To Be a Slave

[Brooke]

"Right, I'm on it." River said, he felt bad, he had abandoned her.

"Come on Tampa, we have to get back to our work."

[Treble Tiderunner]

"You two have been slaves for a while, now, right? And you don't want revenge on your master?" He sighed, "And I thought I'd seen it all."

"I killed a guard to help out your friend, riverdog, and you still think I’m on their side?"

Tampa stood up, narrowing her eyes in a glare at the fox. “That…stoat— is not my master!” The ottermaid advanced, a dagger suddenly appearing in her paw. She rapped the flat sharply over Jakk’s knuckles. “You would be wise to remember, fox, that just because we are slaves here does not mean we are easy targets.”

Tampa backed up a step, replacing her dagger. “As for your so-called act of kindness, you vermin think nothing of killing a fellow beast if he is in your way.”

"She's not a guard." He said. "She's a fellow slave." He added. "Well... Fellow slave... to you"

Tampa was considering whether or not to use her dagger as more than a ruler to rap disobedient dibbuns when Jakk spoke again. His words made her boil inside, that temper which her uncle always scolded her for and that she scolded him for. But two years in the fort had trained her well, and she took a few steps back, wiping her face completely blank, imagining a wall over her eyes to shut in emotion.

“Well then, sir, we should get back to work.”

"Rash actions driven by frustration rarely turn out well, specifically for us." She said, her voice was low, almost a growl. Her eyes turned to the Tampa and River, she tried to write the displeasure off her face, "Plans." She said, her tone a bit lighter, "plans like.. oh, going back to the kitchen before the hungry hordesbeasts destroy it... or us, for that matter is a particularly good one."

“I’m coming.” Tampa dropped her mask to glare one last time at Jakk, then turned and followed Soko and River back to the kitchens.

[Rocky]

As Tampe rose with his dagger, and rapped his knuckles, his paw immediately strayed to the hilt of his blade on his back, "Remember who you are dealing with, slave. I can kill you where your stand, or I can have you tortured." A smirk formed on his lips, but inside he was angry. Not at Tampa, no, but at himself. He threatened a slave. A slave of all people. The kind he was trying to save, and he just threatened one. One that had a weapon. Sleep with an eye open, he thought to himself, though he didn't believe Tampa would kill him in cold blood. Didn't believe, couldn't believe, and wouldn't believe. She didn't seem like the kind to do that. She didn't seem like a murderer.

His paw fell back to his side, and he thought of telling them to give him his knives back, but then on second thought, he felt that would be childish. He let a small sigh pass his lips and he turned to face the retreating slaves. He cursed under his breath and kicked a plate of food against a tree.

"Rash actions driven by frustration rarely turn out well, specifically for us."

Soko's words echoed in his head all this time, and he finally thought of something. He turned back to their retreating forms and called out, "Thats bec--" Not a good idea with guards around. He walked up slowly with longer strids then them, then whispered in Soko's ear, "Thats because your untrained, not fit, and not healthy." He winked at her, then stood still, letting them walk away, not caring if those slaves, with the possible exception of River fought or died. HE kept shaking his head, trying to stop himself from saying things like that. He wasted so much time in trying to help the slaves get better conditions and food and whatnot, and here he was not caring anymore? His father would figure him a disgrace for not caring, and again, Jakk cursed, this time louder.

He turned on his heels, and walked back to a different entrance to the building, the entrane with his quarters in it. That was where he'd plot and think of a way to convince anyone and everyone he could to help him in the rebellion that seemed to grow farther and farther from his grasp.

[lorki]

A snarl formed on Soko's features, she seemed suddenly quite feral and dangerous.

"Remember who you are dealing with, slave. I can kill you where you stand, or I can have you tortured."

No longer seeing him as such a danger, considering his talk of rebellion, she straightened her back and glared darkly at the fox. "For someone seeking help you really don't know how to make a case for yourself do you?" She snapped. What could he do, all of them knew his plan, anyone of them could if they wanted, tell another guard, one closer to N'tashi about the plot. Rumor about the warlords wariness was all about the fort, if Soko so much as whispered a word of his plot she knew where it would take him. She felt secure in her anger, even in her words though she had not since she was very young spoken so sourly to one of the horde.

She turned along with the otters and began to trek back to the fort, uneasy about what state she would find back in the kitchens. A grim scowl formed when she realized the fox was following them.

"Thats because your untrained, not fit, and not healthy."

He was already gone by the time her head snapped sharply towards him. She decided against any more retaliation, considering it would involve shouting and... well not only were there other guards about but Soko was a quiet creature and the attention that came with yelling insults around she simply did not desire.