Tʜᴇsᴇ Cʜᴀɪɴs {ˢᵉᵐᶤᵃᵈᵛᵃᶰᶜᵉᵈᴿᴾ} discussion

This is a large three level house, but not as elegant or lovely as other homes. It's more militarian, made of brown, water-worn beach wood. It has its own sort of homey look and a nice long porch. The wood is unpainted, but is shellacked and very sturdy. Insulated, too. It's a cozy place that fits everyone and their slaves.

Keiu looked out the window as they pulled up to the three story house. It was larger than she'd thought it would be but, well, a lot of people lived here. It definitely wasn't a fancy place but it was a much better compared to a filthy cell. Jeremiah might feel like owning her was a sin and I suppose it was but that was their lives, anyhow him taking her in this way was absolutely better than her rotting in a cell or being bought by an....unkind or aggressive master. She started to get out of the car but then stopped. Jeremiah was still her Master currently even if he were an odd one, so she decided to wait either until he said she could get out or he got out first. She hummed softly to herself just watching the outside, itching to run around in the grass outside.

Jeremiah opened his door and stretched his shoulders out. He'd probably go back and retrieve another slave, soon... it did some good, he was sure. "What are you waiting for, Princess? It's okay." He thought she was scared of moving to a new home, not that she was waiting on an order. He really was incredibly ignorant. Jeremiah stifled a yawn and rolled his arms in their sockets. "It really is a beautiful day..."

She popped her door open and got out, eyebrows scrunched up in slight confusion. This Master was so weird. He spoke to her like...like she were equal to him not something below him. Keiu glanced around the yard and at the sky when he mentioned the beautiful day and nodded slowly. It was starting to turn to Autumn and the air was slightly chilly. Especially in this halter top she had to wear....She despised this clothes.

Jeremiah glanced at her, then at once seemed to notice her injuries. "Oh! You're hurt, aren't you? Come inside, I'll get the kit and patch you up." He had been about to go wolf and take a quick run through the open area around the large house, but he realized she couldn't possibly keep up, not like that. He hurried over. "Follow me, okay? I'll find you an empty room and we can set you up there. And... maybe it would be best if you don't let on how independent you're gonna be, okay?" He raised an eyebrow, not wanting to get either of them in trouble.

Keiu glanced at one of her shoulders, she could only see a handful of the tips of her whip lashes. They really did hurt even more so now that they had her full attention. She followed him inside of the large house. She blinked when he mentioned her being independent. Did she even remember what that felt like? Her life had been full of only obeying masters for ten years, most of her life! "Then won't you have to make me cook or something at least? If I don't do any chores I'll stand out for sure." She said.

"Well, uh... I guess I can buy you stuff, if you really want to cook. Or if you wanted to clean my room for me," he joked, rather like a teenaged boy. "It's not my fault it gets so messy," he said, though if she asked, he had no clue who else could possibly be to blame. He brought her inside, settling her at a kitchen bar-stool. One of the others smirked over at him. "Finally caved and got yourself a toy, Jeremiah?" he smirked.

"Nah. Got myself a cook," he said back, and quickly, to defend Keiu, "And if you keep your hands off, maybe you'll get some of what she makes, too. She's mine, after all." He let off a faint air of possessiveness... After all, people mostly respected the boundaries of others' property. He just had to let them know that she wasn't a toy. And they weren't allowed to play. "Here we are." He pulled out the first aid kit, rummaging through it.

Keiu gave him an odd look when he joked about the messiness of his room. Only he could make it so, obviously! A reply was on the tip of her tongue but instantly fell away when the other sentinel spoke. She flushed brightly at his statement and fidgeted nervously in the bar-stool. It really was not pleasant being referred to as a toy. Keiu glanced at the new person and made a mental note to stay away from him. It would probably be best not to speak in his presence as well. So she sat tight lipped and only watched Jeremiah as he open the first aid kit and began pulling certain materials out.

Jeremiah got a cleansing spray and flinched. "Hold on for a bit, okay? This is really going to sting." He wasn't judgemental at all. He didn't ask why she'd been whipped. He didn't accuse her of having a problem or anything. He lifted the spray and quickly doused most of her wounds before rubbing creamy bacitracin over her injuries liberally. "You want to wrap yourself up with some of these bandages? I think it's a bit too big for just a bunch of bandaids, you know."

Keiu hissed quietly when he sprayed her back. Oh it really did sting! She gripped the counter and had to focus hard on keeping her claws in, they wanted to dig into the counter out of instinct. After a while though it felt good. The salve like cream he rubbed on her back would help immensely. None of her other masters had taken time to clean and bandage any wounds they'd given her. If they were bad enough injuries they'd called a healer who was not very careful or gentle for that matter. She nodded when he asked about the bandages glad he'd let her do it. "Is there a bathroom I could go in?" Keiu asked looking over at Jeremiah.

((Pokes you because I'll probably be going to bed in an hour or so))

"Yeah," he said, right down the hall, the door's open." He pointed. "I'll wait over here. Call if you need anything... or, you know." If anything bad happened. He rolled his shoulders, passing her the bandages and packing up the first aid pack. "I'll set you up in your room, okay? I can get you some clothes tomorrow, if you'd like that."

The guys were actually sniggering about Jeremiah. He was being way too nice and sweet. Even though they already knew he was just a big softie... unless actually working.

Keiu nodded and took the bandages. So was something bad going to happen because that seemed like foreshadowing. "Okay. New clothes would be nice. Thank you, Master." He'd told her not to stand out as independent so...calling him Master would hopefully show that he did own her completely. She flushed as the other sentinel's sniggered. They really didn't seem to respect Jeremiah. At least they teased him an awful lot...

.

Jeremiah seemed immune to their teasing words. "Hey, girls are starting to get going for the nice, soft joes. You guys are all going to be stuck, wondering why they're not caught up on you donkeys still," he winked, earning a spurt of laughter from the other sentinels. They seemed like a rather merry, cherry crew, though there were the few that looked completely unapproachable. They glowered at absolutely everything. Trip chuckled. "I'm gonna make a pot of coffee. Anyone want some?" A chorus of voices chimes the affirmative, forgetting about Jeremiah's girl for the most part.

Keiu found the bathroom quickly and shut and locked the door. Quite a rowdy bunch... She thought once she was alone. At least they all seemed to be talking together so hopefully she'd be left alone. Gingerly she slipped off her shirt and then began to wrap her torso and therefore her injuries. When she was satisfied Keiu put her shirt back on, she wished she had a different option for clothing but she didn't. Tomorrow though, he said he'd get me clothes tomorrow She thought then washed her hands. The viewing cells were cleaner than the holding cells but they were still dirty nonetheless. Besides being clean had never hurt anyone.

There was a shower there, too, and the dusty grime of the cells was... well, disgusting. Jeremiah was mostly just hanging with the guys now, like he'd forgotten he'd gotten Keiu, anyways. That weird guy... he was laughing and sharing all the coffee, making batch after batch while football raged on the TV.

Keiu looked down at herself and huffed. She did feel gross, really she hadn't had a proper bath in two weeks....yikes! She regretted putting the bandages on so quickly. Now she'd have to take them off to shower! She turned the water on hoping that showering right now was okay then undressed and unpeeled the wrapping from around herself. She stepped into the shower and yelped loudly as the hot water hit her cut up back. Tears stung her eyes and she bit her lip hard trying to ignore the pain and keep quiet. She'd probably need more of that bacitracin cream on her wounds after this since she was just washing it all off...Really she hadn't thought any of this through.

Yeah, but Jeremiah hadn't thought any of it through, either. He wouldn't mind helping her out again, especially as she needed all the help he could offer. He'd probably give her a nice steaming mug of coffee, too, to distract her from the stinging. Besides, dirt wasn't good on wounds. Jeremiah was grinning outside, cheering for the underdog team, earning a few boos and angry laughs in his direction.

She scrubbed her hair and skin thoroughly. The water at her feet actually turned brown for a few moments, that's just how dirty she'd been. Her whip injuries were almost definitely infected. Keiu sighed enjoying the water as it washed over her, her back was use to the water by now, and she relaxed. Turning off the water she dried off with a towel she found and redressed. She braided her wet hair and then poked her head out of the bathroom, looking for Jeremiah. He was surrounded by all the other boys...she hesitantly made her way towards him.

.

"Hey, Keiu," he waved cheerily. He didn't know she probably needed the rub and the bandages again. He seemed to have forgotten. "Come on, the underdogs are making a comeback!"

"Not likely," a fervent fan snorted, eyes darting anxiously up from the screen, only for a moment.

Jeremiah laughed. "They're going to win," he teased, glancing at Keiu. "Hey, everything okay, highness? Do you need anything?" Several of the others laughed a bit at him for that final sentence.

"You're not the slave, Jeremiah," one of them reminded, laughing hard.

She blushed as he spoke and pointed her out so quickly. Did he call her highness? Keiu wrung her hands together "Um...yes Actually. Jer...Master, I-I showered and so I'll need more salve for my back..." Keiu said, her eyes wouldn't stop darting around at all the men. Several of these boys were glaring at her now.

"Cool," he said, "Tell me the score when I get back," he shot to the guys, then went back to the first aid kit. "Duh, I should have thought of that first. My bad. Come on, let me see your back again." He was going to freak when he saw it infected, then probably rub disinfectant and bacitracin all over it... yeah, he was going to freak out about her well-being.

She would probably freak too, the word infection was scary. If you're wounds were infected in the holding cells it was bad news for you. "Sorry that I didn't think of it either." Keiu said as they walked away from all the others. "What you put on earlier just got wasted."

Jeremiah sucked in a breath as he caught sight of her back, now clean. "I thought all that was just dirt, earlier... it looks like your wounds are pretty badly infected. Sorry, but I'm going to need to put disinfectant all over them along with the bacitracin. It should turn out right. If they don't look better in a day, we'll see the doctor, okay?" he got out the creams and anti-infection sprays. "Here," he said, offering her a doughnut, "Take your mind off the pain, okay?" Like the spray was as bad as the gouges. He slowly began to spray the liquid on her back, gently rubbing it in. Where there seemed to be great cysts under the scabs of her skin, he gently cleaned and dressed the wounds, grimacing as he tried to make sure her back was as healthy as possible. It would probably scar pretty badly. He hurried to was his hands right after. "Go ahead and wrap yourself up again, Keiu, okay?"

She froze when he mentioned infection. That must've been why everything hurt her back so badly! Keiu was starting to really squirm with worry until that doughnut appeared in her vision. She took it from him "Thanks." She said, calming down. Keiu took a bit when he started on her back again. It hurt but by now she was pretty used to her back hurting so much today. The doughnut was long gone after he finished cleaning her wounds. She hadn't had a treat like that for a very long time. Keiu climbed down from the bar-stool again and accepted the bandages. "And thank you again." She said with a blush then hurried back to the bathroom where she began to wrap herself up again....

Good thing Jeremiah knew that food solved all problems! The other guys were mostly focused on the game, but a couple teased him. "Man, that was nasty! How could you even stand touching her back? Made me nearly sick, looking over there. I woulda just taken her to a healer and made him deal with that mess."

Jeremiah shrugged. "Trust me," he joked, my teenage acne was just as bad. What can I say? I'm desensitized," he grinned.

Keiu heard the beginning of the boys conversation but the end was cut off once she shut the door to the bathroom. She frowned, red in the face. It wasn't her fault her back was in such bad condition! At least the bandage wraps would hide the marks so they wouldn't look at them anymore. She came back out when she was done and stood at the back of the room awkwardly. She didn't know what to do now.

Jeremiah grinned. "Hey, Keiu? Grab us some Sodas from the fridge. Go ahead and grab one for yourself, too. Come and watch the game." He was suddenly worried that she might not like football. But... maybe if she picked a team and had some fun, the others wouldn't mind her hanging about.

Well at least he was giving her things to do. Keiu nodded and went to the fridge. She came back loaded with soda and passed them out to everybody. Football was something she'd never really watch...she'd be pretty lost but that would be okay. Watching tv was better than cleaning or doing the dishes! She handed Jer his soda last and sat on the floor by where he sat.

There weren't many seats. Loads had blankets and pillows bundled up under their butts while they watched, sitting on the floor. Jeremiah was lucky, though. A box of pizza was passed around and he took two slices. He almost forgot about her, eating one and almost starting the second, but he remembered just in time, making the offer. All this fatty, good food was probably really healthy for a malnourished girl like her.

Well Keiu didn't even have a blanket but the carpet was much softer then a cells floor. Everything felt much nicer and cleaner here. She took the pizza and thanked him. This girl needed her fruits and vegetables too though. Maybe he'd ask her to cook soon and she'd make a healthy and good tasting meal.

Well... pizza had tomatoes on it. That was a fruit. Cheese was dairy. Pepperoni was protein. There were also a few peppers and mushrooms. It wasn't healthy, but Jeremiah could argue it was balanced, at least. He cheered as the green shirts took the lead, leaving the popular team blue behind. People laughed ruefully. Jeremiah was good at his job... and also enthusiastic. If they had to pick a mascot, they'd ask him to assum wolf form.

Well she'd have to give him that argument. It was better than dog kibble though, that was for sure. Keiu was finished with her slice in an instant. It was almost like she worried someone would take it away if she didn't finish fast. Keiu glanced around the room and observed everyone. She'd always been curious. Now she could see that the teasing was brotherly love for Jeremiah really, not bullying.

((Pokes))

Jeremiah was one of the younger Sentinels, too. He sat and grabbed a handful of skittles from a bucket. It looked like someone had bought about a hundred bags of candies and dumped 'em in buckets. Apparently, TV night like this was a thing. Jeemiah glanced down at Keiu. "That was fast," he pointed out, splitting the handful.

"Jeremiah, you're going to spoil her," the guy next to him nudged, raising his eyebrows. "You're going to teach her how to beg and get her expecting all this stuff."

Jeremiah shrugged. "Eh. It's not so bad. Besides, she's way too skinny right now. They didn't take care of her at all. I'm testing out my own way. It'll be different, but I hope it works." He played the role of the slaveowner.

Keiu blushed once again and took the candy. She wouldn't beg! She wasn't going to expect him to always treat her either. Was being nice such a bad thing? If it was to a slave, apparently...She looked down at herself and frowned. He was right. She was very, very skinny. With that and the state of her back she looked pretty frail.

Jeremiah didn't seem to argue for her behalf, though... He defended her, but just enough that no negative attention shot to her. He patted Keiu's hair. "How you doing?" he asked, "What color team are you rooting for?" He really didn't get football... but he liked picking a team! It was always fun to win, if even because of chance.

"I'm fine." Keiu said feeling a little awkward. She looked up at the tv when he asked about the teams. Truthfully she hadn't even been trying to pay attention to the game. "Erm....I dunno the blue ones?" Keiu said glancing back and up at him. She didn't know he was cheering for green.

The other guys cheered. "Well, she might be a scrawny little thing," one said, "But you got a smart one!" The others all nodded in assent, accepting Keiu's presence, for the most part. Jeremiah made a pouting face. "Green's still going to win, though," he smirked.

The cheering sounded much better than when they spoke like she wasn't in the room. She shrugged at Jer's comment. All she'd done was pick her favorite color and that just so happened to be blue. "The blues could come back." She said and bit her lip.

"Heck yeah, darling!" someone slapped her shoulder. The pizza box came around again and the pizza got passed around. This time, they passed it to her, too, like she was a person as well. They weren't a bad lot, really. Jeremiah smiled brightly. They were getting along fine!

She knew that had been good natured, or at least she assumed it had been but that guy had also slapped her sore, cut up shoulders and back. Keiu flinched, tears welling in her eyes for a moment. She did her best not to cry out and quickly shoved a bite of pizza in her mouth so she'd have to chew.

Jeremiah looked at her, then fully processed what had happened. He wrinkled his nose. "Brilliant, James, you struck her back," he pointed out, scooting off the couch and next to Keiu. "You okay? He didn't mean it."

"Yeah," James said casually. "Sorry about that. I forgot." His attention was still focused on the tv. It was pretty strange how they all seemed to accept her, just because Jer did.

Keiu swallowed and nodded her head. "I'm fine. It was an accident." She said taking a deep breath. It helped release the ache. Her back still stung but it was a distant pain. She'd much rather get a somewhat friendly slap then be beat. Plus them accepting her was better than them not.

Jeremiah glanced at her and smiled. "Come on," he said, gesturing up. "Rest up on the couch, will you?" he asked. "At least for now. You can rub my head if you want," he said, seeming to be the perfect mixture of playful and concerned, trying to keep others from criticizing.

Keiu did climbed up and onto the couch, however she gave him a very odd look when he said she could rub his head. It was weird! She settled herself so she felt comfortable. The cushions felt so soft! A little happy sigh escaped her and then she stared the back of Jeremiah's head. Tentatively she touched his hair.

Jeremiah jumped a little, like he was shocked she'd taken him up on it. But... at least it was super soft and fluffy, nice and light. It was really like petting a pomeranian's mane!

Her hand moved away for a moment when he'd jumped but he hadn't told her to stop do she touched it again. Keiu liked his hair...it was very fluffy and soft. She was blushing lightly and hoped no one would notice that.