Yuri: Slow-burning Gideon. A perturbed Raoul. And a Pet that's come home too soon.

This is the start of my turning point chapters. Many more changes will soon engulf Tanagura and our dearest Jupiter Couple right after this.

It was the week following, after Riki had gone vacationing to Cerberus, briefly leaving Amoï and its worries behind...

That day, the Council had come in their full regalia to see him off. It was them that insisted he take a private starship, not to mention the fully weaponized armada that was to accompany it. A little too much for security that was supposed to have been kept simple. Really. But Tanagura has its ways and its standards were often leaned towards the megalomaniac scale.

Especially in the matters concerning the protection of its own, someone like Riki specifically, among other examples, was for the Capital a shining gem in need of strict guarding, taking into account how this was the first time he won't be by his Master's side since he's awakened. His first trip far alone. He'll not be back until the next lunar rise, the anguish and longing this creates unbearable!

Although he was not going to argue. Iason wouldn't want that. He wanted Riki to have some quality time to himself.

That day, Neu-Jupiter held his Exclusive tightly in his arms. He made love to him the night prior quite passionately. Then the day he sent him away, he'd kissed him deeply.

"I long to see you once more. Return to me safely, my Pet," the top Blondie likewise kissed his hands as if stamping his affections there, as he had done in many places on his beloved's body hours earlier.

"You should have just come with me," said Riki. But he knew the other could not. He was busy with the planet. When they had gotten married, Iason too had married his role officially.

"I promised you this and it has been a while. I'd rather you indulge the liberty..."

The top Blondie thread their fingers lovingly together and pressed their foreheads close. Then he gave him more kisses in his bid goodbye.

They watched the shuttle leave the docking bay and waited until it reached the Jump Gate. There was a tense moment when intrusive thoughts were high and to the imagination, it seemed as if things were going to go completely wrong. Until that blink of pulsating light that swallowed the spacecraft and it was gone out of sight. Then a returned message, relayed from the control tower, stated that the flight and its entourage was en route successfully. And there was a collective breath of relief.

Once it was confirmed that the crossing was all good, the great Iason Mink turned a heel. He and the Council of Blondies stepped off the private launch platform where they observed the leave and headed towards their waiting transports, this impressive parade that the onlookers flocked to see, the crowd needing to be cordoned by the guards who needed to clear the way for them to pass. Those arriving and likewise scheduled for their own extraterrestrial trips pausing as the Blondies passed with their gallant air of nonchalance.

These Elite of Elites made headlines again. But for all that the world understood, these beauteous heralds had only been at the port to send off some dignitary. No one knew that Riki had already left Amoï that very day.

The upside to not being in the public's eye for once: the citizens believed the Pet to still be at his Palace in the second Eos Tower. Might as well. He can arrive unwaited for and unannounced at Cerberus where his Master guaranteed an even lesser presence of a crowd to pester him. He will have the resort all to himself. That at least puts other prior concerns at ease...

The next days following the Exclusive's departure, Neu-Jupiter and his Council wasted no time in going all out when it came to their impending projects, pushing the planet and its many technological as well as virtual infrastructures into newer heights in a fortnight.

Tanagura was furthering its improvements, trade and business thrice abloom in its progress that everything seemed to have been renewed, thriving. Like an echoing gong resounding in reach throughout all the vastness of the cosmos wherever the Council had influence.

But of course besides the obvious, there were those clandestine undertakings also evolving in the background. The many unrecorded endeavours that were trusted to the hands of the very few. This included the super army Neu-Jupiter had requested of Raoul.

However it had become apparent how he has been encountering a problem with regard to the 'taming' of the mongrels sent to him by Katze, under Iason's orders of course. He is having a particularly hard time with its leader - Noch was his name. He was proving to be every bit as defiant as Riki had been under pethood...

That one afternoon, Iason was visiting the secret facility at Keeler, his best friend and confidant, Raoul, astride beside him through the clean underground halls of the Labs.

They were here to check up on the latest pet breeds that would go on auction under the Academy's name by month's end. Not only that, but they were here to likewise see how their mongrels were doing; to see if they had already succumbed to the procedures that their bodies were being subjected to.

Unfortunately, this was the problem...

The deal was that Noch and his underlings were not at all willing to exchange their so-called humanity for the enhancements entailed with the proposal the Blondies had extended through Katze. Enhancements which were necessary for the super army to work, even though they swore that they would more or less worship Riki's feet if asked of it.

Such an irony that was giving the Biochemist quite the challenge, not to mention, quite the headache, thus, for now, they were stuck at a standstill, barely done even with phase one of the entire task.

Neu-Jupiter found it amusing. Much to Raoul Ma's annoyance that even his face contorted with a certain amount of...saltiness.

"Are you losing your touch, my Friend?" quizzed the top Blondie with a small smile, his steps slow as they assessed the pets that would be the centrepieces of the Academy's bidding run this season. They were still encased and asleep in glass, their information as well as vitals flashed via virtual screens before the Blondies' eyes.

"It pleases me that you are oh so entertained by the idea of my suffering, my Lord," slight sarcasm in the answers Raoul had, stopping to draw one of the data slates close to look at some details before sending the information to his personal archives. He'll recheck that later...

It was quite easy to tell how pissed the other Blondie was on the subject of the mongrels they have in custody, as he glared at the door earlier where inside was that rebel named Noch. He was now tagged as Subject 001 of the entire project. Raoul had separated him from the other two. He figured that if he got him to surrender to the procedures, the others will just follow. But yes he was the epitome of stubborn.

"Calm down Raoul. I do not believe you have already ran out of ideas to get the message across?"

The other Blondie turned to look at Neu-Jupiter's face. Actually, he does have many, including mind-wiping and the placement of certain intrusive cerebral controls. But then that will affect the outcome. They actually chose these mongrels for their uncommon smarts and peculiar creativity in battle as the new and improved Bison. If he used those irreversible alterations, it would mean changing them entirely. The least this project needs is another set of drones. They already have plenty of that in their arsenal.

The Biochemist strayed away then from doing something as severe. They needed to preserve the mongrels' Wills and Individualities, though he knew he had to bend it to his own liking somehow.

He had listed other ways, including something that was not as popular to his tastes. It involved a very familiar technique that he was not so sure of, somewhat thinking it will only do well in the hands of the top Blondie.

Raoul sighed. "I do have ideas, contrary to the visible," he said. "But then I think it unsuitable for execution by someone as I."

Iason Mink narrowed his eyes, before he understood the hint. Was he planning to turn these mongrels in the same way that he had turned his Riki once?

But Neu-Jupiter fails to see the issue? Did he not make it clear that his best friend, under his rule, may do as he sees fit to get this project accomplished? As long as it complies to his Will that is.

"I do not believe that I only reserved such a method for myself? Are you loathe to try and experience it for yourself?" he challenged the Biochemist.

Him trying out the thing he had in mind was not the problem in actuality. Raoul just could not see himself doing it. Training a mongrel to become docile on command as if he was a hybrid - he was not aiming to make another pet here but a weapon for war. The latter was what they needed.

But as he turned to look at Iason yet again, there seemed to be no compunction. Neu-Jupiter's expression says it all as they moved to the next tank of specimens. He wanted this done, and soon.

Raoul hated it when his supremacy in his own Laboratories were being questioned. Neither did he find defiance pleasing. And to have had the other be the cause of the former, that angered him to his core, worse than those puritans criticizing his craft since the very beginning, and those petty demonstrators demanding him to stop playing the hand of God.

He admits to being severely affected. Though it had all started with a private jest among them Blondies at the Council Meeting earlier. Damned Gideon and his humour. How dare he insinuate that the Biochemist was missing his marks regarding their newest of experiments?

'When exactly had I ever failed?' Raoul seethed throughout the discussion that Iason had to interfere. Not a very graceful moment. He had gotten rather prone at having these sorts of episodes eversince the discovery of the Jupiter Lovers.

"Prepare Subject 001," Raoul upon arrival ordered immediately as he entered his lab, heading deftly to the vaults connected to his personal office in the lower levels. Past corridors, rooms then halls of large containment jars and tanks swimming of creatures and other materials, to retrieve something.

It should prove important in the next coming days, and the sooner he gets this underway, the better. He had been pushed against the wall after all, having been given no other choice but to put that horrific idea into play. The one he swore and believed that he would not ever do.

But was it really that he has run out of options? No. In reality, it was just playing to his scientific ego, this ruthless need to drive in a point and soon. And also because he was losing all patience, the last straw snapped during their interesting exchange in Council earlier. Perhaps this will enable him to fast track this vexing task? With this he might achieve the results he's yearned for so greedily...

"LET GO OF ME!"

When he returned to the main floor of his lab, he was met by Noch's struggles, the Biochemist's assistants trying to strap him in. Evidently, the mongrel was fighting them all every part of it. Enough that Raoul, having had enough finally, made a hasty approach and suddenly just slapped the other hard across the face without thinking.

He used the mongrel's disorientation and easily trapped him against the sterile table by his wrists and ankles, annoyed that he had to do it all himself. The move stunned those present, and seeing the Blondie snap was definitely a fright.

He screamed at those present: "Secure him further! And strip him! I need him naked-"

As they tightened Noch's trappings and cut off his clothes, the Biochemist irritably set a box onto another table, flipping the lid open and taking something out from inside of it. A ring. One of two with a clear gem set into its band. He slipped this on.

"To have let myself consider this option of all things. You truly are such an antagonizing mongrel," said Raoul. "Leave us."

Noch was still groggy from the blow. A Blondie's strength is not to be trifled with and he's clearly underestimated it. As he lay there gasping, his world still spinning, he'd briefly felt the touch of gloves against his skin when all the others' hold had slipped and vanished. The said touch trailed his thighs, spreading his legs open. What was happening?

It was becoming warm between his legs. Up until the coldness of something encircled the base of his very manhood. Was it metallic?

He did not know for sure, needing to shake his head and focus. But this sting soon occupied his awareness that he hissed. A heat spread in the place where this constriction gripped him, making him cuss and flinch.

His eyes shot wide open as he wailed, struggling against those bonds. He stared at the area where this burn seemed to originate and found himself locked by his cock. A penis ring?! At the foot of this cold bed, there stood he, the damned Blondie.

"Wha-what the fuck-" the mongrel fell back as the pain increased. It was unbearable, making his toes curl and his fingers rake. He moaned, tossing his head. "Sto- stop this!"

"Some discipline is in order. This is the safest without damaging you.

"I just would not guarantee that it would be pleasant, that is…"

Finally, after a while that he'd gone without it, Raoul had a smile of triumph on his face. Seeing this mongrel writhe at the gruesome punishment of a D-Type was a sign that he was on the right path perhaps, his blue eyes beholding the Master's Ring around his finger and the control it gave him. It still might take a while. It's fine; he has all the time.

Actually, he's kind of wanting to relish in the infliction of this torment a little longer at the other's expense.

The Council meeting regarding Kryon had concluded on several notes of action, however Gideon was reminiscing something else completely different while he was there and present. A thought he entertained as, noting Iason's particularly tame demeanor this last week, despite knowing the top Blondie to miss Riki much by now, he also remembered his own fondness...

That chance encounter at Midas the first time had actually made several repeats. Or rather, via the Overlord of the Pleasure City's own insistence and orchestration, were made to repeat. He was careful to make it seem like accidents, the last time he and Riki meeting each other before that trip to Cerberus was at that upstart Private Luxury Bar, Cameo, near the Casinos, a view of the Eos Towers, their homes, visible via its seamless glass walls.

The Pet had been there with his Nurse, Katron, who was not as surprised as his Master to see Gideon Lagat.

"You make me anticipate bumping into you when I'm in Midas," laughed the Exclusive.

The Furniture raised a brow slightly but just as quickly tucked this suspicious thought away. Not the time for such, yet. Even as he did catch the Blondie Master tuck into his person what looked to be a personal digi-terminal, perhaps using that to keep tabs of them every instance that they were in Midas? He can't accuse him due just that however.

"It is safe," said Katron, having used his Karinese senses to sniff out the possibility of poison or other in the Pet's ordered drink, next standing aside with his gloved hands clasped behind him.

"May I?" Gideon gestured at the seat beside Riki; Riki shrugging at that: "It's your city."

After that, was the usual time spent together. The Blondie was admittedly getting used to this form of closeness, a sort of actual friendship he's making with his Brother's Exclusive, a liaison if it can be called that which often happened a distance from the watch and domain of Tanagura.

Not that he had not been receiving a telling-to from Aisha and Orphe. They always warn him of the dangers. Gideon just has not really listened as well as he should be. But had he ever thought a feat like Iason's Fall can be repeated? The other Blondies had this foreboding that he seemed to have not seen. The Jupiter of Old only intended its favours to be unto his top elect. The Charismatic Noble was not part of it.

Still, here he was, hopeless, going through footage upon footage of someone that already belongs to someone else. How beautiful Riki looked, dressed like he did on every affair he's been in attendance. Radiant the most during that Coupling and Marriage. Starkly dark and in contrast always beside his now-husband.

Why does he only smile so warmly at the top Blondie and no one else? For even in their small rendezvous, Riki's gaze was never the same wasn't it? It always held something more special when it was for Iason Mink. It should be even more different in bed when all inhibitions were taken away, where Riki was clinging in and whispering his Master's name over and over like the very prayers of his soul.

To be Neu-Jupiter was to know this intimacy certainly.

And in the privacy of his own home, in an unusual anomaly that had invaded his sleep, Gideon Lagat dreamed a yearning so scandalous that it would know the Capital Punishment if it were ever revealed or found out.

But why? Why did something this forbidden feel utterly good? He knew he was spiraling towards a tragedy. Why does he still persist?

He only ever utters one name as of late and it felt as sinful as it was dangerous, yet...he just could not stop himself.

"Riki…"

"It's still a few hours to Tanagura Master Riki. We still have the Ocean to cross over after the Gate.

"Would you like me to call Master Iason now?"

Katron was serving what should be breakfast while they were in this starship, a large civilian fleet complete with its own casino, recreational areas, and basically every luxury that's more or less needed for a most comfortable interstellar cruise. This shuttle traverses many tourist destinations in outer space, the last of which is the rich city of Tanagura where the Pet and his personal Furniture would disembark.

In a spur of the moment turn of events, the Exclusive decided to leave their hotel earlier than the date he was expected to, sneaking past the guards and their private transporters to take the more commercialized route back home.

No one knew about this. Of the Pet and his Nurse boarding this ship instead of the one arranged for them bound for the mother planet. The one that should leave Cerberus with him in the next few days.

No longer. As the Pet sought to return earlier than what was anticipated, Riki making the request to leave the pleasure resort of Cerberus and head home in secret instead. Though this action should not be misunderstood. He did enjoy himself there. He actually had a good time discovering the new pastimes offered by Tanagura's latest expansion. This sudden return however was due to a reason that was entirely different.

He was rather just missing his Man, and they should know how terrible it's been to be utterly lovesick in his case. He felt like he was pining away. He wanted to be trapped in those arms.

Riki shook his head, "No. I want to surprise him. Maybe jump him at his office?"

He was in a particularly great mood and laughing at the thought of some mischief upon arrival, his Nurse can tell. His charge was thinking entirely about sex, having starved for that in Cerberus.

Katron just smiled.

"I have a feeling Tanagura will either cease all activity or Master Iason will have a sudden heart attack of some sort," the Furniture mused right in, casually conversing with his Master. "The Council on the other hand might throw a fit."

Riki laughed more. He looked at the food before him and felt like eating a hearty meal, was in a pleasantly blithe appetite in fact. He was more than excited to be back.

Meanwhile the shuttle crew announced that they were approaching a Jump Gate. Thirty minutes through that to the Garan Star System then another jump and an hour's drift to reach home.

The Exclusive could not hardly wait. Iason. How he wanted to see him again...