"I sometimes wish I was small enough to drink from a thimble~"
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Post by mrslayton44 on Jul 16, 2015 21:59:21 GMT -8
It was laundry day and Sienna couldn't be any happier. She usually spent the day gathering up the dirty, soiled linens from around the HQ with the help of some other kind souls. The hum of the machines doing the hard part were a wonderful soothing sound for the small housemaid as she moved around to begin folding clothes.
She did just love cleaning in general but laundry was always nice. It was always warm and inviting and listening to the other maids chatting animatedly always made the woman happy to be around it all. Folding a last sheet she picked up her heavy basket and set it on a cart. Done with that she went back and began folding pillow cases.
As a maid she helped tend to any needs that might arrive in her home. Whether that was a spilled liquid or dirty sheets she was on the case. Another basket was soon filled and she toddled over with her heavy burden and set in on the cart as well. There was nothing quite as satisfying as a job well done.
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Post by snip on Jul 17, 2015 10:13:09 GMT -8
Laundry. There seemed to be so much of it -- mountains and mountains, all generated by the thousands of apprentices living in HQ. Esther took a moment to marvel at all of it -- the sheer amount of laundry was staggering, even after years of becoming accustomed to so much that came with so many people -- and then she went back to focusing on the task at hand.
She had to find someone to hand this giant lump of sheets and pillowcases to. They were in need of a wash, and the task of delivering them to the laundry room had fallen to her. Somehow. She'd grumbled about it on the way here (she'd wanted to finish all her necessary paperwork, but the sheets had taken over her immediate priorities), but the grumbling had quelled somewhere along that way, coming to a full stop entirely as she'd reached the room.
The chatter and the hum and the warmth created a home-y sense that she wouldn't have expected of the place. She'd wondered, sometimes, why anyone would volunteer to be one of the people to tackle the mounting pile of dirty laundry that the apprentices made.
She could see why it wouldn't be too bad for others, now. This was... pleasant.
But the pleasant nature of the laundry room was immediately overshadowed by Esther's own sense of foreboding. She would have to find someone she knew -- she couldn't just dump a bunch of dirty sheets on some random person. Never mind the fact that they probably wouldn't bear too much of a grudge. She didn't want to be seen as unnecessarily rude -- or at least not by the household staff.
Gathering the sheets up again in her arms so they didn't slip down to the floor, she looked around for a familiar face that she could pass them on to. Any familiar face.
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"I sometimes wish I was small enough to drink from a thimble~"
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Post by mrslayton44 on Jul 21, 2015 21:47:27 GMT -8
Seeing a person who wasn't in the house hold staff approach nearly swaddled in bed sheets was an amusing sight indeed. Sienna walked over, standing to her open side and held her hands out. "I can t-take them from here." She insisted kindly, taking the fabrics form the woman. However she badly calculated the weight of them and tipped back and flailed with a squeak to the ground. The blankets and sheets all went flying and the largest one slowly fell draping over the maid entirely. She was so surprised she had no idea what to say ro do for a moment as she simply sat under the sheets with wide, surprised eyes.
Eventually though she wished to escape and began tugging at the blanket currently hiding her. "Um uh... c-could you... maybe h-help me?" She asked timidly, her voice tinged heavily with embarrassment. She couldn't believe this was even happening!
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Post by snip on Jul 22, 2015 18:11:49 GMT -8
Esther made a small noise of surprise -- Sienna (she was pretty sure that this was Sienna) had shown up, which had been a pleasant surprise. This made handing the laundry off to someone so much easier. But that had led to another problem; the smaller lady had tipped over entirely underneath the weight of the sheets and was now hidden entirely by them. The manner in which the sheets had fallen might have been comical -- maybe -- if the situation wasn't worrying.
"Oh dear I am so sorry 오 아니 (oh no). Oh dear. 괜찮아요 (Are you all right)?" Words tumbled from her mouth, mostly concerned -- she was only passively aware that she was looping back and forth between frantic Korean and apologetic English.
A muffled, sheepish request for help drifted up through the fabrics. Esther knelt down, digging through the fabric until she found a hand. Then she curled both her own around it and did her absolute best to pull Sienna to her feet.
Sheets slumped back to the floor and Esther just stood there, torn between horror and confusion. Oops.
"Maybe -- I can help with those," she managed, eyes cast down to the fallen bedding.
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"I sometimes wish I was small enough to drink from a thimble~"
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Post by mrslayton44 on Jul 25, 2015 1:46:18 GMT -8
Sienna could barely make out the figure on the other side of the sheet on her head. She wasn't even sure who it was. What sounded like an Asian language was prattled at her with English in the mix. Eventually her hand was out the fresh air on her sin was refreshing as she was puled out of the sheeted death trap. As she was pulled to her feet she sighed heavily and attempted to correct her appearance which had become disheveled between the falling and the blanket attack.
"Ah uh t-thank you." She stuttered softly, sounding grateful. "I w-will get these o-on f-for you." She stated , bowing her head slightly as she gathered them up and started to try and scurry off. But they were much too heavy and she topped forward this time, landing on the pile rather than inside it. Ugh these things were just so heavy. She hated to ask for help though but couldn't help but glance back at the woman she'd recognized as Esther.
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Post by snip on Jul 28, 2015 13:45:35 GMT -8
Esther winced as Sienna toppled over again, and then hesitated. Did she want help? Was it rude to just butt in and take a few sheets off her hands? This was her job, surely, but --
... Eomeoni would be disappointed if Esther just stood there and let Sienna struggle with this burden. It wasn't polite to leave someone to deal with your dirty laundry. Nevermind the fact that this was done constantly every other time the laundry was taken away. But Sienna was right here, and it would be impolite to walk away now.
Resolve solidified, Esther held out a hand to the fallen woman.
"I'll help," she said, forcing as much authority as she could into her voice. It came out a bit more wavering than she'd wanted -- definitely more unsure than intended -- but she hoped the message would get across all the same. "These are... I brought these here. They are my responsibility, as well. Where do we go to clean them?"
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"I sometimes wish I was small enough to drink from a thimble~"
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Post by mrslayton44 on Jul 30, 2015 10:50:52 GMT -8
Sienna had turned away and moved to sit up out of the pile of sheets Sometimes she wished she were stronger, so she could do her job even more efficiently. Maybe that was something she should look into. Surya flashed into her mind but she found the idea of working out with her roomie vexatious in every possible way. She'd never hear the end of it. And she assumed she'd think her motives were some base reason, like trying to find a man, Ugh. No she couldn't ask her. But maybe-
Her thoughts were cut off as Esther suddenly spoke up. Oh wait she had come to help after all? She was surprised and blinked a few times. "Oh um well It need to go t-to the w-washer." She stated simply pointing at the machines on the back wall. "We might need to s-split it up." She added as she stood and gathered half of the sheets in her arms and began walking that way.
More help, she was certainly lucking into so much assistance lately. She was going to pay for it somehow soon, she just knew it.
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Post by snip on Aug 19, 2015 16:20:36 GMT -8
Sienna was walking away with half the sheets held in her arms. And she'd looked surprised at Esther's offer of help, which surprised Esther a bit.
Did she think that I wouldn't stay around to help? Do the other apprentices think --
She scowled, shaking dubious bits of potential self-deprecation from her mind. Obviously she was just surprised that anyone would stay around to help. Maybe. Hopefully.
At any rate, the rest of the sheets weren't going to carry themselves to the washing machine. Esther signed and reached down to pick them up, gathering them and holding tight, praying that they wouldn't slip.
I should have brought Lorelei to help me, she thought. This is her burden, as well; I could be doing paperwork --
But Lorelei was not here. Esther was. And so Esther sighed and began to make her way towards the washing machines and their sloshing and hums.
She glanced towards Sienna, and then back to the row of washing machines. Laundry. Fun. Then she started to make her way towards the back, hoping that Sienna would know where to put what.
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"I sometimes wish I was small enough to drink from a thimble~"
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Post by mrslayton44 on Aug 28, 2015 20:36:18 GMT -8
Sienna stumbled around a bit with her load but seemed okay getting around for the most part. She was quite accustomed to working with large piles of clothes or heavy things. And while she wasn't super strong she was pretty hardy.
Shuffling about she set the sheets down and turned to Esther with a small but kind smile. "i um. need to get these." She gestured to the now large pile of sheets and linens. "Into those." She then gestured to the few machines. "Sort by c-colors." She added and pointed to the chart she'd had drawn up ages ago. There were charts every where really. ON water levels. tips on reducing stains and helping to combat waste. Her spare time was usually spent micromanaging the cleaning of HQ. It was a huge job and she had made a living of keeping it as streamlined as possible.
"It's o-okay though..... if y-you don't want to."
And she meant that. It was her job after all. She didn't run around offering help to the bird keepers or sharing her free time to assist the chefs. Although she could cook mind you, and quite well at that. But she just found her talents were best utilized in this fashion.
While she wasn't smiling much her subtle expression was warm and appreciative. She was thankful for the help she'd gotten already and just knowing Esther had offered was enough to please her.
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Post by snip on Sept 3, 2015 17:35:21 GMT -8
"It's o-okay though..... if y-you don't want to."
A dismissal. A politeness. This was Sienna's job, after all, but Esther shook her head -- "No, no -- I will help," -- and made her way to the machines, already beginning to look through the sheets in her arms.
Colors. Colors. It hadn't been too long since she'd last done something like this. Though she preferred to wash things by hand (convenience was nice, certainly, but there was something... relaxing. About the manual process), she'd occasionally found use of a washing machine (again, convenience).
There was a chart on the washing machine -- specific instructions, printed to keep everything in order, with a few notes to the side written out by hand. Stains and water waste, it seemed.
Esther looked over it with (somewhat begrudging) approval, trying to spread the sheets out and see which one went where. The sheer amount of space they took up was frustrating, and getting them into neat piles to be shoved into here and there was... well. It wasn't hard work, perhaps, but Esther wondered if it was tedious. Like thread snipping and paperwork.
Her gaze drifted to Sienna, idly lingering on the smaller woman and her own pile of linens. If Esther was to be honest, and if she was in a particularly good mood, she might admit to enjoying her time spent in the library. The books were nice and the coworkers were pleasant -- the pros of the job kept the cons at bay.
There was a warmth radiating from the household staffer -- one not unlike the warmth that lingered in the laundry room. And yet, despite this warmth, Esther wondered...
"Sienna." She hoped her voice could be heard over the machines, the hums, the chatter. "Do you.... do you like your job?"
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"I sometimes wish I was small enough to drink from a thimble~"
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Post by mrslayton44 on Sept 10, 2015 8:28:46 GMT -8
Sienna was contentedly stuffing the sheets into the machine. Her small hands shoving the fabric in as she was raise don her tip toes to reach into the now full washer. She placed detergent in it as well and closed the lid when Esther's question rung in her ears.
Did she like her job?
The demur maid blinked turning to face her with an unreadable expression. No one had ever asked her that. It was so out of the blue. Did she not look like she enjoyed her job? Did she look upset or something. Unsure of what would bring up such an inquiry she fumbled mentally for a response. Did she like her job? Yes. But..... well.
She cast her gaze down as she thought about it. She had arrived at this place years ago and when someone mentioned cleaning she'd jumped on it. Anything to distract her from her life and her current 'after life' was well met. And it was cleaning. Something she knew well. It was easy ignoring the passage of time as she cleaned. Keeping things tidy and neat and running smooth.
While she was doing this job because she wanted to. She was also doing it because she had to. Not having something to keep her going wasn't an option. And this was a good one to be in. She knew what she was doing and she got to move around and was mostly left alone. It was like life before she'd died. A lot of work that kept her busy, a chance to more or less vanish from people's minds and lives and allowing her to stay out of the way. The only thing she lacked was a proper Clarence. Not that she expected one to show up but it might have made this more of a life rather than a pitiful existence.
Realizing she hadn't answered the question she snapped her head up. "Um... it's... yes. I l-like my job." She replied finally. It was the truth. Maybe not entirely but she did enjoy it on many levels. And other than working in the kitchen she'd just get in the way anyhow.
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