Over and over Sarah shifted to her hybrid form and was forced back. The beast started to learn, causing her to change her suppression method repeatedly. When the suppression started to get challenging Logan called for a break. Both Miyuki and Sarah sighed in relief. As Sarah collapsed, he gestured for Miyuki to follow him.
After walking far enough down the cargo hold for the tired Sarah to not hear them clearly, Logan stopped her. “What do you think of this whole thing?”
She scrunched her face as she ordered her thoughts. “It’s just,” she paused looking for the words, “I’m just worried.”
His eyebrow rose. “Really, you worried?”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course, you jackass.” She glanced in Sarah’s direction. “There are just too many unknowns, too many questions. The longer she takes to get adjusted just makes her a larger liability.”
He sighed and leaned against a nearby crate. That quickly changed as whatever was in the crate growled and crashed against the side. The wooded side shook but didn’t take any kind of noticeable damage. He crossed his arms and started aggravatingly tapping his bicep. “I get it, and I hate it as much as you do. But what can we do? We have direct orders and a child who was thrown into the deep end.”
He stopped and threw Miyuki a sympathetic glance. She knew the look. He was going to say something stupid and probably self-sacrificial. She started sorting through her list of insults in preparation.
Just as she predicted he started, “she’s my responsibility so you don’t need to-.”
“Oh, shut up your poor excuse of a fur rug.” Sure, it wasn’t one of her best, but it was sufficient to stop Logan. “We’re both neck deep in this. Something is going on and honestly, you are the only one I trust enough to have my back.” She gave him a self satisfied grin, “you’re stuck with me.”
She could see her words broke through his self-righteousness. “Damn,” he said with a matching smile, “and here I was hoping I would finally be rid of you.”
She flicked her hair as she turned and started back to Sarah, “you’d be lost without me.”
Logan followed. “Who was the one who got lost for two days in the middle of Brazil?”
“Hey, it’s not my fault every tree in the rain forest looks the damn same.”
“They really don’t.”
“Oh, shut up,” she grumped as they neared Sarah.
She had partially recovered but was still lying on the metal floor. “Is this really the best way we can do this?” she asked, staring at the ceiling.
“Pretty much,” he said, walking up and literally looking down on her.
Sarah raised herself to her elbows. “I mean, do I have to be pacified every time? I know I’m talking with them more, but I can’t help but think they’re also getting pissed off.”
Logan gave her a meaningful look. Miyuki recognized it. It was the one he wore when someone was starting to understand a lesson he was trying to beat into them. “What do you suggest?”
“Well,” she said while looking nervous, “can’t you just handcuff me? Maybe use some ropes so I can’t move?”
A heavy silence fell on them after her request. Miyuki took a half step back. “So, you’re into that kind of stuff huh? No shame in that, just surprised you asked two people you just met to tie you up and watch. Kinda kinky if you ask me.”
Sarah’s face turned the brightest red she had ever seen on a person. “Not that kind of tying up!” she shouted indignantly. “I just want to be able to be in the other form so I can try to talk to them longer.”
“It’s worth a shot” she said to his raised eyebrow.
Logan shrugged as he turned to begin looking for restraints. It didn’t take long for him to return with the extra rope used to secure the cargo in heavy turbulence and two sets of zip-tie handcuffs from one of his pants pockets. It was a quick process to tie Sarah’s hands behind her back, her ankles together, and her limbs to her body. Logan made sure that the restraints were secure while having some room for Sarah’s bulkier hybrid form.
Before securing the final knot Logan asked Sarah, “are you sure about this? This is the last chance. We’ll probably have to cut you out of these.” Sarah hesitated for a second before telling him she was. At her acquiescence he secured the final knot and stepped back. Miyuki couldn’t help but compare Sarah to a movie hostage. All that was missing was a tape gag and a blindfold.
“You know,” Miyuki said with a mischievous glint in her eye, “you’re pretty good at this. Do you have experience tying up willing girls? I learn more about you every day.”
“I’ve never gotten complaints,” he said haughtily.
Miyuki had to hold herself back from laughing. “Fun aside,” she continued, “are we ready for the experiment?”
“As ready as we can be. Sarah, you good?”
She glared up at him. “I’m tied up on a plane where I have no idea where it’s going so I can talk to a homicidal animal trying to take over my body. What do you think?”
“Fair enough. Shift when you’re ready.”
At Logan’s instruction Sarah closed her eyes and began to focus. Interestingly, it was the longest time between the start of the communication to the shift so far. As she shifted and expanded the restraints tightened. Logan had estimated her shifted size almost exactly making the binding tight enough to hold here while not tight enough to cut off any circulation. Maybe he wasn’t joking about his experience after all.
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As soon as the shift completed, she started thrashing and yowling. The two of them continued to be on guard if she escaped, which Miyuki doubted. She kept getting louder and struggled harder as they waited for whatever Sarah was trying to do. After a while watching her act like an angry cat got boring. Miyuki started looking for something to occupy her. She found Logan wholly focusing on her with a single-minded dedication. She considered such care to be slightly excessive, but to change that part of him was as likely as cutting through the Himalayas with a spoon.
Miyuki crossed her arms. “So what now?”
“Not sure. This is the first time I've tied up a beast-cursed so the two of them talked.”
Miyuki had an impulsive thought and let it win. “I've always wanted to do this.”
“What?”
With her smirk turning into a full grin, Miyuki circled the struggling until she was behind her and out of reach of Sarah’s snapping teeth. With a sense of excitement and mischief she reached down and poked Sarah on the side. When she turned and tried to bite her, Miyuki easily hopped back and out of range of the teeth. With a laugh Miyuki leapt over Sarah and poked her again. She repeated this process a few more times as she watched the tiger flop about like a furry worm.
“What are you doing?” Logan asked.
She turned to him while lifting a leg to avoid another bite. “I’m poking the tiger.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Really?”
“Yup?” she hopped out of range, “you have to try it.”
His response was interrupted by a growled word. “Bitch,” Sarah somehow said through a snarl.
They were both clearly surprised by the outburst. She mentally marked down that bondage apparently worked on beast-cursed.
“What did you say?” Logan asked.
“Bitch,” she repeated while staring at Miyuki. She then flopped toward Logan, “bastard.”
“Well then, does this mean it’s actually working?”
Miyuki shrugged, just as surprised. “I guess so?”
Logan answered by crouching down and meeting Sarah’s glare. He searched her eyes. “Calling someone a bastard isn’t nice.”
She snapped at him and repeated “bastard.”
In response Logan lifted a hand and flicked Sarah on the forehead. She yowled again and tried to bite him. “What was that?” he asked, putting his ear closer to her.
“Bastard!” she yelled. Logan flicked her again and she tried to bite him. She went back to screaming and struggling. He stood and stepped back.
He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “Let’s have her keep going. She’ll eventually tire herself out eventually.”
As he predicted, she continued to fight for another hour before beginning to slow. After another half-hour she was finally lying still while panting heavily. Miyuki was genuinely surprised it took so long but was relieved it was finally over. Although exhausted, Sarah still stared furiously at the two of them.
Miyuki took Logan’s previous place of crouching down before her. “Do you have something to say.”
Between pants Sarah looked Miyuki in the eye and said one word, “bitch.”
Before she could respond Sarah continued, “you, bitch.”
Even with the insult Miyuki couldn’t help but be excited. “Hey Logan, she doubled her vocabulary.”
Logan pushed himself off the wall to stand next to her. “It’s interesting. This worked out better than I thought it would. Imprisonment adaptation isn’t exactly standard.”
“Oh yea, tire out the angry animal so you can talk. I’m sure no one has ever thought of that,” she said sarcastically.
Logan rolled his eyes before returning to Sarah. “Sarah, you in there?”.
“Bastard. You, bastard.” She growled back.
Logan paused as if thinking about what she said and briefly glanced at Miyuki. “You know, I can’t tell which one said that.”
Miyuki chuckled, “me neither. Sarah, can you hear me?” she said, taking her turn. Maybe something interesting would come out.
As she spoke, she could almost see a shift in intelligence behind Sarah’s eyes. “Fox. Fox is bitch”
Miyuki’s eye twitched, “alright, this is starting to get insulting.”
“You get used to it. Sarah, listen to my voice. Your beast is not as wild so you may be able to put in some control. Instead of wrestling it back or pushing forward, try to slide alongside it. You are not two beings; you are two parts of the same whole.”
Her features softened. “Logan,” she said softly before returning to her previous state, “is bastard!” she yelled. “Logan is bastard!”
He didn’t even flinch at the insult. “Good, now try again. Slide in beside them, try to become one. You are separate but together. Different but the same.” She struggled again but weakly. “Be the calm human who brings intelligence to your beast. You are the mind and are the instincts. You must create this balance.”
Miyuki watched on as Logan instructed Sarah. She couldn’t relate to what he was saying since it was a cursed being thing. She had seen what happens when the beast-cursed lost all their control, it was messy and difficult for everyone involved. That was the first time she’d ever seen one learning how to talk to their beast in the first place. She knew how important it was for them to learn how to control themselves, so it is crucial that she adapted as quickly as possible.
The back and forth between the two of them continued for a while with Sarah slowly gaining more control and expanding her vocabulary. Eventually Sarah reached five-word sentences and only occasional outbursts of cursing. It was fortunate that they were progressing, though she could do without the constant insults. It was cute at first before quickly turning annoying.
Logan stood and stretched. “Alright,” he said, “I'm taking a break, so,” before Sarah could struggle again Logan shifted and forced her head to the plate metal of the floor. With a growl from both of them Sarah shifted back to her human form. If she was still human she would have been left red and lightly bruised by her vicious struggling. She panted heavily while lying motionless. After her shift Logan released her and returned to his human form.
Without prompting, Miyuki assisted Logan in unbinding Sarah. It wasn’t difficult but the knots had tightened significantly and even the handcuffs were barely holding together. After being freed, Sarah rolled onto her back and splayed out.
“That,” she panted, “sucked.” With a grunt she rose to a sitting position.
Logan chuckled, “but it worked. Tell me what you felt.” For the next few minutes Sarah described some vague feelings and urges that made no sense to Miyuki.
Logan seemed satisfied, “That’s good. And I’m guessing you were able to hear me and follow my instructions?”
“Some of them, mostly near the end.”
“Good,” he stretched again, “I say we take a little break. Any arguments?” Sarah and Miyuki shook their heads.
He started up the stairs. “I’m hungry, how about you?”
Miyuki wasn’t much of a breakfast person and was going to say such until Sarah’s stomach decided to start singing.
The agents laughed while the weretiger blushed.
an entirely different reason I discovered something. I thought that in order to remain in the challenge an author needed to upload 15k chapters by the 15th. On second reading I discovered that it is in fact 25k words. Now it you would excuse me I need to get 11k words ready in the next four days.
