Queen's Favor
Chapter 1
The bag of supplies dropped to the ground with a thud and immediately she winced.
The best part of landing a job as a 'privately' employed maid at a huge company building were the fancy rooms in it. Technically she was a contractor, but then again she still had a fleet of bosses who ordered her around as much as they were ordered around by their bosses, and it was way more complex than she wanted to think about.
But even though she'd been warned, she totally forgot the penthouse suite had actual marble floors. Sure, rich people liked to live extravagantly, but how annoying must it have been to have a floor that scratched and dented so easily?
She'd been warned that damage to the floors would require her to personally fix or pay to have fixed anything she caused. Or she'd be ejected from the best paying job she'd so much as seen lately, much less been interviewed for.
It didn't look like any damage was done, though, so aside from a dirty look and a quick word of warning, her supervisor let it go. This time. Yeah, she needed to pay better attention.
But she'd also walked halfway up the damn building through the staircase until the elevator was actually empty enough for their equipment to fit in. Damn…penthouses and their damn…heights.
Whatever. She'd just have to get used to it now. Even though she was officially employed to keep the whole building clean, there were enough of them employed that they'd made it clear her actual job would pretty much just consist of maintaining the penthouse suite.
Shoving something that sounded like a coveted position off on a new hire meant one of a few things. The owner was some kind of super pervert - couldn't be, since they were strictly required to not be in the suite when he was home - a super slob - it didn't appear to be true just looking around from where she stood - or so particular that it would be super easy to get fired for minor offenses.
It was totally the last one. She could sense it.
The long list of assignments and special rules that her supervisor rattled off next to her pretty much confirmed that, too.
Well. She wouldn't be intimidated. If it was easy to fail, then she'd just succeed instead. She'd be the best maid this place had ever had!
She took the time that her supervisor gave instructions to inspect the room from where she stood, identifying points of interest and trouble spots…and also admiring it. She had to suppress the urge to whistle. The whole building was pretty extravagant, but the penthouse was impressive even compared to that. It made her own apartment feel about like a broom closet.
Which wasn't super far off from true, to be fair.
Her supervisor took a step and then suddenly turned around with…unusual urgency. The red hair kept in a high pony tail nearly smacked her in the face, how quickly the woman spun around. "Oh! Crap, this is your first day actually on the job, right?"
"Ah…yeah. I just got done with the training." She'd been trained before and obviously she had experience, but they'd insisted on training her more. Just to make sure she didn't break anything.
The woman glanced around the room briefly and then planted her hands on her hips. "Well it's not in this room, I guess, but there's a cat. Under no circumstances are you to touch it or shoo it or talk to it. Try not to look at it if you can help it."
What.
Rich people could be touchy but…seriously? How was she supposed to not even look at a cat?
"Is that a joke?"
The woman laughed…but it was not a 'ha ha I have a sense of humor' laugh. No, that was definitely a 'this is the crazy you signed up for applying for a job with rich people' laugh. "…You probably can't help looking at it sometimes. Just don't stare too long. But it stays away from strangers for the most part so, if you see any cat toys or things…just leave them alone unless they're in the middle of the floor and a trip hazard, alright? He's very protective and particular about the cat. The last girl tripped over the cat when a spider spooked her and had to sit through three classes about the proper treatment of cats."
Her supervisor slung the bag of supplies over her shoulder as she walked into another room. "And then she was fired!"
…Well.
At least it was easy to identify what to avoid if she wanted to keep the job.
She glanced down at the paper that had her assignments on it, and wandered to the bedroom.
She managed to stumble back out of the way just in time to avoid immediately stepping on the cat like the world's biggest loser protagonist. It sprinted through the open door and jumped onto a nearby cat tree, trailing white fur through the air after it.
…Despite making her job harder simply by existing, the cat was actually pretty. It looked like one of those poster cats she'd seen on cans of cat food before (and this was the heir of some big business or two, right? Maybe the cat actually was one.). It must have thought itself safe sitting in the cat tree (even though she could have just reached out and grabbed it…) because instead of skittering off further like most of the shy cats she met, it just blinked at her.
And meowed.
She tapped her lips in a shushing motion. "You'll cause a scandal if you talk to the help."
And now that her heart wasn't about to leap out of her mouth, she had a room to clean (and a cat not to talk to). She grit her teeth in concern as she stepped into the room. Bedrooms were second only to bathrooms as far as her least favorite rooms to clean were. Sometimes they were worse.
But actually…it didn't look bad at all.
Apparently as uptight as he could be about his cat, it showed in his behavior around his house too. Even though the room was a bit of a mess, it actually looked a bit like most of the mess was caused by the previously trapped cat. Maybe it'd be an easy job after all?
…
…It should have been.
The trouble was, every time she turned around, every time she tossed clothes or something, there that cat was. Right in her way, dodging her or her inadvertent attacks with an expression that could have been disdainful.
"…I thought Mary said you kept away from us, huh?"
It meowed at her again.
She huffed. There it stood. In her way. She had a handful of towels, and a big fluffy white cat stood in the middle of the doorway. Could she risk trying to step over her and tripping? She wasn't allowed to shoo it.
Technically she wasn't supposed to hold a staring contest either, but somehow she doubted "The cat trapped me in the room like a prisoner" would be an acceptable excuse for sitting down in the room and skipping work all day until it left.
It finally moved…but toward her.
"Agh–" She took a step backward, tripped over her own broom, and crashed to the ground. Backward. Not on the cat. See, she was the best damn maid–
The cat pounced onto her chest.
"Why?!" It wasn't like she hated cats! She liked them, she'd hang out and pet alley cats until they got bored and wandered off to find food she didn't have. She considered herself a cat whisperer, able to lure the shiest of cats out from under beds to get head pats. So it wasn't like the cat just sensed her antipathy. But she also wasn't trying to lure this cat out! At all!
Why was it determined to get her fired? Was this the true reason no one wanted the job?
The cat licked her nose.
She huffed at it, and its paw bopped her lips. Up close, she could read the little pink collar the cat wore through its white fluff.
"…Elizabeth?" It booped its nose on hers, and then flopped down on her chest like she was totally an appropriate cat bed. "Okay, hey. If I promise to give you a bit of attention will you let me do my work?"
The cat batted at the strands of hair that stirred over her shoulder when she spoke.
Well it was worth a try. At this point the situation couldn't get much worse unless she stepped on it. And really, she could point out that Elizabeth stepped on her first.
The cat's fur was the sort of soft that indicated her baths were probably more extravagant than just soap and water, and as expected, she immediately started to purr, bumping her head up against the reluctant petting hand.
"Okay. You're cute. But if you get me fired we're enemies for life."
The cat nipped at her hand and in an attempt to playfully roll over and attack…fell off to the floor.
Much like a cat, she seized the opportunity to jump to her feet and sprint away from the feline. HAH! That'd show her–
She very nearly collided with her supervisor.
"Geez!" The woman stumbled back a step, expression turning from surprise to annoyance. "Are you just messing around? We've only got a two hours left before we've gotta be out of here!"
"Wha–no. I was just getting away from the cat!"
The woman gave her an unfairly skeptical look, then looked up and down her shirt. "Were you crawling under the bed? If you get that cat hair everywhere we've already cleaned we're not gonna be able to finish."
Uh.
She glanced down and sighed. Of course that shedding cat left fur all over her shirt.
"…No, I was…getting a lint roller!"
One appeared in front of her face. Her supervisor was a well prepared maid, apparently. "If you're working around animals, always have one of these. Here. Next time get your own."
"…Sorry."
She spared the cat an annoyed look when the woman turned and walked away.
It blinked innocently at her.
What a spoiled brat.
She was much more careful about trip hazards, and she might have intentionally splashed a little water around the (massive!) bathroom to discourage the cat getting too close when she'd knelt down.
It followed her around doggedly. The cat would paw at her hand and try to pull it down for petting, and she'd carefully escape. The cat would chase after her and weave though legs meowing at her and she barely managed not to trip on it. In front of the supervisor.
It wanted her dead, probably. Or it was just the most attention starved cat she'd ever met.
She hadn't decided yet, but the close calls with breaking her neck and almost losing her job made her lean a little toward the former. Pretty, friendly cat. Pretty, friendly secretly evil cat.
Though, maybe she should have been more annoyed at whoever employed her? He might have been paying her (probably…?), but if it wasn't for the weird rules, the affectionate cat would just be that. She'd dealt with affectionate cats plenty of times before, and they were minimally annoying, because they went on their own way after getting a bit of attention or gently shooed.
…being annoyed with the one giving her money probably wasn't a good life plan.
Well!
She did pretty well for the rest of her time. No falling over. Minimal chit-chat with the cat. She almost made it the entire way before she got trapped again. In. a closet.
It felt like a room, it was big enough to be what passed for her living room, but it had only one exit. The cat blocked it.
Its blue eyes gleamed.
This was a plot. She'd fallen into a trap set by a cat of all things.
"…Oh alright already!" She tossed her hands into the air and then crouched down to her knees. She'd gotten everything done, there was still time before the owner of the house appeared so she could still rescue herself…and there were no cameras in the closet. Probably.
She couldn't be fired for petting a cat in a closet. As weird as that concept seemed.
The cat hesitated a moment, looking over its shoulder.
…Was it seriously going to lose interest in her after harassing her all day? Did all she need do was show interest?!
It mrreowed, and then trotted over to her, propping its two front paws onto her knees. So it could properly mew in her face.
"You really like conversation, don't you?" Okay. Maybe signalling a truce with it would help her work in the future. Every day being like this would be pretty hellish.
Indeed, it seemed like a very affectionate cat, despite what the supervisor said. It purred, it rubbed its head against her cheek, and it was determined to attack the ties on her apron until they submitted.
When not trying to kill her, the cat was pretty cute.
She laughed as the cat chased around her fingers and pounced a feather duster. She nearly tumbled over when the cat pounced her face like the secret killer it truly was, and she might have lost track of time. A little.
She'd been giving the demanding cat an umpteenth belly rub when the closet door jerked open all at once.
"…Oh."
Shit.
That sure wasn't her supervisor staring down at her with a disturbingly blank expression.