Raw Winter

Chapter 10: The Snake's Venom

Winter's stomach clenched and unclenched as she tried to move, but Tirenen was on top of her and firmly held her down. Her mouth was held open, and he seemed to take great pleasure in tinkering with her teeth, his metal tool scraping against the sharp pillars he was building on her canines to make them sharper. She gasped a few times, trying to catch her breath, but finding it nearly impossible. The metal parting and holding her lips in place made it harder, and he laughed.

"I thought it would be best to get this done first. It will make it harder to talk, but I'm sure that won't be a problem for someone like you. It might also make you more dangerous, but that doesn't really matter when you don't know how to use them. Perfect little dog fangs," he told her.

She wanted to ask him what his obsession was with turning her into a dog, but trying to say anything at all only made her gag and he wiped her mouth for her.

"You're getting good at not talking back, aren't you?" He teased, knowing there was no way she could answer him. She growled. It was getting easier to growl. Each time he spoke to her, he would mock and harass her until her perfect higher language sounded graveling and unrecognizable, and he wouldn't pay attention to her if she talked in the common language, as if he had forgotten it and didn't understand what she was saying.

He laughed again, finding the display amusing. He prodded her stomach. It was heaving up and down, skin twitching under the cloth, and she growled louder. He knew many ways he could make her growl now, but he wanted to focus on continuing the dental work. She closed her eyes, wanting it just to be over. She hadn't realized how many unpleasant feelings could be enacted on her mouth. She remembered not being the wiser.

He took the device off her after finishing, and she winded and turned her jaw to regain feeling, though it felt weird to close her mouth all the way with the elongated teeth. She thought they were going to stick out, but they settled alongside each other comfortably. She spoke and had a lisp when she said, "Are we done, doctor?" Her nose wrinkled. She didn't know what was worse, her growling tone or the lisp. She felt like a jester.

"I think it would be best if you got used to that, don't you, Rawintr?" He told her. He had taken to calling her that. It was how it sounded whenever she said her name, the growl pronounced. "I adore the way you speak, but I don't quite want you to sound like an idiot."

"I don't sound like an idiot. Other people speak like this," Rawintr said, hot desolate anger burning under her skin as she got herself up and out of the chair.

"What I would expect an idiot to say," he muttered, waving his hand at her dismissively. Her teeth ground before she realized how uncomfortable it was, and he continued, "if you truly care, I would suggest working on your speech more. I know how much you would love to minimize my influence on you."

She wanted to argue, but couldn't argue with that. If she was going to sound different, she at least wanted that difference to be imposing. She wanted to speak without hesitation, and right now everything on her mind was hesitation.

Tirenen could see her inner dialogue playing behind her eyes despite how dull and dark they were. A smile quirked his lips, and he leaned back, making his stance relaxed and unassuming before sharply barking, "Get on your hands and knees."

She stiffened, caught off guard. Her thoughts still muddled her mind, but he didn't have time for her to figure out what he had said. He stepped forward and touched her back. Her dropping to the ground was a reflex, and she frowned at him as he crossed his arms over his chest smugly.

"It would be enough for you to crawl on your hands and knees, but I think you need to be better than that. I think you should be able to walk on all four limbs if you're going to be a dog, don't you?"