Trading Lives [Curare]

[Kikio Valyntine]

What she looks like now

The waist high grass covered half of Kikio Valyntine's slim body as she paced back and forth. She had been told to be here before Akora arrived, and she had. Now where was Akora? Growling in frustration, she ripped the heavy, black cloak off and let it fall, shuddering to the ground. The heat was to the extreme today, and sweat was dribbling down her forehead. The outfit she had on beneath the heavy black cloak was for showing off. It was the last thing she wore when the sun died.

Rolling her muscled shoulders, Kikio glanced around. Right now, she was to confused, and agrivatted because no one told her why she was here in the first place. Narrowing her piercing gaze, she leapt up into a tree with such grace that it would hurt even one of the cat masters eyes. Cracking her neck, she glared around, lokoing as if she could spit fire. Kikio sat down on a rather thick branch with one foot still up and the other dangling. A rather unformal pose when your supposed to meet your master, but for the time being, she didn't care.

Yawning, Kikio was about to shift whenever she head a few twigs crackle beneath thrashing feet.

[{Curare}]

Akora glared up at Kikio with grown fangs. "Get down from there, Kikio. You do not meet your master in such an informal pose." she growled simply. She was in a bad mood today. She was going to trade her best female servant, and although she truely did love to toy with Samawe, she really loved to play with him, but still. Kikio was an amazing worker despite her disobediance and informality.

Akora stood in her halfling form. It was her most comfortable form, part of her old life mixed with her new one. It was comforting. Turning her head she looked out over the large grassland, her homeland. She had been forced to escape to this grassland when she and her family had been run out of their original home, but that was already. Her species may not belong in a temperate grassland like this, but they had adapted and prospered.

Turning her head once more her face lit up when she saw Koraris with Samawe trailing behind him obediantly with a huge lustful grin on his face. She knew what he was thinking about. She smiled at them and greeted them with a kind aura. "Good. You made it. I almost thought you had changed your mind." she said calmly. Koraris smiled at her and shook his head. "No. The deal is still on." was his answer.

[Kikio Valyntine]

Kikio's blank gaze turned upon her master. Internally rolling her eyes, Kikio gracefully slid from the branch and landed beside her. "You called?" she said through clentched teeth. Akora had drug her from a cool place, to this burning hot hell. Raising a perfectly arched eyebrow, she looked at her master with an innocent expression. Kikio could already sense someone entering the grassland.

Turning her head, Kikio saw a face that she wasn't expecting to see again. A tight line formed on her lips and she narrowed her gaze. Another male was behind Koraris, and he had the look of desire on his face towards Akora. Disgust made her lip twitch and she glared at the male. Disgusting b.astards. she said to herself internally. It wasn't the men's fault though. It was Akora walking around in those skimpy outfits showing off for them. Just an ignorant prostitute. Kikio thought again.

Reaching down she snatched her cloak off the ground. "What? Am I being traded Akora?" Kikio growled now, not masking her frustration. Kikio's near white eyes seemed to ice over as she looked at her master. Anger lit on her face. "Only for a little toy." she added with a snarl, furious eyes flickering to Samawe.

[{Curare}]

Akora turned her cool eyes onto Kikio. "Actually, Kikio, I had not planned on trading you. I hadn't actually made up my mind completely yet, but how you met me earlier, and how you talk now has made my decision for me. Yes. You are being traded for Samawe. You are my best worker, but you are too disobediant. I convinced Koraris to trade Samawe for you. His best worker for mine. The only reason he agreed is because of our friendship." Akora said, quickly devising a plan to help out Koraris as much as she could . She could of course tell that he liked her, and if Kikio thought that Koraris had been the one who had asked for the trade then there was no way in hell that she would ever like him.

"For your information, Samawe is an amazing worker, and I am talking with the most seriousness." Akora murmured after a moment. Samawe smiled at her, his lustful look disappearing. He like her a lot, she was nice. He was perfectly fine with the trade. Sure, Koraris was a great master, but he liked Akora more.

"Kikio. I know that you don't deserve to be passed around like property, and I am sorrry that you are treated that way, but she is my friend. Even in your situation I am sure that you understand that. I promise you, my slaves are treated well." Koraris said softly looking up at the sky with his brilliant blue eyes.

[Kikio Valyntine]

Kikio snickered at Akora's lie. She could read right through it, but would say nothing. "What Akora? A little bit of disobidience scare you?" Kikio continued. Since she was getting a new master, she didn't care to mouth Akora anymore. Narrowing her cold gaze, Kikio began to pace like a lioness protecting her cubs. The hair on the back of her neck was on end.

A few more comebacks flew to her mind as Akora spoke, but she held her tongue. Crossing her arms over her chest, she glared spitefully at the the two masters.

"Exactly. None of us do. You ignorant animals think you can overrule us now only because you can be human. Well guess what? I'm finished being treated like a slave." Kikio growled. A more feline look shaped her eyes as she forced back the change that was overwhelming her.

[{Curare}]

Koraris blinked at her words. Actually, he had been expecting it. "Who said anything about you being a slave? Have you met any of my so called slaves? Have you actually talked to them? Because I am sure that if you had you would know that none of them are treated like slaves. They are under the catagory of slaves, but they are in no way treated like that. Most of them decided that they want to do things for me because of how I treat them, but I rarely ever ask them, or command them to do something for me. I live apart from my family because they don't approve of how I treat my slaves. My slaves are treated more as guests, and most of the time I am doing things for them just as often as they are doing things for me." Koraris said. His words were so pure and true that honesty radiated in every word.

"So yes, you are finished being treated like a slave, in the most basic sense. You are still supposidly a slave, but I assure you, you will not, in my house, be treated like one. Most of the halflings believe in concoring the humans and other creatures because of how we were treated in our past lives, but I feel that it is better to live as equals. Of course, in the new 'world' that is supposidly not so, but what happens in my house, stays in my house." Koraris added after a moment, his words never alternating from what was true.

Akora looked at Koraris quietly, her gaze soft yet hidden. He had always been strange to her, but that was exactly why she liked him so much. You could never predict what he was going to do. She had not known just how fairly he had treated his slaves until now, and for what he was doing she commended him. She could never be like him. She had been treated to unfairly in her days as a common beast, and her wounds could not heal like his could. She said nothing to Kikio. She knew that she had sensed her lie, but she also knew that Kikio could sense that Koraris's words held no lie, and hopefully that would calm her down.

Koraris's blue eyes watched her as she paced back and forth, and he noticed the change in her and the atmosphere surrounding her. She was not a normal human.

[Kikio Valyntine]

"Who said anything about you being a slave? Have you met any of my so called slaves? Have you actually talked to them? Because I am sure that if you had you would know that none of them are treated like slaves. They are under the catagory of slaves, but they are in no way treated like that. Most of them decided that they want to do things for me because of how I treat them, but I rarely ever ask them, or command them to do something for me. I live apart from my family because they don't approve of how I treat my slaves. My slaves are treated more as guests, and most of the time I am doing things for them just as often as they are doing things for me." Hearing her master-to-be's words, Kikio turned to face him, a blank expression masking her face. A breeze made her metallic blue hair dance on her shoulders and some shorter strands stray across her face.

"So yes, you are finished being treated like a slave, in the most basic sense. You are still supposidly a slave, but I assure you, you will not, in my house, be treated like one. Most of the halflings believe in concoring the humans and other creatures because of how we were treated in our past lives, but I feel that it is better to live as equals. Of course, in the new 'world' that is supposidly not so, but what happens in my house, stays in my house." Kikio rolled her eyes. "Its not equal and you know it as well as I do. None of this is fair. Think about all of the other slaves that arn't treated the same way. The ones who are beaten if they don't complete the job in a certain amount of time or don't do it right. Its not fair. Thats what I'm thinking of." Kikio snipped back.

Stopping her pacing, Kikio crossed her arms and glared at Koraris. A line was still formed on her pale lips as she stared at him. "I'm going for a walk." she growled. If he dared to stop her, she would just shift and get away, not caring if they did see.

[{Curare}]

"Kikio. I know that it is obviously not equal. What I was saying was that we should be equals, and I try to make the slaves in my house feel as equal as they can. Obviously when I am outside of my house I have to pretend like they aren't my equals, but that is why I seldom bring them out in public with me, although I don't stop them from going out on their own." Koraris said softly. He knew that things would never get better, what with all the halflings who like the way things were. There was no chance that the humans, or the other creatures would ever get their freedom back. He didn't understand why she constantly glared at him. She obviously knew that what Akora had said was a lie, but who didn't?

I'm going for a walk. he heard. He nodded his consent, although he knew that she would have left anyway. "When you return, come to my house, and I will show you your quarters. If you can't find your way, then just go to Crimson Moon, and I will have someone wait for you there. They will know to come back when I tell that you have arrived. Stay out as long as you want though. The person I send will be fine. She has been wanting to get out for a while anyway." He said with a smile as he thought of Mikori, one of his other slaves. She was the sweetest elf anyone could ever meet.

With that he turned to Samawe and Akora and he said, "Akora, make sure to treat him kindly." Then he turned and went back to his house, leaving them there. Akora smiled, turned to Kikio and bowed, and then she and Samawe made their way back to her house.