A Caged Bird Sings

[Kizzy]

It was a warm day in the City of Venus and Kizzy was in a cage in the slave market. How she had gotten there, she wasn't quite sure.

She had just arrived in the City with her mistress, Princess Mirela Mishkin, when they stopped in Night's Doorstep. Words were spoken, money changed hands, and Kizzy was escorted into a cage while Mirela rode away.

Kizzy sat with her back to the cage bars and put her head in her hands. All her life she had been slave and companion to Mirela-- why would the Princess sell her?

As tears rolled down her face she began to sing a lullaby, in the language of the Mishkani empire, she used to sing to Mirela when she couldn’t sleep.

Bayu-bayushki-bayu,
Ne lozhisya na krayu.
Pridyot serenkiy volchok,
On ukhvatit za bochok
I utashchit vo lesok
Pod rakitovy kustok.

As Kizzy sang, her inner strength returned. She would make the best of this-- as long as she remained positive, only good things could happen, right?

[[OOC: this is a real russian lullaby, and you can find the translated lyrics on wikipedia, if you're interested]]

[Lita]

Lita was again on the run. Though that might have been a slight overstatement. She was hardly running and the group of people chasing her had given up long ago. She'd even managed to save all her hair which was a welcome surprise. It was always so troublesome wasting the energy to grow it back. She then looked around to view her surroundings.

"Where have you gotten yourself now?" She said aloud. "It certainly doesn't seem like somewhere you want to be." She started to turn in circles, looking at everything. "This is a far cry from the castle too. Now why did you go this way?" Her strange spinning and the fact that she was talking to herself quite loudly was not unnoticed by those around her. Many elected to move around her at a small distance.

After several more moments she stopped spinning. "This won't do. This won't do at all." She decided to keep walking, after all, it was much easier to get somewhere when moving she mused. Moving through a few more streets she came to a rather interesting area. Many people were there, most in cages. "Oh, this is nice." She began walking through the area. "Though if they were really trying to entice me I'd prefer they display the organs grouped alphabetically. Seems like such a hassle to make me dissect them myself." She watched as several slaves were bought and taken away. "Have I got to kill them myself too? What a completely useless way of doing things. An assistant would be really useful." She stopped in front of Kizzy's cage. "You in there, do you talk? I hope so, tongues are important and if they cheat me out of one of those. Actually that's not important. Can you sew at all, maybe do a bit of cutting?"

[Kizzy]

Kizzy stopped singing and turned around to find a woman with long blond hair looking at her. "Um, hello...," she said, unsure of how to act in such a situation.

Mar 10, 2010 0:51:46 GMT -5 Lita said:

"You in there, do you talk? I hope so, tongues are important and if they cheat me out of one of those. Actually that's not important. Can you sew at all, maybe do a bit of cutting?"

“Oh, sewing, yes, I’m quite good at sewing! I mostly do dresses, though I did mend a pair of trousers once,” Kizzy chirped happily, glad to see that her positive thinking theory seemed to work. She pressed herself up against the bars of the cage in an effort to get as close to the woman as possible. “You look like you could use a new dress, no offense.”

[Lita]

Lita looked down at her rather charred robe. "I suppose you're right about that. This one has seen better days." She looks back at Kizzy. "So how much, I need someone who can sew and follow orders quickly." She held her hands up and started examining them. "I had some money not long ago." her hands began digging through her pockets. "If it's not in my hands I tend to forget about it. You wouldn't happen to know anything about organization?"

[Kizzy]

Kizzy giggled at the strange woman's antics. "Organization? Yes, I suppose I know something about that. I have been cleaning Mirela's room all my life." She paused, surprised at the pain that came with the memory. "Well, I don't have to clean her room anymore. That's a blessing, I guess. Still, I don't know as much about organization as I do about sewing. What are you, a 30 around the waist, 34 at the bust? I bet I could--"

"Shut up!" cried a short, stocky man holding a whip. "Nobody likes a chatty slave." He then turned towards the other woman. "You're interested in this one, eh? She just came in this morning so I can't say anything for her." The man gave Kizzy an appraising look. "Rather scrawny, though, isn't she? I'd say... five gold."

"Five gold?" Kizzy asked, aghast. "Only five gold? With my skills it should be at least eight--"

"Shut up!" the man interrupted again, cracking his whip. He turned his attention to the blond woman again. "So, whaddya say?"

[Lita]

"Oh, these are slaves. That makes more sense. You see, I thought you were selling body parts and were just too lazy to separate them yourself. Well, that changes things." She stopped rummaging through her pockets and held up her hands. "Not there either. Look, I just want to hire an assistant, which means I'd be paying her, not you. I don't much like the look of you anyway. Though I think you have a lovely left hand I wouldn't mind having for myself. How much for that?"

[Kizzy]

"Look, lady, I don't care what you do with the girl after you buy her so long as you buy her. And my left hand is not for sale!" He held said appendage to his chest nervously. He added under his breath, "Freak."

"Come now, you're being unfair," Kizzy said to the man. "She's not a freak, she's just... different. And is that any way to treat a potential customer, I mean really--"

"I thought I told you to be quiet!" he snarled at Kizzy, and grabbed at her through the cage. "If you don't shut up I'll make sure this lady takes your body parts-- fresh!"

[Lita]

"No sorry, the only piece I'm missing is a left hand. Since you seem so attached to yours I'll just hire this woman as my assistant and we'll be off." Lita's hands returned to her pockets and began rummaging around once again. "Of course as I said, I really don't like the looks of you, once again with your left hand in exception, so I'd much rather pay her and cut you out of the loop entirely. Aha." Her hands slid out of her pockets with a rather long knife. She stared at it for a few seconds. "I was looking for this earlier." She frowned. "That's disappointing. See, I was going to pay gold but now I have a knife in my hand. Surely it has some meaning and I admit to hate wasting an opportunity. So please accept this new offer. Either give me the woman, the hand, or your life. You can choose first and if you aren't fast enough, I'll take them all at leisure."

[Kizzy]

Kizzy backed away from the woman apprehensively. It looked like this was going to get bloody, and she didn't want blood on her outfit. "Now, now, Miss-- um, what's your name? -- surely we don't need to bring violence into this. This nice man will just let me out of the cage and we'll be on our way."

The man looked at Kizzy, "Like I'm going to let five gold just walk away...." He turned and looked at the other woman, who held the sharp knife with a perfectly serious expression. "But on second thought, I think I will." He unlocked the cage and backed away slowly. "See, I've let the girl go, now I'll just take my left hand and be on my way." With that he ran away at a surprising speed.

Kizzy smiled brightly and exited the cage, holding out her hand to the blond woman. "Thank you for that. My name is Kizzy, and I'd be glad to serve you in any way."

[Lita]

Lita slipped the knife back into her coat and sighed in relief. "That was close." She turned toward Tizzy and smiled. "Well your assistance will be rather useful. Now, I know that guy said five gold but I can hardly pay that weekly so if we could make another deal at a slightly lower price it would be better for me." She glanced around as people had begun to gather. "We should probably get out of here before discussing such mattters however."

[Kizzy]

Kizzy nodded, that was a reasonable suggestion-- then she realized what the woman had said. "Wait--paid--me? I've been a slave all my life! I mean, how could I possibly take money from you if I'm just doing my job?" She snapped her mouth shut-- Mirela had hated it when Kizzy asked her questions. So she went with the safest route; she agreed with the woman. "Yes, we should leave."

[Lita]

Lita grabbed Kizzy and began leading her down streets and alleyways as fast as she could. They passed men and women, vendors in their colorful stalls, beggars on the side of streets, drunks passed out behind taverns. After several minutes of this, she stopped.

"That's enough of that." She said between gasps for air. "We should be perfectly fine then." She leaned up against a rather dirty fall and took a few more deep breaths. "I always end up running. I hate running." She stood up straight and looked at Kizzy. "You were saying something a moment ago. About the slave thing. Well let's look at this logically." She swallowed and slowed her breathing. "Slaves are bought. I did not buy you. Therefore you are not a slave. Since you will be doing errands for me and you are not a slave, you must be an employee of mine. Therefore I will be paying you." She slumped against the wall. "Just don't try to eat me until I get my second wind."

[Kizzy]

"I-- I can't believe it!"Kizzy exclaimed. "I'm not a slave anymore! I mean, I never thought I'd be free...." She looked over at Lita solemnly. "Thank you. Thank you for freeing me."

Kizzy sat on the ground next to the other woman. "I almost don't know what to do with myself, though I suppose that's what you're here for, isn't it? What is it that you do that you need an assistant for? Where shall I live?" she asked excitedly.

[Lita]

Lita took a deep breath wiped her brow. You know, I'm not quite sure. You're the first assistant that hasn't tried to eat me." She leaned against the wall again. "I hate running. Look, as for where you'll be staying I suppose you could stay with me. I've got a room in the castle for awhile. I'm going after the princess' hand in marriage." She stood up straight and smiled. "Failing that I'm sure with the huge selection I can find somebody at the very least."

She glanced around at the buildings surrounding them. "Except my vision isn't so great at a distance and I have no idea where the castle is. If you could maybe escort me to the castle as your first task I'd be really appreciative. We also need to talk about your salary, that man was saying five gold and I can't pay that weekly. Inventing isn't exactly profitable."

[Kizzy]

"Ah, the castle," Kizzy said, spinning around slowly to survey her surroundings, "I believe it's this way. Princess Mirela and I passed it on our way through the city." She began to lead the blond woman through the streets.

"As for my salary, I don't need much. I was a slave, so I've never had much money, if any at all," Kizzy explained. "I think I could get by on three silver a week. Or maybe even less."