A/N: I was inspired to create an OC one day after looking at several pictures online. I did not want her to be 'special' in anyway. She was not to be a Specter, a Saint or connected to any gods at all. She was going to be normal, a bit lucky, and a bit resourceful. That was nice...but what good reason would a normal person have for being in the underworld and interacting with the Specters? Then I realizsed that home Hades had in the underworld would have need to be cleaned the same way anyother home would have to be. That was when the idea for Irene was born.
Irene ran her mop over the stone floor of the hallway. The dim lighting in Hades Castle had made it hard for her to see at first, but over the months she had been here, her eyes had adjusted. Cleaning the castle of the God of the Underworld wasn't glamorous or easy work but it was better than the alternative. That was why she had to make sure to be thorough. She couldn't afford anyone thinking she might not be up to the job.
She was the newest member of the cleaning staff, picked up when the guy who had been her before her had done something stupid that had caused him to be kicked out of the castle. What exactly he had done she didn't know. No one wanted to mention it, but she couldn't help but fell sort of absurdly grateful towards him. With him gone, they had needed someone else and she, newly dead, still dazed, had not yet been judged. They had offered her a choice, work in the castle or be sent to whatever hell waited for her. She had jumped at the chance to work in the castle.
No one had told her where she would have gone if she hadn't taken the offer. No one else in the cleaning staff knew what their particular afterlives would have been like either, and truthfully none of them wanted to know. They just concentrated on doing their jobs so that they wouldn't have to find out that information first hand. At least they had some sort of lives here, although they had been warned that if they did try to escape and make it back to earth their bodies would crumble into dust. Some of the other members of the staff liked to joke about that.
"We're pseudo-vampires…" Irene muttered under her breath as she stepped back and looked over the hall once more. Everything appeared to be clean. She only had to do the last two rooms leading off of this particular hallway and she could be done with it. The mop went back into the bucket with a small splash and she pushed it toward one of the rooms. As she opened the door and pushed the bucket inside, she started to wonder if she could figure out a way to get something more modern to work with.
"Hmm?" The voice, not even speaking, caused her to look up startled. This was just a spare room that she thought was suppose to be a sitting room or something and no one ever used it. But there was someone here today, lounging in the chair. Someone with long white hair that she recognized. Her hands tightened around the mop handle.
"L..lord Minos! I'm sorry, I didn't know you where here, I'll come back later!" She stammered out and started to back out of the room as fast as she could. The white haired Judge terrified her, especially when he looked as bored as he did now. Everyone on the cleaning staff was scared when he was like that. They all tried to avoid him as much as possible.
Suddenly she found herself unable to move. She tried to take a step back but there was a tug and her foot refused to move.
"There's no need to leave so fast," Lord Minos drawled. "I almost think you don't like my company." One hand was extended toward her. He gave it a slight twitch and she found her grip on the loosening, even as she tried to force her hand to close again. The hand drew away and she found herself walking toward the Judge.
"Please Lord Minos I have work to do! You shouldn't' be wasting your time on someone like me!" Irene pleaded, not wanting to have to put up with this again.
"I'm sure your work can wait. You have all the time in the world to completed it after all. Just be a good servant and entertain me for a few minuets." He stopped her once she reached the center of the room he stopped her. Slowly her arms rose over her head, moving far more gracefully than she would have done on her own even though her muscles were tense and she was trying to stop them. Minos smiled…and made her dance.
The details of her life before she had died and her death itself where hazy to her. She didn't remember much, but it was clear that whatever she had been in life, it hadn't been a dancer. As her leg stretched far past what she would have been able to do normally, she gave a small yelp of pain. Lady Pandora's orders prevented Minos from giving the staff any lasting injuries but that didn't mean take the chance to be cruel to them when he was bored.
She spun and dipped, felling humiliated and helpless. And this hurt. She wasn't anywhere near flexible to do any of the moves that he was making her body perform. She went up on one toe and posed, a small pained whimper escaped her.
"Minos, what are you doing?" She thought she recognized the voice that spoke from behind her but she couldn't even move her head to check. Minos gazed past her, looking annoyed.
"What does it look like? Teaching someone not to interrupt me," the Gryphon Specter snapped.
"Lady Pandora has told you to stop doing this," Lord Wyvern Rhadamanthys said as he crossed the room. He paused at the edge of her vision. Her body had started to ache, and she had the unpleasant sensation that she should be wobbling but the strings Minos was using wouldn't let her move even a tiny amount.
"She said I wasn't allowed to damage the staff, she didn't say anything about playing with them." A small tug from Minos and she turned in circle, like the figure on a music box.
"Minos, stop this. The staff have work to do and I'm tired of you scaring them to badly to it properly," Rhadamanthys snapped striding forward. "You are a Judge, Minos. You need to show some respect for your position and stop playing these pathetic games!"
"Pathetic Rhadamanthys?" Something, a tension, seemed to fill the room and Irene felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She felt her heart speed up, and she didn't dare make a sound for fear one of them would remember she was actually there. Suddenly Minos made a gesture and she collapsed into a heap on the floor. For several seconds she lay there, too shocked by the sudden release to move. Minos had stalked forward to meet Lord Rhadamanthys. "I'm not the one content to roll over like a faithful dog each time Lady Pandora looks at me."
"We owe her our loyalty," Lord Rhadamanthys hissed. "She is the one who speaks for our Lord!" He looked over and suddenly seemed to see her. Irene swallowed and lurched to her feet.
"L..lord Rhadamanthys…" she started to say.
"Get back to your duties." Was all the Wyvern Specter said as he looked away. She gave a nod and started toward the door. From behind her she heard Lord Rhadamanthys growl, "leave it Minos!"
She practically ran down the hall, only stopping when she was a good ways away from the room. Her muscles hurt and she was sore, but at least she was free.
"Thank you Lord Rhadamanthys," she said aloud.