Closed Home is Where You Keep Your Slaves

[Alea Davenport]

Alea was not used to describing her skills, so she was not able to give Valerius a very good idea of what she was capable of. Most of the things she was good at, she did not consider to be skills. Valerius would most likely have to discover for himself what she was capable of. She did think she could at least manage to be polite. "Er... I've mostly been taking care of horses. And I can fish, a little." She did not want to draw too much attention to her fishing skills. For all she knew, Valerius would want her to catch him fish, in which case she would also have to clean and prepare it, and while she didn't mind doing that for herself on occasion, being forced to do so was something she rebelled against fiercely.

Alea did not strictly notice the cleanliness of her surroundings, since she had never had cause to think about things in quite that way. She stepped into the large building, heedless of any tracks her dirty, bare feet might be leaving. The interior was certainly unlike anything Alea had ever seen, but for the most part she considered it impractical, rather than an indication of wealth. In the small community she'd grown up around, there was no real economic class distinction, so she had no basis for understanding Valerius's concept of 'wealth'.

Alea was used to being glared at, but not so much by someone who didn't know her yet. Still, it was nice to get the initial misunderstanding out of the way, and she returned Tuuli's glare with a mischievous grin. She accepted her peer's silent challenge. It would be fun to have a rival. More fun than being ignored entirely, anyway. Though her idea of a rival did not at all match Tuuli's.

Alea followed Tuuli to a room with a wash basin. Having been on a ship for three seasons, it had been a long time since she'd had a proper bath, if you didn't count the scrubbing the slavers gave her to make sure she didn't smell bad to potential clients. Tuuli made sure Alea washed her dirty feet, frowning at the anklet of teeth Alea wore. Slaves were not normally allowed accessories of any sort, so either Alea was lucky no one had noticed it, or she was receiving special treatment. Tuuli, of course assumed the latter.

Insisting that Alea be completely clean in order to impress her master, Tuuli pulled the anklet off. "Ow!" Alea cried as the teeth detached from her skin, leaving a ring of tiny marks. Tuuli tried to keep the jewelry, but Alea pried it forcibly from the other slave's hands. Tuuli called her a brute. Alea stuck her tongue out and put the bracelet on her wrist instead (first washing the wrist so Tuuli could not use the same complaint).

Tuuli spent several long chimes addressing the tangled mass of Alea's hair. The slavers had done some work to address the absolute mess three seasons of neglect had caused, but Tuuli's standards were more exacting. Further exclamations of pain were dragged from Alea as Tuuli forced a comb through her hair. Then she was forced to wash it with a strange soap, allegedly to remove the salt and dirt, and make Alea's hair smooth enough to "not be offensive to our Master." The stuff smelled funny, and she considered using violence to protest, but she recalled Valerius's request that she be 'polite,' and unlike the bracelet, this was not an important enough thing to fight over.

After her hair was thoroughly washed, and her scalp rubbed raw, Tuuli left her alone to fetch some clean clothes. As per the dark-skinned woman's instructions, Alea used the time to run the comb through her hair one more time. It was certainly easier, now that most of the tangles were out and the hair was smooth and slippery. When Tuuli came back, Alea donned the plain shirt and trousers. The material was soft, possibly cotton or something comparable, and certainly more comfortable than anything Alea had worn recently. She was amazed at how much better she felt now that she was clean.

Tuuli had chosen a boy's uniform on purpose, hoping to deter any thoughts of comparing Alea's beauty to Tuuli's. Alea, of course, was oblivious to any such machinations. The shirt fit her comfortably, since her breasts were barely noticeable, and she was used to running around in trousers anyway. Tuuli has unknowingly done her a favor.

Finally deciding Alea was as prepared as she was going to get, Tuuli led Alea to Valerius's quarters. Tuuli stayed in the room, having received no instruction to the contrary, and not trusting this new trollop alone with her master. Alea, relived that she had not had to be "polite" to more than one person so far, stepped a little further into the room and asked, "Now what?" She was still hungry, but she hoped Valerius would remember that on his own. That was it wouldn't seem like she was complaining. It's hadn't been that long since she'd lived with her parents, and she still remembered how ineffective complaining was.

[Valerius Nitrozian]

As he had said, Valerius was waiting for Alea in his suite. It was even cleaner than the rest of the house, almost unnaturally clean. There was not a little bit of dust anywhere. The suite was quite luxurious. In the center stood a table made of dark wood. It was surrounded by four chairs. At the right wall were a desk, a couple of bookshelves made of the same dark wood and a fireplace where a fire burnt that filled the room with warmth. The four poster bed where Valerius slept was located at the left side of the room, hidden behind a room divider. Opposite of the door were a large window and a glass door that led onto a balcony from which one could see the plaza and the canal.

Valerius was sitting in an armchair in front of the fireplace. He had taken the time to change into slightly more comfortable clothes, black pants and a black shirt, but no jacket or hat. He sat with his back completely straight and a cool expression on his face. As Tuuli and Alea entered, he turned his head, but he didn’t rise. He didn’t rise for slaves. He didn’t say anything either, not at first, but simply looked his newest purchase over, frowning very lightly as he did so. She was clean now, and her hair looked normal, but her outfit was not acceptable.

„You look like a man“, he observed. „Who gave you this? Tuuli?“ He looked at the dark skinned girl who looked back at him, but didn’t say a word. „Tuuli, you know that I want my female slaves to wear dresses or skirts. Bring Alea something else to wear.“ The slave curtsied and left. After she had closed the door behind her, Valerius addressed Alea. „If she makes you wear men’s clothes, she is jealous. I don’t know why though. Now then, you said you were good with horses. You can take care of my family’s horses. I also want you to occasionally deal with certain people as I can’t take care of everything myself – if you behave. Can you read and write? I want my slaves to be educated.“

[Alea Davenport]

Alea was confused that Valerius was upset by her clothes. She had a lot of experience wearing similar things before, and no one had ever confused her for a man. At least, not during daylight or once she'd opened her mouth... And if he thought she was going to be able to take care of horses in a skirt, well, he didn't know much about work.

He said a lot of things, but when he was finished, Alea had a thing or two to say herself. There was nobody else in the room, so she didn't think speaking freely would "embarrass" him or whatever.

"Course I can read and write. I went to school," she said, a little insulted, not that she had particularly enjoyed the passtime, but she was certainly capable of it. "I even had to only talk by writing for a whole season when I lost my voice!" With an annoyed edge to her voice, she continued, "And I don't know anything about 'men's clothes,' but you've obviously never set foot inside a barn if you expect me to muck out horse stalls in a skirt. Then, her brain caught up with what her mouth was saying, and she suddenly wasn't sure what she was trying to accomplish with that line of reasoning. This was obviously a very delicate point in the determination of her future. How she handled this meeting, right here, could very well determine the chores she did for the rest of...well, indefinitely.

She ducked her head bashfully and started scuffing one shoe against the floor as she added, "I mean, not that I'd mind terribly much, if you wanted me to do something else. Mucking stables and brushing horses is all right for a while, but I'd been keen to learn something new, if you'd rather. Who were those people you said you wanted me to deal with? If anybody's bothering you I bet I could scare 'em off! Bet they wouldn't expect that coming from a skirt." A light gleamed in her eye at the thought. She was perhaps a bit too excited at the possibility of 'dealing' with Valerius's 'enemies.'

"Maybe you tell me what you need done and I'll see if I'm any good at it." She tried grinning her biggest, brightest, friendliest grin, hoping that if she had some sort of control over what kind of work she did, she wouldn't automatically hate it enough to sneak off. Then maybe she'd make a good impression and Valerius would like her, which, she had to remind herself, was her goal.

[Nemesis]

Alea Davenport

Skills	*	*
Intimidation	*	+1
Investigation	*	+1
Observation	*	+3
Socialisation	*	+2

Lores

Ravosala: Ravok's Form of Transportation

Tuuli: Valerius' Slave

*

*

*
*
Consequences, Injuries, Expenses, and More!

• +One dress.

Valerius Nitrozian

Skills	*	*
Intimidation	*	+2
Leadership	*	+2
Observation	*	+2
Socialisation	*	+1

Lores

Alea Davenport: Denvali

Alea Davenport: Educated

* Alea Davenport: New Slave

* Alea Davenport: Energetic

*
*
Consequences, Injuries, Expenses, and More!

• None

__________

• All done for the pair of you, finally.
• Would love to see more threads from the pair of you now you're both back. Loving Val's complete air of control