Magdeline Stoutpaw was a young otter who has seen better days. Half a month ago. Her tiny beach side home was ransacked without warning by a group of vile corsairs. Her parents, and older siblings fought valiantly. While the eight-year-old Maggy was ordered to hide in the cellar. It was all for naught, as by the time she was dragged out by a burly stoat, her family was nowhere to be seen. She had prayed that they had gotten away safely. But she knew they wouldn't have abandoned her. She could only take solace in the fact that she didn't see any corpses as she was taken from her home. She had then spent a miserable two weeks in the hull of a nasty corsair ship.
Maggy had almost consigned herself to her fate when she was knocked from her tiny cot. It took her a minute to come to her senses and realize that the ship has been rammed. Several of the pirate crew could be heard screaming and swearing. As she got back to her feet, she could hear loud footsteps storming the deck of the ship. It was being boarded. Maggy allowed herself a brief hope that they were otters or other good beasts taking the fight to the vermin pirates. But even at a young age, she knew that was unlikely. Good beasts dont go looking for a fight. This was vermin preying on their own kind. What was probably about an hour felt like an eternity as Maggy listened to the carnage above. Finally, things quieted down. She heard footsteps and voices. One of them was particularly forceful. A captain giving orders, she assumed. Maggy knew it was only a matter of time before they came down below to loot. They would take her to sell, themselves. She thought. A trio of rats made their way down the crude ramp and started to ransack the place. It wasn't long before one of them set eyes upon the young otter and pipped his head. The three rats huddled together briefly before one of them scurried back up. Maggy could hear the rat's footsteps followed by the heavy pounding of boots. The rat returned with rather large fox. The fox was relatively well dressed. It was clear who was in charge.
"She'd fetch quite the price, Cap'n." One of the rats said. The fox nodded.
"Aye. That she would. But we have our own business to tend to. And the cost of feedin' her wouldn't even be worth it. Leave her. Get all the provisions and valuables back to our ship!" The captain ordered. Not even making eye contact with the little otter. Maggy's blood ran cold. They were just going to leave her to die.
"Wait!" She called out desperately. The captain stopped and turned around to face her.
"Please, don't leave me here!" She begged. Usually a fruitless endevor with vermin. The fox shrugged and smirked.
"Sorry, lass. We've better things to do than deal in living beasts. You're not worth selling. And if we have no use for you, we're not taking you." The captain said calmly. Maggy began to tear up.
"I-I could work. I can cook, and clean, a-and even sew!" she said. The captain stroked the scruff of his chin. He motioned to the three rats, and they all huddled together. Conversing quietly. Maggy watched them intently as they whispered. Every few seconds, one of them would look over towards her and giggle.
"Cap'n! She's just a pup!" One of the rats said in obviously fake protest. A few seconds later, one of the rats went up to the deck while the fox aproached the otter. Maggy didn't like the way he smiled at her. She instinctively backed away as the vermin captain unsheathed a dagger and easily pried off the flimsy lock from her cage. Instead of coming in or pulling her out, he then backed away to a bench against the wall.
"Alright, girly. You want in on my crew? Come closer and start convincin'!" He said. The otter nervously aproached the fox. As she took slow deliberate steps, the fox did something strange. He brought his foot over his other thigh and prided his heavy boot from his foot. He then did the other. Even from a few feet away, the stink of his freshly-freed paws hit the poor girl like a brick to the face. Maggy didn't like where this was going, but she took the last few steps until she was right in front of his. The young otter looked at the fox and waited.
"Now kneel." The fox commanded. Maggy complied. The pirate captain didn't waste any time plopping one of his huge paws right onto her lap. Maggie's mouth scrunched up and she whimpered. His sole took nearly all of her vision. With the heel resting on her lap, his toes reached well above the tip of her scalp. While her eyes got a nice look at the filthy ball of his foot. Not to mention her nose being less than an inch away from it's surface. As she sucked in the stink of his massive paw, Maggie became very scared and very disgusted. The fox didn't say anything for about a minute. Savoring the look on the otter's face as he peeked from behind his foot. Poor Maggie could only sit there in silence as she tried not to gag at the sour stink.
"Grab a hold of my foot. Use both hands, now." The fox ordered. Maggy reluctantly complied. getting a grip of the sides of his foot with both paws. her thumbs pressed against his sole. She could feel the warm, most film of sweat on her hands now. gritty from the dirt covering his sole.
"Good girl! Now... Give me paw a kiss." He said. Maggy grimaced, but knowing the stakes, she hardly hesitated and planted a quick peck right on his foot. The feeling his dirty sweat on her lips was almost too much to handle.
"Again. Harder this time." Maggy give his foot another quick kiss, putting a bit more force into it.
"Harder!" He said. Maggy kissed his foot harder.
"Harder!" He said. Maggy whimpered and gave an even harder kiss. pressing her lips firmly against the ball of his foot for a full second.
"Harder, or I'll leave you in that cage!" He yelled. Maggy yelped and pulled his foot into her face as hard as she could. For a full ten seconds, the little otter smooched the fox's foot. Even opening her mouth a little bit, making the poor thing wince at the little bit of taste that entered her mouth. Finally, the nudged her away. Maggy gasped and breathed heavily. Sucking in the slightly cleaner air, now that his foot was inches away from her face instead of pressed against it.
"Now that the formality's out of the way, we can start!" The fox said cheerfully. Maggy recoiled.
"Wha?" She said in disbelief.
"Alright, girly! I want you to lick my feet totally clean. And I wanna see some gusto! In fact, if my paws aren't completely clean by the time me first mate comes back, we're leaving ya! So get to it!" The fox said. One look into his eyes told her that he was serious. Maggy immediately grabbed a hold of his foot and started to lap at his foot like her life depended on it. Since it did. The fox watched smugly as the little otter licked as hard and as fast as she could against his nasty sole.
"Don't you spit, now!" He said. Maggy retched and whimpered. But she forced herself to swallow the cheesy mud in her mouth. His foot was huge to the little girl. But her desperation saw her through as the clean portion of the surface of his sole overtook the dirty area. The fox's toes sapped her of her momentum, though. And she gagged a bit when he started shoving them into her little muzzle. After the poor otter literally chewed a mouthful of toe jam and swallowed it, she got to work on his other foot. The fox put his hand by his ear.
"Uh oh! I hear footsteps. Better hurry!" He said. Maggy whined and licked even faster. The fox enjoyed the firm and rapid licks that the otter pressed onto his nasty footpaw. The captain merely slumped down and relaxed. Savoring the heavenly feeling of a little otter girl's tastebuds furiously scrubbing his grubby soles.
A few minutes later, the first mate returned with a small book. Right as Magdaline was chomping through her second helping of toe jam. Her scrunched up look of pure disgust was the icing on the cake to the wicked fox. Maggy chewed up the fox's concentrated foot filth until the flavor saturated her saliva and she swallowed the horrid concoction. Maggie looked up at the fox hopefully. He applauded gently.
"Well done, girly! Now, we only have to discuss the terms of your position. He takes the book from the rat, opens it, and shows it to her. the pages have gridded lines with numbers on them. Some of the boxes appeared to have red "x" marks on them.
"Do ya know what this is, Lassie?" The fox asked. Maggie shook her head.
"Tis a calendar. Educated beasts use it to track the days and the seasons. We're going to use it to mark your... duties. Today is October seventeenth. It doesn't have an x on it, see?" The fox said, pointing at the current day's box. Maggy nodded. The fox continued.
"Every day that doesn't have an x on it, you will be fed a nice, nutricious breakfast, and a tasty lunch, but for supper, you'll service the feet of a few of us, like you just did to me." he said. Maggy's eyes widened and teared up a little.
"This column of x's is every monday. Every monday, you will have nothing but our feet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Likewise, one the first mondey, tuesday, and wednesday of every month, you will have nothing but our feet for your meals." He said. Maggy's lip began to tremble as the captain continued.
"But on the first sunday to saturday of March, September, and December, you will spend a week eating nothing but the scum from our feet. Finally, you'll spend the entire month of July living off of our smelly soles. Any questions?" He asked smugly. Maggy was on the verge of colapse. As awful as her future looked, she could endure and hope for rescue. Even the week-long abuses seemed survivable, but a whole month? She'd starve! But Maggy knew she had no choice and hung her head.
"No, sir." She said. The fox clapped his hands.
"Excellent! Welcome to the crew- Uh..." The fox said until stopping. He never got her name.
"Maggy, sir." The crestfallen little otter said.
"Ay! And ye can call me Captain Klauser!"