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 Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 7:18 am
 Life had started to look much more fair, according to Haqikah at least. Her house was finally starting to look up to par, thanks to the hard work from Akil and the other slaves. In her humble opinion it was one of the nicest on the street. And for once she didn't have to worry about stones at the moment... One of her nice gentleman friends had given her a piece of quartz as a gift and she was eager to use this to buy something nice for herself. (He had told her to do that, and she was happy to oblige) Well, perhaps some new biscuits and high quality tea too, and treats for the slaves. It was time for some good old shopping, and she'd probably need someone to carry her purchases.
"STRIPEY," she yelled since she couldn't see her market slave at the moment. "I need your assistance RIGHT NOW!"
She decided not to ask Akil if they were running out of anything. There would be some stones left for boring purchases like that too. Probably. Ah, why worry anyway? She could toss a few stones in the jar for household purchases later. It was only prudent to buy a couple of things and get the quartz exchanged to smaller currencies. She wouldn't trust the slaves with a quartz! The cats did a fine job of running the boring parts of the household so she shouldn't have to care. She stopped thinking about that and instead tried to decide what purse to take and if she should wear a shawl or not. She had some really nice ones, even if the one she had worn for the love festival didn't quite looked the same after her "shower". Perhaps she should look for a new one?
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 7:56 am
 The second Haqikah had barked her order, Azibo had done his very best to jump to attention and scramble to where she currently was, not wanting to invoke her fury less he dawdled. Since his arrival, he had done his very best to not put a paw out of line and to do everything that was requested of him, which left him very tired at times. Much of his time had been used to clean up the house and assist the other slaves. So far, he had learned that depending on his masters mood, he could be treated nicely, or just be yelled at. So far, he had been lucky not to receive any physical punishment. Once he had fond the hound, he stood in front of her keeping his head low. "Yes master?" He asked in a small voice, wondering what she may ask of him. Judging from her voice, she didn't sound displeased...yet
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 8:30 am
"Took you long enough," she said and extracted a teal coloured shawl from a pile of clothes and bags. It wasn't a very fair statement since the slave had obviously tried to get to her as fast as he could, bur she liked keeping them on their little toes. Next time he'd be even quicker if he knew what was good for him.
"This one perhaps," she mumbled, ignoring Azibo in favour of the shawl for the time being, "It's old but it works."
She arranged the shawl around her neck, made sure her stone purse was secured before facing her stripy slave. From watching him work and listening to Akil's evaluation she knew he wasn't all that strong yet, but then none of them were. The males were about equally strong and the splotchy girl seemed to be the weakest in the bunch. She had other skills, however, so Haqikah wasn't unhappy with her. She might let this one take one of the other males to carry heavy supplies when shopping eventually, but for now he needed to get comfortable hauling her purchases around. Akil had told her he was a quick learner so he might as well learn this too.
"We're going shopping," she announced, and then picked up a set of bags designed to hang over a slave's back with one bag on each side. She dropped it on Azibo without further ceremony and let the slave figure out how to make it sit comfortably. "There you go! I'm fetching a water skin on the way out, and then we can leave."
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 6:21 pm
Azibo felt a tinge of worry from her comment, but let it slide as he watched her try on her shawl. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to comment about her choice since he knew nothing about fashion ( The only thing he had ever worn was his shackles and collar. ). However he did nod to her musings about why she picked it. It seemed the right thing to do.
Again he nodded to her statement. "Yes master" he replied, before he nearly fell over; She had dumped the bags onto his back without warning. They weren't too heavy, but they felt a little uncomfortable. He spent the next few minutes trying to adjust them to fit onto his back better. It seemed that he would be carrying around the purchases, which he didn't mind...to much. He wasn't that strong a slave, and he hoped she wouldn't ask him to carry too much, less he was unable to do so and therefore invoke her wrath.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 1:59 am
Haqika wasn't going to let Stripey carry everything today. The coin purse would stay with her for example. She was even nice enough to go get the water skin herself instead of sending her slave to do it, and she said as much. It was important to carry water since the days in Babylon could get hot. She placed the filled water skin in one of Azibo's bags and motioned for him to follow her out on the street. They'd have to walk for a while to get to the better parts of Babylon where she liked to shop.
"I know it gets a bit lopsided with weight in only one bag," she said, almost apologetically, "But we'll even it out soon enough. I wonder if they'll have any fruits in the market today. It's so hard to find good quality fruit in this city, don't you think?"
Finding dried fruit was not a problem, usually, but the fresh fruit tended to either be not-so-fresh or ridiculously expensive. Especially the more exotic kinds she liked... Some Star fruit would be nice, and she never said no to Cherry berries. She wondered if slaves liked fruit, but probably not. Haqikah gave them slave biscuits as a treat, and figured they weren't interested in anything else. Her mother had always said that a slave stayed healthy if you fed it meat or fish, but not too much of it.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 6:34 pm
The slave seemed a little shocked at Haqika's behavior, but quickly hid it as he continued to follow her through the streets. Did she seem...sorry that he was carrying so much? he couldn't believe it. Azibo didn't realize that she could act this way, it and felt quite nice. But he wouldn't' get used to this, no, not at all. He had been told by others in slave school to never get complacent around a master. It was bad form, and if they wanted to keep their back intact it was best to always be ready. As for the lopsided weight, he didn't concern him much as he was getting used to the bags.
"Y-yes, I believe so" He said to her comment about the fruit, and wondered if he should keep going. "I heard from other slaves that it is very hard to grow fruit...it takes many months to grow the plants from seeds, and there many places to plant them..." This was the extend of his knowledge, as he was not a Gardner. He had never tastes fruit himself though, and he doubted he would. But if he ever got the chance..it would be a wonderfull experience.
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Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 6:11 am
Azibo was probably wise not to get used to kindness from Haqikah. She had her nice moments, it was a good way to keep the slaves happy after all, but the next day she might ignore her slaves or forget to leave enough stones for slave food... Oh, but that last thing had only happened one or two times. It wasn't easy, falling on hard times like she had done. A lady needed certain things to live a decent life after all, and if the stones couldn't be stretched to cover slave-food they'd simply have to go hungry a day or two. Ah, but now she did have stones, and she walked with a spring in her step and a smile on her face. The streets around them looked gradually better, and Haqikah started to greet the hounds she met on her way. Her own neighbours usually didn't get more than a polite nod, but the hounds around these parts were more wealthy and influential and thus worth more of her attention.
"If you prove to be useful here I might send you to some other city to get fresh fruit," she said as they turned a corner, "It's probably cheaper and easier to get quality fruit if you get it closer to the source."
Wouldn't that impress on the neighbours? Importing fruit just because she felt like it. Haqikah wagged her tail just a little bit and stopped to look at the wares displayed outside a house. This hound seemed to specialise in woven baskets and other such items. There was even some furniture made from branches woven together. Impressive to own such skilled slaves...
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Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 7:11 am
Walking along side her, Azibo was beginning to see a pattern to the hounds behavior, especially when she greeted the other hounds. Perhaps this may have been obvious, or perhaps not, but it seemed that Haqikah loved anything that had to do with wealth, or more importantly, her wealth. If she saw someone that appeared very rich, she would be very kind to them, but if they were poor, she would hardly give them the time of day. It was weird, but then he was quite sure many hounds were like this, and the slave had to wonder if the hounds they met were thinking the same thoughts about them.
Azibo then heard her thoughts about sending him to another town to purchase fruit, and he nodded,inwardly exited about the prospect of traveling, by himself no less, to a complete new place, but put those thoughts aside when they reached a small shop that sold woven baskets. He looked at each of them, noting the quality and intricate designs of each, and becoming impressed himself at the woven furniture. How long would it have takken a slave to do such wor?
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Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 5:53 am
Haqikah hadn't intended to buy a basket today, but then she noticed an especially nice little one made using several different colours of grass or straw making up an intricate pattern. It would be perfect to hold her smaller accessories. She studied the pattern for a while, wondering briefly if the straw had those colours naturally or if they were dyed to look that way. Ah, it didn't matter how it was made of as long as it was pretty. Now to her favourite part, the haggling process!
"Are these waterproof," she asked, motioning towards the group of baskets where her favourite stood. She didn't think they would be, and she didn't need them to be, but she liked to point out some flaw of the product to try to push the price down. She huffed when the sales hound confirmed her suspicions and then offered him a shamefully low price for the basket she wanted. Naturally he didn't accept (she would have been suspicious if he had!), and instead started to boast the virtues of the basket in question. After some intense bartering stones changed owner and Haqikah was the proud owner of two baskets for a price that was slightly below what she could have paid for the one. She loaded the wares in one of Azibo's bags, trying not to grin too smugly.
"That's how you do it," she boasted as they got out of hearing distance. "Lets see if we can find someone selling biscuits now."
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Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 6:37 am
It was a interesting sight to see his master go through the haggling process for the baskets, Azibo had to admit. He kept himself quiet, making sure to look at the ground and only slightly look upwards to glance at which one they would by.
This wasn't the first time he had seen a hound haggle for something in the market; as a kitten he had seen hounds from afar barter over goods and services, trying to either sell their wares for the highest prise or buy them for the lowest. But it was the first time he was this close and able to see for himself how it went. At first her question about weather they were waterproof or not he found to be a little weird, until he heard her make a offer. Ahh, so thats what she was doing; finding a flaw in the goods so she could buy it for cheaper.
It wasn't long before she was placing not one but two of the baskets in his saddle bags, and they were off in search of biscuits. "That was truly amazing, Master" he couldn't help but comment on her haggling ability.
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Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 6:51 am
She wagged her tail slightly at the praise, even if it was praise coming from a slave. It was always nice to make a good deal, even if she wasn't always successful in her bartering. Sometimes she simply wanted the item too much, and paid what turned out to be too high a price. Keeping her head cold was the key, but at the same time she didn't want to seem like a poor hound by haggling too aggressively or by walking away and not buying what she really wanted. Ah, those that thought shopping was easy were sorely mistaken. It was an artform!
"Did I tell you about the time I got a hotel room for free," she asked, feeling chatty for some reason. She had yet to boast about her free room to anyone really, mostly because Akil was the slave she usually talked to and she knew he might not appreciate the circumstances that led to her getting a room for free.
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 2:33 am
The slave had to keep himself from looking straight up in pure surprise at this remark, the sheer idea of getting anything for free from bartering a amazing new concept. Let alone a full night in a hotel room. Azibo was quite eager to hear how she was able to do it, although part of him was sure there was some con work involved. She wasn't a bad hound by any stretch, but he was sure she could be quite dishonest if she wanted to.
"I don't believe so master" He replied to her, ears flicking back and forth with interest. "But..It does sound like a amazing story"
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 6:50 am
Oh, yes. It was a great story, but she hadn't had the chance to tell it properly yet. Haqikah was very pleased to get the best room for free, but it was even better to get to brag a bit about it. She just had to take care not to brag too much, since it would be unbecoming for a lady to do so.
"Oh, it is a great story. I think the hotel manager took a liking to me," she said with an innocent smile, "He absolutely refused to let me pay! Isn't that quaint?"
That was a truth with modification, however. The hotel hound had wanted payment... A kiss of all things! And when she lied and told him it would be her first kiss ever he had wanted to court her. Cute, really, but now she would have to keep her story straight if she kept running into him. The incident at the love festival had been... less than satisfying. Ugh, wet ears!
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 3:17 am
The slave cat seemed quite surprised, but then quickly hid that with a nod to her question, thinking it would be better to show that he wouldn't be surprised by something like that, and to instead know that she was able to charm anybody. Which he knew it was possible, of course, but again he took everything she said with a grain of salt.
"o-of course, but you are quite beautiful Master" he said to her, deciding to compliment so she may tell him more about the story. He was quite curious.
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 3:32 am
Haqikah was a sucker for compliments, even those coming from slaves. She knew she was beautiful, but it was very nice to hear someone else compliment her hard earned looks. One of the girl slaves always brushed her tail mornings and evenings, and she made sure she was always clean, groomed and dressed like a lady.
"Why thank you," she said, "He wasn't a male of my standing, of course. I don't know what I did to make him think he could have a chance to be with someone like me."
Azibo's compliment had worked, and she had just said more than she had first intended to. Not that it mattered, really. He was just her slave and wouldn't talk to anyone if he valued his skin. And she could use an ally if she managed to bump into the hotel manager again.
"I had to mislead him slightly," she said with what appeared to be regret, "I never gave my full name and I told him I lived in Prussia, just in case he decided that he couldn't live without me. I wouldn't want to burden my lovely slaves with having to discourage suitors."
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