'housekeeping? [Laura]

[Reuben Angel Moore]

Reuben sat on his bed, holding a thermometer in his mouth. It beeped after a minute and he took it out, noting the temperature - which was normal - in a ruled notepad that contained hundreds of other entries; he had to complete this irritating ritual once every four hours. Otherwise, he might have overheated and be dying or something... Rolling his eyes, he tossed the notepad onto his desk and lay back, closing his eyes. He should probably begin his homework or something, but...so, so boring. He didn't know if he could be bothered to put himself through that much pain. It was ridiculous, anyway; at home, he'd got other people to do the work for him. Usually, the servants. Apparently, they didn't even have housekeeping here, which concerned him. How on earth was he going to keep his room clean if someone wasn't going to do it for him? He had a compulsion about cleanliness.

After a few minutes of a silent debate about the work - which Mr. Reuben Angel Moore was winning, with his excellent points on reasons not to do it - he heard a knock at the door and groaned. Was he going to have to answer it himself or something? It took him a minute to remember that the door was only about ten paces away, and he could just yell for the intruder to come in, anyway. " Enter. " The door slowly opened, and Rue watched with some interest, wondering who it would be. Probably not Riordan, unless he'd finally developed some manners. No, he hadn't. A small, scared-looking blonde girl stood in the doorway, chewing her nails. What a vulgar habit, and luckily one that he'd never developed.

Well, he'd tried it once, but that hadn't gone very well. Wincing, he remembered looking down at his fingers and finding them bloody, from where he'd chewed half of the flesh away without noticing, until he'd tasted blood in his mouth. Well, that just made him pre-dispositioned to dislike the girl; she'd made him remember unpleasant, vile memories. He watched Laura impatiently for a few seconds, sighing when she didn't speak. " How may I be of service to you? " For a second, he hoped that she was from the housekeeping; Riordan had said that there wasn't such a team here, but that didn't mean there wasn't. " Are you the maid? "

[Laura Richardson]

Was she the maid? Did they have those here? Laura wasn’t even entirely sure why you’d want one. Cleaning was good, it was something you didn’t normally do and it was different and it made you feel satisfied… and it also helped things not smell. Well, smell of nice things. “I…um… I don’t think so. I’m sure… I mean, I’d know if I was a maid. And I’m not. I mean.” It was partly a stupid question. She didn’t want to ask him outright if she’d know if she was the maid, particularly because she wasn’t sure how you got to be one, but also because she suspected it would get her laughed at.

“Um… I was wondering. Have you… I mean…” Laura rolled her eyes inside her head. Ten out of ten for ditheriness, stupid. “Do you… have you seen Rio anywhere?” she needed to talk to him, some things had happened since she’d talked to him last time and she was sure someone would die if she didn’t sort herself out before she got brushed against in the corridor again.

She watched Reuben curiously. She’d never met anyone who wanted a maid before, so she was a little curious. She would have run away and hid, but she hadn’t been told she could go and she didn’t want to break the no leaving rule. That was the one which had got her into this mess in the first place. “I sort of… um. Are you new?” She wondered if that was rude. But she was curious and he didn’t show any signs of letting her go away again. She gnawed a little more urgently. She should really go. Noticing the thermometer and book, Laura wondered if he was poorly or just curious. Her uncle had had one of those thermometers you put on your forehead and it changed colour. She wasn’t entirely sure what normal was when she’d done it herself that time she’d felt ill, but had decided it was probably bad when she’d developed flu.

He didn’t look ill, she decided, so it must be curiosity. Laura wondered what her temperature was. She’d never tried apart from that one time and maybe her temperature wold be an interesting number. 42 was an interesting number she’d been told. It was the meaning of life. How a number could be the meaning of life was completely beyond her, but on the advice of that same person, she always kept track of her towel. Right now it was in the bathroom.

[Reuben Angel Moore]

Reuben raised one eyebrow at the pathetic stuttering girl. He waited, patiently, for her to finish her sentence, beginning to wonder if aphasia - or some form of mental retardation - was the reason she'd been sent here. Most likely. " You're sure you'd know if you're a maid, sweetie? " Would she get it? Probably not. She seemed to have enough trouble with simple sentences, let alone highly intellectual sarcasm, which would go right over her head. He didn't think it was fair that he - with his superior IQ - was stuck in a place for crazy people who could barely talk, but decided he'd bear it. After all, he was incredibly tolerant, patient and kind.

As she spoke, he impatiently tapped his toes, probably adding to the pressure on the girl. How old was she? She looked...pretty young. Too young to be in a place like this, he thought. Well, they were evil here, and seemed to have no problem with ripping a child apart from his (or her) loving parents, just because said child had got into one or two little fights. Really, it was ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as this dithering wreck in front of him. When she finally managed to stutter out her sentence, he stared at her for a minute. Who the fuck was Rio?

It took him a minute to remember - it was his roommate - and he smiled patronizingly at her. " It's Riordan, honey. And yes, I have seen him. " He spoke slowly and loudly, making sure that she was getting it. " He said he was going to the, um... " Had he even mentioned where he was going? No. Or, if he had, Reuben hadn't been listening. " The...bathroom. " 'Nice one, Moore. Bathroom? Now she's gonna wanna stick around or something.'

" I am new to the parts around here, yes. Not new to this world -" with an exaggerated gesture, one of his favorites "- as you must be. How old are you, young one? " He decided that he'd sleep with her if she was over sixteen. Well...maybe over fifteen. No, fourteen, and that was the lowest he was going. They didn't take kids under thirteen here, did they? Well...thirteen wasn't that wrong. Only three years difference between them.

[Laura Richardson]

Laura smiled at Reuben “Probably.” She was decisive. If she was the maid someone would have told her about it. And didn’t she have to be dressed differently if she was a maid? Nope, she wasn’t. People kept calling her a patient anyway. That was a bit daft. Anyone knew she was pretty impatient.

As he stared at her, she hoped she hadn’t got the wrong room. If she had.. well, she’d never met Rio’s room mate. In fact she wasn’t even entirely sure that he had one. Unless this boy was new. Which could happen and everything. New people turned up all the time, Laura guessed they couldn’t just have new people at the end of every year like school. That wouldn’t work here, this wasn’t only a school. People got sick of their offspring, or foster kids, all the time. Hers had. “Oh… didn’t… I thought he didn’t mind. I mean… I thought that was his name.” She fiddled with her sleeves for a moment, pulling them down over her hands. “Do you… I mean…” Laura settled her own question by shrugging. “I’m… I’ll just… wait. If that’s ok.” She didn’t think Rio, or Riordan or… she wasn’t sure she could get her tongue all the way around the proper name.

Still standing in the doorway she frowned slightly. “I’m not that young. It’s taken me my whole life to get this far!” Her foster mum had said that was a good thing to say when people told her about how old she looked. “I’m fourteen. My birthday was in June.” For some reason that helped people stop looking at her as if she was making everything up. Was it rude to ask him how old he was? Adults thought so. This boy acted like an adult. Instead she smiled again. Smiling was always good.