[Flashback]Where Have You Been?!(Valerius)

[Volinir Orchid]

13th of Fall, 511AV Four bells after midnight The gates surrounding the Nitrozian estate swung open with a loud clang. The sound of incoherent mumbling, and a good bit of drunken stumbling echoed throughout the empty courtyard. Volinir was late. Extremely late. Hilariously late. Almost six bells late, to be precise. He had originally planned to go to sleep at the bar and just get picked up, but eventually some semblance of reason told him that it would probably be better to go home himself, even if it was long after he should have. The Symenestra looked like a mess. Blood, both dried and not, coated his hair, front, and fingers. Just about every inch of him was soaked in beer and silver liquor, and a few blue bruises littered his body. His teeth were stained crimson, bits of gore were still stuck under his nails, and he still felt a faint burn in his ribs; registering pain wasn't an intoxicated person's strongest suit, and Volinir was no exception. As if showing up 'home' dead drunk in the middle of the night wasn't enough bad decision making for Volinir, he was still feeling rather rowdy from the brawl. Blood stained knuckles knocked loudly on the estate door, and the drunken slave barreled in without waiting for an answer, leaving a trail of red and silver on the carpet. "I'm back, meat!" he called unevenly in Symenos, "Now where's the nice man with the whip? I've got something to give him..." An already bad night was almost certainly about to get much, much worse.

[Valerius Nitrozian]

As Volinir began to make noise in the courtyard, Valerius Nitrozian abruptly woke up. For a moment he considered just closing his eyes again and letting the guards deal with whatever was going on, but then his curiosity got the better of him. Besides, he wanted to know who had disturbed his sleep so that he could punish them appropriately. So he slipped into a velvet robe (even in a robe he looked more elegant than the majority of the population) and walked downstairs. By the time he reached the bottom of the stairs, the two guards that watched the door at night had already let the Symenestra in and were wondering what to do with him and whether they should report him to his master or just send him to his room because that would probably cause the least amount of trouble. As Valerius showed up, they abruptly straightened themselves. „Sir“, one of them began. „We found this slave …“ But Valerius wasn’t listening. He just stared at the mess that the despicable creature had made on the carpet, his precious carpet, and then he slowly raised his head to meet Volinir’s eyes, frowning as he did so. The thing was dirty, bloody and reeked of alcohol. He wasn’t sure why his relatives still kept it around. Its bones were brittle, it was ugly, it didn’t obey, and it couldn’t even be bred properly because it was venomous. „What did you just say?“ he demanded to know as Volinir said something in Symenos before he turned to face the guards. For a moment the desire to beat the thing was strong, but he wouldn’t touch it now when it was likely full of diseases that it had caught in whatever tavern it had spent the night. It disgusted him. „Wash the creature and then deliver it to my quarters. Slave, you’d better have a good explanation for why you came back so late and in such a state. You know what happens to those that don’t obey.“ With that he spun around and went back to his room while the guards grabbed Volinir to drag him to the nearest bathroom and douse him with several buckets of cold water.

[Volinir Orchid]

"You really need to learn Symenos..." Volinir giggled, "It's like wiping your arse with a silk rag." He would have elaborated on the many virtues of the language, but the guards were dragging him off by then. The Symenestra flinched with every torrent of water that crashed over him, but the shock did little to clear his judgement. The thought occurred to him to attack the guards, but some semblance of foresight staid his hand. If he got in a fight now, he'd never reach the chambers. After a few more buckets, he was hauled to Valerius' quarters. Volinir slicked his hair back sloppily before starting, "So, I was having a drink at the Silver Sliver, an' a couple people were throwing their mugs at me, yeah?" he said, giggling as if the Nitrozian was a drinking buddy, "Then this Inartan with this weird accen' walks in an' jus'... Flips a table! She took down three men twice her size like i' was something she did every day, aye!" the Symenestra gestured emphatically with his hands to hammer home Tock's great martial skill. "Then she asked me to buy her a drink. So I did. And then another. And then a few more..." Volinir frowned, and wagged a finger at Valerius, "She told me to say somethinrg to you..." And with that, he stumbled forward and swiped at the man's face.

[Valerius Nitrozian]

While the guards had cleaned the Symenestra, Valerius had changed into some proper clothes. He awaited the disobedient slave sitting in a plush arm chair. He was pleased to note that the creature smelled a bit better now and was cleaner, but unfortunately he hadn’t been dried properly, and water was slowly dripping onto the precious carpet. Valerius instantly frowned. As the creature told him that he’d had a drink rather than apologizing for his behaviour, Valerius looked at him disapprovingly. He had no understanding for drunkards. He never got drunk, but always had himself under control, and he despised people who didn’t. „Your face probably offended them“, he remarked, somewhat dryly, as Volinir informed him that people had thrown their mugs at him. „Besides, you are a slave – my slave – and I didn’t give you permission to get drunk. Why were you even in the city, in the middle of the night?“ From the look on Valerius‘ face Volinir could tell that the human wasn’t at all pleased with what he had heard so far. The mention of the Inartan woman did little to change that. In fact it irritated Valerius. He briefly wondered whether he really knew any Inartans, but he was almost certain that he didn’t. The creature had probably just taken a regular, red haired human for an Inarta. It didn’t seem to be particularly bright. As Volinir stumbled forward, Valerius looked at him incredulously. Of course he did not let the slave hit him, but raised his hands and pushed him away. How dare the creature touch him! „Tuuli!“ he called out the name of the slave girl that frequently attended to his needs. „Bring me my whip. I need to punish a slave!“ With that he turned to face Volinir again. „When my slaves obey – like Tuuli – I treat them with respect, but you don’t seem to be interested in respect. I have half a mind to send you to aunt Amanda. She’d be most interested in studying a Symenestra, but father would disapprove if I wasted a slave like that. He thinks you are something special. He doesn’t have anything against a more conventional kind of punishment though.“ „And now tell me the name of that woman. I don’t remember being acquainted with women that beat up people in taverns.“ OOCValerius didn’t meet Tock until much later.

[Volinir Orchid]

Even the light pressure of Valerius' shove was enough to send the severely impaired Volinir tumbling onto his back, chuckling at himself and the Nitrozian's statement. "Respect? You wouldn't know the first thing about respect... Seeing me like a dog... I'm a petching Symenestra, not some human's toy!" he spat, slowly pushing himself onto wobbling feet again, "Your father's got the right idea... If only he were a bit less full of himself. As for your girl, I'm afraid I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to! I never got her name! Probably a foreigner, though... Just came here from Syliras. She got thrown out, you know. A wizard, too!" another giggle that was cut off by a hiccup. "Heck, maybe she'll turn you into a toad if you whip me bad enough." It really was a shame that the alcohol had loosened the Sym's tongue so. By the time he was upright again, Tuuli would be back. And then... Well, it was a good thing Volinir was plastered. Otherwise, what was coming would hurt much more. OOCAh, dating errors. Will you ever get old? Apologies, I mixed up the timestamp a wee bit.

[Valerius Nitrozian]

„You are right in one regard“, Valerius informed Volinir. He was pleased to see that the creature was on the floor now and hopefully already in a certain amount of pain. “You are a petching Symenestra. But I don’t see you as a dog. I treat my dog and my slaves completely differently.” He considered pushing the creature down again – he didn’t appreciate it if people stood without his permission – but it would be easier to whip Volinir when he was upright. “Such a pity”, he murmurred and faked a sigh as Volinir admitted that he didn’t know the woman’s name. “I might have made your punishment a little less severe if you had been able to tell me.” As Volinir threatened that she would turn him into a toad, he arched an eyebrow, and then he laughed. “I doubt it. You have forgotten that I studied at the University of Zeltiva. I know what mages are capable of and what not. Maybe I’ll have somebody look for her regardless though.” He cast a glance in the direction of the door. Where was Tuuli? He didn’t have anything to hurt the creature with here, and he was getting impatient! Finally the door opened, and the dark skinned girl returned, carrying a fine, long whip that Valerius often used on horses and slaves alike. She handed it to him, and then she left again. “Turn around”, he ordered Volinir while he inspected the whip. “And take your shirt off.”

[Volinir Orchid]

"Bah... Zeltiva, shmeltiva." Volinir mumbled, swaying unsteadily. It was unfortunate for Volinir that he had a mind for brawling at the moment. It would have been much less uncomfortable for him otherwise. Instead of complying, the Symenestra lunged forward again. The results were predictable. Not only did he miss, but the whip seared a white-hot line across his chest. Well, it would have been white hot if he wasn't so drunk. It felt more like a vague burning for him. Another soon followed across his back as he tried to catch himself. And another. And another. In a matter of ticks, even alcohol couldn't dull the aggregate pain of a half-dozen whip blows, and the Symenestra fell to his knees, his face contorted in agony. At least he wasn't screaming yet. Yet.

[Valerius Nitrozian]

As Volinir refused to take his shirt off, the Nitrozian shrugged his shoulders and raised his whip. If the creature wanted to spend the next season walking around in a torn shirt, then so be it. He brought the whip down on the disobedient slave’s back just as he lunged forward again. And then he whipped him a second time, and then a third time. Maybe that would teach him to obey and not insult him. Lash upon lash followed until the creature was down on his knees, and his back was bloody. The Nitrozian made a face as he saw that. He enjoyed hurting others, but he didn’t particularly like blood. It was disgusting, it made him sick, and all that red made the creature look even uglier than it already was. He whipped Volinir again. Why wasn’t he screaming yet? Hadn’t he whipped him hard enough yet? Was the creature somehow immune to pain? Was he making fun of him? Trying to spite him? He frowned. „I want to hear you scream“, he informed him. „This won’t be over until you scream in pain, beg me to stop and promise me that you’ll never misbehave again.“