Sweet Venom Arc 03 Ch. 12

You deserve better than the way she treated you.

Her twisted voice echoed through his head, the sickening similarity between what was once was, but wrought into something new. He both did and didn't recognise her.

For what it's worth, dad. You did well by me. None of this was your fault.

He tried to find comfort in her words. They were the only things keeping him going right now...

But words could only do so much.

Geralt was sat on the far side of the living room, wedged into the corner of their second-hand sofa. He teased the tie of his tatty grey dressing gown through his fingers absent-mindedly, distracted.

He was staring, as though entranced, at the flames of their small electric fireplace. The bright but soft reds and oranges flickered and shone in his dull, grey eyes, and was currently the only source lighting up the dark room. Across from him, at the window, the curtains had been drawn, but not completely. The cold, artificial glow of the space station's Sun-Lamp had been switched off some time ago, and the pitch blackness outside curled and threatened to slip its way through the cracks in the window, and envelop him. That gentle flicker of the fireplace however, kept the void at bay.

Just on the other side of the hall, in the kitchen, Geralt could hear the others. Pots and pans clattered across the kitchen surfaces and cupboard doors slammed open and closed as Tivy, Trent and Oxyi put the washing up away after dinner. He could hear girls chatting, but their words were muffled through the living room door, which Geralt had pushed-to when he came in. He wasn't sure how long ago that'd been.

And so, he simply continued to stare, far into the flames, completely lost in thought. He didn't acknowledge any of the noises around him. Perhaps couldn't acknowledge them...

"Geralt!" Oxyi suddenly popped her head around the door and Geralt jumped. He struggled quickly to sit up straight, and dragged his gaze away from the fireplace to meet the lioness' as her warm voice floated around the room. The flames flickered a lingering, inviting red in the corners of his vision.

"Y-Yes?"

"I've been calling you for ages!" Oxyi chuckled lightly. Her eyes briefly glanced over his attire; that was the same pair of pyjamas he'd been wearing for the last, four, five days now? And that dressing gown had certainly seen better days. Hadn't it been blue when they'd bought it?

"We're, uh, we're having some cake for dessert." Oxyi glanced away from Geralt and back over her shoulder, towards the kitchen. "D'you wanna piece?"

"What kinda cake?" Geralt asked. Despite himself, he felt the tiniest tug at the corner of his lips - as if he even had to ask.

"Chocolate!" She grinned. It was always chocolate.

"Alright, just a small piece for me though."

"A small piece, of course." Oxyi's grin teased into a cheeky little smile as she padded softly back into the kitchen. She was greeted by the sound of more clattering, of porcelain scraping across porcelain as presumably a new set of plates were pulled out of the cupboard, and placed on the counter.

"D'you want cream?" Oxyi called out.

"Of course!" Geralt did his best to call back.

He slumped back down against the sofa and slowly, purposely shifted his gaze past the fireplace, and towards the window.

Venner and Robin had gone to bed about an hour ago. Seeth had been gone on her latest job for a couple of days now, and wasn't due back until tomorrow at the earliest. He was sure she'd told him what her latest contract was (or maybe it was the one before?) but either way, he'd be damned if he could remember any of what she'd said, and he hated asking anyone to repeat themselves, just for his sake.

The microwave started beeping, drawing Geralt out of his thoughts as the door was *clunked* open. The girls laughed and more cluttering scraped against Geralt's ears, but the sound was quickly replaced with Tivy's over-excited voice as they served up dessert.

Tivy entered the living room first. She came bounding through the door holding her plate precariously above her head. On the plate sat a massive slice of chocolate cake. She hopped up onto the armchair across from Geralt, and curled up underneath the throw rug. As Oxyi and Trent followed her into the room, it quickly became clear that Tivy's slice was easily twice the size of everyone else's.

Trent sat down on the floor, in front of Tivy. He positioned himself in such a way that even though he was leaning back against the armchair, he could still see her. Oxyi sat down on the other side of the sofa with Geralt. She fidgeted about with the two bowls of cake and cream in her hand, and awkwardly passed him a spoon through her fingers.

"We warmed it up, should be just how you like it." She smiled.

"Thanks." Geralt went for a smile back - and almost managed it this time.

No-one spoke for a few minutes. They were happy to sit in a comfortable silence, enjoying their desserts, but also the calm of one another's company. Geralt glanced across at Tivy as he chewed on a sticky mouthful of cake; rather than using the spoon Trent had so kindly offered to her, she chose instead to shovel large handfuls of cake and cream into her mouth with her fingers, leaving crumbs all over her blanket in the process.

"So, uh, did you make this cake or buy it, because it tastes really good." Geralt asked, pushing another spoonful into his mouth.

"Nope, it's home-made! Me and Oxyi baked it this afternoon!" Tivy smiled wide and proudly, showing everyone the chocolate buttercream stuck to her teeth.

"Oh, please!" Oxyi laughed. "I didn't bake shit. I just stood around and reached things off the high shelves for you!"

"Ooh look at you, little Chef Tivy!" Trent teased, gently moving to tickle her feet. Tivy squealed and curled away, tucking her toes safely underneath her legs.

"She's a good cook!" Oxyi exclaimed. "Maybe one day you'll get your own TV show!"

"Hmm, Soups with Tivy maybe?" Trent laughed.

"Meh meh meh meh, Soups with Tivy I'm so funny!" Tivy mimicked Trents voice, adding a deliberate, mocking, high-pitched squeak. She lurched forward with a grin and shoved her half-eaten cake in front of Trent's face."IS THIS SOUP, TRENT?! DOES THIS LOOK LIKE SOUP TO YOU?!"

"We have had soup five times this week, and it's only Wednesday!" Trent sassed back.

"CAN YOU BELIEVE THE NERVE OF THIS GUY!" Tivy gestured dramatically, but also quite seriously, around the room.

"You do make a lot of soup." Geralt teased softly. Oxyi tapped him gently on the wrist, but she was smiling too.

"Geralt, you have no right to talk about anything cooking related. I still remember that sorry excuse for a casserole you made years ago." Oxyi pulled a face. "I haven't been able to stomach casserole since!"

"I'm surprised you're sticking up for Tivy, Oxyi." said Trent, as he started to pick at the crumbs on Tivy's blanket. "The state she leaves the kitchen in, that we have to tidy up! Maybe your show would be called World's Messiest Chef's instead!"

"I'm not that messy!" Tivy protested with a pout, her antennae twitching.

"I don't know, Tiv, you've got like, seven different cooking aprons? And there's at least five in the laundry basket right now."

"BE QUIET, TRENT!"

Oxyi looked back over at Geralt as Tivy and Trent continued to play-fight.

"I used to love casserole. I swear you were trying to poison me, trying to get out of paying me or something!"

"I'm not smart enough to be that cunning." Geralt replied lightly. "I should be good at cooking, that's the worst part."

"Yeah, didn't you used to be a farmer?" Trent asked, just as Tivy slammed a pillow straight into his face.

"I did! Worked the land for, geez must've been over thirty years? And I still know nothing about food. Guess I'll always be a pot-noodle and ready meals kinda guy."

"I didn't know you used to be a farmer!" Tivy piped up, half-interested in the conversation, and half-more-interested in the chocolate buttercream she was currently licking off her fingers.

"That's how I know Oxyi, Tiv, didn't I ever tell you?" Geralt sat back in his seat thoughtfully, tapping his spoon against his thigh.

"Nope!" Tivy replied cheerfully, drumming her fingers against the arm of the chair.

"Oh, well, it's nothing particularly interesting." Oxyi said. "Geralt was having some trouble with bandits on his farm, stealing and damaging crops but also taking bits of his farming equipment. Before he hired me to help, Geralt was up patrolling through fifty acres of land by himself, day and night with a sawn-off shotgun he couldn't aim for shit!" Oxyi laughed and looked over at the feline warmly. "He was actually one of my first contracted pieces of merc-work after I left school."

"You really did me a service there, Oxyi." Geralt chuckled half-heartedly. "You sorted those kids right out. God, that must've been about five years ago now. Doesn't time fly."

"You should've reached out to someone for help long before me." Oxyi continued. "If you hadn't been so stubborn you wouldn't have had to go through all that stress! And even then, it was only because Naomi rea-" Oxyi froze, and slammed her palm up to her mouth. Her face immediately blushed a deep red, and she dropped her gaze to the floor. Across the room, Tivy and Trent glanced awkwardly at each-other, then down at the floor as well. Geralt hadn't moved at all, hadn't reacted; he continued to sit, slumped in the corner of the sofa, gazing out into nothing.

"G-Geralt, I..." Oxyi made to try and apologise, but Geralt interrupted her.

"It's alright, Oxyi." He replied calmly. He stuffed his hands into his dressing gown's pockets, but not quickly enough for his shaking fingers to go unnoticed. "I-I mean, you're not wrong! Staying up, all night every night, i-it was starting to drive me crazy!"

The group visibly relaxed as Geralt continued their conversation. Trent shifted about on the floor, as to face Geralt more directly. The flickering of the fireplace kept catching the corner of his eye. He fidgeted with his fingers as he tentatively opened his mouth to speak.

"If you lived on a farm then... I guess you must've lived up around the outskirts of town?"

"Yep. Had a small cottage right on the edge of the forest. Was beautiful out there."

"Yeah... Because you were... there before me and Tivy were, weren't you?"

"There? What, d'you mean the dungeon? The Controllers?" Geralt asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Yeah... sorry, I don't know if it's appropriate or not to ask, but it's not something you really talked about, and..." Trent's voice faltered, and with a sudden shake of his head deliberately looked away from the fireplace.

"Would you... mind talking a bit about it, Geralt?" Oxyi asked, softly. She shifted a little closer to him on the sofa, but then addressed the whole room. "None of you have really talked about what that was like, or how it happened..."

Trent was suddenly very interested in one particular spot on their wood-laminate floor. He kept his gaze fixed firmly upon it, and ran his nail across the material. He said nothing. The small burst of confidence he'd had, and the need to speak about it, had gone. Tivy looked from him, to Oxyi, to Geralt and then back to Trent restlessly, as if unsure of what to do next. Just as Oxyi's 'oh shit, I've crossed a line here' blush started to return to her face, Geralt sighed deeply.

"I was one of the first Marks that the Controllers... captured. I think in total, I was in the dungeon with them for around ten months."

"Ten months?!" Trent spluttered suddenly, his head shooting up. "Me and Tiv were only there for about five!"

"Yep. I found out afterwards that the raid on my village was the first of the Controller's co-ordinated attacks. They had about half-a-dozen Nodes, if that, and maybe a few dozen Slaves. It was just the three of them too; Moltezz, Leech and Seeth.

"I can still recall it all so clearly, that night. Me and my wife had just finalised our divorce. Of course, she'd tried to rinse me for everything I had, which wasn't much, and she managed to make off with most of it. I was sitting in the living room of my little cottage, which was no longer mine. It'd been in my family for four generations, and I was about to lose it for some tiny two-bedroom flat in a dodgy neighbourhood. I couldn't afford anything better, and that fact was eating away at me.

"There were cardboard boxes all over the floor, and most of mine and Naomi's stuff had been packed away. I'm sitting in my old armchair, cider in one hand, and a pen in the other, reading through the property sales contract in my lap for the umpteenth time. My wife had already signed it, and I couldn't stop staring at those fancy, swirly stupid letters of her signature at the bottom of the page. I just sat there, I don't know for how long, when suddenly, I could hear this commotion from outside. Now, I feel like I don't need to go into too much detail as to what I saw exactly, you already know what Slaves can do...

"Anyway, I went up to the window, to see what was going on, and I see the three of them standing right there, outside my front door. I didn't even get the chance to react. The door flew off its hinges and all three of them storm into my house. We had pretty high ceilings, and I remember being pretty alarmed at how close Moltezz came to catching her head on the wooden beams... god, I was a mess. My front door had been kicked in and I was worried about the intruder bumping her head...? I hate to admit it, but honestly, despite the commotion and the destruction they were causing outside... they could have knocked, and I would have let them in...

"I remember this... warmth filling the room, and Moltezz staring down at me with those bright, intense eyes of hers, and I just stood there. I was awe-struck. She's got that personality that just fills out the space, throwing her arms out wide as she talks like she's a gladiator or something. She was loud and... enticing. Her words hooked me.

"They talked amongst themselves, mostly, and most of what they said meant nothing to me at the time. They were saying shit I didn't understand, calling me 'Mark' and such, but even an old coot like me managed to clock pretty quickly that... she wanted me. They all wanted me. I remember Moltezz saying that they'd finally found a 'good-looking Mark,' and those words lifted me.

"Then they started to argue. They argued over me! The woman I'd married hadn't wanted anything to do with me in years, and now I had three gorgeous woman literally kicking my door down to try and sleep with me. Moltezz was insisting on having me to herself, despite both Seeth and Leech hissing at her - and Leech looked pissed... but all I felt was excitement. I mean, that's the dream, right? I was giddy as all hell, under the fear I was just... bubbling with excitement. Felt like they blew the cobwebs off my life. I mean, I admit the sex itself wasn't quite what I was expecting, but..."

Geralt sighed loudly, sinking deeper into the sofa. Tears pricked in the corners of his eyes.

"I really do hate to say it. But... I didn't hate what they did. Not at the time. And I'm not sure if I do now. A violation of my home, my family, my life... sure, what did it matter? But to feel wanted again? To actually have something other than passive-aggression and malicious indifference? That was like gold-dust to me. They could have taken me, fucked me and killed me that night, and I would've died happy. I almost wish they had... Would've been a lot simpler."

The rest of the group stayed silent for a few long, but not uncomfortable moments, letting Geralt's words sink in. Geralt found himself quietly trying to choke back a mixture of tears and chocolate cake. Finally, Oxyi cleared her throat gently.

"Well I'm glad that they didn't kill you, Geralt." She reached over and took his hand. The others nodded solemnly in agreement.

"What... what was life actually like, with the Controllers?"

No-one said anything for a few moments. However, Geralt's story had ignited something in Trent; there was a pressure in his chest that he just had to speak, or he might just burst.

"W-Well, I became one of Moltezz's personal Marks too, which is how me and Geralt met. Tivy sorta bounced between all of the Controllers, but spend most of her time in genpop -"

"- Genpop?" Oxyi asked.

"With the Nodes." Tivy explained, smiling. "I think Leech and Moltezz actually quite liked me, but I was a little too small for them unfortunately!" A little giggle escaped through her lips, but she quickly composed herself as she looked around at Trent and Geralt's sullen faces.

"Seeing Moltezz on Barru X... that was absolutely terrifying." Trent continued, unfaced by Tivy's outburst. "And the worst part? I wasn't scared that she would kill us, or kidnap us and force us back into her service... it was that, if she had whistled, I would've gone running right back to her. Just the sound of her voice, ringing out across the station..." A long shiver ran down Trent's back. "It was so hard to resist her."

Geralt glanced over at Trent with a look of pain, but also relief. It wasn't just him, he wasn't the only one...

"It was like pure ecstasy with Moltezz. It didn't matter how tired I was, or how much I ached, how much I burnt, being with her filled me with a feeling that I hadn't had for... years. I felt desired, wanted, maybe even loved, a little. I... I..." Geralt started to choke and stutter over his words, and his hands shook violently. "I was there for weeks before I even remembered Naomi. It might have even been months. I just... woke up one morning and the reality of my situation just came crashing down on me. The bubble had burst; I'd lost friends, I didn't know where my daughter was, and with the more frequent fresh hauls of Marks the Controllers were bringing in... I was too scared to ask. I was too scared to look. I felt so awful that I hadn't even spared her a thought, in all that time..." Geralt couldn't hold them back any longer, tears started to roll down his face. Oxyi shuffled closer to him and put her arm around his shoulders.

"They... are intoxicating." Trent murmured. "The Controllers themselves are an addiction. Out of the dozens, maybe even hundreds of Marks in the dungeon, only us three and Diego were able to make it out. Most of them didn't want to leave and at times, more times than I'd like to admit, I didn't want to leave either."

Geralt shuddered a small nod of agreement. Oxyi looked around and, to her surprise, Tivy was nodding too. Out of the three of them, Tivy had seemed the most... okay, and coping well with their new life compared to the boys and what they'd left behind. You're our positive little powerhouse, Tiv, Oxyi thought as she rubbed Geralt's back gently. Don't change. We can't afford for you to change.

She cleared her throat softly. "So... how does... all this work with Seeth? You seem to get on with her okay, but..."

"She's a constant reminder of what we lost. And what we've left behind." Trent sniffed. Tivy reached out and tentatively placed her hand in his, glancing over at Geralt as she did so. "It's such a relief when she leaves - for me anyway, I don't know about you guys... But just being around her, I get both anxious and really pent up..." Trent laughed dryly. "I'm so happy when she leaves, but then, I worry that she's never going to come back, and... geez it makes me feel sick, sometimes."

The word seemed to resonate with Oxyi; her ears pricked up and her eyes widened a little. "Have you heard her at night? Throwing up and stuff? It's been happening for months, but lately she seems to be getting worse."

"The corruption the Controllers have... I don't know a lot about it, and as far as I know, they don't either." Trent said, gritting his teeth slightly at what he was about to say. "But I do know that the things they do, the rape, and the kidnapping, and corrupting those who aren't immune... It's not just this simple, evil, carnal desire. What Seeth is going through, I'd say, is basically withdrawal."