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 Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 7:54 pm
season just over three weeks later
occasion preparations for a banquet
location the home of the count and countess of alderin
It was not rare for the excessively wealthy in Sunderland to host balls and banquets come the new season. Around this time, Chloe began to offer her services as a maid or servant in temporary business to assist in preparations. While it was not the best money one could make, it was some, and if Ms. Stauss didn't require the help then Chloe inherited the ever-rare pocket money. She didn't mind the work and as much as she hated to admit it, a break from the orphanage was nice every so often. Some women preferred to have her work with their normal governess, but if she could manage she headed for scrubbing and laundry, some nice mindless tedium to allow for her mind to wander.
Already Chloe had been scolded for humming while working and bumping into a servant in the hallway, but it all came with the territory. She was the new girl and the staff were stressed. She didn't hold it against them.
She stood, at the moment, upon a dish cloth on a chair as she reached into the higher shelves of a curio to dust beneath the crystal and figurines therein. There was a deep-rooted stress in handling the extravagant trinkets, ones which she would never set her hands upon otherwise or would ever see in any shop she was welcome in. Her mind wandered over their origins. The vase easily could have been a family heirloom, handed down for generations in the gilded estate from woman to woman, perhaps owned by an eccentric grandmother at one time and woven around by several over-fed house cats. There was a figurine that she could not quite identify, which she decided was clearly imported from faraway lands, carved by a man with strange mystical powers and stolen in the dead of night. It was easy to place a romantic past to things that she had never seen before, and that aside it was all so splendid that she couldn't ignore it. The aesthetics of the house were intense, from the smallest piece of decoration to the shapes of the door arches. Chloe had been guiltily touching many things that she probably should not have been, feeling the delicate curves and cool inlay with wonder, admiring their every angle. If she had the chance, she would probably spirit off to some forbidden room for a bit of exploration. It would be worth the scolding to see the lives of the painfully extravagant nobles.
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 8:58 pm
The Countess of Alderin was not what Andrus would consider the most enjoyable company. It wasn't so much the extravagance (she was not the first, nor would she be the last, of the upper class to take such a route and Andrus was accustomed to seeing people spend more money than they had trying to please society) or the chatter (of which she did plenty and more) or even the way she seemed unable to look at her servants without first lifting her nose (perhaps she thought it a very sightly nose, indeed). It was, mostly, her recent attempts to foist her second daughter on him.
Marriage was no doubt what she had in mind. After all, this was a world that seemed to revolve almost solely around the arrangement of couples for no real reason other than that their names would fit comfortably with each other, or that one had more money than he knew what to do with. The Countess' first daughter had recently married and her third seemed to be on her way to becoming engaged, which posed more than a few problems for the family. It simply wouldn't do for the third to marry before the second.
Of course, that the second daughter - was her name Claudia? - was away at finish school in the south didn't seem to matter. In the face of impending disaster and a desperate attempt at a solution, the Countess had arranged for the girl to be whisked back to Palisade in time for the holiday season.
Which was precisely why Andrus found himself standing now in the foyer of the extravagantly decorated house with the Countess' arm looped into his and her simpering away in her spotless gown - which was, as always, just a little too fancy for the occasion.
"Oh, you must have a hand in the decorations," she was saying, leading him daintily toward the grand ballroom and sweeping inside as two servants threw the doors open for her. "Claudia will be ever so pleased to find out that you had a hand in her welcoming banquet. She's beside herself with excitement, you know. She simply cannot wait to meet you."
The Countess pranced into the center of the vast room, spreading her arms to gesture at the decorations that were being put up. "Pink flowers, pink, you see. They match Claudia's skin beautifully. And over here, hand-crafted lace doilies for every seat. Golden coverings for all the furniture. I guarantee, this will be the finest banquet society has ever seen, and all for my little girl! And, oh, the china, well that absolutely will not do! I told you--" The rest became a blur, as the Countess swept from the room as abruptly as she had swept into it, holding up clearly unsatisfactory place settings.
Andrus decided then that staying in the ballroom would not be wise. He glanced about carefully, before heading across the room to a side door that was smaller, but no less decorated than the one through which he had just come. Pulling the door open, he slipped through and pulled it shut behind him, ready to breathe a sigh of relief for having managed to temporarily escape the Countess' company.
"Oh, carry on," he said almost instinctively when he caught sight of the young maid carefully dusting the trinkets that decorated this smaller room. A drawing room of sorts, though a rather large one at that. It didn't surprise him, though, given the house he was in.
What did surprise him was the girl, standing there carefully lifting a vase down from a shelf. That red hair... it was a jolt, as he suddenly remembered the girl from the park, that shy and curious girl who had, for a short while, captured his attention.
"I've seen you," he said finally.
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Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 6:40 pm
There wasn't all that much nobility inside the estate at this point, although there certainly would be in a few days' time. It was interesting to think by how many the servants outnumbered the wealthy and how there were so few rebellions... indeed, she couldn't think of any outside her books. Was it the social caste system that kept everyone in line, or was it simply a learned respect, perhaps even succumbing to the hand you had been given. Chloe simply assumed that another maid had entered to assist or, more likely, to correct. She did not stir, even after the door was closed (a bit of an odd thing for a maid to do) until she felt an odd presence about the sudden voice. The girl turned slowly, as if something may lunge out of the shadows and take her down.
It was him.
There was no mistaking him by this point. She had seen him at least once, although she felt something tugging at her that it had been more. Out of habit, her imagination was blamed. The proper thing to do now would be to rush off of her chair, give a proper curtsy, and apologize for nothing while offering the noble a seat. Why he had locked himself in an empty room in the first place was none of her business; she was a temporary servant and he was somewhere much higher on the social ladder. Was he a guest of the count or the countess? He wasn't family, was he?! A flurry of nervousness scrambled in Chloe's chest, but she only froze. Where she may have dropped the delicate porcelain figurine she held, she kept enough mind to hold it tighter, her knuckles going white. Courtesy did not seem to apply at this moment.
She turned from the ribs up and only barely, her lips parted slightly in shock. Something in her had shut off entirely, refusing to allow any sort of coherent speech or meaningful movement. She simply stood there with a petite ballerina clutched in a fist, staring down.
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Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 7:07 pm
Andrus wasn't altogether sure what he should have expected. Certainly, he had never been in such a situation before. Exchanging words with the servants of his house was a regular occurrence, but never just to... talk, as it were. Usually it was to relay a request of sorts, or simply to bid them a good day, but this, he supposed, was something different. What he thought he would gain from opening his mouth was uncertain as well, which only made him wonder if he had made a mistake in avoiding the Countess in the first place. Perhaps if he turned around now, he would still have time to make it back into the ballroom with her ever being the wiser.
Then the girl turned, slowly and almost timidly, as if she expected him to walk over and rip her arm off. She looked almost white. Surely, Andrus mused, he wasn't intimidating enough for such a reaction? He was quite used to scraping and bowing, yes, but this...
"You were reading in that park." The obvious seemed the best way to go. No doubt, she had seen him too that day, though what she had thought of their brief encounter was beyond his imagination. What Andrus himself had thought wasn't very clear, either. The moment had simply faded from memory in the weeks that passed, but something must have held fast, because all it had taken was for him to see her hair before it all came rushing back.
When she said nothing and didn't move, he took a step away from the door and closer to her chair, gesturing carefully to the ballerina gripped in her fists. There was such tension in her hands that he imagined she must be choking the poor figurine in a vice-like hold. "It, ah... It's not necessary to suffocate the dolls before cleaning them," he said with a small smile. "They're not like to fight back."
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Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 7:46 pm
Chloe's eyes narrowed for just a moment. Yes, she was well aware of who this man was as soon as she had seen him. It was hard to forget such a man entirely with the impression he had made upon her, although why he had made such an impression was still a mystery. Indeed, her expression relaxed almost instantly and her eyes drew up and down the man before snapping to his gaze again. Something in her niggled at her for being so impolite, but he had crossed his own lines in entering here and speaking as he had, especially after he had stared to strangely in the park.
This man, he was... unremarkable. He had a handsome face certainly, but it was difficult to find a noble un-primped as it was. Indeed the only immediately surprising thing about him was his height, for he could perhaps reach the top of the cabinet standing upon flat feet. Otherwise, she could not name why he had been so striking in the park... or why she didn't run off now. He had moved from the door, after all.
When she was finally addressed again, her gaze turned down to the figurine still clutched in her hand. She was delicate and pale, barely tinted in face and dress, and the grip with which she was held was likely worse than any corset. It took a conscious force of will to relax her hand and yet another to dust where she had meant to before placing the figurine back again. Presently she turned on the chair, a dust cloth wringing with her hands as she peered slightly down at the man. Come on, dear, make words. Your mother would be upset with you for standing in silence at such a high posture. She felt safer up there, though... less vulnerable. If she stepped down, he would be much larger and own the higher ground, so to speak. Chloe wasn't sure she trusted this man, and his reputation for appearing in her presence didn't soothe her worry.
There was a pregnant few moments of silence before the girl could will herself to speak.
"Is there something I can do for you, Sir?" Brilliant.
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Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 8:27 pm
That silence. It was odd to him, and yet refreshing. She didn't feel the need to speak or to prove herself or to make it known that she had the latest gossip in her hands. That lack of pretension lifted his constant readiness of unnecessary chatter. Then again, perhaps it was just shock. Her lack of reaction to, really, anything he had done in the past several minutes made him more liable to think that. Because what did he know about her, after all, outside of the fact that she liked books and children? It wasn't as though that was exclusive information; any old fool passing by could have garnered that just by look at her.
He stopped moving halfway across the room and simply stood, watching as she relaxed her grip and slowly placed the figurine back where it belonged. The tension was still visible in her body, and she didn't seem likely to come off the chair any time soon. Perhaps not as long as he was around. Did his presence really merit such fear? Or not fear, maybe, but uncertainty.
"No, no I suppose not," he answered when she finally spoke. The pause evaporated like mist, though he could still feel it lingering somewhere nearby. "As long as you don't fall off that chair. It wouldn't be healthy for my conscience to know that I had cause you harm." Caused anyone harm, was what he had meant, but... he supposed that would do.
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Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 9:13 pm
What in the world was he going on about? It was a good thing that he didn't like the idea of her breaking an arm falling from the chair, but to voice such an opinion was a bit odd, especially considering a fall from a chair wasn't necessarily going to cause any harm at all. It just seemed strange for a nobleman to be so openly concerned. Wait, was that... a threat somehow? Was it all a backward statement to counteract some violent act he wished to commit? She had never particularly met a wealthy man with an interest in juxtaposition, but she had also never met a murderer, to her knowledge.
No, no, there she went again! Chloe had a rather bad habit of worrying herself over nothing when she allowed her mind to take its own course. Her mother had always spoken of her thoughts and her mind to be two entirely different things: one was within her control and the other was a separate entity that skipped happily in the flowers of fantasy. It was difficult to keep it under control at times, especially when entering a situation that she had never been in before. Frustrated with herself, Chloe finally stepped down from the chair and offered a pleasant smile. She offered the noble a proper curtsy and bowed head.
"It is a pleasure to meet a guest of the count and countess."
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Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 9:36 pm
"Oh, I..." Andrus shook his head, but trailed off, unwilling to finish his sentence. He was, after all, a guest and it would be unbecoming of him to voice his opinions to this girl, who was neither involved in the matter nor in a position to be burdened by the goings-on of the Countess of Alderin. And the gossip that might ensue... Not that he thought ill of her character, but it seemed to come with the territory to assume that nobody was possessed of particularly tight lips.
"Yes, I suppose that's what I am." He didn't bother mentioning Claudia or the fact that the Countess' efforts would all be in vain or even that he thought he was headed toward a mess that he wouldn't know how to clean up. Certainly, the Count of Alderin was a powerful connection to maintain, but it wasn't nearly important enough for Andrus to knowingly doom himself for a life of malcontent and dull company. Still, the situation required a delicate hand.
"And what of you?" He asked, paused, then shook his head again with a smile that seemed to suggest he was being the biggest fool on earth, and tried again. "You don't usually work for the Count," he remedied, not wanting to seem as though he was trying to ask her what she was. Not his business, Andrus supposed, though nobles were notorious for their penchant for knowing things that they had no right to know. He didn't need that from her, though. The heavens knew she looked terrified enough without his asking for every detail of her personal life. The Count's daughter might have simply giggled and complied, but she would have been a different sort altogether.
He was wading into unknown waters now, and that was enough to make him cautious. Offense was not his intention, though where the line stood, he couldn't tell. What made the common folk so different from the nobles and the bourgeoisie? That was a question Andrus had never ventured at before.
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Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:16 am
What had he originally wanted to say, she wondered? She'd hoped that hopping off of her chair to be proper would draw the man back into his born caste. Chloe was beginning to see perhaps why she had been so struck by the noble that day in the park. He was different... although in what way, she was not yet certain. There was something about him, though, that did not smack of the usual young nobles with their upturned noises and tittering gossip. This made him much more difficult to predict, but at the very least he didn't seem to have any ulterior motives.
"Indeed, I am a temporary maid hired during the banquet preparations." Apparently the countess' daughter was returning from boarding school or some such thing, and a banquet was being held in her honor. It all seemed a bit excessive to her, but perhaps she was simply removed from the entertainment of the wealthy. Who was she to say that a party wasn't necessary? Certainly, though, she imagined that there had to be some sort of other reason. Perhaps they had found her a suitor. ... ooh, perhaps that was why this man spoke of himself so oddly? He didn't seem all that enthused about being a guest of the count, come to think of it.
Now that she was on his level, she noticed that the noble was not so unremarkable as he had seemed. His chin was strong, and his features not the thin and chiseled kind that seemed to inherit within noble families. He was well-dressed, certainly, but his eyes bespoke something else. Why was he so interested in her, a part-time servant? Chloe wiped her hands on the dust rag and held it at her side, lacking a proper apron in what was deemed her 'good' clothes. It wouldn't do to show up with thin skirts when working for the higher-ups, instead she wore a purchased dress, a bit worn at the hems and that had needed some mending and letting-out, but it was acceptable enough.
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Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:53 pm
If Andrus struck her as different, it wasn't through any real intention on his part. Like all nobles, he remained mostly unaware of how his class was viewed by those outside it, operating largely within the sphere of influence that he had grown up in and had learned since birth to maneuver.
There were plenty of situations that might have seemed bizarre to the common folk that barely even registered on his radar, but this was altogether different. He didn't really know what was expected of him when she replied that she was a temporary maid, and he wasn't quite sure how far he could proceed with his questions before he overstepped some sort of invisible line. The social scene upper class, after all, was riddled with such boundaries, ones that were never touched in face-to-face conversation, but that were also immediately crossed when backs were turned.
Somehow, Andrus thought he wasn't in one of those situations right now.
"Ah," he answered, nodding and clasping his hands behind his back as he stood, a relic from his earlier days as a captain in the Queen's army. He hadn't seen much fighting in his two years - the system had been designed such that few of the nobles did, though they all held high ranks - but discipline had certainly been a part of his daily routine. Even now, some of those old habits were hard to break, which seemed to delight the noblewomen all the more.
"What is your name, if you don't mind my asking?" Not that it was any of his concern, but he was interested in knowing it, and the conversation - what little of it - had ground to a halt anyway. Better an uninspired start than no start at all.
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Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 10:29 am
Chloe was observing more than interacting now, not a particular quirks of hers but she had even less of an idea than the noble of how this conversation was supposed to go. She was fairly certain that they had already crossed a line in the art of social grace between two very different classes. Why worry, then? This man was clearly much different than those nobles that she had met in the past and certainly different than the count and countess. Luckily, there were no witnesses to this interaction. The only person who could scold her was this guest.
Where he clasped his hands behind his back, she clasped her at her waist, tilting her head slightly at the noble.
"Chloe, Sir," she offered, and then pursed her lips. Her will told her to ask him the same, but it wasn't proper and this entire thing could go downhill fast. How she had seen him, though, so deeply accented against the milling of the others in the park, how they had shared a gaze for even a moment. There had to be something different about him, didn't there? Even without the influence of her rampant imagination.
"And who are you, Sir? If I may be so bold?"
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Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 12:29 pm
He was tempted to smile and respond that most servants would not have been so bold, but it occurred to him that she might have taken is as a reprimand when it was really an odd sort of admiration, and instead simply smiled anyway - that smile, of course, that the noble women loved to titter about and call perfectly charming - and said, "Andrus Kinross. My father is the Lord of Darrowdown, but of course, that property belonged to Lord Regent, my grandfather on my mother's si--" He caught himself, and stopped with a laugh that might have been somewhat sheepish, shaking his head. "I apologize, I never meant to bore your with my entire genealogy. I imagine it wouldn't mean much. Odd, isn't it, that people like myself actually seem to care about all that." He might have said people like the Countess instead, because Andrus himself hardly knew the value of knowing everybody's distant relations (though admittedly, he did know them for most of the nobles who frequented Palisade - a facet of his education that he hadn't been able to question), but it wasn't in him to speak ill of a woman who had so graciously invited him to be her guest, and especially not in her own home.
"Do you enjoy it, then, your job?" He asked, almost just to fill the silence, but then realized he had actually wanted to know. "Or would you rather be working for people who don't throw balls fit for the Queen simply to welcome home their second daughters?" A light laugh arose almost unbidden to his lips at that. It was difficult to see the absurdity of it all when he was so embroiled in the world and so much a part of it that he could not imagine a life apart from all that he knew and always had known, but when he finally spelled it out, it sounded too extravagant to be true. Perhaps this was how the common folk regarded him and the rest of the upper class, though Andrus could not speak for them or even pretend that he understood a fraction of what the lower class thought.
"A part of me has always wondered at how ridiculous it all seemed." But he could only shrug. He, too, was part of that culture, and to say that he didn't enjoy it would have been a lie. The value of a great ball did not escape him, even if its reasons sometimes did. It was what he had been born into, and no doubt that he would live out his life in. It was just a different sort of world, he supposed, but an undeniable and arguably fantastic sort of world, even if he didn't have the means to justify its extravagance.
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Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 9:54 am
Chloe smiled slightly in return. It still sounded like the poor man was stumbling all over himself, but that was to be expected. How often did the upper class hold conversations with any but their own? Not often, she'd wager, outside of her novels. It struck her that the man... Andrus? Odd that he had offered his first name. Either way, it struck her that he had initially offered his family's history rather than some information about himself, although again the classes could be blamed. The working class had no interest in how you made your money or what you purchased with it, preferring instead to concern themselves with your health, your family, and friendship. She had imagined that it was a cliche that the nobles cared only for each other's money, but Andrus was certainly proving the thought correct. It was rather depressing, really. The poor folk. She wondered if his following statement said anything about himself, if perhaps he was one of them and trying desperately to not be, the rebellious type that came around every so often, or if he truly did not care and the information had begun to spill forth solely out of reflex.
A bit off offense drifted in then as the man questioned her occupation. She reminded herself then that Andrus had probably never worked a day in his life, so who was he to know what was proper? Again Chloe was struck with the glaring differences between the classes. Never before had she had this chance to investigate them so.
"This isn't my only job, but it's not a particularly negative one," the servant nodded, "There are times when it is difficult, but I find the chance to view the upper class most interesting if I may say so, Sir. I certainly have no other chance to view such opulence, to get eyes and ears into the nobles' lives even so superficially, Sir. There are times when one is led to imagine living a life like theirs." It fed her imagination wonderfully, to be surrounded by gold and wood carvings and expensive crystal whatsits. She didn't imagine, though, that regardless of the man's mental state he had any interest in the fluttering of unladylike imagination.
"If I may be so bold, Sir, it does seem a bit ridiculous, but only from the eyes of a body who must work day in and day out to earn a portion of the wages toward a single gilded fork. Sometimes we wish we were them, if I may say so, Sir. I prefer to view it as an entirely different set of society. There's no use in holding grudges as I see it. We are, for all intents and purposes, a very different people."
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Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 8:13 pm
"It's a different sort of work entirely," Andrus admitted. It might not be an honest day's work, with your own two hands and body, but there was a certain amount of tedium involved in learning everybody's names, remembering their positions and their sources of power, executing the rigid societal norms with precision. He could understand the ridicule, though, coming from a group of people whose lives revolved around honest, physical labor. He could at least understand why, if not the full extent of their judgment. Next to their livelihoods, the whims of the rich and supposedly powerful must seem a terrible joke.
But it wasn't as though the upper class meant to live off the backs of others. Most days, Andrus supposed, they just didn't think about it. Ignorance was certainly a sort of bliss, and many seemed to think that if they simply failed to acknowledge the truth, then the truth would cease to exist. But it was hard to think that way when the truth was staring him in the face as it was now, with wide, dark eyes that looked like they went on forever...
He cleared his throat and looked away. "I would like to say, if I cause you offense, I certainly don't mean to do so. There are subjects that ought not be broached in conversation, but I imagine those to be different, between what you and I are used to." A hand went up to rub the back of his neck as he wondered whether he could have put it more eloquently. How else might he prove that he understood their differences without seeming like he was looking down on her for them? That was anything but his intention.
At the mention of imagination, his gray eyes lifted, and he sought her gaze and held it for a moment, an uncharacteristic look of mischief crossing his face. "Would you like to know, Chloe?" He took a step, and closed some of the gap between them until he stood a couple arm's lengths away, his gaze still centered on her face. What was it about her, about this moment, that made him feel half a child again, that made him feel as though anything was possible? Perhaps it was the very emptiness of the room, cloistering the two of them together in a parallel universe that ought not exist. "You are right, in some ways. We live in very different worlds, but perhaps I can prove to you that we're not so very different, you and I." He withdrew one hand from behind his back, and extended it to her as he would when inviting a lady to dance at a ball. "Let your imagination live a little," he added, as if half expecting her to decline and move away.
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Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 10:34 am
Chloe couldn't help but arch a brow. What, the social graces of the upper class were to be considered 'work' now? Surely the working class was blessed in having easier friendships and less terrible obligation but she would be hesitant to call it work. She let her mind wander a moment, imagining the extravagant balls and having to know every face, be simply charming to those who you would rather give a swift kick in the rump.
...alright. For now, she would allow him 'work', so long as it was to be considered an entirely different type.
"No, no, I understand," the maid nodded. She was plenty worried herself that she was going to offend a noble. It was nice to know that he shared her worry. They were experiencing a collision of worlds that rarely passed nearby for more than a moment. Rough patches were to be expected. "I dare say we should forget offense for the moment, or at least I will try. We may never meet again, after all, and it is difficult to find a noble willing to speak to you, in my position."
Then, all of a sudden, things got a little strange. As Andrus approached further, Chloe crossed her arms over her chest and exercised great willpower in not taking another step back onto her chair once more. She was charmed, certainly, but her previous statement still stood. They were so different, and the likelihood of them ever crossing paths again was not very good. They had seen each other once, perhaps twice, and it had all just been coincidence... right? She peered down at his hand. Not so different?
It was ridiculous. There was no way she was going to accept his hand, whatever plans he had, she just couldn't-- a flowing gown, twirling around her as she danced, fancy heels and a gentleman guiding her across the floor. Candlelight and elaborate feasts, gilded fireplaces and glittering walls.
She stared at his hand.
Would it really be such a bad idea? In the worst case scenario, she was fired and paid for the day. It was a once in a lifetime chance staked before her. The girl eyed the closed door... did it have a lock?... and her eyes flickered down to his proffered hand once more.
She reached out with great hesitation, nearly stopped herself twice, and then gently laid her hand within the noble's. Immediately she felt a shock to her chest, her head feeling warm and fuzzy. Oh, it was such a nice feeling...
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