Jaspar woke up slowly, feeling slightly confused, his body feeling very heavy. Reaching out blindly, he sat up slowly, feeling around with the soft mattress. He could smell Elison faint scent on the sheets but the man was not there. He was on his own and back in the bed that it seemed they were now sharing. Breathing slowly, Jaspar hugged his knees to his chest and groaned loudly in embarrassment as the last few moments before he had fallen to sleep came back.
So much for being brave and strong. He had ended up breaking down into the arms of the arm who was the cause of his blindness. It was wasn't hard to be fair. Elison was big, strong and warm. He also was strangely kind and gentle with Jaspar, ignoring the incident in the bathroom. Once the overwhelming cringing embarrassment faded, Jaspar forced himself up and slipped out of the bed.
He took a deep breath and slowly but bravely moved towards, reaching out unseeingly, searching for anything to hold until finally, his fingers found a wardrobe. Gripping the wooden door, Jaspar slowly moved along the wall, careful to avoid any obstacles which were in his way. Hands scrambling, he made his way around the room before finding the door to the room.
It was wooden and had a metal door handle. His hands traced over the patterns for a moment before gripping it and slowly trying to open it. The door juddered but refused to open as the lock stopped the door from shifting. Jaspar growled, banging his forehead against the door in frustration. He was on his own and had no way out. Breathing calmly, he took a step to the side and made a circuit around the room, searching for another door but ignoring the wardrobe, there were gone.
Jaspar rested his head on the door, mentally cursing Elison furiously as his familiar sensation in his lower muscles made him shift uncomfortably. He needed the toilet, rather badly.
"I am going to make you suffer for this, Elison," Jaspar promised the empty air.
He understood why Elison had locked him in the room of course. If the demon needed to go do something, it was the easiest way to make sure he stayed in one place. Being blind, Jaspar could get himself into some real trouble being unable to see any obstacles. That didn't make Jaspar any happier, though.
Straightening himself up, Jaspar decided on his next course of action. He knocked on the three solid times before waiting for any kind of signs of acknowledgement. He was a captive in the pub but not a prisoner. Nothing Elison or Justice had said suggested they were going to keep him trapped in the room when he was awake without cautions.
"I'd take two step back if I were you pretty one," an unfamiliar voice commented. The voice was refined and cultured, with a friendly edge to it. The speaker was male, Jaspar could tell that much.
Jaspar flinched at the sound of the voice, which seemed to come from everywhere at once, but willingly took two steps backwards. He also wrinkled his nose at being called 'pretty one'. It was not much better than 'cute', possibly worse in some ways. He knew he had been a good looker beforehand but his face was currently bruised and swollen, he doubted he looked attractive at all.
There was a harsh sound of metal grinding against metal as the lock was released and the door swung open softly. "You are a very pretty thing," the voice commented approvingly, soft hands handing on his face to cup it gently. Jaspar shifted uncomfortably but didn't move as the stranger no doubt inspected his face. "Such a shame about the eyes," the voice murmured mournfully. "Only place you would be of use to me would be somewhere you are not suited to go."
Jaspar felt realisation wash over him at those words. This must be the infamous John, he mused. The man who felt it fine to enslave people and who owned the pub they were staying in. "And where would that be?" Jaspar asked in a kind of morbid curiosity despite having a feeling he knew where it would be. This man was clearly viewing him as a thing and not as a person.
"A brothel," the voice said sharply with a smile in his voice. Jaspar didn't flinch having suspected the man to say that but something must have passed over his face because the voice only laughed. "Easy pretty one. I just said, didn't I? You are not suited to that kind of work. What work you are suited for now is anyone's guess. You may end up stuck at the middle house for a while. Unless Elison asks to keep you. I wager he's becoming fond."
"I thought my condition meant I wouldn't be going to the middle house," Jaspar said darkly, not really trusting the man who was still cupping his face. The man's thumbs were rubbing circles on his cheeks gently.
"Only if Calder decides to sell your services. Otherwise, you will be in the middle house. Most of the city can't afford to keep a blind seer so you won't exactly have lines of people lining up for you", the voice explained with a tone which suggested to John it was just a fact of life and not one he saw a serious with. "Now, more importantly to your present state. Why did you summon me pretty one?" the voice asked turning friendlier. "Not to make a break for it, that much I can tell." The hands left his face making Jaspar feel more comfortable.
"Because making a break for it while blind is a brilliant idea," Jaspar half smiled at the idea. Escaping was impossible at the moment. He would need a lot more help than he had access for. "I would like to use the bathroom, though."
John gave a strange half laugh sound. "That is a fair point," he chuckled amused by the statement. "Nice to see a backbone on those who are helpless," he teased, taking Jaspar's arm into his own, leading him forward. "Too many people fall to pieces, given your continued powers you more than most will need to keep your head high and your heart strong," he mused. "I can take you to the bathroom easily enough, though," John said with an approving tone.
"Th..." Jaspar's words were cut off by a hand slapping over his mouth firmly.
"Word of free advice Jaspar, don't thank people pretty one. Especially not while not knowing their species. You can end up indebted to some not nice people here. Use your words carefully..." John trailed off as something occurred to him. "You're not long in this world are you, seer?" the voice said with an odd mixture of amusement and knowing. "You know of the supernatural but you haven't had much experience with it have you?"
"My parents didn't really prepare me for it, no," Jaspar allowed. "They taught me how to control the visions but not how to interact with the other races." That was an understatement, to say the least. His parents had kept him home-schooled for much of his life. They had taught him how to control the visions but not how to live in any world apart from the one in their house. When he was younger, he had thought them to be overreacting. After this, not so much.
John made a thoughtful sound. "Here we are," he commented as he opened a door.
"I'm sure I can go to the bathroom at least by myself," Jaspar said calmly, praying that he was telling the truth. It was an almost scary thought, the idea that John, a slave owner, helping him to do something as personal and basic as going to the bathroom.
"Very well," John chuckled, obviously understanding Jaspar desire clearly. "I'll be waiting out here if you need any help," John said gently.
Jaspar nodded and closed the door slowly. Calmly he walked around the room using the wall again to guide his movements. He whined, biting his lip to stop more coming out, as his foot collapsed with the toilet. He quickly sat down and gripped his foot tightly for a moment to try to relieve some of the sting.
When the pain ebbed, he breathed slowly and shifted, taking off his pants before doing his business. Sighing in glorious relief when it was over. Relieved and considerably less tense, he pulled his clothes back up before flushing the toilet and finding the sink. It was a strange experience doing it all in the pitch black which was blindness. He washed his hands, something he had done hundreds of times and something he would hopefully do hundreds of times more but now the action was greatly changed.
Tears rolled down his cheeks again as he turned the water off, wiping them from his face. He ignored the sting from his bruised cheeks, wanting the tears to stop. He had already had one breakdown into tears that day. Once was enough! Even as he scolded himself for being weak, he knew it wouldn't be that easy to stop the tears now.
There was a knock at the door and it swung open again. Arms pulled Jaspar against a solid chest and lips kissed his forehead. "Easy, pretty one," John murmured kindly. "Things are bad for you now, but you'll survive," he murmured in a reassuring tone.
"They have already taken my eyes. What else will they take?" Jaspar sobbed, the tears rolling uncontrollably.
The arms remained around him, John humming softly. "Don't forget pretty one, I am one of 'them'," John reminded him firmly but not unkindly. "One of the slave traders who allow this business. I know the rules behind it all. I can tell you now, nothing more will be taken from you without your consent and even with your consent, nothing will be taken that is able to grow back or possible to live without. You are under the protection of Calder's rules now. You will be safe. Provided you behave."
Jaspar tensed at the declaration but the man's grip reminded gentle and warm, apparently used to fragile slaves falling to part on him.
"My eyes..." Jaspar murmured.
"Are unfortunate but it was for an acceptable reason. You won't lose any more limbs or senses," reassured John in a way which properly sounded reassuring to the man himself but only made Jaspar feel ill at how easy John could talk about this type of thing. "Come on, let's go downstairs and you can have some water pretty one," John said with a grin in his voice as the tears on Jaspar's voice finally dried. He drew away, only keeping a grip on his arm to pull him out of the bathroom.
"Please stop calling me that. My name's Jaspar," Jaspar said, decided to focus on something he could do something about.
"Nice name. No promises. I assume you know my name. I don't own you but I will ask that you call me sir. I don't like disrespectful boys Jaspar," John's voice grew slightly darkly.
"Understood sir," Jaspar quickly said suddenly feeling scared and not sure what he had done to annoy the man.
"Good boy," John chuckled, his voice back to cheerful and friendly. Jaspar shuddered inwardly, mentally guessing that whoever John was, he was not human. He wasn't sure what John was, but he was starting to understand why Justice was scared of him.