The fact of his not being dismissed of his job almost overshadowed the one of his being given a slap on the wrist and then a "punishment"; all while going down the second level's hallway, and then down the stairwell that wound around the foyer's left side, he thought none on where he was going or on what he might or might not see after getting there. It was only when he was on his way down the foyer's hallway that he stopped and then realized where he was going—did he hear his employer correctly? That he wasn't only to go to the Red Room but that he was also to be his wife's shadow for the day?
He had seen nothing of any of his employer's sons that day; what were they doing and where were they? Were their activities the same as they had been over the last six days or were they in the house somewhere, conducting activities that they had ceased in doing after the events of that ill-fated January 20 occurred? Miss. Eshal, he figured, was either in the gym, library, or outside. He knew where his employer's wife was said to be—was she really in that location or was she somewhere else?
Eldass shook his head; he figured that Koftu Bojus was getting his dues about now, and that his employer was probably getting very "red" in the face—due to nothing being heard from the level that he was on, he guessed that the Silencer spell had been used in his employer's office. In a way, he did and didn't want to know what was going on with Koftu.
Homsi went past him; he, who looked so calm and cool, looked to be planning to do as he had been told to do. While on the way to the house's bigger kitchen, the man stopped to give Losal the word on his needing to take the five burlap bags, that were by the front door, to their employer. Seeing as he had been told to relay word to his son, and to Tautal and Ahggen, about their "punishments", he tracked the three down then gave them the word on what they needed to do.
As he saw it, the punishments given to the nine of them were low to mediocre in detail—while he was acceptive of his given chore he was also slightly embarrassed by his having to go to the area where it was to begin at. He considered going to the house's bar for a second—he had a flask on him, which was empty and which could well be filled or halfway filled with some beverage that'd cause his nerves to settle—before swallowing his pride and then continuing down the hall.
"The Red Room... it use to be a plain, empty room that sat beside the house's pool area." he thought while going down the hall.
Mistress Angel, after being given the rooms that she was to redesign and decorate, had picked wisely the ones that she wanted to work on first. The Pet Room had been the first that she had done while the Flower Room, that was on the house's fourth floor, was the second; after the construction on them two rooms was done, she spent a week in resting up before going on to do the one that he was headed towards. Unlike the Pet Room, where she had done around half of the work in, and the Flower Room, where she had done all of the work in, she had been required to call in and then let the interior decorators work on the one that was beside the pool area. Before being worked on, it had just had a granite marble floor in it; the paneling on the walls had been honey maple wood while the ceiling had been a simple dark gold color—all of this was gone now.
At the time that the room's plans were being drawn up, his Mistress had envisioned the room as being a sort of spa—a place where people could go to relax and relieve themselves of their stresses. Boy had it become that... and more!
The room had a series of pools in it; the first was in the top left corner—even though it was small, it had a waterfall behind it. Mistress Angel had envisioned the water in this pool being red and that was what it was—the system behind the waterfall was state-of-the-art and the stones that the water rolled down were real. The pool, that was between the small one and the room's far right corner, was large and had several waterfalls falling into it; the water in this pool was a deep violet color, and it was always bubbly. A sauna, that was placed to the far left of the room, was set-up for one who wanted a turn with the "steam"; the two tables, that had a soft foam top to them, completed the room's decor. One of the tables was for plain massages while the other was for the treatment that one got from the use of them special heated rocks that were frequently used in the real-deal spas—he still didn't know the true purpose for them rocks; word of mouth said that they had special properties, that took away stress, pressure, and certain pains, while others said that they were nothing fancy.
Before the room's construction was complete, Mistress Angel had had a bout of genius—a portion of the newly installed, pebble stone floor was ripped up and then the floor that was under it was "dropped"; a pumping station was applied to what was made before the sides of the hole were filled with slate. Mistress Angel, whenever she wanted to further her relaxation, pressed a button that'd release a bunch of rose petals; the water that was in the room's third pool would be what she wanted it to be whenever she was taking a dip in it—fresh or salt, and always warm to the touch.
Master Tazir, after the room was complete, had been struck with a sort of idea that revolved around gutting the wall that was to the far right of the room and then making that into a sort of secret room that only he and his wife had access to. By way of the pool that the rose petals could be released into, the two could swim into this room and then do whatever they wished while being in it. According to "legend", Young Master Lazeer's conception occurred in that room.
"Either he's a lonely Goblin looking for some tail or he's slacking on the job this mid-afternoon." TrobrencusVile said while he and Eldass walked by one another.
"I fear the things you've done in that man-thong." Eldass replied. A small smile tugged at his lips while he went down the hall; it evaporated a few seconds later, when something hard slammed against the back of his head.
When he wheeled around, he saw that Trobrencus was standing almost directly behind him; he was wearing something akin to a thong, but that was nylon and could be used in the water. The black cane, that had a wolf's head for a handle, was in the process of being returned to the floor when he turned to look at the man. After seeing how close the man was to him, and that he had a sick look of pleasure on his face, then taking in his wardrobe—though not biased by any means, he didn't much like the idea of a man wearing anything that a woman was known to wear—, he turned then went on his way.
Only when he felt that he was a comfortable distance from the man did he stop and then reach his hand up to touch the back of his head. This wasn't the first time that the man had used one of his canes on him—while this was the sixth it was also the only the second time that he had been struck on the head by one of them. After seeing that he wasn't bleeding, and that he was fine, just a little sore and annoyed over being struck, he resumed his trek to the house's pool area.
"Unlike some who are loaded with dough, he didn't go but so crazy with its design." he thought after throwing the two, slide-out mahogany doors to the side then going into the area that he was headed towards.
The room, while being large, wasn't overly dominated in pools. The two pools that were in it were doing well for the ones that they were meant for; the same went for the few, poolside chairs and other items. The smaller, hourglass-shaped pool, that was to the room's far left side, was more for his employer's younger kids; the kiddie toys, that were floating about on the water's surface, or that were resting on the pool's bottom, hadn't been played with in a long time. The bigger, longer pool, that stretched from the room's northern wall to nearly the doors, was for the bigger kids and adults; it had three diving boards and a long, S-shaped slide to it. The blue Mosaic, dew drop-pattern tile, that was on the floor and sides of the pools, contrasted rather well with the rustic brown/rocky gray floor, that was acid stained and made of glossed concrete, that was in the room. The walls and ceiling matched the room's floor almost perfectly.
The set of doors, that were to the room's far right side, and that looked similar to the ones that opened in on the pool area, belonged to the changing room; the only difference that was present to them was the silver T and S that were styled on them.
At the moment, there were seven people in the room. Young Master Bile, who was wearing a pair of deep red swimming trunks, was doing a jump from one of the diving boards; Lhaklar was edging his way towards Lazeer, who was rough-housing with Hazaar—either one or the both of them was about to be grabbed and then thrown into the pool. Miss. Eshal was sitting on one of the room's lounge chairs. Bohir and Trivit were on the pool's opposite side; they were doing as Hazaar and Lazeer were in rough-housing one another—he got the distinct feeling that Trobrencus had either been involved with them and their activity or, judging by how he was an adult, just using the diving board before deciding to leave the pool, towel off, then go don some regular-day clothes.
He said nothing after entering the room; while taking in the room's decor and design, he walked around the bigger pool—all while going around this pool, he paid special attention to the kids, and to the water that they were splashing. The last thing he wanted was for him to become a pawn to the kids' playful antics, or be splashed on. After rounding the pool, he went for the dark red door that was at its front-end. Once he was before the door, he took a deep breath in then grasped its knob; one twist, then a push, did the trick for it to open. He was quick in going into the room after its door was open.
"A man can't even go off to do his job without worrying about you running off!"
Eldass was fast in stopping after entering the room; he had expected to see just one person as being the room's occupant—instead, he was finding that there were two in it. It took him a simple second to realize that the two were father and daughter, and not just any father and daughter either—they were Master Vile and his employer's wife. It took another second before he saw that the two were fighting about something.
"What was you expecting for me to do? There was a group of people surrounding one of my children, and scaring him half to death, and I was being prevented from going to him." Angel replied to what was said. "Was I suppose to stand around and see all of what happened go on? Lazeer was screaming and crying for me... he was sc—"
"Leave him there. Let him learn how to behave around them types of people." Master Vile returned.
"Abandon a child of mine who—"
"Yes, that's how you do it. That's how kids learn."
"You sick bastard! You don't abandon a child, and especially not a scared one at that!" Angel snapped.
"Hold your tongue, Angel. I didn't say full abandonment, I said abandon—"
"Yes, you did. You said that for a child to learn a parent has to abandon it." Angel said with a sniff.
"I did not, and you're trying to push me off the subject on what you and your sons did a couple of days ago." Master Vile spoke with a hint of a growl in his voice.
"You veered us off the subject with your 'oh, you just abandon a child who's in distress' bullshit." Angel remarked.
It took them all of a minute to realize that someone had just come into the room; Angel, when she saw Eldass, calmed down while her father merely squinted at him before going on with what he was doing. Angel sighed after the man continued with his berating. She had no more entered the room, then gotten herself undressed, before the man barged in; at the time of her going to the house's pool area, she hadn't seen him there. It had just been Trobrencus and his two sons, Trivit and Bohir, and her sons in the room—Trobrencus had been using the diving board while his sons were either rough-housing one another or were "pulling" Bile into their play. Lhaklar had simply been swimming in the water while Hazaar and Lazeer were taking to the slide, and having a blast while doing so.
After downing her clothes, then grabbing a towel, and then a robe, from one of the room's stationed lockers, she went to the pool that had the mechanism that the flower petals were kept in. The robe had no more been removed from her, and she had no more started getting into the water, when her father came in.
She had come to be very stressed out over the last five days; with her stresses being what they were, the decision to use the Spa Room—or Red Room, as her husband kept calling it—had seemed to be a good one. Hazaar, just four days ago, had dropped a nice bomb on her lap by telling her about the dreams that he had experienced and about what happened after he woke from the final one—she, while being unnerved by what he had told her, had felt sorry for both him and for the one that he had seen.
Trobrencus, on the day that followed the event of her being choked by her amulet, had asked for her and her sons to see him in the dining room. After reaching that room, they had found him waiting with his book and with a small to medium-sized flask of water—along with having individual prayer sessions done on them, he had sprinkled them with the water that was in the flask. When all of what he was doing to them was over, he had stepped back and then said that they had a new protection on them that was better than the original one. Going by what her son had told her, it was probably this that had caused their line of connectibility to the dark guy to break.
This, coupled by Hazaar's anxiety over what he saw in his dreams, and what he experienced after waking up, and then learning that each of his brothers had had one or more encounters with the same guy, and the boys' constant nightmares on what happened in the mall, had made for her to miss out on some sleep. She had worried, and a great deal too, about them.
Her attempt at relaxation, and to get things a little straight in her mind and conscious, had been stolen from her by her father, which just pissed her off. What had he done? Slam the door open, then walk in wearing nothing more than a pair of black, baggy swimming trunks, and then saunter over to her, that's what! After grabbing her, then finding her as pulling herself from him, and then making the move to move away from him, he had started giving her his two-cents on what happened and on what all should of been done when she and her children were at Calalron Mall.
"Wish he'd go away already." she thought of the man.
While she was repulsed by her father's lack of clothing her father was in no way physically unattractive. Why he had latched onto her as a wife was beyond her; he could well of found and then married another female but, instead, he had picked her. Her father's body was bi-colored, and was colored exactly like that of the sides of his head; while the left side of his body had flesh on it the right side was skeletal in appearance. He had a lot of muscle on his left side while, on his other side, he had none—but this didn't mean that this side of his body wasn't as strong as the other. His waist was slender; it tapered down in a V-shape. The seat of his swimming trunks was loose at the moment but, if at any time he got "excited", she knew it'd grow very bulgey—the man was the picture of health all over and yet, instead of looking for, finding, and then marrying someone unrelated to him, here he was... busting moves, trying to flirt, and driving his youngest daughter crazy with his berates.
She let her father speak for a bit before turning to address Eldass.
"Eldass, what is it?" before the Goblin could respond, her father snapped at him.
"Your services are not needed right now. My daughter doesn't need anyone watching after her when she has the likes of me around."
"Disregard that, Eldass. He was just leaving." Angel said.
"Pardon me? I was not!"
"What is it that you came here for, Eldass?" Angel asked again.
"Mistress, I've been given the order to be your shadow for the day." Eldass replied. He glared at Master Vile before walking forward; he grabbed a hair brush, and then a comb, that was on one of the room's tables while going to where she was.
"That so? Welcome to the room then. My pardons for the Grouch who's also in the room." Angel said. "I don't know when he'll be leaving so just ignore what he says."
"Yes, My Mistress." Eldass replied.
While Eldass went to where his employer's wife was, then started in on brushing, and then combing, her hair, Master Vile voiced how ridiculous it was for his uncle to be placing people in his service as his daughter's "shadows". The man claimed that, since he was both Angel's father and husband, and since he was in the room, Eldass wasn't needed to be around; he voiced his opinion on his uncle's order before hearing his daughter telling him to pipe down.
Eldass was careful in running both the brush and then the comb through Angel's hair; the last thing he wanted was to tear her hair from her head or cause her any more grief than what she was already going through. Angel was grateful for his gentle actions—if it had been her father doing her hair, she'd be fast in yelling at him to quit pulling it or being so rough with her. Ubeknown to Eldass, at the time of her arrival to the room, she had been fighting a massive headache, which she was still fighting and which now seemed to be taking on the symptoms known to be exhibited by a migraine.
Eldass, when he came upon a tangle, stopped to untangle it then went on with what he was doing; he did this a total of five times before nodding his head then getting up to put the brush and comb away. When he turned to return to the woman that he was to shadow for the day, he found her as trying to "swim" to the pool's other side—due to her father's action in moving over to where she was going to, her attempt was for nothing.
"Don't suppose you have anything on you that'll down a headache?" she asked him after he returned to her side.
"No, sorry." Eldass replied.
"Have your cellular on you? Can you send a message to Homsi, or to your son for me on one or the other bringing you something that'll knock out a headache?"
"I would, Mistress, but they are very busy right now—Master Tazir gave them a lot of chores to do, which they are doing now." Eldass replied. He gave it a ponder on who he could call before settling on two men who seemed to also be right favoring towards their employer's wife. "How about Abevo, or Ulok, Mistress? They could get you something."
"What's Taz up to?" Angel asked.
"It's Tazzy, or Tazir, not—"
"Probably reading the mail that's come in over the last six days." Eldass answered while Master Vile was in the middle of a rant.
"Do you know how much mail was taken to him? Was it a lot or..." Angel trailed off; she dipped her head down onto the slate edge of the pool that she was in—her head almost felt like it wanted to explode!
"It was a lot, yes." Eldass replied. Seeing as the woman was having a time with her headache, he removed his work-related cellular then started sending a text message to both Abevo and Ulok.
Perhaps it was the fact that he had no one around to keep him company that was making him feel bored and lonely; his brother was nowhere in sight, and he was trying to keep from calling him to see where he was, and the already gone morning had gone by at a snail's pace—judging by how fast the afternoon was going, it looked like that snail's pace thing was to continue for a while. After getting back from having lunch, he had learned that the task of checking into the pantries, that were in both of the house's kitchens, needed to be accessed—with no one looking to be taking the job, he had done so; the two pantries, that were in the smaller kitchen, were good to go while he had only just started doing the two pantries that were in the larger kitchen.
While he was bored, and lonely, he knew that his task was important; there was no need for spoiled food to be lazing around in the pantries, or being consumed by anyone who was in the house—though he wouldn't sweat or break out in a rash if Trobrencus or Duru got a bad case of diarrhea or stomach queasiness after eating something that was spoiled—, and there need not be any shortages on any of the food that was consumed by the family that lived in the house.
The pad, that he was holding, had a few things on it. They were running low on Mac n' Cheese—both the mushroom flavored, the gravy flavored, the plain normal, and the kind that tasted like raw beef—, boxed potatoes—mainly the herb, cheese and garlic, and the plain normal—, noodles—the straight, curvy, and the shelled—and bread. He had yet to check into the available meats, dairy products, and other pantry items; the list was probably going to grow and soon. Right now, he was at the start of the dry pantry—there was a lot of food to look at and make notes on.
Ulision Volvio had been the one cooking the meals for the last six days; Mistress Angel had plain refused to make anything, and her sons were either too caught-up in what happened at the mall or were too-nervous of the ones in the house to indulge in eating much of anything. Despite what that foul Trobrencus said, Ulision was a good chef; he knew more than enough tricks to the trade to keep everyone full and happy.
"And, in order for him to do that, there needs to be good, non-spoiled food in the pantry." Abevo thought while moving over to the next set of shelves.
Of the assortment of canned beans that met his eyes, only two needed restocking. The normal, the pork flavored, the bacon flavored, the onion and mushroom, and the blue beans were good to go while the egg flavored and the plain onion flavored beans were what needed to be restocked—he made a note of this then looked at the next row of canned vegetables. Everything on the next row looked good to go so he moved on to the next, which contained the canned corn. Except for the sugar corn, peppered corn, and sausage-flavored corn, he had to make a note on all that was on this row. He was just moving on to the next shelf when one of his cellular phones went off.
Judging by the vibration, which was going on in the left-side packet of his double holster, he knew that it wasn't one of his family calling him. If it had been either of his parents, they'd of called his regular cellular instead of the work-related one—his mother was particularly picky on calling, yes, but she only did so after he clocked out, and she always called the number to his apartment instead of his regular-day cellular; his father only called his regular-day cellular when an emergency came around. He hardly heard from Bjorglo, his older brother, anymore and that went double for his sisters, who were constantly busy with the kids and their home. It wasn't any of his cousins, or nieces and nephews, or friends either. Could it be Kalach? He usually only called his work-related number when something was needed of him at work; due to their living on the same hallway under their employer's house, the man preferred to make personal visits over calling him.
The cellular, that was nearest the buckle on his belt, was his everyday use phone while the one that was being rang was his work-related one; his old phone, just two weeks ago, had been replaced after one of his young nephews decided to play fetch with it, but the number was still the same. After seeing that it was this phone that was going off, he retrieved it then opened it; it was just his luck that the caller hung up before he had time to ask who it was and what they wanted. He was just muttering a curse when the phone made a jingling sound—either the one who had called had made the decision to send him a text or someone else was trying to get in contact with him.
After opening the phone, he saw that the text had come from Eldass's number; he read what the man sent him after seeing who had sent it.
"Abevo or Ulok, could one or the other of you bring an aspirin or something to the Red Room? Mistress Angel is experiencing a headache, that looks to be a migraine, and needs something for it."
Seeing as the message was sent to two numbers, and that it had both his and Ulok's name on it, and seeing as he had probably answered it after Ulok, who was known to be quite fast in answering his cellular phones, he put his phone back in its slot then resumed his prior task.
The next shelf was pretty bare; it contained all of the tomato, mushroom, and sauce canned goods—seeing as it was nearly a ghost shelf, he wrote a note saying that everything on the shelf needed replenishing. The next two shelves he did the same with before moving on down to where the next set of shelves were.
He checked the boxed pizzas, the cakes, the canned fillings for pies, the pie crusts, the containers of bottled water, and stuffing mixes before moving on to check into the canned soups and fruits, the chilis, the baked beans, the sugar and flour, the extracts and food color dyes, and the cereals before his phone was noted as being rung again. Why did it seem that whenever he was checking the rice, peanut butter, cracker, cookie, and other snack food supplies that his phone decided to go off? It seemed that he was always interrupted from looking into or eating one of them items when his phone went off. With a sigh, he put the pad and pencil down on the shelf that he was looking over then retrieved the item that was ringing—unlike the last time, where he had missed a call, he answered the call placed to him.
"Yes?" he said after answering the call.
"Abevo, I'm a bit busy right now so can you take Mistress Angel something for her headache?" Ulok was fast in saying. Due to the loud bleating calls that he was hearing, he had an idea on where his co-worker was; despite this, he decided to ask him what he was doing.
"What are you doing to make them goats bleat so loudly? I can hear them from my end of the phone, they're that loud!"
"Been asked to chase after, catch, and then separate the billy-kids from the nanny-kids." Ulok relayed. "I'm about to become a betrayer to my gender, Abevo—Master Tazir wants some of the billies castrated today."
"My ears! Oh sheeze, my nuts just receded into my body! I shall never talk to you again!" Abevo exclaimed in mock horror.
"Same here buddy. Tell Mistress Angel hi for me when you see her." Ulok said. Nothing more was said between the two of them; the line went dead after his co-worker hung up then went back to work.
After leaving the pantry, he closed it up tight then went for the door that acted as the entrance/exit of the room; with Homsi being here, helping Ulision with the dishes, he figured that something was either up or he had taken to helping the man in getting the excess dishes washed, dried, and then put away. Regardless of them two possibilities, Homsi didn't look to be all that favoring towards being a dish-man, so his being here, and doing what he was, was a big surprise to him.
While going down the hall, towards the foyer, he thought about the phrase that was used by his employer and the ones in his service that he was close to—Most Trusted Employee, that was what he was hearing from either his employer or from one of the people in his service on a day-in to day-out basis. At one time in the distant past, he hadn't known what that was and, in a few ways, hadn't wanted to know what it was; when Kalach was asked if he'd like to be in their employer's wife's Circle, his curiosity peaked on what the phrase was and on what kind of benefits were given to the ones that were given it. After Kalach said yes to being in Mistress Angel's Circle, he had followed him and then, after getting him alone, had asked him what it was.
Due to Mr. Zultoa walking around the corner, and hearing the question being popped, it had been he who had answered his question on what the phrase was and on what happened to one who was given the honor of having it pinned to them.
"Nothing really comes from it. It's an honor-given title—no raises, no benefits, or extra vacation time is given after its received. Really, all you get is a very important friend after having the title bestowed on you." was what the man said.
Being told this was like him being shown a giant middle finger—so, it seemed that everyone else was referred in a normal sense while the ones who were granted "the title" were seen in a little grander light; he, at first, detested the use of the phrase and had asked for all to not speak or mention it around him. After Kalach was given the title, he had tracked the lovely woman who had bestowed it on him down and then given her a small talk on why he didn't want it given to him—he was shy, yes, and standoffish, and he was also very opinionated; he had done his private voicing and run-downs on the phrase after learning what it was.
Was it fair to the other employees to not be considered their employer's friend? Was it fair to the others that were employed as TazirVile Lajoshu Surfeit's staff to not be considered trusted? To him, that was a big, fat, no. A small fight had happened between he and his employer's wife after she started giving out "the rank" to ones who she was close to; she had been twenty years in on her residency in the house when Kalach, Losal, Homsi, Eldass, and Zshon were approached and then given the title as her Most Trusted. With his seeing her as picking favorites, and not being fair to others, he had snapped at her and then started throwing his hands about; she, in response, had shrank against the wall and then said for him to take the issue up with her husband—seeing as she was passing the issue off on another, he had gotten even more irked with her. A long, five minute fight happened between the two of them before they went their separate ways. Kalach, after finding out about their fight, had grabbed and then told him to mind his own business and to stay out of others'—along with having one of them slapper fights with him, he and his brother had spent three days of distancing themselves from one another before the pride swallowing and then apologizing was done. Seeing as he had also fought with his employer's wife on the same issue, he had tracked her down and then apologized to her for his actions towards her right after doing so with his brother.
Friends didn't always get along and there was nothing in the books that said that people who had befriended one another didn't have their fights and that they didn't say their I'm-sorry's and then get over the fights that they had together; over the years, he and his employer's wife had had many fights but they had remained close, and friendly, to one another. He was shy, and standoffish and opinionated, and she was... well, she was a redhead and it was very well-known that people with red hair had tempers and were a bit flighty. Due to their constant fighting, it had been mutually decided between the two of them that he remain as a simple employee and that they remain as being normal friends without any titles or honors being given out—in a way, he did regret that decision.
Though he liked her, and a lot too, he did try to keep it a secret; sometimes, he did manage to keep it down but, on certain occasions, it did bubble to the surface. Kalach knew about the slight crush that he had on her and so did Homsi; unlike Kalach, who was quiet about it, Homsi was very vocal on his dropping how he felt about her. Though it wasn't as strong as it use to be, it was still present.
"Like Kalach, Mr. Surfeit's not my first and only employer." he thought after reaching the foyer and then going up its right-side stairwell.
And Mistress Angel wasn't the first workplace-based woman that he had gained a crush on; the one who owned that title was his first employer, Karmyra Z'Luun. Miss. Z'Luun, to that day, was still a bomb—green of face and body; long, luscious locks of bleach blonde hair, that about ran to her buttocks; legs long enough to wrap around a man twice; thin and delicate, but relatively strong, arms; a petite figure, that boasted a rather nice rack on the chest and a nice rump on the back; and small hands and feet, that was Miss. Z'Luun. Her facial features could use some work, yes, but the rest of her was just as fine as pie. Though polite during the interview, he had found himself as staring at the woman's fine body and hair all while talking and answering her many questions.
Miss. Z'Luun owned, bred, and raced horses and he had been hired to work them horses; with her living on the planet's other side, way across the ocean and close to where one of the big-time race tracks was, he had been required to leave his brother, who he had made an oath to stay together with, behind. He had no sooner started working for the woman before finding her as being a bit more than plain "loose".
Miss. Z'Luun hadn't been married then, and she still wasn't now; she had been fond of putting her hands on the male help and in seducing them to her bed. He had found himself as getting a one to twice-daily slap on the ass, and a near-groin grab or "brushing", and he had also found himself as getting "invites" to spend time in her bedroom. While being reciprocative of her advances, he had played safe by keeping away from her—most of the time, he had just partaked in the option of looking up them nice Cambrey dresses that she was frequently seen as wearing. He had worked for her for all of two years before his virginity was taken—one afternoon, while cleaning a room that had been left in more than shady condition thanks to her invited guests, she had come in, had locked the door behind her, and then come running over to grab him. He had learned a good lesson on that day—Miss. Z'Luun, while being a bomb on the outside, was a dud in the bed; she did a fabulous job in sucking a dick but, when one got her under the sheets, and was inside her, she became something like a dead fish.
After doing her, then leaving the room to return to his given quarters, he had been smacked with shock, fear, and humiliation—it was taught at Staffer's Academy that personal relationships with the employer, or his/her family, was bad for one's image and that it was very frowned upon. In Goblin society, if one was caught sleeping with the employer, or with his/her spouse, or with a member of his/her family, it was a sure bet that you'd be shunned for eternity. To add insult to injury, he had learned about four days after his virginity was lost that his employer slept with all of her male employees as a security thing—to keep them on the job and away from wanting to work with others; if she so much as caught one as wanting to move off to "better pastures" she'd blackmail that person and, if the man did do as he wanted to in finding someone else to work for, she'd turn him in for what he did with her.
This fact had been proven as true when his current employer showed up to interview some of the men in Miss. Z'Luun's service.
"Master Tazir met Karmyra one day when he was visiting the track that's in her town; after seeing who he was, and realizing who's family he belonged to, she saw an opportunity and tried to take it." he thought while going into the room that his employer, and his wife, slept in.
After meeting the man, Karmyra invited him to her place for "refreshments". While drinking lemonade, and sitting in lounge chairs, they had spoken to one another, and had exposed certain bits on their lives. By the time Mr. Surfeit disclosed that he also owned and bred horses, but more for his job in being a conqueror and for pleasure riding, and that he had a young daughter, that he was raising on his own, the lemonade that they were drinking had run dry. When the pitcher was noted as being empty, Miss. Z'Luun looked around for someone to yell at—being that he was the only one within shouting distance, she had targeted him.
"Hey! Slick, get over here and refill this pitcher!" the gelding, that he had been on the way to returning to his stall, had already been giving him trouble; that poor horse, and his poor man self, had gone skywards after her yell was emitted. Had Miss. Z'Luun seen his issues with the horse, or had gone to get someone else's attention? No, she had barked for him to hurry up like she hadn't seen what was going on.
"Miss, maybe you should call another fellow to do the job that you've requested. He looks like to have his hands full." he remembered TazirVile Surfeit saying.
"Oh no, Mr. Surfeit. He's a very capable fellow with the horses—it's just house chores, and being obedient, that he isn't capable of doing." Karmyra Z'Luun replied.
After five minutes of fighting the gelding, and of hearing his employer call him names, and hearing her tell him to hurry his ass up, and of hearing Mr. Surfeit saying for her to ask for someone else to refill the pitcher, he went to refill the pitcher with a fresh allotment of lemonade. Mr. Surfeit, after nodding his head after he was sent on his way, had taken down one glass of what he had put in the pitcher before standing and then excusing him. It had taken all of a week before news was heard on the man making a return to Miss. Z'Luun's residence—he had come close to crapping his shorts after hearing the purpose for the visit.
Miss. Z'Luun had figured that the man had grown interested in her, which was why she had given him a room and then said for everyone to be "nice" to him. While nothing happened between the two, the man had been keeping his eye open for men and women who looked unhappy in their present career—in all, five people were noticed, all male, and all who had been bedded, and who had grown fearful of their livelihoods and social standing thanks to their bedding of an employer, and then approached for private interviews. At the time of his former employer's noticement of what was going on, his interview was being done—she had been a little more than pissed over learning what she had; Mr. Surfeit had found himself as being kicked from under her roof and he, and the other four men who had been approached and interviewed for a new career, had received a threat from her. Of the five approached, only three took on the guts to leave her service.
"Mr. Surfeit," he remembered saying after opening the door to his cabin and then seeing the one who was staying as a guest in his employer's house on its other side.
"Just the fellow I was looking for," Mr. Surfeit said. "Took me two cabins to find the one that you reside in, may I be permitted to ask you a few questions?"
"Sure, see no reason to say no to you." he replied before letting the man in and then showing him where he could sit.
"You happy in your employship here?" the man asked after getting comfortable in the cabin.
While having cups of coffee before them, he had spoken his feelings on his job, and on how his employer treated him and his co-workers, and had given his two-cents on how she was with the guests that came by for either long or short stays; after speaking all of that, he had been interviewed. After seeing the man out, he had felt very happy and warm inside—all while talking to him, Mr. Surfeit had been taking notes in a pad and, before leaving his cabin, he had said that he had plans in turning her in for unlawful actions against an employee and for guest and employee-related abuse. Naturally, after learning what the man was doing while under her roof, then finding the ones that he had interviewed, Miss. Z'Luun had blackmailed and then turned two of the people who had been interviewed in—his record had just become tarnished when a phone call came in; Mr. Surfeit, regardless of his record being tarnished for life, had hired him.
A few months after working for the man, he had approached him and then put a bug in his ear about his brother—no pretty pictures had been drawn, and no pretty words had been said; he had just said that his brother was a smart, trustworthy, and hard-working individual who was as gentle as a lamb. After Kalach was hired, and moved in with his wife and new baby, he had found that he, too, had a tarnished record.
"We're lucky, Kalach and I. We could well of landed on the streets, with no way to find a job, or keep food on the table, or keep a roof over our heads." he thought while going into the room's adjacent bathroom and then rummaging for the bottle of medicine that'd take care of headache and migraine-related ailments.
After finding the bottle, he left the room then started crossing the one that it was adjacent to; he had only just started going across the room when he stopped. A white envelope was on one of the bed's pillows... seeing as it could be something from his employer, written with his wife in mind, he went to it, then picked it up, then left the room.
"Whoa there, Mr. Speelin." Abevo's heart skipped a beat; his employer, at the time of his near-exit of the room, was about to enter the room. He had come very close to walking into him. After receiving this shock, he lost his grip on both the bottle and the envelope; his employer was fast in taking the bottle up while, with the envelope, he was slow. "What's your purpose in going into the room that my wife and I sleep in, and for your having the bottle of Cranial X-Away, and where'd you find this?"
"Received a text message a few minutes ago, sir. Mr. Zultoa asked for the bottle of headache medicine to be brought to him—he's with your wife, sir, and she's experiencing a doozy of a headache and needs some relief from it. Figured that the bottle, that's in your and your wife's medicine cabinet, was the best one to retrieve for her." Abevo responded to the first two questions. After answering them two questions, he went to answer the third. "The envelope was on one of the bed's pillows."
"Where was you headed with it?" TazirVile gave the bottle of medicine to his employee but he retained possession of the envelope. After taking the bottle from his employer, Abevo saw that the envelope had his employer's wife's name on it; nothing else but her name was on it, and the written name looked a little off to him.
"To your wife, sir. I figured that you had written it for her and would want it to be received early." Master Tazir was known to write certain things to his wife and then leave them on either the room's dresser or on one of the bed's pillows; with this being known, it was easy for him to think of the letter as being perfectly benign.
"No, Abevo. I have written nothing for my wife recently, nor have I put something on one of our bed's pillows for her." TazirVile gestured for his employee to go on. "You may go. I'll see to disposing what was left in our room—since the sender's not known, and we don't know what's in it, we can't chance her getting it or getting sick from the contents that may be in or on it."
While his co-worker was coming down from the house's second level, and was making progress to the pool area, he was following their employer's wife around; in the time that his message was sent to Abevo and Ulok, she had gotten up and then moved three times.
While leaving the pool that had the mechanism that shot rose petals out into the water, he had turned so not to look at her—them long, colt-like legs had only been seen for a second while her naked back and front-side had been seen for a micro-second; the woman had a good complexion to her and the muscle tone, that was able to be seen on her, was also good and healthy. Master Vile had, without a doubt, stared at her all while she was getting out of the pool—this, without a doubt, had caused her to be repulsed and uncomfortable; all while getting out of the pool, she had snapped at him to look elsewhere, which he had plain refused to do.
While he had only followed her around to help her, and to look after her in her time of need, her father followed her only to see what she was "hiding" under her towel. At first, she went to the sauna; she stayed in there for a short while before leaving and then making a return to the flower pool. After spending two to three minutes in the pool, she had left it and then gone to where one of the soft foam topped tables were. At the moment, he was massaging her temples, trying to give her a little relief from what she was feeling, and, since the man who was her sire was still in the area, and was trying his best to look either up or down her worn towel, he was also trying to run her father off.
With what he was seeing, she wasn't experiencing a normal-day headache; it looked like she was in the throws of a migraine, which was a very different type of head-related ailment. A headache was nothing special, and didn't cause anyone any sort of special traumas, while a migraine was five to ten times worse; while some migraines were mild to moderate, the symptoms to them would still knock one out of commission for a while. They caused one to be irritable, and to be sensitive to light, sound, and certain smells; bouts of nausea, fatigue, dizziness, and throbbing of certain areas would also be experienced by one who was experiencing a migraine. While his employer's wife wasn't experiencing any nausea, or fatigue or dizziness, she was experiencing some sensitivities to light and sound and she was also highly irritable—she had snapped at her father several times since leaving the flower pool.
"Can't leave the room—that'd be going against Master Tazir's orders, and it'd also be leaving her all alone with her father." he had thought after she went to get back in the flower pool.
He didn't want to make what she was going through get worse, and he didn't want Master Vile to do something that might hurt her either. She shouldn't eat, or take down any liquids, and she shouldn't be moving about or getting into the pools either—if she shall become fatiguish, and then fall asleep, she might well drown. He didn't mind that her towel was loose on the top, and that most of her breasts could be seen, or that one of her legs was angled up while the other was held straight; what got him was the fact that neither Ulok or Abevo had gotten here yet with the medicine that he had asked for them to retrieve, and that Master Vile didn't seem to understand that his daughter was stricken with a probable migraine.
He could send another message to another of his co-workers, or he could open the room's door and then ask for one of his Mistress's children to retrieve what she needed; there were just too many possibilities over what could happen if he left the room, or was seen wandering the halls, and not being at his post. At the moment, it seemed that his act of rubbing his Mistress's temples was doing the trick in helping her, and in releasing some of the pressure that she was feeling. If he left the room to go retrieve some medicine for her, he'd have to stop rubbing her temples, which might make her headache either return to what it had formerly been or increase. With Master Vile acting in the way he was, he knew that he couldn't rely on him to get the woman some medicine for her ailment—he was too enthused in looking at her to do much of anything.
He couldn't contact Homsi; he was busy with dishes or, quite possibly, the kitchen floor. He couldn't contact Kalach; he and Kohl were in the boathouse, checking the various items that were in the building. He couldn't contact Losal; he had probably been given some other chore to do after lugging the mail up to their employer. Zshon was busy on the pier... it was either wait for Abevo or Ulok, and risk the migraine getting worse by doing so, or go get the medicine himself.
"Mistress, I apologize for disturbing you, but do you think I could leave you for a minute or two? It doesn't seem like the ones that I messaged are bringing what I asked for them to retrieve for you." Eldass asked. At the last second, he had made the decision to take all the risks to go retrieve the medicine for her.
"How long has it been?" Angel asked.
"Five minutes,"
"Give it a minute or two more," Angel said. "They might be encountering a problem or two, or Tazir stopped them or something."
"Mistress, I don't want your headache to get worse—I fear that it will if you're forced to wait a few more minutes for what you need." Eldass said as he slowly removed his hands from the temples that he was rubbing. Angel made no response to what he had said, so he figured that she was giving him his cue to go do as he had said he wanted to do.
Before Eldass could leave the room, Angel got up from the table. The towel, that was around her, dropped to the floor; both he and Master Vile got a bird's eye view of her exposed body for a few seconds before the purple satin robe, that was on the room's other table, was retrieved and then thrown around her. She had just gotten the band around herself, and had just tied it off, when Abevo knocked on the door and then entered the room. Abevo took one look at Eldass, who was in a moment of stunned silence, and Master Vile, who was shaking his head to rid himself of what he had felt after seeing what he had, before walking forward.
He gave the bottle of Cranial X-Away to Angel then he stepped back; Angel unscrewed the top, then upended the bottle, so that a single pill would fall into the palm of her hand, then she made as to leave the room. She downed the pill, then thanked Abevo for retrieving what he had, then left the room; before leaving the room, she said something about taking a nap.
In all, it took Eldass all of two minutes to get himself back together; when he was back to being himself, he saw that it was just he and Abevo in the room. Master Vile, it did seem, had left during his moment of being dumb-shocked.
"You saw her in the natural way, didn't you?" Abevo asked.
"Mhmm," Eldass nodded his head. He ran his hand through his hair before going on to leave the room himself. Abevo, who gave his head a nod after hearing an affirmative to his question, followed on his heels.