Chapter 18 of JACKPOT (Masterlist)
CW: institutionalized slavery, pet whump, dehumanization, ‘it’ as a pronoun for whumpee, conditioned/brainwashed whumpee, implied dubcon, people who suck, whumpee is basically a sex slave for rent so if you’ve made it this far you know what you’re in for
Gage seems taken aback for a moment.
“I just… want to buy him”. Alex isn’t sure how to best explain it without sounding ridiculous. It doesn’t sound ridiculous, does it? “I just- I just wanted to. Will you sell him to me?”
“I didn’t think you were into that sort of thing.” Gage says, his tone still genuinely surprised.
“It’s not about that!” Alex exclaims, already exasperated.
“I- look, can you sell him to me or not? I’ll pay whatever the WRU would.” He asks after a pause, clearly unwilling to explain further. I don’t think he’d get it. Gage clearly still doesn’t understand what this is all about.
“Ok, yeah, fine.” Part of Alex still isn’t thrilled at the thought of dropping so much money on this, but he knows this is more important than that.
“What’s happening?” Eric asks as he enters from the other room, followed by Jackson.
Fuck. They’ll understand if I explain it.
37 feels sick to its stomach. Part of it is due to the lack of food- it hasn’t been fed in a while, how long exactly it isn’t sure. The other part is due to the scene unfolding a few feet away, around the corner in the other room.
Good pets dont eavesdrop.
37 isn’t a very good pet, and it can no longer stop itself from thinking as it hears the man who had bombarded it with strange questions just an hour before offer to buy it from its new owner. The thought of changing hands again so soon is terrifying; he would be its fourth owner. Four is too many. Maybe if an owner doesn’t even use the pet it doesn’t count? 37 doesn’t know enough to be sure. Regardless, the thought of being sold before even really interacting with its master is disheartening in a new kind of way. Even damaged goods can get acknowledged; does it at least deserve that?
The answer should be obvious. 37 doesn’t deserve anything. It reminds itself of this often. The two men talk for several minutes discussing prices. Its potential new owner- Alex- sounds very adamant. It doesn’t know what to make of that. He had offered to pay the same as the WRU, so there’s no way he just plans on sending it in… which means he must have some other reason. Something 37 doesn’t know.
Paying attention is becoming harder now as the panic slowly spreads throughout it. This is too much. It’s all too much. 37 diverts all of its effort to breathing, keeping its rhythm the way it’s supposed to. In, out. Don’t listen. Whatever happens, happens. Good pets don’t think.
37 hears the conversation becoming heated. The other two men had already joined in by now.
“…and I don’t want him to end up somewhere worse! Maybe I’m not the fucking weird one for wanting to help someone!” Alex’s voice is getting louder. The pet barely even registers what he’s actually talking about. He sounds frustrated and angry. That’s not good.
It wants to cry. It’s wanted that more in the past 48 hours than it has in a long time, but now especially. 37 doesn’t know how to behave properly anymore. Good pets Love their owners, and 37 hasn’t had to love anyone in a long time. Even if it was properly trained and prepared again, 37 is just bad. It knows that no matter who it ends who with, no matter what their intentions are it won’t be long before they realize what’s wrong with it and then it’ll all be over. That’s probably what happened last time.
“Hey,” Alex’s voice reminds it of where it is.
It’s crying. It didn’t even realize. It does its best to regain composure, but he definitely notices.
“Uh- I’ve gotta make a couple phone calls and get this all sorted out, but you’re gonna come with me. Is- is that okay?” He asks. He obviously saw the tears. For a brief moment 37 wishes it could die on the spot; but that would probably be incredibly inconvenient for its new owner anyways. It nods after a moment (too long).
“Of course, sir.” It manages to keep its voice level. Its first interaction with its second new master of the day and it’s already ruined it. Judging by his reaction, he likely has some other plans for 37 in mind. If he was buying it for himself this behavior wouldn’t be tolerated.
“Okay.” He responds, a bit awkwardly before returning to the other room to do whatever it is he needs to. Meanwhile, the world collapses in on itself with 37 in the middle. The room is swaying back and forth like it sometimes does when things go very bad. This is going to be the end- he’s going to get rid of it somehow. 37 is too stupid to figure out exactly how.
Bad pet. Stupid. Ugly. Useless.
It doesn’t want to try. It just wants to be far away. It turns its eyes to the window and to the beautiful sky that would stretch on forever and ever if it wasn’t abruptly cut off by the tops of buildings. 37 wishes it could be beautiful too.
Tags: @stars-hide-our-fires @shadow-traveller @oldspruceinn @yourlocalgaefae33 @elegantinternethottub @hueningplushie @painwithoutplot @suchprettypieces @theloveofwhump @whumpzone @jumpywhumpywriter @secretsmutcorner