Revelation and Realization...

"NMMMNGH! LMMMH GNNNGH!!" the high-spirited tiger-girl snarled, jerking and wrenching against the jacket to emphasize her demand. "NWWWWWGH!" Her tail gave a slow, sleepy-seeming slash by her slide, thumping against the wall behind her had enough to send a little jolt of discomfort rocketing up TK's spine.

"Ummm...no," the smug, kidnapping miscreant drawled with a smirk. "After all the planning and work that went into getting you here...I don't think you could reasonably expect I'd just let you go. That's not what this is about at all, TK. You see...you belong to me now. And I'm never going to let you go."

TK's eyes widened between the forehead-strap and the muzzle-bands of the horrible contraption that sealed her jaws and voice. But it couldn't seal away the utterly outraged and ferocious roar which raged its way free of that leathery prison in response to his insane declaration. "Belonged" to him?! TK didn't "belong" to anyone! The sheer thought - and the realization of how this fiend's thoughts worked - was enough to send her into an almost blind rage...but the chill that traveled down her spine at the reality of the situation helped cool some of that, and turn it into a more "focused" mixture of seething hatred, roiling disgust...and sharp-edged fear...

"I'll bet you're thinking right now that, sooner or later, somebody's going to realize you've disappeared. Report you missing. Come looking for you..." He smiled then, oily and smug. "Well, from what I hear, you get kidnapped all the time...disappear for days at a stretch. And there's plenty of suspects running around for people to go looking for. Who am I? Nobody connected to you. No...nobody's ever going to think to look for you here. Which means you're mine...forever."

In point of fact, TK hadn't been thinking anything of the sort. In fact, what she had been thinking about was how very much she wanted to break free and kick this lunatic's butt all over his musty little basement. But the stocks, the straitjacket, and the muzzle made that an impossibility. For now, she vowed to herself...only for now...

But that, of course, left her mind turning back to his diatribe...and the chilling realization that he was right, on more than one point. No one would think to look for her here...he could go back about his everyday business if he wanted to - in fact he probably would do so if he truly wanted to remain below notice - and no one would be any the wiser. Even more reason for her to get herself out of this mess as quickly as possible. But as she once again flexed against the thick leather and padded cuffs...wrenched her jaw against the muzzle...and gazed down at those stout wooden stocks...a trickle of icewater seemed to flow down her spine...


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On to Insult to Injury...