Tame Endeavor
Part 4

Written by Septia.


Dawn welcomed morning; the third day after my life had turned and rolled over onto its head. Another day that I started just… staring up into the ceiling. My fingers trailed across my neck, where Quetzal had constricted me; all to keep me in place, compliant As they used my mouth as a litterbox. The lingering taste of burnt umber and liquefied pepper imprinted in my saliva. Shudders coursed down my back. 
	The room was, devoid of life. I'd say haunting, though that would imply a presence. The floor intimidated me; getting out of bed meant getting out of the room, and then I was at their mercy. Those I trusted, those I vowed my life to. I had barely eaten during the past few days, yet each day my stomach had been full. I peeked down and saw my stomach protrude under the blanket, loaded with the melange of dough my friends had crammed down my throat. Thoughts of escape grazed my mind. But where to? I had made my life here, built who I am with those I cared for, as much as it haunted me, to leave them behind. Worse, was that I knew, deep down, I belonged with them… despite everything. 


~ 1 ~


I strode into the apartment, ankles chained to invisible weights bearing down on each step. The silence permeated the rooms. All the cages laid empty. Quetzal's terrarium vacant, Markson's cage desolate, door hanging open. 'Gone' I thought, a pit formed in my stomach, a sense of disgust welling up in my core, worse than any amount of snake sludge or dog duty I'd been forced to accept… 'They left, abandoned me.' Of course, it made sense. If all of them had stopped seeing me as their husse, their caretaker, then why would they stay, what could I provide them with, what did they care for my affection…. why did I even imagine they would remain at all? My gaze dropped to the floor, arms slack by my side, -Ghrbrbs- I heard my gut rumble, faint contours of the thick, ridged manure warping my abdomen… was that all I had left of them? This… is what they left me with? My legs gave, knees dropping to the carpet, arms cradling my gut, squishing it tightly, to feel the faintest warmth from them still, to savour their presence, their time with m… the years flashed before my eyes. One by one, they had come under my care, one by one I had cared for them, fed them trained them, raised them…. they had become the family I had always dreamed one, one I grew myself, one who cared for me… was it… arrogant, to think like that? To imagine they would always be with me? My arms slumped into the ground, mouth agape, eyelids twitching in disbelief. What had been the point to any of this…
	-Ghhrbrsgl- -CHHgrlltsh- It rumbled through my gut, how long time had passed, I was uncertain. It made me aware that… things were coming to a close. I clutched my abdomen, the pressure mounting at my rear. 
	“Even you will, abandon me?” I mumbled. 
	The gut only -Ghhrbrsllgh- gurgling in a moist heave in return. 
	“Yeah… I thought so.” 


~ 2 ~


-Ppffrth- My brim parted with a gust of memories, the foetid stench trickling up my nose, of mouldy dairy and botched beef steak. It made me think back to Andrake, ordering if it was his dung that currently malformed my pucker, on its way out of me. Solid chunks in stiffened surfaces caught my rim in its fractures, scratching as the mound wedged through me. Felt like the feline's dumps, hard as rocks, even after being processed through me as well. -Pfhrhrhtbs- Another gale of musty air, fermented hay and soggy leather pluming out with the clouds of oily flatulence. Whilst my brim warped wide and cracks in the dung -Shghrlslgh- spread through, its weight tearing itself off it hinges and -Spsgth- to drop into the toilet below. Must be the bunnies, it smelled like their enclosure, an odour I had gotten use to, cleaning it out so many times. Gradually, the bowl below me filled with memories in the form of fat hunks of doubled baked dirt-dunes. Each odour billowing out into the empty bathroom, tickling my nostrils and hinting of the disgusting flavours that had bloated my gullet… It… made me think of them… Everyone. Andrake, Kendra, Emperor, Anastasia, Lilac, Quetzal, Anya, Markson, Sasha… my last mementos of them, discarded as a heap of trash… the same way, they had done with me… 
	Tears clouded my vision. My chest quaked in whimpers, each -Ppfft- flush of fumes reminding me of them, of the great times we had spent together, greeting them every day… -Chhrllglsth- as I passed a particularly thick drove that spliced up my rectum, I remembered the first time Anastasia had let me pet her, and the day when Anya grew just enough that I couldn't lift her alone… -Sfllrlsths- A crinkle of colon fluids streaked down the mounds coiling and bundling in the bowl below, inviting a foul pungency in the air of chalk ad moldy socks. Markson always embarrassed me, I had helped then learn some words, but most they just picked up at their own volition. It, matched his character, certainly. 
	“Gnngh. Mgmhr…” I grunted, wheezing whilst I tried to pass another clog, dollops of muck -shhflrlt- dislodging from the heap as marbles of manure, plopping into the water and -wmmpth- smacking into other droves of fudge, melting together under the weight of the oncoming drove which… felt endless. I was reminded of the bunnies, and how I'd been warned not to get a pair of males and females… Sasha had certainly gotten busy, I'd had to separate him from most of his kids, along with his sweetie bun, or else I wouldn't have been able to sustain the growing population… I paused, stopped grunting, stared ahead. -Shhrlslpths- -Psglths- the mound crawled out of my hind, a blackened chunk of dung slag cratering the surrounding bulwark of a toilet stuffer beneath me… Was that how he had felt? When he had been separated from her? The same as I felt right now? Had I… forced such an evil, on someone I cared for so… deeply. I my hung my head, sniffling. Drops of saltwater speckled my bare thighs, soaked into the fabric of my underwear. 
	“I am sorry… everyone.” 
	I didn't want to look in the bowl… I couldn't help it though… Seeing the melange of textures, moulded chunks of sludge in various consistencies from silt to caramel to rubber, all bundled into a stew of coagulated muck, containing little bits and pieces of all those I cared for, all I had left… I stood there, underwear slack around my y ankles, sadness drooping down my face. I had never thought I would have an urge to hug my toilet… such a genuine and warranted desire to do it… It pained me, more than the noxious concoction of fumes turning me nauseous, more than the ache at my rear form disposing such a mountain of filth… but I had to… I had to flush it. The last I had of them, was something I couldn't keep. 
	-Thhck- The lever went down. -Shrlrttwp- -Shhst- -Fhht- The flush started, then stopped, then started, chugging in place… then halted entirely. 
	“I suppose, this is one of these moments where… you either laugh or cry,” I mumbled. Though, to me, the only options was to cry, or cry more. 


~ 3 ~


“Wrrarf, awawrrf.” 
	A bolt of energy tore through my nervous system, every bit of brawn in my body tensed I n wait. 
	“Aarf, aaraf.” 
	Barking… I tore open the bathroom door and dashed out, stumbling over my shorts and ramming my nose right into the carpet, I scrambled on the ground to shuffle the underwear back into place and slept on all fours, running in a frantic totter out the door. Directly towards the sanctuary. My breath was caught in my throat, I stare, wide-eyed on my own little reserve… everyone was… there. The dogs with their tails wagging; cats, actually perking up to see me; Markson and my other birds crowded in the branches; the bunnies, out of their cage; Quetzal, out of his cage; and… Anya… also, out of his cage… 
	A number of worries spiked through my head like the first hit of a double sized shot. They were all heart, joy, but all of them were out of their cages, they couldn't be kept like this, Sasha was in mortal danger, Kendra would not hesitate fighting Anya, and what stopped the others from getting caught in the crossfire? 
	“Arrf, grrraf.” 
	Emperor huffed and came up to greet me, licking my leg. Then. The laps shifted over to my crotch… 
	The hammer of realization hit my head so hard I might as well have been a golfball. All of them were here, all of their focus was on me, and I knew why. The thought of it sprouted a web of chills through my back. 
	“You all… you all want to… you all just w-want to use me.” I didn't recognize my voice, that wasn't me All of them stared back at me. Their intentions clear. 
	“Ckrraws, stop licking, listen to husse crawwk.” 
	It was crystal clear, even without Markson's interjection. I buried my face I my hands, shaking my head. It was so tough to process. Yet, as long as I was available, they were all functioning in harmony. Eve if the desire that brought the together was… 
	“Aerf.” Emperor barked again. I parted my fingers, looking down onto him, giving me a warm look. A tug of war played out in my mind, comparing the situation in front f me, with the prospect of losing them all, and hiding away forever. I brushed back Emperor's ears, then kneeled down to brush of the grass, laying down on my back., arms sprawled out wide. I peeked at them, mouth tiny, eyes wide, a expression that asked them 'is this really what you want?'. 
	The next moment, they pounced. 


~ 4 ~


 “Hggl, mffpght,” I grunted, feeling my breath filter though a variegated cocktail of bowel baked gruel, the latest compost to get added were from the bunnies, rest propped up over my chest and letting their collection of muck trickle out of their bottoms to lodge In with any crevices the other had missed. I had hoped taken enough to build up a resistance, though it stung all the way through my oesophagus and up my nostrils as bad as the first time. 
	To my sides were Andrake and Kendra, digging up the ground underneath my hands and arms. Chhrwlllwquch- whilst Emperor dispensed a thick, auburn mortar over me, entombing my palms in ribbons of warping, ton sloughs of glistening nougat. The warmth of the fresh loam submerging my arms wedged up my arms in pangs of discomfort, though I had committed too far to crawl my way out of this by now. -Thhch- Quetzal was at my neck again, coiled in a collar scarf and tugging now and then s I had to work to swallow down the lumps of chewed up, spittle laced dung which I managed to choke down from my overstuffed cheeks. -Spllth- -Kkslpwth- -Chrlspth- From above, Markson and is platoon of avians dropped bombs of white bile. Urate splattered over my forehead, down my neck, soaking down the stuffings of filth n my maw and trickling down the crevices and cracks between mounds as a white sauce over unearthed beef, adding all the more brine and salted pungency to the banquet of manure. 
	The cats went a laxer route, scratching at my boxers and casually dropping clumps of solid slag on them, the muck weighing the fabric down to my skin s I could feel the heat radiating from the chunks of umber ore and its residue soaking through the fabric to plaster against my skin. I had my doubts about the decision I had made, despite there being a certain… joy, baked into this all – like the rodent bones peeking out of the fat ragamuffin cat's stool. They were all together, interacting, engaging… harmonizing, in ways I didn't think were possible. And they all wanted me near all the time. I was wanted. 
	-Shhrrlslpu- tremors shook my back, I tried to peek, but my cheeks were anchored to the ground in the loads of muck they held. Though soon I felt it again -Shrhrltp- It was Andrake's tongue, down at y crotch, slurping up the cat's business and applying warm, moist strokes to my shaft… Sweat beaded at my forehead, struggling to juggle the sensations of disgust, pleasure, discomfort, and disbelief whirling around my head. Though…though, that hint of enjoyment, the pleasure he brought to me in this foul, wretched situation… it was appreciated… The first step towards conditioning me to act thee way they wanted to, to for me to be complacent with their desires, to mold my way of life to suit their own – my dog, my own animals – banding together to utilise Pavlovian conditioning. 


~ 5 ~


‘Pphaa, so comfy.’ 
	'Yes comfy, comfy is the best.' The bunnies agreed with one another. 
	'Least I know where to get my mmm, amusement from' Anastasia pondered to herself. 
	Kendra lapped husse in the face. The best taste, the best place, all be best convinces in one spot~'. 
	Andrake looked up. 'Mm, you guys have gotta try this,'” before going down to keep slurping at the crotch. 
	'Ssso, comfy, the bulges feel, mm, stimulate' thought Quetzal around the neck. 
	“Arawak, stop licking, stop licking,” Markson called out above, whistling I joy, the other animals having no clue what madness he was spouting. 


~ 6 ~


“It has been too long since I last saw you,” mother said, strange to hear another human voice, how long had it been… “And I am so happy you are living your dream at the animal shelter, and supporting yourself to boot.” 
	“M-mom…” I mumbled, sitting in the cough across from her, crouched in worry. 
	“And you've kept this place so clean t-. Oh? Yes dear?” 
	“I… am not in the shelter anymore.” 
	I wish I could avoid the 'mother gaze', though it penetrated all my defences. 
	“You what?” 
	“I mean. I have…” 
	“Is this what happens when I leave you to your own devices?” 
	“Mother, please, I have gotten other obligations to-.” 
	“Arrarff." Emperor tugged on my shirt. 
	I swallowed, lowering my voice to a whisper. 
	“Emperor… pulse. A-already? B-but we went before mother came so you wouldn't have to-.” 
	“AaahhrF.” 
	I sighed. “E-excuse me, m-mother, I will b-be right back,” I mumbled dragged my my shirt off with the white dog to my bedroom. 
	“You better have a good explanation for this when you are back,” she called out. 


After more than ten minutes of wait, my mother's expression had softened. She was considering how it was to live by myself, and felt with me. She rose. 
	“Alright, dear, I am going to be cordial, getting mad would only hurt our relations.” She said and walked toward my bedroom.
	“Please, just let me know what is on your mind, we can get through this, and you will always have your mother to support you, dea-…” 
	-Crrrck- the door creaked open. 
	“Mmgg-mpgh-” I mumbled, down on the floor, my mouth jammed up Emperor's rump, hi, the hound raising his rear just a few moments after she'd opened the door, -Scllrsts- a pillar of brown phlegm roped out of his rear, dangling above me for a moment, before his winking pucker sliced it off, and -Spbfbwjtph- let it smack into a n amorphous bundle over my face. 
	“Mgms, gkmmopwb.” I swallowed, casually chewing through the ribbon of baked puppy pretzel dough, and peered up at my mother, her bronze skin turned pale, mouth agape in shock. 
	“D-. d-… Oh d-dear… M-my dear what is. What are you-…” She couldn't formulate a sentence. 
	-OOPpgllguh- I wallowed, panting weakly, clearing my throat as Emperor turned to -Frffssh- drench my lips in vitrine nectar, steaming the pungency of ammonia and salted rubber stews into the room. 
	“Hlfg will be mmg done soon mom, I'll just-g-glch. Be a bit.” I assured her, between glugs of his fresh, bladder juice.