Sunlight filtered through the slats of the door, warming Viktor's face as he slept. As the sun crept higher in the sky, the sunlight slowly slid off his face, barred by the closet door and the angle of the building. The lack of sunlight wasn't what woke Viktor, though. It was the loud resounding BOOM of a door slamming open.

Viktor sat up, startled. He blearily blinked the sleep out of his eyes. He distantly heard Vok'Rul talking in the next room over. There was a lot of thumping.

"The fuck," he grumbled, wrapping the blanket around him and falling back onto the soft bed. "Can't a man get his beauty sleep?"

He heard Vok'Rul heading downstairs. He heard shouting soon after. Viktor sighed.

After his small depressive stint last night, Viktor was feeling a bit better after some sleep. He still felt empty about being unable to see the others again, but he had to hold onto the hope that he would one day meet them again. After this was all over. He just needed to show this alien that humans were sentient. Somehow.

He shuffled out of the closet, pulling the blanket tightly around him as the morning chill settled on his skin. The door was cracked open, and Viktor heaved it open with a groan. That thing was heavy! He walked across the living room in trepidation, looking around to see if there was anything hiding about in places he couldn't see. As far as he knew, it was just Vok'Rul and him in this section of the mansion.

But clearly, Viktor thought as some metal clanging came from downstairs, there was something else in here.

He wondered, idly, if they were getting robbed. Viktor hoped not. Even if he didn't want to be here, he doubted robbers would just cart him back to the pet store. They'd probably sell him to someone else.

As he got closer to the stairs, peering out from the guard rail, he could see Vok'Rul's tail just in sight. It looked strange without all the jewelry adorning it, but Viktor supposed he wouldn't want to wear jewelry in bed, either. He listened as Vok'Rul spoke with the other unknown alien, who responded in kind. Well, at least there was no robbery. Vok'Rul sounded exasperated, though.

The scent of food wafted up to him, and Viktor realized that the metallic clanging noise must have been pots and pans banging together. His stomach growled in kind.

He was thinking about whether or not he should go back to the office to look for more of the treats to eat when Vok'Rul said something in a huff and started towards the stairs. They made eye contact for a split second before Viktor retreated in a hurry, nearly sprinting back to the office. His blanket slid off his shoulders during the run. He managed to heave the door shut as he heard Vok'Rul say something to the alien below and start up the stairs.

Instead of coming to the office as he expected, the alien went back into his room. Viktor let out a small sigh of relief, shaking off the adrenaline that had flooded his limbs. He picked his way around the desk to crawl back into his carrier, fishing out the dish he had left in there. He frowned when he saw it empty.

"Oh yeah," he muttered to himself. He had thrown it at that other alien yesterday. The remaining jerky had fallen all over the place. He didn't see any in the carrier, though. He sat back on his knees, wondering where he'd find food.

"Kohgrash," he heard from outside the door. Vok'Rul entered soon after. Viktor quickly got to his feet, peering around the giant desk, the dish still in one hand. The tall alien was in the loose flowy clothing he had gotten accustomed to seeing the arena aliens in. He had no jewelry adorning his features, either. Maybe he wasn't going anywhere today. Vok'Rul was speaking but the only word he caught was norish. Immediately, Viktor became interested. He would very much enjoy food.

"Norish," Vok'Rul called enticingly, shaking the bag in his hand. It was probably about half the size of Viktor and yet the alien carried it with ease. Viktor stepped out from behind the desk, clutching his dish tightly. He was prepared to throw it if needed. Vok'Rul lit up when he saw the teen. Viktor scowled, edging towards his closet. He felt a bit barren without the blanket. Plus, he was cold. Vok'Rul said a word to him, holding out his hand.

Viktor looked down at the dish in his hands and then back at Vok'Rul's outstretched hand. He couldn't just give him the bag of food? He sighed, dramatically. Vok'Rul repeated the new word, shaking the bag of food again. Viktor's hunger won out and he tossed his only plausible weapon at Vok'Rul's feet with a huff. He stayed well away from the alien as the other started speaking again, filling the dish with food.

Vok'Rul spoke his name again and some other things before he left the room, leaving the door partially open. He had propped the open bag of food against the wall. Viktor went to the dish first, carrying it back to his closet to eat in peace. It was a mixture between dry round spheres and pieces of jerky. He ate monotonously. At least it tasted good.

He went over to the bag, grabbing a fistful of food to shove in his pockets. Feeling a bit better with food on hand, Viktor poked his head out of the doorway skeptically. He heard Vok'Rul speaking with the other alien. He heard his own name being mentioned. Man, aliens were gossiping about him, and he couldn't even listen in. Life was so unfair.

He puttered around the living room, investigating the two other rooms that he hadn't yet seen. The other was Vok'Rul's bedroom as he expected. The bed was the largest thing he had ever seen. Despite the rest of the mansion's tendency to splurge on whatever passed for money around here, Vok'Rul's room was pretty minimalistic. He had a small dresser and an even smaller bedside table. It had a lamp and a picture frame that Viktor couldn't quite see from his angle on the ground.

The other room was a bathroom. Since their anatomy was wildly similar and yet different at the same time, Viktor was a bit surprised at seeing similar amenities compared to the bathrooms on Earth. Of course, everything was scaled by about a hundred. The bathtub was much longer and seemed to be deeper. The toilet, or what passed as one on this planet, was elongated and thin, probably to accommodate the tailed aliens. He still wasn't sure why some of them had tails and others did not.

Viktor had no hope of reaching the sink and possibly washing his hair, so he instead peered into the drawers under it. Copious amounts of bottles were under it. He wondered what they were for. As far as he could see, these aliens had no fur. Moisturizer?

Vok'Rul had one hell of a skincare routine, then.

He must have been exploring for a while because he heard Vok'Rul coming up the stairs and could no longer hear the other alien chatting with him. Panicking slightly, Viktor quickly closed the drawers and exited the bathroom, carefully ducking behind a potted plant.

That was about as skinny as a twig and had no hope of hiding him. Viktor cursed his stupidity.

Vok'Rul popped up from the stairwell before Viktor could commit to running to another place to hide or retreat back to the office. He immediately zeroed in on Viktor hiding behind the plant and smiled. Viktor did not like the way he focused on him, gripping the pot tighter in nervousness. This alien had yet to hurt him, but it had been a couple of days before the ringmaster had doled out his first punishment. He wouldn't take any chances.

"Rohsh, Kohgrash," he said. Whatever the fuck that meant.

"Yeah, fuck you, too!" Viktor replied.

Vok'Rul seemed delighted he was speaking back to him, though. He clapped his hands once in delight, causing Viktor to flinch sharply. The alien looked contrite, dropping his hands to his sides. He settled on the couch, propping his legs on the small table. He reached for something on the couch and came back up with a remote. Viktor let out a choked, strangled whimper, hands flying up to his throat and feeling nothing but the jagged scarred bumps the prongs on the collar had left him.

Vok'Rul looked at him with a frown but continued with whatever he was doing, which involved clicking a button on the remote and watching as the circular disk flickered to life with a holographic screen.

Ah, Viktor thought, feeling his quick pulse under his fingertips as he pressed them to his throat. A TV remote. Viktor didn't even have a shock collar to get shocked with.

"Idiot," he whispered to himself, watching the alien for another few minutes. He shuffled out from behind the plant when he deemed it safe, interested to see what was playing on the holographic TV.

It seemed to be a news station. Two unfamiliar aliens were sitting at a large table. There were various boxes and broadcasts floating on the screen. The TV seemed to be three-dimensional, which was super cool. He had not a clue what they were speaking of, nor what the words on the screen said, but it was interesting to look at nonetheless. It was either this or staying in that office room all day bored out of his mind.

Every time Vok'Rul shifted on the couch, Viktor would jump out of his skin. He kept the alien in his peripherals, determined to not let him out of sight. He appreciated all the effort the alien did to make him comfortable (truly, the bed was comfier than anything he had slept in on Earth), but that still didn't make up for the fact that he had taken Viktor away from all the people he knew in this world. He didn't trust the taller alien just yet. Maybe he never would.

Why would he trust anyone that abducted his whole species to use as pets, as fighting fodder? Viktor could admit that he was bitter, but who wouldn't be? He had been forced to fight creatures of all kinds to survive for over half a year. He was right to be bitter.

A shiver wracked his body, dragging himself out of his thoughts. He was freezing. Viktor frowned as he looked around for the blanket he had discarded in his haste. He sighed heavily when he saw that it was on the ground, too close to Vok'Rul's tail for his comfort. He decided he'd just have to suffer.

That was until another shiver wracked his body. This building had to be the worst insulated building he's ever been in. It was whatever passed for as winter on this planet, but at least in the arena, they had gotten a heating pad. He also almost got hypothermia three separate times, so he supposed that being mildly cold was better than it had been in the warehouse.

Still, his ratty and damaged outfit held no warmth to his frame. He needed that blanket.

He got up slowly, eyeing Vok'Rul as the alien turned his attention to the human. The alien had done a pretty good job at pretending he wasn't watching Viktor, but the teen knew better. He had felt like he had been watched the entirety he had been out in the living room. Now, at least, the alien turned his full attention onto him.

Viktor walked carefully over to the table. He wanted something solid in between the large alien and himself. His head and shoulders were easily visible, but he felt a bit better. He peered around the corner of the table to look at his blanket. Vok'Rul said something, moving suddenly.

Viktor whirled around, baring his teeth as he took multiple steps away from the alien. "Stay away from me!"

Vok'Rul stilled, saying something softly before starting to move again. He reached over to pick up the blanket, holding it out to Viktor when he had it. Viktor dropped his snarl, merely glowering at the alien. He had been able to grab it just fine.

He stalked over, grabbing the end of the blanket and tugging it towards him. Wrapping it around himself like a cloak, Viktor retreated back into the office. He had a feeling this day was going to be a long one.

***

Vocabulary:

norish: food

rohsh: a friendly greeting, such as hello or hey