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 Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 9:12 pm
 Oh, that's right, thought Casimir, stretching his way out of his den, Autumn's here already. The chilly air had jolted him in contrast to his cozy bed, and as he blinked and looked about the dewy pre-dawn atmosphere of his pack site, he pondered Antianeira's shift into winter living, and blew little puffs of steam. He loved winter, its capability for crystalline stillness and the hell-broke-loose fierceness of its storms, but he could look forward now to the fragrant spice of fall, the odor of the world rushing towards hibernation, the scene change the forest slowly pulled. He shook out his coat, quick and vigorous, to let the new chill in as he made his way to his superiors' dens.
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Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 9:47 pm
 Varia had been up for quite some time today, she was mentally going over today's training lessons as well as coming back towards the main den area after a long morning run. It was a shame none of the other sisters were out doing the same, as it got the blood pumping for the upcoming training. Training was pretty much the only thing on Varia's mind most day, well that and how much she hated males. Though even she had to admit there was a certain pleasure that could only be achieved by bossing around one of the useless beasts doing meaningless tasks all day long. And speaking of useless beast there was Casimir, or Dirt as she prefered to call him.
Well the sisters didn't have a training lesson for a little while so perhaps some fun was in order for the day. "Dirt." She called out as he came out of his den, only a short time ago she had accompanied him and the Queen's son Patroclus on a hunt and it was then she realized a couple of things about him, this she would never voice in a million years. "I have some things for you to do today, for you shall be my personal slave until I am needed elsewhere." The smile that crossed her maw was not the good kind, it was the type that said she was about to work him to the bone for no reason other than he was male.
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Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 9:56 pm
There was no question of who had spotted him, certainly - he only knew one Sister who felt it necessary to reliably call him something even more demeaning than Slave. He glanced her way and smiled, trotting humbly toward her with a friendly little wag of his tail. "Anything for you, Sister," he murmured sweetly, standing before her with his eyes demurely averted, his head bowed in submission. Best not to think on what Varia was going to make him do, really; best to concentrate on looking very, very meek.
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Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 10:03 pm
Why was he always so happy to serve the sisters? True a loyal slave was a dime a dozen but even her worthless brother Iosef and that other slave whom she hadn't bothered to remember his name was no where near as enthusiastic about their duties as Casimir was. That was fine, she knew ways to wipe that damned smile off of his maw. "Follow me." She told him coldly and turning walked off into the trees. They walked a good distance, her not saying anything to him, what would she have said other than an insult or two - oh those would come with time of course. But there was no need for pointless banter between them.
After a good amount of walking Varia came to a stop. They were closer to the border now, since the slaves were not allowed to live in the more central region of the pack lands. Out here the ground was much harder than near the sisters den, a perfect place to dig a completely random den. "Dig." She motioned towards the ground, as really the order shouldn't require too many details at this point. "A good sized den."
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Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 10:12 pm
Cas followed Varia silently, giving himself this time to appreciate the cold morning air, the quieting birds. Surely, this would be the last peaceful moment he'd get for a good part of the morning.
As they stopped, and Varia gave him his orders, his face betrayed his puzzlement as he considered their location and the task she was asking of him. In a moment he was pacing over the ground, though, sniffing gently as if to guess what obstacles lay beneath its surface. So, she wanted him to dig a solitary, extra den, he thought, as he began to pull the clotted topsoil apart. If he got to boss people around, he'd probably take a day to do this, too.
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Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 10:18 pm
Lowering herself onto her haunches Varia got comfortable as surely this task would take Cas a while to complete given the terrain they were in. A very small part of her wished that she could read what was going on in his mind as he was tasked such a random duty. Honestly there wasn't exactly a reason for digging a den here, there were plenty of empty dens scattered about the pack lands, so another one was quite pointless. But wasn't that the point of the slave, to do pointless things for the amusement of the sisters.
"Make sure you don't do a sloppy job, it needs to be fit to house a sister charged with border watches." That was pretty much a lie. Oh sure it could be used for that in the future, when the pack was larger and they required such outposts to ensure their territory remained untouched, but at this very moment it was just going to be another hole in the ground. The reason she mentioned it being for a sister was to make him dig it that much larger, the sisters had very large and comfortable dens compared to the slaves.
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Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 10:30 pm
Of course, he thought, as his paws bit into the earth, it wouldn't make sense to dig a small den out in the middle of nowhere. Really, he felt a bigger twinge of resentment at her instructions than he was used to feeling, ever. He gave a little huff of a sigh, deciding not to answer her, and continued gouging out the beginnings of a den. With a little concentration, the physical exercise soothed his irritation, and he was soon digging enthusiastically; contrary to what his packmates might think, he liked to do a good job, and he felt more than up to the task of making a den. As he labored away, widening a trench that would eventually become an entrance, a grin snuck onto his face at a thought: lucky him, to be digging this den before the ground froze for the winter! He bit the grin down, and focused again on digging; wasn't it nice, then, how the clods of earth broke apart at his paws? So much better than scratching away at ice.
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Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 10:38 pm
If he thought he had hid that smile from her he was sorely mistaken. Varia's eyes were on him like a predator on its prey, every little move, smile, blink of his eyes she noticed, as if waiting for him to screw up in some way and then give her a reason to yell at him. Not that she required a reason to yell at a slave, but sometimes it was good to have a solid foundation for whatever verbal abuse she was to throw their way. "Do hurry it up, you have much more work to do today." Her comment was tossed at him idly and yet it was also a command for him to pick up the pace. Oh she was well aware how much work it was to dig a den, but when she said dig faster well then he had best get to it.
Leaning forward just a bit Varia made a quick inspection on his progress so far. Well even being forced into such a random job he was doing it pretty well. And clearly his well muscled body was helping him along, that made her think - perhaps this job wasn't challenging enough for him. Well while he continued on in his work she would think of something much more physically draining for him to do.
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Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 10:44 pm
Cas picked up his pace at Varia's criticism; he was sure she'd seen him smiling, and took it as a sign he needed to be heckled more. This thought made him smile, too, and he scrabbled his claws to dislodge a big, rooty chunk of earth, heaving it behind him in a show of vigor. "I'll do my best, Sister," he replied, in the sweet, placating tone he used exclusively with her, and continued excavating this hollow. He could feel her watching, and it tickled him, to know he was doing his job well, even by Varia's standards.
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Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 6:18 pm
Varia huffed a bit. His best? Was it even possible for slaves to do their best? And even if they were, their best would be far less than any of the Sisters worse. A thought crossed her mind for a moment, they were far from the main pack lands and chances were no patrols would be coming by anytime soon, hell if he did anything to piss her off she could turn this den digging exercise into a dig your own grave exercise. And certainly no one would question the sudden disappearance of a slave, they had their freedom to leave if they so wished. Instead of dismissing the thought completely Varia merely saved it for in the future.
Her eyes stayed on him as he dug with even more passion than before. Why was he so enthusiastic about such a thing? Must be male stupidity. Still, he was doing an alright job of it, though she would rather die than give him a compliment. And yet there was a reason behind her making him to this work as well as what was to come, she was testing him in a number of ways. Right now, she was testing his endurance and focus. It was certainly no easy task to quickly and efficiently dig a new den in this hard packed dirt, and even a well muscled wolf could tire if they went at it the wrong way. She was waiting to see when that would happen.
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Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 6:33 pm
It was probably for the best that Cas didn't know he was a mood-change away from digging his own grave. Such knowledge would surely have slowed him down, and he was moving along at quite a nice clip. Though the earth was slow to give way to his grappling claws, the hard-pack quality of it meant he didn't have to be so careful with the structure of the den. It wasn't midday when, panting like a bellows and thoroughly studded with pebbles and dirt, Cas backed out of the fresh-dug den, kicking out a last spray of debris. He paused for a long moment, his tongue bright and lolling, and wondered how far he was expected to go without Varia getting involved in the process. It wasn't the roomiest hole in the world, but it was larger than his own; still, the floor was rough, the ceiling was rough, and he wasn't sure if the Warrior was capable of getting bored. He glanced not to her face but in her direction, waiting for a salvo of harassment from which he could derive further instruction.
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Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 6:46 pm
As he continued to slave away at this meaningless task Varia kept quiet, she wasn't much for talking anyways. When he seemed to be finally done she rose to her paws, and padded over to the entrance of the newly dug den. Lowering her head she glanced inside. Well it wasn't perfect, but given the conditions and the amount of time taken it would have to do - for now. Taking a step back she looked at Cas who was covered in dirt from all that digging. How appropriate she thought.
"It is not the best den I have seen, you will need to smooth it out later. I have more work for you." Without another word Varia motioned with her head for him to follow her, knowing that he would if he valued his life. Once again they walked in silence, Varia took them slightly past the border of the pack lands, where on occasion the sisters would hunt when the herds moved to the lusher areas. Coming to a stop Varia turned to look at 'Dirt' he probably thought she was going to make him dig another den. And while it would be somewhat amusing, that was not on her agenda for now.
"Why must you always smile when you work?" She asked him bluntly. It wasn't that she really cared, more than it annoyed her to no end. "Do you think its amusing?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 7:03 pm
Casimir listened to the Sister's evaluation of his den without much of a reaction; he'd guessed she would say just that. He did his best to follow her at a discreet distance, trying to gain a fair bit of space between them without her calling him on it, and quickly shook the dirt out of his coat. Following that, he trotted briskly back to Varia's heels, still panting, and thought about almost nothing at all as they wound their way out into the border lands.
His brow furrowed quizzically at her question; this was possibly the first time she'd ever asked him what felt like a personal question. Caught off-guard, he glanced a little coyly to her face, and shot for what she might think was an acceptable answer. "It's not that I find digging holes amusing, exactly...I guess I just can't think of many things to not smile about, Sister."
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Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 7:22 pm
"You are a slave, you should find nothing to smile about." It was in Varia's eyes the truth. Slaves should not be happy, they should be downtrodden and respectful of their superiors, not laughing and smiling all the time. The other slaves fell into the first category while Cas most certainly fell into the latter. Still...no, she didn't even want to think about it right now.
"Tell me, would you smile if you were asked to do something that seemed quite unnatural?" It may have seemed like an off question but she was once again judging him for something. Whether she revealed what that something was now or later was yet to be determined. Maybe she would see how quickly his smile faded if she told him what she had in mind for him...after she got his answer.
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Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 7:28 pm
Cas listened, keeping his face in the pleasant neutral it so often was when he spoke with the Sisters. Though, the word 'unnatural' resonated uneasily to him, and he couldn't help a small flicker of worry that darkened his eyes. "I suppose that depends, Sister," he said quietly, carefully; he could feel the little edge of danger Varia so often caused easing up on him.
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