In this day and age, some things are better left unsaid, better left unknown, oddly these are the things which Adira made her business from finding out and using against others. Funny how most people couldn’t see the woman to be the one stealing their secrets and giving them to the highest bidder, or the finest deal. However in this world if you weren’t able to do something to make yourself useful, you were nothing, a nobody. If there was one thing you could say about Adira though, it was that she was a somebody.

When it came to it, she wasn’t even ashamed to use her looks to get what she wanted. Adira was actually quite fit yet slightly curvy, standing at about 5’6, her eyes a pale almost grey blue. She had sandy blonde hair, though in the right light one could tell that she was born a redhead. It was short which just reached her shoulders, however it was usually kept up in a ponytail or bun. Like all naturally born redheads, Adira was freckled all over her usual tanned skin, which caused her to explode in freckles when out much in the sun. Of course when looks didn’t work to get what she wanted, she was not above using another way to get it, a more unnatural way.

The house she lived in was actually a rather large mansion, the bricks of the outer walls where a mixture of grey and red. It had a large living room off to the left of the main entrance. The large dining room laid to the right connecting to the large kitchen. There was a hallway opposite the front door, which lead to the large staircase leading up to the second floor and the servant’s courters. The second floor leads to the study, Adira’s room, her personal slave’s room, and a large bathroom at the end. The grounds were rather large as well. The grounds were surrounded by a large stone wall and gate which had to be unlocked from the inside, the button in Adira’s room. The whole mansion was kept up by Adira’s servants, and most likely she had a few more slaves as well.

Sadly though Adira’s personal slave, the one whom took care of her needs only and not the house, was no longer with her. The woman’s death a very tragic…..accident, which Adira could not truthfully say she had no part in. She had told the slave to…stay…away…from her spell book. That it was dangerous to those without the gift, but the woman hadn’t listened, they never did. Either way, it was no matter now, she had aid the death fee to the girls family, and now she was in need of another. Thus she sent her servant Tara to buy one from the Litter.

Tara pulled in front of the Litter building, the large old red brick building looked a little like a rundown school building. Some of the windows were busted out and the brick was black in some places as if half the building had caught fire, again. She hated coming here, it gave her an uneasy feeling and due to the fact they kept giving her the wrong kind girl, she seemed to being returning a lot. She opened her umbrella as she got out of the car so that she wouldn’t get her black hair wet. The rain was pouring which did not make getting here any easier, slowly she started walking up the slippery steps making sure not to fall in the dark, and you would think they would put a light out here. “Hello, Miss Tara back again already?” The tall door woman asked as she held the door for her.

“Yes sadly I am. I’m afraid the last slave wasn't quite to Madam Adira’s liking. I was told to make sure to get her a suitable new one or else I would be the one working here” Tara said rolling her eyes as she did. The large lobby was a clean and light off white color with matching furniture, in the middle of the room sat a large white couch for people to sit and wait. As soon as Tara walked into the lobby the woman behind the counter frowned deeply standing up uncomfortably. Tara glared at the woman one a moment, as if to see it she would waste her time again or just get the manager. As if she read her mind the woman spoke ”I’ll get the manager for you Miss Tara, don’t want your boss getting me fired” After a few minutes the manager and one of the workers brought out a new girl. Tara smiled her dark green eyes looking the girl up and down, she looked suitable enough, or at least she hoped the girl would be.

They had given her five minutes to get ready.

Five minutes before she had to go.

Five minutes before she'd be sold.

The fake smile Leonora had painstakingly put up slowly dissolved into a frown. Only barely managing to keep herself from mumbling out her frustrated thoughts, the girl swept hair from her eyes in one quick, aggressive motion, her every action reflected by old, half-broken mirror she stood in front of. She still didn't know how things had come to this, nor if the situation truly had been desperate enough to warrant her 'prolonged trip' to the Litter. Surely there could have been some other way to handle things. Surely, if she'd just persevered and thought things through...

She let out a dry chuckle all of a sudden, her reflection mimicking her actions. Yeah, as if she hadn't gone through every other possibility long ago, many a time, even. This most certainly hadn't been a spur of the moment decision - anything but - and her mulling over ifs and buts did nothing to help her cope. No. There was nothing else for her to do than this, and she knew it. She wouldn't be here otherwise.

Too bad that she kind of... sucked at this whole slave business.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, the girl gathered her long strands of red hair once more in a doomed attempt to get them up in a pretty, decorated bun. Hailing from the kind of family that she did, she never was one for appearances or acting particularly lady-like, and that extended to her choice of hairdos and clothing. Social norms and etiquette were both foreign words to her, and she always did have a problem of speaking out of turn, to boot. Heaven help her if she was bought by some rich, snobby, son of a-

She caught herself before she could finish that thought, sticking two pins in her mouth to silence herself as she leapt into the tenth attempt to tame her curls. She would really need to watch it. Her tongue, that was. Much as she believed she would hate her future job - unless she'd become a librarian or a fencing a tutor, neither which sounded too likely - she did want to try and be on her best behaviour and be well-liked by whoever invested money in her. She didn't want to let down her parents or her little brother. Especially her little brother. Poor sap deserved a better life, and a better life he would get, if she could help it. Now if only she could get this damn hairdo to-

"Time's up, Leonora, let's go. We don't want to keep the customer waiting," a well-dressed man announced from behind the door with a sudden knock, startling the girl enough to have her release her hair back into its default position of sticking every which way across her back. Damn it...

"Yeah, comin' in a se- I mean, right away, sir!" She shouted back, giving up on her quest and spitting out the pins she'd been holding. She wasn't ready. She really, really wasn't ready, but she knew telling that to the people of Litter - or the customer, for that matter, probably wouldn't do her any good. She didn't want to be labeled a difficult case right off the bat. That would inevitably come later, anyway.

So, giving her reflection one more glance and grimacing at the flowing, dark red dress she found herself in, she headed towards the door, steps just a tad uneven. Heels. The bane of her existence, she'd found out two days ago. She missed her boots.

"Leonora Winfield, miss," the man introduced as he walked into the lobby with her. There, waiting for them with an umbrella, was the woman about to buy her. Wait... woman? Leonora did an involuntary double take, her heart skipping a happy beat. She had very much feared her owner to end up being some weird creep with messed up power fetishes, but this woman looked... mellow, even? She didn't carry the aura of what she had expected of a future master, certainly. She seemed nicer, more humble, and like someone who'd actually listen to her requests. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad, after all. Perhaps she could even get out of these heels, eventually!

"Miss," she rushed to greet with a nod, offering a somewhat awkward, but all the same heartfelt, curtsy. It took her a while to find a place for her hands now that she didn't have pockets to stick them in, but in the end she settled to just having then hang on her sides limply. She knew that crossing them would be no good, at least. She'd been lectured by the workers here about it quite a few times.

"It's an... uh, pleasure...? Yeah, a pleasure to meet ya!" She continued after a while, the words she'd learnt and practiced vanishing from her mind one by one. "Hope we can get along and all!"

It was then that she noted the umbrella the woman was carrying. "Oh, 's it rainin' out there? Awesome, makes the air fresh!" She leant forward and mumbled, nodding towards the man that had escorted her and the way she'd come from. "Been a bit stuffy in here, y'know."

Tara was the mellow one for the most part, as head servant she kept the servants in line for Adira. It wasn’t an easy job, it took a calming touch. This was something Adira lacked quite clearly. She saw the woman they brought out do a double take at her, she must have been new or else she wouldn’t seem, quite as happy to see her. Leonora gave a curtsy, it seemed awkward, and a smirk crept onto her face for only a second before she returned the curtsy out of more politeness than respect. Her own curtsy was graceful almost like proper woman would give to a person of higher rank. Then again she had lots of practice since she was taught the same kind of things Leonora was here.

“Tara Richards.” She said softly, being called Miss was strange to her, even when it was the people whom worked at the litter. Tara knew it was mostly out of respect, but truthfully she much preferred to be ignored when she wasn’t needed.

Leonora continued talking and Tara listened to her ramble with a wide smile on her face, she wasn’t quite sure how many her master would like her, but Tara would gladly take Leonora if she could. She was very amusing. Laughing at the stuffy comment lightly Tara turned to the man beside the girl, shoving her umbrella into his hands roughly, before pulling a rather large envelope out of her jacket. Opening the envelope Tara pulled her attention from the slave and to the contents inside. Fingers moving the money inside, she quickly counted out an even thousand under her breath, before handing it to the man now holding her umbrella.

“You have to add in another hundred this time Tara.” The brunette behind the counter finally spoke up smiling, as Tara went to place the envelope back where in went. Amusing how this woman always picked a time went other people were around to speak to her with such disrespect. “Dammit, was she told this?” She asked as her green eyes narrowed at the woman reaching in and taking out another hundred. Tara really wanted to hurt this woman, if only she was allowed, now she would have to tell Adira that they added another hundred to the bill. On the upside she may be which easier on this girl.

Taking the umbrella from the man, Tara turned her attention back to Leonora, though she was not as happy as before. “Come.” She said the one word command before gesturing the woman to go in front of her. Once they were outside Tara opened the umbrella to keep Leonora from getting wet from the rain, before opening the door for her.

Adira sighed looking out window, as she waited for her servant to return, with her new slave. It was pouring rain outside, and though she acted angry she was worried about Tara. Sadly this would be the third slave she had bought this month due to her own little accidents, and if she had to buy another she would have to let Tara back to where she belonged and get another servant. She smiled to herself as the large black car pulled into the driveway. After a few minutes she was in the living room waiting for them to come inside and out of the wonderful calming rain.

As a stark contrast to Leonora's own lengthy ramblings, the woman who'd come for her offered only a few words in greeting. Namely, she offered a name, followed by a curtsy that was far more practiced and proper than the one Leonora'd saluted her with. The girl felt her face heat up just a tad from poorly concealed embarrassment over her lackluster performance, but she willed it away before it became too visible - or at least, she hoped she did.

"Miss Richards, then," the girl repeated, more to herself than to the other. She didn't have a natural knack for remembering names, and often had to repeat them over a few times before she could truly claim she'd mastered them. And, this being her new master, she felt it was vital to start that process as early as possible.

So, as Tara prepared to pay for her purchase, Leonora focused on repeating her name and looking everywhere except at the money. Despite her earlier preparations and already resolving that there was no other choice than this, she still felt rather sick at the thought of a human being exchangeable for wealth - particularly so because this human happened to be she, herself. She didn't want to know the sum they'd placed on her, not know the 'value' they'd tagged her with. After all, no matter what it was, she would feel it insufficient. Any normal human would.

"Come."

That simple word was enough it took to snap the girl out of her thoughts. She scurried after - and in front of, once instructed to do so - Tara, not bothering to look behind her once the two exited the building. She would not miss the place, not one bit, and she let it show by flipping the bird at the people behind her moments before the heavy door closed with a distinctive, final clang. She got under the umbrella when offered and, eyes closed, breathed in fresh air. The rain had purified it nicely, and the wet scent lingering in the air smelled of a new beginning. Or... something.

She might have read a few poem books too much again.

By the time the car finally pulled up and came to a halt, Leonora had finally heard from Tara that she was not her new master; rather, Tara was a servant herself, and the woman in power was waiting inside her house. From what she'd asked and Tara had told her, she was a rather strict individual. Oh, no, Leonora had thought instinctively upon the revelation. I'm not good with those types...

Nevertheless, once she stepped in front of her new master, she did her best to be polite. Just like before, she bent her knees in to a curtsy and, this time with lightly less volume and enthusiasm, greeted her with a still cheery: "Good day, miss!"

Coughing to clear her throat, she continued. "I am...! Aaaah, I mean, my name's Leonora Winfield. Yeah, a bit of a mouthful, ain't it? You can shorten it, if ya want." She flinched a bit upon realizing she might have come off just a tad too daring, and quickly corrected herself with: "Ah, so, not that... you wouldn't shorten anyway, if you wanted to, I mean, hey, you're the boss! Uh... Anyway, I'll be doing my best. Nice to meet you."

Nervous and not really knowing what else to do, she went and offered another curtsy for the hell of it.