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“Belle!...Belle!!!”
“Auuggghhh…”
The co-founder of Random Play was an extroverted go-getter. They had an air of prestige that could only come from being the head of one of the largest companies in the world. Yet they still hailed from humble beginnings, climbing their way to the top through hard work and sheer effort. This lent them that genuine and approachable persona which helped them in stuffy business meetings and public events. All in all, they were the perfect model of a young upcoming entrepreneur. Or, at least one of the co-founders was.
The other was currently still half-asleep in bed getting yelled at by her brother.
“Belle! It’s already 3pm! You need to get up!”
“Ok! Ok!!! Just… a few more minutes.”
Wise pinched the bridge of his nose, but ultimately let his sister catch a few more winks of sleep. He had just gotten back from a business meeting with Belebog Heavy Industries and although he wasn’t expecting Belle’s room to be spotless…
“Belle, you seriously need to clean up after yourself.” Wise chided as he shoveled an alarming amount of empty energy drinks into the trash. “What would The New Eridu Times think if they saw your room like this?”
“That’s why we only showed them your room” Belle mumbled from underneath her many layers of blankets.
Wise sighed as he continued to clean up the place. To be honest, he didn’t mind the little arrangement he had with his sister. He was better with people and she was better with computers. So while Wise chatted up shareholders, Belle stayed home and managed their company online. But with Random Play growing larger and Wise needing to spend more time away from home, he couldn’t help but worry for his sister. She may have been a programming prodigy, but she was helpless when it came to taking care of herself.
“Sis, General Chop would kill you if he found out you’ve been eating this junk!” Wise said, slightly shaking a cup of instant noodles before throwing it with the rest of the piling garbage. “You’d probably feel a lot better if you drank a glass of water and ate a proper meal for once.”
Belle groaned, emerging from her cocoon of blankets like some sort of lethargic butterfly. “Uggghh. But I stayed up all night answering emails and cooking takes too long…”
“I know but…” Wise trailed off as he gathered more assorted waste. But something caught his eye while he was cleaning up Belle’s desk. “Wait a minute… Belle, look this is perfect!”
Belle rose up from her bed and rubbed her eyes, then held back a chuckle when she saw the magazine in front of her. “Wise, I know you get lonely, but really? This… Von Lycaon? I didn’t know you had a type.”
Wise facepalmed at his sister’s antics, “No, Belle this is Victoria Housekeeping. They’re a real maid service! We can hire them to help you around the house when I’m not home!”
“And what makes you think I need a maid huh?” Belle retorted.
Wise didn’t even humor her with an answer and simply raised an eyebrow, giving her “The Look”.
“Point taken…”
Many things surprised Belle as she flipped through the magazines. The first thing that caught her eye was the price. Well, I guess it’s a good thing that they’re expensive right? The second thing she noticed was how photogenic these maids were… Seriously, who took these photos? And why are they all voguing… One maid in particular stood out as being, well, Very photogenic.
She had jet black hair with red highlights and piercing ruby eyes that stared directly into the camera. She was looking over her shoulder with a look of slight annoyance and a lollipop sticking out of her mouth. Oh yeah, she also had a huge shark tail.
“Ellen Joe, huh…” Belle mused out loud.
Wise tapped away on his phone, “I’ve been looking over some of their reviews, most of them seem very reliable and have high ratings.”
“Most of them?” Belle questioned.
“Yeah, this ‘Ellen’ character has a lot of complaints on their website.” Wise said, showing his phone to Belle.”
Her brows furrowed slightly as she read the reviews.
“She cleans and cooks well, but she had this weird look on her face the whole time!” 2 Stars!
“After she finished the dishes, she had the audacity to take a nap right on my sofa! Very unprofessional.” 1 Star!
“All I did was be polite and nice to her the whole time, but she kept being weird and standoffish. She even rushed out of my house when I still had 5 minutes with her!” 0 Stars!
“Hmmm” Belle hummed, handing the phone back to her brother. “I don’t know, all of these reviews are people taking issue with her personality.”
“Well, I’ll give them a call and see who they have available. In the meantime…” Wise dropped the now full garbage bin at Belle’s feet. “You need to do some cleaning yourself. Take out the trash.”
“Yes Mom…” Belle joked, as the two siblings walked out of the room.
Ellen yawned and rested her cheek in her palm. It was the beginning of the week which meant another one of Von Lycaon’s super important, super urgent, and super boring briefings.
“Attention, everyone!” A slightly gruff, yet smooth voice called out. “Before we discuss this week’s assignments, let’s review some customer feedback.”
Ellen rolled her eyes. Great, my favorite part…
“Corin, your client was surprised at first, but she said that your use of a chainsaw to trim her hedges was efficient and inspiring.”
“T-Thank you!” The timid green-haired maid squeaked.
“Rina, your client offers their sincerest gratitudes for coming on such short notice. Him and his 9 children loved having you around.”
Alexandrina clasped her hands together and smiled, “Awww it was nothing, I’ll never turn down those cuties~”
“Ellen… “ Von Lycaon began, taking in a deep breath. “Our client has made a complaint about your conduct… She is claiming that you quote ‘smacked her child in the face’...?”
The shark-girl bit down onto her lollipop, “I didn’t mean to… the kid was pestering me the whole time even though I asked him to stop. He suddenly jumped onto my tail and I…” Ellen looked off to the side. “I freaked out a little…”
Von Lycaon nodded in understanding and tucked the note card into his pocket, “I see, well I’ll be sure to bring this up to the client, but in the meantime I think that Rina should take your commission this week.”
The older maid gave Ellen a reassuring pat on the shoulder, “Don’t worry sweetie, I’ll be sure to teach him a lesson about personal space when I see him.” She said, rather ominously.
“Yeah, thanks I guess.” Ellen said dejectedly, “So does this mean I don’t have any jobs this week?”
The wolf cleared his throat and set down a paper folder on the table, “Well that depends, there is one more job this week. It’s up to you and Miss Corin to decide who takes it.”
After an awkward silence, Corin realized that Ellen was far too busy checking her nails to take a look at the commission, so she nervously rifled through the brief.
“Uhm, 1 client, female. They live over on 6th street and they need a maid to clean around the house and cook healthy meals…” Corin frowned a bit as she kept reading, “T-They didn’t leave a name which is weird, and we would be working there for 2 weeks minimum, with the potential for a more permanent arrangement.”
Ellen half-listened in, mostly expecting Corin to take the commission. It sounded simple and easy, the perfect job for the anxious maid.
“W-WOAH!!!” Corin suddenly yelped.
“Hm? What is it?” Ellen inquired.
“T-Their house… it’s huge! It’s more like a mansion!”
The shark leaned over the shorter maid’s shoulder and yea. The attached picture showed a luxurious house that, although not quite as big as Corin made it out to be, was obviously very expensive.
“Hmph, it even has a gate and everything.” Ellen deadpanned.
The shorter girl quickly turned around and shoved the folder into Ellen’s arms. “Y-You can take this one Ellen! I hate working with rich people.”
Ellen raised an eyebrow unamused, “Corin have you seen our prices? We only ever work with rich people.”
“E-Exactly!!!”
With a sigh, Ellen looked over the details again. Only one woman in this huge house? Doesn’t she get lonely? Deciding to spare her fellow maid, she took the folder under her arms and waved to Von Lycaon. “Alright, I’ll take this one then. When do I start?”
“The client said that you may arrive at your earliest convenience.” The wolf replied.
“Hmmm, I’ll go tomorrow morning then.” The shark said with a stretch of her arms and a yawn. “See you all later.”
“Goodbye, Miss Ellen.”
“Have fun sweetie~”
“S-See you later Ellen! And thank you!”
Ellen idly clutched her tail as she waited in front of the ornate front door. After convincing the very sassy home security AI that she was in fact with Victoria Housekeeping and not some punk looking to throw rocks through the windows, she then had to make the long and arduous hike up their driveway.
Sighing to herself as she realized that she would have to hike up this hill everyday for at least two weeks, she grew more impatient and decided to ring the doorbell again.
Maybe their house is too big and she can’t hear me… Ellen thought to herself.
Eventually, Ellen could hear footsteps frantically running to the door. Taking a steadying breath and mustering up the closest thing to “enthusiastic” that her face could produce, Ellen prepared to greet the client.
When the door opened, Ellen recited her lines perfectly. “Hello, I am Ellen of Victoria Housekeeping and it is my pleasure to serve you tod-”
“Ehn-Na?”
“Huh?”
Ellen opened her eyes and was surprised to see… a Bangboo?
“Nuh-Neh-Eh?” (Oh! Are you that maid that Belle hired?) It asked, with a tilt of its head.
“...Well someone hired me to be here.”
“Den-Ne-Dah!” (Wait here please, I’ll go get her!).
And with that, the door slammed back into Ellen’s face and she was once again left waiting.
All things considered, it wasn’t too out of the ordinary for her client to own a Bangboo. Considering their deep pockets, they could definitely afford to purchase and maintain one. And… Well, this one was kind of cute, with its orange scarf and little jacket
After some more tedious waiting, heavier footsteps could be heard inside the house.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” An exasperated voice called out from behind the door.
Finally, Ellen could get a good look at her client. She was a mess. Her jacket and skirt were haphazardly thrown on and her blue nest of hair had clear signs of bed-head.
Did she just wake up? Ellen thought to herself. “It’s no problem, didn’t make me wait at all.”
The maid stared blankly at the woman in front of her as they squirmed underneath her gaze. Oh… did that sound rude? She thought. I was just trying to tell her it was ok.
Trying to salvage the situation, Ellen did her best to give a bright smile. The client somehow gave an even more awkward smile in return and ushered them through the door.
“Y-Yeah, here let me show you around. I'm Belle by the way.”
“Ellen.” The maid deadpanned, following her inside.
“Ok, so here is the living room. Not much here besides our furniture, but be careful when cleaning those display cabinets! Wise might not ever open them to actually watch any of those, but he'll get super mad if anything happened to them.”
Ellen nodded along as she took in her surroundings. If she ever paid attention to those interior design classes that Von Lycaon made them take, she could have more accurately appraised the quality of the room. But she didn't.
“It feels very… homey.” She eventually settled on.
Belle beamed, “Awww thanks! You know I couldn't stand the minimalist design that came with this place, I just had to renovate. That couch is as old as I am!”
“Mhmm.”
“Alright! Here's the kitchen where we cook… or well Wise cooks, I sometimes come down here to eat.”
The maid silently trailed behind, not one for small talk.
“And uhmm… we have a few other rooms, but there's not much to talk about. To be honest, we don't really use them that much.” Belle trailed on nervously.
“I did find it strange how clean everything was.” Ellen said. “Why did you need a maid anyway?”
A blush crept up Belle’s neck. “Oh! Well, uhm I was hoping that you could cook something later for dinner. And. Uhh…. It's better if you see for yourself.”
Ellen raised an eyebrow and followed Belle upstairs. The 2nd floor had more of the same, various paintings and souvenirs lining the walls. What really worried Ellen was the way Belle nervously crept towards a room at the end of the hall.
“Ok… So, Wise keeps his own room spotless and it’s not like he’s around much anyway.”
“Uh Huh.”
“But, well… My room…” Belle slowly pushed open the door.
The first thing that hit Ellen was the smell. “Oh! Gosh…” The shark desperately brought a hand to her face to cover her nose.
Belle visibly winced, “Oh, is it that bad? I swear I tried to clean a bit last night!”
It wasn’t that bad, it was definitely worse. Ellen could make out the smell of sweat, old cheese, and god knows what else. All of these aromas seemed to have stew in this enclosed area to create a cacophony of fetid odors.
“I-It’s fine…” Ellen croaked.
And that was only what she could smell. From what she could see it looked as if a tornado blew through the entire room. Various pieces of trash and garbage were scattered all over the floor. The poor shelf where various awards and keepsakes were kept was covered in a noticeable layer of dust. And to say that Belle’s desk was cluttered would be a grave understatement.
I definitely have my work cut out for me Ellen sighed internally.
“Ahem, so how does this work?” Belle asked.
Ellen, came to her senses and kept things professional. “Before we begin, I’m going to need you to sign here, here, and here.” The maid said, shoving a paper folder into Belle’s arms.
“W-Woah alright!” Belle skimmed over the documents and upon finding that she was consenting to their maid service and not selling her soul, signed immediately.
“Thank you, and you mentioned that you are able to provide cleaning supplies yourself?”
“Oh, right! Eous!” The girl skipped over to the top of the staircase and called out for her Bangboo. “Can you bring up everything for Ellen?!”
Belle chuckled as she saw her little Bangboo hobble up the stairs with its arms full of various cleaning supplies. “Perfect! Thank you so much!” She praised, patting Eous’s head.
Ellen took some disinfectant and a rag from Eous and mentally prepared herself to enter Belle’s room, “I’ll start with this problem area and then move on to the rest of the house, I should be done by dinnertime to cook your meal. You can snack or get something else before then.”
“O-Oh alright!” Belle stammered, a tiny bit hurt that her room was just referred to as a ‘problem area’. “I’ll wait for you downstairs. Come on Eous, let’s not disturb her!”
The maid watched the two run downstairs and sighed. Belle definitely wasn’t one of the worst clients she had. A bit odd, but then again who in the world wasn’t a tiny bit strange? Donning a pair of latex gloves with a satisfying snap, Ellen got to work.
In the business world, first impressions are extremely important. Isn’t that what Wise told her that one time she had to attend something? And just like that time, she completely blew it!
“Ooooaauughghh” Belle screamed into one of the couch’s pillows in the living room.
Not only did she sleep in on the day Ellen was supposed to arrive, not only did her room still reek of death no matter how many air fresheners she stuffed into every corner, but she also looked like a blubbering idiot in front of her guest! And she really tried this time too, she even took a shower last night! WIth shampoo! And not that 5 in 1 stuff she usually uses, but those expensive looking bottles in Wise’s bathroom…
Deep in the back of her mind, she also wondered why exactly she was so worried about what Ellen thought of her… She was only here to do her job, Belle shouldn’t make it weird! But her thoughts still lingered on Ellen. The way her outfit suited her perfectly, her small, but noticeably cute expressions, and her tail…
Belle slapped herself on the cheek. Wait! No! Don’t be weird!
“Du-Na-Deh?” (Belle? Are you alright?).
“It’s nothing Eous, just grown up problems.” Belle reassured.
“Ne-Duh…Da!” (Well… If you aren’t working today, we should watch a movie!).
Belle patted the Bangboo’s head and got up from the couch. Crouching down next to the VCR, she shuffled through their video tapes. “Alright then, what do you want to watch this time?”
“Da! In-Ne-Dah!” (Let’s watch TreCarls!).
She gave Eous a watery smile, “Again? Are you sure you don’t want to watch something else buddy?”
“Duh-In-Na!” (I want to watch TreCarls!)
After deciding that Eous probably wouldn’t appreciate the artistic value of “This Is How I Am” or “Nihility”, she begrudgingly put on the family flick. Well, at least I can catch up on some sleep Belle thought. Slowly falling asleep to the theme song as Eous clapped along.
“Master, I’ve finished cleaning the house. Are you ready for dinner?”
“Huh…? What?” Belle groggily rubbed her eyes only to see Ellen standing across from her with her hands behind her back. “Wow, you’re done already?”
The maid shrugged, “Like I said there wasn’t much to clean besides your room and you were out for a while…”
Belle quickly reached for her phone, “Oh crap!” It was already half past 6! “Ugh… there goes my sleep schedule.”
“You definitely need to stop drinking all those energy drinks. I’ve tried that stuff and it will only mess up your Circadian Rhythm more…” The shark said, idly swinging her tail.
After not getting an immediate response, the gears started turning in Ellen’s head as she quickly brought up her hands to apologize. “N-Not that you need to listen to me, Master! I’m sure that you-”
“No, no. You’re probably right about that.” Belle dismissed her apology with a wave of the hand. “But now that I’m awake, I could definitely go for some breakfast right now!”
Ellen visibly relaxed upon seeing that Belle wasn’t upset and made her way to the kitchen. “Coming right up, Master.”
Belle laid back down on the couch, and scrolled through her phone. Although Wise always seemed to be up to his shoulders in work, Belle was able to take it easy once in a while, especially since she’s been working extra hard these past few days.
“Uhm… Master?” Ellen called out from the kitchen.
Belle quickly shot up and went to check what was wrong, “Yes? DId you need something?”
The maid gave her a weird look, “Not really… I just thought I should ask if you were ok with eating eggs.”
“I can eat eggs, why do you ask?” Belle questioned with a tilt of her head.
“Because you only have eggs.” The shark replied, opening the fridge doors to reveal an astonishingly empty interior save for an assortment of random condiments and a lone carton of eggs.
Belle was mortified. I completely forgot to buy groceries again! “Oh uhhh, wow I guess Wise forgot to get groceries before he left haha.” She said, in an attempt to play it cool. “Feel free to use anything else you can find, but I’m ok with anything!”
Ellen simply nodded, “Ok, don’t worry this won’t take long.”
After settling down at the dinner table, Belle idly watched Ellen work in the kitchen. She felt sort of… useless just sitting around while her maid did everything, but deep down she knew that if she tried to help she would only get in the way. Ellen wasn’t kidding when she said it wouldn’t take long either, the shark performed every action from cracking the eggs, to maneuvering the frying pan as if she had performed them thousands of times. Before long, Ellen brought over a shimmering golden omelet and a bottle of ketchup.
“Normally this would be served over rice, but you didn’t have any so…” The maid hastily shook the bottle of ketchup and drew a red heart over the eggs. “Enjoy your meal…” Ellen cheered awkwardly.
Belle blinked at the other girl, too stunned to speak. That…was… so CUTE! Her uninterested voice, the meek smile, even the little heart she made with her hands! “T-Thanks, wow! That was amazing!” Belle eventually stammered.
"Eh, don’t mention it. I had to do this all the time in training” Ellen grabbed a chair for herself and started to play on her phone.
Cutting into her omelet, Belle brought the forkful of egg to her mouth and took a bite. The velvety smooth texture of the eggs, complemented by the savory hearty flavor of the butter. All juxtaposed with the subtle tangy sweetness of the ketchup… It was pure bliss. Is this what people mean when they say something was made with love?! “Ellen… Wise has dragged me to some of the fanciest restaurants in the world with names I couldn’t pronounce and I can still say this is some of the best food I have ever eaten.”
The maid looked up from her phone like a deer in headlights, a small blush dusting her cheeks. “Uhm… Thanks, I guess? It’s nothing really, like I said I probably made thousands of those omelets before I got this job.”
“Really?! Here you need to have some.” Belle offered, pushing her plate to Ellen.
A plate that Ellen immediately pushed back, “No thank you, I’m not hungry.”
‘Huh? But you didn’t eat anything all day did you?” Belle questioned.
Ellen shifted in her seat, wringing her hands together as she formed a response. “No, it’s alright. I… I had a really big breakfast this morning, that's all.”
Belle frowned, for all of Ellen’s talents, she was a terrible liar. “Hmmm, tell you what. How about I order some takeout for you to take home?” She grabbed her phone and brought up a delivery app. “What kind of food do you like?”
Ellen, being put on the spot, pursed her lips before answering. “Uhm… ramen is good.”
“Oooh!” Belle lit up, “Have you ever had General Chop’s?”
“Uh, I’ve heard about them, but don’t you need to reserve a table in advance? I don’t think they deliver…”
“Ah, don’t worry about it. I can just text him to send someone!” Belle said, closing her app and opening her DM’s. “Ol’ Choppie and I go way back!”
“Ol’ Choppie huh…” Ellen mumbled. “Then, I would like the iced noodles please.”
“Iced Noodles! I’ve never had those before, I’ll tell him to send two!”
Almost forgetting her manners, Ellen quickly realized she was essentially getting free food. “Thank you so much Master!”
Belle casually waved her off again, “Don’t mention it! And please, you can just call me Belle.”
This really surprised Ellen, most of her clients were really strict on the whole ‘Master’ thing, “Ok. Thanks Belle.”
“No problem!”
By the time the lone employee came to deliver their noodles, it was already getting late and Ellen was packing her things ready to leave.
“Alright Belle, I’ll be back at the same time tomorrow, please contact Victoria Housekeeping if you need anything.”
“Got it! It was great having you here Ellen!” Belle beamed. Oh gosh, was that a bit too far?
If the statement did creep Ellen out, she didn’t show it. “I also had a great time, you’re way better than all of my usual clients. Thanks again for the noodles by the way.”
“Really? That’s great to hear.” Belle breathed a sigh of relief. “Have a good night Ellen!”
“You too Belle.” Ellen bowed, opening the door.
“Oh! Wait!” Belle quickly stopped Ellen and reached for her wallet. “Take this!”
The shark’s jaw dropped as Belle held out 10 ten-thousand Denny bills to her. “Belle… We have your account information, you should be charged by the end of our service time…”
“No, this is for you!” Belle hastily stammered. Oh crap, are you not supposed to tip maids? Is that rude?
“Uhhh” Ellen stared dumbfoundedly at the wad of cash before quickly taking it and stowing it away in her pocket. “Thank you so much!” She said with a deep bow.
“No, thank you for all of your hard work!” Belle smiled, leading her out the door.
Ellen briefly turned back and flashed a small, but genuine smile. "Thank you for your patronage."
And with that, Belle watched as the maid walked down her, now that she got a good look at it, way too long driveway. After making sure that they got to their car safely, she quickly ran upstairs for the moment of truth.
Slowly creaking the door open, Belle was stunned when she saw her rejuvenated room. “Wow…” Instead of smelling faintly of cheese, there was a small hint of strawberry in the air. Her bed was actually made for once in her life, and her various accolades now shined brighter than ever without all of the dust tarnishing them. And her desk… All of her various pens and knick knacks had all been organized and tidied up to the point where she could honestly fit in a fifth monitor if she really needed to!
Her room looked as good as, if not better, than when she first moved in. Was it weird that she was getting emotional right now??? She carefully climbed into bed, as if she were to disturb the room too much she would ruin it, and settled in to hopefully get some sleep.
She pulled out her phone because a little screen time before bed never hurt anybody! (Note: screen time shortly before and after bed can definitely hurt you) She quickly snapped a photo of her now clean room and sent it to Wise.
“Look at this! Amazing right?!” She texted.
It took a while before Wise texted back. “Wow! o.O Looks like hiring that maid was worth it after all.”
“Yeah, she was great! I think she even cleaned the whole house.”
“Well, I look forward to seeing it for myself when I get home.”
“I’ll try not to ruin it before you get back! NIght bro!”
“Good night, sis.”
Belle put her phone on her now clean nightstand and sighed. Part of her was glad that her room had never looked better. And another part of her was excited to see a certain maid again tomorrow…