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 Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 6:34 pm
She sighed and huddled at the back of her cage her claws tracing letters into the grim at the bottom of her cage. She glanced side to side to see the other cats who were her new neighbors. Slowly she turned and gazed out the cage bars to a beautiful pink bloom that was withering away in the sun. It had given her such hope only a few days before...now look at it. She closed her eyes her ears falling back sadly.
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 6:42 pm
The tiger striped cat was in the cage next to Niobe. He didn't really notice her there as he was deprite to try and break his chains and free himself. But his small nibbles were doing nothing but making his teeth incredibly sour. He then looked at them and with a jolt ran towards the center. He then gaged himself, knocking out small scraps of paper that he had been saving from all the books he enjoyed.
He gave a gasp as he let the air back into his lungs then grasped what he could and shoved it right back to where they would be safe. Hyena man for sure would distroy them if he found any words. Words ment a smart slave, a slave that might run away again, not that he already hadn't. And those lines were his only ways to reach freedom from his inner santom of misery. Though the thought of the peices falling out again didn't deter him from trying to yoink his collar off from around his neck as painful as it might have been.
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 6:54 pm
The violent struggles of her cage neighbor were really nothing new and thus didn't move her. The sudden clanging sound and fluttering of paper however did draw her attention. She slowly lifted her head her green eyes examining the peachy tiger striped male in the cage next to hers. He had apparently tried to yank himself free of his bonds, well fat chance. "You'll only hurt yourself..." She murmured softly her eyes suddenly narrowing as she saw him stuffing scraps of paper away. What did he have there, her curiosity piqued she slunk closer to where their cages touched.
"What is that?" She asked in a hushed tone her eyes flicking to where the hyena was harassing some other caged feline. "Is that paper?" She knew it from sight and from cleaning, Papyrus was a rare commodity used by hounds and scribes with the talent for reading and writing. Most cats who learned had to make do the way she was by scratching letters into the dirt or something more solid if they could. She eyed the male, he didn't look bedraggled or abused perhaps he had come from a house of wealth, perhaps he had stolen the papers? Despite the fact that he could be trouble she was terribly curious about what he had held so dear.
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 7:01 pm
He continued to shake his head about like a dog trying to get free from the collar around his neck. That was until he had heard somebody speaking to him. He gaged out a few more breathes of air then sighed out from being tired. "I've escaped before...just never from the hyena man. He's always smart and gives me the strongest chains made of gold." She glared in his general direction. "If I was bigger I'd go out there and bloody his nose." He let out a small indetermined hiss wandering closer to Niobe.
"Oh that...well if you PROMISE not to rat you out I'll show you my 'books'." He refered to them tenderly. They wern't really books just scraps and pages. A few lines here and there. "But I got to have your word. I don't want to lose any of these- they mean..." He looked at her and lowered his voice. "They mean the world to me."
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 7:37 pm
Niobe had no intention of informing the male that gold was one of the softer more malleable metals. She didn't want to break his illusion of being so mighty, the hyena probably used gold to draw attention to the males fine coloring and features. She also didn't scoff at his boast about being larger and beating the hyena. He would certainly have to be a lot bigger and even then...still she simply gave a little half nod. She was more curious about the papers then his illusions of grandeur.
"I promise!" She whispered harshly but still softly not wanting to draw the Hyena's attention even if the male did think he could take him. "I'm Niobe..." She added figuring he woudn't take the word of some nameless feline. She saw the way he clung to the scraps and how his voice became tender and sweet as if in his paws he had a kitten instead of some old torn papers. "I won't tell..." She reassured him. She wouldn't either, such cruelty simply wasn't in her even if she would have somehow been able to benefit from it. No, his appreciation for those papers was like her appreciation for a delicate flower about to bloom. Besides he had already shown his trust in admitting how much they meant to him.
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 7:49 pm
A smile washed over his rosy cheaks. He was exsausted but her promise ment alot to him. "I'm Adalgiso." He took his paw and pointed to himself puffing out his white fluffy chest fur. "And those papers you saw...well they were from books." His voice was hushed. "I've been teachin' myself to read since I was a kitten...and it's half the reason I run away so often. Half the reason is I KNOW whats out there beyond these chains." He took a paw and raised the chains into the air so it would slam on the ground making an example of his slavery. "And the other is- I really didn't want to get beat for screwing my masters books."
He took out one of his small crumpled scraps and pushed it threw the tiny cracks in the bars towards Niobe. "Thats a poem written by a dog outside of Syria. Apparently he had freed his cats and he wrote that as inspiration about them." His voice grew excited. "Can you believe that? A hound freeing his cats willingly!" He then gave a small sigh. "Though it was in a very old very rare book. So I think slavery might be in those parts he freed them. So...ya know...sad if you think about it too." He was overwhelmed with emotions. He then cocked his head. "You can read can't you?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 8:22 pm
"Books? You man like the hounds keep in their libraries? How did you get to those?" She was even more curious now her green eyes shining with the desire to know more. He had taught himself from the time he was a kitten, perhaps he could teach her? If she learned how to read maybe it would help her with the skill Adham had taught her. She cringed as he slammed the chains and glanced over to make sure the hyena wasn't coming to reprimand. Satisfied that the brute was occupied with other matters she looked back at Adalgiso. "Could you teach someone else? Could you...teach me?" She asked softly her voice a bare whisper against the sound of rattling chains and mewls of misery.
She pulled one of the scraps close looking over the letters and while she could probably write it all down by copying it she couldn't quite read it herself. "A dog freeing cats?" She murmured softly in confusion, had it really happened or was it just a fantasy? She shook her head softly and pushed the scrap back towards him understanding now why it was so valuable to him. The things on those papers, the things he could read about had to give him hope. "No...I can't read it...I never learned such a skill." What she had learned was how to duck and cover, and of course how to cultivate beautiful flowers.
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 8:32 pm
"Yep those were on my first masters shelves. My momma was a breeder...and got a pretty male for her. And thats how I came to be." He took back his paper folding it as neatly as could be. "But as for the books. I read them all while the hound was asleep. Being prized for my coat he didn't keep me in the same conditions as my momma and siblings. I snuck out threw a broken lock crept into his room and learned as much as I could before the sun could come up." He took out another more simple scrap for her. It had a picture of a cat and a hound on it.
"Yea well I got sold from him then after that beaten for knowing how to read. So instead of reading at night I just ripped scraps out and ran away from master before they found out about it." He passed the scrap threw the bars. "The top part-" he pointed "Says 'I am a hound.' The next line says 'This is my cat.' And the third says 'He is my slave.'" He pointed out the words one by one as he read them out loud. "Simple right?" He grinned happy to teach somebody else his trade.
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Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 11:21 pm
His life sounded pleasant, able to live with certain measure of comfort and freedom and access to books. Then he got to the part about being beaten and she sympathized. She herself had been beaten countless times and more often then not it hadn't been for her own faults. She peered over her wide green eyes taking in the picture and the letters scrawled near them. She was still surprised he had managed to run away without being caught. He had a lovely coat and was no doubt being sought out even now, though he might never be found if he was sold first.
"Well...yes?" She said though in truth she didn't grasp at all how he made words from the random jumbles of letters. Still she was able to connect the words and pictures, maybe that was reading? She just nodded deciding not to push the issue further. "You'll probably be out of here soon enough..." She murmured glancing at the hyena who was still occupied.
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Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 11:54 pm
He nodded, "Yup then be right back here. Me and that horrible beast got a bit of an understanding...if you want to put it that way." His eyes glanced from her towards hyenaman. "See I run away and he always catches me- not that it's the intent. But then he sells me off as a new slave to some dumb hound who wants a pretty pelt FAR away so they won't figure I'm back here when I get caught again." She sighed. "Though I'm not entirely sure how the hyena man manages to catch me EACH time. My plans are WELL thought out." His tail curled around his body depressed. "I really want to be free. I thought the words I learned would help." He moved a tuft of fur and showed a hidden welt. "But it's only got me into a heap of trouble."
"I can still teach you if you want." He thought about it not wanting to get Niobe in any more trouble then she was in. "I mean it's a risk to learn how to read. And neither of us are in the BEST situation." He brushed over his coat. "Ya'know don't want to be the reason you get an extra few welts at night, even...even if reading is the best escape a slave can have." He grinned at the scrap with the words on it.
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Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 6:55 pm
Her eyes went wide at his strange confession, goodness but he and the hyena could probably get into heaps of trouble if the hounds caught on. Still she could see how it would benefit the stinky old brute, he probably made a lot of stones off of the pretty patterned male. She shook her head mildly surprised that Adalgiso had managed escape so many times. Still she could see how it might be managed if he was kept as a pampered breeder and not locked up as tight.
"He's probably just lucky to keep catching you..." She tried to reassure him not wanting him to feel inferior. If she said the hyena was too smart and greedy to loose out Adalgiso might think the hyena was smarter. She doubted the cruel black market dealer was smarter then the self taught cat beside her, but she didn't doubt his ruthlessness.
"We better not...he might see an I wouldn't want your book taken away." Though they were little more then paper scraps she could see now how much they meant to the male. "If we ever see each other, some place away from here...you can teach me?" She murmured her voice hopeful. She just had to believe someday she would be far from these cages, that the chains wouldn't be so heavy, and her body wouldn't ache. She had to believe there was something sweet and nice in her future, something to keep her hope alive and her spirits from breaking.
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Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 7:14 pm
He puffed out his chest. "Yea he dose keep getting lucky. My plans are fool proof!" He mocked in the direction of the hyenaman. "And one day he won't catch me and I'll get away from him." He grinned at the thought of being free and stuffed the paper back into his collar. "I promise to teach you if we get out of here- at a later date." He still seamed sad that he couldn't teach her now. She seamed so miserable that he knew reading would perk up her day even just abit. He watched as the hounds browsed the cages and he sat back on his haunches displeased.
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Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 7:22 pm
She knew the odds were slim, cats didn't go free she couldn't even remember that far back. Probably generations before she had ever been born there may have been free cats. Not anymore though, the hounds reigned supreme now, and the badgers, hyenas, and crocs all ran the cities leaving the felines to endure all their cruelties and sports. She didn't want to crush the dreams of another though and so despite the sadness in her eyes she forced a fake smile and nodded at Adalgiso.
"It might happen someday for you...you'll get away." Yet her reassurance left a gaping question, where would he go once he was free? What land was there for a feline on the run? Did freedom mean dying in the desert with no one to even remember your name?
"Maybe your next master will think its good you can read, sometimes shop owners need their slaves smart." She certainly hoped he was that lucky, he could also end up with a horrible master who might...well there was no point thinking horrible thoughts.
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Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 7:33 pm
"I doubt that any master would want a cat that could read." He sighed hard once again at the thought. "I've had more then fives and all of those miserable brutes were mad I could read. I was supposed to be a breeder for them ya know. Breeders don't read. They breed and make more slaves. If a breeder knew how to read they would teach the kittens and soon every slave would learn how to read. Bad for the hounds I suppose."
He twiddled some sand beneath his claws. He couldn't write but the feel of the sand was making him feel better. Then he slammed his paw into his drawing frustrated again. "I don't want to be a breeder again! I don't want to be owned by anyone." He cursed his stupid pretty pelt.
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Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 7:37 pm
She could sense his mounting frustration and she felt for him, really she did. He didn't want to be a breeder and she didn't want to be a whipping girl. It wasn't fair, to either of them, they were unique and had hopes and dreams just like the hounds. Except they didn't have the rights the hounds did, they were like objects without desires or emotions only to be bought and sold.
She took a deep breath and then sighed softly matching the sound the male made. "I know it's not fair...but thats just the way things are..." She murmured softly and moved a paw half through the bars to brush his fur in a gesture of comfort. She drew back quickly and huddled into herself as she saw the hyena start to make his rounds and way back over.
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