CLIW

The Kingdom of Sayyar

Rosemund had not been able to rest a minute when she'd finished the windows, and though her side felt like she was being drawn and quartered, she'd moved swiftly to her next tasks. To be truthful, the main factor in making her move so quickly was fear of being caught working too slowly again. As much as Aire irritated her, he was not the worst person to catch her being inefficient. There were plenty of people in the castle who, although not royalty, were horribly strict, and might fire her or even have her flogged––and she was in enough pain as is.

Now she was preparing the dinner, and moving as if she had no bruise at all. She'd gotten used to it throughout the day, tuning it out of her mind, and cooking was kinder on her bruise than scrubbing windows on ladders. She was the first servant in the kitchen, and she knew that others would be arriving soon, but it was nice to be alone even if she knew it wouldn't last. She was in the middle of gutting a turkey when who should walk in but the heir to the kingdom? Despite the crack in his voice, Rosemund recognized it and tensed.

She turned her head to look at him with a critical eye. Out came the bird's intestines in her bloody hands, and she curtsied in a gesture that was partly obligation and partly sarcasm. "Your Highness," she greeted quietly, before discarding the turkey's innards and washing her hands. The worst part was that there was more than one turkey. She turned away and continued working–– brushing oil onto the bird's skin and then salting it, checking the temperature of the stove. "May I be of assistance?" she finally said while wiping her hands on her apron. This was asked entirely in obligation, surprisingly.

Just One Bite II

"Ah, good, good." Mattie could understand that. She'd been thinking about "stuff" too. Stuff being everything from the fever dreams, to how she'd keep clean water well-stocked, to what she'd do in the case that this guy snapped and tried to murder her. Despite her high guard around Nick, she thought it reasonable that his thought process was similar.

His repeated "I'm fine" made her jump. It sounded as if he was trying to convince himself as well as her, and that made her even more nervous, to the point of mild chest pain. His suggestion to check out the restaurant seemed rushed and irrational and it made her neck tingle, but she didn't exactly have much to lose, she thought. Mattie was without a family now, without anyone but herself to protect and it seemed like anywhere she tried to go in terms of survival would be pointless, a dead end.

She shook the thought from her head. There could be cans of non-perishables in there, and they'd come in a lot of handy. It'd also be dark, and harder to see any of the zombies in the case that they should be attacked. But it wasn't going to get any lighter outside, and the risk could prove to be worth the reward.

Mattie took the knife out of her backpack and headed toward the entrance without answering. She didn't know why, but she felt a need to protect Nick.

Oakclan/Boulderclan - The Beginnings - A Warrior Cat RP

I'm here

The Kingdom of Sayyar

Rosemund sighed with relief and simply didn't care if Aire heard her. Works every time, she thought victoriously. She would have to be sure to keep that in her arsenal and only let the brawling get too intense about once a month. (If people suspected her cycle was irregular, she feared that it would raise questions.) She half-listened to the heir's order, waited until he was gone, and let a wildly smug smile spread across her freckly face. She couldn't help being proud of herself for that clever save.

Reluctantly she returned to the windows, going at exactly the same pace and care she'd done before Aire had arrived. She didn't see any of the spots he'd mentioned, and now that she thought about it a little, Rosemund even felt a little insulted that he dared criticize her work like that. It wasn't as if he didn't have the right, of course, but she'd have liked to watch him climb up a rickety, splintery wooden ladder with a vicious bruise and clean the damn windows!

She stopped herself from thinking like that. It was never going to happen and that was that and it was perfectly fine.

Just One Bite II

As Mattie trudged along beside Nick, she found her mind wandering. This was always a bad thing, but the more she tried to pull her thoughts back to the present, the farther they went. For some reason she was frustrated: it was as if this had all happened before. As if she'd just sat through a mediocre movie, and then to her distaste it rewinded and started to play again. Except she couldn't get up and leave. She couldn't even ask for some popcorn.

Things were a blur right now. She tried to sort out her thoughts, but the idea that she was in a rerun wasn't quite graspable and it always escaped just as she almost had a hold on it. That combined with the memories of her weird fever dreams, and her desperate efforts to prevent the cholera outbreak, and just plain loneliness, made it all even more confusing. One foot after another. She walked on auto-pilot.

Mattie glanced at her newfound companion. He was clutching his chest. A chill of alarm seeped through her bones. He wasn't sick, was he? She stepped away at the thought. Perhaps he was just unfit. Unfit in a zombie apocalypse. That would not do for either of them.

"Are you okay? Do you need––water?"

Just One Bite II

Mattie couldn't help but smile just a little. He was so awkward and flustered, it was almost cute. It, in fact, almost made her forget what he was saying because she'd gotten a bit too caught up in how he was saying it. Which was incredibly stupid and not very much in her primary interest, which was of course, surviving. (Repopulating the planet was so far out of the question that she almost scooted away from the man.)

Back on target. The suggestion of the houses made her a little cold. They were all so filthy, and they creaked in the night when she was alone but for her thoughts, her memories of her brother swinging from his bedsheets, of Isabella panting her last breaths exhausted from all the vomiting she'd done, of her own fever dreams.

All she said was, "I have been in a couple of the houses. They're not safe."

The Kingdom of Sayyar

She looked up, a defiant glint in her eyes and on her face. Her heart was pounding like crazy. It was always a horrible mess when someone saw through her lies, and now the royal family? She'd probably be able to worm out of this one by claiming that she did not want her pain to prevent her from her all-important duty of keeping this glorious castle in a state of awesome cleanliness and excellence...but still, she didn't like to be caught lying.

In any case, it was clear that Rosemund was going to have to think on her feet and say something that would get the heir off her back, and fast.

A situation this dire called for one thing: feminine "charm".

She swallowed and let her face become sad and doe-like. "Ah, your Royal Highness, heir to the admired throne of Sayyar, you are far too eminent to hear of the lowly problems of a- a woman." That should be clear enough. If he asked her what she meant, it would confirm her suspicion that the entire royal family had bred with each other.

Just One Bite II

This was getting weird. Really weird. It shouldn't have felt this weird to meet someone, even if this someone was a stranger and they were both in the middle of an apocalyptic society fighting for their lives. Looking at him felt like reliving a dream that had been made blurry and inscrutable just by wakefulness. Nonsense of course, but it was regardless a very creepy feeling. A shiver went up Mattie's spine.

Was his voice that deep before? she wondered when he said it was nice to meet her. Maybe he was younger than he looked and was having voice-related issues. But he looked...fairly manly. She shrugged it off.

Five miles never felt like much to Mattie until now. With so many threats practically surrounding them and civilization done for, there was an endless number of possibilities as to how one or both of them could be killed on the journey. Five miles...could she make it? When had her last meal been?

"It's doable," she grunted. It was a no-no to show any sign of weakness in front of a stranger in a situation like this. Even if he did seem strangely familiar.

The Kingdom of Sayyar

"Come here. What is wrong with you?"

Oh no. As if Rosemund needed more trouble than she already had. Knotting her eyebrows, the servant wondered if royalty had anything better to do than to watch their maids and servants work. Evidently, some did not. Hurriedly, she finished on the window, leaving it with a sparkly-clean appearance, and climbed with her purposely-irritating slowness to the bottom of the ladder. After all, there was no way Aire was truly concerned.

When she approached him, it was with a bowed head but otherwise her stubborn demeanor. The truth that she was almost shaking with dread. If he asked questions, she'd either tell the truth and get in very hot water, or she'd lie herself into a deep hole from which it would be hard to escape.

"There is nothing wrong, your Highness."

The Kingdom of Sayyar

Oh.

She hadn't expected him to say yes. Damn it. Her heart skipped a beat and then dropped quite far as Aire agreed. Great. Now Rosemund had to keep cleaning the windows, faster, and with this piece of work looking at her while she did it. Her side ached a little more just anticipating it.

Still, she stood up, grabbed the bucket of soapy water and the ladder, and moved to the next window. Once she got into the rhythm she figured that she would forget about Aire and fall back into doing this her own, efficient way. She climbed up the rickety wooden structure and got to work.

She couldn't help but consider kicking the ladder over once she had finished this window, but thought better of it. Maybe when she was ready to quit this job...