I slept all day. I slept straight until noon on the very next day. I woke up to the sound of rain pit-patting on the hard tin roof. The weather had worsened while I was asleep, and the wood lining on the window was leaking, water dripping off the windowsill. Someone had moved my handbags to the corner, and my boots were unlaced and laying on the floor beside the bed. I blinked sleepily until I was fully awake. I listened for commotion downstairs, but there was none. Karkat was no doubt running errands, and Kankri was most likely delivering his usual sermons on the other side of the pavillion. It was Sunday, after all.
The rain continued to pound on the window, rhythmically. I tossed my blanket aside and crawled out of bed, stretching my arms lazily above my head. A few of my stiff joints cracked and my hair fell haphazardly across my shoulders. I really should cut it, it was getting to be quite bothersome. I walked over to the corner of the room, dragging one of my handbags to the center of the room. I pulled out a hand-mirror that was about the size of the palm of my hand. It was smudged, and cracked in the corner, but I gazed back at myself nonetheless.
My skin was white and pasty, with thick grey circles under my eyes. My cheeks were unusually red compared to the rest of my face, and my hair was awful. It parted awkwardly to the left, hanging in horribly tangled waves down onto my shoulders. I blinked at my reflection. I looked so much worse than I had the last time I had the pleasure of looking in a mirror. I placed it on the bed, and wandered slowly downstairs in my socks, sweater and corduroys, hopefully to make myself some coffee or at least get a breath of fresh air.
The sound of the rain rang loud and clear through the walls. Dirty dishes littered the kitchen table downstairs, and laundry that had yet to be folded was piled up on one of the two chairs at the table. A teapot steamed lazily on the lit stove. I shoved a pile of clothing off one of the chairs and dragged it over to the table. A stack of books and papers leaned precariously close to the edge, and I nudged it closer to the middle of the table. The top few books slid off the stack and into a pile of dirty dishes, revealing some roughly drawn sketches underneath. They appeared to be maps of some sort. I pulled them carefully out from under the rest of the books to take a closer look.
On closer examination, the drawings seemed to be plans for some sort of electrical wiring system, or perhaps some sort of machine. Another few pages were typed messily on what appeared to have been an old-fashioned typewriter, and held only a series of repeating numbers and letters that made no sense to my tired eyes. Codes, perhaps, or some sort of important password from the look of it. I blinked and tried to focus my tired eyes on the characters centered at the top of the page.
Struct group_info unit_groups = {USAGE .. = atomic_nblocks(2) }; 52423272524232
My reading was interrupted by a harsh knock on the door. I almost dropped what I was holding, and the stack of books that I had reassembled on the table swayed precariously back and forth. I whispered to the books to stay put, which most likely didn't have much of an effect on them, and jumped to my feet as the knock on the door repeated. I wasn't sure whether I should answer it or not, seeing as it wasn't really my house or my business. But the rain was falling so hard, it seemed cruel to let whoever was knocking to be completely soaked and standing alone in the doorway.
"Um... Come in?" I called, approaching the door to answer it. I pulled the door open clumsily. I had momentarily forgotten that it swung inward, and I found myself huddled awkwardly against the wall to greet the visitor.
A young woman stood in the doorway, thoroughly soaked but with a smile on her face nonetheless. Raindrops bounced off her long, curly hair and onto her rather large, dark green rain jacket. She carried a bundle of clothing under her arm, that she was trying her best to keep dry from the rain. I backed up until my head hit the wall with a startling bump.
She ducked her head under her arm as a stream of water dripped down from the gutter above. I creaked the door a little farther open as an invitation for her to come in. She shook her head to get the water drops off, and looked a little confused by my presence. I stepped back so she could come inside.
"Thank you!" she chirped happily, tossing the bundle of clothing onto the already cluttered table. A glass teetered dangerously close to the edge and I held my breath. The girl stepped carefully into the dining room, breathing hard, as if she had just sprinted a few blocks in the rain to get here. She stood relatively close to the door, as if perhaps she had other errands to complete, but wished to stay long enough to be polite with her introduction.
She was less than a head shorter than me, but no doubt taller than Karkat. Her chestnut-brown hair wound itself in several thick, wavy ringlets about her face, and her cheeks were a rosy red from her constant beaming smile. I noticed the gleam of an engagement ring around her finger, no doubt what she was so happy about. Or perhaps she was just one of those thoroughly optimistic people. I exhaled in a little puff of steam.
"Are you the new housekeeper?" She ventured a guess, no doubt based on my slightly grungy low-class appearance, "I was expecting Nepeta..."
I tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear, but I probably didn't look any more personable. "No, I'm not a housekeeper..." She looked at me oddly, so I continued my explanation, "I'm just staying here for a while until I find a permanent place to live. I'm friends with Karkat..." I couldn't think of anything more to say, so I shut up. She nodded understandingly.
"I know how it goes," she sighed, thumping down on a kitchen chair as if she suddenly felt welcome, "I lost my house and my family a couple years ago. I wasn't even fifteen," the red drained from her cheeks and her smile quickly faded. I back up nervously until I ran into the wall. I wasn't one for human interaction. It frightened me a little bit.
"I had nowhere to go," she continued, crossing her legs, "And no money. I was a kid, how was I supposed to get a job? Thankfully the Captors took me in," she nodded her head towards the street. "And even after... recent tragedies," she glanced sadly at the carpet, "Sollux is letting me stay with him for the time being. I'm earning money again. It'll all work out in the end, trust me."
The bubbly smile returned to her face. She looked as if all was right with her life again.
I'd heard about the Captors, though I didn't know them personally. Quite a tragic history, their family. When a wave of Tuberculosis had swept the region several years ago, Sollux's father and mother had both been hard hit. They died within a week of each other, so the rumors said, and Sollux (only fourteen years old at the time) was left to care for his young brother, Mituna. He'd been quite a resourceful child, but his brother's coughing fits soon developed into another full-blown case of TB. After a couple long, hard years, Mituna died a few months ago, leaving Sollux alone and penniless at only eighteen. Well, not completely alone I guess. I vaguely wondered if he and this girl were together, but I didn't ask.
I nodded politely at what seemed to be the end of her story and glanced at the clothing she had delivered, a bundle of neatly pressed red sweaters, most certainly for Kankri, as Karkat refused to wear anything that sophisticated. The tag attached read Maryam Couturier, the only (and therefore the best) tailoring service left in town, of which this visitor was most certainly the newfound delivery girl. She hopped up from her seat, suddenly remembering whatever it was she was going to say before I distracted her.
"I know you're not a permanent resident," she asked, pulling a small notebook of recorded sales out of her deep coat pocket, "But could you sign this receipt for me? I'm sure it would do just fine."
She shoved a pen into my hands before I had the time to look for one myself, and I absent-mindedly signed my name on whatever line she pointed to. She gathered up her pen and notebook and shot me another huge beaming smile. "I'm Julianne, by the way. I never caught your name?" She asked, making her way towards the door.
"I'm Angela," I held the door open for her.
"Well, Angela," she nodded in a friendly sort of way, "If you ever need anything, come by. You know where to find me," she raised her eyebrows and smiled mischievously, "And I'm sure Sollux wouldn't mind a little visit from Karkat every once and awhile, if you know what I mean."
"Alright, sure."
I must have looked quite confused, but I nodded nonetheless. Julianne giggled at me before shaking my hand and stepping gleefully out the door and into the rain. I stared after her without closing the door, still not exactly sure what she meant by any of that.