After paying Valkyrie (again) Jupiter sank to his haunches and gazed, a smirk on his face, at his newest acquisition. “Well, well, well, isn’t this a strange turn of events,” he said with a grin.

“Didn’t peg you for a damsel in distress but shit, Darya, did you see the way that bitch was looking at you? You are lucky to have such an amazing friend, you know.” He was teasing of course. The humor was irreverent and a touch crude, but what could he do if he didn’t laugh? His options were joke or stand there all awkward and shit, and the latter didn’t sound like much fun at all.

"Говорить"

Darya shuffled along behind Jupiter, her old friend. She kept her head ducked and tail tucked between her legs. The truth was she had no idea how to feel. There was relief, of course, relief that if anyone was to buy her it had been someone she considered a friend, though of course that Divo hadn't been the one to do it soured her relief a bit. Because with her sister at least she'd know she was totally free, but it had been years since the last time she'd seen Jupiter, he could mean to keep her a slave for all she knew.

Finally they stopped and Jupiter sat and looked at her. Darya settled onto her own haunches and listened to him, her head cocking to the side. "Yees, veery looky." She said, her voice soft as she became very aware of her accent and stuttering grasp of the language. "эм, vhut are whe doingk now?" She eyed her friend carefully. She was too afraid to assume she'd simply be free to do as she wished... not that she had much of anything else to do, or anywhere to go anyways.

Art by Sgulert

She looked really nervous. Honestly he couldn't blame her, but he wasn't sure how to go about setting her mind at ease. It had been years since they'd last seen each other; they'd been friends as pups but they were adults now and they were different so he couldn't blame her for being worried. He was harmless, though.

...Relatively harmless, anyway.

Okay that was a lie, but he didn't mean any harm in this instance. Once upon a time him and Darya had been friends and that friendship had meant a great deal to him. It was for that reason he'd rescued her when Divo couldn't. Now though? Now he was in a weird position. He'd spent good "money" on her and he had gone to the market for slaves.

So what did a boy do, eh, when faced with a situation like this one?

Jupiter cleared his throat. "Well, for starters we're going to collect the rest of my purchases and then we're going to go to Legion, my uncle's pack. After that..." he shrugged noncommittally. "We'll see, I guess." Okay he wanted the attention off of himself. "Are you okay? They didn't hurt you or anything, did they?"

"Говорить"

Darya wanted to trust her friend, she was easily spooked by everyone so she tended to cling to those she had managed to warm up to but she also wasn't totally naive. He'd been at the slave market, willingly jumping in to bid on her. She was still technically his. Jupiter spoke matter of factly and Darya's suspicions seemed to have been confirmed, he'd make other purchases at the market, though she supposed it was possible that he hadn't bought any other wolves. She's managed to spot a few other vendors who seemed to have less unsavory items for sale, so it was possible that she was simply over-reacting. For a moment she allowed herself to wonder about this pack and uncle he spoke of. She didn't' exactly have any complaints, she'd go wherever.

Jupiter turned his attention towards her and Darya felt her face flush slightly, she ducked her massive head and she shook her head. "Yees, I men no. Tey were cruwel but Iey am mustly not hert." She looked at Jupiter and gave him a weak smile, unconvincing even to herself. "Iey was mustly scar-red, tey shouted but if you dit whut tey say tey keave you aloune." She was still shaken up by her experience though it was true she was mostly unharmed, a bit roughed up maybe but she'd seen some of the others get worse. One man, in particular, had fought them a lot. The shouting had been the worst for her, she was so easily spooked, to begin with, a total stranger yelling at her to move or do this or do that had only made her all the more jumpy.

Art by Sgulert

His browspots shot up at the mention of her being mostly not hurt, which implied a little hurt. There wasn't much he could do about it besides march back to the slavers and pitch a big bitch fit, but as much as he had once upon a time liked Darya he didn't think she was worth the possible "prison" time. And he shuddered to think of his family's reaction. The last thing he wanted was to be held for ransom and paraded under his uncle's nose.

"Hmmm," he rumbled, his eyes narrowing as he took in her lackluster attempt to convince him she was fine. But she'd been kind of nervous as a kid, hadn't she, so maybe he was reading too much into her reaction. Jupiter scrutinized her for a moment longer and then decided to let it go. If she wasn't going to be forthcoming with any maltreatment than who was he to harp about it? "Well, I'm glad you're alright. Some of them seemed kinda touchy feely, ya know?" He shrugged and then let go of that thread of conversation entirely.

Jupiter jerked his head in the direction he'd stashed the rest of his merchandise. "Anyway, onward, I wanna pick up the others and be on our way before dark." His voice dropped to a theatrical whisper and he leaned in a little, "I wouldn't put it past our hosts to double dip if you know what I mean."