Closed [BDC] Playing Dress Up and Makeovers

[Katherine Morealis]

Hearing the hurt in Shayna's voice, Katherine was a tad too much delighted to know that her voice affected the slave that much. It made up for the heinously rude comment on her ignorance of cures for lice and the insinuation of the inferior quality of her family's slaves. Somehow, she found herself able to forgive the slave this time, attributing her boorishness to her lack of proper training under a good master. Oh, and that embarrassed look on her plain, freckled face was priceless! Katherine could not quite hide the mischievous glint in her blue eyes as she watched the slave hobble, the basin heavy with water in both hands, out of the room. While the slave was gone, she removed her apron, the front side quite damp with water, and hanged it on a hook on the wall. Katherine removed the ribbon that held up her long, bronze hair and it fell in tumbles down her back. She then straightened her the dress she wore, a lovely cotton piece dyed in a rich blue color and embroidered with elegant floral patterns. The frills, previously hidden by the thick apron cloth, bounced up and down as she walked across the room. It was not often that she wore something simple -- compared to her other clothes, it would indeed be a rather modest dress -- but she had no plans to go out today, and she had closed the shop early, so there was no occasion to dress up for. When Shayna had re-entered the laboratory, her mistress was taken by surprise by the slave's inquiry. "No," She immediately replied, her voice hard and tense at the prospect of a failed experiment. "No, it's not supposed to itch at all." Katherine paced around the room, racking her mind for reasons why this would be so. Did she put too much of something? Did she mix the wrong oil in? Or worst, was it allergies? "Shayna, come over here." When the slave had obliged, she removed the towel wrapped around the smaller girl's head and stared at her scalp. The skin on her head was pale and white, a stark contrast against her midnight hued hair. If it was an irritation, her scalp should have been stinging red by now if it was already itching, but it was not. Katherine striked out the possibility of an allergic reaction from her mental list. If that was not the case, what went wrong? Katherine screamed in her mind as she went to the table and pored over her journal, right on the page where she listed the ingredients she had used a bell or so earlier. "Lice? Could it be that you have lice?" Katherine turned to stare at Shayna, weighing the possibility inside her mind. But she immediately dismissed the notion, noting out loud that she would have seen the slave girl scratch her head violently a while back if it was the reason, and Katherine was very sure that was not the case. "Then what?" She thought out loud as she reviewed the ingredients she had used earlier. And then a thought struck her. "This itch you feel, is it a tingly kind of itch-- sensation all over your head?" Katherine asked, her forefinger and thumb cupping her chin in thought. "I mean, does it kind of feel... cool? Like a burning feeling that sort of feels cold on your scalp?" Katherine hoped it was only the peppermint oil that was causing the urge to scratch on Shayna's head. If it wasn't... well, she do not know what it was anymore. Hopefully, it really wasn't a case of lice because, Katherine shuddered as she thought, what if Iora had already gotten it? And she did not like the idea of having caused both of her help to need medical assistance at the same time. Not only would it bring a bad image to the quality of her products, but it would also be too troublesome to have to do every thing in the shop all on her own.

[Shayna]

Shayna hurried over to her Mistress, the itching becoming less pronounced as Katherine took the towel off her head to examine her scalp. Her fingers curl into fists though to keep from pressing against her head. The itch was only a discomfort but that was the least of Shayna's concern really once Katherine exclaimed about lice.

"I do not have lice!" Shayna denied vehemently, shaking her head that might have sent her dark hair swaying if it wasn't so wet from the shampoo. "I wouldn't have just suddenly started itching now had I had lice now would I?" She asked, even as she buries her fingers in her hair, not to itch but to run her fingertips over her scalp. Most of the time you cant really check yourself for head lice but if the infestation is bad enough then you can feel scabs from bites scratched open by fingernails. Shayna didn't feel any of these.

She nods when Katherine asked about the cold heat, she would have thought it was odd that someone would ask about a cold heat but now with her scalp chilling and tingling she understood better how to explain the sensation. "Yes Mistress Katherine. It..it is fading but it still itches somewhat.." Shayna gathers her damp hair and pulls it over one shoulder, now that the fury has calmed down over her itching head she straightens once more to face her Mistress.

"You wished for me to clean up Mistress Katherine?" Her voice once more retained the cool professional tones, and if once in a while her finger raises to press against her scalp, she manages to hold still even as she cast her eyes about to access what needed to be cleaned.

ℬ

[Katherine Morealis]

"Oh, so it was only just the peppermint after all." Katherine breathed a sigh of relief, then when she caught herself doing so, she immediately cleared her throat and addressed the slave again. "It is natural for you to feel that cool sensation on your head. I put peppermint oil because not only is it really good for both dry and oily scalps, but it also promotes hair growth as well. That's what it does when you feel the tingly, sort of itchy sensation on your head." Katherine paused, a pensive look crossing her face as she stared at Shayna's hair. "Although... if the itch does not go away later, or if ever it worsens, tell me at once. I have added jojoba in the mix to dilute the peppermint but I don't want to take any chances when it comes to my products... Right." She clapped her hands, and when her slave mentioned taxing task of cleaning, Katherine had once again resumed her air of authority about her. "Scrub the basin clean outside. There is a sponge and a soap on the counter with it. Use that. Wipe the counter dry with a rug when you come back. And that shelf over there," Katherine gestured at the two stone shelves at the corner of the room, located in the cool shade where the warm rays of the sun cannot reach it. One of the shelves contained a large amount of dark colored, 20 mL glass vials. There are labels glued to each of the glass containers, indicating the names of all the different oils Katherine had extracted, although some of it were bought, in the past season. The other shelf contained all sorts of glass wares and laboratory equipment. "The shelf of the left, the one with all the tiny glass vials, organize them by name. If you can, align them by alphabetical order as well to make it easier for me to locate them. Separate the ones which have the word 'essential' in them from the others and place those on the lower tiers of the shelf. The vials which does not have the word 'essential' in them can be placed in the upper layers of the shelf. Use the stool if you can't reach the vials on the top." Her head tilted ever so slightly to the side, and with one eye brow raised, she asked, "You do know how to read letters in Common... right?" "Anyway, you do not have to deal with the other shelf with all the glass containers and equipment." Katherine was about to dismiss the slave when she remembered one more reminder to add. "Ah, and do be careful in handling the vials. Many of them are really expensive and hard to procure. Plus, you would not like to have them touch your skin when they are still pure as they are now. There are some really strong really strong, dangerous stuff mixed in the bunch there." She added with a slight smirk, and a hint of taunt in the lull of her voice. It was true though. The essential oils were very hard to extract from their plant sources, and she had to pick almost all of a plant from her stock in the garden just to make enough to fill a tiny vial. And with how she was still blindly looking for the very best combinations of oils for each product, she even had to buy more from outside sources. Katherine frowned, and swore to herself that if ever that Shayna manages to broke even one of her oils, she would make her pay real hard.

[Shayna]

Shayna was somewhat relieved to hear that the itching she had endured was something natural, though she was beginning to realize that duty as a test subject was not without risk. However she had hoped that Katherine would put her to use in more places then simply the garden so she wasn't complaining really.

Her odd colored eyes never moved from Katherine as she began her list of chores for Shayna to do, her expression one of concentration as she memorized the list as Katherine spoke. That was something that Shayna was good at though she didn't know exactly how she did it, once she heard something she usually could remember word for word what was said. One of the masters on the breeding farm had once said that while the gods didn't give her her mother's beauty or her fathers physical strength they made up for it between her ears. It was a kindness that even the master himself had not known that he had given to Shayna in that sentence, it gave her her sense of self-worth At times through out the years she had occasionally -very occasionally as Shayna was pragmatic and wouldn't think it was healthy to dwell on what would never be- wondered how far she could have gone if she were to have been given an education on something other then being a slave.

When Katherine got to the part where she was asking about alphabetizing and reading, Shayna found herself in a bit of a conundrum, she had never been given permission to learn to read. She knew of what happened to the group of slaves that tried to teach themselves, and knew the consequences. However she had never intended on learning what little she did know, but reading was not something that was on her list of skills to boast of when put up at Auction.
If she lied and said she did have permission to know what little she knows and Katherine checked her docket then she would be found out and might be in twice the amount of trouble.

"I know my letters Mistress Katherine yes. Enough to pick them out in writing..I didn't intend to learn them, but one of the children of the Master used to take his lessons in the gardens. I picked up a little, " She was quick to add a disclaimer, "But not because I was eavesdropping on purpose. I can't read words proper..but I can recognize the order the letters go in. A before B..If you show me the word Essential I will be able to spot them but I don't know how it is spelled."

When Mistress Katherine warned her about breaking the vials Shayna nods, and waits for just a few beats to make sure she had finished her list of duties before she spoke up again. "Would you also like me to sweep up...that mess?" She asked, pointing to the snippets of her own hair on the ground. She understood that it was not unusual for people to cut and trim their hair, she just found it a bit unsettling to see a part of herself on the ground. She didn't analyze why she felt that way, most likely it had something to do with not owning anything not even her own body really.

As she waits for Katherine's responses she moved toward the shelves that the vials were stored. She couldn't read any of them, she supposed she might have been able to muddle through reading one or two letter words but that would be a stretch with no formal education. But the writing on the labels was clear enough so that she could pick out the beginning letter on each Vial.

She decided to tackle that project first, simply because it seemed prudent to do so while Katherine was still in the laboratory in case she needed to request help. For a moment she stood trying to decide if she wanted to start clearing the vials from the top of the shelf first or the bottom. The top would give her more room to put the alphabet beginning up there, like A's and B's but it might be a little dangerous to start with vials on the lower shelves.

Pulling the stool over, Shayna places one foot on the stool, and her hand gripped one of the shelves to keep her balance so that she didn't fall into the shelving unit and all the vials. She decided she would take down all the vials one by one, and place them on the table and just go from there. Stretching high, even with the stool she had to stand on tip toe so that she could firmly grip the vial, rather then only being able to touch with finger tip. This was suppose to give her a better grasp on the vial itself so it wouldn't slip. Unfortunately on the third and final time of grabbing a vial on the very highest shelf Shayna wobbled a little bit and cause the shelf to shake. One vial on one of the lower shelves was jarred loose and fell to the floor with a smash.

ooc infooops

ℬ

[Katherine Morealis]

Shayna can not read. This Katherine with a slight frown on her face. She was so used to being surrounded by literate slaves back at the house that she had unconsciously assumed Shayna would be given that little bit of education as well. She had forgotten that the stock from where she had chosen the slave girl was meant for drudge work, not for tasks that needed special skills such as what she was making her do now. She inwardly hit herself on the back of the head for making such a big demand for such a slave. However, Katherine had seen fire and intellect in Shayna's eyes. She knew the girl had not only wit about her, but also ambition too. That was what was important, Katherine believed. A slave who only knew how to do what those people above them made them do, they would not get far in a place like Kenash. Brains and the drive to go to greater heights, that is what will help one gain more power in this city. Well, in the case of a slave, he or she would need to have a generous amount of loyalty to their masters as well. A traitorous slave deserves nothing less than being turned into granidile bait. "No matter. As long as you know the alphabet's order, as well as you know which words I want you to remember, you will do fine. Here," Katherine headed towards the shelf, perused the vials that was lined up against the shelf's wall, and picked one of the glass bottles up. She showed Shayna the label and pointed to one of the words written on the surface. "Essential," She repeated as she handed her the glass vial. "Remember how to read those letters so you can do this task efficiently." Out of habit, and perhaps also because of how she was brought up to always look ahead, Katherine almost never looks down at the ground beneath her feet. And so when Shayna mentioned if she would like for her to clean up the pieces of shorn hair lying limp on the stone floor as well, she had to look at the black pile of hair strands once more to get what the slave meant. "Yes, yes. That too. Sweep them out where I will not see them lying about." She watched Shayna start with her work before heading to the desk herself and beginning on what she had to do as well. Pulling her journal closer to her, she dipped the large quill in the vial of ink, and dragged it along the paper's surface. She wrote on the page where she had written her plans for the Frizz shampoo. Katherine noted her observations for the first test, making a comment about how it was Shayna's first time to experience the peppermint's sensation on her person, she being a lowly slave and all. She then added that she would have to try it on Iora as well so she can observe how well the product would react with two very different hair types. Just as she was thinking of more things to append, she heard a loud crashing sound. In the silence of the room, it was almost defeaning. Katherine bolted up from her chair and headed straight to the dumbfounded slave. "What was that?" Katherine yelled at her, panic etched on her face. And then her eyes darted from Shayna to the floor. On one of the broken shards of the vial, the letters 'G - E - R - A - N - I' were written. "Geranium," she immediately deduced. Petching excuse for a filly, of all the ones she could have broken, it had to be that particular essential oil! Most of her cosmetics contained that! And more importantly, she just finished extracting it herself just a few days ago! Unforgivable. "Did you just do. THAT." She growled under her breath, her anger leaking dangerously from her voice. Her face was partially hidden by a curtain of bronze hair ringlets, but her fury was very obvious even without seeing in on her features. In her wrath, Katherine grabbed the small slave girl by the hair and dragged her away from the shelves, where there was the danger of breaking more in her heated outburst. When the slave attempted to stand up, she slapped the girl's face with such an angry force that the insides of her palms stung. "You ungrateful swine! I give you an opportunity to prove yourself useful and this is what you do to your master, the person who just so happens to feed you!" Katherine tackled the smaller female to the ground, poise and apperances completely forgotten in her temper. She continued pulling at the slave's hair, blinded by rage and very much intent on making Shayna feel pain for causing such a big mistake so early in her servitude. OOCMy pleasure. And. I forgot to mention this in the earlier post, but for formalities' sake, Katherine Morealis gives Shayna permission to learn the Organization skill. ...not that she had learned much with the sudden turn of events. Tsk tsk.

[Shayna]

As soon as the glass crashed to the floor Shayna's stomach dropped, and her breath caught in her throat. She froze on her step stool for a moment wishing beyond wishes that she could take that back, could scoop up the spilled liquid and mend the broken glass. Thus Katherine found her when she came in, and the fury in her mistress' voice and face caused the slave to instinctively move back. Fortunately for Katherine -and most certainly Shayna-, the Mistress of the business dragged Shayna away before she could accidentally step against the shelf most likely breaking more of the oils.

"I'm Sorry Mistr---" Shayna managed to say in a shaky panicked voice, her words caught off by the palm of Katherine's hand and exquisite pain bloomed in her head as her cheek caught fire seemingly such was the burning sting left by the slap. A coppery taste filled Shayna's mouth as her lip gave way to the slap. At first Shayna's training held, and she simply went limp intent on enduring the punishment and taking the pain however Shayna had only ever been punished formally by a strap and not often at that. This was the first time someone had attacked her in such a fashion,

"I am sorry! I am sorry! I am sorry!" She repeats over and over, forgetting to make herself limp, forgetting to accept the punishment. Instead the instinct to stop the pain, to stop the attack and protect herself caused her to try and draw her knees up from beneath the larger woman, her arms raising to try and protect her head as her hair was ruthlessly pulled. She doesn't go so far as to try and strike back, her training was too thorough for that, but her legs kick when she couldn't bring them up and her body tried to squirmed out from beneath even as she continued to cry out her apologies.

ℬ

[Katherine Morealis]

Katherine struggled to pin the smaller girl down to the stone floor, pushing most of her weight over the poor slave. She swept her arms in front of her and tried to swathe the girl's arms out of the way. The anger that boiled from deep within her demanded that she scar that empty headed fool's ugly face. Skin her face. Bash her head in, it whispered into her mind tantalizingly. So tantalizing she could not bear to resist it. It was a suddenly overwhelming thirst for violence that drove her on through her unrelentless attacks. She must hurt that lack witted cur. She must satisfy this craving. "Does it hurt, huh?" She breathed out coarsely, hands straining to grab the struggling Shayna's hands and bring it down to her side. "You deserve it, petching moron. I should have bought someone more skilled than you. A slave that causes more trouble than she's worth for her master is a useless slave!" Yes, she's useless. She deserves it. Hurt her more... Just as she was about to bring her raised hand down to strike and claw at Shayna's face, a pale young woman garbed in an elegant black dress came rushing in and fought to pull her away from over the battered slave. "Katherine, what is the meaning of this? What's going on?" She pulled her back, and they both stumbled down the cold stone floor. Another person entered the room, a tall man who gazed emptily in front of him, tapping his walking stick on the floor just right ahead of his feet. He almost stumbled over the slave who was still on the floor, but he managed to regain his balance and hurried on. The woman called him over and he followed her voice, and the foul language his beloved little sister was spurting, too. The young woman who was with him gave Shayna a quick, sympathetic glance. "Wait outside please. We will sort this out." She instructed as she and the blind man tried to hold Shayna's fuming mistress down. In contrast to her mistress' screams of rage, the woman's voice was soft and very pleasant to the ears. "What do you mean 'sort this out'? That moron was the one who needs some sorting out!" Katherine screamed as she struggled to break loose from her brother's grip. He was very strong despite his lack of sight. "Tahn, let me go! And you too, Amy!" She addressed the woman with a hateful glare. "I need to discipline that slave!" "By the gods and goddesses Katherine, you call that discipline?" Tahn cried out exasperatedly. "The way you were screaming for blood made me think it was a Myrian's battle cry I was hearing instead of a lady of the Morealis family! I can hear you from several streets away!" "Please Kat, calm down." Amy, or better known to others as Amarantha, pleaded and held the younger woman's hands. She left the restraining up to the more than capable Tahn Morealis. Katherine kicked violently as she tried to break free from her older brother's hold. "No, let me go! Let me go-" SLAP Amarantha stared at the bewildered Katherine, and then upon her own hand which was still half raised after coming into contact with her friend's cheek. When Amarantha regained her composure, she looked into Katherine's blue eyes and whispered, "Calm your senses... It's all right, you're not mad anymore... You do not need to hurt any one anymore." This took immediate effect. Katherine, who was only moments earlier wishing to draw blood from what she called an unworthy slave, had calmed down at once. Tahn told her to retrieve something from Katherine's shelf of oils. Next thing Katherine knew, she was already being made to inhale the exceptionally delicate scent of Ylang ylang. What had just come into her? Katherine knew she would normally lash out like that, even in front of a slave she owned. She was too proud to stoop down to a crude slave's level. When she looked down, Katherine realized that she had already been seated at a chair, baffled by the strange lapses in her memory. Her face was flushed red from exertion, and her hair was thoroughly disheveled by the earlier scuffle. She skimmed her eyes around the room, and in a corner she saw Amy and her brother Tahn urgently whispering at each other. Their talking were hushed, and Katherine could only catch a few words and phrases from ther lips. 'A person broke in'. 'Suggestions'. 'Dangerous'. It did not make any sense with her at all, these snippets she caught on. "What are you two talking about?" Katherine demanded as she stared at the couple. "Ugh," Her hands suddenly found their way to ther temples. "My head... it hurts." She groaned. The two rushed to her side and tried to see what was wrong. "I'll take her home." Tahn offered, but Katherine quickly turned him down. "Bring Shayna inside," Katherine said wearily. It was met with protests from her seniors, but she insisted on her request resolutely. "And Tahn, lend me your riding whip." Tahn made a start at her demand. "Kat... you're not thinking of lashing out like a crazed tigress again, are you?" His younger sister rolled her eyes at him, even though she knew he would not see her doing so. "I know what I'm doing Tahn. Just let her in." Amy felt the blind man's hand on her shoulders, as if leaving it up to her whether to indulge Katherine's wish this time. She touched his hand and squeezed it, silently assuring him that it would be alright. And so she went outside the laboratory to fetch Shayna.

[Shayna]

Sobbing, Shayna never once lashed out at her Mistress, she never once tried to fight back. All she tried was to squirm away and to protect her small frame to the best of her abilities. The stone floor battered her body just as much as Katherine's weight on top of her, and her arms, face and back will likely be bruised, though her scalp felt as if it had been plucked clean by her Mistress' hands. When the unexpected rescue came, and Katherine is pulled off her, Shayna rolls to her side and draws her knees up. She doesn't look up at the two that walked in, she doesn't try and wipe the blood from her face from where her lip had split on the first strike.

When the strange woman sent her outside with her words, the black haired slave raises her head from the floor, looking first to Katherine and then back. This woman was not her Mistress, and she had experienced her Mistress' wrath, she did not want to incur more by leaving without leave to do so but it didn't seem to Shayna that Katherine was in a position to give her that leave. Nor did she think her Mistress would be well pleased if she were to be privy to a conversation with the two who came in.

Pulling herself up off the floor, feeling tired and ragged after the struggle the short girl tries to pull herself to her fullest height. She was unable to do so fully, her ribs protested but she made a semblance of a quick gait out the door, but she didn't go far. Instead she sat on the ground outside the door, wrapping her arms around her legs and burying her face into her knees. She had deserved the punishment, though severe it might have been. She was not as careful as she should have been. If her Mistress had decided to beat her until night fell then she would have been well within her rights. That was something all slaves, particularly bred slaves, knew and it might be difficult for someone who was newly enslaved but for someone like Shayna. It was the way of life.

She sat outside for an untold number of chimes, never moving from the door, never even being tempted to run off and avoid further punishments. But she didn't she sat there like the good slave that she was, obedient even if fear twisted in her belly at what else her Mistress might choose to do. Even if her own pride in her abilities to please her owners had suffered a huge blow. The bleeding lip stopped bleeding though it would be puffy for several hours and sore, the tingling in her scalp where Katherine had yanked at her hair subsided to where it was mainly her ribs that pained her some but since she was breathing easily she didn't think that she endured more then just bruising.

Which may or may not be enough to satisfy Katherine's anger over the broken oil. So when she was fetched to return, she doesn't hesitate though there is reason for the fear that caused her already pale skin to bleach more so, causing the smattering of freckles on her nose to stand out.

Entering the laboratory once more, the smell of the spilled oil reaching Shayna's nostrils, though she could barely smell anything thanks to her wailing fit as she had been beaten causing her nose to be stuffy and her face puffy from both the blow but also the tears. When she approached Katherine her demeanor was appropriately cowed, and there was only the slight hiccups left over from her sobs. She ignored the other two in the room, they were of no mind to her in this moment, and sank to her knees in front of Katherine's chair, her head bowed so that her dark hair fell forward damply. "Please Mistress Katherine. Forgive me for my clumsiness. I will do better."

ℬ

[Katherine Morealis]

When she saw the slave enter the room, Katherine immediately noticed the injuries she had inflicted upon the girl; the side of her face where Katherine's had slapped her was slightly reddened and starting to look swollen. There was a cut on her lips. That must have really hurt, Katherine thought silently. It was not that her slave's face was hurt that she was bothered; no, Shayna was no great beauty after all. No, she was bothered that she was supposedly the person who did that. She had punished slaves before, and all of them were done discreetly. To suddenly lose control like that, even over a full bottle of a very precious cosmetic ingredient, was not like her at all. So why the petch did she? "Bring your hands out. Both of them, opened and palms up." She said with what ever dignity she could salvage from the earlier incident, even as her slave admitted her mistake and begged for her forgiveness. She sat very straight on her chair, her blue eyes trained on poor little Shayna. Her two hands gripped tightly on her older brother's riding whip, a handsome thing he had bought some time ago but never had any chance to use for very obvious reasons. To Katherine, it was odd he even carried it around on his person. Perhaps he liked the feel of it, though she would not know for sure. These blind people. When Shayna brought her hands out in front of her, Katherine brought down the whip with a loud crack. Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack. Five times it came down upon the slave's small hands. "I hope this has taught you your lesson." Katherine intoned grimly, hoping that she could hide the faintness of her voice from Amy and her older brother Tahn. They would keep bothering her about the most trivial of things when they worry, and she would not like for them to be clingy now. "Do not tell any one about what happened this afternoon, or else I will give you more lashings on your body." Katherine said threateningly. She knew that the slave would not want another soul to know how much she had displeased her mistress. However, Katherine warned Shayna anyway; she was very much worried of how it can be used against her by those who wanted to see her crash and burn. After all, a Morealis always made sure to punish a slave where no one could see the bruises, the cuts, and the lashes. Katherine made that mistake on Shayna. Even though she was not herself when she did it, she was afraid what other people will think when they see the small slave's battered face. Just to make sure that such a thing would not happen, Katherine hastened to add, "However, since you have displeased me, you will not return to your quarters back at the plantation. You will stay here, and you will not be allowed to leave unless I say so. Use this time to reflect on how much you have caused trouble for your mistress." Of course Katherine knew that Shayna would not be all alone at the shop. Iora would be coming back before the sun goes down, as per her mistress' wishes. Iora would most likely sleep in that dingy tent of hers, but Shayna would have no where to sleep in. The young Inarta's tent could only fit a person comfortably. "You are dismissed. Don't you show your face to me until I specifically call for you." Katherine irritably waved the slave away as she stood up from her chair, the world slightly spinning under her feet. If it was not so urgent, and potentially hazardous, to clean up the spilled mess her Geranium oil was, she would leave it up to either Iora or Shayna. That, or she would leave it to evaporate over night. It was highly volatile after all, though leaving it alone like that would not do much for the smell and the sorry stain that would get left behind. Donning her gloves, apron and face mask, she knelt on the stone floor, not before she had argued with her older brother that he can not do it in her stead, and neither can Amy. She placed a dirty piece of cloth over the spilled oil and watched as it soaked up the liquid. Even with the mask on, Katherine could not help but cringe from the strong floral smell that rose from the broken shards of dark glass. She then picked up the shattered pieces, careful that she may not accidentaly cut her skin with it, and disposed of them along with the cloth soaked in Geranium, which she had washed with water to dilute the oil. When she was done, she asked Amy to tell Shayna (for Katherine refused to personally talk to her until a sufficient amount of time had passed) that she must thoroughly scrub the floor, with soap and with water, in the area where she had spilled that expensive oil. Then she went ahead to catch a coach with her blind older brother, all the while thinking of how she would make the slave's life very miserable for her. And deeper still in the recesses of her mind, she knew that something horribly wrong had just happened, worse than her suddenly going berserk and wishing for blood to spill. There was something horribly wrong, yet she could not point her finger as to what. Some thing was about to happen, the little voice in the back of her mind told her. There was a scent in the air that told of danger. A danger that Amy and Tahn knew somehow, but not her. And she would not know that worse things awaited her until much, much later...

[Shayna]

Shayna trembled on the floor in front of Katherine, the blood oozing from her lip but she did nothing to try and slow or stop the flow. It was a little cut, nothing more then a split lip and would heal on its own presently. When her mistress spoke again, Shayna squeezes her green eyes closed, it seemed as if the punishment was not finished. Even though she knew what was going to come would not be pleasant she does not hesitate in her obedience. Instantly her hands come out, palms up, though her head remains down hiding her face behind the curtain of damp black curls.

The first crack of the whip caused her body to jump a split second before the pain flares in her palms, a cry was caught and strangled in her throat. The second and third was received equally the same, though by the third her arms were shaking from the effort not to pull back. Now it was a conscious effort to obey her Mistress rather then a ingrained training method, her mind had to force her body to continue to obey. Fortunately her palms are calloused and hardened from her work so there wasn't blood, though welts raised along her hands. The fourth caused a cry to be uttered, unable to strangle it back, her hands feeling as if they should be bloody pulps but instead there was only a little blood where the whip had caught the thinner skin around her fingers and joints and split the flesh. The fifth was nothing but agony, and met with a cry that she could not stop at all. Her hands, bruised and now a little bloody, stay outstretched only because her mind could not compute just yet that the punishment was over.

When Katherine begins to speak again, the slave pulls her hands against her chest, her palms remaining open. It would be days before she will be able to do her work without pain. The cuts on the skin would heal quickly but the bruising and welts would take longer to heal. Shayna does not speak. does not trust her voice well enough, except to utter a very hoarse "Yes Mistress Katherine." Before she scurries outside.

She is more then happy to stay here, though she knows it would not be comfortable. It would still be more comfortable then to show her bruised face and hands, and have to endure the looks of either pity or in some cases happiness to see her so punished.

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