"This bit is really starting to get annoying..." the red eyed teen mumbled angrily. It had to have been at least a week and they couldn't find any real leads to that cart that took their brother. It was no doubt that the cart had belonged to all the cases of missing maids but the question was where was it now and how did they get to the place they all were being taken to. And people didn't really take them seriously once they were being asked because of their age so that left them in a continuous rut.
"Can't help what we can't help. But from the attacks, I've been making something of a hit chart. They actually aren't as sporadic as they've been reported. Since we have nothing else to go on, I figure we can at least try and see if this proves correct..." he pulled a roll of a shelf in the den that they were currently situated in. sitting on the floor, he rolled it out and called the other two over to see. "They've hit us and this place and before that it was these..." he pointed to plots that were a bit spaced and then to the next set. "And then it was all the way back here and way over here. According to this, our neighbors are next. We can just stop them then but the days are truly the problem. That is the thing that actually is random..."
"Well wouldn't that be solved if we just asked if we could stay there or actually tell them what's going on?" Marta chimed in. Aster shrugged.
"They're the kind who'd listen and not really believe it. They always have been that way sadly."
"Well then just tell them anyway. Even if they don't believe you, just see if they'll put up with it for a couple days because it would help them too. Most people love to get something out of it, right?" Tosk threw in while standing. This really was annoying...
"We can always try but it's a fifty-fifty chance...well, let's go say hi to the neighbors then!"
~Brooms~
Within the same week the brothers and maid were looking frantically for clues, the missing brother was trying frantically to keep up with the new regimen. He still wasn't sure what he was supposed to be doing since the master of the house kept sending him away in the mornings, Aqua refused to talk to him and the maids, now known to him as Chocolat and Aisha, pulled him away at various times of day to just fool around and dodge work and sometimes to actually do their jobs. Even so, he manages to keep up with most of the things they do, surprising them with his efficiency nevertheless.
"Emil, I swear, it's been so much better with you around!" the brown haired girl chimed, smiling sweetly.
"Only because your work has decreased accordingly, correct? Honestly, stop being lazy..." Aisha shot back. In response all she got was puffed out cheeks and a raspberry blown at her.
"Mean..." Emil just laughed in response. Little things like this reminded him of home and happened often with these two so they were a bit like a breath of fresh air in this place. "Oh! Hello Master Richter!" the other two turned quickly and addressed him with a bow. The only problem was, soon after, the blonde found himself staring at a pair of familiar shoes.
"It's about time you showed up. Come..." and with that, he walked away. The younger male looked up from the position a bit confused to be met with a curt glare.
"A-ah! Okay!" standing straight up, he was stopped by Chocolat.
"What did you do?"
"N-nothing that I know of. I'm always with you guys so you'd know what I did if I did anything..."
"In any case, you should really hurry..." the blue-haired female added, wary of the tapping foot at the doorway. He nodded accordingly and trotted along to catch up to the lord of the manor. They walked the halls for a while coming to a square room situated with a desk at the bottom of a window and shelves covering three of the walls filled with various things ranging from scrolls to bottles of things to binders with random stray papers.
"Is this...your office?"
"Is that important? Anyway, I've been clearing things so that we could get around to this...predicament of ours..." he leaned against the top of the desk, shuffling a few sheets around as if he was searching for something in particular. He grasped onto something unfamiliar to the blonde and looked as if he were going over it.
"O-oh...I see..." the boy looked down. Again, the man seemed annoyed and all he'd done was stand in his presence. Was it really that bad for him to be around?
"I figure by now you've figured out you've been granted a stay here for a month, of which part of it has passed. Out of which you've been doing the job of regular maids and I have to say..." he pushed his glasses up a moment but kept his eyes trained to the paper. "Efficiency has gone up a bit and there's been a change in the atmosphere here. I don't know what you did while not around me but it seems as if you've been doing a good job. I'd say keep up the good work but there's a couple problems with that." he stood straight, walking to a shelf and moving some things around until he ran across something else he thought he wanted.
"T...that would be?"
"You are not doing the job you were bought for. There is a high difference in a regular maid and a personal one. Your category is of the personal maid criteria because you can work in more than one area efficiently along with other qualities I have to assume that you have. That's what causes the dramatic change in price. You are supposed to be around me at all times but I haven't known what to use you for."
"But..." he stopped. Well, that would explain the 'go do something else' way he'd been treating him since he got there but...what was he good enough to do that no one else was really good at? "Well, what would you prefer me to do if there's anything?"
"That's the problem itself. I don't know what you can do in order for me to give you anything to do but seeing as you've been all around I've learned quite a decent amount. In any case, I'll actually give you permission to go places that are normally only for my personal use, such as this place and the library to do as you see fit. As for now..." he shuffled around the room, looking at the selves once more. "I would like to discuss something else with you but I seem to can't find the papers in all this mess..."
"I see... Oh! I could organize this room for you for one thing. That is...if you'd like..." he looked around at everything and wondered just slightly how he would do it because of the randomness of it all. And for Richter to be as neat looking as he was, his office was a mess. Dust strewn everyone along with discarded balls of paper, no doubt a rejected proposal or miswritten letter. "Although you seem busy and I wouldn't want to put you out of here since you need somewhere to work."
"Emil...in an estate this large, you believe that I don't have another room with a desk or a table that is free of use? I have multiple offices. Almost just as bad as this one technically..." he sighed, an annoyed look on his features. "They're on each floor in almost the same spot. If you want to know. Which one I'll head to, even I'm unsure seeing as I'm searching for something but I suppose it would be fine to let you organize this room. And with that, I'll leave you be." Holding a stack, he walked out with a pondering expression, most likely wondering where some other files were at the moment that he needed and which exact office he handled that business in.
"T-thank you! I'll try to be done as quick as possible!" once the door closed, he looked around the room quickly assessing the damage he had to fix. Besides the obvious filing renovations needed, this room needed more than a little dusting and sweeping. First thing first, clear the space. That would prove only a bit difficult seeing as he'd need somewhere to hold everything on the shelves. Well...the hall would just have to suffice.
~Duster~
Richter had to wonder what all that noise was upstairs. To keep a bit of an eye on him without doing so literally, he'd gone to the office below him just to keep track of things while attempting to get work done. He'd heard the normal thing such as foot steps, quite a lot of them for the first thirty minutes or so and then scraping. Was he moving something? How far was he moving it and was he putting it back how he found it because in all honesty, all the offices were set up in the exact same way so anything moved would feel just a bit odd. Low mumbles in a solitary place and not much after that. Choosing to ignore it, he continued about his business with the paperwork. Not too long after that, he heard female chatter then nothing at all and a spark of irritance set off but he again tried to ignore it still. About ten minutes later, the voices returned but then it went to Emil's solitary sound once more for a little while more before all was silent. He sat there for all too long wondering what was going on up there until the door opened slowly.
"Oh...you're in this one. I'll find another one then."
"Wait..." he pushed his glasses up for a moment. "You're finished with the one upstairs?"
"Yes. As for now I just wanted to see which you were in so I could work on that last. Is it okay for me to leave?"
"Uh...yes. Oh-wait. There are a total of four offices just so you know what you're getting into. You don't need to get in over your head on your first actual assignment."
"Ah, no, no." he waved his hand in front of his face. "I could do this and more so it's perfectly alright."
"One last thing...what was all that chatter I heard up there?" his look turned rather cross when Emil's face broke out into a weak smile.
"Chocolat and Aisha...they insisted on me eating something so when they found me they got curious because they'd never seen the inside of that room before so they asked me what it was before they dragged me out for something to eat. Once I got back, they wanted to help but I wouldn't let them since technically they weren't even supposed to be in there in the first place and so they went on their way. Was I wrong to send them away?"
"No...that was the correct thing to do. That'll be all." and with that Emil took his leave, also leaving the noble's mind at ease about him actually completing his work. The only other thing he needed to check on was how well he'd done the job. After his mind was set at ease, he got so engrossed in his work, he didn't even notice that the sun had set but was soon notified by knock on the door. "Yes?"
"Uh...um...would you like your dinner in here or in your room? It's kind of late and you should probably be going to bed soon as it is..." although what he said was true, the voice wasn't confident enough to be telling the lord of the house such things. Sighing, figuring the blonde was a bit afraid to get in trouble, he stood and opened the door, looking down and the boy holding the tray. It held a pasta dish, a dark drink and a couple of sides to the meal.
"I guess I could take this up to the room. I can probably finish my work there before retiring for the night as well." the younger nodded to him then glanced in the room. Since the man had been walking around in there and moving things, this place was actually neater than the others, unlike the ones he'd barely been in for a while.
As they walked around to the master bedroom, Richter continued to stare down at the boy, the glare from his glasses hiding his line of vision. In the past couple of weeks he'd become fond of the boy. Since he hadn't done anything of real importance since he got there, he'd just been good company, the only thing throwing the man off was the dress that the younger was, in a way, forced to wear. On the logical side of his mind, he knew quite well that Emil was a young man but by the visual, the way he acted and carried himself, his first thought always tricked him into thinking of him as a girl first. The shyness and the stutters. The bashfulness and the way he sometimes looked down for one reason or another just sends the lords mind thinking of other things.
Most of the time, the only way to correct this line of thinking was to send him away somewhere, most likely to just help those couple of maids that befriended him on his first day there. He knew of them, because he technically knew of all the maids in his residence, but he didn't know them personally. He figured to get around to that. The only problem with this, as he soon found out from Aqua, who was told by Chocolat, that made Emil think that Richter just wanted him away which is why he agreed to himself to at least try to keep the boy around at times. Doing so led to a couple more awkward thoughts which led to an assignment like today's. Not exactly away from him but not exactly nearby either.
He caught himself sighing and when the other's emerald gaze was up at him, he just pushed his glasses up and cleared his throat. Seeing at the stare was still pinned on him, he decided to at least try and ease the tension he was pretty sure he was giving off.
"So have you finished?"
"Oh! Y-yes for the most part. I didn't want to disturb you while you were in that office so I've done all of them except that one. I can finish that one before I go to bed as well." he gave a weak laugh in the middle of it. So, turns out the boy was still nervous. Well then again, that was to be expected...
"I see. Well just don't overdo it then." and with that, Richter cut off the conversation. To his dismay, Emil was still staring at him though. "You do know that's rude, correct?"
"Hu-w-what? What did I do?" well, the only thing Richter figured was good about this moment was how they'd reached his room at that moment, which mean this would be over when Emil went to go clean that last office. He pinched the bridge of his nose, anyway.
"You keep staring and not giving a single reason why or even attempting to stop doing so."
"Oh. I'm sorry. Well, I guess it's just that I'm rarely actually this close to you without you sending me away, I ended up staring. I-I'll stop now..." he looked down, a mix of embarrassed and dejected as they made their way into the room. After placing the tray on the desk, he quickly filed out of the room before anything else could be said. Moving his food a bit to the side to place his papers, he sighed to himself.
"This is bothersome..." he almost sighed again, catching himself with a silent reprimand. He's never remembered doing that action so many times in a single day. He ended up just settling with resting his arm on the desk and supporting his forehead against the tips of his fingers. How did someone manage to be the best thing available and yet a huge problem all at the same time? It was to the point where he focus was wearing thin and the recurring fanta-no. Not that...-daydreams were becoming way too distracting. He could either continue trying to ignore it or actually force some action to these and hope that it goes smoothly, like most things for him. Whatever would happen, it would have to wait until this client was good and done with.
Of course, the blonde was aware of none of that and worried over everything he could have-and probably was according to him-doing wrong. He fussed to himself while moving everything from the shelves into the hallway along with most of the moveable things, and fussed all while putting them back. Then, after finishing everything, he just lay against the plush rug in the middle of the room, staring at the ceiling to think, his thoughts going to the flame.
'Why do I annoying him so much...am I really that bad?'
Flicker.
'He's always glaring at me. Even if I'm just sitting there...'
Flicker.
'If I ask him what's wrong, he just clears his throat and says nothing. I can understand him not trusting me though...'
Flicker.
'This is really soft...I wonder what this is made from...'
Flicker. He rolled over, burying his face in the overly plush thing and just enjoyed the small tickling sensation. Even though all the rooms were set up the same, all the décor was different. The first office was set up in tones of blue, ranging from bright to dark, coupled with black. It was a lovely scheme all set up together although it was a bit dim aside from the lighting. The second was mostly purple, again, coupled with black. The third one, this one, was shades of purple, red and brown, a beautiful set once completely thrown together and the last one was surprising, green with yellow and streams of white. Either way, this was by far the most comfortable floor he'd ever been on. He laid there for a while longer before mumbling, quickly noting that he'd begun to fall asleep. He sat up and scratched his head. Sure, heading to bed wasn't a bad idea right about now.
The only thing that unnerved him was how eerily silent it was when everyone was asleep. It was like you could literally hear a sneeze from the other side of the place with no problem. The rooms were all on the fourth, the highest floor, for protective reasons so that just gave him more places to look through, even though all he got were shadows. The blonde was just about fully awake by this point, sleep still slightly tugging at him but it would be shoved back the moment a light reflected off something. By the time he'd gotten to the actual area, his heart was beating too fast, nerves on edge, the only thing calming him was the fact that the logical region of his brain reminded him things were perfectly fine here.
To his utter joy, the halls for the lodging area was lit, candles against the wall in a diagonal fashion but still more than enough to show you the way. He assumed that maybe they had a couple "night walkers" among them and went to leave it as that only to notice the light still on in Richter's room. He knocked on the door to receive no answer. He blinked. Part of him wanted to try again. Another part wanted him to just go to bed. Ignoring the latter, he leaned to the door, trying to test for a sound that showed the master of the house was still awake. The only thing that showed was that the door was slightly ajar and was easily pushed that way, seeing as the blonde nearly flew into the room from the door's momentum. Glowering at the door, his sight made a beeline for the young lord, who was apparently asleep at the desk.
This wasn't anything he wasn't used to, Aster had done it many a time and as such, he'd just get his brother to a bed, who actually appreciated the gesture in the morning. It was questionable whether Richter would or not but who knows. He couldn't just leave him there like that though, sleeping in that position is bad for anyone's back, no matter the age. And considering how much work the redhead has to deal with, it's safe to assume that this wasn't the first time. Emil exhaled and then got to work on his self proclaimed last mission of the night.
Pulling out the chair with him leaning on the desk was a bit annoying but he was able to get it done was close to a trainwreck but it still got done. Supporting the elder man's weight by his arm, he hoisted the other up, quickly overtaken by how much heavier the other actually was. Aster was around his own weight so that was never a problem but with someone taller, and more muscularly built and asleep to boot? That was more than he'd bargained for but whatever he did, he couldn't let them fall, that was for sure. What would happen if Richter woke up in another cross mood, he'd have no clue.
With one arm over his shoulder, and his own around the other's waist he began to semi-drag the older man across the room, fearing every grumble the redhead made. He cursed himself for being of smaller stature, even though that was completely unavoidable, and made his way to the corner of the bed. A thought struck him then. This bed was a canopy, meaning you'd have to get through the curtains. Of all the days for them not to be pulled back as usual, this just had to be one of them. He could've sworn there was a goddess somewhere out there, just screwing with his life right now on purpose but either way, he'd have to try to finish what he started.
Once at the bedside, he laid the man down partway, getting out of the grasp and running over the other side. Before climbing unto the bed, he slipped his shoes off, crawling lightly to reach his target. Either this man was having a wonderful dream or he really slept like a rock because none of this was bothering him, Emil judged after having a hard time trying to pull Richter all the way up and failing. All or nothing, he decided, squatting on the bed and hooking his hands under the older's arms.
He successfully got the other onto the bed, at last but just as before, Richter proved to be too heavy for him to handle, toppling them over onto the soft sheets and plump mattress. At that moment, any sleepiness Emil had was now replaced with panic as he was now trapped underneath the redhead, who was all but figuratively unconscious.
He didn't want to wiggle but at this rate he'd end up in quite a lot of trouble in the morning. But then again, what chance did he really have of getting free? Trapped by a grown man covering almost one whole side of his own body and considering it was hard for him to move him the first time, there was no way it would get done now. He let out a whimpering sigh then looked over at the slumbering man. Only one thing crossed his mind. 'What is going to happen in the morning...'
A/n: you guys are going to kill me...I'm really sorry...I'm a horrible authoress...but I'm glad I finally got something done uuu ;w; thank you all for being patient with me. I seriously had no reason except for writer's block on and off but either than that I...don't know why it took so long...sobs...hope you guys enjoy this! I'll try and get more chapters of everything cranked out!
~Ruru out