Bent World: Chapter 32 Keys And Locks (Part II)

Chapter 32

Keys And Locks (Part II)

“You will not be going,” five words that seem like they should mean a lot but somehow rang empty to me. I couldn’t quite explain why, as this was a huge event for society.

We were talking about the Profiling ceremony after all, and my not going to such a public display would cause problems. Particularly with the fact that my not having my affinities that I can unlock displayed prominently for everyone to see would be recognized. Which would ultimately lower my future sale price, or stud fees that could be gained.

Still, this was good, as it meant that I might not have to worry about such vulgarities in the future. That maybe I had earned a spot in this family and that I would not be looked down as a male, but accepted as a valued member of the family.

“We will still have the ceremony, but it will be done in private here by myself and with your mother as a witness. That is all that is truly required to complete the ceremony, a Profiler to open, a valued member of society to witness and you to complete the ceremony.”

At that I nodded, I could see how going to school would be a bit much, especially considering the fact that all but one other boy who ran away from my class died at the event two years ago. This would also give us a chance to see if my Pathfinder abilities would close the rift in such a noted fashion for the past three times now.

I assume my vacuuming up the remaining rift energy into my left hand, gloved or not, might be a dead giveaway to my being the Pathfinder. Also, the fact that my mother and Auntie were both now Wayfarer’s of the Pathfinder’s retinue would also give their words more authority. These were the thoughts that were running through my head at the moment, which was why I was completely sidetracked by Auntie’s next comments.

“No doubt you are worried about your noted affinities?” Auntie asked.

I nodded, as that had been one of my earlier thoughts, even though I moved past it as not being truly necessary due to my finally being accepted as a full member of the family.

“Don’t worry, there are many ways we can prove affinities that you are capable of unlocking and to what Tier level you can unlock in others. So that is not an issue,” Auntie began and then paused as a slight blushing of her cheeks cropped up. “Besides, had it not been for your unfortunate wardrobe malfunction, we could have seen if you could unlock or at least be immune to all the noted elements on the monoliths of this continent.”

Hearing her words and seeing her blush reminded me of just how painful it is as a growing boy to have to wear clothing tailored for women. How had it not been for Auntie being right there to heal me as I grew in size thanks to closing two rifts at the Renaissance Fair. That second one in particular caused me to grow to such an extent that I was in near constant pain. The problem came from the lack of give in the crotch area, especially as my body and growing muscles took up more and more of the space. Not something I am used to dealing with, but as a growing boy, these are things that I need to be cognizant about, especially going forward.

“Don’t worry, it’s not your fault,” Auntie cut in, apparently thinking that she was reading my mind, but being completely off base with her assessment. I was not thinking about causing problems or ending the Fair early, I was just thankful I could finally stop playing in those super tight leather leggings that didn’t give an inch for comfort. “Next year, we will have a full-time tailor assigned to us, but for you specifically.”

“A tailor?” I blurted out.

“Don’t worry, they will be completely loyal to the cause, and will know the importance of discretion, particularly when it comes to your being the Pathfinder,” Auntie consoled.

“Oh, okay,” replied, then thinking about it, I wondered how long this process would take. “Will we begin the search soon?”

“Actually, the search has already concluded.”

“It has?”

“Yes, Sarina has volunteered to take on this role.”

At that, I felt, well I don’t know how I felt. It was odd for certain, also someone as quirky as her seemed like the last person I would choose for such a position, but maybe this was just my own bias.

“Don’t give me that look, she has already taken on the role for giving you a larger in-seem in your important regions, something I was not aware of. This is why I take full responsibility for the wardrobe malfunction during the Renaissance Fair and Festival and have made note that such oversights will not happen again.”

With that, I nodded my head in understanding. Fortunately, Sarina had been there to help lengthen and expand a few parts of my clothing that I used for school. I remember her giggling as she handed me my altered clothing, not really understanding why, but I guess it was related to this?

“Also, don’t worry, so long as we are discrete, no one should be aware of your girth until the night of, and by that point it will be too late. As the money will have already been paid and it will be up to the payee whether they wish to partake in your services.” Auntie seemed to giggle at both the words of girth and services.

Hearing that, I felt both shocked and curious. That was why I had to clarify such thoughts now.

“Wait, is having a larger,” I began and then gestured down to the said altered crotch area of my clothes. “Not wanted?” I asked.

Only now did I realize that this was likely Sarina’s handy work. Though, my mind was still spinning from the idea that a larger tool to speak of would not be a good thing, at least not compared to the world I came from, where larger was considered better.

“What, oh, I hoped we could hold off on having this conversation until much later. Probably far later when someone else could give it on my behalf, but since we are here and you are growing it is important to explain things to you. That is why, I will give you the talk.” Auntie began, seeming just as nervous as I now felt.

Again, not quite the time I thought this talk would occur, but then again it will always be embarrassing regardless of how many lifetimes one lives through. While I wanted to protest, to say I didn’t need to hear the talk, I would clearly be lying if I did, as I still had no clue what was going on in this world. All I hoped was that after this conversation was over we would one, never have to have it again, and two parts of this world that seemed incongruous to me would suddenly make more sense.

This was why I nodded, took in a deep breath and waited.

“Well, I will avoid the full conversation of what happens between a Woman and her man for later, but I will tell you about a bit of the mythology of our past. If you look in the museums you will see many old nude statues of heroes and the men that they rescued.” Auntie began.

At this I nodded, I had been taken to a few, and our manor even had multiple such statues all over the grounds depicting different valorous acts by women killing other evil women, for men.

“Another thing you will note is the correct anatomical shape and depiction for both females and males,” Auntie began.

Once again, I nodded, again I had grown up with a great love for history and a particular fondness for Roman and Greek statues, thus I was well used to such statues being on display with no real concern about exposure.

“One thing to point out is that on the males, you will see two distinct types of packages down there,” Auntie began, again avoiding stating the area that was clearly at the heart of this discussion. “There are smaller, or more traditional ones used to represent virtue and chastity that are on many of the good male statues.”

At this I nodded, again noting similar trends in my world. All the famous statues like Artemision Bronze, the statue of Laocoön and His Sons, and the famous Hermes of Praxiteles all depicted males with smaller, or less obvious packages, to steal Auntie’s word. This world had similar statues, though most of the males looked fluffier, not quite fat, but definitely less defined than the muscular statues of my world.

“To begin this next part, I will have to go deep into history and myth and describe many of the older religious texts. For before the modern era that began roughly three thousand years ago, there was a time when women and men were considered equals. This was the time when the goddesses and gods roamed the world freely, protecting the mortals from the perils of the other worlds. However, over time the males became greedy, pitting goddesses against each other and causing discontent and chaos within in the pantheons. That’s when the goddesses united and slew all the male gods, beginning with the weaker gods and finally working their way up to Titan Hammer, the strongest of the male gods and often considered to be the forefather of all pantheons.” Auntie began, as she spoke she got up and went over to her desk and eventually produced and old text and then turned to an seemingly random page that had a black and white depiction of that fateful event.

Looking at it, it seemed like a standard depiction of good versus evil twisted to fit this world’s sense of logic. Complete with multiple winged females being the ones who provided the final killing blow by spears to a large and powerful male figure who was cut and sliced apart.

“Now, while this has since been edited out of more recent translations, this is a first edition, which depicts the actual image painted.” Auntie stated as she then dragged her gloved finger over the page, letting her finger rest just under the slain male god. “Now as you can see the male god in question is one often associated with lust, immorality, vulgarity, barbarity, and stupidity. Part of that is relevant in the depiction of this instrument here.”

With that Auntie clearly pointed at the male god’s long phallus that was also being stepped on by one of the females who also had a spear through the noted appendage. Just seeing the image I realized this world was really messed up as I couldn’t help but feel a bit of sympathetic pain for the monster in the picture. Yeah, he was evil, go on and kill him, but to spear him there? He must have really ticked the other goddesses off.

“Thanks to this, and stories like this the easiest way in ancient plays to show that a male would be evil and ultimately betray the women that protected him was they would strap on a large object on the waist and walk around. The cast would pretend not to notice, but this way it came as no surprise to the audience when a surprise twist involving an evil male occurred.” Auntie stated.

“While this trend has since gone out of fashion, many will consider a male with a larger instrument to be evil. Or at least more prone to turning evil than others, which is why it is very important that you don’t show yourself to anyone, except on your wedding night.”

Then as if throwing in one last thought to fully emphasize just how important this rule was, she continued.

“Know that when your mother and I first saw you, and saw that you were not normal there, we had a moment of hesitation as to whether to kill you or not there on the spot.”

With that, I felt I knew simultaneously more and less about this world than I previously had.

“What?” Was all I could manage to say to that. “Shouldn’t people’s reactions to me be based on my actions, not things that I cannot control?” I asked.

Hearing my surprise, Auntie quickly went into damage control mode.

“Don’t worry, we have since moved past such superstition, just as you noted it is the person and their actions that depict whether someone is good or not. Not what they were born with, which is why we gave you the chance to thrive on your own, a fact that we are happy to have made.”

I still had my concerns about this world, though I do know that many of those very same points about lust and immorality were held by the Greeks and Romans of my world. It almost felt like our worlds were following similar growth points up until that timeframe, then something happened. Were the Gods former Pathfinders and their groups? Did they war with each other causing a cataclysm? No, that makes no sense. As there were parts of that sentiment that fit, but also seemed just incongruous enough. If that was the case then I don’t think Auntie would have tried so hard to revive the Pathfinder culture. Nor would there be such a following for the Renaissance Fair, which seemed to happen far after the fall of the Greek and Roman empires, at least if the two world’s developmental phases were similar. This would have to be something I researched further, but for now I was fairly certain that former Pathfinders and their groups of Wayfarers were not considered Gods.

Also, I’m not entirely certain that Pathfinders have to be males, I think my psychic prowess does play a large part in why I am accepted into the program by default, rather than the rule. Again, I would have to test this with others, but this is my theory at the moment. One day I might share this theory with Auntie to get her perspective, but that will not be today.

“Do you have any more questions?” Auntie asked, seeming like she wanted to wrap up this already awkward lesson on why modesty is important, especially for me. I am about to say no, but then I have one niggling concern that seemingly won’t go away. One that seems to have been exacerbated by the topic of conversation today.

“Why is it that I am supposed to be celibate and devout to one woman, or a house of women, and only offer my services to those that pay. Knowing that if I strayed from earning money for these acts then I would be considered a worthless slut, as per the jargon of this world.” I commented.

At my words Auntie clutched her mouth in shock, “who called you a slut? I will kill them!”

Auntie fumed, at which point I realized I misspoke. “It wasn’t me, it was the other women at the Renaissance Fair,” I replied remembering how I could easily overhear a few of the ticketing masters talking about one male who seemed to be both browbeat and low on life.

“Oh, you are referring to the one male?” She asked, clearly having seen the same male who was beaten up by fate and apparently resigned to his low lot in life of being made to service a fair of women for the rest of his days.

I nodded.

“Yes, sadly that is the fate that befalls some men who stray from their pacts. Once a male strays, the women that hired him for his awakening services feel both betrayed and disgusted. That is why it is not uncommon to see a male or two get picked up by such large groups of rowdy women. Don’t ask me for why just yet, I do not want to have that conversation with you today as well.” Auntie began.

I nodded, knowing exactly what that talk was, but still I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the difference. Maybe it was the fact that I was still too used to my old world and the implied structure there that served as my anchor for many years.

“It just makes no sense why a woman can stray for free or easy men and not be held accountable, but men who do the same have to be treated like a circus side show piece,” I finally got out. I knew I wasn’t speaking eloquently, but this really frustrated me. Auntie seeing my frustration paused and thought about it for a moment, before sighing to herself in resignation.

“Okay, for this part I will go over the Lock and Key metaphor. Now I will not go too much into full detail as to the different parts of this, but suffice to say that you as a male are the Key, and females are the Lock.” Auntie began in her authoritative tone that said don’t interrupt me, I am going to get to one point, and only one point.

I nodded, having heard of this same metaphor from back on my world. The idea being that a key that could open many locks was a master key, while a lock that could be opened by many keys was just a cheap lock. Yet, even though I understood the vulgarity of this metaphor, I let Auntie continue to prove her point.

“Now, the key is important in so much as it open the lock. This is why you want the best key possible at first, for that first time opening, it needs to be perfect, gears and springs are tight, and the key needs to fit in just such a way that it opens every latch and allows the lock to open fully.” Auntie began.

At that, I paused. As it was the same metaphor, well close, but the ending was far different.

“Wait, wouldn’t a key that can open many locks perfectly be a master key?” I responded, feeling that I missed the important part here.

“Right, but you fail to realize what is more important in these two. Which is why I will ask you the one question, why do you have a lock to begin with?” Auntie began.

“To keep others from getting to your prized possession?” I ask more than answer feeling that this is somehow a trap.

“Exactly, so in this case what is more important, the fact that a key can open a lock. Or the fact that the lock exists?”

At this question, my head spun as I could almost see where Auntie was taking this conversation.

“The key?” I stated again questioningly.

“Really, a long thin piece of metal that is only good for one thing is the most important part of this?” Auntie asked. Then I realized her point.

“The lock.” I responded.

“Exactly, the lock. The key just represents the first step in the process. While needed, as you noted not an integral part as there are many ways to break a lock and likely many different master keys running around that could all do the same exact function as your key. So in the grand scheme of things, your key is not important. What is important is what is unlocked and finally available once the lock is opened. What treasures does it hide that are only available once the lock is removed from the way. That is the true value and why keys will always be less important than the locks they correlate to.”

At that thought, I felt my head spin, remembering how I had collected keychains from my parents. Keychains that held dozens if not hundreds of keys, some were even duplicate keys to the same locks. I even remembered having old turnkey motors that would start by any valid key that was placed in it first, but there was only one motor to run despite the dozens of similar keys.

With this knowledge bomb, I left Auntie’s study, and for the first time since being here, I felt that the world made slightly more sense. Which by itself was altogether frightening.