aungier | (no subject)

Date: November 2, 1888
Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Location: Various locations around the house.
Characters: Shirogane (

anachronisticbilliards) and YOU! [OPEN/~~CLOSED~~]
Summary: Shirogane's just trying to do his job and is available to be bothered.
Warnings: Moving furniture. The horror.

What with all of the people constantly coming and going at Aungier House, furniture needed to be moved around quite often. Rooms needed to be prepared. Some rooms didn't have enough furniture. Others had too much. Other rooms had the appropriate amounts of furniture and were well-used, but the furniture still needed to be moved so that the maids could clean.

That's where the footmen came in. Today, Shirogane found himself doing just that--moving furniture. For the most part, he didn't mind the work. It could be physically demanding, true, but at least there was a point to it. A purpose other than that someone somewhere thought criminals needed to walk on treadmills or turn pointless cranks for hours on end. For a few hours in the afternoon, he could be found moving furniture between rooms as he'd been directed. If he needed to be bothered or pulled away for some other task, well, he was just a footman. He didn't quite have as much governance over his own time as he would have liked.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Miss Mary receives large packages from time to time. She has family in the country and they do from time to time send her trunks full of new clothes, not always for herself but also to share with the ladies of the house. She also receives trunks packed full books, which she uses when teaching her young pupils. One of the butlers has brought her a not from the family, which says that the trunks are not far behind.

So she takes the edge of her skirts in one hand and goes looking briskly for a footman.

A footman can conveniently be found carrying a chair down the hall in Mary's direction, actually. Shirogane has no idea she's actually searching for one, and he'll give her a polite nod as he and the chair walk on by. He's trying to keep to the side, assuming her brisk pace means she's on some important errand of her own that in no way involves finding a footman to lift heavy objects.

While she does not interrupt his work, she does follow him, her note folded demurely in her hands in front of her. It's a strange looking little procession until she speaks up.

"I'll have need of you."

She isn't shy about telling the servants what to do. She was raised in a civilized home herself, with a similar array of hired help. She wasn't in favor of being cruel to the staff -- (one slave to another) -- but each much perform their duties.

By this point, he's delivered the chair to its destination. "Oh?" He'll carefully set it down in its proper place before straightening and asking, "What do you need, miss?" He is definitely curious; he hasn't been around long enough to have been sent on a great many errands, and he has no idea what the governess might want with him.

She offers the note to him, written by the head butler according to the information passed along by the courier. The times at which the trunks are to be expected are written clearly, separate from the sparse lines of text. Shortly after 1:00 it says.

"I have several trunks to arrive, I want you to meet them with me and take them up."

All the way up to the third floor. How delightful.

Shirogane took the note and scanned it carefully, then nodded. How lucky of him to have been the one she'd caught for the task. Not that he was letting that show, of course.

At least it wasn't more oddly-shaped furniture. He supposed he had that small comfort. Trunks were predictable and rectangular. "Of course, miss. I'd imagine they'll be arriving at any moment, if they've not done so already."

She flashes a brief smile, although she does turn then to head out into the great hall, more eager for her deliveries than to observe too much politeness. Her steps are light and graceful, a girlishness that belies her position of authority over the households children and her secrets of motherhood. Like any good lady, she'd been taught to dance, it shows in how delicate her toes touch the floor as she heads down the stairs.

It's muggy outside, rain threatening for several days now.

"They mustn't get wet," she murmurs the herself in agitation, staring down the road impatiently.

Shirogane is considerably less light on his feet as he follows along after her, the picture of a duitiful servant who is on the verge of having a very long day.

"Of course they won't get wet, Miss," he reassured her. "I'll run back to the house to fetch some oilcloth if it starts raining. He hoped the rain would wait and get it over with while they were all sleeping to spare him the pleasure of trying to do his job in the wet.

"Very dutiful." It's easy to tell she was not born and bred an English lady when she says such things aloud, even if her pretty Louisiana accent were not enough to make the distinction. Then again, sometimes it seems it is not so much her breeding as her maturity. Strangely whimsical for a girl her age, at twenty-one she might have a bit more sense.

She brushes some of her blonde hair back off of her forehead, staring up at the sky as if the birds might relay to her how close the car bearing her trunks might be. The birds don't care for her, however, certainly night bluebirds and sparrows. She would have better luck with a vulture.

The vehicles are late trundling up the road but Mary doesn't give up on them for a moment, giving intructions to the deliverymen as easily as she gave instructions to Shirogane.

Edited 2013-07-17 22:02 (UTC)

"I try, miss." Well, maybe he wasn't as ill-suited for this job as he was beginning to think. Or maybe he was just very good at faking being particularly competent. At any rate, he hoped such comments might get back to his bosses somehow. If he were dutiful enough, perhaps he might get a raise in pay.

He glances at the birds as they wait for the deliverymen, and he can't help but envy the fact that they can come and go as they please with no repercussions. They can flit wherever the wind might take them, with no questions asked.

Shirogane offers the deliverymen a sort of nod of solidarity when they arrive, a greeting from one laborer to another. He sees no point in standing there and doing nothing as they set about their work, and he'll help them unload their delivery.