Mika and I lay together for a little while. It was physically comfortable and reassuring, even if it was a little emotionally scary on some level, but I tried to ignore that part, and I imagined she was ignoring it too.

I heard some distant yelling, it very much felt like someone else's problem, especially once it died down... at least until there was a knock, and then Regina opened the door, looking down at me with my head on Mika's chest getting scritches. There was a bit more concern on her face than usual. "Hey, someone's looking for you-- do you know what's up with that?"

Mika growled and wrapped her arms around me. "I knew you shouldn't have gotten involved with that drug dealer."

Now I heard Stephanie shouting... she was definitely escalating the situation.

I wriggled out of Mika's arms, and stood up, going for the door, trying not to think that I wasn't wearing panties, at least for a moment.

As I got closer, Stephanie's voice got louder, "...lets you make a public disturbance!?"

"You really don't want to do this, dear." A patronizing voice. "If we did get the police involved... well, they aren't really trained for de-escalation, are they? Just go back inside and get your owner and--"

"I'm not a fucking pet!" Stephanie was getting really mad now.

I opened the door to peer out, and saw Stephanie glaring down at a slightly heavyset woman, middle-aged, wearing a red blazer over an orange dress, with half blonde and half black hair, more black then blonde, split precisely at the off-center part of her hair.

"She looks like one of my mom's friends from bookclub," said Mika quietly.

I blinked. "You know her?" Maybe Mika could help me resolve the situation.

Mika shook her head a little. "No, just the vibes."

Stephanie had moved closer to the woman, who was staring up at her. If she was afraid, it was well-disguised. "Shhh... calm down...."

I stepped out of the door. "...Um, hi? Heard you were looking for me?"

Seeing me, the woman beamed. "Oh, hi Phoebe! It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Helen from the PRD, here's my business card..." She pulled out a business card, only to get intercepted by Stephanie.

I walked closer and pressed against Stephanie's side, and she looked down at me in a possessive rage.. but then closed her eyes for a moment. Inhaled. Exhaled. Looked back down at me. "You okay here?"

I nodded.

"Call me if you need help." Stephanie shrugged her shoulders, and turned back to walk in the apartment, not looking at the woman.

Helen smiled at me. "Oh, that was a very nice de-escalation, dear-- clearly you know how to take charge of pets."

"She's not a pet," I said softly. "PRD... what is this about?"

"PRD, Pet Retrieval Division-- oh, calm down," Helen put a hand on my arm as I tensed up about that, and gave me a reassuring smile. "I'm not here to drag you in, Phoebe. You just haven't been answering phone calls, and I'm making sure everything's alright."

I blinked. I couldn't remember any calls, though I didn't have my phone most of the time, but then again... "...Yeah, if you were just calling from an unknown number, maybe we just assumed they were spam?"

Helen blinked at that, then nodded. "You young people, always with the suspicion... I've heard it makes it hard to conduct surveys, too... well, there have been more spam callers these days, haven't there? It's all that technology, doesn't bring anyone any happiness." A slight shake of her head, but then a smile, as if to reassure me that she wasn't blaming me for how 'young people' behaved or the ongoing march of technology.

I shrugged. "Well, I'm here... is there anything else you need?"

Helen proffered her business card again, and I took it. She smiled. "Just copy that number down into your phone so I can check in and make sure everything's okay. We're called the retrieval division, but I want to make sure that everything is as easy for you as possible-- I think you're very brave for choosing to become a pet." She put her hand up to stroke my head, and I started to shrink away until I saw the disappointment in her eyes.

I forced a bit of a smile to my face, and didn't mention that I hadn't really chosen to become a pet.

Helen smiled back, looking a bit relieved. "Phoebe... if you want to go to the center early, or need me to set up some counselling for you, or need someone to negotiate on your behalf, I'm here for you." She glanced back behind me. "Are you... safe, with that person around?"

"Yeah, she's fine, just got a bit protective, I think. They're helping teach me how to..." I trailed off.

Helen blinked, staring for a moment, then looked me over again, and her eyes widened a bit. "Oh dear. You're having your friends train you as a pet? You should really leave that to professionals, dear... if you're really that eager, I could take you to the center early." She was already reaching for my hand, and this time I pulled it back.

"No, I'm... I'm going to make the most of my time." I glanced at her. "That's okay, right? I still have... however many days, right?"

"Eighty-six, dear. I guess I'll have to remind you when it gets closer. And that is within your rights, I just..." Helen hesitated, her eyes shifting as she sifted through her thoughts, before looking back at me. "Statistics show that getting trained by amateurs can be really bad for you later... you might have to have things untrained, and even then, getting rid of habits is much harder than forming them."

Helen put her hand on my shoulder, holding onto it a bit so I'd have to fight to get away. "It's not my job to stop you, I get my commission either way-- but if you get trained into what your friends want, it may be different from what your future owner expects. And it can make it harder, forming intense emotional attachments. So my recommendation would be to go to the center with me rather than do that, if you're eager to get trained... a girl who wants to be a pet so much will definitely have a good owner... oh...."

Tears were forming in my eyes, and then Helen's arms were around me. A person who was going to profit off of me getting enslaved was holding me and trying to comfort me and I felt somewhere between reassured and nauseous.

I pulled away from Helen, and she let me go with a sympathetic if somewhat patronizing smile. "I'm around if you need me," she said quietly. "And I'll need to check in to make sure you're doing okay. If you actually move residence, I do need to know that too."

I nodded. "I'm... mostly staying with with my friends next door right now," I said softly. "Once my lease for the month is up, I'm going to move my stuff out entirely. Or... slightly before that, I guess." I didn't really need to tell her the specifics, I realized.

"Okay. Well, I'm always here for you, Phoebe." Helen reached out to put her hand on mine, but seeing my expression, withdrew it. "If you want to learn anything more about any of the process, I'm here to walk you through it. We're in this together, dear."

Helen's voice and expression were gentle, but "together" felt like a bit of a misnomer when she was eventually going to hand me off to the government for her cut of the money I was worth.