Day 98, morning

[amazing_am_i]

Bert was feeling a lot better about things. He wasn't fighting with Gisela anymore, he could go home if he wanted (though coming back was tricky), and he was having a pretty good morning work out. He was pushing some dummies over when he saw a few strangers to the field coming down. He recognized the kid at least, but they had swords and it was

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[amazing_am_i]

Bert looked at the papers he couldn't read. "Does it matter that my signature doesn't look much like any of this writing here?" And what kind of name was he going to choose for himself? He needed something that he'd not forget, so it should be easily transferable to his own name, but he was having a terrible time trying to think of something that didn't sound like a viking name. Though, with the way he looked, it might be more appropriate. And with his true lack of creativity, Josak's joking in calling him Adelbert-a wasn't necessarily a bad suggestion, at least Berta could work. He could remember it in case someone spoke to him and, well, he wasn't nearly pretty enough for a true pretty name. "And I guess Berta is fine. If someone could write that for me too..."

Gunter hadn't thought about Bert not being able to read or write, but it made sense. He scrawled his name on the one page with a rather elegant looking script and looked over the paper for the pseudonyms. "Mother always said if I was born a girl, my name would have been Lova. So, I suppose that will suffice." He looked at Bert and frowned. "I think we can come up with something better for you." He thought for a second. "Adelia! This way, it's far less obvious and a bit more effeminate, wouldn't you agree, Josak?"

[orange_mullet]

Yozak had forgotten about Bert's not knowing their language. It was easy when the doubles - no matter where they were from - arrived understanding and speaking the language (or seemingly so). "Sign your own name however you like. Doesn't matter," he said, smearing red over his lips. "If Gunter can alter his penmanship, he can sign your employee papers. If not, I'll do it in a second."

Satisfied that he was as perfect as he could be, he fluffed his hair back, twisting a few curls so they were a little more pronounced. He moved to the table to sign his own papers. He left a sloppy X where his own name should be, having never really got into the habit of signing his own name. And penned a ridiculously loopy, swirly, elaborate name on his fake papers.

[amazing_am_i]

"Adelia is fine." Whatever they chose for him was just fine. The sooner this was done with, the better. He took the quill and made some squiggly lines. All that was recognizable was an A, and what might have been a few crossed Ts. At least, recognizable to anyone that knew roman letters. Looked like there was no turning back now. He wished he hadn't gone for a bath.

"I'm afraid I've never been able to permit myself to write indiscriminately. My apologies." Gunter moved away from the desk and sat back on his bed, patiently waiting for all the affairs to be in order. "But we can always claim that Adelia wasn't educated, which is true for a number of rural towns, I believe. At least, the ones Anissina hasn't gotten her hands into for spreading women's education." He just had to remember to keep his own intelligence in check. He could play flighty. At least, short term. It was hard if he had to do it for too long.

[orange_mullet]

Yozak nodded. "Most house staff aren't, unfortunately. Especially where we're going. So be careful about that." He was looking more at Bert when he said that. Though he didn't think they had much to worry about. "I would suggest just keeping your voice turned off at all times." He didn't think Bert's voice would carry over well into feminine tones. "If you have to talk, whisper."

He folded up the employment papers and tucked them down the front of his dress. Shoes were buckled on, and that was that. "Alright!" he clapped. "Shall we?"

[amazing_am_i]

"Right. I'll be like the little mermaid. Can't use the voice." Which should help things by not saying something completely ridiculous.

Gunter looked at Bert curiously. "The little mermaid? I'm not sure I know what you mean, but if that's what helps you, then all the better!" Gunter smiled and sounded like he was going to enjoy the day. He knew what was important and no matter how much fun he could have, he had to not get carried away. Admittedly, he didn't much like his falsetto, but it would be adequate enough for the day. "Lead the way~"

"It's an Earth thing." Bert mumbled as he followed behind the men that seemed a bit too into this. He didn't feel liking having to try and explain Disney or movies or even animation. He wasn't sure he even could.

[orange_mullet]

From the castle, there was a little ride to an inn, where they traded wagons, and joined a few other ladies (actual ladies) heading off to the same location. The estate itself was nestled a few miles outside of the village, down a well-kept road and mostly hidden behind a grove of trees.

Yozak pulled the employment papers from his dress as they pulled up the house, and was the first one off the wagon when it rolled to a stop. A man in a blue suit stood waiting for them. Yozak greeted him with a smile, and handed the papers over, introducing himself as "Ann", and his companions, Lova and Amelia.

The man looked over the papers, muttered over them, make some under-breath remarks about size and stature, and moved on to the other new workers.

[amazing_am_i]

Bert did his best to not grimace the whole time, but he didn't exactly smile either. He looked at Gunter who was ear to ear with a smile and seemed happier than anything. something about that man was off, but he was something like Gisela's father or something, so he should at least play nice. He didn't feel more out of place than he did when they met up with the actual women. They were pretty average, but not too bad. He felt like a wolf in poorly made sheep's clothes that would be discovered in an instant. For the time being, he simply said nothing and tried to keep to himself and just follow Josak when ordered. He couldn't have been more grateful to Gunter and his fantastic stories, but he worried if he could help keep up with Gunter's lies.

Gunter was having a grand time. He was chatting it up with the ladies, making up all sorts of stories about how "she" had moved from village to village, never really having a home to call her own, but it was ok, because she met so many great people and had so many random jobs. He knew if he made it seem like he'd been almost everywhere, any lie he got caught in, he could play it off as confused. He also explained that "her" father was a giant in her home village and that some of the work she did along the way was pretty hard labor, so that's why he seemed a little larger. Gunter also went on to explain about how he met "Amelia" in one of those villages and felt a bit of pity for a fellow giant's daughter, especially one so tragically shy. It had been years since she spoke outside of a whisper to anyone, but she was doing her best. He didn't know a lot about "Ann", but had a good feeling about her, much like she had a good feeling about the girls he was chatting with.

[orange_mullet]

Yozak was glad to see Gunter fall into his role so easily. If things ran smoothly, they wouldn't have to linger long. They could escape in the bustle of the evening meal preparations.

The man in the blue suit - who called himself Master Reginald - stepped forward once more, and made a loud noise to get everyone's attention. "If you will all follow me, I will get you your assignments. You break for lunch only, twenty minutes. No more, or you will be on the first wagon back to the employment office!" He turned sharply and marched into the two-storey house. Yozak grinned, giddy and ready for something fun to do, and started off after him.

[sardonic_beauty]

Gunter grabbed Bert's arm and pulled him along, smiling and trying to encourage "Amelia." (Though Bert wasn't sure how his name got changed, but he didn't really care.) He would nudge the larger one from time to time because he definitely walked like a man. A bit of a bump to his hips put a bit of a sway from time to time, but nothing looked good about it at all. Maybe he could get something staying in one place, like peeling potatoes. Gunter could hope for him, anyway. Gunter himself wanted to be the shiny new thing to get anyone who'd talk's attention.

(Bert's along for the ride on this tag)

[orange_mullet]

Reginald brought all the ladies into a parlor, where he proceeded to pass out assignments direct the girls on where to go. It was assumed, as they had come from an agency (presumably, in Yozak, Gunter, and Bert's case) that they would already be trained.

Yozak held Gunter and Bert back, to make sure they were among the last to receive orders. The last jobs in the lots were guaranteed to be the most labor intensive. Yozak suspected Reginald was withholding those jobs for him and the boys anyway, given their girth over the other women. These kind of jobs were the easiest to slip away from, as they came with the most excuses (refilling buckets, finding materials, need more of this, ran out of that...)

Naturally, once they got down to their real reason for being there, whatever Reginald handed them was going to be discarded.

"The ballroom floor needs scrubbing, second floor," Reginald said. He pointed to Yozak and Bert. To Gunter, "You start with wiping down the walls in upstairs hall."

"Yes, sir," Yozak smiled. The second floor, at least, was a good place to start.

[sardonic_beauty]

Wiping walls seemed simple enough - though Gunter himself never really did any actual labor. But the hall location would be rather good for listening to passing conversations, he thought. He smiled at Reginald and gave him a small polite curtsy.

He thought about Bert having to scrub floors in that dress and fought a laugh. At least he'd be with Josak, so he shouldn't get into too much trouble. At the very least, Gunter could defend himself well against whatever could go wrong. "Ann, Amelia, let's go find our buckets and get started!" He had to impress the boss and it seemed Bert's size was still getting some odd looks.

Bert tried to look pleasant the best he could, but did stick close to Josak and Gunter. He was very relieved to be assigned with at least one of them and hoped he wouldn't do anything stupid again - like eating a national treasure. Gunter gave him that stupid story, but it could make things a lot easier in the end.

[orange_mullet]

The buckets were easy to locate. Someone had already filled them - probably Reginald in hopes of rushing along the cleaning (or kissing up to his boss). Most households kept their supplies in similar places, and Yozak had done this sort of thing enough times that he had no trouble adjusting to the layout and picking out where they needed to go. From the storage closet, each of them got a bucket and something to scrub with, be it a brush or a cloth.

Yozak lead the way up to the second floor, careful not to spill a drop from his bucket. The layout was fairly simple, once one got past the gaudy decoration. There was a huge set of double door smack in the middle of the hallway, which could only be the ballroom. Two doors stood to the right, one to the left, one directly across, and another farther down the hall (and given its location so pressed in the corner, Yozak would bet it was nothing more than a closet).

“He wouldn’t conduct any business on the ground level,” he said softly to his companions, headed for the ballroom. “Too dangerous. If there is something to be found, it’s up here. One of these rooms is bound to be an office or war room of some kind. But first, we need to know if and which are occupied.”

Gunter had been given hall duty, so Yozak gave him a meaningful look. “Can you do that?”

[sardonic_beauty]

Gunter felt a little bad for the girls that would normally have to clean this (and the ones that would once they left). There was so much wall! "I believe I can do something to that effect." They had to fill their buckets first, so there had to be some sort of wash room at least behind one of those doors. They wouldn't have a ballroom without one nearby.

"Let's find a washroom to fill these. That could get at least one room off our list to check, and be completely innocent." He whispered the last part. He tried to think of all the estates he had been in and he looked at the layout. He figured the washroom would probably be the one to the left so that people wouldn't ever be confused and enter the wrong one. "Shall we try one of the rooms on the right?"

Bert was following behind, doing his part to stay quiet, though he was increasingly uncomfortable any time he saw Reginald pass by downstairs as he was pushing girls in the right direction.

[orange_mullet]

Yozak nodded and moved for one of the mentioned doors. It was odd that every door was shut. It reeked of suspicion. So perhaps not all that odd, given that the man who resided here was guilty of treasonous activity (they just had to find the evidence).

He paused at the door and leaned in to press an ear to the wood, listening for any sound on the other side. When he heard nothing, he carefully edged the door open and took a peek inside. An office. And it was unoccupied - for the moment. But for how long?

He turned and shoved his bucket at Bert. “Amelia, dear, find the water and get the work on the ballroom. Keep your ears open.” He turned to Gunter next, moved his braids over his shoulder and straightened his apron a bit. He hated to ask, but, “You distract anyone who comes near here. I know what I’m looking for. I’ll try not to take too long.”

[amazing_am_i]

Bert walked off, anxious and a little worried, but figured that those two would be better at anything secretive than he was. He went towards the door on the other side of the ballroom and opened it carefully.

Inside it was a typical looking washroom. A bit fancy since this was a large estate after all, but nothing out of sorts. He started towards the sink when he heard a few voices in the stalls. This was bad. Why wasn't Josak here instead?

He took a step backwards and knocked over one of the buckets he had set down, causing a loud klank. One of the men, who weren't really talking about anything besides hunting some rare game in the woods poked his head out of the semi-private stall. He caught a glimpse of Bert crouching to pick up the bucket. Bert wanted to run off as fast as he could, but the guy called out to him instead.

"Hey girl, why don'tcha turn around and show us your pretty face? I like big girls like you."

Bert cringed but didn't turn around. He picked up his bucket and started towards the door.

"Hey! Don't you ignore me!" The man was completely out of the stall now, the other man coming out of the one beside him.

"That's no way to talk to the help. She's probably scared."

Bert nodded, clenching the bucket tightly.

"See? Now stop being so crass and let's go. Boss wanted to meet us in his office."

Bert started to panic. Josak was in that office. But Gunter was there to act as a distraction, right? He was completely at a loss and before he could decide what to do, the men were walking past him and out of the washroom - but not before the louder one pinched Bert's backside. He was caught completely off guard and didn't even manage to make a sound, but the shocked expression on his face would have spoken volumes.

[sardonic_beauty]

Gunter heard the bucket echo down the hall and whispered into the room for Josak. "Keep alert, Amelia is making excess noise with the bucket."

It wasn't long from the bucket noises that Gunter saw the two men heading towards him. He took a few steps towards them and smiled brightly, making sure to give just the right amount of eye contact and to bat his long eyelashes just enough.

"Pardon me, gentlemen. I don't wish to be a terrible bother, but you see, I'm supposed to wash all of these walls and I'm afraid I just don't even know where to begin! I'm not used to such fancy places." He pouted slightly and held his hands behind his back to give a slight wiggle. Josak needed to hurry.