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 Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2010 2:08 pm
((Open to slaves currently on the black market, and those that were recently bought)) Neser paced back and forth in the filthy cage, trying to work off some nervous energy in the cramped space he had at his disposal. It didn't really work so far. The filth wasn't what bothered him however, the slave house at school had been seriously nasty at times after all. The young slaves had spent most of their time and energy on feeding and cleaning up after the young masters, and their own living quarters were usually sadly neglected. The teachers didn't care as long as diseases didn't start to spread, and the young slaves... If they wanted it cleaner they could always tidy up on their free time.
No, what bothered Neser was the lack of masters at his current location. The hyena was not a proper master, he knew that much. Cats needed hounds to take care of them and make sure they stayed out of trouble. And he had hardly seen a hound around since he first got here last night. It was very disconcerting to a kitty that had never been without a hound master's firm guidance since he was born.
Some of his siblings had been lucky enough to be taken back to their original home after school, either to serve in the household or to be used as impressive gifts to friends of the family. But Neser wasn't good enough for that, even if he could bring some profit sold on the black market. Not even his coat was enough to let him stick around, since his former hound family had plenty of breeders already. They weren't interested in looks only anymore, so the useful and pretty offspring were the ones they kept.
Neser wasn't upset about that part. The hound masters knew what was best for the slaves and his opinion didn't matter. But the lack of masters in this new place was really starting to get to him. And so he paced, turned, paced.
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Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2010 9:54 pm
 Tadinanefer paced as well, but for different reasons. She couldn't wait to get out of the abominable cage she'd been placed in; the only reason she didn't yowl about it as because she knew she'd never get taken out, behaving that way. Yes, she'd been through the school like everyone else. And she'd hated it.
That's why she was here now. Yeah, she had the ability to please, and given the right hound she might love to do so, but she'd never really subscribed to the idea of their absolute superiority and as such had gotten low marks and a lot of discipline in school despite her inborn ability.
The feline in the next cage caught her eye. He looked very familiar. "Don't I know you?" she said abruptly, her ire causing her to sound much meaner than she'd intended. to her, being locked up like this was torture. And it had waaay too many bad memories stamped on it.
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Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 2:50 am
 Able crouched nervously in his cage, nose wrinkling and unwrinkling as he struggled against the putrid smell of his confinement and his desire to maintain a more presentable appearance. His eyes followed the steps of anyone who wandered close, his head bowed and his ears low in a manner much more submissive than those of the cats near him. A few were pacing, he could hear, and another was hissing with a boldness he’d never have. He, on the other hand, with his bristling tail and a posture that betrayed his frightened demeanor, was as silent as a grave.
Or at least, he had been. When he heard someone speak, he jumped, chains clanging loudly against the side of the cage he had been closest to. “M-me?” he stammered out, looking about for the original speaker, surprised at being addressed so suddenly. When he spotted her, he realized that her words hadn’t been directed at him, but to another. Embarrassed but certain that, because of the clamor he had made before, his words hadn’t gone unnoticed, he was left to deal with his mistake.
“I’m s-sorry. I thought you were taking to m-me,” he explained, quite unnecessarily. As he did so, he huddled down and backed away, farther from the blue-eyed feline that had spoken, in hopes that humbling behavior would add to his apology and that his smaller form would make himself more easily forgotten.
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Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 3:54 am
Neser was just turning away as his cage neighbor spoke, and since she got an answer right away he didn't think she had addressed him. At his next turn, however, he studied the two cats that must have made all that noise and the female did seem oddly familiar. There had been a lot of slaves at the house where he was born and he had never learned the names of all of them. But since the masters liked certain patterns and colours many of the slaves looked similar.
"You look like my aunt," he stated, "but she has green eyes."
The dust coloured male in the other cage looked absolutely terrified for no apparent reason, and he started to wonder why. Sure, it was unpleasant and just a little bit scary here but that couldn't be the only reason.
"Did you do anything to him," he asked the grey female. He didn't really think she had hit him, but he had heard the noise of metal against metal after all.
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Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 9:52 am
 "You're awful skittish."
Haji stirred, but none too quietly. It was hard to get any shut eye in this place, what with all the different slaves and sounds and smells. One thing was certain, she didn't like it. Not a bit. Even if she hadn't had a steady master yet, she'd rather go back to any of them than stay here much longer. Her cage was too cramped, which made her antsy, which in turn began to take a toll on her patience, which was wearing thin. She really just wanted to sleep, yet at the same time couldn't bring herself to be downright rude to her neighbors. Completely, at least.
"You aren't gonna get anywhere good if a hound see's you all afraid like that. But you can't be too pushy, either. Gotta balance it or something." So says the cat that's been here more times than she would have liked to. Maybe she wasn't the best one to give advice. But that thought wasn't going to stop her from trying.
The patchy, slip of a cat sat up from where she had been trying to nap, the back right corner of her little cage, to take a gander at the spotty cat and the two that did look a bit similar. She didn't know either of them, but she secretly hoped they knew each other. While friends didn't often last too long in this place, what with purchases and sometimes even illness, it was always a wonderful thing to have someone to talk to and she was actually feeling a small pang of jealousy, though she wouldn't wish any friends or family the fate of sitting in this stinking hole.
Haji inched herself closer to the bars of her cage, as close as she could have gotten to the nervous cat.
"Hey, what's your name? Got a name don't ya? I'm Haji."
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Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 1:06 pm
"No, of course not." At first she was angered by the question, but after a moment of reflection she began to soften, realizing what she was allowing her anger to do. "I'm sorry," Tadinanefer said, much more gently, turning to the spotted cat. "I didn't mean to scare you. I hate being here, but that doesn't really excuse my manner, does it?" Her tail twitched slightly as she settled down. The she addressed Neser again.
"I think maybe we were from the same breeder. If you are who I'm thinking of, you might be the one I was told was my cousin." She shifted slightly, trying to get comfortable on the concrete and wire. "Were you the one that dropped a dead snake on the dinner table by mistake?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 3:40 pm
Able's ears twitched as more sounds reached them. But, again, with words alone, it was hard to tell whom the speaker was speaking to (anyone could look like anyone's aunt when he didn't know which aunt was being referred to, after all) and he made sure that, this time, he would check and ensure it was indeed himself who was being addressed before he spoke again. A quick glance was enough to deduct that he was not the target of the orange male's words and he looked down again, lest anyone chose that moment to turn towards him and, by chance, catch his eye. Following this motion was a nervous, fearful ripple that ran through him when the female he had mistakenly responded to replied back in turn, with more aggression in her tone than he would have found comfortable.
"I-it was m-my fault," he said, surprised at the sudden disappearance of her anger. He would have continued, a string of apologies and reasons and explanations on why she shouldn't feel bad because of it -- that, as he had said, it was surely his fault -- at the ready. But she had turned away to talk to the cat she had first intended to speak to, and he felt no desire to bring her attention towards him once more. Silencing, he let the topic drop and returned his eyes outward, towards anyone that might have trotted by to examine the cages.
He thought that would have been the end of it, but them another voice reached him, this time from his other side. Thankfully, he refrained from causing a ruckus and he turned shyly, again trying to make sure that he wouldn't mistakenly respond to another. He was met with the gaze of a gray, orange, and white cat -- a female, from the sound of her -- with green eyes and shackles that could pass off for gold. He looked around, just in case she just happened to be looking at him but was actually talking to someone else, but could see no other offering her their attention. And so, with a nervous lick of his hips, he spoke.
"I-I suppose I am," he said, eyes falling to stare at her paws as he spoke.
Then, when she next spoke, "R-really?" He was fresh off the boarding school for felines and had never had a master before. He longed for one, if only to make some use of what he had learned, but the stories he had heard had filled him with uncertainty. This uncertainty broke away quickly, after he had stayed a few days in this fearsome place. Every time a hound had come, he had been still and on edge, hoping to be bought but unwilling -- or perhaps, unable -- to do much to draw good attention to himself. And if the female was right -- surely, she must be, as his very being there was proof of it -- then it was his fault and, if he wanted to leave as soon as he could, something would have to be done. He raised his ears and tried to smooth out the fur on his tail, but soon after he accomplished his task, he began to worry his new appearance would make him seem much more assertive than he was while he spoke to the other, and his work quickly fell apart as his posture returned to its original state.
"N-name's H-h-haji," he said, flustered to have been seen making such a foolish attempt. It was then that he realized he hadn't said his own name, but had in fact, repeated the female's, and he burned with even more embarrassment. Still, he couldn't leave it at that, without a proper introduction after she had asked, and in a small voice, he said, "I-I mean Able."
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 4:57 am
 Tau-tau sat quiet, listening to the conversation among the other slaves, and the bustle of the street, his brown tail tip slowly brushing back and forth, back and forth in front of him, and his large ears twitching slightly in the direction of every new sound. His eyes, however, he kept downcast. The tutors at the school had told him that he had very sharp, piercing eyes, whatever that meant, and that he should be careful not to look directly at a Master because of that.
Tau-tau frowned at his tail tip, his whiskers twitching slightly. He felt unsure and uncomfortable. The life at the school that he had known until now was over, and for a while yet, this cage would be his home, until he was bought by a hound. And he had no idea what to expect from that. Well, he knew what he had been taught, of course, but to actually be here, in the position of being sold at basically any time, put the whole reality of being a slave into new and unpleasant focus.
What would come next? What would happen now? What sort of hound would he end up with? What would he be required to do?
His ears turned suddenly to an interesting conversation, and he glanced over, through lidded eyes, at the patchy black, red and white-coloured cat who were talking to the skittish sand-coloured one. She seemed to know what to expect in this place, and though he wanted to ask, he didn't wish to interrupt her conversation with the sand-colored one. With a bit of luck, perhaps he wouldn't have to, though. He kept his ears trained on the conversation, and his half-closed eyes keenly observing the patchy female.
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 1:52 pm
It was a relief to meet someone from the same family, even if they hadn't talked much at all before this point. Anything familiar was welcome in this unfamiliar place. A cousin then, and unfortunately she had heard about that. The snake. His ears flattened against his skull as he was reminded of the embarrassing faux pas. He had scrubbed pots for ages afterwards and his paws still hurt just thinking about it.
"They told me to dispose of it," he whined, "But never where to put it. I just put it down there for a little while and then the master saw it and yelled at me."
The slaves in the cages around them had started to stir, and Neser now regretted admitting his mistake. How many had heard? The nervous cat that his cousin had probably not tried to beat talked to a many coloured one. They seemed to exchange names, and while he didn't catch the name of the white-red-black one the sand coloured one introduced himself as Haji-meanable or something. Weird name.
"Yes, I'm Neser," he said to his cousin, "I'm sorry, I don't remember your name."
He said it loudly enough for the surrounding cats to hear his name too, and only later realised that it might get embarrassing if they started passing around the snake story with his name attached to it. He was probably giving himself too much credit, however. There must be several slaves named Neser in any given town.
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 2:49 pm
Tadi chuckled. "It's okay, I managed to knock over an entire table during a banquet. Still not sure how it how it happened, but..." she shrugged. She'd mostly blocked out what happened afterwards. "I'm Tadinanefer. You been here long?" She was beginning to settle down and clean herself up from the long trip over, though it was difficult given the conditions. She noticed the cat across the way, the one colored like what she thought was a falcon, but aside from noting how handsome he was she pretended not to see him. He seemed rather like he didn't currently want to be noticed.
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Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 8:13 am
Neser's eyes widened as his cousin also admitted messing up. At one point it had started to feel as if he was the only kitten in school that messed up. Of course, it was a lot easier to remember mistakes you was whipped for yourself than to remember something another slave had been punished for. Neser would probably have realised that he wasn't the only one failing in his class had he just looked around a bit more, but he had started giving up before even failing instead. Not the greatest strategy, and it probably got him whipped as often as it saved his skin.
"Tadinanefer," he repeated and grinned as he thought of something funny, "Nefer and Neser! Can I call you that? I'm bad with long names..."
((OOC: Skipping ahead of post order this time since they're just talking among themselves. ))
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Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 1:48 pm
"Haha, sure," Tadinanefer replied good-naturedly. She was glad to have seen someone vaguely familiar; she'd been a bit lonely that way. She continued trying to clean herself up - even if she disliked the bondage to a hound it was certainly better that staying here. The cage began to feel cramped. She hoped she wasn't developing claustrophobia, being stuck in there. It certainly didn't bring back particularly good memories, either. Ah, well, she'd have to deal with it.
"Oh," she said, barely hiding her disdain, "here comes a hound."
((EDIT: Now, the hound that's picking her up can probably come in to do that, or I was thinking that if (she?) didn't want to do that, we could kind of make an unofficial npc out of it, like just "a hound" passing through without buying any. That was the idea. I'm sorry, I was tired an didn't word it the way I intended.))
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