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 Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 2:23 pm
 Haqikah's purpose with her trip to Zanzibar was to purchase one or two slaves to help with the work in her new larger home, but despite two slaves bought she was itching for something more. One house slave and one market slave should be plenty, but she was lacking something very important. Slaves should not only be useful, in her opinion. No, like any household item she liked them to be pretty too. There was nothing wrong with her current slaves, they looked nice enough, but she wanted something special to really dazzle the other hounds in the neighbourhood. Ideally something that would impress the rest of Babylon too...
She could have sent Azibo, but she wanted to make sure she got a fine specimen that she could be proud of. Slaves with interesting coats, but without other good qualities that would raise the price, would sometimes end up in the Black Market. Professional breeders put some on the market while others were simply pretty without a breeding plan behind it. Haqikah wasn't really interested in what the cat could do, as long as it was reasonably healthy. It couldn't hurt to keep a slave around for unskilled labour after all, and if it turned out totally hopeless it might at least be possible to train it to stand still, shut up and look pretty. If all else failed she knew a hound that would cut tongues out for a price.
The Black Market was as disgusting as ever, but she tried to shut the noise and stink out. Haqikah had a purpose, and she walked slowly along the cage-lined aisles, watching each slave carefully. Ones that looked sick were ignored altogether, and she walked past the plain looking ones too. Some had pretty enough coats, but were too common. If her poor and disgustingly common neighbours had one even remotely like it she didn't want it. Finding gems in the Black Market was hard, and Haqikah could only hope that she would be lucky in her search.
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Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:13 am
 Another day in a cage. Not that Tau-Tau had by any means been on the market for very long, but certainly long enough to begin to get used to it's peculiarities. For example, in about one more hour, the sun would begin shining right down into this part of the market, making every slave sluggish in its heat. The big black cat in the cage to the right of him would start complaining again, as soon as no hound or Hyde was close enough to hear which slave was making those terrible noises, and the tabby to the left of him would being to slouch lethargically, sometimes raising his own not insignificant voice in a bid to the black one to "shut the hell up, already." Tau-Tau was not looking forward to it. If he could have reached into his fellow slaves' cages, he would have taught them both how to behave like good neighbours.
But that was yet a little while in the future, and Tau-Tau enjoyed the relative silence to the fullest, carefully cleaning his entire coat, from tail to nose-tip. This had two functions: First of all, it calmed him down. The slow, methodical, rythmic motions were very reassuring, and the way that he could focus on cleaning out every little piece of dust kept his mind off of duller matters, such as his current situation. Secondly, it would make his coat seem glossier and healthier, even in the parching glare of the midday sun, which, he had noticed, could make almost any slave's coat appear dusty and drab.
Not that he was terribly anxious to be bought and begin serving a Master, but he knew for certain that he did not want to stay here any longer than he absolutely had to.
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Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 2:45 pm
A young female sitting quietly in a cage caught Haqikah's eye and she really got her hopes up when she saw the pattern on her coat. She even thought she knew what breeder it had come from. Those designer cats would usually cost a tail and a leg, but one from the black market would probably be more affordable. Unfortunately, upon closer inspection it was quite evident why the breeder didn't sell her through their usual channels. One hind leg looked slightly deformed, and Haqikah was not interested in taking on a charity case. She could take hidden defects as long as the slave looked pretty and could still work, but a limping cripple would impress no one. Aw, rats.
When she came to Tau-tau's cage she nearly passed it at first. The colours were common enough after all, and brown or sand coloured slaves were not high up on her list. That was until the cat turned his head revealing a striking white mask. Haqikah backtracked and took a second look. Those markings on his side were certainly interesting. She studied the slave in silence, unconcerned about her staring. It might be impolite to stare at another hound, but this was nothing more than a slave and she studied him much like she'd study a piece of meat at the market.
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Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 11:19 am
Tau-Tau noticed that someone was walking down the line of cages, but for some reason or other, he assumed it was just Hyde, doing his rounds, and didn't look up from his grooming.
That is, until the hound abruptly halted right outside his cage.
He knew immediately that the eyes were upon him, from the way that the hairs on his neck unsleeked themselves, and turned his head quickly in anticipation of a blow from the slave-keeper's "Wake-Up Stick." His intensive yellow eyes met Haqikah's blue ones for only the briefest of moments, in which his pupils quickly dilated in surprise.
Tau-Tau immediately cast his eyes down, half-closed gaze aimed at the lady hound's feet, and berated himself thoroughly for not realising sooner that he was in the presence of a Master. He humbly ordered himself into the appropriate position, while epeating to himself what he had had pounded into him at the academy:
Sit up straight while facing a Master. Tuck your tail neatly across your paws. keep your head bowed, but your ears forward. Show deference and respect, do not speak until spoken to - and never, ever make direct eye contact.
In an attempt to mitigate his brief lapse of propriety, he offered the Lady a deep bow, taking in as much as he could see of her through his peripheral vision as he did so. She had an unusually fluffy tail, and matching ears, and a proud way of carrying herself. She didn't have that faint scent of cruelty about her, but there was an air of high society about her that unsettled him all the same. What could such a fine Lady be doing in a place like this? Surely a hound like her could easily find slaves through more... savoury means.
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Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 1:22 pm
Those eyes! Haqikah had never before seen such eyes on a slave as far as she could recall. And they didn't look out of place or freakish, even if she had been surprised at first. The combination of those eyes and the pelt pattern was something she had never encountered, and that equalled 'rare' in her mind. Rare and pleasing to the eyes... Two very important traits for a cat she intended to use to show off with. He was apparently cleanly, and wasn't aggressive or otherwise unpleasant in his behaviour so far.
"I want to see your eyes, slave," she said. "You have my permission to look at my face for ten heartbeats."
She did want to take a closer look at his eyes, but she was also interested in how he would react to such a command.
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Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 8:54 am
The Lady hound's request was unexpected, And Tau-Tau froze for a moment before he, frowning, gingerly straightened up again. On one paw, he remembered all too vividly all the times that a tutor's stick or whip had lashed out at him, for daring to forget to keep his eyes any higher than in the level of their chest - but on the other, this was a direct request, and he should treat it as an order. Disobedience would be punished as well, after all.
"I understand, Mistress," He said in a low, subdued tone, and raised his eyes, if not his face, to meet hers again. He wasn't aware that this made his eyes open even wider than usual, and that the effect of them was thereby significantly enhanced, especially as the pitch black pupil slowly narrowed to a sharp line.
One... two... three
No one else had ever asked to see his eyes before, and he found it increasingly difficult to keep lookig straight at the hound. Not all tutors had refused to suffer eye contact with slaves, per se, only with him.
four, five, six
Even the fellow kittens at the academy, sensing through the unfavorable treatment he recieved from the tutors that Tau-Tau was somehow even less than them, had found him an eligible target for bullying and pranks. Even they had called his eyes "creepy."
seven eight
Well, he had grown stronger under that treatment. And eventually, they had stopped bothering him, hadn't they? The Hound tutors at the academy had either never fully understood why some cats suddenly hobbled about with a limp or a swollen eye, or, more likely, they had been pleased with his increased physique and had found it comfortable to feign ignorance as long as he took care of his own business discreetly enough.
nineten.
Tau-Tau finally broke eye contact and redirected his gaze to the Lady Hound's feet again, his heart beating so fast that it almost made his whole body sway with it. He tried to keep composure in his voice as he addressed her, though he wasn't sure how well he managed it:
"Was that to your satisfaction, Mistress?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 6:13 am
Haqikah watched her subject in silence, keeping her expression as blank as she could. She was pleased with what she saw, however. His eyes were very striking, and she was fairly sure she had not seen eyes like his among the many slaves on the streets of Babylon. Not that she had seen every slave in Babylon, but she thought she should have noticed one like this. The trait was unusual, but not disfiguring in any way as far as she was concerned. She also liked the way he had responded to her command. The slave had hesitated, but eventually obeyed. A good sign, because she liked her slaves to stay submissive without having to be reminded to do so. She also liked slaves that did what she told them to do. Haqikah had no reason to be nervous so her heartbeats were slow and steady, and so she hadn't noticed that the slave had watched her for more than ten of his heartbeats.
"Yes, that will do," she said, "Do you have a name, slave?"
A bit early to ask perhaps, since she would probably not remember it unless she wrote it down. Hmm... She should have parchment somewhere, so why not? She wondered if the slave's unusual eyes gave him any trouble seeing. It would be a bother to have a half blind slave running about, even if she supposed she could work with it somehow. She wanted this slave. However, she wasn't sure Hyde wouldn't try to pawn off a defective slave to an unsuspecting hound and then claim the price was calculated with the flaw in mind.
"Any health issues," she asked just to make sure. He didn't look or smell diseased to her, "Ticks? Bugs? Any eye or ear problems?"
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