[OPEN] painting the white roses red

[moonshined]

Who: Remus and you!
What: Doing his chores like a nice, obedient Apprentice ought to.
When: Saturday, 1/6, all day
Where: In the castle
Warnings: Likely to be NSFW!


A. THEY CALL IT A MESS HALL FOR A REASON.

After breakfast this morning, Remus finds himself tasked with the arduous job of cleaning up after everyone, apprentices, guards, and visiting nobility alike. It's his turn on the rota, and he's not complaining when there are certainly worse jobs, but it does have its downsides. Like mopping up puddles of porridge and egg splatter and bacon grease.

Like slipping in a puddle of someone's cold, spilt coffee and landing flat on his back.

"Merlin's—!" Remus cuts off with a low groan, swearing under his breath, and pushes himself up to a sitting position. Glancing around to see if anyone was around to bear witness to his struggle, he gives you a half-grin.

"Mind pretending you didn't see that?"


B. COCK DEFROSTING: DOES NOT INVOLVE BUTTERCREAM

When the Mistress tasked him with 'defrosting her cocks,' Remus had been skeptical, to say the least; admittedly, he wasn't quite sure what it entailed, but it couldn't be any more embarrassing than any of the other chores he's been dealt, so he agrees readily.

As it turns out, some of the door knobs in the upper levels of the castle, where it's more drafty and susceptible to cold, have more or less frozen over, to the point of making the rooms behind those doors inaccessible. It falls to Remus, armed with a mop, bucket, rags, and a magical self-heating kettle, to gently and oh-so-tenderly pour warm water over them and massage some life back into them, and then mop up afterwards. Which, alright. He can manage that.

Glancing up at passersby, he grins and chuckles. "Seems these things require a little more care than I thought."

C. WILDCARD

[feel free to reply with any prompt your heart desires!!]

Comments

[ignisvulpes]

"Hey, I don't know about that." He shrugs, an exaggeratedly analytical look on his face. "Don't you ever feel like the Mistress is just looking for excuses to fuck with us?"

[moonshined]

"Er—" Remus hesitates, because that hasn't been his personal experience, but he also knows it can certainly be the case.

"Not to me, personally. I generally do what she asks of me, and it's been fine thus far."

[ignisvulpes]

"Oh, there's your problem." He points. "You're lacking in the rebelliousness department! Doesn't that ever get boring?"

On one hand, it's evident that Kaph is just kidding around. On the other hand... There's still something oddly condescending to his tone.

[moonshined]

"Oh, see, if you'd known me in school, you'd know that to be patently untrue."

Remus's grin is surprisingly mischievous.

"I just don't fancy having my bits erased or something equally gruesome."

[ignisvulpes]

Kaph raises an eyebrow.

"What are you, some kind of ex-class clown? Mellowed with age?"

Also, he doubts the Mistress would erase anybody's bits. Swap them around, maybe.

[moonshined]

"Something like that. I was one of the more level-headed of my friends, but I've always loved a good practical joke."

[ignisvulpes]

"You don't say?"

A grin forms on his face. It easily matches Remus's.

"Why don't you show me what you've got?"

[moonshined]

"Er...right now?"

There's caution in his expression, now.

"On who? Everyone else was smart enough to clear out."

[ignisvulpes]

"All that means is that you have a nice, quiet place to reflect on your plan of attack."

He comes closer and takes the liberty of putting an arm around Remus's shoulders.

"How about one of the guards? You saw the shit they got up to last month, right?"

[moonshined]

"I suppose."

Remus considers it for a moment, even as his shoulders tense up owing to the presence of the other man's arm.

He shakes his head vehemently.

"No, no...I have a good friend who's a guard, I wouldn't want to do anything that might affect her."

[ignisvulpes]

"Aw, come on. You can prank one guard and it won't make a difference to your friend, right?"

Not that he actually cares about the friend, whoever she is. He just wants to see this happen.

[moonshined]

"Probably...not." Remus has to admit that he has a point. "But I really need to be cleaning this place up, not, er...plotting my revenge."

[ignisvulpes]

"I'm starting to think you aren't being entirely truthful with me, uh... What's your name again?"

[moonshined]

"...Remus. Why would I be lying to you?"

He crosses his arms over his chest. How dare Kaph question his honor!

[ignisvulpes]

"Well, Remus, I just don't think a true rebellious spirit - moderate or not - would be making this much of a fuss about what he's been commanded to do."

Kaph doesn't actually have the best read on this guy yet, so he's not sure how likely he is to take the bait, but it's worth a shot.

[moonshined]

Remus's face goes the full spectrum—from defiant to confused to incredulous.

"I...what? I'm sorry, who're you?"

[ignisvulpes]

He straightens up - puffs out his chest, smirks like someone who's confident of the weight his name carries.

"Kaphlar Kinra, fellow 'apprentice', nice to meet you. But more importantly, I'm a fellow jokester, my friend!"

[moonshined]

Remus squints.

"Right, okay, fair enough. But how does that give you the authority to 'command' me to do anything?"

[ignisvulpes]

He gasps theatrically - the laugh that follows sounds more sincere, even if not exactly less condescending.

"Oh, no, no, you're not getting it. It's the Mistress that's an issue here. She's the one who wants you to clean right here and now, right?"