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The Next Morning.
"ALL RIGHT LADIES, FIVE MINUTES TO GET UP!"
A gruff and very loud but oddly cheery voice startles Olyvia awake.
She jumps instinctively a bit too much and hits her head on the bunk bed above her.
"Ow..." She holds a paw to her head as she attempts to take stock where she even is. Small dingy room with one high window that barely lets light in, just a few small (and uncomfortable) beds shoved into a tiny room that's clearly beneath her stature. Dust and grime everywhere, and her bedding has probably never been washed since it was created. She feels slimy, and sore, and she is so going to complain about this once she finds who to complain to.
Did she get taken to a prison or something? But why?
No... not prison. As the memories of yesterday creep back in, the adolescent jungle palm squirrel lets out a whiny groan. She was hiding because she pranked her dorky travel friends, and she got stuck... with the mouse? And after they got lifted up somehow into... this castle in the sky...?
It finally occurs which castle in the sky they are in. Because there is only one such castle.
'Oh crud and pastries.'
...they got caught when they inevitably ran out of hiding space when the crew started taking it apart, and didn't even have much time to panic before they were confronted by this mountain of a wolverine. The rest is a bit of a blur in Olyvia's head, but she's pretty sure she protested being herded around like a criminal changing prison cells. They got food(some gruel that Olyvia is certain is illegal to serve even to prisoners), some very dingy and ill-fitting clothes (At least, presumably they were clothes. Olyvia was a bit afraid to test.), and 'shown them to their room', or to put it less kindly, locked into this room for the night.
The small chamber pot in the corner attests to the squirrel's guts finally giving up, and still stinks.
She lets out a much longer sigh.
Jennet is awoken from her nightmares with a start, back into this real nightmare. To say she has eluded any kind of pursuit goes without saying, if anyone was even following her. But now she is captive in this insane flying mountain that she wouldn't even have believed was real.
She hears the sigh in the bunk below her and clenches her fist. That damn squirrel causing a ruckus. Getting the guards attention...
She sighs as well. The dingy coverall she slept in was hardly the worst thing she's ever worn, and the gruel was bad, but she'd learned not to turn down any meal given to her. While the Squirrel complained and whined, Jennet remained silent, not having the energy to fight any of this, especially not the Wolverine who set off every red flag her body could raise.
Without much of a word, she slinks down from her bunk and quietly goes to put on the simple maid dress that had been shoved into her hands before they'd been pushed into this room. Nothing to be done about it at this point except to do what they ask and pray they didn't shove them back out the hole they entered into.
Olyvia glances at the Mouse. She frowns a bit: "...so guess they shoved us here together." While they had time last night to talk, neither was exactly in a mood to exercise any of that.
"Just going to give up, hmm?"
Jennet sighs, sounding exhausted and broken, "What else can I do? I could fight or run again... But that's just wasted effort. Look where running got me, hm? It's pointless to try and fight this."
Olyvia blinks, and balls her paw into a fist: "Well, whatever else, you don't just... give up! There's always something to do, if not directly, then by talking to the right people, something." She hmmphs as she glances at the walls of the dirty room. "I will, at least."
Jennet turns to eye Olyvia, unable to even hold anger against squirrel. "But you actually matter, right? Some noble daughter? You were part of that group you were hiding from. Maybe they'll listen to you. I'm no one."
Olyvia blinks again, starts to nod, then thinks of how not-effective talking and persuading and screaming her voice until it was hoarse (and still kind of is), actually was. "Uh... y-yes. Just gotta find the right people to talk with."
She's still sitting on the bed, clutching her cover: "...turn around so I can get dressed."
Jennet blinks at the request, but shrugs and turns around. She has no problems stripping out of her evening shift and putting on her dress in full sight of Olyvia, however. "I... I'm sorry. Hope you find whoever you need to get back."
Olyvia frowns and nods, starting to get dressed in the... she pauses. She has her travel clothes from yesterday, and the worker rags she was handed, and... really she doesn't like much either.
"Might have better luck if I look the part, right?" She starts getting into the uniform dress of a prestigious boarding school student, that is definitely more frilly, layered and complicated than it has any need to be. She grunts a bit as she does, finally relenting when she realizes she can't actually close up the dress herself.
She glances at the mouse, then sighs. "Help me into this. I can't lace the top end myself."
Jennet turns back to look at the squirrel, "You're really going to keep pushing, eh?" Still, she turns to help tie up the top, a little clumsily, she's never worn anything this fancy in her life. "...just don't cry to me if they push you back here later."
Olyvia grunts: "They can't do that to me. I'm a von Royceston. Just gotta get my word in with someone who knows what that means." The squirrel does seem rather determined, even if there is a degree of uncertainty in her voice.
Jennet finishes up, then steps back to ensure her own dress is being worn properly. "And I'm a Plumleaf. They both might mean the same to the folks in this place... Whatever this place is."
Olyvia nods. She considers telling the Mouse what she's pretty sure this place is, but is interrupted from her thoughts with heavy steps coming from the hallway next to them.
"HOPE YOU'RE READY FOR A DAY'S WORK, FREELOADERS!" Since it wasn't actually a question, the owner of the voice doesn't bother waiting for an answer either. The door opens, revealing a bright hallway light, making the huge wolverine in front of them look even bigger - not that she apparently needs any help.
"'Tis a bright new day, and a good one at that. You know why? Because I get to break some truths to would-be stowaways."
Jennet turns to the door at the shout, and she subconsciously backs away, dropping her snout to her chest, "Y-yes ma'am."
The Wolverine grins, a wicked grin with many sharp teeth: "Atta girl. Dressed up and ready eh? Good." She turns to the squirrel, her smile waning: "What the crap is that outfit?"
Olyvia swallows and hesitates, but attempts to push forward anyway: "M-my name is von Royc-"
"Don't care."
Olyvia blinks, then goes again: "My family is-"
"Don't care. Change that dress. Now." The wolverine looks like she's both capable and willing to do awful things if Olyvia persists. The squirrel relents, swallows, and nods: "Y-yes."
Jennet glances over at Olyvia with a sympathetic look, but doesn't dare to say anything while under the scrutiny of the Wolverine.
There's no 'I told you so', just a deep sense that this is their fate, and there's bo escaping it now.
Olyvia waits for a moment, staring ahead.
"Well? Do it." The wolverine, for the moment, seems still amused by this. Which is probably a good thing.
"But I... you're just... g-going to stand there? Watching?"
"Yes. Do it."
'It's like speaking to a brick wall...' Olyvia thinks as she relents, and with a lot of hesitancy and draining pride, she turns her back to Jennet to undo the lacing and get her... n-nearly naked, in front of strangers.
Jennet glances at the Wolverine, as if for permission, before stepping back over to Olyvia to unlace her own sloppy work. She leans in to whisper a quiet "Sorry..." As she finishes up.
Olyvia swallows a sigh and nods: "I-it's... l-let's just do this." In few moments, under the watchful eye (for she only has one) of the wolverine, Olyvia is de-dressed and quickly back in the simple work outfit. Slightly loose, definitely worn before, but it's clothes. She stoically manages to not start tearing up as her dignity takes such a big hit.
"R-ready." She glances at Jennet, then back to the Wolverine. "Uhm. Ma'am."
Jennet turns back to the Wolverine, keeping her eyes to the ground. "Yes, Ma'am. All ready."
The Wolverine grunts in satisfaction. "You report to Mahenna down the main hall. She's a big Yak, can't miss her. We're all kinds of busy today, so your lot is cleaning floors until we can figure out where to put you." She then frowns, glaring at the mouse and the squirrel: "And I don't wanna hear anything about skipping work, or you skip meals as well."
Olyvia wants to protest, that this is seven different kinds of beneath her, that she has rights and shouldn't have to do anything, but something about the matter of fact delivery from the mountain of a woman in front of her makes her swallow those protests. At least for now.
So she just nods.
Jennet walks sullenly alongside Olyvia towards the main hall. She has no intention of skipping work. Any meal is better than the stolen bits of grain along the road, and the days of not knowing if she'd eat at all.
Her hands idly play with the hem of her dress. It's certainly nothing fancy.l, but it's still the nicest dress she's ever worn. Perhaps the only dress she's ever worn?
Within the main hall is a great spoke-like layout, with various-sized arches connected to this one large room filled with supplies and activity. This hub is one of many connected rooms along the edge of castle's so called 'basement', a center point of a maze that is easy to get loat in without guidance.
Servants of all shapes and sizes are rushing in, reporting to various overseers for their tasks, picking up supplies, and moving back out into seemingly random hallways.
Even with her choice not to fight and just do what she's told, it's a little overwhelming at first.
Olyvia likewise has the fight out of her, at least for the moment. She looks around in slight wonder: while she has seen grand halls of all kinds before, rarely if ever have they been so... busy. She's used to big bright echoe-y spaces used for pomp and pageantry, and there's none of that here. Space, yes, but it's all being used. Some she recognizes, like one hallway clearly leading to a big smithy, but for everything she can tell what it is or what for, there's three or four she can't tell.
Something tells her that she's about to become more familiar with this place in the near future, though. Even if she intends to escape, it has definitely become loads more complicated in the last half a day.
They find their way to a gathering spot of sorts, a middle section with a handful of benches and tables, seemingly a coordinating 'office' just planted in the middle of a hallway. On the brick wall behind, a huge map of the castle... for this place is indeed a castle, and one particular at that - Fortress Caerhayes. She's just been caught trespassing on royal property. That's what all this is about.
'Fuck'.
Standing behind one of the tables is a huge lady Yak, dressed in the practical wear of a crafter. She's even bigger than the Wolverine who has been watching from behind the pair. Satisfied at the stowaways walking where instructed, the apex predator drill instructor type vanishes, though Olyvia is still certain she's being watched.
The Yak looks over the two. While she's not as fierce as the Wolverine, she's certainly intimidating perhaps solely in size. Leaning over her station to look down over the teo, she hums loudly, "These the stowaways? Well, they're a bit scrawny..." She shrugs, the points towards one of the piles of supplies. "Mops are there. Find one you can hold comfortably, then get a bucket. You'll be cleaning Hall 16. If you get to the end of the hall, you didn't clean hard enough. Go until someone relieves you for lunch."
Olyvia again wants to complain about all the ways how this isn't supposed to be her lot in life in any kind of way, but manages to not dig herself deeper. If just barely.
She heads towards the supply pile, makes a face about it, but after just a glance at the Yak watching them, picks up a mop and a bucket.
How did I end up here?
Jennet is little help in that matter, already resigned to the task. She picks up a mop and bucket as well, only stopping to glance around embarrassedly. She leans closer to Olyvia to whisper, "W-which hall is it?"
Olyvia blinks up from her mope-musing. "Err..." She swallows, then looks at the Yak questioningly, but is pointed to a direction before she can even open her mouth to ask.
When the pair gets to the door of the hallway, Olyvia lets out a pathetic whine. Easily the size of the pre-entrance room of an opera house, or one of those indoor sports places, the pair and their mops feel very tiny compared to the space they're expected to clean. While, apparently, people also walk through it all the time. Smooth, somewhat uneven stone almost as far as eye can see, and that's only a slight exaggeration.
"Eep."
Jennet just nods, following Olyvia to the designated hall. She's never learned letters or numbers, and feels some degree of shame in this.. still, once in the hall, she slumps, setting her bucket down to begin.
Olyvia sighs and starts mopping best as she knows, which isn't to say much, considering her lifetime of lack of experience in anything of the sort.
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