Price

Shayla came across this on another site, and it was too funny not to mention here.

The quiz does direct you to two links, one for the IQ estimation, one for the FaceTheJury rating. The questionairre still works if you bypass either one of them.

According to this shayla is worth $1,384,538.00.

Upon hearing this Master just rolled his eyes. She's not certain if that means the estimation is higher or lower than what he considers her to be. Shayla'll not be bold/foolish enough to ask, though. Curiosity is not becoming in a kajira.

shayla

Self-care

A good amount of shayla's day is spent in taking care of herself, improving herself and morphing into what Master knows is there, but still partially hidden. Since before she came to her Master, shayla has been working to get back into shape. Then she came to Houston and realized that she'd not even come close to what she's capable of.

One of the first things that Master did was regulate her diet and exercise. There's little limit to how much she eats, but what she eats is a different matter entirely. Master's diet is rather simple, and he doesn't keep processed food in the house. Which is a big help, as shayla has her weak moments. He encourages high-protein foods and vegetables. And while he's not limited dairy foods, shayla finds herself restraining herself from having very much. She avoids sweets regardless of how tempted she is, unless they come directly from his hand.

Exercise is another matter. Shayla walks no less than an hour a day with weights. Many people shayla comes across in her job compliment her on her hard work in walking, having seen her 'just pumping away' on her walks. She tells them that they're seeing the easy part, the hard part's when she gets home. There's a building near where we live that is three stories, and it's got stairs to the 3rd floor. Shayla's job is walk all three flights a certain number of times when she's done with her walks, with weights twice as heavy as the ones she uses on her walks. Then it's back into the house for everything else.

The first time Master put her through the exercises she does daily, it was all she could do to keep up. Looking back, shayla's glad that he put her through it. It just takes time to do them. There's the deep knee bends, the flutter-kicks, the crunches, pushups, & others that she doesn't even have names for. Somewhere around crunch #163, or push-up # 84, she feels like she'll be exercising all day, but she keeps on going. Predictably enough, by the end of them all she's tired, sore, sweaty, but knowing that she's done her best with them, done them as he's wanted. The endorphins that kick in long before she finishes help, too. And she's learned that nothing helps a woman lose her belly quite like 200 or so crunches/day. Gotta love it.

Her appearance is something else that she has paid more attention to in the past months than she ever has. She still takes care to look good when she's out or working, but she puts the same amount of care, if not a bit more, into her appearance when she's home. Shayla tries to ensure that her makeup and hair are done well, that she's wearing something that flatters her (not that she wears much at home, Master prefers her in collar, bells, and either t-shirt or nightie, nothing else). At first it seemed a little odd to shayla to be 'dolled up' at home, but now she finds that she enjoys it. And there's definitely something to be said for the times that she's knelt, head to the floor, when Master's entered then told her to straighten, and seeing the look in his face and eyes when he takes a good look at what his girl.

Along with all this is the regular tanning. Shayla's got fair, hard to tan skin. Master's mentioned more than once how intense the sun gets in this area, more so than where shayla had lived before she came down. So he's having her go in part to protect her from what he knows (but she doesn't) is coming. Though he much prefers shayla tanned than shayla lily-white. Actually, so does she (but Master already knows that).

It's a lot, the prescribed diet, the exercise, the tanning. But it's certainly been worth it. Master's mentioned before about this very thing...

"Marcus : And to take a girl, crush all the doubts she has, burn away the Earth girl, refine her to become a kajira, would be to create a living work of art."

That's just what's happening.

shayla

Perform

Shayla mentioned in an earlier post that she had studied the belly-dancing while at the Faire. Master and her talked about it a little after the final performance. He'd asked her if she felt she'd be able to do any of the moves that she'd seen. With that one question he hit part of the core of the matter. A great deal of the moves shayla'd seen she can do, individually, but putting them together into any kind of form has been the tripping point for her. And she told Master that very thing when he asked. That the whole thing was that she does know the moves, but can't put them together. She's only been able to do one, pause while she thinks about what to do next, then do the next one. Just thinking about it brought her near tears with frustration, because it's something she wants to do well for him.

And that's the point that Master stopped her. Told her that so long as she continued to feel that she couldn't, and telling herself that, that's what would continue to happen, her inability to make progress in it. For some reason the way he said it hit her. He's told her the same, many times, but that time it was different.

Much of this difficulty of hers is her view towards performing. Shayla's never been in any kind of drama class, nor done any sort of acting, however remote. She's never been interested in it, had any desire to do anything like it. Being the recipient of such active attention has gotten her nervous in the worst sort of way. Yet here she is, her Master's property. Master can be very subtle in a lot of ways. While there've been countless times that shayla's been working on a task in the same room as he, he's often working on something. Yet she's never known him to miss anything of what she's doing while he does so. And she's serving him in a great deal of ways all the time. Isn't that serving a type of performance?

Maybe it's an odd way of looking at things, considering serving one's Master to be performing for him. Shayla's never come across anybody to speak of such a thing. But it does make sense. Because everything she does is for him.. She performs for him regardless of whether she's at work or when she's giving him a massage, or doing something more intimate. Something to think about there.

As far as the negative self-talk is concerned, Master, as he always is, is right. Shayla feeling that she 'can't do whatever only sinks into her subconscious, sabotaging her performance and making the next one even more of a challenge for her. So she'll work on this, with it, internalize it. She'll make progress with it. For some reason she has a feeling that when she gets past it, she'll have dealt with one of the more difficult facets of her slavery.

shayla

Life

One of the nice things about living in this area is the different plants and animals there are. Shayla has spent the last 25 years of her life in a semi-arid desert region. And while there is wildlife around, it's not often that you actually see it.

To shayla, this area is completely different. The paths that she walks along parallel drainage ditches, sometimes crossing them. Nothing special, and definitely necessary, given how it rains around here. But shayla would never have expected them to have so much life in them. She's used to cement-lined irrigation canals, not these ditches where the botttoms are dirt, rock, and grass. So it's been pleasantly surprising to see the small fish, various turtles, frogs, and the cranes that come down to the water in the mornings to catch them. And there seems to always be a snail, lizard or small snake on the path while she's walking. There've been times that shayla's walked in the evenings and come within a yard of a raccoon in a tree, or had to stop at a safe distance and let a skunk stroll off the path while she waited. Coming home to her Master smelling like a skunk would be a Bad Thang.

Another surprise was on the way to the faire the other day. The sides of the road and the median were full of wild-flowers, bluebonnets, Indian Paintbrush, & who knows what all else. So thick in some areas that they almost covered the grass. Master commented that often one would drive by people stopped by the side of the road, taking senior or wedding pictures in the flowers and grass. About 5 minutes later we passed a few cars stopped along a particularly thick area, stopping to take photos. A girl, perhaps 13 or so, a young boy and girl about 5, and a little farther, a little white dog, all being pictured in the flowers & grass. The dog was so small & the flowers were so thick that when we passed we almost missed seeing it.

Shayla normally enjoys the unusual, odd flowers. The orchids, irises, calla lillies, foxglove, & snapdragons, but there's something about wildflowers that really gets her attention. She thinks it's the simple beauty of them. Nobody planted them in perfect order, coaxed them to bloom, babied them; the seeds just got swept there by the wind & took root. The colors are just as random. Thick or thin patches of blue or red or yellow, other times a mixture of them all, in no particular shape or plan, just happening however they happened to land.

Some people may not consider all this to be notable, but to shayla, it's very enjoyable to see all this around her. And it makes her walks more interesting than they would be otherwise.

shayla

Faire

Yesterday Master and shayla drove to Excalibur Faire, which is to the north-west of Houston . Master's been a regular participant of one of the local faires for about 9 years. He's not SCA, he just enjoys the history of the time period, the costumes (especially the ladies'), the chance to be 'other' than himself. So the night before shayla dug into the Faire paraphenalia and retreived the clothing for his Faire persona. Master had given shayla's clothing some thought, and had acquired a new corset for her the previous day. Gorgeous, Chinese red with gold threading. Master had her put it on with her long black skirt when we got home. After an adjustment or two he sent her in to look at herself. It took a minute or so for shayla to digest the fact that the beauty in the mirror was actually herself.

The drive there was much as our other long drives are. Little need for talk, just comfortable with the quiet between Master and slave. Though the slave had the fun of putting on makeup and nail polish while rolling down a freeway at 70 mph. It's been quite some time since shayla's done that. On the way we entered some low-rolling hills, something she's been missing. The Houston area seems to be completely flat to shayla, so being in hills, even as low as they were, was a welcome change.

When we got to the Faire we changed, then headed in. Shayla had to go back to the truck for some forgotten item while Master waited for her. He commented as she returned to him that he'd almost not recognized her as she came into sight. It makes shayla's day when he tosses her little scraps like that. Once inside, Master left shayla at a booth to get her hair braided while he collabrated with some of his friends to get his contribution to the food and beverage supply into their shop. Soon after shayla'd been finished Master came for her and introduced her to his friends. Most of these people he's known for years, and has talked about them frequently to shayla, so it was almost like meeting someone she's known.

The rest of the day was spent meeting and talking with Master's friends, browsing through shops for various types of jewelry, studying the belly-dancing (Master took photos, since some of his friends were the belly-dancers, shayla studied). Though one or two things of note did take place, this is one of them...

There's a friend of Master's that routinely dresses as a barbarian. Master made sure early in the day to get a photo of him with shayla. But later, shayla had stepped from the shop (the back had been made into a sort of sitting/changing area, so it was a good place to sit, talk, get away from things and have some quiet) and to her Master, who was talking with a lady who was wondering about what, if anything, the barbarian had underneath that kilt. Shayla's timing being what it is (mostly an atrocity), she wound up walking right into the middle of the conversation just as the lady started wondering all over again, but didn't want to actually go find out. So Master 'suggested' to shayla that she do so instead (with him, a suggestion = command). The last time he suggested shayla do something she was shy about in a public setting, she messed up, badly. In part because she hesitated in her obedience. Her ears are still ringing from the scolding she got after Master got her home that night.

So this time she could have done one of two things...walk up and just ask, or take a peek herself. As Master had already picked up the thread of conversation with the lady, shayla was already committed. Stopping to clarify with him as to how wasn't really an option, as it would have been making reasons to delay in obeying. So she took a deep breath, stepped up to the barbarian's rear, lifted the kilt & took a peek. Nothing there, except a rather nicely muscled ass. Shayla's still not certain if he even noticed shayla's looking. After telling the lady what she'd not seen, shayla joined her Owner, who was talking with another pair of his friends nearby. By now shayla's hands were starting to shake, having never peeked under a man's kilt like that before, stranger or otherwise. It took a couple minutes for that to pass. But Master seemed to be happy with how she'd done.

It was full dark by the time we packed the things and went home. Shayla got a pleasant surprise when Master let her drive most of the way. She's been wanting to drive that truck of his from the moment she saw it. So all in all it was a very good day.

shayla

Body Servant

One of shayla's duties is serving Master's physical needs. And no, she's not talking sexual. Though that is one of her more enjoyable duties. What shayla is talking about is such things as massage, shaving, etc.

Master's job(s) keep him busy. When he's not working, he often gets phone calls at odd hours from people about work, new jobs that may or may not have come up, and so forth. His work itself causes him to be on his feet a great deal, in places that at times would be uncomfortable for just about anybody, including him. There's also the dubious pleasure of wrestling with driving miles a day in Houston traffic.

All this adds to the stress level, and it seems to shayla that one of the things that Master enjoys the most about owning her is the on-demand, and occasionally volunteered, massages. There have been a great deal of evenings that shayla has spent an hour or more at his feet, massaging them while he works on the computer. And more than once he's had her literally massage him to sleep. It's almost as relaxing to shayla as it is to her Owner, actually. He encourages her to take her time, and as she has a tendency to rush through things it's good practice in going slow. Not to mention the benefit of strengthening her hands and forearms.

He occasionally has her shave him, trimming his beard and mustache. Shayla'd not shaved a man for years before she came here, so this is something that took some practice. Shaving a man's face is radically different than shaving one's legs. ;-) And as Master shares all men's tendency to grow hair on their ears as they reach middle age, it's shayla's task to remove it. While shayla has always been comfortable, even good, at simple haircuts, she's more than a little nervous about the notion of cutting her Master's hair. He's cautious about the idea as well. But he's planning on that eventuality as well. More than once he's had shayla bathe him, also. It's something that always leaves shayla a trembling mass of heat.

All this may seem a bit much to someone. And it's not that Master's not perfectly capable or inclined to do much of his personal grooming (though he can't massage himself). He has shayla do all this because he enjoys it, and it's perfectly suitable for shayla to do so, given that she belongs to him. But beyond the surface things is something deeper.

It always seems to shayla that after she's bathed him, trimmed his beard and mustache, massaged his shoulder where there's always a knot under the first layer of muscle, whatever, that we're closer to each other on a purely emotional and mental level. It's as if the bond, the tie, between Master and his slut is increased and deepened during these times. Both of us are more relaxed, more comfortable because of the task that had been done. Perhaps it's some type of bonding behavior on a purely instinctive, primitive level, shayla does not know. What she does know is that her Master enjoys her doing these things. And do does she. We have some good talks during these times, though just as often is the silence between us. A silence that isn't uncomfortable or strained, simply the silence of not saying anything because neither of us feel the need to do so. Simply the enjoyment on both our parts of a girl serving her Master's physical pleasure and needs.

shayla