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 CosmeticsThis is my narrative and relevant references from the Books where Cosmetics are mentioned. I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them. Arrive at your own conclusions. I wish you well, Fogaban I have not attempted to list every imaginable variation of a quote on cosmetics. But I have listed quite a few. Click a heading to jump down to that topic. Beautician Body Paint Cosmetician Cosmetics Cosmetics Box Cosmetics of a Pleasure Slave Cosmetics of the Slave Girl Cosmetics Room Cosmetics Table Eye Shadow Eyebrows Eyelids Face Designs Fingernails Flavored Free Women Lipstick Makeup Manicure Pedicure Perfume Rouge Toenails
Just as, in our world, it is not uncommon to seek the advice of an interior decorator in obtaining and organizing the appointments of one's own dwelling, so, too, in the Gorean world, it is not uncommon to call in a trainer and beautician to appraise and improve a girl.
Tasdron, too, clapped his hands twice and a dancing slave, portions of her body painted, ran to the sand. It is too bad that they do not permit cosmetics, eye shadow, lipstick, body paint, and such, on the block. I would lie alone, twisting in the darkness, while he reveled elsewhere, contenting himself, in the lascivious embraces of obedient slaves, painted, bangled girls, such as might be purchased in any slut market. A woman's breasts, in my opinion, are too beautiful for a brand. On the other hand I do not object to temporarily marking them in such a place, say, with a grease pencil, lipstick or paint, as many slavers do. She was well made up, with lipstick, eye shadow, and such, a painted slave, as it is said. Men are so vain. You should see how some of them lead naked, painted, bejeweled slaves about on leashes, put them through slave paces publicly, make them dance in the open for tarsk-bits, put them up as stakes in the dicing halls, and marketplaces, and such. "You will learn to wear tunics, and silks, and bangles," I said. "You will be taught to kneel and move. You may be perfumed and painted.
I had then been scented, with the colognes and perfumes thought suitable for certain types of male slaves.
Fighting Slave of Gor Book 14 Page 126
I have already mentioned the baths in the House of Cernus, which can rival some of the pools in the gigantic Capacian Baths, the finest of known Gor. Less impressive perhaps but even more essential to the operation of the House were its kitchens, its laundries, commissaries and storerooms; its medical facilities, in which dental care is also provided; its corridors of rooms for staff members, all of whom live in the House; its library, its records and files; its cubicles for Smiths, Bakers, Cosmeticians, Turbus Veminius looked after her. He, like many perfumers, and hairdressers and cosmeticians, treated his female clientele almost as though they were slave girls. Indeed, he was famous for once having said, "They are all slave girls." Yet, in spite of the gruff, authoritarian way in which they might be handled, and the rude, peremptory fashion in which they might be addressed, women, and high-caste women, for no reason that was clear to me, flocked to his shop. He was, of course, one of the foremost perfumers of Gor. His prices, it might be mentioned, were beyond the reach of all but the very wealthy. It might also be mentioned that he did not deal at all in slave perfumes. "I am not a professional slave trainer," said Marcus, "or costumer or cosmetician, but I will show you two of the most common ties. Others you might inquire of, when the opportunity permits, of your sister slaves."
The next few days were among the happiest of my life, as Talena and I became a part of Mintar's slow, ample caravan, members of its graceful, interminable, colorful procession. It seemed the routine of the journey would never end, and I grew enamored of the long line of wagons, each filled with its various goods, those mysterious metals and gems, rolls of cloth, foodstuffs, wines and Paga, weapons and harness, cosmetics and perfumes, medicines and slaves. "I have silk," she said, "and rouge, and bottles of cosmetics!" We passed tables on one side, and rooms where medical examinations could be held; there were also facilities for washing prisoners; here and there I saw the office of a market official; there were also rooms where I saw silks, cosmetics, vials of perfumes, chains and such. the merchandise itself must have great variety in its presentation; for example, women of the same general type and hair color seldom follow one another on the block. Cosmetics and their utilization present further problems. The sale of women, like that of any other merchandise, can be a difficult and time-consuming business, calling optimally for good judgment, experience and imagination. In one corner of the room I saw Sandra, the dancer. To my surprise, she had arrayed herself in pleasure silks and cosmetics. She was truly beautiful. I lifted her gently to her feet and looked into her eyes. "Please do not disturb my cosmetics," she begged. I wanted to be sold in Ar, to be free of them! I wanted to be a pampered, perfumed girl, with jewels and cosmetics and silks, the pet and favorite of an indulgent master, whom I might control. I wanted the luxuries, and the sights and pleasures of Ar! This was the day of my collaring. I was not permitted cosmetics. I could smell the scent of the perfume. It was superior to any I had ever worn on Earth, when I had been wealthy and could command the customized attentions of the finest continental perfumers, and yet here, on this barbaric planet, it was used without thought to adorn the body of Elinor Brinton, a mere slave girl. I had not been permitted cosmetics. I got to my feet and went outside the shed. There was a mirror there, and cosmetics, and silks and bells. There were no men about. The girls were preparing themselves. I stood about, miserably, while the other girls finished their primping. How exciting they were in their silk, their bells and cosmetics. At the head of the feast sat the magnificent Rask of Treve, in his victory. At his side, cross-legged, sat Verna, the panther girl, who was served by we girls as might have been a warrior. How I envied her, her freedom, her beauty, her pride, and even the simple opacity of the brief garment she wore. She was not clad in a bit of silk, a touch of cosmetics, a scent of perfume and the bells of a slave. Rim lifted the girl to the feet by the hair, twisting her head and bending her body. "Go to the Torian room," he said, "and prepare me a bath, and foods and wines, and gather together whatever you might need, bells and cosmetics, and such, to please my senses." "Doubtless," said Mira, "she would be even prettier in cosmetics and earrings." The expression "silk girl" is used, often, among bond-maids of the north, to refer to their counterparts in the south. The expression reflects their belief that such girls are spoiled, excessively pampered, indulged and coddled, sleek pets, who have little to do but adorn themselves with cosmetics and await their masters, cuddled cutely, on plush, scarlet coverlets, fringed with gold. Some of the ornately barred, crimson-draped cells, with brass bowls, and rugs, and cushions and lamps, were quite comfortable; some of the cells held more than one occupant; some of the girls were permitted cosmetics and slave silk; generally, however, girls in the pen are raw, totally, save for their collars and brands, The accouterments of the stimulation-cell are also calculated with respect to their effect on the slave. There are brushes, perfumes, cosmetics, slave jewelries, heavy necklaces, armlets, bracelets and bangles; All eyes were upon her. Aside from her jewelries, her bells, the oval and collar, the cosmetics, the heady slave-perfume, she wore six ribbons of silk, yellow, three before and three behind, some four feet in length, depending from her collar. I smiled. Perhaps Vella, even now, had been returned to the quarters for female slaves, where she would wait until commanded by men, perhaps to her exercises or bath, or silks, or cosmetics, to her beautification, "I am applying my cosmetics," she called. "I shall hurry!" Cages must be scheduled, chains forged, slave meal garnered. For the female slaves cosmetics and perfumes must be anticipated. After all, she is not a wife; she is much more important she is a prized possession. The clothing she wears, any cosmetics or jewelry, or perfume, must be absolutely perfect. I considered cosmetics and perfumes, such as I had encountered in the cave. too, in the Gorean world, it is not uncommon to call in a trainer and beautician to appraise and improve a girl. He considers such matters as her hair, its cut, cosmetics appropriate to her, the proper type of earrings, a variety of collars and slave silks, how she walks, and speaks, and kneels, and so on, and makes his recommendations. The girls cried out nervously, making last minute additions or adjustments to their jewelries and silks. Some intently applied cosmetics. Two nearly fought over a small disk of eye shadow, but the whip of Sucha, lowered between them, divided them. Sulda seemed radiant, returned from the couch of Hak Haran. She applied lipstick. The girls smoothed their silks. "You have finished your bath," he said, "and are fresh and ready. Adorn yourself now with cosmetics and scents." "You have not yet complied with my command to adorn yourself with cosmetics and scents," he observed. "Are you disobeying?" "Apply cosmetics and scents," said he. "You are to be absolutely beautiful," he said. She reached, miserably, for the tiny boxes and brushes. I looked to the girl on my left, and to the one on my right. How beautiful they were. We had all had Gorean slave cosmetics applied to us. "Oh," she said. She looked at me. "Will I be given pretty things to wear," she asked, "and cosmetics, perfumes?" "It is quite likely," I said. "Masters like their girls to make themselves beautiful." They were barefoot, and collared; they wore cosmetics; their right wrists wore bracelets; each, on her left arm, had a golden armlet; each, on her left ankle, had a golden anklet. We passed, too, rooms in which tunics, slave silks, cosmetics and jewelries were kept. On the other hand, doubtless, the dieting, exercise, instruction in cosmetics and adornment, and the various forms of slave training, are also not without their effect. Naturally there had been on the raft, besides the girls, a chest of riches for Tende, riches which, according to the askaris, with whom Ayari took pains to be on good terms, would include such things as bolts of cloth, jewelries, cosmetics, coins and perfumes. "Forgive me, Master," she begged. It was true that a slave may wear in the way of cosmetics, clothing or ornament only what the master sees fit to permit her. Sometimes, of course, this is nothing. Like many Gorean women, she did not use cosmetics. Free women in Ar commonly use cosmetics, but, outside of Ar, usually it is only the bolder women who resort to them. My Mistress, for example, did not use cosmetics either. Many free women regard cosmetics as only for slave girls. "Yes, Mistress," said the kneeling girl. She was quite beautiful under the light of the three, dangling tharlarion-oil lamps, depending from an erect, tall iron stand near the mirror. She replaced the tiny brush and the small, blue, round box which contained the eye shadow on the cosmetics tray on the tiles. "More eye shadow," said the standing girl. "Mistress!" protested the kneeling girl. "Remember that you are a slave," said the girl with the switch. "Yes, Mistress," said the kneeling girl. Then, she again took up the brush and the tiny box. She applied the eye shadow more heavily then, more sensuously then, in a manner more befitting what she was. Her protests in the matters of her lipstick and perfume, and certain other cosmetics, had been similarly overruled. In a few moments she replaced the materials in the small, oblong tray and leaned back on her heels. She surveyed herself. Her long, dark hair had already been combed with an antique, yellow, stained comb of kailiauk horn. With my finger I indicated a place upon the mask I wore. With her fingers she reached to her own face. She touched her face, beneath her left eye. On her fingers, she saw, was the stain of the smeared cosmetic. She looked at me, frightened. She rubbed her cheek and then, her head down, rubbed her fingertips on her right thigh. Then, in poignant fantasy, within the pen, she prepares herself for the master, seeming to thoughtfully select silks and jewelry, seeming to apply perfume and cosmetics, seeming to be bedecked in shimmering, diaphanous slave splendor. "Some silk, some cosmetics, makes quite a difference," said a man. Again, in the matter of hairdos as in all my instructions to you, whether having to do with perfumes, silks, cosmetics, ornamentation, or whatever, you are to consider the total effect, the entire ensemble." No cosmetics now adorned her, begging to be licked and kissed from her lips. Too, of course, in such a district, one may purchase such articles as appropriate cosmetics for slaves, suitable simple but attractive jewelry, fit for slaves, in particular, earrings which, in Gorean eyes, so fasten a woman's degradation helplessly upon her, appropriate perfumes, slave silk, and such. A significant portion of our training was intimate and erotic, or sexual and sensual, in nature, ranging from such things as make-up, body ornamentation, cosmetics and perfumes, to techniques, psychological and physical, generally a combination of both, of pleasing men. Some men even dress their girls, and, always, the girl's choices of such things as garb, cosmetics, perfume, jewelry, and such, and, indeed, her entire ensemble, are subject to the master's approval. Slave beads, too, and such simple adornments, bracelets, earrings, cosmetics, slave perfumes, and such, are well known for their effect in arousing the passions not only of the women themselves, but, too, it must be admitted, sometimes of their masters. Too, had Ina cosmetics at her disposal, even the bold, exciting cosmetics of slaves, which so scandalize free women, I suspected she might not have hesitated to use them. "You mean they learn to use their chains?" "Yes, much as they might learn to drape tunics, to be slave girdles, to wear slave strips, to use perfume, to apply cosmetics, and so on." I continued for a time in the camp, making my way among tents, and under open, roofed structures, like those of some markets, and under great awnings, through corridors of cages and kennels, past chains of women, the chains secured between great stakes, among slave wagons and cage wagons, past processing points, an infirmary, commissaries, shops where one might obtain cosmetics, perfume, I glanced again about the floor, and at the booths in the distance, under the roof, various sorts of booths, for the sales of whiles, leashes, collars, chains, jewelry, cosmetics, perfumes, a district in which are found many of the houses of slavers, sales barns, sales arenas, holding areas, boarding accommodations, training facilities, and shops dealing with product lines pertinent to slaves, such as collars, cosmetics, jewelry, perfumes, "They did not teach you their secrets then," I said, "such things as how to please men?" There are hundreds of such things, of course, ranging from the dressing and care of the hair, the application of cosmetics, such as lipstick and eye shadow, commonly thought improper for free women, and the judicious selection of jewelry, silks and perfumes, We had silks, perfumes, cosmetics, and jewelry. And, lastly, it is only fair to mention, behind such things, the subtleties of silking, of perfumes, of cosmetics, of adornment, and such. And at other times we were permitted only a rag or a bit of silk and taught so to stand, to sit or kneel that even so, without cosmetics, with no more perhaps than our hair combed, we would be beautiful. I had learned to apply the perfumes and cosmetics of this world. Bondage, as a whole, incidentally, has a tendency to enhance the beauty of women, not so much from the emphasis which it places on diet, exercise, proper rest, cleanliness, physical attractiveness, cosmetics, costuming, and such, "You were not to paint her lips, her eyelids, you were not to enhance her with cosmetics?" said the guard. stalls of tunics, cloaks, robes, veils, scarves, and simple cloth, and of leatherwork, belts and wallets, and such, and of footwear, oils, instruments of the bath, cosmetics and perfumes, Even small enhancements of natural differences, for example, by cosmetics, can be sexually stimulatory, Her hair was soaked, and it clung about her forehead and throat. Had Targo's women been permitted slave cosmetics, they would have run about their lips and eyes, and stained the shelf. But Targo seldom wasted slave cosmetics on his properties, claiming the honesty of his wares, and the right of a buyer to understand clearly, and in all respects, the exact nature, pure, raw and simple, of the goods he proffered. Too, to be sure, cosmetics, even slave cosmetics, were not free, but cost their coins. Ellen would later learn that slave girls would fight for a lipstick or an eye shadow, that they might enhance their beauty and prove more pleasing to masters. "Here are silks, and veils," said a whip master. "There, in the chests, are bells, anklets, armlets, bracelets. Adorn yourself, girl. Cosmetics, too! There! Apply them swiftly. Kneel there, before the cosmetics tables. Hurry! The performance is soon to begin!" "No," said Feike. "We must comb your hair. There is a broken comb there. Kneel down, facing away from me. Then we must hurry with the cosmetics." The two girls knelt facing one another, and Feike, having recourse to the tiny pans and dishes, and the pencil-like applicators on the low cosmetics table, applied her skills to the countenance of the barbarian. It is too bad that they do not permit cosmetics, eye shadow, lipstick, body paint, and such, on the block. Gorean free women do not use cosmetics, or supposedly do not use them, though ankle bells, concealed by their robes, and perfumes are permitted to them. Cosmetics, on Gor, are regarded as salacious, improper, offensive and scandalous in the case of a free woman; such things are associated with slaves. Even a brilliant woman, witty and articulate, learned, of the high Scribes, collared, her blue robes exchanged for a rag, must apply herself to new studies, the use of her lips and tongue, of her small fingers and glossy hair. Aside from homely tasks, she will be taught cosmetics and ornamentation. Surely it was not for this that I had been taught in the house to cook, clean, launder, and sew, to tie a tunic, to move with grace, to speak as a slave, to kneel, belly, lick, and kiss, to eat and drink from pans, to gratefully receive scraps from a master's hand, to apply cosmetics, to fetch a whip or slippers in my teeth, I would suppose that most "first girls" are judicious and fair but some, doubtless, abuse their authority, have their favorites, distribute ornaments, cosmetics, silks, candies, pastries, delicacies, and such selectively, and make life miserable in a variety of ways for others, less favored, with respect to work assignments, discipline, and such, which matters are largely in her hands. After your purchase, cosmetics, enhancements, and such, as with clothing, will be at the discretion of the master. We were taught personal hygiene, and cleanliness, perfumes and cosmetics,
As I did so I passed several chained slave girls kneeling on a stone tier. They were doubtless girls in training, and reasonably well advanced in training. They had been brought to see the races, that they might be pleased and stimulated, that they might return to their training refreshed and recreated. They were clearly enjoying themselves, and some were making bets, the stakes being pleasure beads from the contents of the jewelry and cosmetic box allotted to each, usually kept in her cell. The training room was floored with wood, laid diagonally across beams for additional strength; one twelve-foot area of the room was a shallow pit of sand; against one wall were various chests of raiment, cosmetics and retention devices, I turned about to examine the room. There were several chests there, doubtless containing silks, cosmetics, I was more pleased to note that he also purchased some silks, perfumes, and combs and brushes, and boxes of cosmetics. "Apply cosmetics and scents," said he. "You are to be absolutely beautiful," he said. She reached, miserably, for the tiny boxes and brushes. Her cosmetic cases could boast perfumes that might have been the envy of a Ubara. Too, there were various tiny boxes, containing jewelry and cosmetics. There are bundles of silk, coils of wire, brass lamps, jars of ointment and salve, flat boxes of cosmetics;
She wore the cosmetics of a Pleasure Slave, applied exquisitely. The cosmetics enhanced and heightened the drama of her great natural beauty, but with an insolent and deliberate coarseness that was a gauntlet thrown before the blood of men.
She seemed fine and savage, as vital and dangerous and beautiful as the she-larl. She was a woman who could well have stood among the most marvelous of Gor. She wore the cosmetics of the slave girl. I waited my turn before the mirror and applied the cosmetics of the Gorean slave girl. I knew well how to do this, for I had been trained. "Do you know the cosmetics and perfumes of a slave girl, and their application?" she asked. Arlene knelt beside me. "Master," she said. I looked at her. I had never seen her before in the beautiful, subtle cosmetics of the Gorean slave girl. Too, had Ina cosmetics at her disposal, even the bold, exciting cosmetics of slaves, which so scandalize free women, I suspected she might not have hesitated to use them. She might have been a paga slave. She had been made up, with slave cosmetics. "Slave cosmetics, Master?" inquired Ina. The cosmetics of slaves are not that different, interestingly, from those of free women on Earth.
Too, it might be noted that only a curtain separated the cosmetics room from the rest of the house. This sort of thing, too, is not that uncommon where rooms which may be occupied by slaves are found. Such curtains, without ceremony, may be thrust aside, startling the slave and revealing the keeper or master. I resisted the impulse, almost overwhelming, to thrust aside the curtain, declaring myself to her, seizing and throwing her to the very tiles of the cosmetics room, there subjecting her to delicious slave rape. "But I did not think, in the room of cosmetics, that I would be summoned before you, merely that you might hear me speak." Lola had brought with her the objects which I had specified in my instructions to her, issued even before the slave had been ordered to report to the cosmetics room. we also saw kitchens, pantries, eating areas, some with mere troughs or depressions in the floor, storage areas, guard rooms, offices, and places for the keeping of records; there were also a laundry and an infirmary; too, there were rooms where such subjects as the care and dressing of hair, the application of cosmetics, the selection and use of perfumes, manicure and pedicure, "Here are silks, and veils," said a whip master. "There, in the chests, are bells, anklets, armlets, bracelets. Adorn yourself, girl. Cosmetics, too! There! Apply them swiftly. Kneel there, before the cosmetics tables. Hurry! The performance is soon to begin!" Ellen was now within a small, silken enclosure, separated from the dancing area, but adjacent to it. She could see the men outside through a parting in the silken curtain. There were eight or nine girls of exceeding loveliness within.
"Here are silks, and veils," said a whip master. "There, in the chests, are bells, anklets, armlets, bracelets. Adorn yourself, girl. Cosmetics, too! There! Apply them swiftly. Kneel there, before the cosmetics tables. Hurry! The performance is soon to begin!" The two girls knelt facing one another, and Feike, having recourse to the tiny pans and dishes, and the pencil-like applicators on the low cosmetics table, applied her skills to the countenance of the barbarian. "There is more than one way to dance, Master," said Ellen. And, as she knelt down by the cosmetics table, she thought to herself, "I have not yet been beaten. But what shall I do now? Surely I am no more than the width of a strand of slave silk from the blows of the lash."
Their lips were rouged and they wore eye-shadow. Even lipstick and eye shadow, which a girl may wash off and reapply, a girl wishes to be perfect; The girls cried out nervously, making last minute additions or adjustments to their jewelries and silks. Some intently applied cosmetics. Two nearly fought over a small disk of eye shadow, but the whip of Sucha, lowered between them, divided them. Sulda seemed radiant, returned from the couch of Hak Haran. She applied lipstick. The girls smoothed their silks. The small, exquisite, dark-haired slave, naked, knelt on the tiles before the large mirror, trembling, trying to apply, with the tiny brush, the bluish eye shadow. I watched from behind a dark curtain, one bearing, on both sides, in gold embroidery, an intricate design incorporating cursive Kefs, one larger and several smaller. "I am afraid," said the kneeling girl, with the small brush. "As well you should be," said the girl standing behind her, who carried a long, supple leather switch, "for you are soon to be presented to your Master." "He has treated me with such cruelty," said the kneeling girl. "You have been treated precisely as you have deserved," said the standing girl. "Yes, Mistress," said the kneeling girl. She was quite beautiful under the light of the three, dangling tharlarion-oil lamps, depending from an erect, tall iron stand near the mirror. She replaced the tiny brush and the small, blue, round box which contained the eye shadow on the cosmetics tray on the tiles. "More eye shadow," said the standing girl. "Mistress!" protested the kneeling girl. "Remember that you are a slave," said the girl with the switch. "Yes, Mistress," said the kneeling girl. Then, she again took up the brush and the tiny box. She applied the eye shadow more heavily then, more sensuously then, in a manner more befitting what she was. Her protests in the matters of her lipstick and perfume, and certain other cosmetics, had been similarly overruled. In a few moments she replaced the materials in the small, oblong tray and leaned back on her heels. She surveyed herself. Her long, dark hair had already been combed with an antique, yellow, stained comb of kailiauk horn. On the other hand, the ornamentation, and adornment, of slaves by means such as jewelry, cosmetics, for example, lipstick and eye shadow, perfume, and such, is common, particularly in the evening. I regarded her. She was well made up, with lipstick, eye shadow, and such, a painted slave, as it is said. "They did not teach you their secrets then," I said, "such things as how to please men?" There are hundreds of such things, of course, ranging from the dressing and care of the hair, the application of cosmetics, such as lipstick and eye shadow, commonly thought improper for free women, and the judicious selection of jewelry, silks and perfumes, And it would be superficial, of course, to overlook the effect of such impediments upon the woman herself, how they, like lipstick or eye shadow, accentuate the dichotomies of nature, Her hair was soaked, and it clung about her forehead and throat. Had Targo's women been permitted slave cosmetics, they would have run about their lips and eyes, and stained the shelf. But Targo seldom wasted slave cosmetics on his properties, claiming the honesty of his wares, and the right of a buyer to understand clearly, and in all respects, the exact nature, pure, raw and simple, of the goods he proffered. Too, to be sure, cosmetics, even slave cosmetics, were not free, but cost their coins. Ellen would later learn that slave girls would fight for a lipstick or an eye shadow, that they might enhance their beauty and prove more pleasing to masters. It is too bad that they do not permit cosmetics, eye shadow, lipstick, body paint, and such, on the block. They will fight over a brush or comb, an eye shadow or lipstick, or earrings, or a ribbon. "I have seen slaves with lipstick and eye shadow," I said.
I went to her side. She was kneeling before a bronze mirror, touching an eyebrow with a brush.
"You were not to paint her lips, her eyelids, you were not to enhance her with cosmetics?" said the guard. There was a subtle shading of blue on her upper eyelids.
Some of the girls decorate their faces with designs, drawn in charcoal.
We knelt before a low dais, covered with rugs and cushions, on which reclined Saphrar of Turia. The merchant wore his Pleasure Robes of white and gold and his sandals, too, were of white leather bound with golden straps. His toenails, as well as the nails of his hands, were carmine in color. Saphrar looked pained, but not much more so than was required by courtesy. He benignly lifted his small fat hand with the carmine fingernails and said, "By all means, my dear Ha-Keel, withdraw if you so wish." The fat hands with the scarlet fingernails seemed suddenly to be drawn and thin, clutching. Then the merchant's hands, still extended as though to grasp the vines overhead, with their scarlet fingernails, the robes eaten away from the flesh, disappeared beneath the sparkling, glistening surface. I regarded her. Her small feet were on the lower, rounded crosspiece. Her toenails were not painted, of course. Such is almost unheard of among Gorean free women and is rare even among slaves. The usual Gorean position on the matter is that toenails and fingernails are not, say, red by nature and thus should not be made to appear as if they were. They also tend to frown on the dyeing of hair. Also, to be sure, her fingernails and toenails might be painted. As she is a domestic animal, she may be adorned in any way one pleases.
With the tip of my tongue I touched her lips. Some slave cosmetics are flavored. "Does Master enjoy my taste?" she asked. "The lipstick is flavored," I said. "I know," she said. "It reminds me of the cherries of Tyros," I said. "I do not know what the flavor is," she said, "but it is lovely, is it not?" "Yes," I said.
"I am not a fool," she snapped. Then she rose to her feet and turned to face me. Like many Gorean women, she did not use cosmetics. Free women in Ar commonly use cosmetics, but, outside of Ar, usually it is only the bolder women who resort to them. My Mistress, for example, did not use cosmetics either. Many free women regard cosmetics as only for slave girls. Slave girls, of course, use them often. Her toenails were not painted, of course. Such is almost unheard of among Gorean free women and is rare even among slaves. The usual Gorean position on the matter is that toenails and fingernails are not, say, red by nature and thus should not be made to appear as if they were. "They did not teach you their secrets then," I said, "such things as how to please men?" There are hundreds of such things, of course, ranging from the dressing and care of the hair, the application of cosmetics, such as lipstick and eye shadow, commonly thought improper for free women, and the judicious selection of jewelry, silks and perfumes, Gorean free women do not use cosmetics, or supposedly do not use them, though ankle bells, concealed by their robes, and perfumes are permitted to them. Cosmetics, on Gor, are regarded as salacious, improper, offensive and scandalous in the case of a free woman; such things are associated with slaves. Ellen thought, again, of cosmetics. I wonder, she thought, if, in the privacy of their compartments, even free women, with their companions, might resort to cosmetics, perhaps even serving their companions as though they might be no more than slaves, but they would not be, of course, true slaves. Ellen wondered if free women might do such, to keep their companions out of the markets, where they might buy an actual slave, a woman over whom they would genuinely have absolute power, as her master had over her.
"And tonight," said Marlenus, "when she is sent to my tent, to serve, see that she wears lipstick." She wore lipstick. "Do you like your lipstick?" asked Marlenus. "Yes," she whispered, "yes, Master!" "It, too, excites you, does it not?" he asked. "Yes, Master," she whispered. "How is that?" he asked. "It, like the earrings," she whispered, "makes me feel more female, more slave." Verna now, in the coffle, walked well. Even though she wore slave silk, and lipstick and earrings, she walked well. I went to her and pulled down the rag from her right shoulder. With a lipstick, from one of the tiny drawers in the vanity, I inscribed Taharic script on her shoulder. Even lipstick and eye shadow, which a girl may wash off and reapply, a girl wishes to be perfect; "There are one hundred and eleven basic shades of slave lipstick," said Sucha. "Much depends on the mood of the master." The girls cried out nervously, making last minute additions or adjustments to their jewelries and silks. Some intently applied cosmetics. Two nearly fought over a small disk of eye shadow, but the whip of Sucha, lowered between them, divided them. Sulda seemed radiant, returned from the couch of Hak Haran. She applied lipstick. The girls smoothed their silks. He inspected her chain number, used in the Curulean as a sales number, which, tiny, was written under her left ear in lipstick. I turned, and put my head to the side, that he might read the tiny number printed in lipstick beneath my left ear. Some slave cosmetics are flavored. "Does Master enjoy my taste?" she asked. "The lipstick is flavored," I said. "I know," she said. "It reminds me of the cherries of Tyros," I said. "I do not know what the flavor is," she said, "but it is lovely, is it not?" "Yes," I said. Her delicate lips wore lipstick, red. Too, she had worn a bit of lipstick and eye shadow, and had worn a tiny bit of perfume. "Yes, Mistress," said the kneeling girl. Then, she again took up the brush and the tiny box. She applied the eye shadow more heavily then, more sensuously then, in a manner more befitting what she was. Her protests in the matters of her lipstick and perfume, and certain other cosmetics, had been similarly overruled. In a few moments she replaced the materials in the small, oblong tray and leaned back on her heels. She surveyed herself. Her long, dark hair had already been combed with an antique, yellow, stained comb of kailiauk horn. When I had finished feeding her I gently dabbed her mouth with her hair, being careful not to disarrange the slave's lipstick with which her sweet, full lips had been adorned. It was crimson. It was, by design, kissably sensuous, designed to arouse men and provoke the lust of masters; some girls are terrified to wear such lipstick; they know how it enhances their loveliness and proclaims them well as slaves; they understand well its intention and are seldom left long in doubt as to its effectiveness; had they originally entertained doubts as to its efficiency these doubts are often dispelled rapidly, as they squirm, naked and collared, perfumed, in the arms of a strong man, as it is being ruthlessly kissed from their lips. Yet, of course, it is not simply the lipstick, but the entire appearance and ensemble of the slave, and perhaps mostly simply that she is a slave, which so enhances her desirability, which so drives men wild with the desire to have her. Occasionally fixed prices are set on them. If this is the case the price is usually written on their body, either with a grease pencil or a lipstick. She was one of the few girls on whom Ram Seibar had set a fixed price. It was written on her back in lipstick, forty copper tarsks. "Your face is smeared with lipstick," said a man, "and you stink of slaves and paga." On the other hand, the ornamentation, and adornment, of slaves by means such as jewelry, cosmetics, for example, lipstick and eye shadow, perfume, and such, is common, particularly in the evening. I regarded her. She was well made up, with lipstick, eye shadow, and such, a painted slave, as it is said. "They did not teach you their secrets then," I said, "such things as how to please men?" There are hundreds of such things, of course, ranging from the dressing and care of the hair, the application of cosmetics, such as lipstick and eye shadow, commonly thought improper for free women, and the judicious selection of jewelry, silks and perfumes, "You were not to paint her lips, her eyelids, you were not to enhance her with cosmetics?" said the guard. Her hair was soaked, and it clung about her forehead and throat. Had Targo's women been permitted slave cosmetics, they would have run about their lips and eyes, and stained the shelf. But Targo seldom wasted slave cosmetics on his properties, claiming the honesty of his wares, and the right of a buyer to understand clearly, and in all respects, the exact nature, pure, raw and simple, of the goods he proffered. Too, to be sure, cosmetics, even slave cosmetics, were not free, but cost their coins. Ellen would later learn that slave girls would fight for a lipstick or an eye shadow, that they might enhance their beauty and prove more pleasing to masters. It is too bad that they do not permit cosmetics, eye shadow, lipstick, body paint, and such, on the block. And how, Cabot thought, they learn to compete with one another, each to be more pleasing to the masters, each to bring a higher price on the sales block. They will fight over a brush or comb, an eye shadow or lipstick, or earrings, or a ribbon. "I have seen slaves with lipstick and eye shadow," I said.
in the cells the girls are exhibited unclothed; moreover, they must be shown precisely as they are, absolutely without makeup; I wondered if Elizabeth, and Virginia and Phyllis, were yet in the ready cells, being prepared; I judged it unlikely, for they would probably be sold late, and would not be prepared until the sales were in progress; the last touches of their makeup might not even be made until minutes before they ascended the block. We tore aside our silks in the room of preparation. We freshened our perfumes and adjusted our makeup. We must be soft, and perfumed and luscious. She must not stain or smear her makeup. Angrily, with a small cloth, he dabbed her face. "Save your tears for the block, sleek little animal," he said. "Yes, Master," she said. Her makeup was inspected and touched up. I sat very still, looking at him. He examined my makeup. "I want her cleaned and brushed," I said, "but with absolutely no makeup or adornments. Indeed, they often ply one another for secrets of love, makeup, costuming, perfuming, dance, and such, as each wishes to be as perfect for her master as it lies within her power to be. She wore no makeup. Others were intent on preparing for their summonses to the sand, adjusting their costumes, some tying cords of bells about their ankles, others having others tie such cords of bells about their wrists, regarding themselves in the mirrors, considering their makeup.
too, there were rooms where such subjects as the care and dressing of hair, the application of cosmetics, the selection and use of perfumes, manicure and pedicure,
too, there were rooms where such subjects as the care and dressing of hair, the application of cosmetics, the selection and use of perfumes, manicure and pedicure,
I grew enamored of the long line of wagons, each filled with its various goods, those mysterious metals and gems, rolls of cloth, foodstuffs, wines and Paga, weapons and harness, cosmetics and perfumes, medicines and slaves. My head swam at the sudden intoxicating scent of a wild perfume. When he brings home his captive, bound naked across the saddle of his tarn, he gives her over, rejoicing, to his sisters, to be bathed, perfumed and clothed in the brief slave livery of Gor. "For the Passion Slave," she said, "it is the belled ankle, perfume, the whip and the furs of love." From these raids the Wagon Peoples obtain a miscellany of goods which they are willing to barter to the Turians, jewels, precious metals, spices, colored table salts, harnesses and saddles for the ponderous tharlarion, furs of small river animals, tools for the field, scholarly scrolls, inks and papers, root vegetables, dried fish, powdered medicines, ointments, perfume and women, I smelled perfumes that I had never smelled before. "Bring perfumes!" she called to the feast steward, and he sent forth the camisk-clad slave who carried the tiny tray of exotic Turian perfumes. She took one or two of these small bottles and held them under her nose, and then sprinkled them about the table and cushions. Her actions delighted the Turians, who laughed. like Hereena of the First Wagon, as untamed and savage as they are beautiful; it is regarded as a great sport among Turian warriors to collar such a wench and force her to exchange riding leather for the bells and silks of a perfumed slave girl. "A bit of perfume and silk will be good for that wench," stated Kamchak. "Do you not recall," asked Kamchak, "the affair of the tiny bottles of perfume and the smell of bosk dung - how nobly you attempted to rid the banquet hall of that most unpleasant and distasteful odor?" "About my neck," he said, "you see a golden tarn disk of glorious Ar. I cut a throat for that tarn disk, to buy silks and perfumes for a woman. "I was once," continued Saphrar, "a perfumer of Tyros - but I one day left the shop it seems inadvertently with some pounds of the nectar of talenders concealed beneath my tunic in a bladder and for that my ear was notched and I was exiled from the city. The girls of the Wagon Peoples, of course, who had been enslaved, were freed; the others, however, save for some of Ko-ro-ba on whose behalf I spoke, would change their perfumed silks and their warmed, scented baths for the hardships of the trek, the care of bosk, and the arms of warrior masters. vials containing perfumes, for which extraordinary claims were made; Each evening five lovely, long-haired, uncollared serving slaves would come to her cell, to bathe her and perfume her, to prepare her for love. These girls, under the instructions of Cernus, were extremely deferential, save that they were continually to amuse themselves at the prisoner's expense, making sport of her shaved head, laughing and joking about it among themselves. Four times Claudia Tentia Hinrabia had attempted to kill one of the girls but the others would easily overpower her; and the Hinrabian must endure her bath and her perfuming; when finished the girls would lock her raiment in a chest and then draw a slave hood over her head, locking it in place, and the Hinrabian, stripped, perfumed, hooded, chained, must wait for he for whom she has been prepared. I placed my Ubar's Initiate, a perfume vial, on Scribe Three. there were also rooms where I saw silks, cosmetics, vials of perfumes, chains and such. in the cells the girls are exhibited unclothed; moreover, they must be shown precisely as they are, absolutely without makeup; the only exception to this, interestingly, is that perfume is permitted; even the slave collars are removed, lest they be used to conceal a scar or blemish; the girl is simply washed, brushed and combed, and perfumed, and turned into the cage where, at the prospective bidder's pleasure, she may be examined; Accordingly I did not carry, in these first voyages, any abundance of precious metals or jewels; nor did I carry rugs or tapestries, or medicines, or silks or ointments, or perfumes or prize slaves, or spices or canisters of colored table salts. Saphrar, I recalled, had once been a perfumer from Tyros but, being exiled as a thief, had made his way to Port Kar, and thence had gone to Turia. "Or," I asked, "should I call for the bells and the silk, and the perfumes, of a pleasure slave?" I was more pleased to note that he also purchased some silks, perfumes, and combs and brushes, and boxes of cosmetics. There is little market in simple Laura for the more exquisite goods of Gor. Seldom will one find there Torian rolls of gold wire, interlocking cubes of silver from Tharna, rubies carved into tiny, burning panthers from Schendi, nutmegs and cloves, spikenard and peppers from the lands east of Bazi, the floral brocades, the perfumes of Tyros, I wanted to be sold in Ar, to be free of them! I wanted to be a pampered, perfumed girl, with jewels and cosmetics and silks, the pet and favorite of an indulgent master, whom I might control. The slave girl, with a touch of her finger, put perfume behind my ears. I could smell the scent of the perfume. It was superior to any I had ever worn on Earth, when I had been wealthy and could command the customized attentions of the finest continental perfumers, and yet here, on this barbaric planet, it was used without thought to adorn the body of Elinor Brinton, a mere slave girl. Ena then gestured to the girl with the small, ornate bottle. The girl removed the stopper and, quickly, again, touched me with the scent, behind each ear, a tiny drop on her finger. I smelled the heady perfume. He inhaled the perfume. Then it was silent, and again I sat alone in the darkness, my knees drawn up under my chin. In the darkness I smelled the scent of the Torian perfume. Ute touched me, and the others, then, with a bit of perfume. In the firelight, in the sand, before warriors, I danced. My feet, belled, struck in the sand. The perfume was wild about me, swift in the brightness and the shadows. On my lips I wore slave rouge. I danced. Ute approached me and, behind each ear, touched me afresh with perfume. "Do you know the perfume you wear?" he asked. I shook my head. "It is the perfume of a female slave," he said. I saw a blond giant from Torvaldsland, with braided hair, in shaggy jacket; a merchant from Tyros, hurrying, perfumed and sleek; We passed some fortified warehouses, in which space is available to merchants. In such places there would be gems, and gold, silks, and wines and perfumes, jewelries and spices, richer goods not to be left exposed on the docks. Marlenus turned to a subordinate. "Have her cleaned and combed," he said. "And perfume her." I caught the scent of her perfume, a delicate Torian scent, feminine. "So is this the perfume that the high-born women of Ar wear to the song-dramas in En'Kara?" asked the blond girl, amused. "Yes, Lady," I assured her, bowing before her, lisping in the accents of Ar. "It is gross," said she. "Meaningless." "It is a happy scent," I whined. "For the low-born," said she. "Lalamus!" said I. My assistant, a large fellow, but obviously stupid, smooth-shaven as are the perfumers, in white and yellow silk, and golden sandals, bent over, hurried forward. He carried a tray of vials. "I had not realized, Lady," said I, "that perception such as yours existed in the north." My accent might not have fooled one of Ar, but it was not bad, and to those not often accustomed to the swift, subtle liquidity of the speech of Ar, melodious yet expressive, it was more than adequate. My assistant, unfortunately, did not speak. The eyes of Hilda the Haughty, daughter of Thorgard of Scagnar, flashed. "You of the south think we of the north are barbarians!" she snapped. "Such fools we were," I admitted, putting my head to the floor. "I might have you fried in the grease of tarsk," she said, "boiled in the oil of tharlarion!" "Will you not take pity, great Lady," I whined, "on those who did not suspect the civilization, the refinements, of the north?" "Perhaps," said she. "Have you other perfumes?" My assistant, hopefully, lifted a vial. "No," I hissed to him. "In an instant such a woman will see through such a scent." "Let me smell it," said she. "It is nothing, lady," I whined, "though among the highest born and most beautiful of the women of the Physicians it is much favored." "Let me smell it," she said. I removed the cork, and turned away my head, as though shamed. She held it to her nose. "It stinks," she said. Hastily I corked the vial and, angrily, thrust it back into the hand of my embarrassed assistant, who returned it to its place. Hilda sat in a great curule chair, carved with the sign of Scagnar, a serpent-ship, seen frontally. On each post of the chair, carved, was the head of a snarling sleen. She smiled, coldly. I reached for another vial. She wore rich green velvet, closed high about her neck, trimmed with gold. She took the next vial, which I had opened for her. "No," she said, handing it back to me. Her hair, long, was braided. It was tied with golden string. "I had no understanding," said she, "that the wares of Ar were so inferior." Ar, populous and wealthy, the greatest city of known Gor, was regarded as a symbol of quality in merchandise. The stamp of Ar, a single letter, that which appears on its Home Stone, the Gorean spelling of the city's name, was often forged by unscrupulous tradesmen and placed on their own goods. It is not a difficult sign to forge. It has, however, in spite of that, never been changed or embellished; the stamp of Ar is a part of its tradition. In my opinion the goods of Ko-ro-ba were as good, or better, than those of Ar but, it is true, she did not have the reputation of the great city to the southeast, across the Vosk. Ar is often looked to, by those interested in such matters, as the setter of the pace in dress and manners. Fashions in Ar are eagerly inquired into; a garment "cut in the fashion of Ar" may sell for more than one of better cloth but less "stylish"; "as it is done in Ar" is a phrase often heard. Sometimes I had little objection to the spreadings of such fashions. After the restoration of Marlenus of Ar, in 10,119 Contasta Ar, from the founding of Ar, he had at his victory feast decreed a two-hort, about two and one half inches, shortening of the already briefly skirted garment of the female state slave. This was adopted immediately in Ar, and, city by city, became rather general. Proving that I myself am not above fashion I had had this scandalous alteration implemented in my own house; surely I would not have wanted my girls to be embarrassed by the excessive length of their livery; and, in fact, I did the Ubar of Ar one better, by ordering their hemlines lifted by an additional quarter inch; most Gorean slave girls have lovely legs; the more I see of them the better; I wondered how many girls, even as far away as Turia, knew that more of their legs were exposed to free men because, long ago, drunkenly, Marlenus of Ar, at his victory feast, had altered the length of the livery of the female state slaves of Ar. Another custom, long practiced in the far south, below the Gorean equator, in Turia, for example, is the piercing of the ears of the female slave; this custom, though of long standing in the far south, did not begin to spread with rapidity in the north until, again, it was introduced in Ar. At a feast Marlenus, as a special treat for his high officers, presented before them a dancer, a female slave, whose ears had been pierced. She had worn, in her degradation, golden loops in her ears; she had not been able, even, to finish her dance; at a sign from Marlenus she had been seized, thrown to the tiles on which she had danced, and raped by more than a hundred men. Ear piercing, from this time, had begun to spread rapidly through the north, masters, and slavers, often inflicting it on their girls. Interestingly, the piercing of the septum, for the insertion of a nose ring, is regarded, generally, a great deal more lightly by female slaves than the piercing of the ears Perhaps this is partly because, in the far south, the free women of the Wagon Peoples wear nose rings; perhaps it is because the piercing does not show; I do not know. The piercing of the ears, however, is regarded as being the epitome of a slave girl's degradation. Any woman, it is said, with pierced ears, is a slave girl. "You insult me," said Hilda the Haughty, "to present me with such miserable merchandise! Is this the best that great Ar can offer?" Had I been of Ar I might have been angry. As it was I was somewhat irritated. The perfumes I was displaying to her had been taken, more than six months ago, by the Forkbeard from a vessel of Cos. They were truly perfumes of Ar, and of the finest varieties. "Who," I asked myself, "is Hilda, the daughter of a barbarian, of a rude, uncouth northern pirate, living in a high wooden fortress, overlooking the sea, to so demean the perfumes of Ar?" One might have thought she was a great lady, and not the insolent, though curvaceous, brat of a boorish sea rover. I put my head to the floor. I groveled in the white and yellow silk of the perfumers. "Oh, great lady," I whined, the finest of Ar's, perfumes may be too thin, too frail, too gross, for one of your discernment and taste." Her hands wore many rings. About her neck she wore, looped, four chains of gold, with pendants. On her wrists were bracelets of silver and gold. "Show me others, men of the south," said she, contemptuously. Again and again we tried to please the daughter of Thorgard of Scagnar. We had little success. Sometimes she would wince, or make a face, or indicate disgust with a tiny motion of her hand, or a movement of her head. We were almost finished with the vials in the flat, leather case. "We have here," said I, "a scent that might be worthy of a Ubara of Ar." I uncorked it and she held it, delicately, to her nostrils. "Barely adequate," she said. I restrained my fury. That scent, I knew, a distillation of a hundred flowers, nurtured like a priceless wine, was a secret guarded by the perfumers of Ar. It contained as well the separated oil of the Thentis needle tree; an extract from the glands of the Cartius river urt; and a preparation formed from a disease calculus scraped from the intestines of the rare Hunjer Long Whale, the result of the inadequate digestion of cuttlefish. Fortunately, too, this calculus is sometimes found free in the sea, expelled with feces. It took more than a year to distill, age, blend and bond the ingredients. "Barely adequate," she said. But I could tell she was pleased. "It is only eight stone of gold," said I, obsequiously, "for the vial." "I shall accept it," said she, coldly, "as a gift." "A gift!" I cried. "Yes," said she. "You have annoyed me. I have been patient with you. I am now no longer patient!" "Have pity, great lady!" I wept. "Leave me now," said she. "Go below. Ask there to be stripped and beaten. Then swiftly take your leave of the house of Thorgard of Scagnar. Be grateful that I permit you your lives." I hastily, as though frightened, made as though to close the flat, leather case of vials. "Leave that," she said. She laughed. "I shall give it to my bond-maids." I smiled, though secretly. The haughty wench would rob us of our entire stores! None of that richness, I knew, would grace the neck or breasts of a mere bond-maid. She, Hilda the Haughty, daughter of Thorgard of Scagnar, would keep it for herself. I attempted to conceal one vial, which we had not permitted her to sample. But her eye was too quick for me. "What is that?" she asked, sharply. "It is nothing," I said. "Let me smell it," she said. "Please, no, great lady!" I begged. "You thought to keep it from me, did you?" she laughed. "Oh, no, great lady," I wept. "Give it to me," she said. "Must I, lady?" asked I. "I see," said she, "beating is not enough for you. It seems you must be boiled in the oil of tharlarion as well!" I lifted it to her, piteously. She laughed. My assistant and I knelt before her, at her feet. She wore, beneath her green velvet, golden shoes. "Uncork it for me, you sleen," said she. I wondered if I had, in my life, seen ever so scornful, so proud, so cold a woman. I uncorked the vial. "Hold it beneath my nostrils," she said. She bent forward. I held the vial beneath her delicate nostrils. She closed her eyes, and breathed in, deeply, expectantly. She opened her eyes, and shook her head. "What is this?" she said "Capture scent," I said. The accouterments of the stimulation-cell are also calculated with respect to their effect on the slave. There are brushes, perfumes, cosmetics, slave jewelries, heavy necklaces, armlets, bracelets and bangles; there is no clothing; there are also cushions, bowls of copper and lamps of brass. The point of this is that the senses and body of the slave, stripped save for brand and collar, and whatever perfumes, cosmetics or jewelries she may wear under the instruction of her trainer, are being taught to be alive, To the oases caravans bring various goods, for example, rep-cloth, embroidered cloths, silks, rugs, silver, gold, jewelries, mirrors, kailiauk tusk, perfumes, I passed a stall of perfumers, and thought of Saphrar of Turia. in readying a girl, after she has been belled and silked, and bangled, and has been made up, and touched with slave perfume, Aside from her jewelries, her bells, the oval and collar, the cosmetics, the heady slave-perfume, she wore six ribbons of silk, She turned to the slave master behind her. She requested of him something. He seemed adamant. Her attitude was one of begging. With a laugh, he acceded to her request. Triumphantly she turned again to the window and dropped the silk from the aperture. Gracefully, it wafted downward, settling on the sand at the foot of the wall near us. "Bring it," said Hamid to a man. The man picked it up, smelled it and laughed, and brought it to Hamid. Hamid held it. It was laden with slave perfume. It was slave silk. I smelled the slave perfume. I recalled it from the palace of Suleiman Pasha, when the girl, with Zaya, the other slave, had served black wine. A rich master will often have individual perfumes specially blended and matched to the slave nature of his various girls. All are slaves, completely, but each girl, collared, imbonded, is deliciously different. Some slave perfumes are right for some slaves, and others not. Vella's perfume, I thought, doubtless a tribute to the skills of some perfumer, had suited her superbly. It fitted her well, like a measured collar. She put down the comb and reached for a tiny bottle of perfume. She touched her neck, below the ears, and her body, about the shoulders, with the scent. I knew the scent. I had carried it with me to Klima. I had not forgotten it. Her eye, as she put aside the tiny bottle of perfume, was caught by the bit of silk, lying to one side on the vanity. She looked at it, puzzled, curious. I recalled the morning I had, in chains, waited to be herded with other wretches to Klima. I had looked up. In a narrow window in the wall of the kasbah, high over my head, there had stood a woman, a slave girl, veiled and robed in yellow, a slave master behind her. With the permission of the slave master she had removed her veil. With what contempt, and scorn, and triumph she had looked upon me, a mere male slave, chained and bound for Klima, below her. She had thrown me a token, a square of silk, slave silk, red, some eighteen inches square, redolent with the perfume fitted by some perfumer, on the order of her master, to her slave personality, her slave nature and slave body. "You are dirty," he said. "And you stink." "Bring slave perfume," she said to him. "Rub it on my body." Tor that preparations be made. Cages must be scheduled, chains forged, slave meal garnered. For the female slaves cosmetics and perfumes must be anticipated. In a cave in the adjoining cliff there were several boxes. Several were locked, but others were open. There were flasks of wine there, and bottles of the brew called paga; stores of salt, grains, dried meats and vegetables; tunics, cloths and blankets; too, there were tools and utensils, and threads and needles; I found some perfumes and jewelries; What his girl wears, if she is to wear anything, is of great interest to him. After all, she is not a wife; she is much more important she is a prized possession. The clothing she wears, any cosmetics or jewelry, or perfume, must be absolutely perfect. "Do you know the cosmetics and perfumes of a slave girl, and their application?" she asked. I looked at the incredibly lovely girl in the mirror, she bedecked in a rope of red silk, made-up, perfumed, vulnerable, soft, with armlets and bracelets, golden beads intertwined in the Turian collar. We tore aside our silks in the room of preparation. We freshened our perfumes and adjusted our makeup. We must be soft, and perfumed and luscious. Suddenly I cried out, as she leaped upon me, tearing and scratching. I could scarcely defend myself. She seized me by the hair and threw me headlong across one of the vanity tables before the long mirror. I slid on the table scattering combs and perfume. She knelt in the position of the pleasure slave. She was briefly silked, perfumed, collared and belled. We had all had Gorean slave cosmetics applied to us. Let the men beware. We had all been exposed in the exhibition cages earlier, stark, save for perfume. "Oh," she said. She looked at me. "Will I be given pretty things to wear," she asked, "and cosmetics, perfumes?" "It is quite likely," I said. "Masters like their girls to make themselves beautiful." "When I sell you," I said, "if I should sell you, I will sell you south, into a perfumed slavery." "Thank you, Master," she said. I was fond of Constance. Why should she herd verr and churn butter in Torvaldsland? Let her serve naked and loving, bangled, perfumed, made-up, on the multicolored tiles of some southern domicile. Let her crawl naked, collared, to the feet of a southern master. "After you have been locked in your kennel," said Samos, "ask for a vessel of warm water, oils and a cloth, and perfume. Bathe and perfume yourself. I may summon you later to my chamber." The girls had been cleaned and combed. Shoka had soused perfume on them. Many goods pass in and out of Schendi, as would be the case in any major port, such as precious metals, jewels, tapestries, rugs, silks, horn and horn products, medicines, sugars and salts, scrolls, papers, inks, lumber, stone, cloth, ointments, perfumes, Naturally there had been on the raft, besides the girls, a chest of riches for Tende, riches which, according to the askaris, with whom Ayari took pains to be on good terms, would include such things as bolts of cloth, jewelries, cosmetics, coins and perfumes. "Beside him, masked, is Horemius. Eight stone of perfumes were taken from him. I bent forward, slightly. She had been subtly perfumed. Too, she had worn a bit of lipstick and eye shadow, and had worn a tiny bit of perfume. "Yes, Mistress," said the kneeling girl. Then, she again took up the brush and the tiny box. She applied the eye shadow more heavily then, more sensuously then, in a manner more befitting what she was. Her protests in the matters of her lipstick and perfume, and certain other cosmetics, had been similarly overruled. In a few moments she replaced the materials in the small, oblong tray and leaned back on her heels. When I had finished feeding her I gently dabbed her mouth with her hair, being careful not to disarrange the slave's lipstick with which her sweet, full lips had been adorned. It was crimson. It was, by design, kissably sensuous, designed to arouse men and provoke the lust of masters; some girls are terrified to wear such lipstick; they know how it enhances their loveliness and proclaims them well as slaves; they understand well its intention and are seldom left long in doubt as to its effectiveness; had they originally entertained doubts as to its efficiency these doubts are often dispelled rapidly, as they squirm, naked and collared, perfumed, in the arms of a strong man, as it is being ruthlessly kissed from their lips. Yet, of course, it is not simply the lipstick, but the entire appearance and ensemble of the slave, and perhaps mostly simply that she is a slave, which so enhances her desirability, which so drives men wild with the desire to have her. I looked down upon her, so exquisite and desirable, kneeling before me, perfumed, naked and belled. Her knees and the bells on her ankles were almost lost in the soft, deeply piled carpet before the curule chair. Then, in poignant fantasy, within the pen, she prepares herself for the master, seeming to thoughtfully select silks and jewelry, seeming to apply perfume and cosmetics, seeming to be bedecked in shimmering, diaphanous slave splendor. "I have been perfumed, have I not?" I asked. I did not know if the room had been perfumed, or if it were I. "Yes, Mistress," said the girl. I felt the warm air on my body. I smelled the perfume, so delicately feminine, which had been put on me. "I am a slave!" I said, angrily. "Look at me! Do you doubt that I am a slave? I am wearing only an anklet and perfume!" too, there were rooms where such subjects as the care and dressing of hair, the application of cosmetics, the selection and use of perfumes, manicure and pedicure, Again, in the matter of hairdos as in all my instructions to you, whether having to do with perfumes, silks, cosmetics, ornamentation, or whatever, you are to consider the total effect, the entire ensemble." On the floor there were cushions and silk. I stood straight, my arms folded, surveying her. I could detect perfume. It was interesting to conjecture what she might look like washed and combed, and perfumed, and put in a bit of slave silk, and appropriately collared, of course. Naked slaves again scurried about, hurrying in their perfume and steel collars, bringing wine, delicacies and assorted exquisite viands, zealous to please masters. Her cosmetic cases could boast perfumes that might have been the envy of a Ubara." "Alar women do not wear veils," she said. "They are an artifice of civilization, fit rather for perfumed girls who would be better off in collars." "If you saw me all soft and naked, at your feet, and perfumed and painted, and in a collar and chains, you would want me," she said, angrily. I did not take my eyes from the city, so splendid before us. Yes, I thought, it is all there, the habitats of culture, the intricate poetries of stone, the incredible places where, their heads among clouds, common bricks have been taught to speak and sing, the meanings uttered scarcely understood by those who walk among them; yes, it is all there, in them, in the cities, I thought; in them were dirt and crime, iron and silver, gold and steel; in them were perfume and silk, and whips and chains; in them were love and lust; in them were mastery and submission, the owning and the helplessly being owned; in them were intrigue and greed, nobility and honor, deceit and treachery, the exalted and the base, the strong and the weak. In such places, filthy, and crowded and frail, are found the fortresses of man. Too, of course, in such a district, one may purchase such articles as appropriate cosmetics for slaves, suitable simple but attractive jewelry, fit for slaves, in particular, earrings which, in Gorean eyes, so fasten a woman's degradation helplessly upon her, appropriate perfumes, slave silk, and such. "Please, no!" begged the woman in the cage, shrinking back. "They are such slave names! Mock me, if you will, with a name such as 'Chelto'. Better that a thousand times than names such as 'Tula' and 'Tuka', the names of slaves, of soft, perfumed girls who must helplessly serve in all things!" A significant portion of our training was intimate and erotic, or sexual and sensual, in nature, ranging from such things as make-up, body ornamentation, cosmetics and perfumes, to techniques, psychological and physical, generally a combination of both, of pleasing men. Some men even dress their girls, and, always, the girl's choices of such things as garb, cosmetics, perfume, jewelry, and such, and, indeed, her entire ensemble, are subject to the master's approval. I saw him lean forward and, his eyes briefly closed, revel in the scent of my perfume. It was perfume of a sort not worn by free women on Gor. It was slave perfume. Such perfume says to men, in effect, "This is a slave. Use her as you will." That very night my chains had been removed, and I had been scrubbed clean. My hair had been washed twice, and combed with care. I had been perfumed. "Outrage at treachery and blood, and confusion, and hatred, are now in my thoughts," he said, "not the belled, perfumed bodies of female slaves." Slave beads, too, and such simple adornments, bracelets, earrings, cosmetics, slave perfumes, and such, are well known for their effect in arousing the passions not only of the women themselves, but, too, it must be admitted, sometimes of their masters. Better to be a perfumed love slave, licking and kissing, than a girl sweating and stinking in the dusty fields, under a lash, pulling against plow straps. On the other hand, the ornamentation, and adornment, of slaves by means such as jewelry, cosmetics, for example, lipstick and eye shadow, perfume, and such, is common, particularly in the evening. "Too," I said, "many would rather be a handsome master's perfumed pleasure slave, his treasure, than a drunken brute's kettle-and-mat girl." "Yes, much as they might learn to drape tunics, to be slave girdles, to wear slave strips, to use perfume, to apply cosmetics, and so on." And then, I thought, having gone so far, might he not consider what she might be like if she were perfumed, made up and silked, perhaps with a pearl droplet on her forehead and bells on her ankle. "Do you know the perfume you wear?" I asked. "It is a slave perfume," she said. "Yes," I said. It was a heady perfume. It made me wish to reach across the table, seize her, and throw her upon it, and then, there, on that small, smooth, hard surface, put her to my pleasure, ravishing her publicly. "Do you know its name?" I asked. "No," she whispered. She was, after all, a free woman. "It is a well-known Cosian perfume," I said, "'The Chains of Telnus'." "I see," she whispered. "Cosian masters sometimes enjoy putting women of Ar, their slaves, in it." "You speak of it as though it were a collar," she said. "In a sense, it is," I said. "I cannot help it," she said. "It, too, like the silk, excites me!" "That is its intention," said I, "woman of Ar." "Doubtless there are many slave perfumes," she said. "Yes," I said, "hundreds." "I never thought to be put in one," she said. "But you now are in one," I said. "Yes," she whispered. I smelled the slave perfume, the Chains of Telnus. It was heady. It was maddeningly exciting. More than one urban girl, formerly a perfumed slave, sold into the countryside, who held herself above peasants, despising them for their supposed filth and stink, has found herself, kneeling and muchly roped, among such a set of prizes. And, to her chagrin, she is likely to find that she is not the first chosen. The net and the room doubtless constituted a capture cubicle, simpler perhaps, but not unlike those in certain inns, in which a woman, lulled by the bolting on the doors, and feeling herself secure, may complete her toilet at leisure, bathing, combing her hair, perfuming herself and such, before the trap doors, dropped from beneath her, plunge her into the waiting arms of slavers. Swiftly she once more increased the angle between her knees. She certainly did not seem to me a field slave. Rather she seemed to me the sort of woman one would have expected to find in a house, hurrying about barefoot on the tiles, one ankle perhaps belled, in a bit of silk, serving, a small, luscious woman, well curved, smooth-skinned, and soft, her body perfumed for the pleasure of men, the sort of woman one keeps in mind, the sort of woman who is difficult to forget, the sort whom one might wish to keep close by, perhaps keeping her at night at the foot of one's couch, on her chain. "Beautiful slaves, silked for a man's pleasure, perfumed for his delight, eager, needful, helplessly responsive, trained to please in a thousand modalities?" "They did not teach you their secrets then," I said, "such things as how to please men?" There are hundreds of such things, of course, ranging from the dressing and care of the hair, the application of cosmetics, such as lipstick and eye shadow, commonly thought improper for free women, and the judicious selection of jewelry, silks and perfumes, to physical and psychological subtleties, both behaviors and techniques, which can drive a master almost out of his senses with pleasure, and all this by a female totally at his disposal, one whom he can command, as it pleases him, one who is legally and literally owned by him, and in every way. I had learned to move, and stand, and kneel. I had learned to apply the perfumes and cosmetics of this world. He then spoke to one of the fellows near the great chair, the same to whom he had given the keys to my collar. "Take this slave away," he said, indicating Dorna. "Send her to me tonight, bathed and perfumed, in earrings, with but a single veil." I might be often called to the couch of high men, to kneel there, belled and perfumed, and kiss the coverlets, and then, bidden, to insinuate myself sinuously into their arms. "And, tonight," said the leader, "see that she is thoroughly washed and combed, and made-up, and perfumed, and silked, and send her to my quarters." I could smell her perfume from where I stood. In the Chamber of Preparation she is to be washed, combed and perfumed. "Do you like the perfume?" asked the first instructrix. "It is a slave perfume," said the guard. "Of course," said the first instructrix. "She is a slave." "Do you like it?" asked the second instructrix. "Yes," said the guard. "It must be a good one. It is hard for me to keep my hands from her." She was in a slave tunic, and her wrists were braceleted behind her. She had been scrubbed, brushed, and combed. She had been perfumed, a slave perfume, of course, one appropriate for her. "You are perfumed," he said. "Yes, Master," she said. Surely he had specified that. She kept her head down to the carpet. "An excellent scent," he said, "for a slut." "Yes, Master," she said. "Thank you, Master." He had doubtless specified the scent, as well. She thought it was a beautiful perfume, but here, on Gor, she had no doubt but what it was common and cheap. It was a slave perfume, as she had been informed, and it was doubtless not an expensive one, but one which might be accorded to low slaves. Still she had the sense that on her old world it might have been costly. The cosmetics of slaves are not that different, interestingly, from those of free women on Earth. Gorean free women do not use cosmetics, or supposedly do not use them, though ankle bells, concealed by their robes, and perfumes are permitted to them. She had been brushed and combed, washed and perfumed. She was worthy of a Ubar's pleasure garden, but he was not a Ubar. He must resist the beauty of her, the softness of her, the perfume of her, so heady, so like strong drink, the warmth of her eager, excited body. "You will learn to wear tunics, and silks, and bangles," I said. "You will be taught to kneel and move. You may be perfumed and painted. You will be taught to please men. You will learn something of slave dance, and of the kisses of slaves. You will learn the use of your fingers, your hair, and tongue." Her steep, narrow streets, her lights, her taverns, her slaves, perfumed and painted, their wrists and ankles jangling with bells, with tender lips and well-rounded, warm arms, were far distant. Needless to say, at the voyages' end, such mariners, starved for the scent of perfume and the clasp of warm arms, are likely to lose little time in seeking the comforts of the taverns. Do we not, sedately tunicked, as serving slaves, assist free women with their complex ornaments, their perfumes, robes, and veils? "The men will now discuss serious matters," said our first girl, Selena, "the affairs of the day, trade, crops, jurisprudence, markets, ambitions, intrigues, politics, subjects empty-headed free women would find boring. What do they care for but robes, veils, entertainments, perfumes, and gossip?" I smelled perfume. That was from the she-Kur. She sped along, partly on her knuckles, on the right of Lord Grendel. We were taught personal hygiene, and cleanliness, perfumes and cosmetics, the stringing of jewelries, the affixing of bangles, bracelets, and beads, the draping of tunics, the binding on of a camisk, the subtleties of the ta-teera, or slave rag, seemingly so artless, and yet so cunning.
She had rouged her lips. Their lips were rouged and they wore eye-shadow. "I have silk," she said, "and rouge, and bottles of cosmetics!" Six moves later Sura, as I had feared, boldly dropped her Ubar itself, a small rouge pot, on Ubar five. "I do not know," she said. Then she looked down again at the board, that square of silk marked with rouge. "But let us forget the beast," she said. She smiled looking at the silk, the vials and beads. "The game is so beautiful," she said. I leaped across the rouged square of silk, scattering the vials and beads that were the pieces of our game, flinging Sura to the floor, pressing myself across her body that she might be protected. Her lips were red with slave rouge. I found I wanted to take her in my arms and kiss the slave rouge from her mouth. But I hoped she would be put in slave rouge, and silk, and bells! Angrily I, perfumed and rouged, belled and silked, turned and followed the other girls to the center of the camp, near the great tent of Rask of Treve, of scarlet canvas lined with scarlet silk, on its eight poles. On my lips I wore slave rouge. Again I prepared myself, as I had been earlier in the evening, as a belled, silken-clad, rouged Gorean slave girl. I tasted the slave rouge in my mouth. "In my camp," he said, "you will wear slave rouge." Both would later, in silks and bells, barefoot, in bangles and slave rouge, serve him in his pleasure gardens. I kissed her again, full on her rouged slave mouth. She, and I, together, tasted the blood and rouge of her subjugation.
Policrates gestured to a brawny fellow who, coming up behind the girl, bent down and, by her upper arms, lifted her from the floor. She was helpless in his arms. Only her toes, with painted, scarlet nails, touched the floor. I regarded her. Her small feet were on the lower, rounded crosspiece. Her toenails were not painted, of course. Such is almost unheard of among Gorean free women and is rare even among slaves. The usual Gorean position on the matter is that toenails and fingernails are not, say, red by nature and thus should not be made to appear as if they were. They also tend to frown on the dyeing of hair. Also, to be sure, her fingernails and toenails might be painted. As she is a domestic animal, she may be adorned in any way one pleases. |       
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