To rix_scaedu‘s commissioned continuation of ♪Brown Paper Packages♫.

The tag read, in a tidy handwriting that Ackelea was pretty sure she recognized,

Don’t say I never gave you anything.
For that matter, don’t let him say I never gave him anything, either. There are a lot worse options for him than you – me included – and the boy was practically begging for it.

By signing the below, I, Ackelea cy’Solomon, agree to take Ownership of the attached package. He shall live under my name until I choose to release him.

There was a line underneath, and, thoughtfully, a pen attached. Ackelea muttered a couple quick Idu Workings to be certain she wasn’t signing anything but what she could see, and then marked the signature line with her glyph.

She knew what was coming, so she was braced for the ear-popping world-twisting feeling as the Keeping took hold; the squeak from inside the package as her ears popped was the first indication that there was actually a real, live, conscious person in there.

The boy was practically begging for it.

That could mean a lot of things, especially if she was right about her anonymous gifter. Ackelea murmured a quick Levitation Working and got the package inside her threshold. After a moment’s consideration, she settled it down on her bed.

“Hold on a moment,” she told the brown wrappings. Getting no response, she took said moment to change into a nice kilt and her favorite shirt. Pants might have given a stronger impression – but she didn’t like to wear enough clothes to wear a kilt. Too warm, too confining.

The brown wrappings, obviously, held still while she changed. And they held still while she began to unwrap them – it- him.

Someone had taken the time – ha, someone – to wrap this package up nice, so she took her time to appreciate the wrapping. Twine, real twine, tied in pretty little double-bows. Seventeen of them – she counted out loud – and then three layers of paper. It wasn’t butcher’s paper – again, she checked – just brown paper spiraled around the person inside.

She got the feet out first. Bare feet, naked feet. And then the ankles – also bare, the thighs-naked – and “Oh, aren’t you nice.” She found herself making a noise like a purr, her, purring. This was going to be an interesting year, wasn’t it?

“You are a nice one… so far.” Flat stomach, almost too flat. Skinny-boi. She almost didn’t want to keep unwrapping.

She got to the nipples, to find them both pierced with thick-gauge piercings. “Well, that’s not all that common these days, is it?” She found her lips curling in a smile. “You really were asking for it, weren’t you?” She was talking to a wrapped package. That was, she had to admit, a little weird. Right. Time to get the mouth unwrapped.

The neck was bare. That was – interesting. Useful, though. The mouth, on the other hand, he’d wrapped up, gagged with a long knot of rope. “Aah.” Ackeleah chuckled. “Ah, that’s adorable.” She patted the bare flank. “All right, almost done unwrapping you.”

This time, the boy made a noise – not much of one, just a little thing. It almost sounded like a protest.

Ackeleah pinched what came to hand – his inner thigh – and went back to unwrapping. He fell quiet again, leaving her to her monologue. “You’re gorgeous, you know. But I’m sure you know that, looking like this. Looking like – where did your clothes go? You can’t have been wandering around naked on Hell Night… well, I guess that would have counted as asking for it.” She pushed the paper off his face, revealing wide eyes, wide brown eyes staring at her. “Are you worried, boy? A little concerned about your situation?”

She was purring again. What was she going to do with herself?

She sliced the rope gagging him with a very careful application of claws, and pulled the knot out of his mouth. Hemp. He’d been tangled up by a sadist – of course, she’d guessed that already.

“There you go. Now… what am I going to do with you?”

He dropped off the in the most graceful controlled fall Ackeleah had ever seen, landing on his knees with his hands behind his back and his head bowed. His voice was rough, but there was no hesitation at all in it.

“Whatever you want, mistress. Anything at all.”

♪When the dog bites, when the bee stings…♫