In this world, Magic is Everything. All people, all races, are granted with the power to perform mystical and magical feats via grimories, mystical tomes granted to each and every child on their 15th birthday. Those blessed by the mana can have their names written down in legend.
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Post by Yu Jie Zhongli on Feb 22, 2022 20:00:13 GMT -5
"Unseen like the wind, lethal like a well-thrown dagger and the strength unmeasurable. These are the qualities of a Zhongli - of a proper assassin. Again, Yu-Jie! Your target won't give you a second chance and neither shall I."
Yu Jie sat crossed-legged at the study table in her tavern chambers. The small room was dimly illuminated by the crimson candlelight that flickered from the passing nighttime breeze - that slipped in through the open window like an uninvited guest. Arriving with the chilly wind was a carrier hawk, a letter tethered to its ankle. Yu-Jie smiled as she extended an arm allowing the hawk to perch upon her forearm. The Zhongli would pet the hawk's head gingerly before removing the letter. It was embossed with the Zhongli family crest, there was no doubt in the girl's mind that it was from her mother. Yu-Jie had been waiting for mother's next orders, this would be the first mission since she departed the family compound. The rogue's body trembled excitedly in anticipation. Eagerly she would use the letter opener to remove the confidential contents.
Yu Jie's smile widened, her thin lips curling with malicious intent.
"It's about time. Mother shall not be disappointed."
The Zhongli whispered aloud as she held the letter to the ember of the candle, catching it ablaze. The fire licked away greedily at the letter as she watched enamored by the beauty of the flame that was reflected in her emerald eyes. The letter was slowly whittled down until Yu-Jie would wave what remained of the parchment in the air. Only ash was left. Yu-Jie had destroyed the evidence as she was taught, having already memorized the details in their entirety. "So, mother wants me to kill a noblewoman by the name of Sephvia Astrea. She'll be attending a masquerade party at the Cathony family estate hmmm?" Yu Jie leaned back in the chair, stretching as far as her arms would extend. The carrier hawk would take flight from the girl's abrupt movements and exit into the sable darkness, beneath the full, luminous moon.
The masquerade party was set for seven days from now, which would give Yu-Jie more than enough time to take preliminary measures such as securing her entry into the estate, mapping the blueprint of the no doubt massively large estate. Rocking back to her starting position, the chair's four legs would make contact with the floor again as her eyes focused on the twin chakrams - Khlurysten that rested atop the wooden table. Yu-Jie admired their beauty, thinking of Jin and Yua who she had seen recently. Khlurysten was a gift the Zhongli received from her older brother and sister. There was solace in those beautiful memories, especially for a girl who missed her siblings dearly.
"Perhaps I should reach out to those two after this request for mother is fulfilled?"
Yu-Jie leaned close to the candle and blew it out. Everything went pitch black, the still darkness that obscured was ushered in and the ambiance in the bed-chamber fell silent.
*
Two days passed.
Yu Jie had spent that time wisely, discreetly gathering information and trying to find her ticket into the Cathony estate. Luckily for her, the Cathony family was hiring extra hands to help in preparation for the masquerade party. With a little finesse and greasing the right palms, Yu-Jie was able to have her name tossed in as a recommendation and was presented with an interview. Being trained to be skilled in infiltration, Yu-Jie had no problems playing the part of a maid and so she was hired on to start today. Arriving on the estate premises with only a single suitcase that held a few items - namely her dual chakrams and other tools of the trade she would be escorted to the servant quarters. The mansion was beautiful, furnished with exquisite decors such as prestigious works of art and victorian architecture. The regal aesthetics was a bit too much for her own tastes, but she kept her comments to herself as the head maid showed her about the place.
"Here, is where you'll be sleeping. All the servants get their own quarters. Go ahead and put your belongings up and get changed into your uniform. There's to be a gathering in the foyer near the front. All of the servants will be in attendance so please don't tarry for too long."
The bespectacled maid would look Yu-Jie up and down briefly.
"The lady Caphony does not like servants who aren't punctual Ms. Stonefell. You would do well to remember that!"
Adjusting her glasses she would leave the rogue and head down the long hallway.
"Sheesh... I can't already tell this is gonna be annoying." Thinking to herself Yu-Jie would enter the small room and set her belongings on the foot of the bed. The rogue removed the hidden bag that contained items not meant to be seen and placed them beneath the bed, pushing them far under. She would promptly get changed into her maids uniform and begin to make her way to the foyer for the meeting. No doubt it would be in reference to the upcoming masquerade ball the Caphony were throwing a few days now. The girl still had time to scout the mansion and possibly find a blind spot she could eliminate Sephvia Astrea safely away from the prying eyes of the party. She thought about these things as she shut the door and ambled down the hall.
Post by Sogai Shengxiao on Feb 28, 2022 10:32:08 GMT -5
Sogai had spent the past few days at a shabby looking, run-down 'motel' emanating the most dreadful stench imaginable. Stemming from the integrated bar, the combination of what the non-existant cleaning personnel had definitely not mopped up last night, the night before or any night for that matter, and seemingly regurgitated bits and pieces of unrecognizable mush made for an interesting olfactoric experience. However, the thief was a regular at said honorable establishment, as it was one of the very few places far and wide that offered servants of noble houses a place of stress relief and informality. A place to let go of the strict constraints a job at the richer folks' houses would naturally entail, a place to unheedingly share drunken secrets and gossip about the first class citizens of the high and mighty Clover Kingdom.
As per usual, Sogai had constantly been on the lookout for a potential job, which sometimes proved a teenie bit labor-intensive for the freelance thief. Since he couldn't exactly run around and ask people where their honored family heirlooms were hidden, he had to be a little more creative in ferreting out a potential, and most importantly doable job. Two nights ago though, he got his slightly elongated finger on what might be his largest haul ever, when a certain maid strolled into the bar, quite obviously drained and exhausted from an undoubtably draining and exhausting shift, but looking for a good time nonetheless. Attentively listening in on the wafting chit-chat and commotion surrounding him, a certain sound mage had spent the entire evening plunged right into the center of the room and picked up on a conversation the maid had with one of the pitiable waitresses. Apparently the noble she worked for, some guy called Astreor or Astrey or something similar, had moved most of his priced possessions to a disclosed location in the outskirts of the noble realm for "Furth.. hick.. Furthrer brotecsion.", as the maid had put it.
Making use of his connections among the illicit underbelly of the more sophisticated parts of the country, it had been a fairly easy feat for Sogai to find out about a 'masquerade', a fancy word for nothing more than a pompous costume party, which the eldest daughter of the Astrea was supposed to attend. His informant had discouraged him from cracking the Astrea's mansion directly, they had some of the tightest security among the nobles of their neighborhood apparently, but tipped him off about Sephvia joining a certain Caphony family for their ball.
Fast forward to today, precisely that family's estate was where the mage was headed. Another connection had told him about an offer for temporary work at their ball, that the Caphonys had relayed to other nobles employing excess waiters, waitresses and maids. In exchange for somewhat of a large sum, said connection, an elderly butler named Kurt, had managed to weasel Sogai's name onto the list of already accepted applicants. Salamander knows how he did it. "Quite convenient..", Sogai mumbled into his no longer existing beard, as he scratched his freshly shaved face, shambled across the busy street and reminisced the past few days. He took one last, long and deep pull from his cigarette, right as he turned the corner to the street his target's mansion was towering over.
In preparation for the glorious act he was about to allow the family's staff to witness, Sogai straightened his back and approached the gigantic building, slightly grimacing at the sound of his spine cracking back into shape. "Okay, let's do this.", he thought to himself and took the last steps towards the imposing iron artwork fencing the estate. Kurt had also been kind enough to lend the thief one of his tuxedos, an honestly pretty aggravating piece of clothing, that was uncomfortably and unusually tightly fit. Sogai had some problems with formal clothing like that, specifically around the back of the pants for this one. And so it came to be, that the head butler of the honorable Caphony family opened the door to the enticing view of his subordinate-to-be fiddling around with his butt. Startled upon hearing the door's lock, the young mage immediately stopped, once again straightened his back and flipped the switch: "Good afternoon, Sir. I am..", the thief's mind blanked for a moment. "Uh, Sogai Sir, here on account of Lord Withemshick, sent to aid you in catering the Lord and Lady Caphony's ball."
The lanky man, he might have been around his 60s at that time, took a brief but ever so drawling moment to scrutinize every inch of Sogai's body, his piercing glare drove an ice-cold shiver down the thief's spine. Would his 'disguise' hold up? Did the old man pick up on Sogai's misdemeanor? And why in salamander's name did he not think about an alias? Was Sogai even the name that Kurt had written onto the application? Thoughts of failure numbed the mage's brain for a split second, before the accurately dressed head butler abpruptly turned on his heel. "Appropriate posture does not seem to be a grave concern for servants at the Withemshick's, does it? Follow me suit. Here at the Caphony's however, we do pay..", he turned around briefly in between words and condescendingly glanced at Sogai, "rigurous attention to our servants preserving a demeanor befitting of the people we serve. Are we clear?" Virtually strutting across the long magnificent hallways of the Caphony estate with the relieved impostor struggling to keep up elegantly, the old man went on to explain a bit about the layout of the estate. Sogai however, in awe of the beautiful decor, artwork and furnishings, displayed in the hallways of all places, was distracted and could only think of the pitiable cleaning crew. "Not a single grain of dust, wow.", his mind went on. "What a job those poor souls have."
"Did I stutter?", the head butler remarked with a turn of his head. His piercing eyes stared right at the very core of the sound mage's existence, as the imposing man did another one of those fancy heel turns and leaned in a tiny bit too close for comfort. "Sorry Sir, no. I was trying to memorize the, uh.. layout of the building, so I would be able to provide according guidance to a lost guest of the ball.", Sogai kind of shrewdly evaded the question, while trying to keep a straight face. "Good.", the butler concluded, returning to his ever so rigid posture. "Since we do have to rush in order to arrive in time for the preparatory gathering." Naturally including yet another one of the numerous condescending side glances, the butler continued the brief overview of the mansion's blueprint, much to Sogai's convenience. The thief was going to pressure a certain guest into revealing some sensitive information after all.
"Fearsome old man.. The way he pauses in between words. Weird.", he thought to himself as he contemplated his further plans, which the non-professional had frankly not even made yet. The two of them had been traversing a part of the building that was obviously supposed to be hidden from the judgemental eyes of the familys' fellow nobles. The staff quarters were definitely not furnished to uphold to those peoples' standards, but in comparison to the hell-hole he had gotten out of this morning, even a shabby old barn would've been a blessing. The old butler had provided the sound mage with a small room, but as they were running low on time, Sogai had only managed to place his belongings inside.
Reentering the mansion's more.. adequately designed parts, the makeshift butler and his sprinting companion returned to the foyer, a large room near the entrance of the building. The imposingly high ceilings with their detailed decorations made way for the wide bifurcated staircase ascending to the top floors reserved for the Caphony family. A professional looking maid had positioned herself atop the first flight of stairs, facing the large gathering of butlers and maids neatly lined up in order. As ordered by the head butler via a quick gesture, Sogai placed himself among those many servants and found himself in the last row, while the elderly man quickly moved up the stairs and took position slightly behind what seemed to be the head maid.
The woman let out a silent but insistent "Hrm-Hrm.", which immediatly culled any leftover commotion among the army of penguins. "Good. I can see that all of you have arrived on time.", the head butler started what was going to be the preparatory speech. "With the pleasantries already taken care of, I would like to skip right to the first point of order. All of you have been hired as reinforcements for the annual Caphony ball, a highly reputable festivity for nobles from far and wide." Before he continued, the butler's intense glare wandered across the multiple rows of servants for a shot while: "Said status however, carries certain implications. Under no circumstances do we want the Caphony family to lose face. We do not tolerate failure of any kind. No exertions or efforts will be eschewed in order to provide the best experience possible for any attendant of the ball. Are we clear on that?"
"Wow." Sogai let out a quiet approving whistle, inaudible for anyone too far away from him, and whispered with one of his eyebrows raised: "Professional." The head maid took the lead: "Additionally, this year's theme is to be 'Masquerade'. Every servant will be provided with a simple black mask, as to not take away from the quests' pleasures in anonymity and secrecy." The woman, spewing an aura equally as fearsome as the head butler's, pushed her glasses back up her nose. "You will be divided into different groups and allocated different tasks respectively, so you can familiarize yourselves with said assignments for the next five days."
The thief relaxed his tightened posture a little bit and let out a slightly aggravated groan, sneakily adjusting the back of his pants again. "Posing as a servant is quite annoying.", he thought to himself as he crossed out exactly that from his list of skills. Surely this chit-chat about a costume party blown out of proportion would continue for a long while, which gave him some time to contemplate his options for the day of the ball itself.
Post by Yu Jie Zhongli on Mar 11, 2022 22:52:13 GMT -5
The spacious foyer was quite large despite the gathering of such a plethora of workforce. Yu-Jie ambled into the scene, jade, predator eyes overlooking everything and everyone. Including the numerous maids and butlers, the head maid and Lady Caphony were present; standing atop the staircase center stage. The two of them overlooked the gathered servants, though the Lady of the house far outshone her aid. That much was to be expected given her station - being of high birth from an esteemed lineage. Yu-Jie, much like her peers fell into place, neatly organized she was situated in the back. The spot was perfect for her, she could blend in and not be too close for prying eyes to wander her way. A clean-shaven man had joined shortly thereafter, and another butler would take his place behind the head maid. Yu-Jie folded her arms and shifted her weight as she focused on Lady Cpahony. Her striking features made her incredibly beautiful. Blonde hair, womanly curves, and shape accentuated her demure presence. The lady Caphony is quite the catch.
Yu-Jie pocketed the thought as the head butler quieted the low murmurings of the gathered crowd. The man, who appeared to be the head butler would speak first. He had a stern gaze that hovered aloft over the servants and workers. Yu-Jie didn't think that doing this kind of work was something to be taken so seriously, but the way he looked at her, rubbed the Zhongli the wrong way as she defiantly stared back to meet his austere scrutiny. Yu-Jie would not blink; she was unphased and unbothered. It was brief, though she was sure she had unnecessarily brought attention to herself. A lot of the verbiage was in regards to proper etiquette and not embarrassing the lords and ladies of this estate. If she wasn't undercover Yu-Jie would have huffed and puffed discontentedly, but she fought the urge. Instead, the rogue would squeeze her own arm. If she hadn't, the built-up tension from her annoyance would have spilled over like an overfilled cup - causing her in all likelihood to act out. Yu-Jie's head would turn slightly ajar as a silent whistle rang out. It was low, but she was able to hear it due to proximity and having a keen sense of hearing.
The sound was produced by the clean-shaven butler she would discern, before re-directing her attention back to the head maid who was next to speak. Much like the head butler, she was serious, stern, and well-spoken for a commoner Yu-Jie mused as she listened intently. Everyone wearing masks would be a problem, but it would also make it nigh impossible to determine which maid or butler is who. I can use this to my advantage, it'll make for a great diversion. The rogue would think this as the head maid continued on. The head maid would take a step back and the Lady stepped forward, her finely sewn dressed billowed slightly from her movements. She was adorned in precious gems and pearls - Yu-Jie could determine she had an ugly fixation upon wealth from how the Lady wreathed herself in riches. That too could prove useful she ruminated, her weight shifting to the opposite side. Already the rogue had gleaned several things she might use to her advantage and she was sure there was still more yet to be discovered. Yu-Jie only needed to search.
"Thank you Eudora and James. As you all know I am Lady Caphony. You all were hand-selected by my two best servants. I expect perfection for this Masquerade Ball. You were the best of the best when it came to your peers so don't disappoint me. With that, we have a few days to prepare, follow Eudora's and James's instructions and we shall throw the most extravagant ball of the year!"
Yu-Jie almost gagged from the way she pontificated her spiel. It would assuredly take her some time to properly blend in, given the pompously annoying personalities that ran this estate. The rogue had half a mind to add the Lady to her target list, but she would control herself. Mother had always said to not act from emotion. Emotion is what leads to mistakes and mistakes are what lead to death. Yu-Jie silently repeated the mantra to herself as if it were a spell.
It's just a few more days. Happy thoughts...
Thinking this they would almost be dismissed and broken into groups. Yu-Jie internally groaned as she was beckoned and sent off.
*
Much to the rogue's dismay, she had been tasked with cleaning the large ballroom. Who just randomly has a fucking ballroom in their home? For the life of her she just couldn't think of a reasonable cause for such a lavish lifestyle. The room was spacious enough to feature at least 600 people the girl thought as she was on her hands and knees scrubbing the floor. Inaudible expletives were whispered beneath her breath as she looked up. There was only a small group of servants tasked with cleaning this room, which was absurd given its size. A few days of this would see to it that she went mad, but the girl had little choice in the matter. She had to put up with it until the Masquerade party, but she would have loved to cut this nightmarish hell short. Absentmindedly while she was lost in thought Yu-Jie would bump into something. The girl would look up, noticing it was the clean-shaven butler from earlier during the assembly.
Oh my~ I am so sorry, I wasn't paying attention."
Yu-Jie gave her best impersonation of a meek girl, but the act was so against her normal nature that she wanted to vomit. Pretending to be nice and weak were things she was not the best at. Yu-Jie had received extensive training when it came to espionage and acting, but they were never the girl's strong suit. She much rather preferred to simply assassinate targets, but sometimes those contracts required a delicate touch as in this case. "I was just thinking that I wasn't cut out to work for such a high-profile client. It's really just dawning on me." Yu-Jie would chuckle between her soft-spoken words, offering a half-smile of sorts before she stood from her position on the floor to stretch.
"My name is Cassandra, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." WC: 1,065 TWC: 1,937
Last Edit: Mar 11, 2022 23:09:26 GMT -5 by Yu Jie Zhongli
Post by Sogai Shengxiao on Mar 14, 2022 6:36:55 GMT -5
As the head of the Caphony family elegantly, and frankly quite slowly, descended the staircase to take her rightful place slightly in front of her two main servants, silent commendatory murmurs rung out amongst the gathered personnell. The woman did pose quite the striking appearance and presence, one could tell at first glance that she was raised to pay accute attention to both her appearance and demeanor. She seemed haughty, but not to the point of arrogance, which to Sogai and anyone else immune to the nobles' usually bedazzling exterior and pretentious behavior seemed like a perfectly rehearsed act. The thief couldn't suppress a slight chuckle, considering her head was held up so high, her nose seemingly pierced the sky. "Keep putting on airs and graces, Milady, the day of the ball is sure to leave you gobsmacked.", he amused himself to calm his anger at the decadence and pageantry the woman spewed from her posture alone.
"I gotta keep it down..", the sound mage tried to further discipline himself, as a green-haired maid noticed his slight whistle and their eyes met for a brief moment. "Interesting hair color, though." Taking up the mantle after the two head servants, both of which from Sogai's perspective were inducing a hell of a lot more respect than the noble, the Lady continued the speech and further indicated the importance of the ball. The simple thought of terror the Lord and Lady Caphony would undergo as a result of a guest being pestered into revealing the location of her families' treasure trove had Sogai rejoice in malicious glee. Disrupting the nobles' lavishness and longing for social prestige was one of his favorite hobbies, after all.
Disappearing back to the upper realm of the estate in the same pretentiously gracious, and again, oddly slow way, the Lady Caphony removed herself from the scene. "What even is that slow movement? Is she walking up to an altar or something? Am I supposed to be impressed by how much time you have, I don't understand..", Sogai kept wondering about the repulsive behavioral patterns of that creature, as the head waitress let out another one of her attention attracting Hrm-Hrms and continued to divide the servants into their respective groups. Ironically, since he had just contemplated the back-breaking task of keeping the artistic ornaments and furniture free of dust, the thief was issued to help in cleaning the ballroom. "Great.."
A little later down the line, he found himself polishing heavyweight, almost cristalline-looking glasses and chalices in a large storage room that was connected to the equally, if not more massive kitchen right next to the ballroom. Long rows of racks and shelves, filled with a multitude of differently designed cutlery, glass- and flatware lined the walls and center of said room. "I definitely need a smoke..", he thought to himself as he placed the last of the polished chalices upside-down onto a tray covered with a beautifully ornamented rag, which he was to place behind the integrated bar-esque counter at the back of the ballroom. While fulfilling his given tasks as a servant, the thief had tried to scoure the vicinity of the ballroom for a befitting spot to take his future victim by surprise, but there hadn't been many promising options so far. "I'll have to sneak back here and search again.", he contemplated his options, as he opened the servant's door to the ballroom with his back, struggling not to disturb the carefully stacked chalices. "I'm not made for this.", Sogai admitted to himself.
"Elitist pricks.", he mumbled with his eyes glued to the tray of shiny decadence, as a sudden collision with something pretty sturdy had him lose his carefully maintained balance. He stumbled and as though a time-warping spell was cast, Sogai could observe in slow-motion, the tray wiggling in his hands and the without a doubt extortionately expensive chalices seemingly falling victim to the laws of gravity. He luckily managed to keep them from shattering on the floor with a quick adjustment of his arms and a slight hop, which to anyone watching was sure to look amusing. He broke character for a second and exclaimed fairly loudly: "Fuck!", only to immediately remember his position and add: "Oh Salamander, I apologize!" What he stumbled over, however, wasn't a boulder, as he would've guessed from the sturdiness of it, but rather the green-haired maid from before. "You?", Sogai questioned in disbelief. "Wow, I'm terribly sorry too.. Well, at least we didn't break these abominations of what a wine glass should be.", he further answered her own apology with a grin. The girl was stooped on the ground, scrubbing away at the endless wooden planks the floor was made of, a surely aggravating experience for anyone despite their experience serving the higher classes. "Quite the job you've been given, huh?"
Upon standing up and stretching after the hours she had probably already spent in that uncomfortable position, the green-haired maid coincidentally commented on her inability to work for the Caphonys, which the thief had just been acknowledging for himself. "Me neither, I wouldn't be surprised if not even the wizard king could remove the sticks from their asses." He lowered his voice and leaned in a little closer for the latter part, for as silent as the ballroom was, his words could've carried over to the prying head waitresses' ears easily.
Poising the tray on his right hand, surprisingly successfully actually, he reached out to Cassandra. "Sogai's the name. 'Tis a pleasure.", he mimicked the noble's tone of speech, raising his brows and slightly tilting his head and knees. "She's pretty.. strong for a girl her size.", Sogai wondered, having also noticed that the smile she put on didn't quite reach her eyes. She was softly spoken however, and apart from her fairly unusual hair color, seemed like your ordinary friendly neighborhood girl.
The sensory mage could feel a faint sting in the back of his neck, a split second before yet another one of the traumatizing Hrm-Hrms echoed trough the room, ushered by the head waitress that had positioned herself directly behind Sogai without producing a single sound. "While the Lord and Ladyship will discuss their further plans for the evening with James and I, all of you shall take a short break. Use that time to rest and immediately return to your positions in exactly twenty minutes, are we clear?", the woman exclaimed for all the servants to hear, just to lower her obviously aggravated voice and directly adress Cassandra and Sogai. "Moderate yourselves, both of you! Those chalices are a precious heirloom to the Caphony estate, we simply cannot have a single one of them break." Obviously not expecting an answer or apology, she turned on the tip of her toe, strutting away and leaving the ballroom in a flash.
"Eerie old woman, don't you think? I get the feeling she might stab me in the back, if I actually drop those crystalline heirlooms.", the thief commented, again condescendingly mimicking "the noble way of speech" for the last two words, as he watched the dragon exit through the imposing main entrance of the neatly decorated ballroom. As soon as she was out of sight, Sogai relaxed his formerly quite tense body, slightly grimacing and letting out an annoyed sigh. Doubling down on his intentions to further inspect the layout of the building, specifically looking for an escape route this time, the sound mage turned to Cassandra, scratching his awkwardly smooth chin: "Welp, I'm sorry for dragging you into that. I'll head outside for a quick smoke, I think. Care to join me?" Mindlessly snooping around the mansion alone might evoke some suspicions or attract unwanted attention, whereas some light small talk between two servants seemed like a decent excuse for a casual stroll around the estate.
Post by Yu Jie Zhongli on Mar 18, 2022 12:55:40 GMT -5
The clean-shaven servant let loose an accidental expletive; due to the absentminded collision Yu-Jie had caused. Clumsily, though with some level of balance and control, he had surprisingly been able to keep the ritzy chalices from becoming a shattered mess upon the reflective floor. Interesting... his spatial awareness is much better than I would have presumed given his appearance. Yu-Jie had mused whilst she subtly studied his mannerisms and expression. He immediately apologized for the sudden outburst, thereafter making a few statements that weren't necessarily directed at her, but more rhetorical in nature.
"Me neither, I wouldn't be surprised if not even the wizard king could remove the sticks from their asses."
Yu-Jie found herself releasing a genuine laugh this time as the butler would lean in close and whisper lowly to her. She had done so almost on reaction, unable to stop it much to her dismay. This laugh was very different than the one before, less forced and considerably more organic. It was a very small tell, but if one were privy to analyzing individuals they would be able to discern how off or unnatural the first was in comparison. The emerald-haired rogue's façade had already shown signs of wear - a crack in the proverbial armor. She mentally cursed herself for the break-in character she displayed, knowing full well mother would have reprimanded her.
"Sogai's the name. 'Tis a pleasure."
Sogai huh? He has a charm to him, a lovely smile would unwrap itself upon Yu-Jie's visage, like a gift opened by eager hands on Christmas day. Perhaps it was due to how posh and proper everyone was within the estate, including the maids and butlers, but his relaxed nature was a welcoming comfort to her. It was something very familiar about him, his easy-going attitude reminded her much of her old brother Jin. It was faint, but Yu-Jie was able to notice Eudora approach from behind Sogai. Strange enough, Eudora moved quite silently for just a simple maid. If Yu-Jie had been an ordinary person, there would have been a chance that she wouldn't have noticed the head maid altogether. She may be a troublesome one, Yu-Jie would say to herself as she turned her attention to focus on Eudora.
"While the Lord and Ladyship will discuss their further plans for the evening with James and I, all of you shall take a short break. Use that time to rest and immediately return to your positions in exactly twenty minutes, are we clear?"
"Yes Ma'am!" Yu-Jie would respond, noting the hints of annoyance and irritation that made Eudora appear on edge or concerned. The head-maids usual stoic countenance was still there, but Yu-Jie couldn't help but think somehow she and Sogai had struck a nerve with Eudora.
"Moderate yourselves, both of you! Those chalices are a precious heirloom to the Caphony estate, we simply cannot have a single one of them break."
"Of course, you have my deepest apologies Eudora. I shall be cautious moving forward."
Bowing her head, Yu-Jie would peak up through her curly green hair to see that the head-maid was paying no mind to her; already having pivoted elegantly on the tips of her toes, the girl would only see Eudora's back as she walked away. The Zhongli disliked the way Eudora dismissed her. Even if she was just pretending to be a maid and didn't possess the aptitude for the work, it was still demeaning and frustrating for her. Screw that woman, Yu-Jie's fist would tighten a fist in defiant anger as she silently tried to calm herself.
"Eerie old woman, don't you think? I get the feeling she might stab me in the back if I actually drop those crystalline heirlooms."
"Surely you are kidding~" She would reply, although the rogue didn't believe Sogai's line of thought was far from the truth. In fact, if she was a betting woman, she would have taken the over that he had been correct in his assumption; however, Yu-Jie wouldn't voice such ruminations. She still needed to put airs on, so that her facade would not be compromised. Once Eudora was gone and completely out of sight, she could tell that Sogai had relaxed a bit as he exhaled what she thought to be a sigh of relief. Yu-Jie would bite her lip, before raising her head to once more meet Sogai's eyes.
"Welp, I'm sorry for dragging you into that. I'll head outside for a quick smoke, I think. Care to join me?"
Sogai inquired as he scratched his chin. Yu-Jie momentarily pondered the notion, ultimately deciding that it would be a good chance to get a better lay of the massive estate without appearing suspicious. Sogai would be the perfect smokescreen for her ulterior intentions she would contemplate before responding. Yu-Jie did not smoke, but she was sure she could come up with a reason to accompany Sogai. The rogue had been scrubbing the floors for quite some time now and felt as if she was becoming unhinged staring at her reflection on the floor for so long. It was actually a good thing that Eudora had come to give the servants a break because mentally Yu-Jie was on the edge.
"I don't smoke, but I could use some fresh air. This place is giving me a headache."
As Yu-Jie spoke she would begin to collect her cleaning items and place them out of the way. Returning back to Sogai she would hold both her arms behind her back, an innocuous, sheepish grin curled the girl's thin lips.
"Lead the way Sogai"
Yu-Jie expressed playfully, the whimsical quality of her words belied the mischievousness of her tone.
*
Following the flippant Sogai, Yu-Jie and he ended up spending half of their allotted break time navigating the maze-like estate. During that time, the two exchanged some small talk here and there, but her main concern was creating a mental stencil of the layout of the mansion. So far Yu-Jie was able to glean a plethora of new information about the place's schematics. Luckily enough for the Zhongli, the Caphony estate held plenty of nooks and crannies for her to accomplish the deed of killing Sephvia Astrea. It now was only a matter of how to distinguish the target from the other masked guest and how to lure Sephiva away once she ascertained the mark. Though she herself was only half paying attention to Sogai, she could tell that his own focus was not entirely directed on her. This was due to a few tenuous tells. Body language, eye contact, length, and core of his responses. Yu-Jie had grown interested in Sogai, he lacked the regal refinement one would come to expect of high-quality servants.
It wasn't an overtly apparent observation, but one more or so concluded because of a hunch on her part. Eventually, she and Sogai would exit the south section of the manor. The air was cool, a gentle breeze gingerly cupping her face as a compassionate lover would. Holding her arms outwards, Yu-Jie would twirl on the tips of her feet with her eyes closed. The rogue wasn't much of a homebody and preferred to be outside for the majority of her day. Being cooped up indoors had made the rogue considerably more restless than she had thought. Never would Yu-Jie believe she had missed the sun's warmth upon her skin so much until this moment. Being born into such a life is a tragedy, reflecting internally as she would rest once more upon the balls of her heels; the girl followed the beautifully decorated cobblestone path adorned with colorful flowers of various species.
The south exit leads out to a large terrace, with a lush, neatly trimmed field stretched out across the property line. Yu-Jie ambled towards the furniture and took a seat. The girl would gesture for Sogai to take a load off right beside her as she looked ahead and sunk more comfortably into the chair on the patio. "How long have you been working as a butler Sogai? If you don't mind me asking." Yu-Jie would pick up where the two had left off of, asking an innocent enough question, though it was designed to fish for more information. Yu-Jie was curious as to how he would respond, though the girl doubted she would gain any true insight, the attempt was still worth a try. WC: 1,257 TWC: 3,194
Last Edit: Mar 18, 2022 12:56:59 GMT -5 by Yu Jie Zhongli
Post by Sogai Shengxiao on Mar 24, 2022 4:32:22 GMT -5
Sogai had managed to elicit a genuine laugh from the green-haired woman and a surprisingly catchy laugh she had. The thief couldn't help himself but join in for a moment and chuckle away at his own honestly pretty bad joke. "Got you there..", he thought to himself with a smurk as he kept observing her. Most servants, if not all, kept up an impervious facade at all times, which, given the usually pretty hideous nature of their jobs, seemed like quite the necessity to keep one's sanity. Sogai could tell how much needed this laughter was for Cassandra, in contrast to her earlier smile, this laugh had reached her eyes after all. That almost invisible glistening, usually gone in a flash, was a tell-tale sign of genuine happiness. The young maid reacted much more conventionally to Eudora's lessons in appropriate mannerisms, bowed her head and apologized accordingly. The attentive sound mage however could spot the young woman compensating her anger, since as Sogai recalled, the color of a human's knuckle is not supposed to resemble chalk quite as much, as Cassandra's fist might have made one suspect in that very moment.
Cassandra aggreed to his proposal of going outside for as long as the break lasted, despite her not being a smoker apparently. He really wondered how people managed living this life on a daily basis, and without an excuse to slip out every once in a while at that. The thief would surely have gone mad from just the single day he had spent in service so far. A thankful smile decorated the nod of the head, meant to convey his gratitude for Cassandra joining him, as the hurried over to the bar located at the back of the ball room. Sogai quickly, but nonetheless properly, sorted the chalices along their respective shelf and scurried back to where he bumped into the poor girl, who asked him galantly to lead the way. Releasing a slight giggle, he would copy her pronounced servant-esque posture and pose a striking invitational gesture: "My, my, what a pleasure that would be."
The two of them had been wandering around the estate for roughly ten minutes, with both of them seemingly absent-minded, when they finally arrived at the southernmost exit of the mansion. The thief wouldn't really be able to recount their conversation, as he had been a little too concerned about his escape route, which hadn't made itself obvious by any means. The whole building somehow made the impression of being designed to confuse potential guests, well, or thieves and burglars. Sogai would have to rely on his decently quick wit to make out the perfect way of disappearing on the fly, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. He lingered in the doorway for a split second, pondering whether this door would be locked on the evening of the ball, and let Cassandra enter the garden area first.
Before stepping down the small stairway leading down to the terrace lining the outer perimeter of the southern side of the building, Sogai took a deep breath of fresh air. "She was right, I did start to get a headache as well." He had always loved the outdoors a hell of a lot more than stifling rooms with the obligatory one too many people and ovens stuffed inside. Nothing compared to the silence and serenity of nature, devoid of tarnishing human noise and smell. This garden didn't really convince Sogai of it's being inspired by nature however, carefully chosen plants and flowers lined the meticulously designed pathways leading through the large patches of equally as meticulously seen to lawn and flower gardens. You could see some trees and bushes a little further away, with the iron fencing of the estate right behind them and the next noble's mansions bordering the latter, still, the garden made the impression of a well groomed pet, rather than a feral beast.
Pretty distracted by both the view and his reminiscing of the place he spent most of his life at, Sogai had subconsciously started gathering the necessary materials from his various pockets and was about to lick the rolling paper of his cigarette, when he noticed that the maid apparently enjoyed herself as much as he did. Walking down towards the furnished part of the terrace, she spread out her arms and twirled on the tip of her feet with her dress and hair swishing about in the light breeze. She was quite the beautiful young woman to look at, even though a maid's clothing was not necessarily flattering. "Welp, away from that thought!", the sound mage diverted himself, fished for the lighter from his pants and lit his guilty pleasure ablaze, which immediately culled the slight trembling his hands had suffered from, given the lack of nicotine in his blood cycle.
Inhaling deeply, he stepped down the remaining stairs and joined Cassandra on the patio, where she had taken seat on one of the fairly comfortable looking chairs and gestured for him to follow her lead. Whether or not the head butler and maid would approve of two servants sitting on the chairs obviously designed for nobility, Sogai strolled over to follow her sea-weed mountain of hair and make himself comfortable on the surprisingly soft and pillowy piece of furniture. Just as he crossed his legs, his newest acquaintance asked for how long he had been working as a butler, which immediately sent a shiver down the impostor's spine and awoke him from the moment. Might she have become suspicious of him? Did he give his intentions away somehow?
"I've been getting too careless, keep it together buddy..", he reminded himself of the actual situation he was in as Sogai the thief, not Sogai the butler. And so the switch was flipped: "Well, not very long to be perfectly honest with you.", he answered looking directly into her emerald and quite piercing eyes before taking another pull on his cigarette and exhaling it slowly. "I come from a family of traveling s..", he stopped himself right in his tracks. What was he doing, why did he start reciting his actual biography? "Stone masons. Traveling stone masons of the common realm, yes. Hrm." What an idiotic thing to say. "At some point, I lost my Mom and Dad and ended up in an orphanage. I got around to working on the fields of a friend of the house, ohh, funny story by the way!" Entirely back in character, Sogai turned to Cassandra seemingly excitedly and continued his rambling: "There was this old woman in the village, Murtle. She used to run.. Well, let's call it a store for everyday needs. She had anything from flour to tobacco and alcohol, quite the ratchet old lady, I'll give her that!" A short, forced round of laughter later, he continued: "Anyway, she had this store, right. And at some point, the man I was working for.."
Rule number 1 of diversion tactics: Talk so salamanderdamn much, your conversation partner doesn't even want to listen to anything you're saying anymore. And so the thief went on and on about how the man he worked for tried to steal her tobacco, but she wouldn't have that and used her fire magic to burn down his field, which led to him calling the magic knights and so on and so forth. The entire point of this tale of empty nothingness was to arrive at the following statement: "And after all of that, the old lady advised me to go into service for the local nobles of said village. The Withemshicks." Over the course of this weirdly detailed and obviously exagerrated story, Sogai had finished his cigarette and taken out the portable ash-tray he always kept close. 'No littering in your employer's house' was sure to be some sort of steadfast rule for servants. Taking another elongated look at Cassandra, he went on: "But I digress. So, I've been working as a butler for roughly two years now, but for..." The sound mage stopped for a second and grinned widely at the maid, before imitating the head butler: "What I'm sure the honorable Sir James Jamesson, stoic and heartless head butler of the prestigious Caphony estate, would call lesser nobility." He chuckled and stretched his body with an according pressed squeaky sound, while remaining seated. "They don't care for pomp and etiquette quite as much out there.. But enough on me, what about you?"
The thief subconsciously scratched the back of his right hand, despite his habit being hindered by the eerily white gloves all butlers were supposed to wear, and turned back to the maid expectantly. Hopefully his bewildering fairytale had achieved his means of diverting her. Further down the line, the thief would make sure to keep an eye on Cassandra. As he reflected on it now, the green-haired maid did seem like a fairly peculiar character. The way she just casually took seat in a chair, obviously made to fit a noble's needs, the way his shinbone was still aching from the collision earlier, but most of all, the piercing fiery glance of her eyes and her astounding confidence had him wondering. Nevertheless, or maybe because he was wondering, Sogai glanced over before she started her own story, smurked a bit and added: "I expect an equally detailed story though, I've offered you my life's greatest secrets!"
Post by Yu Jie Zhongli on Apr 26, 2022 20:24:51 GMT -5
Gauging Sogai's expression, Yu-Jie was weighing any telltale signs she could discern as he would reply. Unexpectedly, there hadn't been much for her to unravel asides from some dialogue that seemed paused due to overthinking. His long-winded tirade was mentally exhausting and ate up a great deal of the idle time the pair had been given by the head maid. Finally, after a lot of listening Sogai appeared to be bringing the mundane story to a close. Yu-Jie almost gave a sigh of relief; the rogue was more than ready to get back on her knees to scrub the floor. It beat this, she had only asked an innocuous question but was met with mostly verbal diarrhea essentially.
Yu-Jie returned Sogai's smile, despite his poor attempt at comedy earlier. The butler's subsequent joke would bring a smirk to the gravity mage's lips as she stretched as if Sogai's own actions were contagious. The pair had been sitting for some time now, so she would rise to her feet to shake the setting restlessness that was slowly turning her to stone. He can be funny when he wants to, but now I'm kind of stuck talking to him... Yu-Jie would think as Sogai finally put the ball back in her court; asking the emerald-haired girl an open-ended question. The girl was happy to oblige, as she was most assuredly tired of just listening. This change of pace would be nice, but unlike her counterpart, she would be sure to keep her fabrications detailed, yet very brief.
The thought she had was visible like a smile within her jade eyes.
"They don't care for pomp and etiquette quite as much out there... But enough on me, what about you?"
"I expect an equally detailed story though, I've offered you my life's greatest secrets!"
"How could I after you gave me the riveting origin story of how Sogai became a butler?"
A lithe twirl, accentuated with a cat-like aura - the sly sparkle in Yu-Jie's eyes suggests playful mischief. The rogue folds her arms and sells it like she is trying to think really hard before she closes one eye and sticks her tongue out after a short period of stalling. Yu-Jie had spent many hours creating the false history and details of her character Cassandra. It went without saying that she had gone to great strides in memorizing every pertinent detail so the girl was prepared. At the very least, the information came in handy for deflecting suspicions about who she was.
"Ahem..."
Clearing her throat, she would focus her attention on Sogai who seemed as if he was eagerly awaiting her response. She took a silent breath and begin to weaponize her deceitful falsehoods.
"Well, I come from nobility and was actually disowned by my family for..." Yu-Jie paused as she tiptoed the words cautiously fiddling with her thumbs.
"Reasons I think I will keep close to my chest." Her hand subconsciously was placed in the center of her bosom as she attempted to sell the tragic backstory, she had so happily picked out for herself.
Despite her dislike for some of the more formal things she was trained for due to her Zhongli heritage, the rogue enjoyed it when she got the chance to act. Mother had often said YuJie was serviceable at the art of performance, but have the girl tell you herself and she would say that she was most definitely a grade A actor. While she did capture the impression of the character she was aiming for, there was something... not authentic, missing from the empty words she begin to mouth.
"Being of noble birth I have very few marketable skills that I could market, so naturally I turned to the easiest work I could find, but I'm not even good that this..."
Yu-Jie's eyes would break from Sogai's to the ground below. Mother always says the eyes are a powerful window into the psyche of an individual. Using it to not only disarm them but to manipulate them is the basic when it comes to selling the act... Ruminating her mother's words, Yu-Jie was mentally smiling as she felt she was doing a good job. To be fair, this was the first job Yu-Jie had in months and this was the most fun she had experienced so far during its execution. Hopefully, the finale would be more entertaining she mused as the rogue imagined her chakram slitting the throat of her mark. "Sephvia Astrea is as good as dead..." Pulling herself from thoughts about the assassination, Yu-Jie would focus back on Sogai. From what she thought, the rogue felt she had done a good job selling the backstory, but it was still missing details to make it truly believable. Which was why she would try to garner more sympathy to distract Sogai from that notion.
The man seemed more or less innocent to the girl, so she did feel bad manipulating him, but it had to be done.
"It's been five years now and this is my seventh position as a maid. The others have not ended well and father still won't allow me to return so I have no choice..."
Yu-Jie would go on to paraphrase some generic information that didn't really add much to her situation but was more aimed at endearing him to her plight. "So that's the story of Cassandra Bridges. Discarded heir, turned maid. Its a funny story." Yu-Jie added with a half-hearted laugh that contrasted what she had said. She took a seat once more, feeling that too much attention was on her. The pair didn't have much longer on their break.
"I didn't mean to bring the fun level down, It's just you asked..." The girl spoke meekly and fiddled with her fingers more as she finished up. WC: 934 TWC: 4,128
Post by Sogai Shengxiao on Jun 3, 2022 6:09:00 GMT -5
Given the hefty length of the stupendous fairytale Sogai had fudged, the maid seemingly felt equally as suffocated as the thief himself and mimicked him stretching his body, even taking it a step further by getting up and shaking her body to relieve some of the distress caused by his bewildering story. "Welp, sorry Cass.", he amusedly noted to himself, a tad bit proud of his superb acting skills. Upon him asking for her own version of what had stripped them of quite a large portion of their break and specifically inquiring an equally detailed story, she simply ridiculed him with an ironic rhetoric question, which elicited an actual chuckle from the sound mage. He did enjoy her company, despite the farce the two of them perpetually kept upheld, she had the kind of wits Sogai enjoyed in any kind of interaction.
A cheeky smile paired with an ironic comment and a mischievous flash of light in the corner of the eye never ceased to get him to laugh. Quite precisely the expression Cassandra sported, after performing another one of those fancy twirls she had rocked the floor with before, and crossing her arms, apparently trying to organize her thoughts. "I might've rambled too much..", Sogai reminded himself for future application of tactic number one, as his vis-à-vis most likely tried to avoid dropping an equally thick brick.
"Tsk.", the makeshift butler grinningly rebuttled the maid's tongue leaving her mouth ever so slightly and one of her eyes closing. "Was my story-telling that gnome-damn awful?" His question was quickly side-lined by the maid signifying the start of her story with a sudden clear of her throat however, a noticeable shift in the tone of her voice and facial expression ensuing thereafter. Judging by the sudden gloom looming in her eyes, her story would end up a little bit further on the 'dark' end of the spectrum than his light-hearted fabrication.
"A disowned noble, huh?", Sogai frowningly raised one of his eyebrows and let himself sink deeper into the comfortable chair, as he crossed his arms and vigilantly took notice of even the tiniest movement Cassandra would make during her story. She had paused for a second, fiddling with her thumbs and lowering her eyes, before deciding to keep the reason for her fall from noble greatness a secret. "What could she have possibly done?", the rat kept wondering. Granted, depending on her family's more than likely old-fashioned standards and the other high-strung families they equally likely accompanied themselves with, Cassandra might've only taken a singular apple from the pantry. "On Sylph, it could've even been her hair color. You never know with them."
Cassandra softly placed a hand on her chest, right as she told him she'd rather keep part of the story to her heart, which took the rat aback as he was slowly starting to pity the green-haired maid. Her behavior felt.. off, weirdly dramatized in a way. Sure, she would've probably already told this story a dozen times, if not more, and in turn would have lost some of the actual emotions that came with such a tale, but nonetheless, the thief doubted the genuineness of Cassandra's background a tad bit. "She might be hiding something.."
Diverting her eyes as though to protect her eyes giving away just how painful her past had been, she continued to explain that with her noble birth came certain implications. The maid was right on that, very few nobles pursued anything along the line of a standard career, for the most part, they refrained from actually contributing anything to the society they so nonchalantly ruled over. "Must've really been hard on her..", the Shengxiao mused the self-proscribed skill-less girl to be correct. "Without the backing of their family, most nobles would end up struggling." An understanding and pitiful glance had replaced the aforementioned frown and the rat crossed his arms.
Apparently in five years time, this was already her seventh position as a maid, which really had him perplexed. From what little interaction they had so far, Cassandra seemed like a diligent, attentive and kind person, she most definitely was not the kind of defiant worker that regularly clashed with their superiors. Well, he bumped into her and still had his leg aching from that collision, but that was mostly on him. He frowned once again, a slight rush of anger at the high and mighty rumbling somewhere in his stomach. "Her employers probably got tipped off by her father..", he presumably correctly speculated what transpired. "Your family seems like living hell, honestly.", he intended to show her some compassion, but his obviously aggravated undertone made for a weird combination of content and relaying.
"Sorry to hear all that..", this time, he tried to really bring the compassion across, and the Shengxiao meant it as well. While Cassandra had left some passages of her past void, which still confused him a bit, he felt as though she had been treated poorly by her raven-family. Whatever she might've done to her family couldn't have been that heinous a deed, right? Contemplation tinted his facial expression, as she spurted a pitiful excuse of laughter in an attempt to lighten the now quite tense mood and once again took seat in the chair next to him. But she failed to reach her goal of alleviating the gloom: "Don't you have some kind-hearted distant relative you can live with?", the makeshift-butler tried to further console his companion in servantship.
He knew first- and secondhand that living life under either a noble's or a fellow servant's humongous thumb could be more than draining. One of the reasons he chose, and enjoyed mind you, infiltrating the upper echeleon's houses so much, was the constant influx of new personnel as older maids and butlers got kicked out of service for whatever gnome-forsaken reason. Such regular shifts in the composition of the personnel provided an exclusive opportunity for con-artists such as him. "Oh don't worry about the fun level, we can.." The thief's pondering on how he might offer Cassandra some actual advice, or better yet some help to allow the girl some form of independance, was abruptly disturbed by what could only be described as the male version of the illustrous head maid's signature cough.
Said "A-Ahem...", an eerie, condescending and frankly haunting subtext included, was produced by the fearsome head butler of the Caphony estate, his head emerging from nothingness right between the two of them but a fraction of a second before. Sogai's heartrate exponentially increased and he jumped out of the chair with a jolt. "How the fuck did I not notice him?", the sensory mage questioned his abilities, frightened by the sudden appearance of the head butler. "I do suppose my eyes must be deceiving me.", he initiated what was surely going to be a rebuking speech, as he slowly but imposingly returned to his ever straightened standing position. "To see servants slouching on our dear Lady Caphony's favorite pair of lounge chairs would be an atrocity without equal, wouldn't you agree?" As usual, his wrinkly and oddly pointy nose was held up so high, that his mere glance conveyed a sense of unsurpassable superiority and disgusted condescension, as he eyed the two of them one after the other.
Still startled and confused at the fact that he couldn't sense the stuck-up old man approaching them, the slightly shivering Sogai simply nodded with a mock bad conscience plastered on his face. "He is a sensory-type as well..", the rat divined his specialisation correctly. "Problematic geezer." In an attempt to somehow salvage this situation, the Shengxiao cleared his throat and initiated a rebuttal, but whatever pitiful excuse he might've come up with on the fly was instantly cut off by a simple dismissive gesture by their superior, both of his eyebrows raised in a deprecating stare. "Surely, there is no excuse for such behavior, am I not correct?", the butler's tone of voice had taken on an even more punitive character, as he swiftly performed on of his signature toe-twirls and started strutting back towards the estate's main mansion, obviously expecting the two of them to follow suit.
The thief threw a helpless look at Cassandra, snarling in remorse. "Careless once again.", he rebuked himself for his failure in sensing the old man's approach. "Both of them will have their watchful eyes on us now." But lamenting what had transpired wouldn't help with the problems at hand, and as such, the sound mage merely rolled his eyes at Cassandra, imitated the head butler's posture and scurried after him, with the green-haired girl surely doing the same. "Given the scarcity of..", yet again he deprecatingly glanced over his shoulder. "appropriately mannered personnel and the desperate need of such servants with the Masquerade to be held, I will overlook your behavior once." By now, their convoy of three had reached the back door Cassandra and Sogai had exited through before.
Once again swiftly turning on his heel, he bowed down a bit, eerily staring right into the rat's face. "Do not forget your position, fellow commoners.", he ushered with a low voice and more than just visible disgust and resentment at the prospect of the three of them being born into the same caste. He turned his attention the green-haired maid, before continuing: "Failure is not tolerated at the Caphony estate, and should you fail again, you shall be dismissed from service with a personal note written by me and sent to all noble households of the upper realms." The authoritarian attitude this repulsive old man sported was that of a true-born and long-time leader. Not in the slightest did he doubt the righteousness and legitimacy of his words or position of power, not a single hint at pity or remorse for the two 'low-born' servants he scolded.
The thief's fist subconsciously and painfully clenched behind his back, to him, scumbags like this old-fashioned, stale and crusty head butler had stooped to the lowest degree of what might still be considered a human. Sogai struggled to keep his facade upright, his usual fear of authorities and strength had been utterly reduced to ashes by passionate hatred. "Yes, Sir.", he managed to utter with his voice shaking a bit. Upon hearing whatever Cassandra might want to add, the honorable head butler returned to towering over them, elegantly ascending the stairs and opening the aforementioned back door thereafter. "You shall promptly return to your positions, you have exactly one minute of time left."
With that sentence, he disappeared into the mansion and left the two of them behind, Sogai visibly shaken and tensed by everything the head butler had dared to say. Forgetting both his persona and the presence of Miss Bridges, the Shengxiao eerily grinned and clenched his fists quite similarly to Cassandra before. "I'll kill him.", he lowly muttered into his non-existant beard and murdered his chalk-colored knuckles with a hateful stare. "I'll definitely kill him." He remained still at the bottom of the stairs, trembling with disgust, disappointment and hatred, obviously unable to overcome what the butler's comments had sparked within.
Sogai reacts to Cassandra's tragic backstory, develops and expresses a sense of pity for the green-haired maid. While he remains a bit suspicious of the intentionally voided parts of said story, he really does feel compassionate for her and would love to aid in her becoming independent of her family's probable interferences, both of which he chooses to express as well.
Cassandra's and Sogai's conversation is abruptly disturbed by the appearance of the head butler, scolding them for their misbehavior and warning them of further failure. Should they fail to abide by said ruling, they shall be removed from service immediately.
Sogai utters his wish to kill the head butler in response to his comments about commoners.
