Matthew's Ship

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Ellie kicked things and yelled. She didn't like being grabbed by strangers, especially when they were most likely aliens.

Matthew was actually quite patient with Silv, smiling in slight understanding. She actually offered to help, even, when he turned around and offered to fetch some slip-ons for her to wear. His smile was a lot calmer and less cruel now, and even the guards seemed to fall back from the duo a bit. Matt actually started to treat them with a bit more respect.

~~~~~~

The man waved a hand dismissively. "Nonsense! Slaves don't own their own clothing anyway. You'll be assigned an outfit soon enough." He finished cutting the pants off to short's length and cut the shit away, revealing a bear back and chest as well as his legs and arms. "Now..." He returned the shears to the table, and gracefully glided his hands along the varying sizes of scalpels, "What should I do first~? Hmm, would you prefer tiger stripes or butterfly wings?"

Dawn looked from Matthew to Silv and back, moving slowly to get close enough to be used as a sort of crutch for the other female. She was very careful to not look or act threatening to them.

Esk didn't respond, his jaw clenched, teeth gritted, he just continued to imagine the bloodbath that would come as soon as he was free. Oh it was going to be beautiful, they would scream and scream and scream.

He had the usual tattoos one could expect from an Imperium soldier, the runic ID on one shoulder and the stripes across his collarbone which the shock collar would conceal now.
He also had little patches of scales, running up his spine and dotting his shoulders.

Silv accepted both dawn help and to have slip ons suspecting the whole building had floors like this. She would follow with dawn to the meeting room and waited to see how the seating was to be done before making her offer.

The meeting room looked more like a lounge room as they entered. The floor was actually of carpet and there were several luxurious reading chairs they could choose from, circling around a curved table. Naturally Matthew sat at the largest, most bold one and motioned them to sit. "Do you wish for any refreshments?" He asked each of them kindly.

~~~~~~

"Oh, how about I do both!" The man giggled with glee. "Let's see, let's starts with... The left arm!" He tentatively reached up for Esk's forearm, before slicing slowly across the skin with precision, making sure to dig in a little, sawing slightly to cause more pain as the skin began to rip and tear and the wound opened afresh.

Dawn looked to Silv then went to take a seat. "Water, please." She said softly then glanced to Silv again, hoping whatever she had planned would work to get them out of here.

Esk hissed, doing all he could to not react. His toes curled in pain and his body went rigid, but he fought through it. Eyes shut tight, his expression blank.

"I do not wish any but if dawn does so be it." Silv said relieved for the carpets, "Normally I dont rush business but in this case I think I can accept breaking a taboo." Briefly she closed her eyes before speaking, "I have more then enough credits in my personal bank to pay for the freedom of the Terran and get her safe passage to my crew. I know very well with the rarity of my kind I dont have enough to pay for the both of us so I am willing to make a workers contract for my freedom in time."

Matthew nodded and sent for an subordinate to fetch the girl some water and he another drink as well. He thought for a moment, thinking. His eyes flashed in an opportunity to put a little more green in his pocket as he listened. When she was done he replied, "Well, I am certainly willing to release the girl for your fortunes, but what kind of work would you do for me?"

~~~~~

The man said nothing as he released the blade, and began to carve another gouge into Esk's skin, deeper, slower and lower than the first wound, suddenly he dug, and slowly began cutting out the skin between the two cuts, making a jagged stripe.

"I am a smuggler, trader, medic, cook, mechanic, I have my priest duties that includes dancing and singing, obviously a fighter and my magics. I imagine there is use within that brief list I gave you for your line of work." She said cooly as she rolled up a sleeve showing acid scarring on her right arm she gritted her teeth while digging a nail into the skin, she made about a inch cut and dug out a small credit chip. Calmly she replace the sleeve to let it soak the blood. "Never know when you cant always carry a wallet with you." Smoothly she commented before wiping off the blood with the hem of her shirt.

Esk bit back the desire to cry out, doing so would only make this all worse. He felt tears sting his eyes, but he kept them closed, writhing in agony, twisting involuntarily in his restraints as he continually lost his grip on the floor.

"Silv..." Dawn said her name quietly with a frown "I can't just leave you here"

Silv looked at dawn firmly, "You can and will, you have a young life ahead of you." She said obviously not going to argue this out with the 'terran'.

Matthew's eyebrows rose in mild surprise and a faint trace of disgust as she dug into her skin, however that narcissistic flashy smile remained stitched to his face as his inspected the chip from afar before nodding to one of his underlings to take and scan it. Another servant hastily but neatly wiped off whatever blood had been allowed to drip on the table surface. Matthew sat back a bit, thinking for a moment, "Well, I could find a use for you, but for now..." He clapped his hands. "We can do as the Romans do. Until I assign you a proper placement I could set you under watch of out quartermaster, and you can assist him. As for the Terran... We'll consider the amount of credits you have and send her off to the next neutral space port. Does that sound reasonable?"

~~~~~~

The tormentor chuckle when he noticed Esk's eyes brimming, and he chuckled darkly. "Having difficulty already? We're just getting started!" As he taunted the poor prisoner, he sliced off the skin entirely before traveling a few inches lower to start cutting out the next stripe, humming as if he were making a piece of art rather than cutting off skin.

"Very well, all I request that I can send a message to my ex-crew of were to pick her up. You can even have one of your people watch me if you are worried I am plotting something." she remarked, knowing she would have more then enough for Dawn freedom.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you." Esk spoke through clenched teeth.

Dawn took a deep breath then shook her head and looked to the table. She did not like this at all. "What about Esk?" She asked then looked to Matthew "He will not make a good slave, so how much to let him come with me?"

Silv blinked,"Uhm...dawn that bastard kidnapped us and got us into this mess.." She pointed out, "Do we really owe him anything?"

"Well, if you won't even try to come with me, then I want him to. Going to spaceports alone is asking for trouble" Dawn said then glanced to Silv again "Unless you want to see if we can buy your freedom too?"

"...I know very well my price will be far to high." She said simply, crossing her arms as she leaned back into the chair, "And there are...other reasons Dawn that I recommend asking our captain about on why I am doing this."

Dawn sighed and looked back to the tabletop "So you say" She said quietly

Matthew seemed to grin, "Alright, I'll take your deal, Avian. I'll assign you two more... suitable rooms until you're assigned and dropped off." He nodded to the two respectively. The subordinate nodded and stepped forward when Matthew looked at him expectantly, "I can take you to the guest bedrooms and employee quarters, Miss and Miss."

~~~~~

The doctor merely chuckled, as if amused the slave could ever find a way to escape long enough to do that. He'd continued to cut out these jagged strips slowly, all the way down both arms until they were soaked with crimson blood and the muscles quivering from trying to cope with the pain. That's when the real horrifying reason for hanging on his very toes came into light: if he tried to dangle to rest his strained feet, the burning pain would flare up his arms as the wounds bared his weight. "Oh, but we're just getting started."

Esk struggled to keep on his toes but kept slipping, trying so hard not to cry out in agony. Blood poured onto the floor from those open wounds and he shuddered, his head reeling from it all. He slipped one more time, biting back a howl so it came out more as a strangled hissed cry.

"f.. first... i'm going... going to gouge out you.. your eyes. " He was really struggling to speak.

Silv nodded calmly stood, giving a bow of respect to Matthew as she silently sighed in relief. Dawn was young and had a long life before her, while she on the other hand was getting older in her age even though Avians Vessels could live to two centuries, their aging slowed due to their magics.

"Mhmmm." The torturer replied, not really believing Esk as he momentarily put aside the scalpel and went to scoop of a cup of the salt granules, coming around calmly, with a malicious smirk behind his mask, "Are you ready for this...?" Without waiting for a question, he articulately poured the substance over the wounds, a fiery burning sensation that will crawl down his arms as his entire body screamed in agony.

~~~~~

The man turned to lead them to their respective rooms. Dawn's would be rather luxurious, on the top decks of the ship and well protected. Silv would take a servant's quarters, the employee district of the ship housing simply one room apartments with small beds but have all the essentials within.

She didnt mind, it was no differrnt then home for her minus the fact it was on the ground. She walked around and made mental note to ask if she could move the bed higher some how later while seeing how stock the kitchen was. She knew that she'll have some credits over after dawn freedom and figured she could use it for clothing and what not.

Esk cried out, he didn't want to but he couldn't help himself. The pain was just unbelievable. His vision blurred and he struggled instinctively, which only made matters worse as he slipped and slid on the floor.
He tried to focus, tried to retreat into his fantasy world but all he could see was white searing agony.