AN: Readers are encouraged to watch the first 9:05 of the 1982 film 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' in order to understand the references here. It's available in its entirety on YouTube, but won't allow the link to be posted here.
The Scarlet Tealeaf
The takeover of BC Freedom Academy by the Examination Faction had been strong, swift, and some would say, brutal. The school was now controlled exclusively by students from that faction as they occupied all the positions on the Student Council, which had been renamed 'The Committee'. They had even ousted the Escalator students from the Hall Monitor and Public Morals positions as well.
Now a senior member of The Committee, Rena Andou was currently leading a squad of Hall Monitors, who were clad in their blue and black uniforms and each carrying that most formidable of weapons, a stale baguette, with which any dissenting students could be sharply admonished if the need arose.
The posse noisily entered a classroom where a group of Escalator students had just finished a lesson.
"Not so fast!" Andou said to the class who were about to leave.
"Detention register!" she said loudly as she flipped open a black notebook.
"Those students named will report to the stables for mucking out duties!" she declared.
There were groans of anguish from the Escalator students. Ever since the start of 'The Scary Times', as the current era was now being referred to, the use of the fancy carriages that the Escalator students loved to ride in had been banned. The many horses that used to pull the coaches and buggies, however, were still alive and well, and still being regularly fed. This, of course, produced a significant amount of waste product, which was being used as fertilizer on the school's vineyards. The job of transporting the foul-smelling stuff from the back end of a horse to the fields fell to those students who were in detention, and that was always the Escalator students these days.
Some of the groans descended into wails of despair, but Andou silenced them and began to read out names from her book.
"The former Sensha-do Commander, Marie!" Andou announced. There were gasps of shock and horror from the Escalators as Marie came forward.
"The former Sensha-do Vice-commander, Oshida!" Andou continued. More gasps followed as Andou's blonde previous teammate came and stood next to Marie. Neither of them were members of the Sensha-do team any longer since all Escalator students had been booted from the team at the start of The Scary Times.
"Rena, why are you doing this?" the cultured voice of Marie asked. "I do not care for myself, but what about the Sensha-do team? Without experienced players like Ruka and myself-"
"Hah!" Andou laughed, cutting over Marie.
"Show me one Escalator who can do a better job on the team than any Examination student?!" she mocked. She carried on before Marie could reply.
"You are of better use to us where you belong - shovelling out the stables!" she jeered, dismissing her former colleagues with a wave of her hand.
A Hall Monitor stepped forward, stale baguette at the ready, with pink hair protruding from under her bonnet de police cap.
"I'll take them to the stables right away, desu wa!" she said, and quickly bundled the two fair-haired girls out of the room.
Andou frowned slightly as she looked after the departing trio, but then shrugged and returned to reading from the list of names in her hand.
Out in the corridor, the pink-haired girl hurried her two charges along and then out through a fire escape door which opened into a small grey concrete space between the buildings. In the small courtyard waited a small tuk tuk-style truck with a flat rear deck. A painted board down the side of it declared it was the property of 'P.U. & S. Melley (Muck Spreaders and Fertilizer Purveyors to the Wealthy (and also the Desperately Impoverished too))'.
On it stood a girl who was presumably in charge of the dung cart. She was a particularly wretched specimen of student society. Her grubby face was topped with a mass of black straw and twigs that was apparently her hair, and she was wearing a dress that looked like it was halfway between a curtain and a sack. Next to her were two large barrels of the sort that were used to transport the vast quantities of horse muck from the stable yards to where it was needed on the schoolship. These two drums, however, were fortunately clean and unused, and it was towards these that the Hall Monitor directed those she was escorting.
"Get inside, quickly, desu wa!" she instructed them, helping them to climb up and then pressing the black plastic lids into place once the two girls were inside. With this done, she pulled a pair of dirty coveralls over her smart uniform, hopped into the driver's seat, started the pathetically small engine, and sent the conveyance careering off towards the stables.
...
The stables were not a scene of happiness. Weary and filthy Escalator students, armed with an array of shovels, forks and brooms were cleaning up after the contented horses and placing the produce into large barrels. The barrels were identical to the ones on the back of the truck, which had just turned into the stable yard as a similar vehicle departed.
The wretched-looking student with the dirt-ingrained stack of hair dismounted and lowered the truck's small tailgate so it formed a ramp, in order that two nearby Escalator students could begin rolling a freshly filled barrel onto the rear deck.
They were noticed by a Public Morals member; an Examination student, as all Public Morals members were now, and she strode over to intervene.
"Here, you've got your lot! Clear off!" she instructed the waiting dung wagon, seeing the two barrels already on board.
The wagon's owner raised her downcast eyes slightly and wiped her muck-caked hands on her stinking dress. She then pointed to the barrels as she addressed the supervisor. Her manner of speech was coarse and ungainly, as if she had been brought up in an agricultural drainage ditch.
"Thems is empty, Pupil," the girl said, sounding as though she had a mouth full of frogs. She used the new egalitarian term of address for all students that had recently been introduced by a decree of The Committee.
"Thems is going to be water butts for the vineyards. Ya wouldn't hold back a gal's fair share o' horse crap now, would ya?"
The Public Morals supervisor shrugged and motioned for the two girls in detention to continue with the loading of the small vehicle. Once the barrel was in place, the muck-merchant flopped down next to it and the truck chugged out of the yard onto the main road.
It had not gone far, however, when rather than proceed to the vineyards as had been alluded to, it swung onto a descending slip road which led down into the body of the schoolship. A series of wide ramps gradually brought the truck down to a parking area which was already filling up with several other vehicles. It closely resembled a ferry terminal, which was exactly what it was. The ferry, onto which the waiting cars and vans hoped to board, could be seen through the large opening in the schoolship's side as it approached. The destination, the Ark Royal, the schoolship of St. Gloriana Girls' College, was cruising several miles away across the sparkling ocean, with various ferries and other indigenous craft plying their trade between the two carriers while they were in such close proximity with each other.
Members of the school authorities were noticeably present, and moving between the vehicles. One approached the dung cart with an official air about her.
"Papers!" she brusquely demanded.
Clambering to sit on top of the poo kegs, the girl in the dress rifled through her various, dubious, pockets until she pulled out some crumpled and smelly travel documents, which the Public Morals member inspected with disdain.
"'Ere, wot's all dis for?" the stockist of speciality excrement asked from her lofty position, looking at the various vehicles that were being inspected.
"Two Escalator students have escaped from detention. They may be trying to transfer to another school. We're searching all those who are leaving," the official explained haughtily. "What's in these barrels?"
"'Orse poo," the other girl answered simply. "Iz for the rosebeds in Gloriana."
"Open them up!" the monitor ordered.
"Suit yerself, but I warn yuz, the smell ain't for the faint-hearted," the girl cautioned.
She prized the top off the rearmost barrel and at once a pungent stench filled the air.
"Iz good stuff!" she crowed, using a small trowel to lift out a globule of straw matted together with filth. "Iz will make Darjeelin's roses grow a treat!"
"Oof! Get it away from me!" the school representative clamoured, holding her nose.
"You don't wanna see in the other two barrels then?" the dung-seller asked. "Ya see, the 'orse wot they filled thems from had a problem with his di-jes-jun. So it come out all squirty…"
"Get out of here!" the BC Freedom student yelled, waving her arms and stamping her foot with anger and disgust.
The girl with the dishevelled hair gave a resigned shrug and the small truck started up and lurched on its way, mounting the metal gangway to the waiting ferry, which had now docked with the carrier.
There it sat, with other passengers giving it a wide berth, until the short journey between the two schoolships was complete. The disembarkation process was swifter and much less fraught than the loading had been, and soon the cart was winding its way from the ferry terminal to the upper deck, and heading straight for the renowned Tea Garden.
As it entered the famous location (via the tradesmen's entrance, of course), Lady Darjeeling was there to meet it; braids immaculate and tea cup in hand as ever. The truck came to a halt and the pink-haired driver assisted with opening the first two barrels and helping the occupants to climb out.
Marie and Oshida, looking a little stiff and pale but otherwise fine, emerged to be greeted by Darjeeling.
"Welcome ladies!" she said gracefully. "I am sure you would like a chance to freshen up after your journey. Please, be our guests, and afterwards, we can have tea and discuss you joining our Sensha-do team. And yes, there will be cake. Rosehip, perhaps you could escort these two to the bathrooms?"
"Yes, desu wa!" came the enthusiastic reply, and the two former BC Freedom students were led away to a much-needed chance to clean themselves.
"And what about you, my dear?" Darjeeling asked, turning to the manure vendor. The girl she had addressed sighed, and raised one hand to the dirty dark mass of her hair. She lifted it up, completely off her head, allowing her golden hair to cascade down, before she tied her luscious locks up a large black silk ribbon.
"A bath for me too. I stink of turd! But then, back to BC Freedom in the morning. There are still plenty more who need our help!" she replied.
...
On the French-themed school's carrier, a furious Andou was addressing a member of the Public Morals body.
"And you've still not found them?!" she raged.
"Not yet Pupil Andou, but the search continues," the other girl answered.
"We did, however, find this at the stables." She placed the item on the desk before Andou, bowed, and fled to continue her work as quickly as possible.
Andou picked up the item. It was a small leaf, painted bright red. Seething, she crushed it in her fist, and a hint of a pleasant fragrance escaped from the mangled remains.
The Scarlet Tealeaf had struck again!