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"I was trained that explaining is an admission of failure."
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Post by Mahdi on Jul 6, 2017 1:46:04 GMT
 WORDS: 000 | TAG: Nasir | NOTES:
"It is not because of bond to Dominus that makes me question if I am to live or to die, warrior," Mahdi answered carefully. "If I am to die it would not be a great reward to be tied to him in the afterlife. I would hope that the gods to be kinder than that... but then, I did stop believing in the kindness of the gods when I was a young boy and Dominus took ownership of all that I am."
It was quite a bit more than he had intended to say to the warrior standing in front of him. It was not often that he felt that he was off balance because of a person but this warrior he had just seen fight was doing a very good job of causing that. There was something about him that seemed to draw Mahdi in, but there was also something underneath the surface that terrified him; he did not want this man to know everything he had been and done while being owned by this house. He could not answer his mind as to why, but he thought that this warrior knowing what and who he was would be a fate worse than dying by his blade.
When the warrior again demanded his name, Mahdi could not help the flash of pain that crossed his face before he bowed his head again. "Once, a very long time ago, I was a foolish boy called Mahdi who destroyed his own life and the life of the one dearest to him because he would not behave or listen to older boy's wise words." He shrugged slightly, not looking up. "Mahdi was stripped from me and I was formed into Domitus. Domitus is all I know."
Because he had finally, finally been forced to learn his lesson. He had finally been tamed as far as his Dominus and friends were concerned.
He had not allowed himself the luxury to think of his beloved older brother in very many years and he had no idea why he mentioned him now.
I remember years ago someone told me i should take Caution. And now when all is done there is nothing to say. |
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Post by Mahdi on Jul 4, 2017 3:12:13 GMT
WORDS: 000 | TAG: Nasir | NOTES:
"I have heard that said many times of many people," Mahdi said, trying to be respectful as he was not sure of his fate with these people. "And yet, the death of my kind never stop. We are always still those to be abused and ordered around or moved out of the way to next Dominus at the whims or convenience of others."
Mahdi was not sure what was going to happen to him, and he was not sure he even cared. What he was sure of was that this warrior made him nervous in ways not just because of the prowess with the weapon he had seen -- Mahdi has his own skills, after all.
At request for his name, he lifted his head for a moment, and then lowered his eyes again. "I am called Domitus. It means one who is tamed and Dominus thought it to be a great joke." He was used to telling the story and performing for high-ranking guests so he thought nothing of answering this warrior's question.
"How do you propose that I am to be killed?" He wondered out loud, his voice and demeanor still subservient. "By your spear... or perhaps by the sword of your leader?"
I remember years ago someone told me i should take Caution. And now when all is done there is nothing to say. |
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Post by Mahdi on Jul 3, 2017 15:49:59 GMT
WORDS: 000 | TAG: Nasir | NOTES:
The attack had come suddenly and he had been too far away to come to the aid of his Dominus even though he heard his name cried out many times.
"Domitus. Domitus!"
He had tried, the command was too deeply embedded within him for him to shake it off, but before he could bring his blades from his robes and even get to his Dominus, the man had been dead. He was surprised that he felt nothing as he watched the man die. He felt neither sorrow nor joyous relief at his passing. He did not know if he felt anything or what he was supposed to feel.
During the rest of the fighting he had managed to get to the courtyard and thought that perhaps he could get away. He did not know where he could go, but any place would be a better place than where he had been all of his life correct?
Only, he had not counted on the sharp eyes of the warrior seeing him.
He tried to flee and hide, he did, but the other man had managed to somehow keep pace with him and now he was demanding to know why he would run.
"There is no liberation in this world," he said, keeping his eyes downcast and his voice soft and carefully modulated as he had been trained to do. After all, body slaves do not shout. One such as him, well, there were other reasons to keep quiet. "None of us have choice but to bend at the will of our masters no matter what form they might take."
I remember years ago someone told me i should take Caution. And now when all is done there is nothing to say. |
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Post by Mahdi on Jun 28, 2017 5:39:27 GMT
WORDS: 000 | TAG: @nasir | NOTES:
Mahdi was not able to stop himself from clinging to Nasir just a little bit. How often when he was younger had he dreamed and wished that Nasir would come and rescue him from the hell he was living? How often had he thought that he could hold on just one more day if his brother would show up and pull him out of his constant darkness? Even years later when he could not bear the thought of his beloved older brother knowing what he had become, it had been comforting to believe that his brother had found freedom and a life far from the slavery they had been sold into as children too young to fight back -- even though all of the gods knew he had tried to fight.
His fighting was what led to their separation, after all.
When Nasir pulled away slightly, Mahdi did not protest, even though part of him wished for this moment not to end too fast. "You could not have stopped them so I do not see it as you having let them do anything, Nasir." His voice was still soft, still carefully modulated. "You were every bit of a child as I was. You could not have changed the tide of what they did any more than I could fight my fate."
And oh had he tried. He had the scars to prove it. There were few on the outside as his former dominus had not wanted to damage him too much where others could see them. However, there were many that he held within him that had been hard-learned lessons.
Mahdi quirked a smile, shaking his head as he took in Nasir's words and his laughter. "Such a thing happens when one grows and gets older, brother. I am of a height with you."
I remember years ago someone told me i should take Caution. And now when all is done there is nothing to say. |
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Post by Mahdi on Jun 28, 2017 4:36:24 GMT
WORDS: 000 | TAG: @nasir | NOTES:
There were far too many emotions going through Mahdi's mind for him to grasp onto any of them. He had once been trapped in a cart that had run down a road after the horses had been spooked into fleeing. That feeling of imminent crash was a pretty good approximation of how he was feeling right now. His beloved lost older brother was standing in front of him and he was having a hard time reconciling firm relity with hazy dreams. Both had the same fear tainting them, but at least reality had Nasir alive and breathing... and asking if he could embrace him. He would never again deny his brother anything and he would definitely not deny him this.
Maybe he would not deny himself this, either.
For far too long he had wondered where his brother was and if he was doing well, and it looked like he was doing very well. For that, Mahdi was glad. With all of the worry and pain he had caused his brother when they were children, Nasir deserved goodness. He deserved to be among men who clearly respected him and held him in regard.
When Nasir pulled him close and fit his hand to the back of his head, Mahdi felt his own mask crack as tears filled his eyes and made their way down his cheeks. He buried his face in Nasir's necks as he had once done often when they were children. When he spoke of honoring his memory every day, Mahdi shook his head.
"You do not know, brother," he whispered, allowing himself to hold on for as long as he would be permitted before he had to face reality again. "You do not know. There is nothing left to honor here."
I remember years ago someone told me i should take Caution. And now when all is done there is nothing to say. |
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Post by Mahdi on Jun 26, 2017 4:46:06 GMT
WORDS: 000 | TAG: @nasir | NOTES:
"I would not have him shamed by how I have stood and I would not have him tainted by proximity to me." Mahdi said instantly, his throat hurting from the struggle to keep back both tears and words.
He barely registered that Nasir had released his wrist. How could he when it was no longer physical touch that held him frozen in place. No, now what kept him from trying to flee again was the recognition that he now saw reflecting back from Nasir's eyes. The miserable gods of the Romans must be laughing at him right now as he stood before cherished and lost brother with no honor left to him.
"Perhaps you should have," he murmured, knowing that there was not a point in pretending any longer. They both now knew who the other was and he would not be able to erase that knowledge from his brother's eyes and mind. "Much less pain and shame within you now if Nasir had forgotten troublesome Mahdi."
I remember years ago someone told me i should take Caution. And now when all is done there is nothing to say. |
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Post by Mahdi on Jun 25, 2017 4:46:34 GMT
WORDS: 000 | TAG: @nasir | NOTES:
Mahdi had known he had no chance of getting away even if there had been a place to flee to. He had seen this warrior fight and kill and the fact that he shared name with one lost long ago unsettled him. He hadn't made it very far back before his back was to the wall and the warrior... Nasir ... had clamped his hand around his wrist.
At the feel of hand wrapped around wrist, Mahdi froze. He could not help it as such things were too deeply ingrained within him to ignore. So while the hand on his wrist held him rooted to the spot, it didn't stop the trembling that was running through him as he tried to reconcile everything within his already confused brain.
"Apologies, apologies," he whispered quietly. "I meant not to cause offense." He tried to look away, but Nasir was in front of him and he was making demands that Mahdi was so very not wanting to speak answer to. He sought to lower his eyes again, but again he found he could not look away from Nasir's searching gaze.
"Many years ago, I knew of one called Nasir. I stopped thinking of him a long time ago and would hope he has forgotten me. I would not have him see me as this."
He knew, he knew even as he said the words that this was not a a simple matter of a name being the same. No, he now saw the similarity in the eyes that looked back at him and the face that while it was stronger and matured, was still a face his own soul recognized. This... this was not a reunion he would have wished for as there was too much within him that was so wrong.
I remember years ago someone told me i should take Caution. And now when all is done there is nothing to say. |
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Post by Mahdi on Jun 24, 2017 17:38:31 GMT
WORDS: 000 | TAG: @nasir | NOTES: And now Mahdi PANICS
"You mistake intent, warrior," Mahdi said calmly. "I care not whether I die and yet I care not whether I live. I have learned far too well the lessons of this life. Breaking rules led to me losing everything I had to call mine in this world. There is little to entice me to set foot to any path. Domitus is who I am."
That, unfortunately, was true in his mind. He remembered nothing of who Mahdi was beyond his name -- the same which he held close to himself and never revealed and never forgot. Through all of the lessons, the pain and the sorrow, it was all he had that reminded him that at one point he had been someone that was not like this creature he had been formed into.
Listening to the other man's words, Mahdi could tell he was sincere in them and that he believed everything he was saying. It was not as if he was trying to trick or entrap him into anything.
"I know two things in this world, warrior. I know how to fuck and how to kill. There is no place in the great army of Spartacus for one such as I."
He might have found more words to break if one of the rebels hadn't looked over at them and called out to the warrior in front of him.
"Nasir!"
The sound of that name and the way the warrior reacted to it with a calm nod slammed into Mahdi with the force of a spear to the chest.
Nasir. Nasir. Nasir.
He jerked back, a small sound of anxiety coming from his throat even as he tried to scramble back and away, his eyes widening with horror and no small bit of fear. He had to get away... he had to get out. He could not be here... if this was... he could not find out.
I remember years ago someone told me i should take Caution. And now when all is done there is nothing to say. |
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Post by Mahdi on Jun 24, 2017 6:05:53 GMT
WORDS: 000 | TAG: @nasir | NOTES: Cue the hilarity!!
"I did not intend to strike offense," Mahdi said in a carefully modulated voice "I was merely trying to inquire about who you were and why it matters if I die by your hand or by that of Romans?"
Mahdi frowned, looking over the man in front of him and the way he handled the spear. They were of a height, but there was little else that told him that this man ever stood as anything but a warrior -- much less a body slave.
"I am called Domitus," Mahdi said, still being oh so very careful with his words and his tone. Answering questions about himself was was an ordered routine that he had learned to follow long ago. "It means one who is tamed. Dominus thought it was a great joke."
He looked at Nasir, but carefully did not meet his eyes. "Respect, but with way you fight and handle spear there is little about you that bears truth that you have stood in same situation as I."
The more he looked at the warrior in front of him the more he felt a strange sense of knowing blended with rising anxiety and dread.
I remember years ago someone told me I should take Caution. And now when all is done there is nothing to say. |
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Post by Mahdi on Jun 23, 2017 7:30:21 GMT
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"Domitus!"
The sharply barked order pulled him forward to do as he had always been trained to do but his path to Dominus was blocked. He could have acted in a more swift fashion, he admitted, but the sword split his Dominus' chest before he brought coated weapon from vest. When Dominus was dead, the attackers began gathering the slaves of the villa up. Mahdi was originally gathered amongst them until he managed to make his way to the back of the crowd and then of the room. If he could get to the back door and then out of the villa, he could blend into the shadows. He would seat himself on the roof and wait until all were gone. Once alone he could decide what to do and where he could go.
He hadn't counted on the sharp eyes of one of the warriors who was splattered with Roman blood. He was surprised that he spoke to him as very few people did unless they wanted something from him that his Dominus was willing to sell.
"I have about as much care for Romans as you do about what really happens to me," he said in a calm voice. "It matters not to me what happens to me, now, so kill me if you wish to or let me go."
To be honest, Mahdi didn't know where he would go after the Villa was cleared or what he would do. He supposed he could rely on his skills to get him through until he knew much of anything.
When the warrior asked him if he was body slave, Mahdi's reaction was probably unexpected. The tension went out of his body and his posture slumped only slightly. He had years to learn preferred stance after all.
"Do you stand as new Dominus, then?"
I remember years ago someone told me I should take Caution. And now when all is done there is nothing to say. |
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Mahdi
Jun 22, 2017 6:07:51 GMT
Post by Mahdi on Jun 22, 2017 6:07:51 GMT
 | ~ • ~ | Character Basics | ~ • ~ |
.:Name:. Mahdi
.:Nick Name:. Formerly known as Domitus
.:Affiliation:. Former slave, current rebel
| ~ • ~ | Appearance | ~ • ~ |
.:Physical Appearance:. Mahdi has dark skin, dark eyes and black hair. His hair is fairly long, though he has learned over the years how to care for it or how to make it appear shorter than it really is. He mostly wears his hair pulled back, but some strands are as wild as he pretends not to be and escape around his face. His smile has been described as beautiful and dangerous, though he gives little of those smiles nowadays as his smile was something he was trained to use in his former life and now he has a complex about it. His body is slender with toned muscles, though that is not obvious at first glance.
.:Height:. 5'8"
.:Portrayed by:. Avan Jogia
| ~ • ~ | Personality | ~ • ~ |
.:Personality:. Mahdi's personality is a hard thing because after so longer being trained and molded into doing certain things as he was forced to do, he isn't even sure who he is now. He can tell a joke and laugh with the best of them, but those that are let close -- and there are very few of them -- can tell if those are real smiles or not. He is often quiet in a crowd, though he does not like being right in the midst of them. He's quiet and withdrawn, but he seems to see everything. When he does laugh in a natural and genuine fashion, it seems to surprise him.
.:Special Skills:. Mahdi is an assassin. He has been trained by people for his former dominus to use the skills he was born with -- his beauty and his voice -- to get close to targets. He is very good with mixing poisons, and he can be deadly with a knife, He is also highly skilled with a bow for when he had to take out a competitor for his dominus from afar. Mahdi was trained in the beginning as a body slave, but then his dominus and his dominus' partners came up with the idea of making Mahdi into a very special kind of body slave. He is not very good at hand to hand fighting.
.:Weaknesses:. Mahdi cannot fight hand to hand at all. It's not something that he was ever trained in because it could have been used against his dominus. He appears softer than he looks, but there is also a funny kind of naivety about him. He was raised and trained a certain way, but that also means he is woefully ignorant about a lot of things. He has a temper and can lash out quickly if he feels threatened by anyone.
| ~ • ~ | History | ~ • ~ |
.:Birthplace:. Syria
.:Family:. He has vague memories of a brother, but no memory at all of his parents
.:Occupation:. Former body slave and assassin... current would-be rebel
.:History:. Mahdi remembers very little of his life before slavery. He doesn't remember parents, but he does remember a brother who was close to him in age, but older. He has very vague memories of being sold with his brother to one house and how he refused to be tamed or made into the slave that their owner wanted him to be. He rebelled and hated the name the Romans had given him. No matter how much his brother ordered him to hold his tongue and do what he was told, Mahdi's spirit would not allow him to do so. It would cost him much.
He was separated from his brother and sold to a different dominus. Mahdi thought he knew what to expect as both dominuses had made comments about what pretty boys the Syrians were and how they would become even more beautiful as they grew older. When Mahdi started to be groomed and taught his duties, part of him hid away inside in order to cope with everything that was happening.
It was at the dinner of a business competitor that Mahdi's fate changed again. The competitor tried offering Mahdi's dominus every kind of coin for a night with the exotic-looking body slave. A comment was made that a man could die happy if he spent a night with someone so beautiful, and Mahdi's new life began.
Mahdi was trained to be a very particular kind of body slave. Not only was he schooled in more and more of the bedroom arts, but his dominus brought in medicuses and apothecaries to teach Madhi all about poisons and how to mix them and make them from the different plants that could be found. He was taught how to coat blades and innocent household utensils. He went through painful experiments to build up a resistance to certain poisons so that his body could be a weapon. When Madhi gained bravery one time to ask why his dominus didn't fear the poisons being used on him, Madhi was severely beaten -- and reminded that what he was being taught was for the dominus and he could very easily be killed at his dominus' will. Madhi had a desperate need to stay alive because he had the hope that one day he would see his brother again. As the years passed and he became someone he did not recognize, he stopped wishing to see his brother for fear of his brother being ashamed of him.
With nothing stretching before him but years of life in this new kind of slavery, Mahdi managed to train himself to keep everything inside that he felt and only allowed the emotions and reactions that he was ordered to portray shine through. He became accepting of his fate and became the very loyal weapon of his dominus. After sometime, this was all he remembered of himself that wasn't his true name.
When the day came that Spartacus and his men overran the villa and killed his dominus and his guards, Mahdi was at a loss as to what would happen to him now. That feeling did not ease when he came face to face with the warrior Nasir -- his long lost brother.
| ~ • ~ | Member Info | ~ • ~ |
.:Name or Online Alias:. Mylia
.:How Did You Find Us:. I was brought here by Agron and now I have a tribe of characters
.:Extra Notes:. Character and history were discussed with and approved by @nasir .
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