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 Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 2:44 pm
He had appeared out of no where it seemed. A stranger and a newcomer to the traveling slave market. His imposing size and the strange, piercing look in his eye had easily parted the crowds of potential slave owners as he made his way through their ranks. It had been a chance meeting, but in the eyes of a seer nothing was simple chance. There was a reason for his having gone that way, a reason for the slavers to have stopped there, and a reason that she had stood out from all the others.
They were a strange group, a pride that operated out of an unknown, secretive location but sent branches of slavers out into the world. Some captured and some sold. They all brought their spoils back to the heart of their operation and gods only knew what they did with it. The atmosphere around these odd lions was not a comforting one in the least. Greed, anxiety, and a heavy haze of danger never left the grounds. The slaves stood with large metal rings around their necks, over-sized, but perhaps that was the point. They were loud, they stood out, and they would make it difficult to run with. If they got especially unruly, they could be tied at their ankles or paws.
It was a sad sight, but he was only one lion with only a few things that he had come across that were of any value to these. He couldn't free them all nor could he fight them. However, he couldn't simply turn his back without doing -something-. Anything.
It hadn't been a hard decision either. Her eyes...they were different. There was ambition unmatched, hope, and a kindness that had held him in place as he scanned through the unfortunate creatures standing shoulder to shoulder behind a line of guards. She was small, beaten, and exhausted from her trails there. For some found trinkets and a scrap of pelt, he had been presented with the mark of a slave owner- a golden sun clasp -and the slave herself. He attached the trinket to his cloak, a worn old thing he used to hide the scars around his mouth.
He thanked the slaver and without a word to 'his slave' or anyone else, led the way from the market. They walked in silence for nearly two hours before he slowed near a water hole. A few zebras scattered, whooping as the two predators made their approach. He was tired, thirsty, and restless. It was as good a place as any to part ways at any rate. They could both get a drink and go on their way. Her to her freedom and him to... wherever his paws took him next. There was no purpose to his wandering, only to keep moving. To keep his past out of his shadow and his visions to himself.
He stopped and turned to the female, his eyes never once changing from an aloof, detached state. "You are free to go. Shed your ring and go back to your loved ones. I'm not interested in the keeping of slaves."
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 5:43 pm
She had grown up on stories of what happened once you were sold; most of them failed to have a happy ending. In fact, none that she could remember had anything other than brutal, rather horrible endings, and the more she grew, the more sadistic the stories got. She'd heard of owners that bought slaves just to kill them, and others that bought them just to brutalize them; needless to say, that when she'd met her current master's eyes, the lioness had not seen a bright future in store for her.
Despite that, she'd been unable to give in, and she'd flattened her ears back fiercely against her skull, holding his gaze with a determination and fire that had often gotten her a bitter end and made her miss many a meal. It was part of the reason she was so small; she'd been malnourished when she was younger, and she'd never reached her full potential upon adulthood. Her personality, her passionate nature, and the way she would glare at her masters had cost her much, but something about her refused to give it up, and she figured that if he wished to kill her, she would fight him.
Now that it was just him and her, she would fight him. Granted, she would lose, but at least she would go down fighting, which was a whole load better than laying down and simply accepting whatever fate he had in store for her.
As such, needless to say, when the large lion stopped and turned to address her, the last thing the small slave expected to come out of his mouth were the words 'You are free to go'. She was, in fact, so completely rattle that she couldn't help but turn to the left and right, almost as if making sure he really was addressing her, and not someone else. Because despite what her senses were telling her, she simply couldn't seem to believe he was just.... letting her go.
After a few beats, her ears slipped back and flattened against her skull, her eyes narrowing into the same expression that had gotten her picked out from the crowd in the first place, "Is this... is this a test?" she honestly couldn't thing of anything else this could be, because... why on earth would he buy her just to set her free? She'd never encountered kindness in her life, and due to that, she was no only skeptic, but simply unable to believe in what had been beaten out of her for so long.
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 6:15 pm
The lion leaned down close to the water and reached a paw down to pull his scarf away from his mouth. His lips were badly scarred. Chewed on, clawed at, and in places even missing some flesh. It was grizzly and gruesome but at the moment, he was more thirsty than concerned about what a passing stranger thought of him and his disfigured mouth. He lapped up the water, internally sighing as it cooled his parched throat and settled into his empty belly. It would get him through a few more days at least. He didn't know what direction he would walk- or if it would be hot, cold, dry, or wet. He just knew he wasn't going to hang around here for very long.
Sitting up, he tugged his scarf back up his nose and looked over. She was still there. Staring.
He stared right back and slowly lifted a brow at her question. A test?
"No. I'm letting you go. This is where we part ways. If you want to go back, you are free to do so, but I thought you deserved the option."
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 6:25 pm
Of course she was staring!
She couldn't very much help it, given this was the very first sign of compassion, kindness and general optimism that had been tossed her way since she'd been born. Her nature disallowed her the opportunity to grasp at it, and she lifted her lips off her teeth into a low, barely audible growl. It had to be a test; couldn't very well anything else. The moment she turned away from him, she'd be ambushed, beaten, and tossed back into that hell hole of a life, surely.
Her claws slipped out and into plain sight as she continued to stare; despite the fact she'd been told not to keep them out in the open, it was an instinctive reaction for her, and more often than not... the small lioness didn't notice she was showing them, "I'm not going back!" her paw lifted, claws extended in a mildly threatening gesture that would have held more force if she hadn't been trembling slightly at the mere notion of a fight. After all, thinking about it was all well and good, but when it came down to it... she didn't want to die.
She wanted to live.
The small slave didn't want to end her life with a fight she knew she couldn't very well win.
And yet, the longer she held his eyes, the more and more convinced she was becoming that maybe he was, in fact, telling her the truth. Her paw slowly lowered, though her claws remain extended, "But..." her lips covered her fangs, though her maw hung open in sheer surprise, which she was doing nothing to hide, "But..." her head swung around to look left and right again before she turned to look back at the large, disfigured, imposing male. Her ears, which had been held back, pinned, flopped down defeated, unsure.
That was when she realized she had no idea what to do. Where to go from there, "I... I don't know how," a pause, "I don't..." she didn't know any other type of life.
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 6:32 pm
"Then don't go back." He said simply, his tone even and surprisingly patient. There was a no-nonsense air about him and apparently her aggression held very little sway over his own emotions. He'd been on the receiving end of punishment and abuse as well, but in contrast to anger and resentment that the smaller female harbored through her personal hell, he had come to accept that pain and suffering were just a part of life. An unfortunate part, and one that he would be glad to be rid of, but a part regardless. Allowing it to fester did so little, and it certainly did nothing good to a person.
He turned and started to walk again, his pace even but uncertain.
She spoke again and he stopped, turning his head just slightly. "...don't know how to what?" He asked, "Did you forget the way home?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 6:49 pm
"Did you forget the way home?"
Her eyes lowered to the floor at his words, her ears, already low, managed to lower a notch further, "I don't have one," her head turned to look back behind her. She could no longer make out her old 'home', if it could be called that, but it was probably gesture enough to make him realize that she'd not just been a random lioness snatched up and beaten; she'd been born and bred into the life. Now that she was presented with an exit, a way out... the poor lioness realized she had no idea what to do.
She'd never been taught to hunt. She didn't know how to find water; she'd been bred to have to rely on her keepers, unable to escaped or risk facing certain death, "I..." her eyes lifted to look back at him for a moment before they flitted away, "I don't know anything but this. I don't know how to be 'free'," the unspoken words 'they made sure of that', hung over them, silent, but obvious, "I don't want to go back," she'd passed from anger to mild panic in the space of a few heartbeats; while it was clear he could hide his emotions, she seemed to be wearing hers on her proverbial sleeve.
Truth was, she didn't know how to 'anything', really.
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 7:03 pm
The unspoken plea tugged at his heartstrings. She looked so small, vulnerable, and lost. Her firey eyes seemed to dim under the cloak of uncertainty and fear. She didn't know how to live for herself...how to be free. It was all he'd known for the last few years, and prior to that... he had been just where she'd stood. Experience had been a cruel teacher, and one that he had faced on his own.
He looked back out to the horizon and took a deep breath only to let it out in a long, slow sigh.
"I travel to no destination. It's hard, but it's a free life." He glanced back. "You are welcome to join me. But... not as a slave. Cast that ring aside, I have no need of it."
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 7:24 pm
Her eyes remain downcast, ashamed that she needed help. Still, despite not knowing the ways of the world, she was smart enough to know that pride would not keep her alive; that swallowing it for now was her only exit, no matter how much it hurt her or shamed her. She was still young, barely a young adult, and she was a fast learner. She'd learn, and she'd leave his side soon enough, but for now, she figured she'd take up his offer to help.
At his words, she finally lifted her head, and for a moment, remain uncertain. It took a few beats, but after a moment or two, a small, initially barely noticeable smile began to grow upon her maw. It spread like wildfire though, probably a byproduct of the adrenaline she could still feel coursing through her veins. Half of her wanted to run around, roll on the sand, jump into the water, for no other reason other than she could, while the other half of her was keeping the former reigned in, still uncertain around the large lion, "Yes," she said, "Yes, please," she padded nearer, but paused as he continued to speak.
Blinking, the small lioness looked down at the ring around her neck, and a paw raised up to push against it before she raised her eyes back up at him. A determined expression replaced her previously, almost shy smile, "No," she said as she lowered her paw, "I don't want to," she paused in her determination, almost as if unsure, and she actually flinched on instinct, used to being reprimanded when she disobeyed, "I... I like my ring. And since I'm free, I can do as I like, yes? Well, I think I'll keep it," she gave a firm nod before her eyes traveled up to the brooch he was sporting, "And yours is pretty too. I think you should keep it too."
A reminder of what he'd done for her, at least.
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 7:49 pm
He looked ahead and gave a jerk of his chin, motioning for her to join his side. Perhaps he would have to find somewhere to rest after all. The female would be hungry, tired, and rattled. The male took a breath and closed his eyes. One paw drifted up from the ground, his claws spreading out as he made a slow circular motion in the air. He searched, feeling out with his third eye, over the landscape. Fields rushed past his mind's eye, clouds tore past him, rivers and hills, valleys and rifts...
Then the ocean. A massive body of water, endless as it was mysterious. He could almost smell the sea air, hear the gulls crying, and feel the sand under his paws. There would be something there... something was calling them.
He altered his path, turning to the south and started to walk. As the female caught up and refused to discard her ring he turned to her curiously. It was a sign of bondage, a painful past... then she motioned to the cracked sun on his cloak. Oh...well... he wouldn't mind keeping it. It held his cloak nicely enough.
"Alright...", He paused, frowning. She... hadn't told him her name. Maybe... slaves didn't have names. After a spell he looked ahead again. "Chicanery. If you have no objections, we're going to the sea."
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Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 5:42 am
He kept on surprising her, with little to no effort whatsoever, and the poor female was so overwhelmed by the series of events that she couldn't even mask it. When he closed his eyes and did... the thing, out of a lack for better word, the small lioness sucked in a gasp of air. She couldn't quite put a name to it, and she'd didn't really know how it worked, but having lived among slaves for a long time, she'd heard and seen plenty of strange things. She'd heard about this type of thing, but she'd thought it to be mostly fairy tale, like the stories they'd share among themselves when the guards went to sleep and they were all left alone. Still, she said nothing, and when he finally turned to face her, she lifted her head as proudly as she could and squared her shoulders firmly; she'd made a decision and she was sticking to it, "Okay," she told him simply, easily changing her route to follow after him before swiftly taking a couple of leaps to walk by his side, trotting eagerly, "What's... the seas?" her head lifted up to look at him, and then tilted into a confused expression as he addressed her, "Chicanery?" it took her a couple of beats to realize what he'd done. She hadn't given her a name. Technically... she hadn't had one. She'd been called by a number most, if not all her life. Names, after all, were power, and the dealers had made sure to strip them of any and all power. He'd essentially given her a present of sorts of sorts, and she figured it was only right to return it. As such, without so much was waiting for answer, she grinned coyly up at him, "If you get to name me, I should get to name you, right? I think you should be Myuto. Because you barely talk, and I thought you were Mute at first. Also, I like the way it rolls out of my mouth," she lifted a paw briefly, "Myuuuuu~to~" lowering it, she offered him a sincere smile, "Sea sounds fine. Anything sounds fine." Life was suddenly... not so bad at all.
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Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 6:36 am
The change in her attitude was like night and day. The firey but quiet, disgraced slave shed like the old skin of a snake and was left in their wake as the new lioness bounced happily to his side. Her stride seemed so much lighter now, and her tone had lost the guard that she had originally thrown up to protect herself. He smiled, slightly, but the expression was well hidden by his thick scarf.
He looked over. "Chicanery. It means that you use trickery to achieve what you want." And surely, she had done -something- to sway him. Her eyes, her strange presence, the innocent and meek way she had joined him. Strange... he never thought he would have company. A small part of him had been afraid of his own reality, knowing that the liklihood of traveling and eventually dying alone was inevitable.
The name she gave him earned a humored snort. "Myuto." He repeated, testing the name out for himself. Well... it would do. "I suppose it works."
As for the seas... it was something he only knew of from stories and distant visions. It was still something he was unfamiliar with on a personal level, but there was some excitement in finally walking in that direction. It would take several weeks, surely, maybe a month or two if not an entire season, but it was nice to have a destination. "It's a large body of water. It goes on forever."
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Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 7:13 am
"Trickery?" the lioness blinked slightly, and then wrinkled her nose, "I don't recall doing any of that, but.... okay. I like Chi anyhow. It's nice. Far better than a number," she rolled her shoulders into a shrug and took the chance to stare at his scarf for a moment before growing bold and leaning over, her maw closing around the fabric, "Why'r you wearing this?" the sound of her voice was muffled by the cloth, but still perfectly audiable as she gave it a soft, gentle tug, "S'it because..." a pause as she let go, a paw reaching up to gesture to her own mouth, "S'it 'cause of your... you know," lowering her paw, she walked on before looking at him out the corner of her eye, "I got 'em too, you know. Scars. They just made sure to heal the wounds more properly. No one wants an ugly slave, after all... but they're still there. S'okay, you know. The scars, I mean." Her paw raised up again, this time directly in his line of sight, and sure enough, under the golden pelt, there were several scars that were visible; most prominent was a nasty, cross shaped one on her left paw, that hadn't managed to heal up like the rest, "Got infected," she explained before looking back ahead of them, still somehow managing to keep a jump in her step, "Yup! Myuto sounds nice, I think. I can call you Myu. It sounds cute, and it's a nice juxtaposition, because you don't look like a Myu at all, but you're nice, and I like you." Because apparently, the few hours they'd shared were more than enough for her to form an opinion of him, and strangely enough... it was a positive one. For all his strange gruffness, he was... dare she even think it? He was oddly sweet, "Oooh... like a lake, then!"
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Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 12:40 pm
"Perhaps you don't... not yet. I did see mischief in your eyes." He wouldn't doubt that she had the potential to be a spitfire and a silver tongue in her own right. She had already proven that she had some fire in her belly and a bit of an attitude to kindle it. But she was right, it was better than a number and it was certainly better than nothing. He wasn't about to go around calling her 'lady' or 'slave'. The shortened version, Chi, had a little more appeal than the mouthful he'd labeled her with.
He froze, shock and shame rippling over his features as she seized his scarf and tugged it down just enough to expose his scars. Stepping away, he quickly replaced the fabric. Well it was his own fault, of course he thought they'd be parting ways after he'd taken a drink. It was one thing to have a stranger, a one time encounter, see his wounds, but to have a companion see it...somehow that was worse.
"...where you come from, you get a ring. Where I come from, you lose flesh." He answered simply. It was the mark of a slave, a lowly b*****d, and a pawn. It wasn't anything to be proud of.
He paused as she lifted one of her paws and his eyes narrowed. The scar looked like a deep one... it must have hurt a good deal when it had been dealt, and on the paws no less. "I'm sorry for your hurts. I can't promise safety on our road but you won't find pain by my paw."
He winced. Okay, her name shortened was cute. So was his but... he wasn't cute. "Myuto is fine." He said in a roundabout way.
Moving on, he shifted his shoulders into a shrug. "Like a lake, I guess. But much bigger. You can't see the other side or where it ends. I'm sure you can follow it forever."
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Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 5:44 pm
Mischief indeed. As he froze and pulled away, the small lioness looked on with a smile; apparently, she wasn't judging his scars, and didn't quite understand what he was so ashamed of. In a way, his self conscious reaction only made her want to wean him out of it; to let him know it was okay, that it was fine, and that honestly, he was imposing and scary, scars or no scars, so why even worry about such a small thing? And then, he spoke, and her ears lowered, falling a couple of notches as she looked up at him. Silence befell them for a while, during which she padded alongside him, pondering his words until something occurred to her; if his life had been anything like hers then he craved what she craved. He probably wanted to connect; to feel. Except... he also appeared to be much more shy about it than she was. Allowing herself to hop up slightly, she bumped the side of her body against his (contact was contact, and she'd start out small), "Your scars are what you make of them. Just like my ring. It doesn't make me anything; it's not a mark at all," she lifted her gaze and offered him a smile, while the silent, unspoken 'cheer up', hung above them, "This is fine," he told him, "It's more than I'd ever thought I'd have, and it's thanks to you. That's enough for me," and then she grinned, "Myu~~" it just sounded like such a strange name to call him by, it made her want to use it all the more, "Lead the way. I'll follow." And Chi was surprised to notice that she truly did mean that.
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Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 10:15 pm
He winced, but didn't move away as the lioness brushed against his side. Company...he wasn't used to. Contact with company he certainly wasn't used to. And kindly contact with company was almost mind blowing. He'd avoided spending too much time close to anyone really, and even his mother had been hesitant to show much affection following her punishment. But... the lioness had come from a similar background. It must have been difficult for her to reach out. WHY she did was another topic but... gold star for trying.
He snorted again. He couldn't just take off his scars like she could her ring but that was beside the point. She was trying to be uplifting somewhat. "I've not had much experience around others to know how they would be viewed. I still.. would rather keep them hidden for now."
He glanced over, scolding her with a glance but it was a half-hearted expression. Myu. He wasn't cute, damnit. It was just too... fluffy. It sounded like the sound of a newborn cub.
"Very well." He looked ahead. "Chicanery."
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