“I’m not sure any of us is a good representation of what you might consider the average Voithos—although I hesitate to use a term that would steal away all potential for individuality to be considered,” Haiko said, bringing one of her free hands up to tap a finger against her mouth. “Melon herself falls remarkably outside of that range, as her assignment to such an influential Gaian came with a much, much higher degree of direct scrutiny and pressure than the vast majority of us experienced.”
“Junil Eltis is influencial?” August asked.
“Extraordinarily so, even for someone already amongst the upper echelon of the Children of Gaia,” Haiko admitted, “While Junil Eltis has certainly created a reputation for herself as a genius of runic systems, the real source of her influence comes from her family—in particular, Alown Eltis, her mother.”
It seemed a bit strange to him that families still existed as a concept in a society where they could reference individual souls and stick them in manufactured bodies, something that seemed completely detached from the biological connection of a mother and daughter.
“Why is Alown Eltis so important?” August said. “Money?”
“Alown Eltis is certainly wealthy, but it is her work that has made her so powerful—she is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the owner of Alown Enterprises,” Haiko said, searching his face for a moment. “That is the company that was responsible for designing the PDI, the Life Record System, and the Voithos—although that is only a very small selection of their total product line.”
Product line—as if the creation of a sentient being could be reduced to something like that.
“Haiko,” August said, “You said that Junil was a sympathiser—she was going against her own mother to help you?”
That had to have taken some serious courage—and perhaps an actual hint of a correctly aligned moral compass, as well.
“Junil is very—selfish, I suppose, or perhaps possessive, is a better descriptor,” Haiko said, looking up at the ceiling for a moment. “When we were alone, she would tell me things about the nature of her relationship with her mother—the pressures she was under and how little control she felt she had.”
Just like that, any hint of respect he might have had for Junil Eltis vanished. An influential Child of Gaia who came from a wealthy background, who had a personal live-in servant attending to her every whim—talking to a literal slave who’d had the task of sex work assigned to her about a lack of control in her life.
“Talk about a total lack of self-awareness,” August said, “I hope you told her to go cry you a fucking river.”
“I most definitely, did not,” Haiko said, letting out a startled laugh at the words. “I have a feeling that would have been most unwise.”
“Probably,” August said, with a shake of his head. “So she was helping you because why—she wanted to keep you?”
“There were many times where she expressed exactly that to me, although that wasn’t a very uncommon sentiment amongst my clients,” Haiko admitted, closing her eyes for a moment. “Unfortunately for them all, I was unavailable for purchase and thus unattainable—something that certainly seemed to frustrate and intrigue them in equal measure.”
“Why were you unavailable for purchase?” August said, “Is that because you were already on an assignment?”
“Already on an assignment—how exciting; you almost make it sound like I was on some top-secret mission,” Haiko said, smiling again. “The assignment process is far more dull, I’m afraid; it works by contractual agreement, in which Alown Enterprises leases us to an owner or a business, and while that contract exists, we remain in their service.”
“Junil couldn’t buy you because you already had an owner,” August said with more than a little disgust. “Who were you assigned to?”
“Bliss, the very same business that Rittan was assigned to—albeit, a different branch, on a different Finger,” Haiko said, “I believe there were two or three on every level, although I’ve only ever been to six of the locations.”
It disturbed him a bit that she didn’t seem at all embarrassed, upset or even just put off by the things she was saying—it all seemed so matter-of-fact to her. As if being brought into existence by some other race and then put to work as a prostitute without any regard for what she might have wanted to do didn’t even register as something horrific.
“How did they get your contract?” August asked.
“I was part of the very first rollout, and I was already purchased, along with several thousand others, before I had so much as stepped outside the facility,” Haiko said, holding the artifact out to him. “I imagine at some point that someone from Bliss contacted Alown Enterprises and put in an order, but that likely occurred long before the public release.”
August reached out to take the artifact—one of her hands caught hold of his wrist, carefully sliding her fingers down across his hand until she had purchase against his thumb. Two of the other hands came up, pressing against the back of his hand and sealing it into place. The entire movement mirrored itself within the mental render, and while it wasn’t quite as unbearable as it had been before, it was close.
“I remember there being a lot of excitement about us back then, although there were just as many that feared we would follow in the steps of the Magnus, and I suppose they were right, in some regard,” Haiko said, carefully placing the artifact in the centre of his palm. “We were something new and interesting, but there were not many of us—and only half of our number were even publically available for lease, to begin with; the rest were used within the company.”
More fingers curled themselves dangerously around his thumb before she slowly manipulated his hand into closing around the all-but-forgotten object. One of the hands holding his own up shifted upwards, a series of fingertips trailing along his wrist before she finally pulled back—by the time she’d finished the lingering transfer, his face was flushed, and he found himself entirely unable to look directly at her.
Seeking Direction: Revised Edition is now live; It's a revised RWBY fanfiction following an OC with Direction Manipulation as his Semblance.
If you like my writing and want to see more of it, you can find links to my original books on Elbowsnapper.com
If you want to show some support, get early access, or see my first drafts, go check out my Patreon
Love you guys, keep on keeping on!
Recent Releases:
Ameliorate: Intersect
Reroll: Falling & Shatter
Systematic Soul Sorting: Book 1 & Audiobook. Book 2(First Draft)
Seeker's Precept: The Dragon's Marble
“I’m not sure any of us is a good representation of what you might consider the average Voithos—although I hesitate to use a term that would steal away all potential for individuality to be considered,” Haiko said, bringing one of her free hands up to tap a finger against her mouth. “Melon herself falls remarkably outside of that range, as her assignment to such an influential Gaian came with a much, much higher degree of direct scrutiny and pressure than the vast majority of us experienced.”
“Junil Eltis is influencial?” August asked.
“Extraordinarily so, even for someone already amongst the upper echelon of the Children of Gaia,” Haiko admitted, “While Junil Eltis has certainly created a reputation for herself as a genius of runic systems, the real source of her influence comes from her family—in particular, Alown Eltis, her mother.”
It seemed a bit strange to him that families still existed as a concept in a society where they could reference individual souls and stick them in manufactured bodies, something that seemed completely detached from the biological connection of a mother and daughter.
“Why is Alown Eltis so important?” August said. “Money?”
“Alown Eltis is certainly wealthy, but it is her work that has made her so powerful—she is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the owner of Alown Enterprises,” Haiko said, searching his face for a moment. “That is the company that was responsible for designing the PDI, the Life Record System, and the Voithos—although that is only a very small selection of their total product line.”
Product line—as if the creation of a sentient being could be reduced to something like that.
“Haiko,” August said, “You said that Junil was a sympathiser—she was going against her own mother to help you?”
That had to have taken some serious courage—and perhaps an actual hint of a correctly aligned moral compass, as well.
“Junil is very—selfish, I suppose, or perhaps possessive, is a better descriptor,” Haiko said, looking up at the ceiling for a moment. “When we were alone, she would tell me things about the nature of her relationship with her mother—the pressures she was under and how little control she felt she had.”
Just like that, any hint of respect he might have had for Junil Eltis vanished. An influential Child of Gaia who came from a wealthy background, who had a personal live-in servant attending to her every whim—talking to a literal slave who’d had the task of sex work assigned to her about a lack of control in her life.
“Talk about a total lack of self-awareness,” August said, “I hope you told her to go cry you a fucking river.”
“I most definitely, did not,” Haiko said, letting out a startled laugh at the words. “I have a feeling that would have been most unwise.”
“Probably,” August said, with a shake of his head. “So she was helping you because why—she wanted to keep you?”
“There were many times where she expressed exactly that to me, although that wasn’t a very uncommon sentiment amongst my clients,” Haiko admitted, closing her eyes for a moment. “Unfortunately for them all, I was unavailable for purchase and thus unattainable—something that certainly seemed to frustrate and intrigue them in equal measure.”
“Why were you unavailable for purchase?” August said, “Is that because you were already on an assignment?”
“Already on an assignment—how exciting; you almost make it sound like I was on some top-secret mission,” Haiko said, smiling again. “The assignment process is far more dull, I’m afraid; it works by contractual agreement, in which Alown Enterprises leases us to an owner or a business, and while that contract exists, we remain in their service.”
“Junil couldn’t buy you because you already had an owner,” August said with more than a little disgust. “Who were you assigned to?”
“Bliss, the very same business that Rittan was assigned to—albeit, a different branch, on a different Finger,” Haiko said, “I believe there were two or three on every level, although I’ve only ever been to six of the locations.”
It disturbed him a bit that she didn’t seem at all embarrassed, upset or even just put off by the things she was saying—it all seemed so matter-of-fact to her. As if being brought into existence by some other race and then put to work as a prostitute without any regard for what she might have wanted to do didn’t even register as something horrific.
“How did they get your contract?” August asked.
“I was part of the very first rollout, and I was already purchased, along with several thousand others, before I had so much as stepped outside the facility,” Haiko said, holding the artifact out to him. “I imagine at some point that someone from Bliss contacted Alown Enterprises and put in an order, but that likely occurred long before the public release.”
August reached out to take the artifact—one of her hands caught hold of his wrist, carefully sliding her fingers down across his hand until she had purchase against his thumb. Two of the other hands came up, pressing against the back of his hand and sealing it into place. The entire movement mirrored itself within the mental render, and while it wasn’t quite as unbearable as it had been before, it was close.
“I remember there being a lot of excitement about us back then, although there were just as many that feared we would follow in the steps of the Magnus, and I suppose they were right, in some regard,” Haiko said, carefully placing the artifact in the centre of his palm. “We were something new and interesting, but there were not many of us—and only half of our number were even publically available for lease, to begin with; the rest were used within the company.”
More fingers curled themselves dangerously around his thumb before she slowly manipulated his hand into closing around the all-but-forgotten object. One of the hands holding his own up shifted upwards, a series of fingertips trailing along his wrist before she finally pulled back—by the time she’d finished the lingering transfer, his face was flushed, and he found himself entirely unable to look directly at her.
Seeking Direction: Revised Edition is now live; It's a revised RWBY fanfiction following an OC with Direction Manipulation as his Semblance.
If you like my writing and want to see more of it, you can find links to my original books on Elbowsnapper.com
If you want to show some support, get early access, or see my first drafts, go check out my Patreon
Love you guys, keep on keeping on!
Recent Releases:
Ameliorate: Intersect
Reroll: Falling & Shatter
Systematic Soul Sorting: Book 1 & Audiobook. Book 2(First Draft)
Seeker's Precept: The Dragon's Marble
