Friends of cats

[Paxton Ames]

"I trust you know what to do, Pax," the King said simply as he stood in his chambers, looking out over his rainswept kingdom with a grim expression. Hands clasped behind his back, he struck an intimidating figure.

"Yes your highness." Pax bowed low at the waist. "Will I eliminate or punish?"

The King gave that some thought, and then a soft smile twisted his lips upward. "Surprise me."

Eliminate or punish? Pax had given that quite a lot of thought, as he was granted a large degree of freedom while out here to deal with Keith Hargrove. The King trusted him to save what was left of this mission, and Pax knew that to disappoint the King was not only a death sentence, but it was a mark of great shame. To have been personally created by him and to let him down, that was the worst thing a golem could have happen to them.

That brought his thoughts to Ripper, who was subdued and treating him like he was a poisonous snake, ready to strike at any given moment. Ripper's purpose was somewhat obvious. It was a waste, because he had the core of a prince inside of him; he could have done such great things with the power he had nestled inside of his stone heart. And yet Keith was merely using him for physical gratification.

That was why even some Fallen were inferior to golems.

Yes, that was right—Fallen could be inferior to a well-crafted, perfectly efficient golem.

As they sat at the back of the bus, which noisily rumbled off down the street, Pax turned to Ripper. His gaze was curious, but not impolite. "In your opinion, do Keith's actions warrant elimination or punishment?" Aware that Ripper may be communicating with Keith—in fact, he was betting on it—Pax nevertheless posed the question of him. Because he was a fellow golem, and his station had just been elevated. Ripper knew the most out of anyone here, what Keith had been up to while he wasn't carrying out the King's orders. Therefore his input was valuable, to an extent.

"You may speak freely. Keith will not deactivate you." Not unless he wanted to tip the scales in favor of elimination.

[Ripper Nightshade]

In his... opinion? Dangerous territory there. Golems had opinions. The ones with souls, anyway. There were golems without souls tied to them. They were used mostly for mundane tasks that didn't require thought. But golems with souls... they weren't just robots. Souls were what made a creature complex. Rip couldn't pretend to know why Keith chose to give him a soul. It wasn't required for his purpose.

But Keith was there. Sort of. Even though Pax said he could speak freely, there was always the chance that Keith would tune in at just the wrong moment. And besides which, the question was rather vague. Keith's actions... could be anything. Keith acted on a lot of things. Which actions warranted punishment or elimination? And what golem would ever say elimination if it meant their creator would die...?

He supposed one that had the option of having a new... owner. But in this case... better the devil he knew? At least Rip knew Keith and what he could do to him. Pax... Pax was a wildcard. And he could be worlds worse than Keith ever was.

"Which actions?" he asked for clarification and perhaps to stall answering. But it was still... an important distinction, was it not? Keith's actions against him weren't worth being killed over. But he doubted Pax cared about that. Or the king, since he was the king's golem. He had to mean his actions as a... soldier. As a Fallen under the king's command.

"He almost had Jack Ripley. In fact, he would have had him... but another fairy intervened on his behalf..." But even Rip knew that there were plenty of chances for Keith to collar Jack and bring him in. He had the doorway into his dreams. He had him by the throat for years. And he let it all go away by playing with him. And Rip knew why. Keith was obsessed. Everybody knew that part. But Keith was also not fond of being under another person's thumb. He didn't want to work for or under the king. And toying with Jack and making Rip were his ways of flaunting that he couldn't be controlled.

[Paxton Ames]

"Pertaining to his mission."

Whatever deficiencies Keith had as a person, they were not for Pax to judge him on. That was for a higher authority—his Majesty, the King. Pax enforced his rule and occasionally acted as his counsel, although the King obviously never listened to or expected him to dispense with advice. That was never his place; the King knew what needed to be done to keep the kingdom strong.

As he listened to Ripper's response, his brow furrowed ever so slightly. "It is also a crime to steal a prince's soul," Pax mused. No one sanctioned the creation of a golem with the first prince's soul. Keith had broken protocol, although everyone had been under the impression that it was done in order to further the King's agenda—not to create for himself a reasonable facsimile of the prince for his own perverted ends.

"That indicates elimination. However, his skill with golem creation is widely acknowledged." Pax's gaze flicked up and down over Ripper. "He did an excellent job crafting you." Perhaps punishment then. Pax personally found it distasteful that anyone would use a golem with a prince's soul inside as a mere sex toy. That was beneath the prince's dignity.

"You may tell him that he is to be punished."

[Ripper Nightshade]

"Yes..." It was a crime. It was a terrible crime. The prince was the king's own seed, if one wanted to see it that way. What Keith did was steal directly from the king himself. Which now made Rip nervous. Was he meant to be given to Pax so that he would be deactivated by him? Because if Keith did it, he would damage the prince? They were going to take it out, weren't they? What made him... him.

But no, no. The particle of soul that had been stolen was also like a seed. And inside the living clay and with Keith's magic, it had created a soul of its own. The soul was Rip now, not Jack. He lowered his gaze as Pax spoke again. Elimination. His heart felt heavy. But no, Pax was highlighting Keith's skill.

"Yes," he agreed again, squirming slightly under his scrutiny. What if Pax found a flaw and decided that Keith wasn't as skilled as he was supposed to be? But no... Keith was one of the best... and he didn't think that just because Keith was his creator. He really was. Some golems were... frightful to look at. Rip met some made by lesser craftsmen and they were... they had very blank faces, almost as if they had been drawn on by children. Which sounded almost cute--they weren't. They were scary.

"Oh..."

M-master... he says you're to be punished...

When he gets here, he'll change his mind.

...you want him to, master?

He'll change his mind about elimination and punishment. You'll see...

"I told him, Pax..."

He looked anxiously out of the window, seeing the plaza with the phone shop passing by. Ah, well... He didn't know why he ever thought that was within his possibilities...

[Paxton Ames]

"Thank you." Pax settled into the worn, cheap plastic-covered seat to wait out the rest of the journey. He caught the eye of a curious child sitting a row in front of them, who was clambering all over his seat with the kind of frenetic energy that only a child could have. The child—a little boy—grinned at him and there was a gap between his front teeth where he had recently lost a tooth. Pax reached out and patted him on the top of the head, still expressionless.

Idle chitchat and benign smalltalk was a human construct, one which Pax felt no need to engage in. The rest of the ride was perhaps rather awkward and boring; at parts he glanced outside too, at the rain sheeting against the windows of the bus which brought back to mind his own master, awaiting news up in his elegant black castle. The King had a lot riding on this mission, even going so far as to send his own son.

Where was Rhys? Pax was also here to locate him. The last the King saw of him, he had begun to grow wings—something that unsettled him enough to send Pax in to tie up all the loose ends. Extract Rhys, ensure that Keith stayed in line, see what he could do about the rest of the King's sons and salvage what could be salvaged. It was a large job for one golem, but Pax was up to the task. He had to be.

Eventually they appeared to reach their destination, as the bus stopped a little ways away from an apartment building. It wasn't seedy or run-down but it had clearly seen better days. Pax gazed up at it for a moment. This was to be home for the next few weeks, he supposed. "I would advise you, from now on, to carry yourself in a manner as befitting a golem belonging to a general." His eyes were back on Ripper now. "You hold the soul of a prince inside of you. Do that soul shard proud. We may be golems..." He allowed himself a little proud smile.

"But we are not lesser beings and we will not act as if we believe we are."

[Ripper Nightshade]

And here they were. The Greenwood apartments.

"I..." What? But that wasn't what Keith said... he said they were lesser and they weren't worth dirt. He said it all the time, in fact. To Keith, they should have been nothing but dirt, he supposed. He made them so to him... they were nothing. Rip couldn't even make himself say yes or okay because it was against what he knew to be true and Pax was not yet his master. Keith was. And Keith was still his creator... But... if he had a part of the King's seed in him, essentially... was he not also created by the King himself?

Dangerous thinking.

So he said nothing more, only followed Pax off the bus and stood out in the onslaught of the rain as he shuddered. The clothing he had worn was not made for this weather but to be fair, nothing that Rip owned in the way of clothes was made for weather. It was only to be aesthetically pleasing to Keith.

Slowly, he marched toward their apartment, letting Keith know they were coming up. The door was unlocked when they arrived and he turned the knob with a rising sense of unease. Inside, the living room looked the same as it had when he left.

"Master?"

[Paxton Ames]

Golems were not sex slaves. Some were crafted for that purpose, yes, but not those serving the King. The King had no need for sex slaves, nor for golems to fulfill that role for him. Pax was no golem rights advocate but he served his master with pride and he expected Ripper to do the same. He wasn't insinuating that they were better than the King, but they were not inferior—certainly not to someone like Keith, who was at best their equal.

If they all served the King, they were equals.

He followed Ripper upstairs to the correct apartment and strode in as if he owned the place. There was no one inside presently but he felt Keith's presence—and that of another. "Stay here," Pax told Ripper before heading in with sure steps. He entered a dark room; inside Keith was lounging on his bed with a decidedly disrespectful sneer on his face. And bound and gagged on the floor...

"Release him. Immediately." Pax felt a surge of uncharacteristic displeasure in the link he shared with the King. "How dare you treat a prince this way? Do you wish to be eliminated?"

The boy on the floor looked up at him with frightened eyes, squirming against his bonds. Pax stepped closer to the bed where Keith was still laying, refusing to move a single finger. His eyes shut for a moment; when they opened, they were black instead of blue. "Release him. Now. Keith. Do not presume to think that you are necessary and immune to elimination."

"Majesty." Keith's voice was oily. He slid off the bed and waved his hand; the bonds vanished. The young prince bolted to his feet and made a break for the door. "Rip, stop him!" Keith called out, his eyes trained on Pax. "Bring him back in here."

[Ripper Nightshade]

A frightened young man made a beeline for the door and unfortunately... Rip grabbed him before he could get to it. He held him close to keep him from kicking him, arms held down. But he did notice the one mitten. And his heart lurched in his chest uncomfortably.

"...Cori?"

A sharp sensation lanced his head and he lowered his head.

"I'm sorry..."

He dragged the boy down the hall he'd just come from. Even if he was Cori... He was Mik's friend... He couldn't violate a direct order. But maybe there was hope yet for Cori. Maybe... Pax was here, after all. Surely he wanted nothing to do with Keith's... peculiarities. Rip brought the boy before Keith and Pax, whose eyes had changed color to an ominous obsidian.

"Master..." he said, about to lower his head, but also recalling what Pax said. He wasn't sure which directive to follow, so he didn't lower his head but he averted his gaze. It... seemed like a good medium.

[Paxton Ames]

"My son." Pax brought his body closer to the struggling young man, who was desperately still clawing and fighting to get away. But as soon as Pax laid a hand over his head, he stilled. His eyes, too, turned black and he stood perfectly still. "My son," he repeated, stroking the boy's hair several times before turning back to Keith, who appeared pleased with himself.

Smack!

Pax's hand flicked through the air and an invisible force whipped out at Keith, sending him flying into the bed. His body thudded off of the footboard; he cursed as he struggled to rise, but another blow laid him flat. Standing over him, Pax dispensed with several more lashes. Blood seeped into the cheap carpet; it splattered across the bottom of his trousers.

Keith only let out several grunts but aside from his initial surprised cry, he made no other noises. Pax paused, blinked. His eyes returned to their normal shade and he studied the figure at his feet still defiantly glaring up at him. "You are lucky his Majesty was in a good mood," was all he said before walking back to the boy. "You will transfer control of Ripper to me. Immediately. Your services here are no longer required afterwards. You may return to the Kingdom to await further orders from the King."

[Ripper Nightshade]

Rip's distaste for violence made the debacle with Keith hard to watch, even given what Keith had done to him over the years. He still couldn't find it in him to cheer on the violence. If anything, he shied away from it, not wanting to look, not wanting to see the blood as it splashed over the carpet and over Pax's pants. Turning his head away, he swallowed hard and held onto the boy, who was no longer struggling.

Keith didn't like him looking at him, anyway. With his gaze lowered, he still felt Pax's presence when he stepped back over to Cori, who seemed to have been subdued by some kind of spell. Still, Rip held him. Not holding him to keep him from getting away anymore. His grip had loosened to almost an embrace.

So this was why. Cori was a son of the king. This is what Keith had been so smug about; he thought he had an in because he fixed his mistake with Jack by hauling in another son, one that... One that seemed to hold a special place in the king's heart. There was no mistaking his tone when he touched him, when he calmed him. There was no reason for him to do that so gently if there wasn't... some reason for him to care.

Rip heard Keith spit in response to the order to transfer. But like Rip, there were certain things that Keith had to obey. He might not be a golem himself but he was still bound to the king's service in a way that he'd been attempting for years to find loopholes to get out of.

Ripper... Rip looked up, finally looking at Keith. For once, he was the one, bloody and laid out. But he didn't look cowed. There was still an undeniable sense of smugness in the way he looked at them, even at Pax, even at the king's man. Their gazes met. And Rip honestly... he didn't know what it was that Keith was trying to communicate to him. They just... it was strange, looking Keith in the eyes when he'd averted his gaze for so long. And then... Rip's eyes began to grow heavy.

Keith's sigil was removed and with it, his magic. His power. His battery.

"Better hurry," Keith drawled. "Or you'll lose him. And what... a waste of a perfect specimen..."

[Paxton Ames]

Defiance was to be expected. Rebellion, even. Pax had been given notes on Keith before he was sent to the human realm, and he knew that Keith would not be easy to deal with. Even the way he went about releasing Ripper carried a certain sense of suspicion with it. He was up to something; Pax knew that instinctively. But Pax trusted that even Keith would not be foolish enough to defy an order from the King.

"You are dismissed. His Majesty will likely wish to speak with you once you return to the kingdom. I suggest you don't keep him waiting." Pax turned to face Ripper so that he could fill the vessel with his own magic--the magic from his core, from the dual souls that had merged to become one. He was two halves of a whole, possessing the ability to control magic in a way that other golems could not.

Pax was one of the King's many experiments--luckily he proved successful.

"We have work to do," he said once the bonds affixed themselves and attached to the golem that Keith so inventively called Ripper. The name was distasteful, but he doubted that it made a difference to Ripper himself. Pax had better things to do than to sit about thinking of a creative name, anyway. Taking command easily, he gestured to the young prince that Ripper was holding on to. "Please take the prince to another room. After the corruption has set in, you may release him. He is not yet ready to join us."

[Ripper Nightshade]

A new and different brand of magic took the place of Keith's magic. It took a moment for it to circulate, for his energy to come back. Once the bonds had been created and switched from one master to the other, Rip didn't feel... that much different. There was a different kind of sense to the new magic but it was strange and hard to put his finger on. But it was still a bond, master to golem.

Rip nodded. Yes, there was work to do. He didn't know how to work with Pax. After years of working under Keith, he had no instruction manual to Pax. Keith had a pretty set list of things to do. There were protocols in place, what to call Keith when they were alone, what to call him in public, how to address him, when to address him, how to look at him, when to look at him... How to respond when he was given an order.

"Yes, master," he said, because that was what he was meant to say to Keith and he didn't have any clue as to how to work with Pax. He was on rocky terrain now.

The young prince was not hard to move now that he was under the King's spell. All Rip had to do was touch his arm and lead him out of the room and he followed, almost as if he were a golem himself. Which room? Which room did he take him to? He turned back, wanting to ask about Rhys but thought better of it and turned away again. So not Rhys' room. Then Raphael's because the only room left was Keith's and... it was not looking too great right now, covered in blood.

Raphael's room was probably the most likable room in the apartment because it had a lived in look but it wasn't a mess like Keith's room. And he thought the prince--Cori?--would like it, because there were a lot of things from this world in it. Rip led Cori to the bed and sat him down on it.

"Cori?" he asked. "Are you still in there?"

[Cori Viera]

It was like coming out of a bad dream. One moment he was dozing on the big couch at the back of the shelter, worried about hurting people with his cursed hands, and then somebody walked in with a weird lopsided smile on his face and... took him. He just took Cori, like he might have taken a packet of noodles off a grocery store shelf. How did someone take a whole person though?!

Cori was bound and gagged and thrown onto the ground. The guy was laughing about it, too, evidently pleased. He said some stuff Cori didn't understand and then more people came in, there was that weird guy with the eyes that changed color... Then darkness. Within the darkness though, something awakened inside of him. Memories unlocked; he had the feeling of being... home?

When he came back to, he was in a strange place, sitting down on a foreign bed. A man with kind but worried eyes was looking at him and talking to him; it took him a little while to make sense of his words. "Where am I? Where's Mik? Who are you?"

[Ripper Nightshade]

One of the princes. Rip only knew Rhys and he wasn't very personal with him. Nobody really was; Rhys was consistently bored and didn't seem to really care for anybody or anything. Not in the way Keith didn't care, though. He just didn't care. Keith... Well, Rip didn't know if he'd be a problem for him anymore. Some part of him still didn't quite believe it and most parts of him knew what was happening was too good to be true. Nothing good happened to golems. He was just bracing for the next blow.

In the meantime, though, there was a prince to take care of. This one was a nicer looking one than Rhys. As in he seemed kinder. But probably not for long, since he had been corrupted. That was what happened to him back there, wasn't it? That's why he was told to wait. His corruption would seep deep and his wings would vanish with the dark magic. Consumed by it.

"You're at Greenwood," he said. "Mik is..." He felt a deep sense of regret, recalling how he'd left Mik back there at the shelter. Lowering his gaze, he knew he would never see him again. Would Cori? Or were they going to keep him here within reach of... Pax? It would be dangerous to let him go out, to fall in love before the corruption did its work.

"Mik's still at the shelter. He's okay." Cori had been kidnapped before the thing that happened to Mik so... he didn't know. Best not to rock the boat. "I'm Ripper. You can just call me Rip."

He reached for the one mitten Cori still wore. "Are you still cold?"

[Cori Viera]

"Greenwood?" Cori looked around the room at all of the colorful things that surrounded them. He knew of Greenwood but none of his friends lived here, so he hadn't ever been inside the building. All he knew was that it was run by an old lady and her two sons, one of whom was known to be kind of weird and the other one a real bad kind of guy—that kind that got into a lot of trouble.

But this room was nice-looking. It was cluttered but not untidy; there were just too many things to fit across all of the available surfaces. Cori would have gone around to look at everything, except he was still confused and a little scared, if he had to be honest. "Rip... Mik's okay? That guy kidnapped me! A blond guy! Is he still here?"

Nervously he edged closer towards Rip, but then made a startled sound and jerked his hand back. "No! No don't touch me! My hands are cursed! I might hurt you!" He stuck his hands literally under his butt and he sat on them. "Rip, are you with the blond guy?" Rip looked like a nice man; not a kidnapper or murderer or anything, not that Cori could see.