The Hand That Feeds (m)

[Draconian]

(Totes drew Jaiha topless in her profile 'cause I wanted to draw boobies and her scales.  8D tig ol bitties for poor Juras to see.)

Surprise tore through her and she sat up quickly, forgetting that she was mostly without clothes. The maroon scales covered most of her body except for her breasts and belly. Sitting sideways she gave Juras a long look, eyeing the coin purse.  Did he come to gloat or do what he said he could maybe came to tell her she was stuck here even though she would just be fodder. Hesitantly Jaiha held farther down her tail, looking down at it for a moment. "I... Wasn't expecting it to hurt that bad." She started lamely, looking away.

[DaGlobster]

"These kinds of things never really feel the way you expect them to," Juras said, eyes slowly rolling downwards to confirm that she was, indeed, without clothing, before going back up to meet her eyes. He took a seat at the edge of her bed, and held out the cloth bag to her.

It contained an apple, and a couple of coffee treats.

"I talked to the arena's quartermaster. They're willing to part with you for real cheap, now that they think you're useless. I told them I was going to bring in the gold tomorrow."

[Draconian]

Hesitantly she took the bag, peeking inside curiously. It could have been extremely morbid and have been the tip of her tail for all she knew. Instead, it was some fruit and things she'd never seen before.  Slowly she reached and pulled out the apple, looking at it intently before Juras spoke. Wide golden eyes looked at him and she blinked back tears.

"I don't know how to thank you, but... If you ever figure anything out, I'll do my best." Fondly she looked down at the apple, a few moments and she relized she was letting it all hang out. Her hands went to her shoulders to cover her chest. "Oh. I'm sorry. I... They must... I didn't mean to show you that."

[DaGlobster]

"Ah, don't worry about it," Juras said, trying to dismiss the issue. For a human crossed with something he couldn't even begin to imagine, Jaiha had a pretty great rack. Come to think of it, she wasn't exactly unappealing in general.

Juras motioned to the apple and coffee treats.

"Sorry about your tail, I... I brought you those to maybe help you feel a bit better. It's a pretty big sacrifice you made in there, and I can respect that."

[Draconian]

A bright smile and she looked down at the apple in her hands. "I like apples," Jaiha said softly, her ears flicking, the bits of jewelry in them clicking together to create soft  noises. A look at her tail and she looked back at Juras. "I'm just selfish and stupid enough." Jaiha let her head fall forward and she finally took a bite of the apple, chewing thoughtfully.

"I don't know what the other things are," she took another bite of the apple and looked into the bag before raising her head and looking at her bed guest.

[DaGlobster]

"Coffee treats," Juras said, and he scooted quite a bit closer to pick one up.

"They're nice and sweet. Perk you right up, they will."

[Draconian]

Jaiha wiggled her apple at him and smiled "this is more than I could have asked for." Another bite of it and she watched him, tilting her head. Slowly she reached a hand out to touch his arm, "do I go home with you tomorrow?"

[DaGlobster]

Juras looked down at the soft touch on his arm, and smiled a little bit, finding Jaiha's word choice to be amusing.

"That's the plan. Say, can I call you Jai? As like a nickname sort of thing?"

[Draconian]

Another bite of the apple and it was, quite literally, all gone. Everything eaten but the stem. Jaiha licke her lips and gave a pleased purr, her ears perking up. "Jai?" She looked at the stem between her fingers and pursed her lips, "you can call me anything you like. I'll be yours soon, won't I?"

Jaiha cast a curious look to the coffee candies before she picked one up. Her bandaged up tail was still on her lap and she looked down at it again.  The candy went into her mouth and she instantly made a face, though too polite to spit it out.

[DaGlobster]

"Well, I suppose I can, but I don't really want to call you anything you don't want to be called. I mean, I know I'm gonna be your master and everything, but... I'm not a slaver, you know what I mean? I'm not really comfortable owning someone."

He cleared his throat, and took a dagger off of a holster on his chest and started to idly twirl it in his fingers.

"Don't think of me as your owner, think of me as your... Housemate! Yeah, housemate. We're living together, after all."

[Draconian]

At the dagger play she leaned back, holding her tail carefully. Jaiha tucked the candy into her cheek and she watched Juras carefully. Slowly she pulled her tail just a little farther away.  "A.... Housemate."  Jaiha repeated, reaching out slowly to touch his arm again. "I would like it if you called me Jai. It sounds cute." She smiled and shifted closer, tilting her head, "what do housemates do?"

[DaGlobster]

Juras played with his dagger up until the point when Jaiha touched his arm again. At that, he stopped, and he put the dagger away.

"Well, Jai, housemates just sort of... share a space with each other. Nobody's above anybody else, we just... coexist. Does that make sense? The only thing is that you've got to earn your keep, so you need to help me out around the house."

[Draconian]

"I can do that." Again Jaiha hugged at her tail, giving him a long look. She's been taught how to coexist, it would be easy! She shuffled a bit closer and moved the candy around in her mouth, "help how? Clean? I can cook! Sort of. It's cooked if it's black right?"

[DaGlobster]

Jaiha had shuffled close enough that their elbow could touch. Juras found it kinda hard to care, though. It seemed he'd figured that he was going to be living with this woman, so he might as well start getting friendlier.

"Sort of. Depends on what you're cooking. I'll help you through it the first time," Juras said.

"But yeah, you'll help me cook, clean, maybe even do some errands if I'm busy that day. You'll be like an extra pair of hands."

[Draconian]

Another happy noise and she shuffled even closer. " I'll try not to disappoint you," Jaiha started, still smiling. Though, another thought crossed her mind and she ducked her head down, "will you be expecting other things?"  She looked down at her tail, her legs. "Are you going to expect favors?"

[DaGlobster]

"Favors? No, Jai, I..."

Juras looked away, a little exasperated by her question.

"... Listen, I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to do, okay? And I'm certainly not going to make you do that."

[Draconian]

A loud sigh of relief and she let her shoulders slump forward, then a cautious look around. "You're really for real?" Jaiha looked around again, her ears giving a flick, "you're not playing some cruel joke? You... You're really going to save me?"

[DaGlobster]

"Jai..."

Juras put a hand on Jaiha's shoulder, taking the opportunity to both comfort her and sate his curiosity towards the texture of her scales. He hadn't really thought of it that way... that he was saving her.

"No joke. Tomorrow, you spend your night outside the colosseum."

[Draconian]

Again, Jaiha threw her arms around his shoulders, pulling the strange man into a hug, nuzzling her head against the side of his. Until she gave her tail a wag and smacked it against the bed. Instantly she have a pained yelp and pulled away, giving the appendage an accusatory look. "Have you... No. I don't suppose you have." Jaiha tenderly held her tail, "I don't suggest getting bits cut off. It really hurts"

[DaGlobster]

"I don't doubt it," Juras said, growing steadily more used to Jaiha's random hugs. This time, he only balled one hand into a fist. The head nuzzling still sent conflicting signals racing through his mind, though.

"What were you going to ask me? Were you gonna ask if I've ever gotten a piece of me cut off?"