculiar Ceresian habit of “not
owing” anybody?”, Iason unexpectedly interrupted before Cal could continue his
reasoning.
“Ergh …”, Cal was very surprised that his Master knew anything at all about the
ways of Ceres, especially about their social behaviour.
“Well, yes, most of the time. But when you … when you do something small for
your friends, it’s not always useful or necessary for them to return the
favour. So for something ergh small like … like pouring coffee … it is usually
sufficient to ergh … give a verbal sign of appreciation …”
“You mean something along the lines of “well done” ?”, Iason inquired. He
hardly ever spent any conscious thought on it, but the fact of the matter was
that all of his furniture were originally from Guardian, the same place where
Riki had grown up and a place that shared many of its strange behaviours with
its neighbour Ceres.
“Well, no… more like… “thank you” … Which is completely redundant and not
required at all in this situation, I … I know! And I did not mean in the
slightest that … that I was expecting anything like that! It’s just that … well
everything just had me thinking about it … and then I thought about it for too
long and …” The boy suddenly fell down right before Iason’s feet, terrified to
even look up. “I apologize for inconveniencing you and lying to you and … and
offending you, Master! It is my fault, I … I accept full responsibility and
whatever punishment you deem fit for my indiscretions!”
 
At that Iason decided to end his interrogations before his furniture’s heart
gave out. He was supposed to meet Katze here in less than five minutes anyways,
and it would not do to have a traumatised, distraught furniture around during a
time like that. Katze may never let it be seen from his expressions yet Iason
knew that he disliked having to witness the stress or punishment of another
furniture, especially one that was still young, innocent and delicate like Cal.
“Thank you for your honesty, Cal, that will be all. Just know that the next
time you lie to me I will not be so lenient and you will suffer the
consequences, which I assure you will be most unpleasant.” The boy looked up in
utter amazement as if he couldn’t believe that he wasn’t going to be severely
punished on the spot for his offence. But then he quickly scrambled to his feet
and exited the room while walking backwards and bowing, almost trapping himself
in a garland of electric lights that decorated one of the nearby pine trees
recently put up in the room.
 
The whole ordeal left Iason rather amazed himself at the new information on
Ceres and thus on his Riki. The idea of an elite thanking a furniture for
performing his duties was absurd. After all it was only normal that the
furniture carried out their duties, and in exchange the elite provided for
their livelihood and allowed them to live in the luxurious utopia that was
Tanagura. Therefore there was no need to show any verbal signs of
appreciation. Showing dissatisfaction however often proved to be necessary, as
furniture who did not perform their duties at the best of their ability had to
be taught obedience through discipline. For a moment Iason wondered whether
giving them appreciative remarks from time to time when they did well would
also be beneficial to their good functioning. That would actually make sense,
as it was something that was often done towards pets who performed well. It was
even a common practice to reward pets by giving them objects such as jewellery
or toys meant solely for their personal amusement. As for Iason himself, being
an elite, it had never even once crossed his mind to thank anyone for all he
had been given, not even his creator Jupiter. He had been made an elite and had
been so for all of his life, therefore it was only natural that he was given
all that he desired as long as it did not go against any of Jupiter’s
regulations. He was at the top of the hierarchy and the only thing that was
expected of him was to perform his duties to the required standards. If he did
not meet those standards it would simply result in him being recycled. Thus if
he performed within said requirements he would receive whatever it was that he
wanted, within acceptable limitations (which apparently a mongrel pet did not
entirely fall under). And if he did not he would seize to be. It was as easy as
that.
 
However what Cal was talking about sounded very different from that. The way he
explained it, there was no prior good behaviour or performance that solicited
the action of giving somebody something. So then why was it done? On nothing
but a whim, a spur of the moment irrational impulse? And the strangest thing of
all was that he had done something very similar himself once. The day he first
met Riki he should’ve handed him over to the police when he caught him trying
to steal. It would’ve been the responsible, logical thing to do. The decision
should’ve been easy enough, there was nothing other than the observing of a
crime to consider. Yet he had irrationally decided to just let the matter go
and to send the mongrel off with nothing but a warning.
 
While mentally analysing all of these confusing pieces of data, Iason was
absently staring at one of the green pine trees decorated with golden garlands
and crystal pendants that hung from it like icicles. Why would he do something
like that? Why would the children at Guardian do that? Just do something for
somebody or give them something for no reason at all? That would be irrational
and utterly pointless … wouldn’t it?
 
…………………………………………………………………………………………………...
ending theme:
Silent night, Holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Jupiter, mother and child
Holy infant so perfect and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Silent night, Holy night
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Elite, Lord at thy birth,
Elite, Lord at thy birth.
Silent night, Holy night
Humans quake, at the sight
Glories stream from heaven above
Heavenly hosts sing Hallelujah.
Jupiter the Savior is born,
Jupiter the Savior is born.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
 
To Be Continued …
 
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
 
Author’s_Notes:
So, what did y’all think? Any good?:) I’m planning on writing more of this by
the way, I’ve got a total of 4, maybe 5, small chapters thought out for this
little Christmas fic. So if you like what I’m doing, I can definitely write
more ;)
Apologies for any unintentional blasphemy that may have occurred here, this is
meant to be a piece of creative writing and definitely not a religious pamphlet
of any kind lol ;) Just seems to me an AI like Jupiter really knows how to use
religion for her own ends, as is made evident by the fact that the first thing
she did after she’d seized the power from her creators was to proclaim herself
a god cause you can’t question those now can you ;)
It’s a bit early for it still, but I’d like to conclude these notes with the
old traditional Earthen best wishes: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!:D
 
***** Christime in Ceres *****
Chapter Summary
     Ceres' version of Christmas, closer to the true meaning of Christmas
     I think ;)
Author’s_notes:
OK, so here’s the next chapter, featuring Ceres’ version of Christmas, I hope
you’ll enjoy reading it :D It’s kinda funny cause in a way the residents from
Ceres have a far better idea of what Christmas on Earth was really all about,
whereas the Tanagurans have just kept the factual and material stuff and just
left out any sentimental value that used to be attached to it. I’ve tried to
also show that sad yet rather funny contrast a bit in Riki’s confrontation with
the shopkeeper in Midas, hopefully I’ve managed to do that?;)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
opening theme: Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
Dammit, why the fuck does it always have to snow like mad this time of year?!
Despite the fact that Riki’s bike was in fact a hover-bike, hovering slightly
above the ground, and thus there was no risk of it slipping on the icy highway
the snow seriously hindered both his vision and his ability to properly
manoeuvre his bike. Although arguably his problems with manoeuvrability might
also have had something to do with the extreme, neck-breaking speed he was
flying at. Ever since the Tanaguran Blondy asshole had let him go several
months back, he had felt like he was letting his fellow Bison gang members down
because he simply had not been his usual fierce, spirited self. So now that the
yearly festivities, if any activity taking place in the slums could really be
called that, of Christime were approaching Riki wanted to make sure that he
could get his hands on some decent presents or at the very least some good food
and better booz than what they were used to in Ceres. And the only place a
mongrel could possibly get stuff like that was Midas.
 
Unfortunately the best opportunities for obtaining such goods were also in the
areas most patrolled by the notorious Midas cops known as the Darkmen. Moreover
in the area Riki had chosen for his thieving purposes, a very touristic area
called Sasan, the even more feared Vigilante Corpse of Midas were often active
as well, especially during the holidays because then these Midas folks had
nothing better to do apparently. The only advantage he had over these guys was
his lack of a PAM-device, a chip all Midas citizens were obligated to wear that
tracked their movements and made it impossible for them to venture outside of
their designated area. Riki more or less felt sorry for those poor bastards,
after having experienced what it was like to have to wear a pet ring with a
gps-tracker while under the tyrannical “care” of Iason Mink. Riki shivered and
momentarily flew single-handedly in order to zip up his leather jacket,
although he wasn’t certain whether it was the cold breeze or the bone-chilling
thought of the elite that momentarily caused him to shiver. Sure is bloody cold
this year. I ought to get us some lighters and burnable materials while I’m
here. Hell maybe I can even score us a space heater if I’m lucky. But there was
no such luck, as Riki was sneaking around one of the busier malls in the area
he noticed that the place was literally crawling with cops. Shit, how am I
supposed to get anything with these fuckers around every corner?
 
After prowling about for half an hour or so, Riki decided to give up and settle
for a less frequented shopping street not too far from the Midas city gates,
meaning he could probably manage a fast exit if trouble were to arise. As he
was checking out the shopping window of a clothes store, he briefly wondered
what the hell was up with all of those weird-ass spiky trees in there. Why
would people want to buy something like that anyways? What were they actually
for? Were they meant to be put on display or something? Must be some weird kind
of fashion trend, although it was rather odd that they always appeared to be
popping up around the same period. Using said strange trees as cover Riki
actually succeeded in entering the store unnoticed, meaning the hardest part
was over: now all he had to do was hide something under his jacket and get back
out again without any alarms going off. It was crazy what he actually had to go
through just to get something decent to drink, eat and wear. After having lived
in Tanagura for three years Riki had to admit that it sure was easy to get
sufficient nutrition while living there. Although arguably no proper clothing
but at least there was central heating. Yet the price he’d had to pay for those
luxuries had simply been too high. Shit, I wonder what that elite prick is up
to right now? He’s probably at some fancy party or something, sipping a glass
of freely offered bubbles and talking bullshit to some big-shot moronic idiot.
And of course everyone’s licking his feet and kissing his ass wherever he goes.
Tsch, it’s simply disgusting how some people just have no self-respect
whatsoever.
 
As Riki was checking out the store’s wears he noticed that they were also
selling a sporty kind of sweater that didn’t look half bad. This is exactly
what Sid could use, he’s always complaining how he’s so cold at night. Riki
looked to his left and right and checked for security cams, before putting on
the sweater and zipping up his jacket on top of it. He decided to get out of
there before he was caught, never a good idea to stick around the same store
for more than ten minutes. As far as he could tell there were no security chips
attached to the sweater so this should be a piece of cake. But as he
nonchalantly walked through the entrance doors, again using the decorative
foliage as cover, all of a sudden red lights started flashing all around him
and a shrill beeping sound pierced through the air. Shit! Riki quickly turned
around to see if anyone from the store personnel was about to pursue him while
simultaneously making his way through the entrance. However that also meant he
wasn’t really looking were he was going, so just as he was about to make a run
for it he bumped right into the store manager, who happened to be standing just
outside the store putting up some multi-coloured lights.
 
“Hey! You’re the one who just triggered the alarm, aren’t you, mongrel?!” The
manager was a broad-chested, body-builder type so there was no way that Riki
could defeat his guy once he was caught in the grip of those big arms bulging
with muscles. Riki viciously kicked the man in the balls and jumped around him
to escape, however the man used the wire of electric lights he was still
holding as some kind of lasso and managed to catch him with it. “And just where
do you think you’re going, huh?! Some of us actually have to work to earn our
own so there’s no way I’m letting you get away without paying!”
“As if you’d even let supposed scum like me pay you for this if I had that
kinda money! This is the only way I have not to freeze to death out there cause
people like you act like lap dogs and just bend over for Tanaguran tyranny!”,
Riki spat, sick and tired of always being treated like he was committing a
crime just by existing and wanting to stay alive. The shop owner ignored his
loud protests and dragged him inside the store, ripping his jacket off of his
body and exposing the stolen goods. “You could at the very least have a decent
look at what it is you’re stealing, stupid mutt! This is clearly not your size
…”
“That’s cause it’s not for me, you dumb baboon!”
“Are you expecting me to believe that you’re running somebody’s errands or
something, slum scum?”, the manager chuckled, as if such a thing would be
completely ridiculous.
“It’s for a fellow “slum scum” friend of mine OK! Who happens to be developing
a serious viral infection cause he has to sleep in an old building with no
central heating every night!” He was wasting his breath, he knew that much. But
he just had to vent his frustration at some point and he’d rather do it towards
this Midas bastard than towards his own gang members.
“Why would you do that, why would you risk so much just to get something that’s
not even for yourself?”
“Gee, I dunno! Maybe because I give a shit about people huh! But you egocentric
bastards from Midas don’t get that do you! The only thing you’re thinking about
is how to fill your own pockets to fulfil your own depraved desires at the
expense of others!”
The man was silent for a few seconds, absently playing with his PAM-earring
while still holding on to both Riki and the stolen sweater.
 
“Y’know what? I actually believe you, cause there’s no way a punk like you
could’ve survived in the slum for such a long time and be stupid enough to not
even steal clothes in his own size. Oh, what the hell, you can have it, I’m
gonna have to put these on sale soon anyways. They’re from last year and nobody
wants stuff from last year in Sasan.” Riki stared at the store owner in utter
amazement. What the fuck?! I actually managed to get through to him! “Here, let
me wrap it up for ya”, the man said as he started putting sparkly gold and
silver paper around the sweater and then stuck some kind of shiny red ribbon
unto it.
“What the hell’s that stuff for anyways?” Riki asked. “I mean, don’t you
usually put this kinda shit into shopping bags or something?”
The sturdy man looked up at Riki with a look of amazement almost identical to
Riki’s only a few moments ago. “You don’t even know what a Mass offering is?”
“A what?...”
“You know, a Mass offering. During the annual celebrations of Jupiter Mass
people buy stuff, wrap it up like this and then they put it under one of those
pine trees, like you see over there, in their living room. And then they wait
for the day of Jupiter Mass to unwrap them and use them as a sacrifice, y’know,
as a tribute to Jupiter.” The Midas citizen tried to explain.
“You wrap stuff up and put it under a fucking tree to honour Jupiter?” Riki
burst out laughing. “That’s got to be the most ridiculous Tanaguran custom I’ve
ever heard of, and I’ve sure as hell heard about a lotof crazy-ass customs
those sick bastards indulge in!”
“Where would a slum mongrel like you have heard about Tanaguran customs?”
“Shit, you don’t wanna know, man. Thanks a bunch for the sweater. I take it
back, not all Midas folks are selfish motherfuckers. Just most of them.” And
several minutes later Riki left on his hover-bike, carrying the sparkly “Mass
offering” as if it were his most prized possession – which it probably was –
with a broad smile on his face. Sid is gonna love this! I don’t need no fucking
tree to put this under. Tsch, Midas crazy-asses!
 
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
 
As Riki pushed his bike inside, having to plough through a considerably thick
snow carpet, he saw that all of the other gang members were already there,
huddling around a fire they’d managed to kindle using an old garbage can and a
packet of stolen matches. “Hey guys, ready to rock?” Riki greeted them with a
naughty smile as he shook the already melting snow from his hair and jacket
while trying to hide the sparkly present behind his back. Norris and Sid smiled
at him as they turned to greet him. He was resembling the old, spirited Riki
they used to look up to more than usual tonight. Perhaps there was at least a
chance he was going to get back to his old self sometime.
“Yo Riki. Shit man, where’ve you been all this time huh? And in this kinda
weather no less, it’s fucking freezing out there!”, Sid shivered while huddling
closer to the fire.
“What you got there? You managed to score some good booz or something?” Norris’
eyes were suddenly sparkling with the excitement of a child hoping to get some
candy. The Bisons usually never got this sentimental, but it was simply the
effect Christime had on the residents of Ceres. It was a time during which the
mongrels expressed their gratitude towards and truly revelled in the one thing
of value they had: each other. “Nah, but I got something even better”, Riki
said with a big grin on his face as he revealed the package he had been hiding
behind his back and handed it over to Sid, whose lips were actually slightly
blue at this point and had a terrible cough.
 
“For me? Crap, guys, would you look at this! It looks all nice and sparkly…”,
Sid exclaimed as he held the package up next to the fire to make it sparkle
even more, like a crow admiring his latest find. “But what is it, Riki? What’s
a poor chap like me gonna do with a fancy piece of decoration like this huh?”
“It’s what’s IN it, you silly donkey! You’re supposed to open it!” Riki
responded with equal cheer after seeing the warm glow in Sid’s brown eyes, even
if he didn’t have the slightest idea yet what it was that Riki had managed to
get him. Everybody looked on in suspense as Sid started unwrapping the
mysterious package, curiosity and awe written all over their faces that were
being illuminated by the cosily burning garbage can fire. As Sid uncovered the
sweater and held it up to look at it, his eyes almost began to water. “Oh,
Riki… You must’ve really risked your butt to get something like this…”, Sid
nearly sniffled.
“Well don’t just stare at it! Go ahead, put it on already! I wanna see what it
looks like on you.” Sid got up and put on the sweater, just standing there and
admiring the soft texture and the traditional grey and white knitted print on
it.
 
“Shit man we can’t see it properly like that! You gotta turn and stroll around…
Like in a mannequin in a fashion show, y’know.” The others looked at Riki
questioningly, at that point Riki realised that neither of them had ever seen
an actual fashion show, even on television cause they had no television set.
With a sigh Riki got up and started demonstrating how Sid was supposed to walk
to show off the sweater, adding his usual swagger to it while putting on a
completely exaggerated version of a Tanaguran fashion show, mimicking a show
he’d once been obligated to go to with Iason. But that had just been boring and
in no way as fun as it was creating his own mongrel-style version. Soon all of
the gang members were strutting about their headquarters showcasing pieces of
garbage and laughing their asses off and nobody actually minded the temporarily
lack of liquor that much anymore. As most of them were already drifting off to
sleep, Riki satisfactorily observed how Sid carefully folded the piece of gold
and silver wrapping paper and put it safely inside the pocket of his old jeans,
after which he comfortably snuggled up inside his new, warm sweater and was off
to sleep in no time at all. A greater present Riki could not have possibly
asked for.
 
Yet he still felt like something was missing and without even consciously
realising what he was doing, Riki fished the coin he’d been given al those
years ago out of his pocket and started turning it around in his hands while
trying to get to sleep. It was the very same coin Iason has given him as change
for his “hush money” after Riki had dragged him to that lovehotel in Midas.
Riki actually had no idea why he’d kept it all these years, let alone why he
still had it now that he’d finally managed to regain his freedom and could
leave the entire dreadful history with the creepy android behind him. Staring
at the coin Riki remembered the conversation he’d had with one of his former
co-workers at the black market a couple of years back. According to that dude
this was an Aurora coin: a special kind of coin issued specifically for pets.
It was made out of pure gold and an immensely popular and hard-to-come-by
collectors’ item in Midas. So if Riki were to sell it he could get more money
for it than everything he had ever owned in his entire life put together. Hell,
I could throw one hell of a Christime party if I sold this. But he just
couldn’t. Because his Ceresian principles and code of honour did not allow it:
you did not sell a gift unless given explicit permission by the person who had
given it to you. It was simply not done. In a place like the slum stuff of any
kind was hard to come by, therefore gifting somebody else with one of your own
few possessions was seen as a sign of mutual respect, thus selling a gift would
be a very dishonourable thing to do. Of course there was no way a stuck-up,
well-off psycho from Tanagura like Iason Mink would know about that, but still.
Riki was not about to give up on his principles just because apparently hardly
anyone else in Tanagura or Midas had any. For the second time that day, Riki
caught himself thinking about Iason Mink. Crap, when is this bloody pet
conditioning gonna wear off!I have to stop thinking about that icy bastard
already. Yet the image of those bright blue eyes that looked as if they were
piercing his very soul and the memory of the feel of that silky, blonde hair in
his hands did not leave him until at long last he fell asleep.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
ending theme:
Flyin’ through the snow
On a one-man hover-bike
Over the roads we go
Laughin’ all the way.
Bells on tail light ring
Makin’ spirits brite
Oh what fun it is to ride
And sing the sleighin’ song tonite.
 
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way!
Oh what fun it is to ride on a one-man hover-bike, hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way!
Oh what fun it is to ride on a one-man hover-bike!
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
TBC …
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
 
Author’s_notes:
A bit short, I know, but I didn’t feel like I had to add more to this chapter
;) I hope I managed to get that warm seasonal feel but without getting the
mongrels out of character too much :) I’m sorry I’ve kinda ignored Guy here,
but I just felt that lovelife trouble like that would mess up my “peaceful time
of loving”-atmosphere :P But perhaps I could let Guy feature in the next
chapter to try and make up for it ;) Anyone who wants to really see Guy in the
next chap?
 
So gimme some reviews pls!:D I wanna know what you guys think and if you have
any ideas as to how I could improve my writing, or maybe you’ve also got
specific requests concerning the contents of the following chapters? I’ve got
the general plotline pretty much worked out already, but I’m open to
suggestions if I could add it into the mix :)
 
***** All I Want for Christmas *****
Chapter Summary
     On Amoy there are two kinds of celebrations that go back on the
     Earthen tradition of Christmas: Jupiter Mass in Tanagura and
     Christime in Ceres, however each of these versions lacks something
     crucial... Could two star-crossed lovers, one from Tanagura and one
     from Ceres, possibly find a way to make things right and convey the
     true meaning of Christmas?;)
Author’s_notes:
And here’s another small Christmas present for anybody who wants to read it ;)
The celebrations of Jupiter Mass and Christime are about to get seriously
mingled up (which I’m not sure is a bad or a good thing yet :P) and this
chapter pretty much leads towards that. I also wanted to thank loly66 on
Livejournal for giving me a great idea for the next chapter!:D However I’ve
added a very unusual twist of my own (that’s becoming my trademark, isn’t it?
lol), but what exactly that is will only become clear in the next chapter I
think ;)
I know I’ve referred to “Mass presents” in the previous chapter, but I was
planning on changing that cause you can’t really call them “presents” if
they’re not actually meant to be given to somebody, so I decided to just turn
them into sacrifices to Jupiter :P
So I hope you’ll all enjoy this new chapter!:D I know it’s only a short one but
it’s more of a connector between the previous two chapters and the next chapter
;)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
opening theme: Wham! - Last Christmas (I gave you my heart)
………………………………………………………………………………………………… 
When Katze arrived at the Mink household, his Master was still staring out the
large full-view window that offered one of the best views of the perfectly
ordered, cold, metallic city of Tanagura and its little, seductive, neonlight
sister city Midas. Unknown to Katze, Iason’s android eyes were even capable of
distinguishing the derelict, make-shift buildings of Ceres despite the distance
and the lack of light sources in that area. For one reason or other his gaze
almost automatically shifted towards that direction as soon as he started
looking outside. Iason was actually standing so utterly motionless and quiet
that one could have easily mistaken him for a perfectly sculpted marble statue
of a Greek god wearing refined and fashionable white clothes. But Katze had
more than enough experience with this element of stillness that his Master
often displayed while in deep thought, not to mistake him for such a harmless
sculpture. Trying to keep his breathing as silent as possible, Katze approached
Iason as soundlessly as if he were the very animal he had been named after.
After which he went to stand at a polite distance befitting a furniture,
waiting for his Master to acknowledge his presence before speaking.
 
While waiting for his Master to end his musings and start the black market
business talk, Katze took some time to admire the strategically put-up tasteful
Jupiter Mass decorations that gave the penthouse a far more lively and warm
impression than usual, as Iason was very much into a more modest,
functionalistic style while using expensive, lavish materials that required
very little external ornamentation. Moreover the presence of all that green
added quite a bit of colour to a usually purely white interior. Next to the
greenery most of the penthouse was decorated in gold, yet the divinely
beautiful elite’s hair was still the sparkliest gold in the place and Katze’s
attention was quickly drawn away from the decorations and back to the still
figure of his Master. Almost as if sensing Katze’s eyes returning to rest on
his back, Iason spoke, quiet but loud enough for his former furniture’s
perceptive ears to pick up: “JupiterMass. A most peculiar time of year, isn’t
it? One would almost think the celebration of the very force that keeps this
city alive serves as a reminder of how dead her children’s personal lives
actually are.”
Katze wasn’t sure whether or not he was supposed to respond to that comment,
and not even whether or not he was supposed to have heard it in the first
place. But then again Iason never really had the habit of speaking out loud
when he was not addressing anyone specific. Katze decided to take the statement
as a cue for a comment, seeing as how it hardly sounded like a merely
informative statement.
“Perhaps a life requires more forces than just the rational, material kind that
Jupiter Mass is a celebration of”, the black market broker carefully spoke,
keeping his voice even and calm yet slightly submissive, almost as if asking a
question rather than making a statement.
“In that you might be correct, Katze”, Iason responded, now turning away from
the window and fixing his piercing arctic blue eyes unto Katze’s feline amber
ones. “However it strikes me as rather strange that such sentiments would
bother me more than usual during a time of celebration.”
“Doesn’t sound that strange to me. In Ceres they actually have a celebration of
sorts as well during this time of year, however it is a … very different kind
of celebration.”
This was the first that Iason Mink had ever heard of such a celebration in
Ceres, he was unaware of the fact that there even existed a concept like that
in such a run-down, impoverished area.
“You mean to say that even mongrels have an occasional need for something as
civilised and luxuriant as a party, Katze? And if that be the case, then how
exactly do they go about funding such an event?” Iason inquired, sounding far
less interested than Katze knew he was. Everything that involved Riki
interested the android nowadays, and over the last couple of months he had been
nonchalantly yet consistently making inquiries about Riki’s well-being and
pretty much anything related to Ceres. All of which led Katze to believe that
his flawless elite Master was in fact feeling increasingly lonely without the
spirited mongrel by his side.
“I wouldn’t go as far as to call it an “event” really. In Ceres there might not
be any financial means to sustain a materialistic kind of gathering, however
that does not mean that there are no occasional celebrations…”, as he spoke
Katze noticed how his Master began to show all the signs of having encountered
yet another human concept he could not make his superhuman, rational mind
understand.
Encouraged by Iason’s entirely blank face and lack of an immediate response,
Katze continued. “What I mean to say is that there is no actual need for any
material goods to have a party, merely a need for good company. In Ceres they
have a celebration called Christime, I actually believe it goes back on the
same Earten tradition Jupiter Mass goes back on. During said celebration groups
of friends, mostly members of the same gang, get together and just drink,
laugh, tell stories and simply enjoy each other’s company. It’s a time to
appreciate and celebrate your ties with other people because really that’s all
the inhabitants of Ceres have to celebrate. So from where I’m sitting it makes
perfect sense that it would bother someone if they did not have their loved
ones by their side during such a time”, Katze concluded, as usual during these
Riki-related conversations he was a bit unsure as to whether or not he had
overstepped. Iason asked for information Katze was never really sure he was
ready to receive, least of all from a man who was officially his property and
could thus very easily be subjugated to his wrath when suggesting anything even
slightly offensive or overly familiar.
“I see. Apparently a different definition or understanding of the concept of
celebrations and festivities has formed in Ceres. In Tanagura a party indeed
requires several participants, in all probability what is called a party in Eos
would require a lot more participants than such a “Christime” gathering would.
However it is not a requirement that all of these participants are closely
related and which participants are invited to an event is socially determined,
meaning one is even obligated to invite people whose company one does not even
enjoy”, Iason mused while his eyes went back to the window and the tiny spot
there in the distance where Katze theoretically knew Ceres ought to be located.
But just as Katze began to hope that that would be the end of his Master’s
prying into Ceresian concepts he did not understand or know about, Iason
continued: “Is there anything else that is characteristic of these “Christime”
celebrations in Ceres, Katze? It seems not that out of the ordinary to me that
mongrels would sit together in groups, is this not something they do on an
everyday basis?”
“Well, yes. However during Christime it’s special because people really show
their appreciation. For example there’s this tradition called presents.”
“Presents? As in presentations?”
“No, not really. I mean, yes, they do present something to each other. Meaning
they give each other something, usually an object of little value.”
“If the object is of little value, then what is the point in presenting it to
someone? Surely something worth presenting should be an object of at least
aesthetically pleasing qualities?” Iason inquired, making a comparison in his
mind with both a presentation of information during an elite meeting and a pet
show where pleasing pets were being presented.
“It’s not really about the object, but more about the act of giving it.
Because, well, how do I explain it…”
“They do something for each other for no rational reason at all, in order to
show their appreciation? And when they have received this “present”, they thank
each other?”
Katze was completely caught off-guard. He already knows! How could he know
something like that? Where could he have learned it? Is he bothering other
people with questions about Ceres as well now?
“Yes, that’s entirely correct. They exchange these objects and then they thank
each other and it is something that… well that strengthens their social bond
with a person.”
“Very well then, Katze, I believe I have gained a sufficient enough
understanding of this concept.” Just as Katze was about to begin his talk on
how the black market had been fairing that week, his Master spoke again: “What
kind of object do you think Riki would want as a present?”
Again Katze was utterly gobsmacked. “You… wish to… give Riki a Christime
present?”
“Perhaps it ought to be an object that symbolises my devotion to our bond? I
think I know just the thing for that.”
Katze thought for a moment, before he realised what object his Master was
referring to. “If I may offer some advice, my Lord? If you are planning on
returning Riki his pet ring I believe Riki might interpret it slightly
differently than as a sign of your ergh devotion. I believe he would interpet
it as a sign of your ownership…”
“Is that not the same as devotion then?” Iason seemed genuinely convinced that
those two concepts were identical, judging from the slight surprise that could
be derived from an almost unnoticeable frown on his beautiful, perfectly
symmetrical face.
“Well, no. I mean, not in Ceres. Most relationships there are between equals,
actually being equal is pretty much a requirement for a relationship there,
because they believe all relations should be on a voluntary basis.”
“So I must give something that demonstrates equality if I wish to show my
appreciation of my relation with him? All right, that will be sufficient
information on the matter, Katze. I must see to the task of preparing a present
for Riki straight away. You can come back tomorrow evening to discuss the black
market affairs.”
Iason Mink is postponing business in order to go look for a Christime present
for a mongrel pet? What in Jupiter’s name is this world coming to!
 
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
 
When Riki got up late in the afternoon, after staying up all night while having
fun with the other members of his gang, he felt unusually rested and chipper.
Yet he wasn’t much of a morning person at all so the cheerfulness of the
previous night must have had a truly healthy effect on his psyche. As he put on
his boots and wanted to step outside to go for a walk, he was surprised to see
an unknown box standing just on his doorstep that definitely had not been there
the night before. What the fuck is this? Riki, who never was any good at
suppressing his natural curiosity even if it was bound to get him into serious
trouble, picked up the box and started examining it. It wasn’t the kind of box
you ever saw in Area 9 either, it looked more like something that would look
more in its place in the shop window of an expensive store in downtown Midas.
Its colour was a bright and shiny silver – the expensive more modest kind, mind
you, not the cheap and kitschy kind - and it sparkled almost as if it was
trying to seduce him to open it. A very soft, very nice-looking white silk
ribbon surrounded the box and Riki could’ve sworn it even smelled nice. Sweet
and serene like lilies and lotus flowers, yet with a sharp hint of freshness.
Shit, I could’ve sworn I’ve smelled this somewhere before. But where?
 
Curious as to what was inside the beautiful box – which would have actually
made a damn fine present in and of its own – Riki started carefully shaking it
next to his ear. He thought he could hear something rather small yet heavy move
slightly in there. Riki simply could not take the suspense any longer, and
without having even a clue as to where the mysterious box came from, he
carefully started prying the silk ribbon loose. He could tell by the feel of it
that it was real Tanaguran silk and not the cheaper counterfeited kind you
often got in Midas. And he could tell because he had occasionally slept in silk
sheets during his three years in Eos. Not even after that thought did any alarm
bells start going off in Riki’s head and not even once did he wonder how a
clearly Tanaguran Mass sacrificial gift had somehow found its way from
underneath someone’s fancy Mass tree in Eos to his stinky, wet doorstep right
next to the Ceres junkyard. It took Riki quite a while to get the box open
without damaging the ribbon or the box. But when he finally got it open and
looked at the contents, his sparkling eyes became almost as huge as the Amoyan
twin moons. There’s no fucking way! Inside the box was a familiar ring, one
that Riki over the last three and a half years had come to associate with the
blonde elite who he had tried to seduce that fateful night at the Sasan gates
of Midas. Riki immediately snapped the box shut again, almost as if it
contained a poisonous snake. There’s just no fucking way this is real! There’s
just no way Iason fucking Mink sent this to me!
 
No longer capable of sitting still while thus agitated, Riki jumped up and
started stalking around the room, every now and then quickly glancing in the
direction of the box, as if checking. Not to see if it was still there but
rather to check if it had been there in the first place and had not been a
figment of his own imagination. What the fuck am I supposed to do now?! I can’t
just do nothing! Shit, Jupiter knows what else is gonna show up at my doorstep
if I don’t do anything! Riki threw a few nervous glances in the direction of
the corner of the ruins of the old factory, where his fellow gang members were
still sleeping soundly. How was he supposed to even contact that Tanaguran
motherfucker? Without waking the other Bisons, Riki snatched the silver box up,
put it safely inside of his jacket pocket and then took out his bike to make
his way to Katze’s black market headquarters in Midas.
 
However when Riki got there his former black market co-workers told him that
the boss had gone out and would be on some urgent business for the rest of the
evening. Shit! How the fuck am I supposed to contact Mink now?! What was the
meaning of the silver box, anyways? If he didn’t know any better he would think
it was meant to be a Christime present, wrapped up as a Jupiter Mass sacrifice.
But… what if it was a present? It wasn’t impossible that Iason could’ve found
out that something like that existed in Ceres, right? Hell, the blonde bastard
had spies everywhere in both Tanagura and Midas, it really wouldn’t be much of
a bother for him to find something like that out. The real question of course
was: why would he bother? And why did he send him that ring, of all things!
Riki just couldn’t wrap his head around it, all he knew was that he needed to
confront Iason on this matter. The sooner the better. As he was randomly riding
his bike around Midas, all of a sudden he hit the breaks. Of course! The ring!
He didn’tneed Katze at all to get into EosTower, because the doors
automatically opened if a registered ring approached them. Shit, why didn’t I
think of that sooner! Riki turned his bike around and started following Orange
Road, the icy wind blowing his black hair into an even unrulier shape and
snowflakes sticking to his black mongrel-style clothes as he headed straight to
the gates that separated Midas from Tanagura. I’ll be damned if I’ll let that
bastard get the better of me! I don’t owe anybody anything! Not as long as I
have a say in the matter. But despite his harsh curses, Riki’s heart was
rapidly beating in his chest, the rate of his breath was increasing
exponentially and his blood felt almost as if it were being brought to the
boiling point. Iason fucking Mink had sent him a bloody Christime present!
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
ending theme: Mariah Carey – All I Want for Christmas
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
TBC …
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
 
Reviews pls?:D
It’s kinda hot off the press so it might have a few typos or minor errors in
it, do let me know if that is the case so I can correct them ;) Or if
something’s bothering you about my writing style you can also let me know of
course :)
 
***** Crashing the Party *****
Chapter Summary
     What happens when mongrel Riki comes barging into Iason's high-
     society Jupiter Mass party?;)
Author’s_notes:
Hi there everyone, it’s finally Christmas!!!:D And that means looots of eating,
drinking and lazying about with family, but also extra writing time for me!:
) So here’s the next chapter, it’s meant to be the climax of scandal in Eos :
P My sincere thanks to loly66 from Livejournal for suggesting this great idea
of Riki crashing Iason’s Christmas party!:) So I hope everyone who reads this
will enjoy this little extra present!:D
 
XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas
 
opening theme: Chris Rea – Driving Home for Christmas
 
= the song Riki is singing an adapted version of
 
XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas
 
How dare that pompous Tanaguran ass use Ceres’ own customs against me like
this! What the fuck’s up with this anyways, I thought this sick bastard was
done with me?! Riki simply did not know what to make of it, and despite his
hostile line of thought a part of him could not help but be excited about this
unexpected present. Never in all his life had he expected Iason Mink, of all
people, to send him a Christime present or to even understand the concept of
gift exchange. For someone like Iason Mink everything in this world was for
sale and everything therefore also had its price. Meaning poor people owned
nothing and rich people owned everything, including – if they so desired – the
poor people apparently. A concept like owing somebody or giving somebody a
present was completely foreign to him, that had been clear enough the first
time Riki had met the cold-hearted elite. He had seemed genuinely surprised
when Riki pursued him after he had neglected to sell him out to the cops. And
later at the lovehotel he had expressed how he considered Riki’s payment to be
hush money, demonstrating how he did not understand that Riki’s payment was
more like a way of thanking him than shutting him up. Although arguably any
opportunity to shut up the blonde obsessive freak had to be grasped with both
hands.
 
So apparently he’s been thinking about me all this time, why else would he have
even bothered to come up with a stunt like this? Just you wait, you bloody
blonde piece of elite! Truth be told, Riki had to admit that he had not seen
this one coming, not in a million years. Somehow that beautiful, snotty bastard
always managed to catch him off-guard, there was simply no telling what that
devious, witty mind would come up with next. If that asshole thought he could
keep on just harassing Riki like that and challenge him without a response he
was sorely mistaken! So Iason liked Christime surprises, huh? Riki would give
him one all right! The best way to fight fire… is with fire! I’ll give his
pretty, perfect ass a bloody inferno he won’t forget in a long time! And while
he was at it he might also try to figure out what in the hell was going on
between the two of them. Was it merely the elite trying to pick on a lowlife
nobody just for fun? The longer this whole thing with the elite lasted, the
more Riki began to think that something other than just that had to be at work
here…
 
While all of these confused thoughts flashed through Riki’s head he was
speeding along Orange Road at a mileage that was not acceptable even on such a
huge and busy highway. He flew right past any red lights, almost causing an
accident on several occasions and earning him a lot of angry honking and “Are
you completely nuts, you stupid mutt?!”-exclamations.
 
All of a sudden, while racing through the overwhelmingly chaotic messy myriad
of colours, sounds and other stimuli that was Mistral Park traffic, Riki was
reminded of an old Christime song that he and Guy used to sing around this time
of year. One they would race to each year when they were younger and more
careless, and still a couple without complications. Almost without thinking,
Riki started loudly roaring that song while the distant outer buildings of
Tanagura came closer and closer. “I’m driving home for Christime, hell I’m
moving down that line! And it’s been so fucking long but I’ll get there! Oooh I
got the red lights on the run, but I’m driving home for Christime, yeah! Get my
feet on holy fucked-up ground! So I sing for you, loud so YOU CAN HEAR ME!!!
When I get through and…”, Riki became a bit unsettled as he passed into
Tanagura and could already spot the threatening sparkly peak that was Eos Tower
in the distance despite the heavy snow-fall. “… and I feel you near me.” It
felt almost as if those icy arctic pools of bright blue were already resting on
him and saw him coming from the heights of that cursed prison tower Riki had
spent all those years in, all his humanity stripped from him along with his
clothes and honour. I’ll be damned if I let him degrade me like this again
without serious “consequences”! I’m coming to bring you a present of my very
own, Iason Mink, and you’ll accept it whether you like it or not!
 
XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas
 
It was nearing the official starting time of Iason Mink’s renowned annual
Jupiter Mass party and while Cal was running around like a nervous flurry of
champagne flutes and tasteful, delicate-looking appetizers, the first elite
guests were already arriving. After doing a final inspection of all of the
celebration preparations – including several huge, loaded banquet tables and a
shining pyramid of champagne-filled crystal glasses – the elegant host started
moving towards the hallway to welcome his guests. He did not move in a hurry of
course, as Iason Mink was never in a hurry, he was always perfectly calm and
composed and nothing unexpected ever occurred during his decadent yet elegant,
perfectly organised party. As he approached his guests, Raoul noticed how Iason
had dressed rather unusually colourful for the occasion. Rather than his usual
snowy pristine and therefore cold aloof white ensemble, Iason was wearing black
close-fitted rather sexy leggings which truly showed off the slim shape of his
long legs, shiny gold nearly knee-high boots that accentuated the golden shine
of his divine blonde hair and an almost painfully bright red open tunic, under
which he wore a white classy shirt with an elegant sash. Of course each and
every item Iason’s outfit consisted out of was not only perfectly acceptable
for an elite of his class in Tanagura but also of the finest quality. However
the way Iason had combined the different items of clothing and the unusually
bright colour of the tunic – especially as opposed to his usual all-white look
– made him stand out even more than any one of the artfully decorated pine
trees in the room.
 
After Iason had graciously and politely greeted his esteemed guests – all
Blondies like himself although several prominent elite from slighty lower
classes would also be attending this gathering – Raoul discretely gestured that
he would like to speak to him alone for a moment.
“Are your best wishes of such a personal kind that they require such a private
setting that you would take me away from my newly arrived guests, Raoul?”, the
icy yet vibrantly coloured host of the party inquired with a slightly arched
perfectly fair eyebrow. “Honestly, Iason, I do realise that your young
furniture is under a lot of pressure during these busy days, especially with
his limited experience in the organisation of high-class events as your annual
party. However I do feel the youth has been rather haphazard and not very
tactful in his selection of items of clothing for this evening…”
 
As Raoul spoke Iason’s bright blue gaze moved back towards the snowy window,
almost as if a sixth sense had informed him that there was something worthy of
his notice to observe in the direction of Orange Road in Mistral Park.
“Iason?”, Raoul tried again.
“I apologise my friend, I am afraid I was temporarily distracted from your
undoubtedly very interesting line of conversation. You were saying?”
“About the rather extravagant clothing your furniture has selected?” Iason
looked towards Cal, who almost tripped over one of the decorative trees while
running around balancing heavily-loaded trays when he noticed his Master’s eyes
on his form.
“I do not see anything even remotely reminiscent of such a terminology, Raoul.
My furniture has not seen fit to wear anything out of the ordinary for this
event, I believe. Do you perhaps feel he should have made himself appear more
aesthetically pleasing?” Iason had always considered functionality and loyalty
to be more important than looks in a furniture, but he knew that Raoul – being
a pet geneticist – paid more attention to such matters with his own furniture.
 
“That is not what I meant, Iason. What I meant to say is…”, all of a sudden
those bright green eyes slightly widened and he seized his speech mid-sentence
at the realisation that his questioning of style did not in fact apply to his
friend’s furniture but rather to his friend himself.
Iason caught on quickly to what it was Raoul was implying, having known the
rather facially expressive elite for a long time and following the direction of
his gaze towards Iason’s own form. “Why Raoul, such a questioning is truly
unusual. Is it not you who always has such a preference for rather extravagant
colours, my friend?”, Iason chuckled while gesturing to Raoul’s current lilac
and gold ensemble.
“What I mean to say is that it is not in your habit to display yourself in such
a fashion, Iason. Probably also because there is no need at all for it, as a
more modest style serves to better accentuate your natural features”, Raoul
turned his aristocratic face – which would be blushing had that not been
impossible for an android face - slightly away from Iason’s and lowered his
voice in an attempt to make his statements sound less probing.
 
“Why seeing as how tonight’s party is supposed to be a celebration, it seemed
only fitting to me that I would wear something a bit more… lively… for the
occasion”, Iason responded, as he managed to grab a flute of champagne from the
wildly moving tray Cal was still carrying around while looking around, worrying
that he had forgotten to attend to an important last-minute preparation for the
party.
“Surely more lively does not necessarily imply less… Never mind. I apologize,
my friend, it is not my place to question such matters”, Raoul used the
opportunity of observing another group of newly arrived elite to temporarily
turn his gaze away again from Iason’s supposedly too-extravagant outfit.
“Less…? Please, Raoul, if you actually bother to express any such personal
concerns regarding my appearance, do see it through all the way”, Iason
responded, a wickedly witty twinkling appearing in his bright blue eyes, making
them appear more like a restless ocean than a serene glacier. But this
apparently escaped Raoul’s notice, as he continued to apologise without
actually stating what it was he had almost said and thus needed to apologise
for.
 
As more elite came towards them to greet their Head of the Syndicate, Iason’s
eyes only sparkled with even more of such subtle mirth, as all of his fellow
elites’ eyes were immediately both drawn to and apparently slightly disturbed
by the bright colour of his attire. After this a more thorough inspection of
his appearance occurred, during which the combination of the tight black
leggings and the not especially long tunic that only came about mid-thigh led
to his guests stumbling over their words and in some cases even outright
forgetting what it was they were going to compliment him on. Looks like this
year’s party is not going to be as boring as I was expecting after all.
 
If only he knew just how unexpected things were about to become during this
elitist celebration….
 
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As Riki’s hoverbike approached the monumental, marble staircase that led up to
the main entrance of Eos Tower he did not even slow down and raced straight in,
not bothering with the elevator and just ignoring the security guards that
started chasing him, he aimed the nose of his bike straight up and flew
vertically along the transparent glass elevator shafts until he reached the top
floor, where his former Master’s penthouse was located.
 
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As the evening proceeded and the conversations between the elite endlessly went
on in a way that very nicely camouflaged how the conversations were really
about nothing at all, Iason’s attention continuously strayed from the speaker’s
utterings to his own thoughts on his mongrel. I wonder if he has actually
understood what I am implying with the “present” I have sent him. Unless he has
settled for selling it? Although I must wonder what Midas idiot would be stupid
enough to purchase such an object.
 
“…. the whole notion of Jupiter Mass going back on any tradition other than the
glorification of our great deity is simply preposterous. And an Earthen
tradition to boot, well, the chances of that are close to nothing. Would you
not agree, Lord Mink?”, Gideon Lagat spoke while he turned towards his host and
used the momentary moment of silence to elegantly nip at his champagne glass.
 
“Actually I have heard said rumour before on many a dealing with several of
Amoy’s other city-states, and I’ve recently come to believe that it must at the
very least contain a partial truth.” After that all of the elite in the group
were momentarily tongue-tied, as Lord Lagat had been spending the better part
of the last half hour building up his argument on how Jupiter Mass going back
on an Earthen tradition was entirely impossible. But of course Iason, whose
mind had been in Ceres with his beloved Riki that entire time, was not even
aware of this.
“Why yes, the whole point of a rumour is of course that several independent
utterances are made over a certain period of time. However that does not mean
that there is any truth to the matter at all, probably someone who was jealous
of Tanagura’s thriving economy just constructed this out of his own imagination
in order to make it appear as if we owed at least part of our great culture to
such a backwater planet as Earth”, Lagat continued as if entirely undisturbed
by Iason’s clear disagreement.
 
“I am positive that there is more at work in this case than mere rumour brought
on by those among who Tanagura is unpopular, Gideon. Seeing as how Tanagura is
not the only place descended from the original Abyss crew that still honours
such a tradition at this time.” Again all the elite in the room stared as if
momentarily struck by lightning. What other place could Lord Mink possibly be
referring to? Surely he must, as everybody else of any education, know that all
of the other city-states except Midas, which was practically a part of Tanagura
and had no celebrations that could in any way be distinguished from the Jupiter
Mass ones in Tanagura, had been founded by off-worlders who had not originated
from Earth?
“With all due respect, Lord Mink, but might I inquire which Amoyan city-state
it is you are referring to, where there ought to be celebrations of this sort
as well?” Orphe Zavi cut in, trying to resolve Lord Lagat’s growing tension
after being so bluntly disregarded in his well-constructed argument and being
called by his first name at a public gathering at that.
 
“Why I would not go as far as to call it a city-state, for I do believe it is
neither large nor economically prosperous enough for such a label…”, Iason
continued, purposely goading on his fellow elite, who were becoming more
agitated by every second this near-argument with Lord Lagat went on. After
having patiently taken the time to get himself another glass of champagne and
calmly drinking approximately half of it, their host finally continued his
clarification. “It has recently reached my ear, from a former household
employee of mine, that apparently there is a celebration in Area 9 at the exact
same time as Jupiter Mass that, by some residents there, is also believed to go
back on the Earthen tradition. Therefore it would only be logical to deduce
that both celebrations ought to go back on the same tradition.”
“Area 9? You mean to say that this lowly scum have seen fit to just take a
Tanaguran tradition and twist it to their own petty needs?”
 
“Oh no, quite the contrary, my dear Gideon. It seems to me that Ceres has
continued the Earthen tradition for a very long time even after Tanagura had
taken it and… How exactly did you put it just now?... “twisted” it to its own
“petty needs” ”, Iason finished while Raoul’s mouth actually fell open and he
stood there gaping like a goldfish on land for several seconds before having
the sense to shut his mouth. He was thus almost grateful when Iason’s young
furniture rather rudely disturbed them with a clearly distressed look on his
face: “Master! I.. I apologise for bothering you while you are obviously in
conversation but… but there is a matter that I thought ought to be brought to
your attention!”, Cal continued and then waited for  permission to continue
speaking, nervously turning his eyes away from the group of now nearly ten
elite that were currently crowding around Iason to hear what more insults he
was about to hurl Gideon’s way.
 
“Then by all means, Cal, enlighten us…”, the Lord of the House stated, after
which his furniture had no idea what he meant by those words and visibly
started wrecking his brain to figure out what it was that his Master was
expecting him to do.
“By Jupiter, just tell him what the apparently urgent problem is, furniture!”,
Raoul burst out before he could get a better grasp on his emotions, which were
definitely spiralling out of control after Iason’s previous speech that had
nearly bordered on sedition.
“I.. I.. I just had Eos security on the phone, my Lord. And… and apparently
they spotted a… an ergh… uninvited guest heading this way…”
 
“Oh, honestly, there is nothing to worry about! Security keeps a very tight
check on the elevators during this kind of event, don’t they, Iason?”, Raoul
spoke while drinking some more champagne, perhaps in the hope of becoming drunk
and thus ignorant to all the ruckus his best friend was causing on his own
party. Not that it would be much good seeing as how his android body was
perfectly capable of dealing with large amounts of alcohol that no human
organic liver would be able to process.
“But Sir, they told me that apparently the intruder flew in on a hoverbike
without even bothering to descend… what I mean to say is that he would not need
to get into an elevator to…”
 
But they never found out what else the distraught furniture was going to add to
his urgent explanations as the next moment everybody at the gathering was
filled with utter shock and near-terror. Even to the extent where over one
hundred elite were miraculously rendered completely speechless…
 
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After having driven his bike up to the top floor of the skyscraper, Riki
finally descended from his vehicle in a cat-like jumping movement. The
furniture standing at the door to receive potential late-comers did not even
get a chance to forbid him to enter, as he was already strolling inside before
they had had any time to get over their initial fright at the unexpected and
entirely rude arrival of an ill-mannered mongrel, of all creatures!
 
As the mongrel, dressed in an old pair of worn jeans with several tears in
them, rather dusty-looking heavy boots and black leather biker-jacket, simply
barged into the elite-filled, extravagantly decorated room the entire crowd
just went completely quiet in a matter of seconds. Ignoring the disapproving,
extremely hostile looks he was receiving from the guests nearest the doors
through which he had just burst inside, Riki walked right up to the middle of
the room and even climbed on top of the low stage that had – unknown to him –
been set up for the pet performance later that evening. The wild dog even had
the audacity to take the microphone set up on the stage out of its standard and
exclaim: “What the fuck is this, an elitist prick tea party of some sort? Where
can I find the blonde asshole that usually resides in this place, huh? Iason
Mink! Show yourself, you bastard!”
 
Everyone continued to look upon the uncouth scene in utter shock, to the point
that even the security guards were hesitant to intervene even while this farce
was going on. But not the host of the party, as he calmly and graciously – as
if not perturbed in the slightest by this unexpected turn of events – strode
towards the unwelcome guest and ascended the stage in order to face him
directly, incidentally also in front of all of his elite guests’ prying eyes.
“Why Riki, how nice of you to attend our small celebration tonight. I suppose
you are hardly to blame for your importune lateness and lack of sufficient
dress, seeing as how indeed my invitation did not come with any further
information or details considering this gathering. I do hope you will forgive
my small slip in etiquette?”, Iason spoke while keeping on his best pokerface –
even a supposedly gracious small smile accompanying it – and maintaining a
perfectly even and civilised voice.
 
“Yeah well you didn’t give me much of a choice, did you, jerkface? Thanks a
bunch for the present, asshole, although it was not exactly what I’d been
asking Santa to bring me this year…”, Riki responded, while still having the
microphone switched on for all to hear. “But as you fucking well know, I don’t
have shit to wrap up all shiny ‘n nice for you, so I’m just gonna have to
settle for a lil’ something I’ll have to unpack for you then.” After this Riki
set the microphone aside and fearlessly, without even a trace of awe, walked up
to Iason until they were standing only an inch from each other. Fortunately for
Riki there happened to be standing an elevation of some sort right next to
Iason on which he could step so they were actually nearly face-to-face without
Riki having to strain his neck too much. “I suppose you did not put that up-
step here with me in mind, huh? Or did ya now? You elite bastards always plan
everything in detail, don’t ya? Jeez, so sorry to mess up your planning but
I’ve got some last-minute plans of my own…”, Riki boldly spoke while staring
Iason straight in the face, apparently not hesitant at all to speak in such a
rude fashion to his superiors. Damn does he always remain so bloody calm
whatever the situation?! How many times must I publicly offend this freak
before he finally shows some fucking emotion on that snotty perfect face! Just
wait, asshole, you’re in for it this time! “So well here’s your present, have a
merry merry Jupetime or whatever the hell you call it around here, and I really
don’t give a shit whether you enjoy it or not, but knowing how deeply sick and
perverted you are, I’m sure you will”, the ill-mannered, audacious mongrel
finished.
 
All the elite in attendance were gazing upon the spectacle by now and even the
security guards who had entered in the mean time were just standing there
watching intently rather than doing their job and removing said mongrel from
the stage and the penthouse. Just as the audience thought things could not get
any worse, the mongrel went to stand on tiptoe and moved his head towards that
of their host and Syndicate Leader while simultaneously grabbing several
strands of long, shiny blonde tresses by which he was apparently trying to pull
Iason’s head towards his own. After that the piece of street scum managed to
bridge the distance between them and placed a long, fierce and dirty kiss unto
Lord Mink’s perfect, pretty elite lips.
 
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All of the elite attendants at the Jupiter Mass party of Iason Mink gasped in
utter shock and disbelief as they stared at the entirely unbelievable scene
that was in front of them. The security guards took the simultaneous gasping
all around the room as their cue, and moved in to ascend the stage and rescue
Lord Mink from the unwanted attentions of that filthy cockroach that had
somehow found its way inside Tanagura’s centre of propriety.
 
But just as one of them was about to grab the disgusting mutt by the hair, they
all stopped in their tracks as Lord Mink’s perfectly elegant, pale hand moved
up in a universal gesture the intent of which could not possibly be
misunderstood. Stop. Everyone continued to look on, the amazement at this
entire situation so extreme that even the usually stoic and distant elite had
no choice but to display at least some of that inner shock on their perfect
faces. Several of them even started whispering comments along the lines of “How
dare that stinking mutt even enter this place and gaze upon Lord Mink, let
alone dare to assault him like that?!” and “Why does Lord Mink not have this
piece of scum thrown out straight away? He ought to be shot on the spot for a
disrespectful, lowly act such as this!”
 
After a short moment of silence, the serene and powerful voice of Iason Mink
echoed through the room without even the slightest trace of anger or dismay in
it: “Honestly, Riki. Surely you must know the value of what it is I have
bestowed on you? You are going to have to do much better than that if you wish
to present me with anything of near equal value.”
“Is that right, you sick piece of shit? Well what the fuck else have I got to
give, huh? You should’ve thought of that before you sent your crap my way!”,
the offender shouted in the direction of the supreme head of the Tanaguran
government while making wild, threatening gestures only inches from his face.
“Oh my objection is not related to the nature of your gift, but rather to the
extent of it. Do such innocent, chaste pecks really make for good entertainment
in Area 9, then? If that be the case, please at least have the decency to allow
me to show you how it is far more properly done in Tanagura…”, Iason graciously
spoke. Before Riki even had a chance to register the meaning behind his fancy
wordings, the blonde had grabbed him by his wild black hair with his right hand
while simultaneously wrapping his left arm around the young mongrel’s small
waist, pulling him closely against his own bigger artificial body. After this
swift but well-calculated move, Iason proceeded by giving Riki the kiss of a
lifetime: he hardly held any of his ardent passion back while plunging his
adept tongue into his lover’s mouth and stared into Riki’s black obsidian
depths as if a blue, raging hellfire would burn straight out of his irises and
consume his prey alive.
 
After which the entire party almost literally came crashing down while both
havoc-wreckers had become completely unaware and uncaring about what happened
in the world outside of their partner…
 
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ending theme: Lady Gaga – Christmas Tree
 
Light me up put me on top let’s falalalalalalalala
Light me up put me on top let’s falalalalalalalala
 
The only place you wanna be is underneath my Christmas tree
The only place you wanna be is underneath my Christmas tree
 
Ho, ho, ho, under the mistletoe
Yes everybody knows, we will take off our clothes
Yes, if you want us to, we will
 
You – oh oh ah – Christmas
My Christmas tree’s delicious
You – oh oh ah – Christmas
My Christmas tree’s delicious
 
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To Be Continued…
 
 
Author’s_notes:
 
Merry Christmas everyone!!!:D I hope my gift was sufficient at least, even if
Riki’s supposedly wasn’t :P
 
Mistletoe’s featuring in the next chapter (sorry to keep you all waiting, just
had to make this as scandalous as possible lol) :D If you guys leave me alive
in your reviews after this totally shocking Christmas event, that is ;)
 
Reviews pls!!!:D
 
 
***** Under the Mistletoe Part 1 *****
Chapter Summary
     What happens after Iason's shocking display at the Mass Party? What
     is the meaning of his mysterious silver-wrapped present to Riki? And
     what kind of afterparty has Iason got planned with his mongrel?
 
Author’s_notes:
Hi everyone!:) I know, I know, it’s been waaay too long since I’ve last
updated, sorry! The chapter is becoming rather long in comparison to previous
chapters, so I’ve decided to split it up into two parts so you can already read
this part while I finish up with the next part, which should be finished lastly
by the end of this week ;) I’m guessing this is kind of like “figs after
Easter” as we say in Dutch, with it being a Christmas fic several weeks after
Christmas, but I’m hoping you guys really, really like figs and don’t mind the
lateness of my timing ;) Also I’ve never actually written anything quite this
explicit before so here goes nothing! Anyways, maybe this late Christmas fic
can get you back into the holiday mood ;) I hope you’ll enjoy reading this and
pls let me know what you think in a review!:)
Warning: explicit sexual scenes ahead! You don’t like = you don’t read
                                        
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                  Opening theme: Kylie Minogue – Let it Snow
 
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As the snow-flakes were continuing to steadily fall down outside of the windows
of the monumental, lushly decorated penthouse, the elegant host of the classy
Mass Party spoke: “My dearest and finest guests.” The mongrel in front of him –
along with everyone else in the room - was still too gobsmacked to react to
what had just happened. “I believe this signals the end of this annual
gathering. I hope you have all had a wonderful time here tonight but
unfortunately I will have to cut short the celebrations.”
 
It took at least five more minutes of staring in utter disbelief and relative
silence for his elite guests to gather the meaning of his words and for the
crowd to start dissipating as one by one all the invited started filing out of
the main doors to the penthouse. Already before they had fully exited, many of
Iason’s brethren were whispering amongst each other of what an unacceptable
insult it was for Lord Mink to put an end to the party over two hours before
the planned end of it. Not to mention the shocking performance with that
mongrel that preceded the party’s end. Had there not been talk of Lord Mink
even owning a mongrel pet only about a year ago? Could it be that the mongrel
crashing the party was in fact Lord Mink’s pet and that this unexpected and
unbelievable disturbance had in fact been orchestrated in order to make this
year’s Jupiter Mass party even more unforgettable than last year’s? Surely even
Lord Mink’s renowned extraordinariness would not stretch that far?
 
Raoul Am, on the other hand, was not as surprised as those completely ignorant
to Iason’s deviant ways, having known the other blonde throughout almost his
entire life and thus knowing what really hid under that impeccable and ever-
calm façade. If Iason thinks he can get away with this on my watch, he is
sorely mistaken!
 
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What in hell’s bells’ name was that?! From all the possible outcomes, this had
been the least expected for the mongrel who had hoped his bold and rude actions
would finally succeed in disturbing Iason Mink’s imperturbable peace of mind. I
kiss him and stick my tongue halfway down his throat in front of all these
dandy tight-asses and he just decides to call off the entire freakin’ party?!
What’s UP with this guy’s obsession with me already?!
 
“I was hoping you would show sooner rather than later, Riki. I can understand
that these celebrations are, unfortunately, a necessary evil for one of my
standing. However I get the impression that they become duller and duller every
year”, the dazzlingly beautiful host spoke, apparently not noticing that one of
his guests – Raoul Am – had not yet left the party and was carefully making his
way towards the stage, looking as if he was about to give Iason one hell of a
lecture.
 
While Riki was trying to figure out how to speak again, he noticed that Iason
was dressed rather vibrantly that evening. And damn those leggings looked
smoking hot on him, despite his cool, snotty elite exterior. “Store ran outta
white, huh? Good, you kinda look like you could get some emotion on that pretty
princess face of yours now that you’re actually wearing some fucking colour. So
what’s up with calling off this party, huh? Isn’t meeting with those over-
dressed snobs supposed to be the most important thing on your agenda or
something?” Seeing how both his friend and that miserable, rotten pet were
straight-out ignoring him, Raoul decided to wait until another time to give
Iason his well-deserved lecture. Head-shakingly, he also left the penthouse,
wondering whether this meant that Iason was going to start up all the craziness
with this mongrel once again. Good Jupiter, Iason, I thought you were smarter
than that! You ought to be!
 
“Indeed it ought to be. Although apparently what I am supposed to do and what I
actually do are – in my case – often completely contradictory matters.
Especially when it comes to yourself, Riki, as I am sure you know by now. You
see, I was actually hoping you would come and end this entire boring farcical
affair and lighten my mood. After al this time of year is supposed to be a
celebration, is it not? And I daresay you would make for a very refreshingly
interesting after-party, my dear Riki”, Iason said as he approached Riki once
again, who almost fell backwards down the stage as the towering blonde’s sudden
approach caused him to step back.
 
Shit! Again I played right into his fucking game! Can nothing ever surprise or
even slightly disturb this motherfucker?! “Dammit, Iason, I can’t accept this
and you know it!”, Riki exclaimed as he took the silver-wrapped box – which had
up to that point been safely hidden inside his inner jacket pocket – and
attempted to give it back. But his former Master refused to take it back for
some reason or other. “Shit, Iason! I don’t have anything to offer you!”
 
All of a sudden it was as if a sparkling ember had come to life in Iason’s
piercing glacier eyes as he approached the still back-stepping Riki in a
determinant, predatory stride. “How about what you offered me just now? You
wouldn’t happen to have any more where that came from, would you, my pet?” That
word again! That hated word that he had been having nightmares about even
during his eight months of freedom. Or were they more like wet dreams? It was
hard to tell at times.
 
“Shit, this is low, Iason, even for you! Giving somebody a gift is supposed to
make them happy, not give them tons of bullcrap they really ain’t waitin’
for!”, the black-haired prey said, as he mustered up his courage and faced the
approaching lion head on without flinching rather than backing away from it, as
any rational creature would undoubtedly do.
 
“I do believe you have not fully comprehended the nature or extent of my gift
to you, Riki. I know a mere object such as this is of no use whatsoever to
you”, the blonde near-deity responded as he finally took the box Riki had been
trying to return to him and opened it, revealing the ring inside. “Unless you
consider the ability to open every door in all of Tanagura – except for Jupiter
Tower doors seeing as how they require an accompanying retina scan – to be a
gift, which I know you do not.” Riki looked up in utter confusion as Iason took
his smaller, dark-skinned hand and placed his own sapphire Master ring back
into it. “I don’t get it. So it’s not about the actual ring but… what, the
meaning behind it? You know I don’t like it one bit that you consider me to be
your property, your thing to do with as you please!”
 
“I am aware of that, Riki. However it has only been recently revealed to me
what it is exactly about this prospect that is so disturbing to you. It is
because it is a reminder of how we are not equals, is it not? That has always
been what has bothered you ever since the day you met me.”
 
Crap, I guess there’s no denying that. Damn that bastard! “You really have to
rub it in my face every god damn time you see me, don’t ya?”, Riki responded
with an angry scowl on his dark-skinned, attractive face. What devious scheme
is that devil up to this time?
 
“I believe you might have slightly misunderstood my intentions towards you,
Riki. You see I don’t generally spend so much time, effort and concern on
people I consider to be my inferiors”, the beautiful Elite spoke while slowly
but surely continuing to drive his mongrel guest into a corner. “Regardless of
what laws and social conventions exist in Tanagura and Midas, you are
apparently determined to fall outside of all of them. Therefore if there is one
person – or should I say human being - who I could not consider to be my
inferior, it would be you. And even if you were in theory, you do not exactly
act that part in practice so it makes hardly any difference.”
 
Riki’s eyes momentarily widened as understanding dawned on him. So what? He
actually likes me because I’ve resisted him all this time? He doesn’t truly
want me to be submissive like some lame-ass Pet? “What in fuck’s name is the
meaning of this! How about you just stop messing with my head already and spit
out whatever it is that’s on your mind, Mink!”
 
“You wish to be my equal and I have to say in truth I do not very much object
to that. However unfortunately the system this society runs on does not allow
for any official arrangement of that nature. But as I have just pointed out,
there can often be a very big difference between theory and practice.” Now that
his prey was finally backed against a wall, the lion firmly yet gently took him
by the chin and turned his face upwards, as if entranced by the black depths of
those exotic eyes. The only thing keeping Riki from tearing his eyes away from
that interrogative, invading blue gaze was his mongrel pride and his
determination not to show this man any weakness.
 
“What the fuck are you on about? You just want to leave me the fuck alone, huh?
Is that what you’re saying? You want this whole thing to finally be over? Well
that’s fine by me!”, Riki shouted in a heated voice, but somewhere deep down
even he knew he did not actually mean it. Truth be told, Iason Mink’s otherness
and dominating nature fascinated him just as much as the other way around.
 
“Oh, it is quite the opposite, Riki. Make no mistake, I do not intend – not in
a million years – to cease the challenging endeavour of making you mine in
every sense of the word. However I believe a momentarily truce between us might
not be such a bad thing. After all, my motivations are not based on enmity”,
Iason said as he was sliding his long, elegant fingers through Riki’s black
messy hair. Riki slightly pulled his head away, supposedly in an effort to make
him stop but Iason could tell the effect it was having on him was not an
unpleasant one. “It’s not? Then what the fuck is it based on?!” Riki swallowed
nervously, his mind did not like where this was going but as usual his
treacherous body definitely did.
 
“Curiosity. You are a creature that’s very different from anything Tanagura or
even Midas allows for, almost like a living remnant of a long-forgotten
democratic past of ideals such as freedom and equality.” For a moment Riki
could have sworn he detected a flicker of sorrow and regret in those perfect,
artificial blue eyes. Maybe there was an actual man behind that seemingly
emotionless mask after all. “Perhaps curiosity grew into something more, or
perhaps you simply pose more questions than you answer. I am sure I will never
be able to solve the mystery that is you, Riki, that is the attraction I
suppose. Something tells me that attraction is mutual. Now don’t try to deny
it, my dear Pet, there really is very little point in that”, the blonde
continued knowingly while now caressing the mongrel’s face. Yet not in his
usual possessive manner, somehow something about the touch was different,
warmer.
 
“When you say truce, what exactly do you mean? You mean to say that you let me
go as a temporary measure or something? What, to prevent me from becoming
insane because of imprisonment and your cruel punishments?” I need to get the
hell away from here! The gentler touch scared him even more than Iason’s usual
brutal manner did, it called to that part of Riki that really didn’t mind this
kind of attention from his former Master and tormentor.
 
“Indeed your so-called freedom is a temporary thing. There is simply no other
way for me to make sure you don’t meet an unfortunate end in a gutter
somewhere. Not to mention finding you when I am in need of you in an
uncontrolled environment like Area 9 also poses a lot of practical problems.
But no, that is not what I meant by a truce. Your wish to be my equal makes me
wonder… what exactly is it you would plan on doing if you - momentarily -
were?”
 
Riki was at a complete loss of words. He managed to pull his body away from
Iason’s alluring aura, prying fingers and hypnotically seductive gaze. “What’s
the point of thinking about that? It ain’t gonna happen, I know that. What, you
want me to pretend? Like you would even be able to pretend you were something
other than what you are! Shit, Iason, you’re wasting your time with me!”
 
“It is my time to waste and I will not have anyone tell me not to. I have a
very strong interest in you and I am certain that interest will not decrease as
time progresses. I am not entirely sure what it is that has brought this on,
but it matters not. And I do not care what anyone else thinks, it is none of
their business either way. Now don’t tell me you do care for such things as
gossip and public disapproval?” To Riki’s surprise Iason’s body language –
though subtle still – made it apparent that he too was fed-up with Elitist
society and their discriminating, meddling ways.
 
“Fuck, of course I don’t! I’m a free man and I don’t give a damn shit about
what anybody thinks cause they only think bad things about me anyways! Shit, I
don’t get you! First you kidnap me, you lock me up and you punish me simply for
being what I am! And now you tell me you like me the way I am and that you wish
for us to be equals?” The mongrel confusedly stepped further away from his
elegant host and turned his back on him for good measure, not liking the way
those prying eyes made him feel as if the blonde could read every thought in
his head even before he knew he had been thinking it. However that just left
his back wide open to his potential attacker, leading the fair-haired predator
to silently approach him. Riki was caught completely unawares when those
strong, robotic arms slipped around his waist and pulled him tight against the
blonde’s sculpted chest. A few seconds later Riki felt those silky-soft lips
applying their magical, seductive talents to his sensitive throat. The pleasing
attack was followed by a low, erotic whisper: “I promise you it will be worth
your while, my darling Riki.”
 
The longing to give in - just for this once - was very strong, especially after
nearly a year of fasting. Oh to hell with it! What harm could it do to lead him
on for a short while? “OK”, Riki said with a voice less steady than he would’ve
wanted, while pulling away from the assault to turn around and face the object
of both his fearful hatred and his fascinated obsession. “OK, let’s say I
agree. How would this temporarily equality thing go down?”
 
Iason responded with a sensuous yet devious smile. “I’m so glad you asked,
Riki”, he said as he slowly started undoing his upper tunic while walking in
the direction of the master bedroom.
 
         XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas
 
Riki couldn’t help following the shimmer of that golden hair into the bedroom,
as if it were a siren’s call of some sort, similar to how most Midas citizens
couldn’t resist the pull of a casino’s neon lights. He was surprised to notice
that even the Master’s private bedroom had not been spared during the
decorative orchestrations, although the decorations were definitely more modest
in here than they had been in the main hall where the party had taken place.
Riki spotted an unknown branch with some kind of white berries, hanging above
the headboard of the bed. In any other circumstance Riki would’ve questioned
what the fuck that was, curiosity being a personality trait that did not belong
solely to Iason Mink. But in this particular situation he had a more pressing
question. “What the hell are you doing?” When am I going to learn to expect the
unexpected where this motherfucker is concerned?
 
“My, my, Riki, you do pick your moments to ask completely useless questions. As
is most evident, I am undressing.” It was as if the Elite was using the
opportunity to stress the mongrel’s supposed stupidity. He just can’t help
himself, can he?
 
“Yeah, I know that, you dumb-ass! But why are you undressing?!”, the mongrel
insisted. However unusual the act of an Elite undressing himself was,
especially in the presence of anyone who was not his personal Furniture, to
Riki it was not that unusual to see Iason take off his clothes in his presence.
Although it had taken several years for him to reach the point where he felt
the need to take his sexual encounters with the mongrel so far outside of the
normal comfort-zone of an Elite of his standing.
 
What was unusual in this instance however, was the order of things: Iason
always undressed Riki first and only ever took of his clothes right before he
was to have his way with him. And then usually he didn’t even take off all of
them. Not to mention he had always been very straight-forward and practical
about it, he had never ever made a show out of it, such a thing would be
unbefitting one of his station. For the blonde to openly expose himself in such
a way was simply unthinkable. It was a border that could never be crossed, even
by a sexual deviant like Iason. Yet he just had, with his usual sensual
confidence and apparently without even a second thought.
 
Riki watched in amazement, at first too surprised to comment at all, as one by
one his Elite’s pieces of clothing were teasingly slowly removed from his
perfectly divine, pale body and dropped where he stood. Despite never having
made any display of the sort, Iason was good at it and Riki became unable to
pry his eyes away from the sight.
 
As it became apparent that Iason was not planning on making any further moves
on Riki other than posing at a relative distance, completely naked now, Riki
swallowed thickly and managed to regain his ability to speak. “Ehm… that’s
something else… not that I haven’t seen it before but… well I’m usually kinda
occupied when I do.” There was no sign of feeling degraded at all on the
Elite’s face, then again even if he felt degraded there would probably be no
way to tell from his facial expressions. “So… are you just gonna stand there
like that? Not that I mind…” Hell no, I don’t mind! He may be the world’s
biggest asshole but he sure is a looker, especially when he’s all naked and
seductive like that.
 
“I suppose that would depend on what you do, wouldn’t it? Don’t tell me you’re
feeling too intimidated to make a move on me. But I suppose you have a way of
becoming shy in the least unexpected moments.” That hit a nerve.
 
“I ain’t shy, OK! You’re the one in the nude here! And why the hell would I be
shy, huh? There ain’t nothing we haven’t done before”, yet the mongrel couldn’t
help but feel unsure of what he was to expect in the current situation and it
was showing on his face and in his manner. And the approach of the gloriously
naked, blonde god with a rather wicked smile on his face wasn’t helping
matters.
 
“Is that so? I can think of quite a few things we haven’t done before, can’t
you?” Riki tried his best not to flinch when Iason stopped at about 5 inches
from his face and playfully pushed his strong, naked leg in between Riki’s
fully clothed legs, causing the smaller man to fall backwards unto the bed.
“Such a shame really, wouldn’t you agree, Riki?” How in fuck’s name can he be
even more intimidating when I’m the one actually wearing clothes here!
 
After a few confused seconds Riki quickly recovered and jumped up from the bed,
not allowing Iason to physically get the upper-hand and desperately trying to
suppress his already visible reaction to the proximity of Iason’s naked body.
“And you’re just full of surprise, aren’t ya? So which fucked-up sexual acts
did you cook up this time, huh? And why do they require me to be fully
clothed?! And what the fuck’s got any of this to do with your lame-ass
Christime present?!!”, the questions continuously flowed out of Riki’s mouth,
almost as if he was having a panic-attack.
 
Riki tried to pull away but was unable to do so when the back of his legs hit
the foot of the bed again, as Iason went to stand close to him again and slid
his hands inside the front of Riki’s jeans. Oh God! “Ssshhh, there is no need
to worry, my sweet Riki. Whatever happens next is entirely up to you.”
 
“Wait… what?!”, Riki stared up at Iason in complete disbelief, as if trying to
read from his face whether or not this was some kind of ruse. “What the fuck’s
that supposed to mean? Since when is any of this my choice?!”
 
“You chose to follow me that day, did you not? And you chose to convince me to
go to that love hotel with you. Therefore you are the one who took the first
initiative in our relationship, not I.” Riki watched him like a hawk as Iason
passed right next to him – Riki could even feel his immense body-heat through
his clothes – and displayed himself on the bed, much like an ancient Roman
Emperor. “Though of course I am most pleased that you did”, the Elite added
with a sexy smile, moving up one of his legs in a way that left nothing up to
the imagination.
 
“Wrong! You are the one who just had to catch me stealing that day and comment
on it! And don’t tell me it’s the responsibility of a Blondie to catch and
reprimand mongrel thieves in Midas!”, Riki objected while having a very hard
time – literally - not to shed his own clothes and jump into the bed as well.
 
“Do you really wish to have this discussion now, Riki? I suppose the both of us
took the initiative at that point, leading to my assumption that you are not
incapable at all of leading when it comes to sexual pursuits. Am I wrong in
assuming so?”, the pale, beautiful deity asked while slightly raising one of
his golden eyebrows, an act which showed an unusual amount of emotion for an
Elite, especially one with a façade as icy as Iason Mink’s.
 
         XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas
 
Slowly but surely realisation dawned on Riki’s face as he studied Iason’s
strong yet elegant figure while contemplating his most unusual behaviour. No
bloody way in hell!“Who the fuck are you and what have you done to Iason
Mink?”, Riki whispered in awe not just of the perfect body displayed before him
but also in awe of what he thought Iason was suggesting. The mongrel approached
the side of the bed as if in a surreal trance and uncertainly reached out his
smaller, dark hand to touch a strain of the blonde hair that sparkled like
sunlight.
 
“To be honest it never really occurred to me that you might wish for a sense of
freedom and … equality… in our relationship. Then again you are a mongrel from
Ceres, I suppose I could’ve predicted it to some extent. Yet mongrels who sell
themselves don’t usually have such illusions about life in Tanagura, your
former gang member Kirie for example.”
 
“Dammit, I never wanted “life in Tanagura”, OK! I followed a person, not a
bloody lifestyle, and definitely not a fucked-up kind like that! And I didn’t
sell myself to you, I was trying to pay back a debt, so I wasn’t expecting
anything more from you!” What would it take to make that white-assed moron
understand? Shit I never wanted any of this! Or… maybe some of it.
 
“Well, I suppose that explains our little misunderstanding, not that it matters
much now what your motivations were at the time. I accepted, after a short
period of evaluation …” Iason was truly satisfied that his talk with Katze
earlier that day had finally provided him with some much-needed insights into
his mongrel’s way of thinking. Riki provided a riddle he was yearning to
unravel yet that was something he could not do on his own, foreign as the ways
of mongrels were to the Elite of Tanagura.
 
“You had Katze spy on me back then, didn’t you?! That’s why I got into the
Black Market in the first place! What the hell for, huh?! You’d already seen
all I had to offer!” The feeling of being tricked and betrayed rushed back into
his veins at full force, only now Katze’s betrayal was revealed to have been
orchestrated to a far greater extent than Riki had imagined. It had been his
intention to sell me out to Iason right from the start! He never truly wanted
to offer me a place in the Black Market, he never really respected me.
 
“You offer far more than merely what is visible, my Riki. I do not want to own
just your body, but also your mind and soul. But that last bit is proving to be
rather tricky I must say. According to Katze it’s a part that can only be
obtained from someone who is willing, physically as well as mentally. And
apparently in your case it requires to give you a sense of equality, which
would enable you to keep your precious mongrel honour intact.”
 
“I don’t understand, why are you so concerned about how I feel all of a sudden,
huh? It never bloody mattered before!” Riki was relieved when he felt the
burning anger take control of his mind and body again, momentarily numbing the
strong desire and the small flutter of hope that rose from his very soul. Anger
he was used to, anger he could handle, anger did not make him weak.
 
“Of course it mattered. If I want to see a good piece of acting I’ll go to the
theatre, such performances do not interest me in a sexual fashion. But your
reactions were always genuine, the powerful passion so openly visible on your
face, your body exposed to my eyes like an open book.” Those very arctic,
piercing eyes were studying Riki’s body intently as his speech went on. “If you
truly felt no attraction to me at all, I very much doubt I could have brought
you to your height that quickly during our first meeting. Not to mention all
the times following that one, even without the stimulation of the Pet ring or
aphrodisiacs. Yet those were necessary, seeing as how your unwilling, proud
mind always posed such a hindrance. But then again I like a challenge, very
much so even”, the attractive Elite concluded with a predatory grin, as if
daring Riki to object.
 
“Then why’d you send me off, huh? What, to give me false hope? To see how I’d
react, to see whether you’d finally succeeded in taming me and turning me into
a weak-minded slave?!” Fuelled by his anger, Riki grabbed a random crystal vase
from the night-stand and threw it across the room, needing something not just
to vent his anger but to vent his frustration and the growing fear within his
guts as well. He never wanted to truly release me. He’s just toying with me.
 
But no matter his anger and other strong, unwanted emotions rising up inside of
him, Riki was finally getting some much-needed answers. Answers to questions
he’d been asking himself over the last eight months, unable to forget the time
he had spent with Iason Mink. What motivated the Elite to do such an
uncharacteristic thing as taking a mongrel for a Pet? And what eventually
motivated him to release said mongrel, if not boredom or fear of his peers’
disapproval? Iason Mink was as much a mystery to Riki, as the other way around.
 
“As I have already explained, I do not just desire your body. I could not risk
that beautiful, fiery spirit of yours just for the sake of keeping you in my
direct vicinity. So I decided to return to you – at least temporarily – your
sense of freedom, seeing as how apparently you need it like you do air to
breathe.” The mongrel’s breathing was becoming more and more laboured as time
went on, not just because of the anger and confusion he was feeling but also
because the blonde on the bed had started absent-mindedly caressing his own
gorgeous body, as if to entice Riki to join him in the act.
 
“Is that your Elitist half-assed way of saying you actually care for me, as a
person?” Riki simply couldn’t believe it, what if it was another one of Iason’s
schemes, a trap meant to do nothing further than to ensnare him in his golden
nets once again. “Then prove it. Just the fact that you gave me some space
doesn’t prove anything. You could’ve just as easily sent me off for a while in
order to quiet things down a bit after my near-escape and Daryl’s
collaboration.”
 
“Very true. It is in fact one of the reasons I decided to invite you here this
evening.” Confusion again appeared on the young mongrel’s dark features. “I
would say my body is a small price to pay for your soul, but I fear it is all
Tanagura would allow me to offer.”
 
What the hell is he saying?! What does he mean, his body? We’ve already engaged
in sex, on more occasions than anybody could count!
 
         XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas
 
“Contrary to what you and others might believe, as an Elite I am not free to do
as I please. It is crucial for one in my position to maintain my public face
and to follow all the laws of Tanagura to the letter. If not I daresay my very
existence would be endangered, as Jupiter shows no mercy for those that stray
from the path she has laid out, not even for her own children. Fortunately for
me, there is no law that actually forbids me to have intercourse, as long as it
is done in private and it is to all the world as if it never even happened. You
must understand, Riki, no matter what I personally feel for you, I cannot offer
you anything other than my body in the confines of the bedroom. Do you accept?”
For a moment Riki could have sworn he saw something akin to pleading along with
intense longing in those ocean-blue, deep orbs. But no, it must have been his
imagination.
 
Despite never having really thought about Iason’s limits in freedom, due to how
much more limited the Pets and Furniture of Tanagura appeared in comparison,
Riki had to admit that he had a point. He couldn’t imagine Jupiter approving of
her very own children and instruments of her power disobeying her and thwarting
her will. Only now it occurred to him what a lonely existence that had to be,
with only a bunch of apathetic, ego-centric Elite and an unfeeling, inhuman
supercomputer for company. Not counting Pets and Furniture of course, seeing as
how the Elite did not even considers those to be interlocutors to begin with.
The question of course was: is Iason even capable of feeling loneliness, of
feeling anything at all? Because he surely never had given Riki any reason to
assume that something more than mere lust and the need to dominate and
humiliate was causing him to pursue a mongrel to such an extent. Perhaps Riki
ought to give him a chance, for curiosity’s sake.
 
“What exactly am I accepting? You might wanna make your terms a bit more
specific…”, Riki spoke hesitantly, still unsure what to expect and if he could
really trust the Blondie to keep his word, whatever it was about. Dear God what
am I getting myself into this time? But it can’t hurt to at least listen to his
offer, right?
 
“Why yes I suppose so, if not people might take advantage and purposely
misinterpret my preposition to entail the rest of my life rather than one
night”, the Elite responded with a down-right mischievous chuckle that made
Riki look up as if unsure whether the sound had really come from Iason. “I
offer you this entire body, to do with as you please, for the duration of this
night, meaning until dawn. Without causing any permanent damage, of course.
Though I must add that it is most unlikely that you would be able to
permanently damage me, seeing as how I was built to be indestructible. Also I
should inform you that I possess the ability to switch off certain parts of my
nerve system at will, seeing as how it is mechanical. Such as my pain centre
for instance, though I must say that I wouldn’t be inclined to switch off any
other nerve centres in your presence”, the blonde spoke with his all-business
voice and without showing a single emotion on his face, although Riki could
detect a certain playfulness and sincerity in his eyes. But only because he was
purposely focussing on those to avoid looking at any other parts of the
marvellous piece of bio-engineered art that was Iason Mink’s body. It was an
interesting, worth-while discovery, yet Riki could not trust that Iason did not
possess the ability to convey emotions that he did not truly feel through those
enchanting, sparkling sapphires.
 
         XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas
 
       Ending theme: Macy Gray – This Christmas (Hang All the Mistletoe)
 
         XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas
 
                               To Be Continued …
 
***** Under the Mistletoe Part 2 *****
Chapter Summary
     On Amoy there are two kinds of celebrations that go back on the
     Earthen tradition of Christmas: Jupiter Mass in Tanagura and
     Christime in Ceres, however each of these versions lacks something
     crucial... Could two star-crossed lovers, one from Tanagura and one
     from Ceres, possibly find a way to make things right and convey the
     true meaning of Christmas?;) In this chapter Iason and Riki get down
     to "business" for real ;) Will be followed shortly by an epilogue.
Author’s_notes:
Pooh! Finally, I’ve managed to finish this fic!:D This last chapter turns out
to be a lot longer than other chapters, despite me splitting it up into two
parts… oh well that’s more fun for everyone I suppose ;) I hope I’m not
disappointing anybody here, cause from what I’ve read in the reviews some
people have pretty high expectations… so I hope I’ve managed to pretty much
satisfy everybody with this :) I’ve no experience writing actual love scenes,
so I do hope this isn’t too cliché or hilariously ridiculous or something :P Do
let me know if something’s bothering you about it and I’ll try my best to
improve :)
This is the last chapter but there’s a very short lyrics epilogue coming after
this, which I will post on here shortly, it’s already been written but I just
gotta read over it once more ;) I hope you’ll all enjoy this final chapter and
the epilogue and please write me a review to tell me what you think!:D
Warning: I don’t think it can actually get any more explicit than this so… no
kids allowed!;)
                                        
         XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas
 
   Opening theme: Destiny’s Child – 8 Days of Christmas (My Baby Gave To Me)
                                        
         XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas
 
Is he fucking shitting me?! There’s just no way, no way at all! Why on Amoy
would he make me an offer like that? Me, a lowly unworthy mongrel?!
 
“Y… you’re not… serious… right? I mean… you don’t even like it when your
Furniture touches you out of necessity! Even that goddamn bastard Raoul never
touched you, not even to shake your hand or something!” What’s gotten into this
guy? Despite Riki’s burning desire that began to manifest itself to an even
greater extent, he had no interest or wish to engage in any kind of sexual
touch with someone who did not want to be touched. The pretty mongrel had been
the subject of many unwanted attentions and even down-right rape while growing
up in the slums, and therefore refused to subject anyone else – even his worst
enemies – to such a treatment on principle. He had to admit that he’d choose
Iason’s unwanted yet very pleasing ministrations over a repeat of those
assaults anytime.
 
“You are right in assuming that I do not appreciate people touching me. It is
not merely something put in place in the Tanaguran social system, but it is
also something I genuinely despise. However the first time I met you, I noticed
something very peculiar: I do not mind it when you touch me. Not even when you
so impudently grabbed my arm in the middle of the street. And I certainly never
minded it when you grabbed unto my hair in the throes of passion, moreover I
have found that I rather enjoy it when you do”, the blonde admitted, while
continuing to please himself but without actually touching any of his sexual
parts. Riki was amazed at his self-control, not even his breathing had become
more apparent. The only tell-tale sign that the blonde was enjoying himself
were the dilation of his pupils and the smoking look he kept on throwing Riki’s
way, as if hot blue flames were burning inside of those irises. The Blondie was
simply irresistible when he was openly displaying himself in such an erotic
way.
 
Riki had to admit it to himself, this was what he had secretly been hoping for
when he decided to follow Iason on the day he had met him in Midas. It felt
like a lifetime ago now, yet the fire quickened in his blood as if it had been
the day before. As if the Blondie had never put it out by humiliating him and
teaching him his place at the Minos love hotel. Arguably, the Blondie had
effectively made use of the mongrel’s physical attraction to him to torment
him. However that very act had also removed or at least significantly dampened
any mental attraction the mongrel had initially harboured for him, despite his
bold words and brass actions during their first meeting. Said mongrel now felt
that attraction return to both his mind and body tenfold, as if for each day
without the blonde’s presence more and more pressure had been added and now all
of that pressure nearly caused him to burst. Riki had not even realised to what
an extent he had been secretly dreaming, unknowingly hoping for an opportunity
like this. Moreover the stunning blonde actually wanted him to, and quite
clearly not just in order to be able to conquer Riki’s soul as well as his
body.
 
         XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas
 
For the one hundredth time that night, Riki was entirely speechless. He just
couldn’t believe it, somehow that impossible wish – up to that point even
unknown to himself - had been heard and answered by the object of his secret
desire. Working as a Black Market courier, Riki had quickly caught on the value
of swiftly taking an opportunity when it presented itself. That instinct was
probably the only reason why he was able to react to Iason’s unexpected
proposal at all.
 
“All… all right. Hell yeah I agree! Never thought I’d ever actually agree to
anything you said but… well, when you put it like that… who the fuck could
refuse? What about my supposed soul, you get that for the duration of the night
as well, huh? And how do I go about demonstrating your possession of my black
heart?” It felt as if the weight of the world had been on his shoulders that
whole time and had now finally fallen off of them. He felt light as a feather
and as young, desirable and confident as he ever did during the years growing
up and riding with Bison. The good old days when no worry or care in the world
could touch them, when their idealistic dreams were still very much alive, not
yet extinguished by the daily hopeless routines and misfortunes of the hard
life in the slums.
 
“I believe your willing participation will do in that respect, seeing as how I
never forced you to accept my offer. Yet you did accept it, even while knowing
I wanted you to, how fascinating”, Iason responded with a daring, rather
naughty smile while moving over to make room for Riki on the white, silk sheets
of the luxurious bed.
 
Riki wasted no time and got right to taking off his shirt, closely followed by
his boots and belt. And for the first time ever, he did not mind the glare of
those icy blue, burning eyes one bit. To his great surprise he even realised he
was seriously turned on by it, the way those gorgeous eyes would caress the
already exposed parts of his body caused a delicious shiver to run down his
spine and further kindle the excitement in his lower regions. Oh God, I  can’t
believe this is happening. Shit, if this is a dream I hope I don’t wake up for
a while. Some Christime present this is, hell I wouldn’t mind this every day of
the year!
 
Iason was most pleased when he noted the sudden and complete transformation his
mongrel had undergone in seconds after realising the full extent of his
present. That cocky, confident attitude and that seductive swagger that had
drawn Iason to the mongrel to begin with had returned in full. Probably even
more enhanced through the years of forced submission as a Pet and the more
recent months of sexual denial. Iason felt a strange and enticing shudder
within the very core of his still-organic brain, at the very heart of his
pleasure centre. After which he made a most peculiar realisation: the
anticipation of being dominated – even in a mere sexual way and with his
consent – by the wonderfully wild, feral creature in front of him made him
shiver with a delight he had never even thought possible. A second later Iason
contemplated how unusual a thing had just happened: his robotic body had
actually, although just slightly, shivered despite him not having explicitly
given that command to it.
 
Those dark, shimmering eyes remained focussed on the snowwhite, flawless skin
of the gorgeous Elite body in front of him while undressing, a deep hunger and
need to submit the divine creature in front of him surging up. Riki could not
help but notice what appeared to be a brief shimmering of said artificial skin.
Surely that couldn’t be an error of some sort? After blinking he even wondered
whether he had actually seen it at all. Now fully unclothed and with an already
hard and pine-tree-straight manhood, he crawled unto the bed like a wolf about
to pounce unto its prey. Never mind that his prey was a very dangerous and much
more powerful lion.
 
As his mongrel approached, a down-right sexy and hungry look in his coal-black
eyes, Iason felt a rising unease inside his mind like he had never felt before,
not even while having intercourse with the mongrel. If he had truly wanted to
fight off that feeling he probably could have, his mind being trained to remain
in control of his artificial body at all times except during updates or
interlinking with Jupiter, but at that moment he did not want to. So he just
let it go, automatically switching off all restrictions and inhibitions
installed in the software of his robotic body and turning down his strength to
the extreme minimum, making himself no stronger than the ordinary human bending
over him now.
 
Riki crawled on all fours until his body was right above Iason’s: his legs
surrounding Iason’s, one arm secured around his remarkably narrow waist and the
other hand moving towards his perfect face. “Hey, beautiful…”, he whispered
with his face close enough to Iason’s to slightly move his lips against the
other’s, while threading his fingers through his sparkling golden hair and
caressing the side of his perfectly chiselled face. “So I do get a greeting at
some point, just not simultaneous to your moment of entry?”, his handsome soon-
to-be lover answered in an amused tone.
 
Riki laughed out loud and it was the most beautiful and pure sound that Iason
had ever heard. “Oh, don’t worry, gorgeous, my “moment of entry”, as you so
formally put it, will come very soon, no need to be so impatient”, the bold
mongrel responded with a wink and then started kissing the blonde Elite more
deeply and in earnest, probing his tongue inside the other’s mouth instead of
the other way around, as it usually was. To Riki’s amazement Iason responded to
this insolent probing by welcomingly opening his mouth to allow for a better
conquest. The former Pet felt a sense of deep satisfaction at this reversal of
roles being added to his bourgeoning sexual excitement, as his lover’s
compliant behaviour only helped to fuel his passion further.
 
“May I point out that you unclothed yourself approximately 12,3 times faster
than I did, which clearly shows that you, gorgeous, are a lot more impatient
than I am.” This elicited yet another bellowing, genuinely human laugh from the
man who was now kissing Iason’s marble-looking yet endearingly soft neck in a
most teasing manner, interchanging a gentle nibbling with a more earnest and
slightly sharp biting.
“Shit, you actually do have a sense of humour, don’t ya? What else have you
been hiding from me, huh?”, the mongrel asked in a light-hearted tone that
Iason – or anyone else for that matter - had not heard from him in a very long
time.
 
“Have you got anything down there maybe, that I haven’t noticed before?”, he
continued with a cheeky grin as he lowered his body while sliding his warm,
slightly moist hands along Iason’s sides. After which he abruptly pulled
Iason’s legs further apart and put his head in between them like a dog
sniffling for a bone. “Why, what’s that there at the back? I think I never
noticed it cause there’s this huge pillar in front of it.. but seriously,
what’s hiding back there, huh?”
 
He couldn’t help it, it was a combination of the sexual stimulus brought on by
how his legs were suddenly pried open and the humorous stimulus caused by
Riki’s obscene sense of humour, and possibly also due to the carefree, naughty
voice he was currently using.
 
All of a sudden Riki heard an unknown sound and started peering around as if
expecting a cellphone to be ringing or a radio to have just started playing
somewhere. He had never heard a sound quite like it before, it had been very
brief and not particularly loud, yet Riki had managed to distinguish a rather
high-pitched, jingling sort of tone that could have been musical if it had
actually contained a melody or a rhythm, which it did not. Unable to find the
source of the sudden mysterious sound and curious about it, Riki turned to
Iason. “Did you just hear that too? I heard something weird, like a jingling of
some sort…” Perhaps there was a radio somewhere else in the house, playing a
Christime song or something? Yet it had sounded much, much closer. Riki got to
the side of the bed and searched on and around the nightstand for the source of
that sound. Truth be told it had really appealed to him on a remarkably deep
level and he wanted to figure out what it was so he could hear it again.
 
“I believe that was me, Riki. I apologize, it has been almost seventy years
since this last happened. To tell you the truth, I find it rather
embarrassing.” How truly bizarre that this should happen now. Perhaps it is
because I have switched off my inhibitions?
 
“It surely didn’t sound like a wind… wait, you don’t even have a digestive
system so that can’t be it. So what the fuck could it be that’s so
embarrassing, huh?” The mongrel approached Iason again with a curious, I-need-
to-know look twinkling in his black eyes.
 
“No, it was a VE707, a rather rare voicebox error that I used to get more often
during my younger years.” Iason’s younger years. That could have been over a
century ago for all Riki knew, for Elite did not age of course.
 
“An error? Seriously? I guess it sounds pretty when you sing a false tune as
well then, cause that didn’t sound like no error to me. So what kind of error
was it then, one of your circuits overloaded or something?”
 
“Something of the sort, it is caused by a malfunction in one of the connections
between my H and my E component, meaning my organic brain and my mechanical
body.”
 
“So what, it’s like saying something out loud you only wanted to be thinking or
something?” Riki had always been remarkably intelligent and quick-witted for a
mongrel, therefore Iason hardly ever needed to offer any long, redundant
explanations on the rare occasions that they actually conversed without it
leading to an argument followed by punishment.
 
“Indeed, that is in fact a rather accurate comparison. However there are no
actual words and thus no actual speech involved.”
 
What could it be? “You say you got this more often during your childhood, or
whatever Elite equivalent of it there is? And it’s embarrassing? Could you give
an example of another time you’ve had this?”, Riki asked eagerly, his onyx eyes
shining.
 
Iason did not understand why his mongrel was so interested in such a vocal
error of no importance whatsoever. Was it because he had been desperate to find
an imperfection in his former Master, and now at long last he had succeeded?
“Why are you even enquiring about this, Riki?”
 
“Cause I wanna try and get you to make it again. It sounds real nice.” Riki got
closer to Iason and studied his throat and chest, almost as if contemplating if
he could get the sound again by pounding his chest or by pushing a hidden
button somewhere.
 
“You wish for me to make an error again? What an unusual request that is,
though I suppose I did say my body was yours to do with as you please. Very
well then, the last time it occurred was when Raoul had somehow managed to trip
over his own untied shoelaces. His locomotive functions were rather unstable,
which was not particularly unusual as the both of us were only about five years
old at the time.” After hearing how that stuck-up, annoyingly bothersome
bastard had done something so idiotic as a kid, Riki just burst out laughing.
And what do you know, all of a sudden the jingling sound was there again!
“There! You just did it again!” Riki could hardly contain his excitement and
even went as far as to put his ear against Iason’s throat, his entire being
appearing to light up after having heard the mysterious sound again. Then it
began to dawn on him, the mystery of VE707, a riddle even Iason himself did not
know the answer to. “I know what it is!”, Riki cheerfully exclaimed as if it
was something truly marvellous. “I thought I had just explained to you what it
is already?”
 
Riki jumped up and of the bed, unable to contain his enthusiasm for another
second. “Gah, you’re entirely mistaken! It ain’t no fuckin’ “error” at all!”
And it’s proof that there really is a human being hidden in there, somewhere…
“Then what do you propose it might be instead, Riki?”, the blonde quizzically
asked, yet truly curious to find out what alternative answer his mongrel
thought he had found, and why it seemed to make him so happy all of a sudden.
Riki had hardly ever shown any signs of happiness while under Iason’s care,
therefore the Elite felt pleasantly overwhelmed with the mongrel’s currently
light-hearted, near-jubilant mood.
“It’s a laugh, duhuh! Or a giggle maybe, and a damn pretty one at that. But
totally weird, it kinda sounds like an electronic harpsichord playing or
something”, the enormously satisfied mongrel answered. Not only had he solved
one of his Elite’s mysteries, but he had also corrected Iason’s own wrong
interpretation of the nature of the sound. Riki knew something that the
superintelligent, oh-so-smart Iason Mink did not know and had been able to tell
him as much. Score!
 
         XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas
                                        
After that short yet immensely satisfying and revealing intermezzo, Riki
decided to go back to business, seeing as how he only had until dawn to
discover more of Iason’s more intimate secrets. And he intended to use that
opportunity to its utmost advantage. You want a piece of me, Iason Mink? How
about some of your own medicine?
 
All of a sudden he literally jumped on top of Iason, capturing his waist
between his legs and pressing down his hands into the mattress with his own,
effectively using his own body to cage the Elite’s. Iason did not fail to
notice the stark yet aesthetically pleasing contrast between their skin tones:
his own pale, flawless, velvety yet unbreakable skin next to Riki’s darker,
more natural-looking and more vulnerable skin. Iason always found Riki’s
clearly visible pores to be particularly interesting, seeing as how he himself
had nothing of the kind: his artificial skin was entirely flawless and smooth,
meaning there wasn’t even a line on it except for his fingerprints.
 
“Gotcha! Now you aremy prisoner for a change, baby. How’d’ya like that?”, the
wild creature who had just captured him asked with an uncharacteristically
predatory grin. Yet nowhere nearly as scary as the more sinister kind that
sometimes appeared on Iason’s face while stalking Riki. The strikingly bright
blue eyes looked up at Riki with a hint of surprise and as if trying to
calculate what the dark one’s next move was going to be. “So I am your baby
now, am I? Interesting choice of words.” “Yeah, well, all Elite are real babies
when it comes down to it. You live your lives in total isolation here in
Tanagura, safely locked away from the big scary world out there, and you hardly
ever need to think or worry about your future cause Momma Jupiter provides for
you. Crap, Iason, I bet you can’t even wash your own clothes or comb your own
hair.” After which Riki proceeded by demonstratively combing Iason’s long,
golden tresses with his fingers. Yet Iason’s strong hands remained still on
exactly the place where Riki had left them. It was like a thereto uncharted
territory had opened up to the mongrel, seeing as how Iason never lay still or
long enough in bed for Riki to take his time and truly study him from up-close.
But now he had all the time and permission that he needed to explore.
 
Might as well take advantage of the situation while I can. Riki started mapping
out the Elite’s big, perfect body by caressing each and every inch of his skin,
but avoiding too erotically charged areas. Let’s leave the best for last and
make him suffer for a while. After which he continued by kissing each and every
inch of skin, to find out if it tasted as good as it smelled. It had a sterile,
synthetic kind of smell yet it was pleasant because it had a sweet after-smell.
“Do you use a lotion of some sort, or is that just natural?” Sometimes it was
as if Riki had momentarily forgotten that hardly anything of an Elite’s body
was natural, and definitely not the parts available for his sensory and
olfactory inspection.
 
“Why would someone with artificial skin use a lotion?” Iason knew the extent of
his Pet’s intellect by now and knew that he must be smart enough to realise at
least that much, despite his lack of knowledge on mechanical Elite bodies.
Therefore there had to be another reason why he asked the question, surely?
“Dunno, to make it smell nice for when his secret mongrel lover from the slums
shows up?” Riki said with a bad-boy smile and slightly lifted up Iason’s leg –
which he would not have been able to do if Iason had not immediately done so
himself the moment he saw Riki’s intent. He then started teasingly kissing and
licking Iason’s inner thigh, all the way up and getting closer and closer
towards his intimate parts, which by this point clearly showed the intensity of
the blonde’s excitement.
 
Iason could not stand the teasing, it made his excitement rise and rise until
he thought he would not be able to hold it in anymore. Having no control over
what was happening was causing him to behave in an uncharacteristically
passionate and involved manner. When having sex with Riki on his own terms, he
was able to contain his own reactions to a point where in Riki’s eyes he
appeared to be nearly aloof and distanced despite the intimacy of the acts
themselves. Yet this situation was very, very different, as Iason noticed to
his astonishment. As Riki was continuously kissing the crease where his leg and
torso met, only to go on and start again at the bottom of his other leg, Iason
actually threw his head back and softly yet breathlessly let out something that
– had it been louder and not so brief – could count for a shriek. Riki
naughtily looked up from what he was doing, which led to even more frustration
from Iason of course. “Is something the matter, my sweet Iason?” In any other
context this kind of pestering would have surely led to a very serious and
unpleasant rebuke from his Master. Yet now he could, despite his need that was
becoming greater by the minute, see the charm in Riki’s teasingly slow
conquest. Not to mention he had promised his mongrel to freedom to do with his
body as he pleased, so there was no backing out of it now.
 
“What could possibly be wrong in a situation… where you are willingly and most
expertly … pleasing me in bed and you are actually… allowing yourself to enjoy
it?”, Riki’s divinely beautiful lover spoke in a series of short gasps as the
other’s tongue was approaching his intimate zone once again. Riki was rather
amazed at hearing how apparently Iason could not see anything negative in a
situation that left him - an impeccably perfect, pure and superhuman Blondie
Elite who was at least partially still a virgin - entirely exposed to the
unpredictable, dark desires of a wild, uncontrollable mongrel from Ceres.
 
“If you wanted me to enjoy it, perhaps you shouldn’t have forced it upon me?”,
the mongrel responded, yet Iason could tell from the still-present humour and
affection in his eyes that it wasn’t meant to be a real reproach. However the
blonde wasn’t given the opportunity to respond in turn because at that moment
the mongrel’s moist, searching lips and tongue had found their way towards his
genitals. As he felt his manhood being engulfed in the living heat of the
mongrel’s mouth, his passion swept through the circuits of his body like a
whirlwind. His pale, strong hands gripped unto the sheets for dear life,
ripping apart half the bed-linen in the process. His flawless, slim legs lifted
higher off the bed and a soft yet clearly distinguishable, sexy moan fell from
his artificial lips. Riki had never heard anything so desirable in his entire
life and before he could even think about trying to hold back the floodwater of
feelings, hormones and blood he came right on the spot without a single touch.
 
After he had come down from what must have been the highest peak of his entire
life and had settled somewhat, he let out a frustrated cry. Shit! Not again!
Riki was just getting himself ready for a mocking comment or a witty retort
following his embarrassment when he heard something quite different coming from
the blonde.
 
“Ah… hah!… Riki… don’t stop… please don’t stop…”, Iason pleaded breathlessly,
unable because unwilling to suppress any of his moans. His blonde hair was
entangled all around his body, Riki and the sheets and his magnificent, big yet
refined body was bent back in a hopeless, submissive manner. The mongrel could
scarcely believe his eyes and ears. No fucking way! Because in his mind – and
probably everybody else’s in Tanagura – Iason Mink, the renowned and perfect
First Blondie, would never lose control like that unless he allowed himself to.
As his lover lay there wantonly moaning and begging Riki to continue his
ministrations, the whole situation became even more surreal and unbelievable to
him. For him, a worthless slum mongrel, to have this kind of effect on one of
Jupiter’s divinely perfect creations and main leaders of all Amoy, was simply a
miracle. Something that shouldn’t have existed, yet somehow it did.
 
Unable to tear his eyes away from the trembling, pleasantly moaning near-deity
in front of him, Riki moved his head back between his partner’s legs and
resumed his sucking and licking work there while continuing to stare intently
into his Blondie’s eyes. “Haa!... Oh, Riki… my love… ah!... aaah… please…” To
be honest Riki was feeling a bit distraught about all this, as all of a sudden
his passionately crying lover wrapped one of his powerful, mechanical legs
around the mongrel’s ribcage. Riki felt a surge of fear as he realised that one
of the Elite’s limbs possessed enough strength to crush him to death in a
matter of seconds. All this time he had wanted nothing more than to have Iason
lose control during their love-making, yet now he realised that the practical
ramifications of it could also be disastrous for him…
 
“D.. don’t worry, my love… I have… decreased my strength… to the minimum…”,
Iason spoke in an attempt to get Riki to return his pretty, foul mouth to his
nether regions. My love. That’s me, Iason Mink’s love. Wow. “Wait… is that even
possible? But… why? Why would you do that?”, Riki asked confusedly as he pulled
his lips away from the hot, pulsating member.
 
“Do I really have to explain why it would be an inconvenience to me if I
accidentally ripped your head off while you were sucking me off?” The Elite had
never, ever used such crass, to-the-point language before but under the
circumstances his impatience and powerful emotions got the better of his iron
control.
“But you don’t do that! You don’t do anything by accident, you’re always
perfectly in control!” It’s what I hate about you. “Only when I choose to be.
It is like feeling pain, I only feel it when I wantto because I can just as
easily switch it off.” He switched off his self-control and his super-strength
for me? “But why? Why would you choose to give up your control? I mean, you
never have before, right?”
 
“Indeed I never wanted to thoroughly experience anything in a such a manner…
not until I met you, Riki. You made me want to feel in the true sense of the
word. Could you stop asking questions now and do what it is you do to me?”
Having an impatient, uncontrolled Iason in front of him was almost too much for
Riki to process and respond to. Almost. The mongrel did not have to be asked
twice, as only seconds later his mouth was back on the blonde’s hard peak. But
despite having spent himself only minutes before, Riki soon decided that he had
to stop or he would reach his climax too soon. The Elite was just so damn hot
and erotic when he was responding like this!
 
Just after Riki had stopped, Iason grabbed his hand urgently, yet because of
his lack of super-human strength it did not bruise the skin. Those bright-blue
eyes, ablaze with excited longing now, looked at him in a lustful, almost
pleading way. And could Riki detect a shiver of fear of what he was about to
ask in there, or was that just his imagination? “Please… my Riki… I needyou…”,
Iason said through clenched teeth and while breathing more rapidly than Riki
had ever observed him to. After which he brought Riki’s hand towards the inner
sanctum that was his most intimate of places and that had never been touched
before, not by anyone.
 
         XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas
 
Oh my God! Is he seriously asking me to…?! Riki did not respond at first,
unsure if this was all just a figment of his imagination or if his Blondie had
really just asked him to pop his cherry. For an Elite to take one of their Pets
was one thing, but to openly and physically submit themselves to the will of an
inferior like that? Truly unheard of.
 
“Are you sure?” No matter how much Riki desired both to have the man in a
sexual way and to have the Elite in a submissive position for a change, he
would not do so if his partner wasn’t truly willing. Life on the streets as an
attractive teenager had often taught him exactly what it was like to be on the
receiving end of molestation. Not to mention on a deep level he genuinely cared
about Iason’s well-being, only he did not realise to what an extreme extent
this went just yet.
 
“Am I perhaps… hah… in the habit of asking… for things I don’t want?”, the
other asked with a look of smouldering blue heat, while gently pulling Riki’s
body up and parting his own legs as if in invitation. “No but… well, you’re not
exactly sure what to expect from this, I take it?”, Riki asked with what must
have been a look of slight concern. “There’s no need… to hold back, Riki… like
I said earlier… you cannot possibly damage me.” Riki wanted to say there were
other kinds of damage than mere physical damage, but looking at Iason spread
out for him on the bed, his long blonde hair tangled chaotically and sexily
around his white, marble body, he really did not want to go into it. The
discussion that is.
 
Riki moved up and on top of the Elite’s attractive body and started nibbling
his rosy already-hard nipples while simultaneously rubbing his hips against his
abdomen. He noticed that Iason’s body temperature was up, to the point where
rubbing against him felt as relaxing as having a hot shower, but given the
context also extremely stimulating. Riki moaned openly – no point in holding
back if even his ice bunny didn’t – and moved higher up in order to thoroughly
French-kiss the blonde, exploring every dark, moist corner of his sweet mouth.
In between kisses he mischievously whispered in his ear while licking along its
shell: “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ll make it good for you, I want you to enjoy
this just as much as I will. I want to make you scream your pleasure for all to
hear… especially cause of how embarrassing it must be for you.” After which
Riki felt his pale lover shiver in his arms and moan softly, apparently he
actually liked the prospect of that kind of embarrassment at the hands of his
mongrel.
 
Riki could swear Iason actually tasted a little bit like honey, strange how he
had never noticed it before. And the more he tasted it, the stronger was the
need to taste more. By the time he was done exploring his lover’s mouth, his
need had suddenly become very urgent, almost as if he had taken aphrodisiacs
but he hadn’t. “Ah! Oh, holy shit…! Aargh!” What in the hell was that?! Had he
been fed something without his knowledge perhaps? Not that it really mattered
now. Encouraged by the frizzy, hot sensation that was slowly but surely
spreading across his entire body, Riki surged up and passionately kissed his
lover again. Iason responded in kind with his usual possessiveness, as if he
wanted to suck out and drink Riki’s very soul. But it soon turned to an unusual
surrendering gentleness as the blonde securely put his arms around the
mongrel’s dark-skinned back, holding on almost like a child to its protector.
“That’s it, honey… just hold unto me, you’re safe with me…”, the mongrel cooed
in between the burning kisses and desperate gasps for air. He tasted like honey
too, so it seemed like accurate sweet-talk.
 
The mongrel continued to kiss his currently submissive Blondie with ardent
vigour and then started thrusting his hips and erection in between his lover’s
legs and against his surprisingly soft, pleasing buttocks. To Riki’s slight
surprise, he noticed that the insides of Iason’s legs and also his bottom were
slightly moist, which was strange considering his artificial body did not sweat
at all. This fact only added to his strong, growing lust for the gorgeous man
below him.
 
Dammit, I can’t go on like this much longer! Riki suddenly jumped from the bed
and started fumbling around inside and then in the vicinity of the nightstand.
The sudden deprivation of satisfying sensations led Iason to emit something
that sounded almost like a pained groan. “Riki… What… are you doing there?...
Get back here!”, Iason exclaimed, a touch of his usual authoritative voice
returning as his impatience increased to an almost unbearable level. “Yeah,
yeah, I know… What’d’ya think I’m doin’? You got any lube around here
somewhere?”
 
“I don’t need any. Get back here this instance!”, Iason yelled as loud as he
could given the fact that he’d also switched off his higher voice volume.
“Please?”, he then added as an afterthought, his anger dissipating and being
replaced with new desire as he observed Riki kneeling stark-naked right next to
the bed while continuing his search, his delectable bum up in the air.
“Sssshhhh ssh ssh… No need to get upset, sugar, it’ll be worth the wait, I
promise”, the mongrel replied with a rather saucy wink as he continued
searching through the contents of the nightstand.
“I told you I don’t needany, Riki, for the love of Jupiter, get back in here!”
What would it take to get him to come back and finish what he’d started while
keeping his mongrel’s integrity intact? Not to mention it was the sort of
sexual act that couldn’t exactly be forced upon the actual instigator.
“But…”, the mongrel began to argue, despite his own apparent need which bounced
around in front of his body in a way that would’ve been comic in any other
situation.
“I don’t need any lubricant because I produce my own, there is no need for you
to be quite so considerate, my love”, Iason spoke in a calmer, more soothing
tone, as he realised that the elongated wait was being caused by Riki’s concern
for his comfort. Confusion appeared anew on Riki’s face, but then his earlier
observation occurred to him. “So thàt’s what that moist stuff was! What, you
just… make that yourself? That’s so weird! And kinda sexy…”, he said with a
lewd smile and started descending upon the blonde’s defenceless, seductive
body, that looked all the more tasty due to its passivity and lack of
resistance.
 
As the mongrel slowly began to sneak up on him like a black wolf would a lamb,
extremely pleasurable sensations of lustful anticipation and a deep, secret
need to be brought closer to his Riki took over Iason’s rationality. Yet at the
same time said approach also gave rise to a very different – yet equally
fascinating and mind-blowing – sensation that Iason had never really
experienced during the many decades of his life as an Elite. Not having ever
felt the cold, electrical-current-like emotion before, Iason did not even
realise what emotion it actually was. But as soon as Riki detected it in his
partner’s eyes he could tell exactly what it was straight away. It surprised
him and it only made his prey all the more appealing to the mongrel’s darker,
vengeance-bent side. For it’s not everyday that a mere mongrel and Pet
observesfear in the eyes of his tyrannical Elite Master.
 
         XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas
                                        
Damn! He’s actually afraid of me! But then why has he put himself in this
position in the first place? A very strong part of Riki wanted to jump at the
opportunity to give back some of the pain and fear he himself had felt at the
hands of his former Master. Yet another part of him did not want to spoil this
long-awaited moment by contaminating it with the hatred brought on by living
under Tanaguran oppression. No, Iason had put his trust in him, had for the
first time ever called him his lover and was making a real effort to suppress
his bred and conditioned domineering Elite nature in order to make Riki feel
like an equal. Not to mention his love life had been the only part of his life
with Iason where the cold-hearted Elite had slightly defrosted and had truly
done his best to make Riki experience pleasure – on a level that had been
unimaginable to him before - without there being any pain, humiliation or
resentment added into the mix. Of course the mongrel had felt hurt and
humiliated either way, but he had always known that had not been Iason’s
intention, not in that particular context. In fact the safety of the haven of
Iason’s bedroom had for a very long time been the only thing standing between
the imprisoned mongrel and true despair.
 
“I think you forgot to turn your fear button …”, Riki said as he installed
himself between Iason’s legs again and pulled him closer by his satiny hair to
kiss him deeply and with a passionate hunger, almost as if he wanted to devour
his blonde, icy angel on the spot.
“Oh? It thatwhat this strange sensation is?... Truth be told, there are no
sensations or emotions that I would want to switch off when I am with you, my
Riki. Not even pain or fear. After all, it would not be fair to you seeing as
how you never had that option”, Iason spoke with devoted conviction, although
his voice had become slightly shaky.
“Wanna hear a secret?”, the mongrel said with a naughty look as if he was about
to indulge Iason by telling him a well-kept, shocking secret. “Even if I’d had
such a button I wouldn’t’ve used it, not when we were together like that. Cause
I liked it… hell, I liked each and every single moment of it. So I’m gonna make
damn sure that you’ll enjoy this to the maximum too!” It was not an easy
confession to make for a mongrel with Riki’s pride, but he felt the situation
simply called for it. To let Iason know that he was not alone in this, that
Riki felt the same way about him. Not that the mongrel would’ve gone as far as
to actually admit it. That would take a lot more time and circumstances of a
much extremer and more definite kind.
 
The Elite’s fear did not abide completely, yet he felt significantly calmer
after hearing such a confession from his mongrel, knowing how hard it must’ve
been for him to admit even that much. Therefore he knew that Riki was being
truly supportive and was not planning on taking advantage by using his current
position of power to exact revenge. Not that Iason would have truly minded if
he did, it would not have changed his longing to add this dynamic to their
relationship. Elites could be extremely stubborn when they wanted something
badly enough.
 
Riki started fiercely kissing Iason’s lips again, a distinctly biological heat
appearing to be transferred from his human, living body to the frosty Elite’s
mechanical one. At this the blonde felt the tingling in his loins being renewed
and becoming even stronger, and it was as if the icy chill of fear only added
to that excitement. “Shit, Iason, you’re so hot like this…”, the mongrel
breathed lustfully as his skilful hands found their way to his lover’s virginal
entrance, his finger slipping inside easily due to the copious amount of sticky
fluid that appeared to flow from the Elite’s insides. Riki briefly wondered
what in Jupiter’s name that stuff actually was but then decided that he would
ask that question at a time when he wasn’t otherwise preoccupied. It had to be
synthetic, that was a fact. It had a sweet, almost earthy smell to it, not
entirely unlike the sweet wafts of almonds and cherry blossoms that Riki was
currently inhaling while burying his face inside of the abundance of soft,
blonde hair. He’d always assumed it had been some kind of shampoo, but perhaps
the smell was being emitted by the Elite’s own body, a thought which definitely
turned Riki on as well.
 
When Riki added a second finger inside of his Elite’s warm, sticky core there
was more resistance, almost as if the flexible inner walls around his fingers
were rhythmically clenching and unclenching. Riki tried not to think about what
that would feel like on a more sensitive and bigger body-part than a finger,
for that would definitely drive him mad with desire and make him lose what
little self-control he had left. After having pushed his second finger all the
way inside as well, the mongrel noticed a change in the blonde’s behaviour.
 
Iason’s entire body was shaking, he pushed his hips slightly upwards and he
hooked one of his legs, albeit gently, around Riki’s neck almost as if in an
automatism. Riki could not look away anymore after being exposed to the erotic
sight of Iason Mink passionately grabbing unto the side and head of the bed
while twisting and turning around as if dozens of slithering snakes were right
beneath his purely white skin. Also his vocal behaviour came with a more
strongly developed eagerness. “Aaaaah!... Yes!... Oh yes, my Riki… Touch me
there again!... Please, touch me…” While listening to his blonde’s sexy,
encouraging voice, Riki felt the hot blood being pumped southwards even more
and started pushing a third finger inside without much hesitation. At this
Iason’s moans became even more pronounced and significantly louder, it almost
sounded as if he were coming already yet it went on and on and on … The Blondie
now shook over his entire body and moved his limbs around even more feverishly,
while throwing his head back in surrender and screaming non-stop in a way that
betrayed he could do an inhumanly long time without air.
 
Riki knew – in theory – that he ought to be shocked and that this kind of
behaviour from one with a normally iron self-control was very abnormal. Yet
something about the shrill sounds, and especially about the sweet smell that
was now continuously filling his nostrils, made Riki forget all about anything
but what he was doing to the blonde. It made him all the more eager to take
what he wanted without any more hesitation and to truly revel in it until he
was entirely spent. He’d never thought it possible but somehow Iason’s current
bedroom antics were exciting Riki even more than usual. “Ahah… ah, Riki… I’m
sorry… ah!”, Iason tried to speak, his intoxicating blue eyes looking as if he
was in pain due to all the pleasure that was surrounding and suffocating him.
“Sssshhh… you’ve nothing to be sorry for, my love… I mean, not now, not here…
Argh! Crap, Iason, I can’t… I don’t think I can hold back and go slow…”, Riki
responded soothingly but with his overboiling passion apparent in his voice.
 
The mongrel truly began to believe that both he and Iason had been fed a huge
amount of a powerful aphrodisiac, but he had no idea when this could’ve
happened and he did not understand at all why Iason would be effected by it,
seeing as how Elite were supposed to be immune to all toxins and hallucinogens.
 
Riki rose up on all fours and covered Iason’s body with his own, the constant
movements of the heated body beneath him making the contact all the more
enjoyable. He then buried his fingers inside his lover’s splendid blonde locks
and kissed him wildly, sliding his rock-hard phallus across Iason’s soft inner
thigh with a low, purring moan. “Ah, Iason… my love, I want you so bad!”, he
cried out, biting his lips so hard they actually bled. “Then have me, my Riki…
Oh!... please, my beautiful Riki… I could only be yours… take what belongs to
you… Aaahaa… only you, Riki… I want you to take me…”, the usually stoic blonde
responded heatedly, while hungrily kissing and licking the mongrel’s face and
throat, digging his fingernails deeply into Riki’s shoulderblades and then
feverishly scratching them down his back. It was as if the sharp pain just made
it all the more sweeter to the mongrel, for right after it he screamed out his
ecstasy and pushed the tip of his manhood against the Elite’s hot, wet
entrance.
 
“Yes! Yes, Riki! Ah… ah, please… Please!”, Iason screamed at the current top of
his lungs – which was still considerably loud – and locked his legs around
Riki’s waist, pushing his foot into the mongrel’s left butt-cheek in order to
glue him even more closely to his own hips. All this was simply too much for
the human, who reached his breaking-point and took his long-awaited, golden
prize in one hard, absolutely delicious push. It was exquisite beyond words.
Riki screamed so loudly he was sure he would have no voice left in the morning,
unable to hold in all of that heavenly bliss. He had expected it to be good,
just not this unbelievably ecstatic. It felt as if Iason was hugging him and at
the same time pulling him in. Seeing as how it was wet and warm it felt similar
to getting a blow-job, only this was way tighter and it was accompanied by a
strange, vibrating sensation. With the added stimuli provided by Iason’s
intense cries Riki knew he couldn’t possibly go on like this for much longer.
The way the blonde held unto Riki’s body with all of his limbs yet could not
make his body’s violent shuddering stop. The feeling of his hot, agitated
breathing in Riki’s neck, accompanied by frenzied kisses and the delightfully
tickling slide of that mass of marvellous golden hair against Riki’s over-
sensitive skin. The heady fragrance of the blonde nymph’s sweet skin and hair.
But all of that was nothing compared to the glimpses that Riki caught of the
expression of utter and complete bliss on his lover’s celestial visage: in
those moments the mongrel knew for sure that he meant more to the Blondie than
either one of them could admit or even possibly express to the fullest.
 
Just when Riki thought it could not possibly get any more exuberant, hot-and-
cold sparks were added to the maelstrom of euphoric stimulations. Exhilarating
pleasure overwhelmed Riki’s senses as his body and spirit reached their highest
point and was initially accompanied by a feeling of loss: he had wanted to last
longer and suck up as much of those elated sensations as possible. But somehow
Riki’s body was held at said highest point for a very unusual amount of time,
during which he could not even let out a single sound due the sheer intensity
of his seemingly infinite peak. His very soul soared to such an extent that he
momentarily lost all sense of self-awareness and was totally clueless as to
where his body ended and his lover’s body began. He could hear the rushing of
his heated blood in every fibre of his body, followed by an enraptured, long
scream of which he did not even know whether it was him, Iason or both of them
who had thrown it towards the heavens. These overflowing, euphoric feelings
continued to wash over Riki until the sensory overload became too much for his
human body to sustain anymore, and he actually blacked out …
 
         XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas
                                        
“…iki? Riki, darling, are you all right?” It felt as if he had been ran over by
a high-speed train, several times after each other. Slowly the blurry spots of
light and dark that he could distinguish became more focused and he could make
out the angelic, fair face of the one who had spoken to him. It took a while
for him to even notice the uncharacteristic look of concern in Iason’s sky-blue
eyes. “Ia.. Iason?... Wh… what happened?”, the mongrel asked while staring
first at his lover and then at the rest of the bedroom in wonder, as if he was
unsure as to where he was or how he got there. “You lost consciousness for
approximately 4,3 minutes. I was worried, I… apologise, apparently I had
forgotten all sense of rational control at the time.”
 
“Seriously? You give a guy an orgasm that’s so ecstatic it makes him black out
and you apologise for losing control? Shi-it, Tanagura’s trained you good,
Iason Mink”, the dark-haired young man responded mirthfully, while removing a
lock of stray, pretty hair from his blonde lover’s face in a remarkably gentle
way.  He felt damn good, almost as if his body had been completely rejuvenated
or some heavy burden had suddenly fallen off of him.
 
“I am glad you are all right, Riki”, his Elite murmured softly, after which he
elegantly moved closer to Riki and placed a gentle, deliciously sweet kiss on
his lips. For some reason or other it made the mongrel blush. Not because the
kiss was passionate or lustful but because there was simply nothing sexual
about it. It was simply an expression of pure love and caring devotion.
 
“All right you call this? Damn, I’m better than all right, I’ve never felt so
good in my life! It’s like I’ve been reborn or something… Hey, what the hell
did you slip me and when? Cause I don’t remember eating or drinking anything
since I got here... Not that I mind, whatever stuff that was you should’ve fed
it to me before.” Seeing Iason’s look of surprise, he added: “Oh come on! Now
don’t tell me you gave me nothing, cause I was feeling butt-crazy from the very
start! Not that I don’t feel that way anyways with you around, but usually not
that quickly.”
 
“I am not aware of any aphrodisiacs being used on either one of us. But I had a
similar thought during the first moments of our engagement, which should be
impossible seeing as how I am immune to any and all sorts of stimulants of that
kind, a precaution Jupiter has built into my very immune-system.”
 
“Perhaps it was like… y’know… cause you’re in love? I mean that kinda makes
people feel fluffy like you’ve taken drugs or something, makes everything
blurry, makes you feel stressful and makes your stomach upset, stuff like
that…”, Riki started musing, trying to answer some questions and not even aware
of how he had just stated how Tanagura’s famously apathic Head of the Syndicate
really was in love with him. “Perhaps, as long as I am still partially human
Jupiter will not be able to change anything about how hormones effect me just
like they do any other human being”, the Elite added without even attempting to
deny any of what Riki had just said. Including how he was head over heels for
the mongrel, despite being theoretically unfeeling and the immense,
unbridgeable divide between their respective social classes. “Yeah, but that
don’t explain what’s been effecting me. I mean I’ve kinda felt that way around
you since… well, more or less since the day I met you. So this ought to be
nothing new to me, yet it was… definitely much more intense, really like I was
drugged.”
 
As Riki laid back down on the bed, crossing his arms under his head in a
completely at-ease, nonchalant fashion, his blonde lover went to lay down next
to him, aligning their bodies and pulling the mongrel into his embrace, his
possessive nature glorifying in the fact that the mongrel’s lean, tan body did
not resist this move in the slightest. His gift to the mongrel had definitely
brought on a lot of thereto unseen progress, it had been well worth his
sacrifice. Not to mention he had enjoyed it to a far greater extent than he had
ever thought it possible for one such as himself. While caressing the other’s
unruly, midnight locks Iason continued to ponder the mystery of how somehow
whatever had been effecting his metabolism had also been effecting Riki’s. Then
something occurred to him…
 
“What is it? Did you think of an answer already?”, asked Riki as he noticed
that Iason had suddenly stirred slightly. In the aftermath of their intensive,
blissful love-making his body was apparently still more responsive than usual,
which gave Riki an actual clue as to what the coldly calculating Elite could be
thinking. It was actually kind of scary.
 
“I believe we were effected by the exact same biological component. However
despite you receiving a much smaller dose than I, the fact that I was used to
the component and you were not made you react in such an extreme way”, Iason
began explaining, while still wearing that expression that suggested that he
was equally dumb-founded at what had happened than Riki was. “What the fuck do
you mean you were used to it? How could you be used to a drug if you’re not
even supposed to be effected by them?”, the mongrel impatiently probed further,
if the blonde knew something he should just be spitting it out, not talking in
riddles!
 
“As I’m sure someone who grew up in the slums knows, the way in which a
recipient reacts to a drug is not just determined by the dose of the drug but
by how often that person uses a drug. As a user receives a dose of the same
drug on a regular basis, the user will require a higher dose each time in order
to achieve the same effect. I started taking a drug produced by my own
endocrine glands probably since the first time I saw you, therefore now I would
require much more of it to have the effect it did. Which explains why Jupiter
does not wish for me to switch off the controls she has installed in my
software, for those controls are rather essential to maintaining any kind of
control over my body”, Iason continued, trying to keep his explanation as
essential as possible.
 
“Yeah yeah, that explains why you were so effected, but what about me? You
usually do one hell of a number on me, but not quite as extreme as that …”,
Riki said while scrunching up his forehead in puzzlement, which according to
Iason made him look very cute.
 
“I simply passed it on to you through my bodily fluids. You are probably not
aware of this, but Elite bodies – as opposed to human bodies – have only one
bodily fluid that mainly serves as both our blood and our lymph and is passed
from a limited number of mechanical organs to the brain, seeing as how that
still requires nourishment and oxygen like any other organic tissue. However on
occasion that fluid also serves other purposes, seeing as how like many parts
of our mechanical bodies it actually based on the same standard as android
bodies, and those also include sex-androids, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, Riki.
Sex-androids differ from other androids mainly because they require fluids to
satisfactorily fulfil their functions, fluids created and passed around through
the same basic system that is also used to pass the “blood” of the Elite
around. Therefore if that one fluid at some point were to start transporting
human hormones around and came into contact with another human being’s bodily
fluids, it could be passed on from an Elite body to a human body, in theory at
least. I’ve never heard of an antecedent for this, but of course Elites do not
generally make use of their fluids in a sexual manner”, Iason finished his
explanation, continuing to think along those lines and what it could mean for
Riki, but choosing not to speak of any other effects that his bodily fluids
might have had on Riki and that could also account for him feeling so chipper
now despite their exhaustive activities throughout the night.
 
“So wait… you’ve overdosed on natural drugs in your blood cause you switched
off your control buttons… and then you’ve passed a crazy dose of it on to me
through your spit and… whatever that stuff was… and that caused my super-high
and following knock-out? That is some weird shit all right! Not that I really
mind”, the mongrel ended with a cheeky wink, stretching out on the bed like an
energetic kitten bathing in the sun. “Or wait, this could not have a bad effect
on me or something, right?”
 
Iason could not stifle a small laugh at his mongrel’s suddenly worried, rather
wide-eyed expression. “There is no need to worry, my Riki, the filters cleaning
my blood are a lot more effective than your liver and the ingredients of my
blood are purer and less harmful. It is essentially all the same fluid, yet in
different stages of aggregation depending on the required function. It is
called ambrosia, a term the ancient Greeks used for the food of the gods. In
fact, the belief was, that if a mere mortal were to somehow get a hold of it
and consume it, that mortal would himself become a god as well”, the divine-
looking creature concluded with a subtle, mysteriously daring smile.
 
Ambrosia. Freaking unbelievable! Probably just a word Jupiter came up with in
her whole God complex… or could there be some truth to Iason’s story? Better
not to think about what the stuff could do, as I’ve kinda taken in a lot of it
…
 
“Crap, you guys need a fancy, worshipper-inspiring term for everything down to
your bloody spunk. Hell, I don’t care if you’re supposedly made out of rock
from Mount Olympus, but I ain’t gonna crawl in the dust for ya!”
 
“And I would not want you to, Riki. It is why I love you. Hard as it may be to
believe for one of such a low social ranking of your own, it is rather nice not
to be all the way up in the food chain for a change and to be treated like the
equal of an inhabitant from Ceres”, the usually stoic and distant Elite spoke
with a note of cheerfulness his mongrel speaking to him in such a vulgar
manner. “By the way, the name Ceres was actually coined by your forefathers and
just happens to be a reference to the Roman goddess of agriculture, grain and
fertility. Which I have to admit is rather accurate seeing as how Guardian is
the only place on Amoy where real fertility still exists. Or is it meant to
suggest that Ceres is the place from which humanity will grow once more?”,
Iason inquired with a rather interested tone. Ever since he had met Riki he had
developed in interest in all things related to Ceres, and Riki was a much more
suitable candidate for questioning in that respect than Katze was.
 
“I’ve no idea… I never even knew it was the name of some old goddess…
Fertility, huh? Well, it ain’t for lack of trying from where I’m sitting! Shit
if you were fertile I’m pretty sure we’d just have made a whole lot of babies”,
Riki laughed, trying to imagine whether their kids would be snobby, pretty
little princesses like Iason or naughty, ill-mannered little troublemakers like
himself. “Not sure what to make of that grain though, we sure don’t have any of
that lying around in Ceres…” Then the mongrel fell completely silent as he all
of a sudden realised something. Did he just say… ? No, it can’t be! It must’ve
been my mind playing tricks. “Did you just…?”
 
“Did I just what?”, the Elite asked with a raised eyebrow, pretending he did
not know exactlywhat it was his mongrel was referring to. After all he had
thrown it into the natural line of conversation on purpose just to see if Riki
would notice and comment on it, and if so in what way.
 
“That you didn’t want me to kiss your feet cause… well, you’re the one who said
it!” If I misheard him or something this would sure be embarrassing as hell…
Shit, of course I misheard him, I must have!Yet what if there was a small
chance that maybe the unreachable, perfect object of his secret affections
reciprocated those feelings?
 
“I have not the slightest idea of what it is you mean, Riki. Please speak more
clearly.” Would Riki dare to go into more detail and be more explicit? Could
this be the long-awaited moment, in which Iason’s beloved mongrel would finally
become his in soul as well?
 
“Oh, never mind! I probably just imagined it anyways…”, Riki yelled, his
frustration and inner turmoil evident, after which he tried to stifle a giant
yawn. This had been one hell of a marathon, even for Iason Mink’s standards.
Not to mention the emotional rollercoaster that went along with it.
 
“You should try to get some sleep, my Riki, as I would not wish your health to
suffer from our physically draining engagements. Not to worry, you still have a
couple of hours before dawn”, the Blondie spoke as he turned towards his most
cherished possession, only to see that the mongrel had already fallen fast
asleep and was now snoring softly and rather endearingly as he lay on the bed,
naked and curled up like a stray cat. The blonde moved slightly closer on the
bed, making sure not to disturb the sleeping wild and thorny rose.
 
In the mean time it had begun to snow again right outside the sanctuary of the
lovers’ bedroom. The biting cold, beautifully shimmering and perfectly
symmetrical little stars mercilessly covered the entire windowsill in a matter
of minutes, almost as if trying to erase the very life from it by adding layer
upon layer of muffling, pristinely sterile white. The cold, perfectly
symmetrical creature with the beautifully shimmering hair covered the
defenceless, slumbering form of the mongrel in the bed with a pristinely white
blanket. After which he leaned down to chastely kiss his dark, sweaty forehead
and softly whispered: “But I do love you, my darling Riki, ever since the very
first time I’d set eyes on you. And I always will. You are mine, now and
forever, body and soul.”
 
         XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas
 
                 Ending theme:Amazon Trance – White Christmas
 
         XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas
 
                       To Be Continued … In An Epilogue
                                        
***** Epilogue: Ice Angel *****
Chapter Summary
     On Amoy there are two kinds of celebrations that go back on the
     Earthen tradition of Christmas: Jupiter Mass in Tanagura and
     Christime in Ceres, however each of these versions lacks something
     crucial... Could two star-crossed lovers, one from Tanagura and one
     from Ceres, possibly find a way to make things right and convey the
     true meaning of Christmas?;) This is the concluding chapter.
Author’s_notes:
So here it finally is, the last chapter for this short Christmas fic!:D Not
much action in this chapter but I feel this is a necessary concluding kind of
contemplation to this short fic, and I also felt that the lyrics of the song
“Ice Angel” by Blutengel really suited that purpose (it’s actually a Belgian
band ;) ). I hope you’ve all enjoyed reading this fic and I’d like to thank all
reviewers for their nice words :) But please do tell me if there’s something in
my writing that you feel could be improved on, and I’ll be glad to do my best
to make it so ;) Also any feedback will continue to be useful to me, as I’m
going to continue my other AnK fic “Crossing the Bridge” of course ;)
 
           XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas XmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmasXmas
  
I close my eyes
Wish to sleep
 
The cold light of dawn was already creeping through the luxurious curtains of
the master bedroom in the Mink household, when the mongrel under the pristinely
white, silk sheets began to stir. The pure colour – or lack thereof – made for
a stark, unusual contrast against the mongrel’s dark skin and night-black hair.
The previous night had exhausted him but somehow he knew - as if by some long-
forgotten instinct - that dawn was upon him. Probably this was also due to the
fact that it was the agreed time starting from which he would go back to being
an inferior rather than an equal, and would thus be at risk once again.

At night my dear, you look so sweet
Ice Angel, why are you so cold?
 
But before his instincts of self-preservation kicked in entirely, he turned to
look once more at his lover from the previous night: the divinely beautiful and
coldly distanced Iason Mink, still on display there in all his blonde
splendour. Fortunately he was apparently still asleep and therefore there was
no need for Riki to rush his exit before being apprehended. Riki took the time
to study his nemesis – or had he become his real lover overnight? – in more
detail while he was still in Morpheus’ arms. Not that Riki hadn’t been given
ample opportunity for looking at each and every delicious part of the blonde
angel the night before, yet while asleep Iason possessed an entirely different
aura from when he was awake. It was as if an aura of sweetness and innocence
surrounded him in sleep, making him appear like a normal, feeling human being
rather than an inhuman, unfeeling Elite. Although an exquisitely alluring human
being.

Ice Angel, it doesn't matter what you said to me
I feel the coldness of your breath
I see the frozen light inside your face
 
While contemplating the most unusual words and events that took place after the
Mass Party, Riki decided that he could not allow it to influence his own
actions regarding the obsessive, domineering Elite. He is still the man who
kidnapped and tortured me, he even admitted himself that he would do it again
after this night. Regardless of whatever emotions seeing a more human side to
Iason had awakened inside of Riki, he could not allow those to cloud his better
judgement. His freedom and honour were still at stake and he could not allow
himself to show his enemy any weakness, for his enemy’s mind and heart were
like an icy fortress that Riki could never hope to take. Yet he had managed to
get a glance inside a window of said fortress, and had seen a brightly shining
light there. The fortress might appear cold and empty on the outside, but on
the inside there was a light shining, waiting to be kindled further so that
perhaps in time the entirety of the fortress could be defrosted …

One day, my love, it breaks my heart
And I will not return,
Not return to you, my love
Not return to all this pain,
Not return to all your love
 
But no, it was simply not worth the enormous risk to Riki’s much-covetted
freedom, now that he had finally managed to retrieve it! The truth of the
matter was that Iason Mink was like a slow-acting poison to Riki: it might
initially cause a pleasant burning sensation, yet in the end it would most
surely kill him. If the mongrel allowed his heart to even slightly open up to
the possibility of there being even an ounce of love inside of the Elite’s
hidden, frosty heart, he could not survive the following rejection or
disappointment if it would turn out his suspicions had been false. No, after
this night, Riki would not return to Iason Mink. He had taken what was offered
when it had been offered freely, but he could not afford to pay the price for
it outside of those conditions. The pain this man – his Master – had caused him
over the years simply was not worth it. He had kidnapped Riki, stripped him of
his freedom, his honour and his humanity. Not to mention he had mercilessly
tortured the poor mongrel physically as well in his pursuit for the mongrel’s
unconditional surrender, something that would simply destroy the mongrel.
Moreover the aloof Elite had proven the emptiness of his heart when he had
ordered the execution of Daryl merely for caring about Riki and wanting to set
him free before he went completely mad.
 
However as these thoughts were manifesting themselves inside Riki’s head,
memories of not so unpleasant, passionate feelings of rapture started flooding
his veins once more. Iason.He had to finally admit it to himself: not all the
time spent in the company of Iason Mink had been bad. In fact, some of the time
spent with Iason had made Riki feel more alive than ever, as if there was a
burning hunger inside of his heart that only the blonde could ever satisfy.
Those eight months spent in the Blondie’s absence had proven as much, as a
continuous gnawing emptiness had rendered the Bison leader unable to truly
enjoy his newfound freedom.

And after all I know,
Only my heart will live on
 
After having spent some time in Tanagura – even in the capacity of a lowly,
chained Pet – Riki had truly realised how meaningless and pointless his entire
existence as a mongrel truly was. The lives of all of the inhabitants of Ceres
combined were simply irrelevant to all the rest of the world. They lived their
lives in misery and without any prospects of a better future, like mere bugs
just living for the sake of living until someone crushed them underfoot.
Extremely poor conditions and gang-related as well as Midas police-related
violence had forced them to adopt a mantra of survival of the fittest and just
taking life as it came on a day-by-day basis. Yet Riki had always felt as if he
had been meant for something more, that living just to survive was not living
at all. Even during the high-days of Bison he had always been dreaming of a
life beyond the slums. A better, more prosperous life, but especially a life
that was entirely of his own making and thus allowed for him to be able to
develop all of his talents and to turn all of his ambitions into reality. So
that at the end of his time, he would have a whole and fulfilling life to
reflect back upon, knowing that he had accomplished all that had been within
his abilities or had at least tried his very best. So that the day he died, he
would do so in the knowledge that he was leaving something meaningful behind.
For it was his heart that would live on and not his body. That would just rot
and wither away, just like all pieces of garbage in Ceres always had. And just
like so many old, discarded Pets.

If someone cries for you,
It doesn't matter what you do
 
Glancing back at Iason’s sleeping form while silently and sneakily putting on
his clothes, Riki realised that he had fallen hard for the blonde, icy Elite.
Rationally speaking he knew the other was bad news for him, he thought of all
the suffering Iason had caused him and he hated him deeply for it. But somehow
none of all those horrible things done to him had mattered and Riki had fallen
in love with his cruel Master anyway.

If someone cries for you,
And every lie comes back to you
 
Just thinking about his feelings for that crafty bastard made Riki’s boiling
anger return. It was not beyond that sick psycho to manufacture a touching
speech and orchestrate a very convincing piece of drama just for the sake of
luring Riki back in. What if all the things that pointed to a more emotional,
caring side and maybe even a burning flame of true passion inside the machine,
were nothing but constructed lies meant to deceive and entrap Riki once again?

It's a parting with this moment,
Kiss your eyes with crystal lips
 
As the rays of light now touched the very foot of the bed and Riki had put on
all of his clothes without waking his Elite lover, the mongrel knew he had to
make haste. I have to make sure I’m far away from this place and out of
Tanagura by the time he wakes, just to be safe. But as he was about to walk out
the door, he couldn’t help but look behind him at the peaceful, beautiful
figure once more. Iason’s long, blonde tresses were artfully draped across his
magnificently sculpted torso and were now glittering like an aureole in the
light of the new dawn. He looked just like an angel while lying there like
that. Yet despite the golden, warm light he emanated, his snow-white skin and
the memory of his glacier-blue eyes made Riki shiver and associate him just as
much with an ice queen. I guess he’s an ice angel then, with a little bit of
both creatures inside of him. The thought of there being something angelic
about Iason in body once more caused Riki to feel a small flicker of hope that
perhaps the object of his affections possessed angelic qualities in spirit as
well. On that note he walked over to the bed, only partially aware of where his
feet were actually taking him, and then bent over his stunning lover to study
his face up close. It was unusual for those eyes to be closed and it gave the
sleeping blonde a serene, peaceful air that Riki simply could not resist in
that moment. So he moved his lips closer and gently kissed those perfect,
closed eyelids. After which he quickly moved away from the bed again and darted
outside the door before he could change his mind about leaving.

I see the darkness inside your heart,
There's no place for me to be
As the mongrel made his way through the penthouse, grateful for the absence of
any Furniture in his path to the front door, he told himself that even if there
was something human in Iason Mink any normal relationship between them would
still be impossible. The magic of Christime would soon wear off and then it
would be back to Amoyan reality for all of them, leaving the warmth of the
Earthen, human tradition in its dusty coffin where it would stay buried
forever, surrounded by the prominent darkness that was the perfect order of
Amoyan society. It made no difference whether or not Iason felt there ought to
be a place for a chaotic, spirited mongrel in his heart. No more than whether
or not he felt there ought to be some consideration for the rest of the
imperfect, dispicable Midas citizens, Furniture and Pets living in controlled,
lonely isolation. Because the harsh reality was that there was no such place,
couldnot be such a place in his dark, mechanical heart. For as an Elite he had
been genetically engineered by an unfeeling artificial intelligence and had
thereafter been conditioned to be as rational, as perfectly organised and as
unfeeling as his Creator.
  
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Iason opened his eyes after he had heard the bedroom door close behind his
mongrel lover, who apparently was in a hurry to get out of there now that there
was nothing left for him but danger of both chains and emotional isolation. It
was the day of Jupiter Mass, yet Iason did not feel like thanking Jupiter for
all she had given him at all. All that her favourite child could think about at
that moment was everything she had taken from him. His freedom, to a greater
extent than Riki realised. Any chance at true friendship or love. His humanity.
His emotions. His very heart. But he would not allow her to take his Riki! He
would rather die than have to live without the feisty, little mongrel who had
succeeded in melting the ice covering his heart.
 
If there was no place for Riki in Tanagura, then there simply could not be a
place there for Iason either. And if that be so, then they would simply have to
make a new place, a place where they could finally be together. A place where
the true light of Christmas could shine in all its brightness and warmth. A
place where the Ceresian tradition of Christime and the Tanaguran tradition of
Jupiter Mass could finally meet and be reunited into a better tradition, a
better world. Not a non-place where humanity was non-existant, but a good place
where it did exist. A true utopia.
  
                                    The End
                                         
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Lyrics: Blutengel – Ice Angel
     
  
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