icyqull

[icyqull]

Theories, probable, likely. Despite being very sure of himself, despite being so confident, this man only spoke in a manner that might have made someone thought he lacked conviction, if not for the resoluteness of his face and manner. 

Shenhe's brow crinkled, faintly, and she stared at him for a moment before she shook her head. It might have been difficult to discern exactly what the motion meant – contradiction, denial, confusion – but when next she spoke it might have been clearer that it was acceptance, and ultimately, the offer of her trust. 

"I don't know what a lot of that means, but I have seen what it can do. I have felt it, and I continue to feel it here. Destruction is not unfamiliar to me, but the scope is unlike what I know from firsthand experience. I would like to keep it that way." 

There were forces beyond the ken of a normal human that she had brushed against, and indeed those that she had eliminated and overpowered with her own hands, but it was the understanding of it that she lacked, the grade and scale of different variations – it didn't seem to matter to her, when in the end it was all the same. 

"If that is the source, then we must stop him. I don't really care whether we are still in the same location as the original resort – what matters is that the people and your Aeon or your Emanator are here in the same place. I don't believe this was what they wanted from vacation." 

Where normally the statement might have come off sarcastic from any other person, Shenhe meant it genuinely – indeed, this was not what she had been led to expect. 

Her fingers tightened on his wrist, just slightly, and she tugged him in the direction of the grinning man, dice rolling in his hands. 

to memorize theatrical lines

[icyqull]

(starter for @incitomniaveritas)

Shenhe grunted, adjusting the sway of the skirts about her legs as the crowd jostled around her, ushering herself and themselves further into the darkness of the unknown. She had been herded more than once on this trip in a manner she couldn't pretend to enjoy, and the press of the remaining patrons into this place pitch a cold stone into her stomach.

Many have died, and many will continued to die.

She did not need to look around to understand that this was the same story told again, that it was a premonition coming to pass – she did not need to be told to be angry about it, either. That she could feel just fine, the press of irritation straining against her red ropes, those fraying bindings growing weaker over time. Shenhe had hoped, for a while now, as long as she had understood the consequences of their degradation, that her own will would keep pace with it.

She could not afford to test whether that was the case. Not right now.

It was a lucky thing he stood so tall, she spotted him easily over the crowd and instantly she made her way to push through the milling bodies to reach a hand out, fingertips brushing against his arm in a manner that for anyone else would have been a desperate grab.

"You. You know more about what's happening than most here. We cannot allow this to come to pass." Her face turned up to his, and although the lines of her expression remained cool and unchanged, her eyes burned.

Many have died, and many will continued to die.

to memorize theatrical lines

[icyqull]

Despite their earlier cordiality, the doctor had once more become aggressive with Aethel, but as his questions became more pointed - with documentation from her own office, a fact which made Shenhe's brow crease - so too did her own sense of unease began to find its feet. Had not that other young man pointed out that Aethel was duplicitous?

It had not been much, but the mention stirred in Shenhe's mind, mounting distrust as the doctor continued.

It would have to wait, however, as the mounting destruction shivered and shook the walls and each crack not only extended its tail further into the drywall into the foundations of the building, but flaked off to reveal the clusters of crystal entirely.

Even just to look upon it made Shenhe feel a deep sense of disgust, separate from her disquiet with where to place her trust, her own uncertainty as to whether she knew the correct path to follow, the correct person - and they hadn't the time, as it had spread like ice underneath everything, dropping the walls around them as they spoke.

Her instincts took her to leap after the doctor, long legs eating the space easily. "Aethel, girl, do you need assistance? If you do not, help those who do - "

A futile directive, as there did not seem to be any but them foolish enough to venture forth.

"Come! We must leave!"

@originsrebirth

Hotel Reputation in Tarnish

Muy Hotel ┆ Emphyrean Week 2 ┆ Raiden Mei, Shenhe, and Dr. Ratio

[icyqull]

Shenhe did not take the map extended, but flicked a glance down at it as the doctor spoke, then another to the crumbling statue that he had used to break through the wall into the office. The shower of plaster and stone continued around them, intensified further by their continued movement and his attempt to manoeuvre - while it had yielded them navigation, she had to wonder if it was worth it.

"A hallway to the ballroom?" she parroted, tipping her chin onto her fist thoughtfully for a moment. Although the ballroom had collapsed, his tack of finding what else was nearby was a sound one, and if this substance caused destruction wherever it touched, then it would follow that there would be large deposits of it nearby.

As though coming to a decision, Shenhe dipped her chin in a nod, then lifted her eyes to meet those of her companions.

"It would be the soundest idea to proceed in that direction, then, regardless of the previous contents of the rooms and surrounding area. We are not looking for someone or something that resides here normally - we want to find the evil that is here now, and to eliminate it. For that, we cannot stay here. This seems clear."

Many have died, and many will continue to die. Ratio had apologized to her, for her inability to prevent what had already come to pass, and it was not only his sincerity that struck her, but also that she felt that regret strongly enough for even a stranger to notice. It was not with pride, but with clarity of purpose - she would hold that point of sadness close to her heart, for as long as it took to save the hotel.

"Come. We will have to move quickly, or the walls will continue to crash around us."

@originsrebirth

Hotel Reputation in Tarnish

Muy Hotel ┆ Emphyrean Week 2 ┆ Raiden Mei, Shenhe, and Dr. Ratio

[icyqull]

Although it was important not to dismiss the unhappiness of an employee - she knew this, she had been told by Chef Mao, even though it was something she had not put into practice as yet - there were other things that were of clear higher priority, and Shenhe frowned as even their movements drew a shiver and rain of plaster down upon them.

"It's this way. Don't break anything. Step here." She turned on her heel, the swish of her skirt about her knees dusting some of the lingering frost and dust from the air, and her strides were confident towards the area where she had attempted to exorcise...the Emanator? She still didn't have a clear idea of what it was, but the mention drew recognition from Aethel, and it seemed clearly important to this doctor, who seemed to think he knew quite a lot.

She gestured – once for them to stop, a safe distance from the thrum of energy that she had pinpointed earlier, that ghastly heartbeat she could feel strain against the binding ropes, and then again towards it.

"Here. Do you feel it? This is...something wrong, but it isn't something that I've had experience with. It would not cease when I attempted to banish it - " her affect at this was as flat as ever, but there was a clear disappointment if one were to look closely enough, "But neither did it flourish."

Leaning forward over crossed arms, she peered into the space, the golden flow of qi - or something like it, she could not even determine that much, simply that it was wrong - and found shifts in the light, specks of swallowing darkness marring the light, and when she squinted, got closer, she found that it was almost the same hue of amber in the great Cor Lapis deposits of Liyue, shimmering and breathing just the same but...strangled, almost, by the suffocating dark.

"Hang on, there's something in there. I'll try to pry some loose."

Fingers reached forward, tugged by the light and the draw of that awful presence, and Shenhe felt herself tugging back in return, forced her mind to focus sharply and only allow herself to reach and take that small portion, not to wrench and claw and fight. Gently, her fingertips brushed against the surface, unable to say for certain whether it was or was not Rex Lapis' own beating heart -

And her eyes blinded by that light for a moment, the flash and a chill of her heartbeat in her chest, the skip and stutter of her pulse out of synchrony with her own breathing, feeling the wash and wave of skirts and steps and laughter – another ball? The faces were so faraway, so blurry she could not see, and would not have recognized them if she could, and for a moment Shenhe felt so lost in such great despair for the certain death that would come for them all that she had to release -

A breath.

A frown.

"I couldn't pry any of it loose," she reported. "It granted me a vision of a party. Not the one last night, or even the night before. Many have died, and many will continued to die."

Pausing, she glanced once more to the crack, palm hovering toward it thoughtfully, before she dragged herself backward, turned to face her companions.

@incitomniaveritas

Hotel Reputation in Tarnish

Muy Hotel ┆ Emphyrean Week 2 ┆ Raiden Mei, Shenhe, and Dr. Ratio

[icyqull]

Hackles lowered, when both Aethel herself and another young woman approached, mollifying, the attempt to work together and the reassurance that this man also seemed to have the best interests of the hotel at heart. Not merely that, but the more he spoke, the more clear it seemed that he was concerned for the occupants within, and those without – those who had found themselves lost. While his interest also seemed to lean toward an intellectual puzzle, she supposed she could not fault him for it, for all that his heart was in the correct place. 

He had done his due diligence as well, this doctor - and that explained some of it - gathering information before coming to clarify. It was an approach she knew herself to be weakest at. But perhaps this was the practice she needed to improve. 

"The energy in the cracks is not divine," she said shortly, as it came to it – he had said a lot of words, and some of it was of a color that she had never seen and could not parse, but she knew what it felt like to be near a god, and she knew what the energy had felt like. 

Then, as the realization occurred to her that she should elaborate: "I have pinpointed a source of the energy within a particular space, just down this hall." She shifted, gesturing with a nod of her head the area which had been so resistant to her effort to expel whatever foulness clung. If even she, prodigal and trained by the Adepti, could not destroy it and send it to the beyond, then she was not terribly surprised to hear that others had been left with a bad feeling. 

"It isn't like the forces that I'm familiar with. But then, a lot of what you said I'm not familiar with," she acknowledged, turning to face Ratio, assessing. "I don't know who Mr. Reca, nor Nicolai are, but if they can be saved by destroying your...Emanator. Then we can start there." 

@originsrebirth

Hotel Reputation in Tarnish

Muy Hotel ┆ Emphyrean Week 2 ┆ Raiden Mei, Shenhe, and Dr. Ratio

[icyqull]

The once pristine walls shivered, flakes of drywall, plaster, paint showering down on their heads like snow with only the barest semblance of a pattern. It she tilted her head back, she could see the cracks forming, spiderlike, in the ceilings, could see them expanding and breathing as though the Hotel Empyrean was its own living creature that had been left untended, that was ill and could not recover. 

It was a building. That was ridiculous. Nevertheless, the more Shenhe moved around the unfamiliar halls, that same plush carpeting now coated and streaked, the marble of the foyer gritty and dusty with debris, the more she felt life in these halls, despite being so empty, despite coming to ruin, there was something that thrummed. 

She felt it coming nearer, swirling around her like a heartbeat, brushing with her palm as she placed it gently against the wall and closed her eyes. Of the energies in the world, of the spirits, light and dark, fulfilled and unfulfilled, this one felt like all of them and none, like its own creature, as though the building had manifested its own sense of purpose, and its own incredible moods. 

A flush of her own power, not the cosmic evil from within her that always brushed and strained against her red ropes, but that innate sense to put to rest – the calamity, and the quelling, and the murmurs of all those alive and dead that she had ever come across. It seemed to do... 

Well, nothing. Neither good nor ill. Taking in a breath, her face a flat mask but her stare heavy with contemplation as she kept her eyes on the wall for a moment longer, she turned, spotted Aethel in the lobby, and the man who had approached. 

Her strides took her up to the pair in less than a moment, and with deliberate shifting she faced Aethel, back prominently displayed to the interloper who begged so rudely for Aethel's time. 

"Miss Aethel." A greeting, however flat, and she did not even bother to look over her shoulder as she continued; "If this person is causing you distress, and perhaps contributing to the degradation of the building, then I will intervene." 

@originsrebirth or @revelation-empyrean someone talk her down omg

Hotel Reputation in Tarnish

Muy Hotel ┆ Emphyrean Week 2 ┆ Raiden Mei, Shenhe, and Dr. Ratio

[icyqull]

[ ＳＯＡＲＩＮＧ ＨＥＩＧＨＴＳ . ] [MAN'S BEST FRIEND]

Away from technology one can find a plethora of teeming life—inside civilization held domesticated and cared for creatures while outside in the wilds held an abundance of life with a constant state of evolution happening. To say it wasn't a rare beauty he indulged in from time to time would be a lie amongst many, so he discards the notion. He had cared for children and the odd domesticated pet when the owner of an orphanage, his memories of working up to harsher times creatures in his latter years far more clear and dull in comparison. He’d never held them particularly high compared to people, but then again he didn't hold many people above the maiden they he maimed. So, along those lines…

While he does get sidetracked from his mission in brief bursts of self-indulgence, he is not a man who shirks the care that nurtures one soul. He is no stranger to wallowing in conviction, not allowing a shred of despair or sorrow to take him like he allowed it during exile, he knows that sun and fresh air is nothing to deprive oneself of. A computer deck and a wide desk of papers used to be his home for many mornings and nights, but not any longer with this new contract above his head.

His leash is long and so he finds himself within the area you would consider a pasture, a long stretch of land with small curves to its surface and a high fencing that encloses all except a way to the barns. From what he could guess, it was a good plot of land with no rocks and good landscaping. The security was also to his liking, keeping pesky children and disrespectful adults from the majesty that was the horses in their pen.

From beside a woman in an expensive white dress and flowing white hair he does a double take at, he can spot a mare kicking up dust and scaring off multiple people on the fencing with her wild kicks. The only one left beside himself and the pale woman was a stomping, angry mare with a brown coat.

A Thoroughbred, his mind supplied from memory. The shape of her athletic frame and hooves were powerful enough to take her many places, or as shown just now, tear into turf with little issue.

While he knew he was good with horses before, in an era long gone from here, he hesitates. Humans are a flawed, emotional species just like animals and he's played with many human lives… but he's deceived animals even less. His hand hovers over a particular mare that had kicked up grass and stomped at previous tourists. They do stare each other down, a game of wits that only eyes can communicate between them, before he gently lays his gloves hand before her nose. A few sniffs and a long pause, before the horse was soon batting the ridge of her nose against his palm with a wagging tail.

He keeps his touch light as horses are just as sensitive as any other creature, but he does turn to the woman who hadn't run away.

“Probably agitated from the hooligans on her fence and yelling at her, I wouldn't blame her for knocking over the railing they were using to mess with her.” Even Otto Apocalypse can sound vindictive, and he lets the horse sniff and gallop before them with little conniption she was kicking up dust at him. “It seems she's fine now, if you'd like to try anything. Be warned though, even if she's a familiar breed for one such as myself, I apologize that I don't know if she'll react… poorly again.”

The mare was a beautiful creature, even someone as untrained in these matters as Shenhe could see it. It was almost with envy that she stood at the edge of the paddock, watching the unbridled storm of hooves tearing into earth, the unrestrained whinnying and the toss and turn of her great head, shaking and snorted and pacing before launching into another tirade.

It was the emotion of it all, the ability to so strongly release - perhaps for a moment Shenhe saw herself in the mare, saw what she could be if let wild. But just as she had her red ropes to bind her, the mare had the fence of the paddock, the leather bridle to guide her in the proper direction, and her keeper with a strong hand to hold that bridle.

The spray of dust and grass didn't bother her, no more than the approaching footsteps of the one she assumed for a moment must be the horse's owner, if not for the final portion of the man's statement.

If he was the horse's owner, and knew that she was being harassed, Shenhe did not think she could have controlled herself from striking him down, even through the red ropes' power.

"I see." And it was in the firmness of that statement, short and simple, that simmered the extent of the emotions she could feel - the bubble of anger, expressed only in mildness, but flaring nonetheless.

She turned toward the man and took a step closer to him, held his gaze firmly for a moment before speaking again. "If the hooligans appear again to cause her distress, they will not walk away to return for a third time. I will wait for them. If you would like to wait with me you may, but it is not required."

[icyqull]

That man had drifted off to his own devices for a moment, and although incurious as to the specifics, Shenhe understood that there must have been something about the task that he needed to perform while not under Aethel's supervision – she nodded curtly to the pair as they moved out from the main bedroom to where the jacuzzi was kept, her acquiescence that she could handle the remaining task given to her. 

Before leaving, she slipped the same two pills Aethel had rebuked her over into her pocket – if they were indeed merely vitamins, then it was a simple matter for the man to replace them. But Shenhe suspected there was something amiss, and needed either a better look or a keener mind. 

The bathroom was much the same as any other had been, although bigger, and filled with a greater degree of disarray. Shenhe had to shake her head, uncomprehending at the numerous and sundry cosmetics and ointments scattered about the counters. 

A quick series of motions gathered various tubes and bottles, where she sorted them by size rather than looking at the labels to see their purpose. The smallest of these, she gathered and placed in the drawer within the vanity. 

From there it was merely a quick trip to the cleaning cart to wipe down surfaces that needed it, and she took an overlong moment to contemplate the hanging towels on the rack. A palm against the surface told her that they were damp and used. 

Shenhe frowned. It was always the towels. She replaced these as well, and nodded her satisfaction, before turning on her heel to follow Aethel and the young man to assist with the jacuzzi. 

sorry my parda's at the cleaners

along with my hoodie and my fuck-you flip-flops || networking with aethel and aventurine || #ghrevelation2025 week one

[icyqull]

Was it fun? As she suspected, it was merely counting, and Venti seemed to have realized this as well to so accurately understand the amounts shown. He seemed to understand this game a lot better than she, and whatever other unspoken rules there were. 

It was without reaction that she watched the man forfeit one of his own dice, and then begin with a low bid, significantly lower than his previous round's. Narrowing her eyes, Shenhe shook the dice in her cup and once more mimicked the motions that he made, as though they might make her better at the aspects of the game that she didn't understand just yet - perhaps this was what made it so fun. 

Or...perhaps it was the losing that was fun? That seemed unlikely. She did not make much Mora at her job, but she would not want to waste it on something like this. 

Looking at her dice for a long moment, then flicking her eyes up at Venti as though asking a question she wasn't quite sure how to phrase, she said, "I think there are three dice with a value of four." 

all in on me

#REVELATIONEmpyrean2025 | Casino | @icyqull

[icyqull]

It was the sound of a song that drew her in, the rhythm of sound unnatural that did not struggle in opposition to the signs of life and of nature, but rather in concert with it, the crash of waves on the sand and the creak of insects as they came to life at night. Unfamiliar even to the music she had heard on those rare occasions, the soaring wings of flute and strings to convey tales of grave importance with the lilting cadence of opera, this settled into the sand warmly, as though it were a blanket to be wrapped in.

Shenhe approached, but jerked back, only briefly, at the flutter of the bird about her head, at its chattering - her brow pinched, until she heard its little cries come together in what appeared to be affirmation as it returned to its master.

"I did not know that performances were being held on the beach," she stated plainly, looking around the empty beach. "It is a shame that your audience is absent. The music is…pleasant."

She would not have said that it stirred something within her, which she understood music was meant to do, but she did think that it made her feel… Well, to have made her feel anything was enough, wasn't it?

These were things she was not yet used to.

"If you are continuing, then I will listen." Although her affect flat, and only half a step taken forward, it was with a hesitance that betrayed eagerness that she allowed herself to sit, and turned to face him wholly, waiting for him to continue.

"What…is that…?"

Where the Weary Rest

Revelation | S'mores - Ifa & Shenhe

[icyqull]

The reaction to the ring didn't escape Shenhe's notice, nor did it settle entirely cleanly in her gut - important possessions like that, in places they weren't mean to be, often resulted in other things ending up in places they were supposed to be, like a body. But there seemed almost nothing in the air of this suite, it felt so sterile, neither full of vitality nor mired down by clinging death - if one were to ask Shenhe her professional opinion, not only were there no spirits currently in the room, but there never had been or would be.

Hm. Was she telling herself an inside joke? The sensation stirred oddly for her as they continued down the hall of the suite into the bedroom. Equally untidy, equally without direction She stirred about the closet, finding nothing but more of the fine quality clothing, before she moved over to the bed.

It was so large, and she could not understand why a single person would need so much space. And rumpled.

"I have to wonder if Mr. Finley is plagued by bad dreams," she commented, deadpan, reaching for the enormous comforter to untangle it from its ball, shaking it out a bit, casting a glance passing flatly inquisitive over her shoulder at the cart for spare linens. "If not, he moves quite a bit. Maybe he could do with acupuncture, or meditation, to assist his restlessness."

Her eye caught on the bedside table, drawn by the ornate little pillboxes. "He seems to have his herbal supplements in order."

Her hand reached for the glass, the green scent of spa cucumber water drifting upward and mixing with the base earthiness of the pills in the box, and she set the glass on the cart to be taken away. Curious, she reached for the pills themselves, to tuck them into a pocket - she could identify one, but not the other, but perhaps she just needed to inspect them later.

@revelation-empyrean

sorry my parda's at the cleaners

along with my hoodie and my fuck-you flip-flops || networking with aethel and aventurine || #ghrevelation2025 week one

[icyqull]

"Shenhe," she corrected. "That's my name."

Shenhe canted her head, leaning back on her haunches a bit as the girl spoke. "Yes," she replied flatly, "I suppose I have survived. I didn't know that makes me an expert on it, but then I suppose that people die rather often when they don't mean to."

There had been instances where she had heard tale of a traveler's death, either at the hands of hilichurls or other such creatures in the wilds, or due to their own carelessness - in all cases, it was always referred to as a tragic accident, with none in control. Although Shenhe did not find herself sympathizing with this sort of mindset, it was something that she strove hard to prevent.

Perhaps the two went hand in hand - her staunch refusal to see survival as anything other than a choice to make, and one that she would fight for, tooth and nail, gave her the strength and perspective needed to provide this choice to others, when offered.

"All right. I will help you survive. I believe that you can, no matter what happens."

Was she supposed to provide an example here? She had never taught before, had only listened, attentive, to instruction before executing it to the highest degree of her capability.

"You sleep deeply. I don't. I wake up at the barest sound. Perhaps that's a place to start."

largeankle survival 101

GHRevelation2025 - continued from x. / hook + shenhe

[icyqull]

So it was just counting. That was how it seemed, to her.

Shenhe absorbed the man's words silently, watching him without blinking as he moved, every flair and fuss, and canted her head to watch Venti when he took his turn as well - it was a safe assumption to go from two to four dice with a face of four, if they all three rolled.

She took the cup from in front of her and shook it gently at first, and then with gusto, an imitation of the motions that the man had made - perhaps there was a skill to rolling, that might allow one to predict the outcome to a certain favor. She understood that, by virtue of going last, she was simultaneously in a position of vulnerability, but also of strength.

Slamming the mouth of the cup onto the table, causing it to tremor slightly, she made blank eye contact with the man before tilting her cup, just so, to see within it.

"I believe that there are two dice with a face value of five."

@revelation-empyrean

all in on me

#REVELATIONEmpyrean2025 | Casino | @icyqull

[icyqull]

It reminded her almost of visiting the Jade Chamber, those few times that she had opportunity to do so - such opulence, sequestered so high in the sky. The elevator ride was not quite the same as rocketing into the clouds, but glancing outward Shenhe found herself recognizing the urge for the powerful to look out upon the land as a whole, rather than the brief snippets seen face to face with feet firmly on the ground.

The walk to the door felt the longer for the anticipation, almost - Aethel's tension fairly spilt off of her, and Shenhe could feel her own agitation fester somewhat in instinctive response.

"His staff were among those who disappeared?" It might have seemed obvious, given that they weren't here, but she found herself thinking of them idly as they filed into the room. "But he was spared such a fate. He is very lucky."

She began the busywork of tidying immediately, not waiting to be told - if there were specific things that needed to be addressed in a specific manner, she was certain that Aethel would take care of it, but in the meantime it did not take a trained hand to find a broom and dustpan, nor to straighten seats or sofa cushions. The work came easily to her, part and parcel of working at a restaurant.

"What could he have done with the bath that would require such dread from you?" her tone was as flat as it ever was, but curious - did she really not believe that between three working hands, an hour would not be sufficient?

@revelation-empyrean

sorry my parda's at the cleaners

along with my hoodie and my fuck-you flip-flops || networking with aethel and aventurine || #ghrevelation2025 week one

[icyqull]

So far, in remaining at this hotel rather than venturing out into the different areas of the resort had resulted in Shenhe being ushered about by men in a manner that might have chafed, if it were more forceful. She still didn't like it - used to venturing as she pleased or was bid, or somehow both, her Master's instruction to help her find peace with herself, being jostled this way or that she was noting that frustration was beginning to bud.

Glancing at Venti, she pushed that feeling down, tightened her grip on her impulses, and nodded to him. And she sat in the extended seat, adjusting it after settling.

"All right. It seems that we are all seeking companionship of some manner." And there again, that subtlest admittance, and this drew the barest reaction to her face before she dismissed it. "If you will explain the rules of the game you'd like to play, then I will play it."

It didn't seem to bear mentioning that she didn't know many games - at least, none that might have been played in a hall like this. It was not that the Adepti did not have methods of leisure, it was simply that they would be inconceivable for a human to understand, let alone to perform.

She leaned forward onto her arms on the table, a facsimile of ease, although her spine and shoulders remained rigid.

"I am fine with this."

@revelation-empyrean

all in on me

#REVELATIONEmpyrean2025 | Casino | @icyqull

[icyqull]

Her efforts were enough. It didn't quite seem that way, and wasn't entirely an answer, but Shenhe considered quietly as she exited the room and took the direct path to the adjacent hallway. It was rather more of the same, line by line of doors that by the end of it blurred together. She was able to gain access, but each room was clearly empty, and once she got into the rhythm of things it was easy enough to clean the hallway, but for a handful of rooms that had a lock she could not surpass without breaking through the door.

She opted not to do so, but placed a palm thoughtfully on the door that she first experienced this, as though considering it, or perhaps what was inside.

A guest. Who would prefer not to be disturbed. She hoped so, in any case.

Footsteps took her back quickly enough, and she found the other two having moved out of the single room they had entered, looking tense.

Once more she cast a glance at the odd young man, who had so easily decided that, at least for the moment and for all intents and purposes, Master enough to give her orders, before again reporting to Aethel.

"Six of the twelve rooms in the other hall have been cleaned. If it isn't up to the standard you would prefer, you may tell me. I am content to adjust." A tilt of her head, before continuing.

"Some of the rooms, however, had their doors still bolted. Who else remains on this floor, if anyone?"

@revelation-empyrean

sorry my parda's at the cleaners

along with my hoodie and my fuck-you flip-flops || networking with aethel and aventurine || #ghrevelation2025 week one