#tw self neglect

Continued from here

I am well aware that no one can carry 20 million dollars around with them. The money system is different in this world. Although I am American, this is not meant to be 20 million in US bills

CW: Self neglect, slavery, implied sex trafficking/prostitution

When Caretaker came back, the same orcs— at least they though they were the same— took them into the building. The same human as before sat at the card table. A smaller human sat on their knee. Caretaker didn’t think they had seen them before, but quickly realized it must be Whumpee.

Whumpee’s gaze flickered over to Caretaker’s face. Fear and confusion danced behind their eyes.

The orcs and the human finished playing through the deal while Caretaker waited patiently. At last, the human set Whumpee aside and got up, leading Caretaker back to the same side room.

“I drew up the contract.” The human passed the papers to Caretaker, who read over them carefully.

Caretaker’s eyes darkened as they read. “This is double the amount we agreed on.”

The human— Whumper, as the contract stated— shrugged. “Must’ve slipped my mind. It’s drawn up now though.”

Caretaker took a steadying breath, so as to not knock off Whumper’s head. “Fine. Unfortunately, I anticipated something like this. I still have the money to pay you right now.” With a flourish, Caretaker signed the contract. “I want a copy made up for me.”

Whumper’s expression was dumbfounded.

“Now.” Caretaker insisted.

Quickly, Whumper rushed out of the room with the contract, returning a moment later with a duplicate.

Caretaker checked to make sure it was the same, then paid Whumper and went back to the main room.

“Whumpee?”

“Y-yes..?” Whumpee squeaked.

“Show me it’s really you.”

Whumpee looked to Whumper, who stood in the doorway to the side room.

“Well, don’t look at me. They’ve purchased you. I don’t give a shit what you do anymore.” Whumper waved the words away as if they meant nothing.

Reluctantly, Whumpee shifted to their true form. Wounds and all. Except they seemed worse than two days ago.

Caretaker bit back their anger. “Come along. We’re leaving.”

“Y-you really… boughtme..?”

“Yes. Come with me.” Caretaker’s tone softened a little, but not too much. They weren’t too fond of the idea of Whumper hearing them show Whumpee kindness.

Obediently, Whumpee came to Caretaker’s side, although they stared at Whumper the whole time.

“Stop looking at me.” Whumper snapped, sitting back down to play cards.

Caretaker led Whumpee out to the streets again.

“You r-really bought me..? Like, for l-longer than just one… o-one day?”

Caretaker could slow down now that they were away from Whumper. In Whumpee’s eyes they saw some confusion, but mostly raw terror. “Yes, I did. Forever. You’ll not go back to them again, alright?” Their voice was soft now as they tried to comfort Whumpee. “Are you strong enough to keep walking..? Is it okay if I carry you?”

“I-I can walk—” Whumpee stuttered quickly, their voice shaking. “I-I can do a-anything you want— I pr-promise I’ll try to be g-good.”

Caretaker tried to keep their emotions in check. They were angry, but they couldn’t show it. Whumpee would assume it was directed at them. It wasn’t.

They simply nodded and led Whumpee down the streets. They let Whumpee set the pace, not waking faster than Whumpee did, but still guiding them down the right streets.

Whumpee’s pace slowly deteriorated until they were hardly moving and Whumpee was out of breath.

“I’d like to carry you now if that’s okay.” Caretaker said, making Whumpee stop.

“I-I can keep going— I can—”

“Unless you wantmenot carry you, I’m going to pick you up.”

“I-I… O… Okay.”

Caretaker gently swept Whumpee into their arms and carried them the remainder of the way to the car.