Present

There were things Mike expected to come home to during the summer.

Students, sometimes – the trusted ones, with the invitation to his public home areas.

Desserts and other treats.

Once in a while, a co-worker, who needed stress relief or a shoulder or just wanted to hang out.

Flowers, some times, when said stress relief, etc., had been very appreciated.

What Mike did not expect to find – on the floor, just inside the doorway – was a boi. Specifically, a boy, bound in iron ankle and wrist and collared in the same. A naked boy, kneeling on the tile of the entryway. With a tag attached to the collar.

Mike knelt down on the tile. He contemplated Masking, but, though the boy looked human, he was in the middle of the Village. Humans didn’t come here.

Michelle,

The name was a cue. Before the boy lifted his head, Mike shifted into a female form, wishing – for at least the twenty thousandth time – that she was any good at all with shaping Unutu.

I found this on my rounds. I have no idea what to do about him. As soon as you sign this paper, he’s yours.

Treat him well, Michelle. And don’t Keep him for too long.

Luca

Beneath his signature was a scribbled transfer of Ownership. Attached to the note was a pen.

“Laudanum, hrrm?”

The boy did not look up. Mike ignored ethics and dipped into probably-Laudanum’s emotions. She had to have some idea what was going on before she signed this.

Worry. Worry, want, anticipation, anticipation, anticipation! Worry, concern.

No fear. And the impatient anticipation smelled to Mike like arousal. “Well, then.” She signed the paper. “Laudanum, you’re mine.”

He didn’t speak, yet. Was he mute? Had Luca ordered him into silence? “Speak.”

The boy’s voice was rough, as if unused for a long time. “I’m yours.” Only then did he look up, his astonishingly green eyes meeting Mike’s. “Mistress.”

Luca did give her the most awesome presents.

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0 thoughts on “Present

  1. Laudanum’s a soporific isn’t it? I also know that it’s found in lettuce in sufficient quantities to bother rabbits and gunines pigs.

      • I knew what it was for. I thought it was an opiate. … It is an opiate– actually, it’s opium. WP:

        Laudanum (pron.: /ˈlɔːdᵊnəm/), also known as tincture of opium, is an alcoholic herbal preparation containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight (the equivalent of 1% morphine).

        AFAICT, lettuce has nothing to do with it. Our guinea pigs — we had just over a dozen, over the years — loved lettuce as a snack. I called one of them our lechuguera: “She’s not a pet, she’s a celeried employee.” … Oh, now I see! From Galen’s Garden – Dried Vegetables: Lettuce for rabbits and guinea pigs

        Laudanum in lettuce – fact or fiction? Ah!, the much maligned lettuce! Lettuce has had a bad reputation amongst rabbit keepers for this and a number of reasons not actually related to the nutrient levels it contains. First of all, let’s get the laudanum thing straight. – Lettuce does not contain laudanum. Edible lettuce does contain a chemical called lactucin which is a component of lactucarian. Lactucarian is the milky fluid found in some species of lettuce and occurs in much larger amounts in wild lettuce, Lactuca virosa. Lactucarium has sedative and analgesic effects. It creates a sense of mild euphoria. The milky exudate resembles that of opium and it can also be reduced to a thick substance which can be smoked in the same way as opium. As a result of which it acquired the name ‘lettuce opium’. Edible lettuce, Lactuca sativa, does not even contain lactucarium although it does contain lactucin which is in lactucarium.

        From The Straight Dope (lots more detail on the page): Is iceberg lettuce a drug?

        When cut, the stems of lettuce plants ooze a milky juice whose appearance, taste, and smell are said to be similar to opium. Once dried, the substance is called lactucarium, or lettuce opium. Used by the ancient Egyptians, the stuff was listed in the Pharmacopeia of the United States of America as late as 1916. It can still be found in herbals and such, which describe it as a sedative and cough suppressant. Lettuce opium can be found in all lettuce species but is most commonly extracted from wild lettuce, Lactuca virosa.

        Ugh. Sleepy man. And w/o drugs. As my computer has just told me, “It’s two o’clock.” Crap, failed again at getting to bed.

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