[The Slave Market] A New Home (Sevris)

[Cassidy Finch]

"Any questions?" Sevris asked her as he tied a bedroll to his pack. She did, in fact, have many questions to ask him. In her bewilderment however, Velvet just shook her head at him with a dazed expression. He's offering me a chance for freedom? The thought itself seemed foreign to her, as if it didn't quite fit. The man was speaking somewhat cryptically and she had to rethink his words several times to fully understand him. He seemed to be asking her to be trustworthy. Smart man, she thought wryly as she began recovering from the seemingly endless list of surprises she was having today. Velvet had been planning to serve Sevris as she had all of her other masters; poorly. Of course, the man was probably lying to her. Men could be cruel, and if any man could be called cruel, it would be a man of the Ebonstryfe. Unfortunately, it did not seem like the young woman had many options. On the off chance that he was telling the truth, Velvet decided that she could not afford to waste the opportunity that she might have right in front of her. Slowly, her expression began to change from one of confusion to a sharper and more natural expression on her face. Though she still had that old mask of placidity and subservience, Velvet could not keep the longing from her voice as she asked, "What do you wish for me to do?" Velvet felt it a bit strange that the next thought to pass through her head was relief that Sevris intended to allow for her to sleep alone. With everything that had occurred, she had not spent more than a moment or two considering the possibility that he had bought her for pleasure; now, it seemed as if that was the furthest thing from his mind. For that, Velvet was very grateful. She'd had more than enough of people using her--in more ways than just pleasure--for their own gain. If this man really meant to set her free, she would do anything in her power to make it happen.

[Sevris]

Velvet seemed as if she ran what Sevris said in her head within a millisecond. There was a lot of things going on at the moment that it did cross his mind that maybe he was going to fast. But he needed to know if she was sturdy enough to take big things in stride.

It would help to see how see accessed herself in demanding situations. It was apparent that she could. "What do you wish for me to do?"

"I wish you to serve to the best of your abilities. Which in time can branch to many things, if you are willing. Right now, I'll show you on your way where my apartment is. In the meantime, where were you shipped from?" Sevris made a movement that they had concluded their business in the market, and began walking again towards the exit of the market.

[Cassidy Finch]

"I wish you to serve to the best of your abilities. Which in time can branch to many things, if you are willing. Right now, I'll show you on your way where my apartment is. In the meantime, where were you shipped from?" Sevris began to walk away, and Velvet was standing and following after him almost before he had fully turned away. "Sunberth, master," she told him, the false dullness which she usually employed to answer questions completely gone. If she was to work for her freedom, she might as well start now, "I arrived a couple days ago." Briefly, Velvet wondered about why her master saw fit to obtain her loyalty(for that was what he apparently wanted). The young woman had no skills to speak of and she was not much to look at, either; what could he possibly want of her that no one else could provide? Off the top of her head, Velvet could think of many slaves who were more capable and much more willing to serve than she. She entertained the notion that Sevris somehow knew how desperate she was for freedom, but quickly dismissed it. Surely she was better at hiding her emotions than that. As she kept pace behind him, her mind whirled with the possibilities that freedom would afford her. Though Velvet knew it was foolish, she couldn't keep herself from getting her hopes up. The more she thought about it, the more the slave realized how wonderful freedom would be. For as long as she had been a slave, Velvet had suppressed thoughts of freedom because she knew it would never happen. Now, she was free to think on it and soon it became unbearable to think that Sevris might be lying to her. Whatever happened, she would be sure to give him no reason to withhold freedom from her.

[Sevris]

The duo catching eyes as they passed by onlookers. Most of them in fear, and some out of respect. But they paid them no attention, the Apprentices attention was on his companion. "Sunberth you say? Haven't been there myself, but the place sounds easy enough to get into."

They were silent for a while as Sevris lead the way back to his house. He thought it'd be best to greet her with some silence. A master wasn't supposed to be so overly talkative either. So he at least tried to act with some discretion. Came up to his apartment, preferring not to be catered to by his family, he chose to get his own place.

Though it needed some work, he was only an Apprentice, and they didn't get paid well. He was planning on getting better pay when he finally took the Crucible. They entered the apartment, Sevris took off all his gear and said, "Change out of those clothes, and get cleaned up. Then get ready to make your first meal."

[Cassidy Finch]

Enroute to Sevris' apartment, Velvet noticed many people looking at both her and her master. Unsurprisingly, many people in the crowd looked to Sevris with either fear or respect. This in itself was to be expected; he was a part of one of the most feared organizations in Mizahar. The thing that surprised her was that many of them stared at her with the same emotions in their eyes, if a bit more muted than when they looked at Sevris. She was not sure why this was so, and it worried her somewhat. Why would they look at her like that? It was very clear that she was this man's slave and not a friend of any kind, surely they could tell that. "Sunberth, you say? Haven't been there myself, but the place sounds easy enough to get into," Sevris said, continuing to walk. In reply, Velvet mumbled, "Yes, master." She was far too engrossed in her thoughts to be able to keep up a conversation, even if her master had indicated that he wanted one. It was fortunate that he apparently did not want to speak to her, as they continued the rest of the way to his apartment without another word. As Sevris led her into his home, be began speaking to her again, "Change out of those clothes, and get cleaned up. Then get ready to make your first meal." For a moment, the young woman instinctively began thinking of ways to botch his orders up. She caught herself and nodded, looking around hopefully for someplace to change where he would not see her changing. With dissatisfaction, Velvet noted that the small apartment had nowhere particularly private. So, with a little frown, Velvet retreated to a corner and laid down the shirt and trousers set and dress on the floor. She hastily stripped out of her old, ragged dress and set it down, leaving herself clad only in her undergarments as she looked between one set of clothing and the other. For a moment, she considered the dress but shook her head. Dresses were much too fragile for housework, in her opinion. Though she had only worn trousers once or twice, she decided to wear those instead. After a bit of effort with the buttons of the shirt and trousers, the slave finally managed to get the things on nicely and found herself surprised at the fit. They hadn't been tailored to her at all and were still a little bit big on her, but overall she was pleased with her appearance. It had taken a little longer to get dressed with all the buttons, and Velvet did not like the thought of that much time exposed, but she supposed it really didn't matter. It wasn't as if she were some blushing maiden, she thought with a little bitterness. Even that little bit of sourness fled as she pictured herself as a free woman, able to do what she pleased whenever she pleased it. A genuine smile found its way onto her face then as she neatly folded her old dress and placed it beside the new one. For the first time in as long as she could remember, things were actually looking better for her.

[Verilian]

Velvet +1 Observation Lores: New Master: Sevris Lazarin, Sevris - Member of the Ebonstryfe, Sevris Lazarin +1 Intimidation Lores: Investment: Velvet, Velvet came from Sunberth Expenses: -36gm, 1sm (Velvet, Avg Dress, Cotton Shirt & Pants, bedroll) You Question My Logic? : There wasn't much I could award here in the way of XP, but if you have any questions, feel free to PM me. Notes: I would say I am interested to see how all this plays out.. but, since I already know Velvet is escaping in another thread.. that comment seems kind of pointless, lol. Good thread, and keep writing! Notice As per the request of the Founders, threads cannot be graded unless your CS is up to date. This means you need to add threads to your thread list when you make new threads, keep your skills up to date, ledger, living expenses, ect. If you aren't up to date, you'll get a PM from me before i grade your thread. If you are up to date, disregard this notice.