shelley_winters | (no subject)

(no subject)

Shelley doesn't move for a few minutes, the soft wind outside the windows roaring mutedly in her ears. Slowly, she pushes herself up on her elbow, dry-eyed and distracted. The blood soaking the front of her dress has cooled quickly, feeling sticky and horrible. The knife lies beside her, and with dizzying fascination she notes the faint line of red along the end of the blade.

The girl doesn't move again, cold and silent. More than anything, she feels sick.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Backing away slightly, Vashti commented quietly. What was wrong with this girl? Something was definitely... more off than usual, though she had apparently just stabbed the man who loved her so who knew what to expect from her?

"Of course I am, Lady Shelley, you are the lady of this house and as such, that is your title."

Pausing momentarily, Vashti commented quietly.

"Let me help you with the dress, and I will have new garments sent for."

"You know I don't want to be here."

Really, they all must, at least to some extent. It's not really a secret. A deeper breath, and she stands up, swaying only very slightly.

"I don't need help. He keeps some dresses in here. In the boxes over there."

If anyone else touches her today, she will scream. And she doesn't think she'll be able to stop.

Vashti was never particularly inclined to investigate into the niceties of Lord Ishamael and Lady Shelley's relationship, what she did see made little sense, but given the individuals involved she did not expect it to do so.

"...It is not my place to comment. Now, what dress would you like, mistress?"

Shelley walks to the bathroom deliberately slowly.

"Something modest. Please."

If he bothered to have anything of the kind on hand.

It was Vashti's business to know everything about the house that she could and so it takes little time to select Shelley's garments. She knew better than to offer a black dress. While she never understood Lady Shelley's bizarre sense of modesty, she suspected that the choice between walking about clad in nothing or in a black gown might be easily made.

With garments in hand, she quickly strode over to the bathroom door. As she suspected, Shelley had locked it. Inputting the override code, the door slid open. Barring places locked personally by Ishamael, and his private study which no one, not even Lady Shelley may enter, Vashti could enter any place in the building and access nearly all security feeds.

From inside the shower, Shelley glares in Vashti's direction, her expression hidden by the opaque door. She is still fully dressed, apart from her shoes, not having had time to disrobe before she heard the lock click open.

Stepping inside, she set the clothes down on the counter and stepped around the shower door to see Shelley standing in her bloody dress in the shower. This just got more and more odd. With a sigh, she stepped into the shower after Shelley.

"Let me help you with that dress, mistress."

"No. Get out, I can do it."

She does not need help to take off a stupid dress that she put on in the first place - and why is the woman in the shower with her, what is wrong with people here?

Vashti nodded calmly. What an utterly insolent girl... No matter. Just smile and nod. Stepping out of the shower stall, Vashti stood in the door with her hands folded in front of her.

"If you need any help, please ask. I will take the garments when you are finished and have them dealt with."

Shelley nods.

"...Thank you."

She attempts to pull the door shut, but is prevented by Vashti's presence. There is a pause as she waits for the woman to move away - when it doesn't happen, her expression closes.

"D'you mind?"

Vashti nodded calmly. Her sense of modesty was very odd, she knew. What was the problem with undressing in front of one's maid, even if she is a substitute? She was mad.

"Ah, yes."

Calmly, Vashti turned her back to Shelley. While she was loathe to allow the girl opportunity to conceal a weapon on her person, she could afford the girl some of her bizarre modesty.

Shelley grinds her teeth, stomach clenching uncomfortably. Her problem is that she is too prone to seeing maids as people - and undressing in front of other people is something she dislikes intensely. A tendancy which has actually grown worse since she started coming here.

Angrily, she strips off the dress, and lays it on a nearby chair - over Vashti's shoulder, since the woman is in her way - but keeps her shift on. That will be all.

"Happy?"

Vashti turned and faced her. Incredulously, she inquired of Shelley. This girl was mad, so she did not put it past her, but...

"...Do you normally shower in your shift, mistress?"

"I am not getting undressed any further until I can close the door. With you outside."

That should be clear. It's really not a hard concept, Shelley thinks wildly, not at all, why does everyone insist on her taking off her clothes in front of them?

Vashti directed a look as if Shelley were being impossibly strange. What had she to be ashamed of? Slowly, she began to step away as if unsure of the unreasoning quality of the request. Then, she stopped and directed her suspicion towards Shelley.

"Mistress, I... cannot. If any harm should befall you then... In short, I am not certain you are not hiding a weapon."

Shelley is very silent.

Then, slowly and deliberately, she pulls the material of her shift tight across her hips to show alarmingly sharp hipbones, but the complete lack of a knife. Her ankles are visible beneath the hem, showing nothing tied to one.

Her voice is very tight and controlled.

"And where, exactly, would I keep one?"

And why would she, when she was alone all morning, had as many opportunities as she could wish then, and yet lives?

Not quite unharmed, maybe, but alive. (Or close enough to it not to matter.)

Vashti crossed her arms firmly beneath her breasts and did not answer as she stepped out of the shower. Lady Shelley needed to eat more.

"I will be waiting if you happen to need assistance."

Shelley nods once and shuts the shower door. Her hands are shaking again. Calm down. The rest of her clothing follows, over the top for Vashti to take, if she wants to be helpful, before the girl reaches back to turn on the spray.

After depositing the bloody clothes into the laundry chute with a 'special attention' order attached, Vashti waited calmly with a towel as the room slowly filled with steam.

After a number of minutes, the shower turned off. She waited for orders from Shelley as the little girl was quite mad and she had no idea what particular eccentricities she might have for this particularly activity.

The small voice that emanates from the shower sounds saner, at least, if subdued can be taken to mean sane.

"Could I have a towel, please?"

Vashti nodded and opened the door to the shower and handed in a towel for Shelley to dry off with.

"Here, mistress."

Shelley grabs at the door as it opens and slams it shut again.

"Sh-shall I pretend you didn't do that deliberately?"

Maybe she'll stay in here. And never come out again. Oh, god. She doubles her grip on the door in case Vashti pulls.

Vashti shrugged indifferently, and answered sweetly with a smile through the opaque door. She was tired of this little girl.

"Do as you deem fit, Mistress."

And Shelley is tired of being called something and not treated as such.

"Will you please go away? I don't need looking after, and I hardly imagine you want to do it."

There is a slight edge to her voice. She knows very well that Vashti has been ordered to watch her.

Vashti shook her head and responded calmly and coldly. If she acted like the lady of the house that she is, then she would not need to be watched like a willful child.

"No, I will not. Without Lord Ishamael here, there is no one else trustworthy to watch over you."