Closed Clout Only Gets You So Far...

[Irriari]

33rd Day of Summer, 513 AV, Sunset

Irriari strolled around the perimeter of the Plaza of Dark Delights, occasionally glancing inward to examine a choice slave or boisterous vendor. The latter annoyed her immensely, and she couldn’t see herself purchasing a slave from anyone who was so adamant and loud about the quality of their wares. While the advertised slaves might have the skills promised, Irriari was far more likely to decide on a purchase based on her gut. Any slave could be trained and broken with time. As she paced, Irriari tried to steer her thoughts away from the dwindling coin purse tied to the inside of the quiver at her back. While she didn’t regret her purchase, the house she bought earlier in the season had set her back substantially. Still, a lack of mizas was no reason to ignore the wares that were positioned close to her home. Perhaps she could bargain with one of the merchants.

More than anything, Irriari was shocked at the selection the market had to offer. Slaves of all ages lined the area around the prime choice podium. The stronger slaves were shackled to each other or the podium. The weak, extremely young, and old, needed no chains and they tended to sit next to their respective vendor without any attempt at escape. Irriari preferred a slave that was feisty. The hopeless ones were far too easy to break. She slowly approached a girl with brilliant green eyes and matted brown hair. The girl looked up and spit in her direction, before speaking in a foreign tongue. While Irriari had no idea what the language was, the tone combined with the girls angry face made it obvious that she wasn’t being polite.

“You should be more careful with that tongue of yours. I’ve always wondered how someone would twitch if I cut it out.”

After a half bell at the market, she saw many slaves that reacted the same way. She doubted that they were truly angry at her. While the slaves in the market loathed their situation, she would bet all her mizas that their reactions were due to the fact that she was zith. She wasn’t planning on eating on them, though nothing she said could convince them otherwise. It would be stupid to pay hundreds of mizas on food.

After a bell at the market, Irriari decided to circle the market once more before heading home.

[Valerius Nitrozian]

Valerius Nitrozian didn’t stroll. He never strolled. He walked with his head held high and his back almost completely straight as if he ruled Mizahar and expected people to admire him and bow to him. Some probably would. The Nitrozians were well known in Ravok, and they owned hundreds of slaves. They were respected, especially here, in the slave market. He was dressed like somebody rich and powerful as well, even though he was just Sitanos Nitrozian’s grandson, and not even the oldest grandson. Humility had never been his forte. Behind him walked Tuuli, his slave, a young, pretty woman of nineteen with brown skin and long black curls. She was less arrogant than he was, but not by much. She was well aware of her privileged position as Valerius Nitrozian’s slave. She led a better life than most citizens of Ravok. Valerius‘ goal that day was to take a look at the new slaves that had arrived at the market and check out his family’s competition. If there were any promising ones, he would buy them – so that nobody else would get them. He didn’t get far though, at least not the place where the best slaves were being sold. The creature was in his way. The monstrous winged creature that walked about as if she were a free citizen. He frowned. Where was her owner? Why did they let a Zith walk around the market? Why wasn’t she chained? By Rhysol, the thing looked recvolting … „You there“, he called out to her. „What are you doing here? Are you a slave, and how much do you cost?“ She would hardly be the right companion for his Tuuli and his Melenna that was staying at the Estate at the moment, but she might have her uses. Zith weren’t often sold here. He could take her to the KRI and study her … or give her to his aunt, the head researcher, to be experimented on … Amanda would certainly appreciate such a gift. Maybe she would give him another promotion afterwards.

[Irriari]

The excitement of the slave market had diminished considerably after the first time Irriari had circled the area. Now, she was reminded of how low on mizas she was due to her recent purchases. Thinking about the quiet of the house that awaited her would have normally helped, but now she focused on the fact that it was empty except for herself. Owning slaves were her birthright as much as her wings, and her time away from the colony had made her miss the interplay between herself and the humans that had served her. She had no one to break and no one to toy with. The slave market was a horrible place for the poor.

Irriari was pulled from her thoughts by a voice that was clearly directed at her. Anger boiled to the surface of her mind and exploded outward, urging her muscles to spring into action. While it took effort to hold back, Irriari checked the space around her. As per usual, the humans were far away from her wings and claws. The human had been speaking to her.

“Am I a slave?”

She repeated the question mockingly. The nerve of these pathetic humans.

“I could ask the same of you. It’s all your disgusting race has ever been good for.”

Irriari paused for a moment, knowing that she couldn’t stop there. She continued,

“You can buy my body when I’m dead. Until then, I suggest you leave me alone, before I decide that your teeth would look wonderful as decorations for my shortbow.”

As she spoke, Irriari walked towards the man, hoping that he would run and cower. Prove to me how cowardly you are, human. Show me that your words are the only thing standing in between you and my claws.

[Valerius Nitrozian]

„Disgusting?“ Valerius asked and arched an eyebrow. He had already heard better insults. Tuuli on the other hand looked offended and slightly uncomfortable in the presence of the Zith. The normally arrogant slave had decided that it would be best to stay behind her master. Valerius refused to let her do that though. He grabbed the girl’s arm and pulled her in front of him so that she had to look straight at the Zith. He couldn’t stand cowards. Besides, Tuuli would be a great human shield if the Zith decided to attack. „You must be mistaken, Zith“, he informed Irriari. He didn’t run, and neither did he cower, but he looked into her eyes. Why should he be afraid of this ugly monstrosity? Fear was a useless emotion, besides it would make him look bad in front of the other slavers. „Have you ever looked into a mirror? I have never seen an uglier and more disgusting creature before. I on the other hand am considered to be quite handsome by my kind, and my family is among the most powerful in Ravok.“ „You won’t be of any use to me if you are dead“, he continued. „I’m not one of those questionable people that experiment on corpses. And teeth, especially human teeth, on a short bow just look ridiculous. If you absolutely have to decorate your short bow with teeth, you should at least pick longer and sharper teeth. How about Symenestra fangs? Or something off an animal, a tiger for example?“ „I could show you where to get such teeth – if you are a free citizen and not a slave of course.“ If she wasn’t for sale, he decided, he would try to get the creature on his side. She was ugly and a barbarian, but it wasn’t often that you found a live Zith in Ravok. Maybe he could convince her to fight in the Pit. Or put her in front of the Nitrozian Estate to scare his enemies. Or maybe he would still drag her to aunt Amanada. „By the way, attacking me would not be a good idea. It’s obvious what you are thinking. They’d kill you in a most unpleasant manner if you did as much as touch me. As I said, my family is quite influential in Ravok. My grandfather is Sitanos Nitrozian, and several members of my family belong to the Black Sun or the Ebonstryfe.“

[Irriari]

Irriari laughed lightly as the man moved the slave in front of his person. While it was hardly the cowering that she desired to see, it was still an admission of weakness. The man looked deep into her eyes, measuring her as she developed an opinion of him. Unlike any other battle, a battle of words revolved around the unspoken gestures and small movements that could be more dismissive than a letter of exile. The zith found herself intrigued by his boldness, but also annoyed by the disgustingly entitled tone that he used. Did this human think that he was immortal? His meaningless musing on the craft that her kind specialized in was like most human drivel- filled with ideas that mattered not to a warrior or anyone else. It seemed that this human spoke to hear his own voice on the wind. Laughing again, she interrupted his tirade.

“I could care less what you think of how I look, or how powerful your family is. You should worry more about how un-pretty your face would look if I shredded it to bits. No one would listen to you then, would they?”

She let him continue speaking, though she was already tired of his grating voice. He continued speaking about something or another, and she ignored him, instead turning her focus to the slaves and merchants to the sides of the market. Her eyes moved quickly, wondering how far away the closest Ebonstryfe guard was. When the man mentioned her desire to attack him, Irriari brought her attention back to the duo and spoke.

“What makes you think I would attack you? I mean, you’re already hiding behind that pathetic excuse for a slave. Why would I bother to attack
someone so afraid of me that he can’t even face me on his own?”

Irriari stepped forward. One step. Two. Within a few moments, she was close enough to touch the hair on the slave girl’s face, so she reached out, intent on doing so. Dance for me, girl.

[Valerius Nitrozian]

Valerius didn’t like it at all as the freak talked about shredding his face to bits. His good looks were of the utmost importannce to him, to the point that he’d rather die than become ugly, but the expression on his face remained indifferent. Any other reaction would have been unacceptable. „It would not come to that“, he replied coolly. „You would be killed before you could finish your work. Honestly, Zith, do you have a death wish? Do you want your life to end here and now, in the slave market, in a most humiliating manner? Don’t you have any kind of ambition, any goals in life besides seeing if you can anger people enough to shred you to bits?“ „Pathetic?“ he asked and glanced at Tuuli as if he were trying to see if the girl was indeed pathetic. „I don’t think so. She’s worth a few hundred golden mizas at least. But enough of that. Let me ask a question of my own. Do you honestly think I’m foolish enough to let my slave go, and face you, a creature with claws and wings, alone and unarmed?“ As far as Valerius was concerned, using Tuuli as a human shield was not a sign of fear, but simply reasonable. He didn’t have anything else to defend himself with. Tuuli though didn’t think it was reasonable at all. As Irriari approached her and reached out to her, she shuddered and whispered to Valerius, „Please, Master … you shouldn’t argue with her …“ Valerius frowned as he heard that – he hated Tuuli’s cowardly behaviour - but he adressed Irriari once more, „I don’t know why you would attack me or not. I don’t know you, Zith, I don’t even know what you are doing here, so I thought it would be reasonable to prepare for all eventualities.“

[Nemesis]

Irriari

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Lores

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Consequences, Injuries, Expenses, and More!

• ???

Valerius Nitrozian

Skills	*	*
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Lores

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Consequences, Injuries, Expenses, and More!

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• Valerius, if you decide to return, fling me a PM and I'll grade this thread.
• Irri, you know the drill.