The Shifting Tides [CajunDave and Original Content]

[Original Content]

The stables held the familiar scent of manure, hay, and, today, afterbirth. A mare had just given birth and Loria was not allowed to go near it. She was locked in one of the cages farther to the back, but in the direct center so she could still keep a close eye on the front doors, or maybe so anyone could easily keep an eye on her. Her mouth watered at the smell of blood, but it quickly soured as she caught sight of the Keepers pushing open the barn doors with torches and electric fires. They had most likely came when they heard the pained cries of one of their animals. Loria's eyes trailed down toward their belts where leather whips and electric prods hung for their belts. They had obviously come prepared for punishment if it was Loria letting her hunger get the best of her, once more.

She curled farther into the corner of her steel cage and watched as they took such tender care to the new calf and did their best to calm the new mother. It was a confusing sight as Loria was not used to such soothing sounds and soft whispers. She clamped her hands on her ears in disgust, but only momentarily. The first lights of the day began to squeeze through the cracks in the broken wood of the barn, indicating that they would soon be back at work wherever they were placed for the day. It was not uncommon for herself to be placed in the field.

"Alright guys, let's hurry this mess up now. We got work to get done today. I 'spect only an hour delay, ya got me?" Spoke the huskier of the men. He had a gray mop on his large head and an even wider belt size. His eyes crossed to the back of the barn where is prized shifters lay in their cages. He was the Alpha Keeper, as Loria understood, but that was all she knew. If she tried any harder than understanding the orders directed toward her she was subjected to smaller, if no, meals. When she grew her boldest she was lashed and starved until shifting was an excruciating task and she was much too exhausted to even rest.

This morning the Alpha Keeper did not cut a cold glare her way, but instead headed out of the barn with a final grumble. Loria was always happy when she was ignored, especially so she could bask in the morning sun. She looked over to her shifting companion who was held captive in a cage adjacent to her own. He was her only joy, aside from trying to learn beast-speech so that she could have mild conversations with the other animal. "Do you s-s-smell it? I don't know if I s-s-s-should be hungry or s-s-sick. I guesssss blood-smell issss good no matter where it comes from, hm?" Out of habit her tongue flicked outward and dragged her S's no matter how the Alpha Keeper tried to teach her otherwise.

She spoke, hoping her feline prison-mate was not still snoozing napping as his kind was famous for. By now, though, she'd learned that felines were never fully asleep and so it was easy to rouse them for mindless conversation.

 

[cajundave]

Katrik lay napping on his bed of hay trying to make up for the sleep he lost that night. He often woke through the night due to his feline nature but last night he had awoken more than usual due to the baying of the pregnant mare and the growling in his stomach. He had not been fed the previous evening for some punishment that he didn't quite understand the reason, but that was often the case. Katrik was punished regularily for reasons he did not understand and had almost grown used to his stomach's constant grumbling. He felt that at least he was lucky enough not to have been beat this time.
The mare had finally given birth early during the morning and quieted down but then the smell of blood filled the barn reminding him of his hunger. He would have pounced on the colt and made a meal of its tender flesh if not for the steel bars of his cage between them. He could have escaped the cage in one of his many forms but the thought of escape but life as a slave had been bred into his race for generations, he knew of no other exististance except as a slave. Katric would have longed for better for a better life if he had any idea it existed, but this had always been his life and as for as he knew, no other life existed.
He felt the warmth of the morning sun on his knotted fur which signaling his day was soon to begin and was about to sit up when he heard the creak of the barn door as it opened. The Alpha Keeper entered the barn and immediately began barking orders and threats at the Keepers tending to the mare and deduced from the few words he did understand that he still had more time to sleep. He decided to keep his head down to avoid attention to himself for the Alpha Keeper seemed to always find a reason to hit him and he didn't want to start his day with a beating if he could avoid it. When the Alpha Keeper left he heard Loria, the only reason he understood the meaning of happiness, speak to him in their beast language. He immediately opened his eyes because he could think of no better way to start his day than awakening to the sound of her voice.
"Morning Loria, I see you are also having trouble sleeping. That baying mare kept me up most of the night. Oh yes, I can smell it well. Can't you hear my stomach growling? At least the games will be here soon and they will feed us well then."
The possibility of a close kinship between a reptile and feline to most would seem unlikely, but that was exactly what happened between Loria and Katrik. Katrik may well have surrendered to maddness or despair long ago, which was common among the slave shifters, if Loria had not been part of his life.
They talked awhile between each other which to the Keepers tending to the mare sounded like purrs, growls and hisses. This was the happiest that he knew he would be today spending time with her, sneaking touches of her hand when the Keepers attention was turned to the newly born colt and the mare. Their time was cut short when the Alpha Keeper returned to the barn to take them out and start their day of labor. Katrik was hoping to work in the feilds where he would have a favorable chance of finding a rodent or some other small animal to eat to sate his hunger.

 

[Original Content]

"You are quite unlucky because you have not learned how to sneak a meal. The Keeperssss think that I do not know how to draw in a mouse, but I know," she spoke confidently and swelled up her chest with pride. It was a false pride for the idea she had long thought up hadn't worked for time, but she still held dear to whatever successes she could manage at any point. "I'm not sure if I care for the games so much. They hurt so much. Never seems like enough food to me." She glanced over to see one of the Lower Keepers looking in the slaves' directions. She quickly bowed her head and looked away. They were never quite friendly if you shared eye contact, and especially when they heard the two conversing in beast speech, the only thing they could not hold captive from the two.

Loria flicked out her tongue and caught the overwhelming smell of old and dead blood. It both ignited her hunger and sickened her, for such a meal could only lead to a night of sickness. Again she flicked her tongue, more out of habit than her own desire, and she caught the scent of the Alpha Keeper once more. He slammed open the barn doors, startling all within. A mess of noise erupted throughout the barn as he stomped to the two cages. Instinctively Loria scrambled to the back of her cage and hissed at the Keeper. He slapped the bars of her cage and shook it fiercely for a moment to prove his dominance than brought his face only inches from the bars itself. "Oh if I did not need that scaly hide of yours I would I have long extracted the poison from your blood and sold well on the Under Markets."

Now she sat huddled in a corner with her eyes down to her knees, trying to contain her twitchy tongue within her mouth. She occasionally glanced at Katrik, but not even his eyes could soothe her this time. Both were defenseless to the Alpha Keeper's whim. It was only luck that she was needed as manual labor and some other poor house slave was cursed with his real needs or else she would be as such. She often could smell the pheromones that he let off whenever she worked, which was often in a horrible torn pile of rags.

The Alpha Keeper took a deep breath as though to calm himself then looked at both, though now he threw more of a glare at Katrik whenever he thought he heard the rumbling of the felines belly. "You two will be well fed today, out of luck if anything. The fields are infested with rodents. Our crops are dwindlin' like hell and you're the quickest things I own. I ain't gotta show ya what to turn into today, but I better not get any dumb funny business from you two." He eyed Loria who was capable of shifting into the smallest form out of the two. Though she never intended to runaway, as fear bound her to her cage, she was not unknown for exploring.

"If either one of you get out of hand, which I 'spect you will, I'll make you cough off every rat and squirrel you swallowed. I mean it. I'll beat it right out of ya!" He raised a horse whip threateningly then laughed and lowered it as he reached for the latches of the cages. "I won't follow you today Keeper Ebel will be holdin' the fields down today. You best listen to 'em. He ain't no better than me and I told him to beat cha both first chance he get."