Jaded Orion
Posted on Wed Oct 3rd, 2012 @ 11:22am by Mallory (Jade) & Commander Oralia Zeferino & Suresh
Edited on on Wed Oct 3rd, 2012 @ 10:33pm
Mission:
Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: Suresh's Quarters
Waking up beside Suresh, Seyla was surprised to find him still there; all the more so, that either of them had fallen asleep while the other was there. Watching him sleep for a moment, her gaze traveled down his body to one oddity she’d noticed earlier but hadn’t commented upon: an angry-looking weal on his arm. Trying not to wake him, she moved his arm to get a better look at it: Isha. Carved into his arm. She grimaced but lightly ran a finger over the marks.
He grunted softly and his eyes flew open immediately. He saw her attention directed at his arm and snatched it away. “How long have I been here?”
“By the clock? A few hours,” she answered.
“We need to go.” He pinned her down to the bed with an unexpected kiss, then he was off and getting dressed. “I know you want to ask, why don’t you?”
“It’s your skin, Suresh. I can guess at the why behind it,” she was up and moving slower than he was. “Wait for me, will you?”, she tossed the pseudo question at him as she disappeared into her bathroom.
“I will,” he answered softly. The fact that she hadn’t pressed him was impressive and he appreciated it more than he could tell her just yet. Finished dressing, he poured a drink as he waited.
Several minutes later, Seyla reappeared, wearing what she tended to call her ‘bad ass’ outfit: reddish-brown leather boots, pants and fitted corset-style top with long sleeves. Her hair was bound into a long french braid. “Shall we go assess your newest possession?”
“Follow me.”
The Cherry Pit - Guest Room
Suresh led Seyla along the corridor and finally they stopped before a set of doors to one of the small guest rooms. He keyed in the code and the doors opened. Once they entered, two of Suresh’s men became visible, one standing by the replicator, the other lounging in the door to the bedroom where a young woman could be seen.
He stopped to speak to the man by the replicator for a few minutes, getting an update.
Hearing the main doors to the quarters open, Jade paused in her slow prowl back and forth and glanced through the doorway. What she saw just made her nerves coil tighter. The Romulan was back, but he wasn’t alone. For a moment, she looked around for a way out, but there was only one way in or out of the bedroom. She was cornered. Something both goons had had fun with earlier. The one by the bedroom door had a handprint fading on his jaw for his fun, while she had what felt to be bruised shoulder blades from getting shoved against the wall. He must have realized playing with the boss’ property was a bad idea after that and had left her alone.
Going to the doorway of the room, Seyla started to look in on the woman but then noticed the handprint on the fellow at the door. She arched a brow and frowned. “Suresh, did you intend to let your minions use her?”
“Not at all, why?” He turned his dark gaze on the man at the bedroom door and the man immediately began to fidget. “What did he do Seyla?”
“I don’t know what he did, but I’ll bet that handprint isn’t his own,” Seyla answered and looked at the other fellow near Suresh. “Perhaps it’s his handprint?”
Suresh moved over to examine the guard. “No, too small. What did you do?” He waited for all of half a second. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. You have made a grave mistake, touching something I own. You were instructed to watch, and that means eyes, not hands.” He pushed him towards the other guard. “Take him down to the waiting room, I’ll be along soon.”
“He touched her too!” The guy whined in a manner that belied his size, stabbing an accusatory finger at the other guard. What he should have realized was that ratting on the other man wasn’t going to ease his own troubles any with the boss.
“There’s one person in this room that will tell the truth about that, then I’ll deal with both. And don’t make it worse by not being there.” The two nodded and hurried out. Once they were gone, he turned back to Jade. “You may speak. What happened?”
She stood on the far side of the room, not quite backed against the wall. Sensing for the moment she wasn’t the one in trouble but still wary, Jade stood up straighter. “They were pushing and grabbing me. They chased me around the quarters.” Hesitating for a moment, she held her arms out in front of her, unsure if showing him the marks on her wrists would be overstepping what he asked for.
“Juvenile behavior,” Seyla snorted and laughed lightly.
Suresh merely glanced at the bruises on her wrists, apparently unconcerned about them. “Those juveniles need to remember not to touch what belongs to me.” He turned his attention back to Jade now. “Come along then, I suppose we should feed you something. We’ll go back to my quarters. Seyla? You’ll come with us.”
“Of course,” she turned towards the door then paused to remark, “I take it she isn’t here willingly; so how are you insuring she won’t just scamper off?”
He reached out to tap the collar she still wore. “That. And if she misbehaves, I’ll give her to the Ferengi. That should be incentive enough, don’t you think?”
Jade flinched but self-preservation stopped her from jerking away completely. Hearing she would be given away to a Ferengi if she didn’t behave the way he wanted made her grateful she’d not automatically batted the Romulan’s hand away.
“Tog,” Seyla shuddered.
The doors opened and Suresh led them back along the corridor, around a corner and finally to his own doors. Once they were opened, he stood aside to let them go in first. His quarters had been restored, the broken things replaced and now, it was the same sumptuous set of rooms Seyla recalled. Suresh pointed to a corner beside a door that led to the spare bedroom.
“You. There.”
Casting a sidelong glance at him, Jade’s dark gaze met his briefly before looking to see where he pointed. He wanted her to stand in a corner? She supposed she should be glad he hadn’t pointed to the bedroom, not that location would matter if he decided he wanted to use her. Before she could do something monumentally stupid like glare at him or tell him to go fuck himself, she moved away, back straight and head held high, crossing the room to the corner.
He nodded and moved over to order her something to eat, since by his reckoning it had been a good 36 hours since she’d had anything. A plate appeared on the replicator grille and he carried it over to her. Holding it out, he spoke again.
“You may sit.”
Taking the plate, she almost remained standing just to spite him, but she was far too hungry to give into pettiness. Since there was no chair, Jade lowered herself down and sat cross-legged. Would she have to wait for him to give her permission to eat as well? Setting the plate down, she gathered her thick hair and twisted it into a knot to keep it out of the way before giving her full attention to the meal.
“You’ve already started on training her. Nice.” In Seyla’s world, slaves were a necessary thing. Some males preferred the idea that their companion was being forced into serving him; the one male Seyla had asked about that claimed the idea heightened his arousal. At that, she’d rolled her eyes, thinking he was a loon. For Suresh, she wasn’t sure what draw a slave would have for him - perhaps the thrill of control? He certainly seemed to enjoy making her move where he wanted her.
“We reached an understanding, especially where speaking is concerned,” Suresh answered. “I’m pleased to see she has thus far remembered.”
The thrill of control, Seyla realized. “I see. And you kept her..., why?”
He shrugged. “Spur of the moment, really. I gave one to Nine as well. A reward for good behavior I suppose. Company maybe?”
“In my experience, slaves make poor company,” she commented. The two were discussing Jade as if she weren’t right there.
“It might fill the emptiness at least, who knows?” He smiled at Seyla now. “Now who sounds jealous?”
“Jealous? Oh, hardly! At least with Darwin, I’d have a chance at him reciprocating,” scoffed the Orion.
Suresh’s eyes widened and then came the unmistakable tensing of his jaw. “Are you so sure?” He glanced at Jade, then turned away from Seyla and moved over to the bar.
Narrowing her eyes at him, she was close to lashing out at him - physically. But that would only result in torn clothing, bruises and, most likely, rough sex before a witness. Seyla turned to look at the potential witness. This time, she looked the woman over closely; light brown hair, brown eyes, skin the color of coffee loaded with cream. There was a defiance in her eyes, still, too, which aggravated Seyla all the more. “Are you human?”
Taking the time to finish chewing the bite of food in her mouth, Jade’s gaze flicked to Suresh then back to the Orion woman. She’d been listening to their discussion, trying to figure out just what the green-skinned woman’s purpose here was, but decided it didn’t matter. Nothing really did at the moment. If her own situation wasn’t so bad, she might have been amused by their mildly jealous bickering. “Yes.”
Suresh’s hand paused as he was about to pour his drink and he cleared his throat, shooting a look at Jade.
She got the message. He hadn’t given her permission to speak. Shit. Her hand tightened on the fork and she stabbed the mystery meat that was passing itself off as chicken on her plate as she resumed eating her meal, but not before shooting a resentful glance at Seyla. Maybe that was the woman’s plan. To get her in trouble or worse.
Seeing the woman’s eyes go to Suresh then skip back to her, Seyla rounded on Suresh and asked, “What would you do? Would you really pull her tongue out? I’ve already told you she won’t be worth anything if you do that.”
“She has her instructions. Perhaps you should remember them as well, sweet Seyla.” He raised the glass to his lips. Despite his words, the expression in his eyes was surprisingly soft.
“You could pretend she’s Zeferino. Have her head shaved and do to her what you wanted to do to Zeferino.” Seyla suggested. She was ignoring his look and his words. “But she’ll be of no use to me, not if I’d have to keep that collar on her.”
“You should know that a substitute is never as good as the real thing. We’ll see how it goes.” He turned to Jade once again. “You understand that if you behave, life will be far easier? A nod is sufficient.”
Licking her lips nervously, Jade met the Romulan’s gaze and nodded. She wanted to rail at the Orion for suggesting he shave her head, but wisely kept silent and lowered her eyes again.
“A substitute?” She’d heard him wrong and thought that he was calling her a substitute. Seyla hissed at him, her voice dripping with acid, “I know that sometimes, the substitute is far better - and certainly more alive - than the real thing. Have at your new plaything, Suri. Better her than your dead addiction.” She turned on her heel to leave.
He gripped the glass far too tightly, the amber liquid it in sloshing over his hand. When he spoke, the words were ground out through his teeth. “Don’t go there again, Seyla.”
Perhaps unwisely, Seyla looked back and said, “As if there’s anything you could do if I choose to go there again.”
He moved far faster than she might have suspected, his body slamming into hers and pressing it against the door. “Please don’t,” he whispered.
Grunting as his greater weight pressed on her, the Orion pushed back and sent an elbow into his ribs. As he backed off, rather than keep their confrontation going, she hit the button to open the door and stepped out. “When you’ve cooled off, we’ll talk.” With that, she walked away from him.
The doors slid closed and he slammed his hand against them, breathing heavy. Finally, he downed the liquor in his glass and looked up, meeting Jade’s eyes. “What are you looking at?”
She gasped, but didn’t say anything, just shook her head and lowered her gaze. Inside her head was a different story though. Nothing...nothing...I’m sorry.
The tension in the room seemed to ease immediately and as strange as it seemed, Suresh smiled. Moving over to the replicator, he ordered a large glass of ice water and carried it over to Jade, setting it down beside her. Then he crossed the room to enter a code to lock the doors from the inside, careful to keep his body between her and the panel. Finally, he took a seat still smiling.
“She called me the real thing. How interesting....”
Eyes wide, Jade picked up the water and drank it down, watching Suresh out of the corner of her peripheral vision. Heaven help her, she was locked in a room with a man that was batshit crazy.
******************
Suresh
One Thing Or Another
Seyla
Green Skin not Eyes
Jade
Locked Up With Nowhere To Hide
