When night fell again, Brooklyn's stone skin crackled inside that coffin those men had placed him in. Eventually, he broke through; eyes glowing and growling but unable to roar from those leather straps latching his jaws shut. He wound up hitting his head on the coffin and realized his situation of still being trapped in this horrible thing.
How long is that creep gonna keep me locked in here? I hope not forever, since he said he really wanted to sell me to the highest bidder... Brook thought in fear, staring up at the ceiling of his coffin and gasping slightly from it touching his beak slightly. He shifted about trying to move, but the sides restrained Brooklyn from too much movement. He wanted Goliath or anybody to get him away from this evil place!
Brooklyn gritted his teeth as he started to push hard on the cover of the coffin, pushing with what little strength remained in his tired muscles. He could already feel his air getting stale from this awful, cramped coffin, desperate to get out even more, feet scrabbling at the top now, giving out small whimpers of feeling enclosed and stuck. It was bringing back memories of when as a young one he was stuck in a small space and couldn't get out for hours.
Another hour passed during the night and Brooklyn couldn't hear anybody coming to let him out. His chest felt tight and heart beating fast, throat dry and his head felt hot and dizzy. It made him sweat and feel disoriented, even imagining the walls beginning to shrink and close in to squash his body, managing to curl up and hide his eyes, starting to give little sobs, claustrophobia slowly eating away at his mind and sanity. He wanted to get out, to breathe freely once more and see the night sky.
This darkness was suffocating and not serene like how it was outdoors. No stars, and it made him hot and dry, wishing for a drink, weakly pounding his fist on the coffin lid. Brook didn't want to die in here, they had to let him out soon! He felt like he had been punished enough!
His jaws were so achy that it made Brooklyn next pull hard on his muzzle but eventually felt those awful shocks from his collar, making him let go, and suddenly heard a foot stomp on his lid. He gave cries for mercy and to let him out, but a voice came along. "Stop fiddling with your bonds and shut your voice, pathetic animal!" It was Yegor, which instantly made Brooklyn go silent. He knew then he couldn't lose himself like this and did his best to close his eyes, struggling to slow down his fast-paced breathing.
Hudson had taught him at how breathing could be used in a tight situation, which at first didn't appeal much to him but Brook now felt like he was paying the price for not taking Hudson's breathing lessons to heart, hand on his heart and trying his best to breathe calmly, thinking about open spaced fields and the fresh air in his face. At first, he could nearly feel it working but then suddenly, he hit his head on the coffin lid again and snapped Brooklyn back to reality, feeling sweat coming down his face.
Hudson, I tried to breathe but it isn't working! I need you Hudson! Get me out! Brook screeched in his head, squirming in his coffin, worried they had abandoned him here to perish. He didn't want to die this way, in cruel suffocation!
The air was beginning to feel stale despite the coffin having air holes, but they didn't help Brooklyn breathe properly which he felt was what Yegor wanted. He cursed the evil human for hurting him, seeing the small sides of the wall beginning to shrink even more, eyes popping out now, hitting his fist even more on the top. Get me out! I can't breathe! Get me out of here! The red one wailed inwardly. It had now been another night after he had broken out of his usual sleep but was still afraid of turning after the threat they gave him.
But then suddenly, some weird growling noises came from the outside, and a paw scratching at the box. It sent Brook's nerves on edge, tensing up badly, hoping no fierce animal would try to maul him! For Yegor had taken one of his polar bears out of the cage and decided to use it to tease/scare his victim by putting pieces of meat on the coffin. The polar bear climbed onto the coffin and scratched around it curiously, sometimes eating the meat and sitting down.
Brooklyn could sense the animal still on top of his box, even the top of it was beginning to creak, making him afraid of the ceiling collapsing on top of him, shaking at the thought of whatever animal out there suddenly finding him in there.
Then the voice of Yegor came through but not so loud. "You feeling a tiny claustrophobic, my little animal? Or do you want to stay in here longer?" That made Brooklyn panic, shaking his head no violently, pushing the top in his desperation. From the sound of the scratching sounds from inside the box, Yegor could tell that the devil had had enough inside there. He decided to take the polar bear off of the box and back in its cage, leaving Brooklyn in there for only a few more minutes.
Brooklyn felt sticky tears slip down his face, lying there, staring up at the ceiling that swam in his vision. He would lose it if they left him in here forever or die, hence his breathing feeling rather fast and wheezy, still wishing to get out of here. His senses were all glazed over from his trauma, not even sure what was real anymore other than the metal walls of the coffin on either side of him, as if the other things in this world had faded away from his brain.
How he wanted someone to give him words of comfort and a nice bowl of soup, back cramped and stiff from lying down for so long, sobbing rapidly now even after trying his best to be strong, weakly hitting the ceiling, air slowly running out.
But eventually, as if it was a miracle, Brooklyn's ears perked at the sound of feet walking around his coffin, and soon, the sound of the lid opening made him feel relieved but scared of seeing the mean humans again, his eyes squinting from the light that came along, covering his eyes from it, crying. The men laughed and pointed at him looking all traumatized and scarred.
Yegor then used the remote to shock Brooklyn to snap him back to his captivity reality, making Brooklyn jump madly from it in pain, eyes as big as saucers as two rough men yanked him to his feet, giving a big gasp of air through his nose. It felt too unreal to see this room again after what felt like months of darkness and tiny spaces. Yegor gave a cruel, sneering smile.
"Welcome back to the real world, Animal. Did you enjoy yourself?" Brooklyn was struggling to get used to not being cramped up anymore, staring at nothing at the moment, ears down really flat. He didn't want to go back in there!
Yegor petted his cheek, causing the poor gargoyle to shut his eyes then and flinch from the cold hands. "I would love to put you back in there, but you aren't completely mine. I shall let whoever buys you have the privilege of doing this kind of torture on you again. But you can go back to your cage to 'rest,'" He then stated, stroking Brooklyn's hair like he was a dog.
Brooklyn couldn't really speak (muzzle or not) mostly from his fear but felt a bit glad he could get some rest and hopefully regain himself, feeling his panic attack still hitting his body as the men dragged him away outside. These humans had no idea what the word play meant but used it in a twisted manner.
The cold air struck Brooklyn's face harshly after having gotten used to the warm stale air, cringing from the icy wind but was happy to get fresh air again, and they took him to the cage and tossed him inside once more, locking the cage. Brooklyn trembled from the cold again and spied his blanket.
It looked a bit frozen so with what strength he had he shook some of the ice off, then wrapped it around his aching body, certain that the heat from his body would warm up the blanket, trembling violently from that shut up experience, gazing down and sniffling.
Yegor tapped his cage, making Brooklyn look up sharply with his nerves, seeing his seller again. His belly rumbled right at that time, but Yegor shook his head no. "I'm afraid you won't be fed again, but if you do if you're a good boy you'll still get more slop. Will you be a good boy for your buyers in the next auction? Yuri wants you, desperately." he asked. Brooklyn though shook his head no at not wanting to be sold off like an object, covering his head with his blanket.
The man frowned in disappointment from his item's lack of obedience. "Then continue to live in fear of losing one of your precious body parts while in stone, which is your next discipline, Brooklyn. It could happen even the next day. Think about it!" He then stormed away in anger, leaving Brooklyn to quake softly at the thought, scared of the sun to come up to change him again, watching the horizon in dread. He shouldn't need to fear his ability, but those men had already pushed that belief so hard into his brain he now really believed and feared it, gripping the blanket quite hard.
When at last the sun rose, Brooklyn closed his eyes, hitching his breath as his stone skin covered his body in its warm sleep, hoping that Yegor wouldn't take away any of his important body parts or smash him entirely while stone.
...
Meanwhile, the men were in a meeting and debating on what part of the body of the gargoyle to steal away from him during his stone sleep.
"How about a wing?" One asked. "He wouldn't be able to glide with it. Or perhaps an arm!" Yegor looked interested but then shook his head. "No, that would be too extreme to start. Perhaps small, until he is ready to be obedient at the next auction and stay still. How about just a small bit of his tail, five inches? That would be our threat message to him. And I shall be the one to cut off the tip of his tail."
The other guards agreed, all smirking fiendishly of scarring the brute in such a way as Yegor then stood as the sun rose in the sky, turning Brooklyn to stone.
He took a hammer and set out to see his little animal who sat there, hugging himself even with his cuffed hands, tail out which to Yegor's opinion was stupid of the animal to do so. Twirling his hammer and chuckling darkly, Yegor went up to Brooklyn.
"I see you're in your stone dreamland now, precious little animal. But soon when you wake up, I'm afraid your life shall be very different. Say goodbye to your tail tip." He then raised his hammer and adjusting it right; hammered off part of it. Brooklyn now was missing five inches of his tail but still had most of it to help him balance, unable to scream when the tail tip broke.