Radiance Ch. 87

The pair did not even wait for him to finish before they swooped in and began poking and prodding, they seemed absolutely fascinated by both his skin and his body hair of which Adam had rather an abundance given that he was a rather hairy guy, it had earned him the nickname around the barracks of Grizzly as was a redder shade of the blonde hair that topped his head.

They were poking and touching his skin while they were gently pulling on the hairs that grew out of his skin even going as far as to twirl them around their fingers as if they wanted to test its durability, one of them even went as far as to measure how long some of them were, a process they repeated as soon as his pants hit the floor leaving him stood there in nothing but his boxers.

As he stood there feeling incredibly embarrassed being circled by the peacock girls as they poked, prodded and measured he could see Jewel looking him over as well and he felt like every shred of dignity he had flown the coup, or at least he did when they peacock girls spoke again.

"And those," they said pointing to the boxers and now Adam did protest.

"What possible reason could you have to want me to remove them?" he asked and the woman looked him right in the eye before speaking to Jewel in their language.

"Take them off Adam," she said and he looked at her with a flash of anger in his eyes that was met in kind but one mirrored in her own eyes.

"I thought I was to be treated with dignity? How is it dignified to be forced to humiliate myself before total strangers mistress?" he said flatly and she seemed taken aback by both his words and his defiance.

"They need to analyse your anatomy in order to figure out the best way to lay out your clothing as you are very different from us and they have never made clothing for humans before, you will find both of the sisters here paragons of discretion and they have never once betrayed a customer's secrets to anyone else, it is truly not my wish to humiliate you and for that, I do apologise but do not disobey me, Adam I will not tolerate it," Jewel said in an almost apologetic voice that seemed to him that she did at least empathize with his feelings so there was at least that.

But it was cold comfort as he removed his boxers and used his hands to cover up his modesty as he felt the large wide and curious eyes of the three females running over his cold and naked skin.

"Remove your hands we need to see what we are dealing with," the green feathered said causing Adam to bite down hard turning his face into a barely contained snarl but he did as he was told as Jewel would only demand it of him if he didn't.

But that's when he remembered something one of his drill instructors had once told him, dignity is in the heart of all men, it is part of our fundamental make-up, it is who we are if we allow it to shine then no matter how we are presented to the world the world will see nothing but a dignified man or woman, it is the one thing that the enemy can only take from us if we allow them to, it is who we are proud and dignified, you could find yourself dressed as a fucking clown at a child's birthday party but give them your best parade rest and you will be the most dignified clown the world has ever seen, for you see dignity is in how we present ourselves.

So that's what Adam did, first, he snapped to attention snapping his heels together smartly as if he were on the parade square making the peacock girls and indeed Jewel jump and fluff up their feathers before falling into a smart parade rest with this hands clasped behind his back, his jaw was set, his chin was raised and his chest was out, he was not going to let them take his dignity, it was fucking his!

All three women looked at one another in surprise and then back at him as he stood there in full military parade rest as if he were dressed in his dress uniform on his passing out parade awaiting the Elder to inspect him.

To his surprise, it worked beautifully, both the peacock girls approached him a lot more cautiously now as they expected him to lunge at them and snap their necks with his bare hands, but Adam never moved a single muscle even as they poked and prodded him all over, even when one of them curled his pubic hair around her finger before writing down her findings, nor when one of them took a tape measure to his manhood, though to her credit at least she had the good manners and respect enough to not touch it.

He just stood there chin up, eyes front, chest out, shoulders back as they inflicted this indignity upon him, in his peripheral vision he could see Jewel seeming going through a mixture of emotions, on one hand, she was very obviously surprised by his act of passive defiance in owning this and refusing to let himself be embarrassed but she was obviously incredibly curious about him as well and he kept seeing her eyes lingering on various parts of his anatomy, especially one seemed to keep drawing them back time and time again.

Eventually, the girls chittered and then turned to Jewel, "We are finished and we have all we need, we believe either cloth or silk would be best for fabric that touches his skin and for the outer clothing leather would be best for its toughness, we should be able to very easily modify several garments by the end of the day, as for the underwear it will have to be made from scratch as his mating equipment is outside of his body which we have never seen before and due to the size of it we will have to make them from scratch, but this should not take long, so it will all be ready for pick up this time tomorrow," the one with blue feathers said.

"May I get redressed now, mistress?" Adam said and she seemed to snap her attention from his body to his face and shook herself out of her stupor and simply nodded.

Adam quickly got himself dressed back in his clothes and he felt a little shot of pride that he had managed to successfully snatch back his pride and dignity with his little act of defiance, it was a small thing to not let himself wallow in the embarrassment of having his nakedness fully displayed for strangers but it made him feel somewhat better as when it came down to it he really didn't have anything to be ashamed of as he was a fit as he could be and everything else was out of his control anyway so why the hell should he feel ashamed of it?

After he was dressed Jewel bid farewell to the two peacock girls and the pair headed back out into the market, though for some reason she seemed a lot quieter now as if something was weighing on her mind.

"What do your species eat?" she finally asked turning her feathered head to look at him square in the eye with a seemingly renewed intensity, maybe whatever was weighing her mind down was resolved now?

"We're omnivores so pretty much anything but mainly meat and vegetables as well as fruits mistress," he replied and she nodded before steering them towards a place that was obviously a butcher by the fresh cuts of meat hanging in the window of the place though what animal they once belonged to he was rather glad he couldn't guess as he didn't exactly see any Brahimein up here.

Jewel purchased a few large cuts that would feed them both for a few days before taking him to another place that sold fresh fruit and vegetables and at least he knew where these came from as he had seen a growing farm for these and to be fair they looked far better than anything he'd seen grown on the ground so these guys really had a knack when it came to farming.

He was basically playing pack Brahmien as Jewel went from shop to shop picking things up which also seemed to include what appeared to be soap and scrubbing tools that were obviously designed for feathers but would work on skin in a pinch as they were the less intense variety.

Once they had everything she deemed they needed they began to head for home and once they were inside she began to instruct him on putting things away and where they went, "In the morning I take a single bowl of seed and nuts which is this box here and make sure you check the quality before you serve it to me, if it is looking chaffy then it will need to be replaced, for lunch I take mixed fruit and nuts and for my evening meal I take meat and vegetables but I will tell you which I wish to have and how I want it prepared, you will eat the same as me though I understand if the seeds do not appeal to you so I will allow you to substitute them for either fruit or grains," Jewel said and Adam nodded his understanding.

"Yes mistress," he replied looking at the boxes as he tried to memorise what went where and what contained what, for some reason, he couldn't get the image of hanging a giant bird feeder on the bottom of her bed out of his mind.

"Right it is time to bathe and it is clear to me that you need it, the bath is through there fill it with both water from the heater and a mixture of oils from the three bottles next to the taps, they are made for feathers but should work equally well on your fur as they do on my feathers, add only four cap fulls that should do for both of us," she said and Adam nodded not realising at that moment the importance of paying very careful attention to words, especially her words.

In the room she had indicated was a surprisingly large bath that reminded Adam of some of the stone bird baths he'd seen in various gardens around the wastes.

It was made of beautifully masoned and polished stone that looked incredibly thick and heavy making him wonder if every house had one of these things how in the name of hell did the city manage to stay afloat?

Now that he thought about it how the hell did they get their water as well?

He wondered if they pulled it en masse from the ground or given how high up they were were they simply able to extract it directly from the clouds, they had already managed to completely surprise him with their level of technological understanding with it obviously being on par with and even surpassing that of his own kind in certain areas, the city itself being a prime example of this.

Adam noticed a large brass tank to the right of the bath and he figured that this was the boiler that she had spoken of and he noticed that it had a fire burning inside a small section at the bottom that was lined with tiles designed to radiate and channel the heat directly into the water without wasting it.

Sat next to it was a sealed bucket that contained a solid fuel that kinda reminded him of coal but also at the same time very different in that it was smooth to the touch kinda like obsidian.

"It's compressed carbon made from filtered waste that has been run through a cleansing process and compressed to solidify it before being mixed with a wax substrate and sealed, it burns clean and much longer than any other fuel we have found," Jewel said suddenly from behind him nearly making him jump out of his skin.

"Impressive," he said and she nodded proudly.

"My kind has learned to make the most out of what we have and to recycle everything," she said taking the block from him and dropping it into a chute that fed it right into the burn chamber.

Adam watched the block ignite and add its heat to those that were already burning, "Now come along fill the bath I am eager to bathe, my feathers are feeling grotty," she said pointing to the taps and bottles on the far side of the large bath so Adam turned and moved over to turn them watching as the powerful stream of heated water began to fall.

Next up he took the oils that she had indicated and poured in the amounts that she had mentioned before standing back and watching the bat fill as the room filled with both steam and the powerful scent of.

Once it was filled to what he deemed an appropriate level that wouldn't flood the place when she climbed in he turned the taps off and looked at the slightly frothy water, "It is done?" she asked from behind him again and he nodded.

"Yes, mistress where should I wait for you? he asked turning towards the doorway to leave.

'Wait for me? What are you going on about?" she asked seeming genuinely confused.

"Well yes while you bathe mistress, where would you like me to wait for you, would you like me to start your Evening meal?" he asked and he was met with more confusion on her face.

"You seem to not have grasped the principle of bathing my servant so let me outline it for you, you are to be in the bath with me, it is going to be you who bathes me, that is your job now, it is part of your role now," she said as if it should have been the most obvious thing in the world to him.

"Err come again? You want me in the bath with you, as in naked in the bath?" he said and she scoffed and nodded.

"Yes now come along and stop stalling, the water is greeting cold and my patience grows thin," she said leaving Adam to stand in a dumbfounded stupor as she moved to the centre of the room, what the hell was going on?