Oracle

Part 11

A loud banging woke the men up several hours later. Dazed and confused, Jaspar lifted himself up, looking blindly in the direction of the sound. The darkness which greeted him was almost haunting. His body was still so used to be able to see, but actions and reflexes such as turning his head to the sound of a noise to see it was no longer needed. It was almost exhausting dealing with those small little engrained gestures on their own.

He slumped back down into the warm cocoon he was in, not ready to deal with people again. Plus it wasn't like he knew where the door was to open it. The body next to him grunted as the banging refused to stop. With a guttural sound which people could only make when being forced to move out of sleep, the man rolled out of bed. The mattress shifting under Jaspar as he did so. Jaspar hugged the pillow he was using and stayed on the bed.

"I'm coming," Elison yelled at the door, stomping over the room to the door. Jaspar listened to the lock unclicking and the door pulling open. "What is it, Justice?" he said, still obviously sleepy.

"It's six o'clock. Yoh has brought tonight's dinner and Master John has an eye doctor waiting to see Jaspar," Justice said calmly, sounding timider than he had done the night, or rather the morning, before. "I thought I should wake you up before the food's all gone."

Elison grunted but nodded. "Cheers Justice," he yawned, "Is John here at the moment?"

"No, Master John is currently at one of his other establishments," Justice commented softly. Jaspar quietly made a note of that. Whoever this 'John' was, he obviously had a lot of power over Justice. Even if the other man hadn't called him 'Master', Justice sounded nervous when talking about him. "Would you like me to summon him?" he asked.

"That's fine Justice. I'm sure he'll appear soon enough," Elison said warmly, patting Justice's back. "I'm sorry to ask so much of you."

"It's okay," Justice said sounding happier knowing he didn't have to call his boss.

Jaspar idly wondered who Elison's boss was. Or if Elison as a free man didn't need to call the man 'Master'. Elison had said Justice had been 'hired' from the middle house but everything about the situation was ringing bells in Jaspar's head. Normally his instincts were good, one of the benefits of being able to see through the veil.

"You awake Jaspar?" Justice called into the room, walking into it, Elison shutting the door. Now that Jaspar was paying attention he could hear the pumps and clogs in Justice's leg moving as he walked. It was quiet, but there.

"Yeah," Jaspar murmured, staying under the blankets. "Thank you for earlier and the clothes," he added.

While the bells were going off about the situation, they weren't going off about Justice which suggested he was a victim in this situation the same as Jaspar. It was possible to assume that from his story but given people worked at the middle house who had been in their shoes as well, it was impossible to guess if someone had been twisted into accepting this as normal or not.

"It's fine," Justice said with a smile in his voice. "Waking up in this situation is not exactly easy. You more than most people." The bed sunk as Justice sat next to him. Jaspar had nothing to say to that. Part of him wished he could say Justice didn't know how it felt but the truth was, he did. Losing any limb was a terrible thing to go through.

Elison was moving in the background, the zipper of a bag opening up and fumbling as he searched inside the back for something. "I'm getting changed," Elison warned Justice as he started to pull off clothes. Or at least Jaspar assumed it was Justice he was warning as Jaspar could no longer see to be bothered with him changing.

"I don't exactly mind the view," Justice chuckled nervously, sounding almost uncomfortable with his words.

"You don't do lewd well, you know that right?" Elison said sounding amused.