[b][i]Primm, New Vegas[/i][/b]

"We want your goods, but we want you out," spoke the old woman, one of Primm's inhabitants, to Azuma Asakura, who had disembarked from the caravan and began exploring the town. "NCR has brought nothing but strife and destruction here, and we don't want them anymore." To this, the young man just nodded, and went on to the remains of the Mojave Express, where he could, quite probably, hitch a ride to New Vegas itself...

...Only to be attacked by four thugs who appared almost out of nowhere, wielding billy clubs and machetes. Azuma went for his gun, but found himself overpowered quickly by the men, who bore him down to the ground, before pulling away his precious assault rifle and bulletproof vest, before frisking his pockets for cash. Then, they pulled out a surprisingly clean cloth and gagged him, before tying him up with some crude ropes.

"Well, it looks like we have a new slave! And NCR, too!"

Oh, crap.

[b][i]The Mojave[/i][/b]

This was the price of being naive, Azuma thought, as he, along with a gaggle of captured civilians, were marched around New Vegas, towards the east where, it seemed, the Legion's remnants had found ways back to the Mojave, too. He had no illusions of what awaited him there; it was going to be torture, humiliation, and rewardless work. Which was why he had to escape.

He had knowledge of guns, of course, but melee combat wasn't his thing; he had been thinking of getting a bodyguard or escort when he got to either Primm or New Vegas. He also had knowledge of Biology and Survival in the wild, and, of course, a gift for languages. All those, it turned out, were inadequate to save him from enslavement. But he would not weep, instead, he would be strong, and hope for rescue -

"We know what you're doing, slave," said one of the thugs. "It won't work. If you even so much as move a muscle out of line, we're going to chop off your pretty head and that'll be the end of you." Said thug had a smug expression on his face, while Azuma, right now, wished he should have listened to Kaori or the others when they told him to go back to Klamath. Except that, as a youngest son of a set of seven, there was little for him except to follow the expansion north, and, well, he didn't like cold, rainy weather. Of course, being a slave was something he liked less, but...

...a few hours later, the group wove their way through a twisty, winding pass, and ended up in what was unmistakably a Legion Camp, or rather, a Legion Remnant Camp, well-organized and filled to the brim with bloodthirsty slave-soldiers.

As the new slaves were led to the centre of the camp, they saw the local 'Centurion', who then went up to the lead thug/slave merchant, and had a brief discussion with him about the state of the slaves, with him complaining that most were too thin and malnourished, except for the recent capture, while the lead thug replied that food was scarce in New Vegas, and that they were lucky just to have one capture, which was Azuma. 

The Centurion, mollified, paid the man some gold denarius, and then had his men line up the slaves in single file, with Azuma being the first. Azuma was then forced to march up towards the Centurion, who was accompanied by a few healers and slave handlers, who then, after cutting the ropes that had bound his hands, shouted:

"Slave, you're up for inspection and your hands are free. Strip!"

[i]Of course, public humiliation,[/i] thought Azuma as he began to take off his shirt...