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Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 10:42 pm
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Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2010 1:32 pm
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Reticence seemed unmoved by Maxy's claims. "You've never been through one," he replied calmly. "We'll see." The subtext was clear. Easy for you to say. What do you know, you who's been here for all of a few hours? He leaned back against the wall and let Naïveté take it from there.
"Well, it depends," the girl replied evasively. "On which guests they are. Usually one of us helps out. Letting them in, showing them where to go, stuff like that. Basic stuff. It shouldn't be dangerous - anything he asks us to do when there's guests is pretty easy. It's just that sometimes they're..." She faltered, and finally Reticence took over for her again.
"Sometimes," he said calmly, lifting his head so that he could trace his finger along an old, whitish scar across his throat, "they're in a bad mood."
Naïveté nodded. All three of them had their fair share of scars from irate guests of their master. And while Marc was quick to defend them from the mistreatment of others, it didn't fix what happened when he wasn't quick enough.
Noting the look in Maxy's eyes, Naïveté gave her a steady stare. "It's not a bad deal," she repeated, "under the circumstances. What can you get from being a slave under the Keshval that's better than what you get here?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2010 7:06 pm
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Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 3:39 pm
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The two dark-haired ones traded silent glances, but neither spoke for a few minutes. Whatever Maxy was thinking, they seemed content to leave her to it. There was silence in the room for quite a while.
"He'll be back soon," said Naïveté quietly, looking up at Maxy's pacing. "It doesn't happen often. Most of the master's guests respect his wishes when it comes to our treatment. Curiosity will be fine." Saying the words didn't make it true, of course, but she believed it. Sometimes believing it was enough.
Sometimes.
Reticence leaned back against the wall, watching the two girls with his eyes partly closed as usual. He said nothing. If a person wasn't used to him, they might think that he was falling asleep. But his calm voice eventually cut through the room. "The least bit of thievery is still thievery, but someone who has a crystal stolen from them will get over it a lot faster than someone who has everything taken away. You'll get used to this a lot faster than some of the people you were with." He used the crystal conversion automatically, instead of speaking of money - indicative of someone who had been there a long, long time.
Naïveté was obviously thinking so, because she was giving him a funny sidelong glance before abruptly turning her eyes back to Maxy. "We were all stolen," she said. And was it imagination, or did her eyes flash back to Reticence again for just a brief second before she kept talking? "We all went through it. But where we landed isn't as bad as where we might have gone. It's better like this."
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Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 6:30 pm
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Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 12:07 pm
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Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 12:37 am
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Reticence looked up at her. It looked for a second as though he were about to say something. Then he paused and shook his head, leaving Naïveté to speak. "Yeah, we know," she said quietly. "We've been here long enough that we've started to push it away, but we know. We had a place there once, too, Maxy." She glanced at Reticence dubiously for a minute, as though unsure of her words, then continued on. "But you were taken. You can't fix it. Do what you like with the facts, but that's what they are."
She blinked in surprise when Maxy spoke again. "Well...of course," she said, sounding confused. "No one's going to stop you. Just be careful not to wander in where you're not welcome - the master tends to frown on things like that."
Her eyes fell. "I'd come with you, but I want to wait here. For Curiosity. He's always a little shaky when he comes back from tending guests."
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Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 3:30 am
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Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 8:05 pm
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Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 3:32 pm
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From behind the door there came a shrill voice, one that Maxy might possibly recognize - the voice of the other bidder, the one from before. The door was propped slightly open, enough that should she peep around the edge, she would see the profile of a blonde, lovely female. If she took a risk and looked a little longer, she'd see that the woman was obviously in a rage, and Marc, facing her, looked...no different than usual. Calm and patient, maybe a little bored.
As the female's shrill, hysterical-sounding voice rose higher yet, Curiosity came from a side hallway, seeming to appear almost from nowhere. He didn't see Maxy, since he was obviously in a hurry. Slipping through the door, he stopped at the table, looking from Marc to the unknown woman.
Whatever they were discussing - and since they were speaking in the language of the Keshval, it would be difficult for any of the slaves (with the possible exception of Reticence) to figure out - it was clearly not good. Curiosity's nervous look was evidence enough; he might not understand what she was saying, but he knew that the tone meant trouble.
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Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 4:04 pm
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Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 11:13 pm
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Marc was speaking now, and his tone of voice was no different than usual. Coolly polite, with no trace of the warm richness that had come into it when he'd spoken earlier about his home. Whoever the female was, Marc was either indifferent towards her or very good at pretending he was.
Though he never looked towards the doorway, it was obvious after a minute or so that he knew Maxy was there, because he switched to English. It was almost like he was encouraging her eavesdropping. "I regret that I cannot accommodate you, Iliara," he said patiently. "The price was fair, it was agreed upon by him, and so it was concluded. I understand that you find this an inconvenience. However, there really is very little that I can do about that."
The female continued to speak in their own tongue, and her hysterical fury only seemed to mount, but Marc perversely remained in English when he spoke again. "Sell to you? No, unfortunately that isn't feasible just now. I was in somewhat dire need of a replacement, you understand." Glancing at the blond boy who hovered uncertainly by the table, he said gently, "You may go, Curiosity. Kindly close the door on your way out."
The blond, looking relieved, made his way to the door. His eyes widened when he spotted Maxy. He made a shooing motion with one hand, slipping out the door and closing it firmly.
"What are you doing?" he whispered to her, still wide-eyed. "You are so lucky that the master thought it was funny that you were listening in!"
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Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 3:20 am
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MaXy y0u wAnT a Pi3cE oF me?
Maxy listened, blinking when he began speaking in English, and knew she was caught. When Curiosity came out, she backed up. "I got lost going back to my room." She wasn't lying, maybe just stretching the truth a little. But it didn't feel right, so she continued, "And I was worried about you." She bit her bottom lip, knowing very well she could have gotten herself killed. Maxy looked at him with big anime eyes, "Who does she want to buy?" she asked innocently, her mood dropping from scared and guilty, to curious.
GeT 0v3r It
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Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 9:23 pm
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Curiosity hesitated, but it was obvious already that he couldn't stay mad for long, and after a few minutes he relented. "Come on," he said. "I'll show you the way back."
And on the way back, he quirked a brow at her. "Are you deliberately pretending or do you really not know?" he asked, looking surprised. "Iliara was looking to buy you, of course. That's why you're so lucky. The master could have sold you to her on the spot, and most would - they don't like eavesdroppers as a rule." He gave a weak little shrug. "Didn't she bid on you earlier?"
Curiosity had gotten the idea from what his master had been saying that Iliara had been bidding earlier, and he'd already figured out the blonde Keshval's 'plot', which hadn't really been that devious.
"Here it is," he said as they arrived at the bedroom door. "I should go back, tell Reticence and Naïveté that I'm alive." He gave a shaky grin. "You'll be okay here?"
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