Chapter Text
On a particularly gloomy morning that smelled of petrichor and a thick, earthy musk, two collared doves whispered to each other. Their hushed voices were silenced by the sound of the sky’s fresh morning tears as Erina strained her ears to listen. Perhaps they spoke of love? Gossip about the other neighborhood birds?
Erina found the idea of birds leading lives similar to humans quite amusing. Would the father bird kiss his wife and children goodbye as he left for work? Would the mother bird take her children to the bird market?
She laughed at herself, finding that idea childish—something she may have been scolded for in her home if she said such a thing aloud. But, alas, this was not her home anymore. The fact remained—she had to keep reminding herself—that this was the Joestar mansion’s doors she stood in front of.
Erina Pendleton’s family lived on a plot of land owned by a certain George Joestar. They paid him six pounds to live on that property every month and had lived there for the majority of Erina’s life. Life had been as wonderful as her parents could have made it, for a time.
But when Erina’s father sustained an arm injury at the coal mines where he worked, he was told to rest in his home until it got better. No more work meant no more pay.
And so, to help get the Pendleton’s family back on their feet, their landlord offered a job to one of the women of their family—Erina.
So she packed herself a small bag and boarded the stagecoach to be sent to a man’s house whom her family did not know. She hoped he would be kind, at least.
However, that did not stop her from fidgeting with her gloves, smoothing out the crinkles that they got when she flexed her fingers. Fidgeting with her clothes was a nervous habit that her mother fretted about constantly, for it was not ladylike to appear distracted. But the weather was not quite cold enough to be wearing such an outfit like this, Erina thought. Her dress had long sleeves and a high collar that itched her neck horribly. Her mother even sent her out in a second petticoat in hopes of impressing the inhabitants of the Joestar Manor.
“Ah, you must be miss Pendleton, yes?” The butler answered the door. Erina observed his appearance, which she found quite harsh. He had a rather long, droopy face and a sharp hooked nose. The man itched his thin mustache, that Erina liked to think was glued on because it seemed like it did not belong there next to his grey hair and bushy eyebrows.
“I am,” she replied with a slight nod of her head, trying to seem as polite as she could. After all, her family’s wellbeing rested on her shoulders.
He adjusted the small glasses that were starting to slip off his large nose and glanced Erina up and down with his large, dark eyes. He looked behind her to the stagecoach still resting at the side of the road and nodded to it. “Very well,” he grunted. “Come inside.”
Once the butler shut the door and Erina was inside with her bag, she glanced around, suddenly feeling very chilly regardless of the warm light that bounced off the walls. Despite feeling a tad uneasy, the house was beautiful. The checkered floor, the stone statues that rested upon marble pillars, the pristine red carpet that led up a grand staircase to her left. There was a very large and very extravagant chandelier that hung from the high ceiling, crystals glistening in the soft light it cast. It was wonderful. Positively stunning. Erina had always dreamed of living in a place like this, and now for a time she would, even if her duties could very well be grueling. To her, it was a dream come true.
“Why has God cursed me with such stubborn sons?”
An older man was talking to two young men. One was a rather large brunette with a frown on his face; the other was blonde, standing tall with his hands behind his back. They were of equal height and very tall, indeed. The man, Erina assumed, was George Joestar, because they would not be talking like that in the open if they were servants. The two boys must be his sons. They were being scolded, the blonde looking bored but still nodding along while the other appeared to be deeply ashamed.
“Come,” the butler whispered, annoyance on the edges of his words. Right, she must not stare too long. They walked briskly up the stairs to the uppermost floor, too fast for her to stop and look at the rest of the mansion, and he led her to a garret room.
The room had plain walls, and a large window lay in the very center of the furthest wall, giving a view of the entire front of the house. Two beds, both of opposite sides of the room, sat next to a simple nightstand. A small desk was in front of the window, the latter being partially covered by a pair of cream curtains. It was not much, but Erina couldn’t help but feel some excitement. Her employment was a new adventure for her to go through, and she couldn’t be more ready.
“Tom told me there would be someone new coming here!” A girl exclaimed from behind the both of them. Erina turned around, startled. The woman smiled at her, so bright and cheery that Erina couldn’t help but smile back. She held out her hand for Erina to shake, and so Erina did. The girl shook it with so much vigour that her wild brown curls bounced up and down. As outlandish as she seemed, Erina thought she might like her.
“It is Thomas to you, Elizabeth,” the butler huffed before turning to Erina, who had broken the handshake and was wringing her hand in pain. “Thomas Yorke,” the butler said, finishing his introduction and bowing slightly to Erina. She nodded.
Thomas cleared his throat and stood up tall, itching his moustache. He spoke to this Elizabeth girl. “Now, I trust she’ll know her duties by tomorrow morning?”
“Aye, she will. You can count on that,” she replied with another smile. Erina noticed that her words were heavier, from the back of her mouth, and she spoke with a Scottish accent.
“Yes, not aye,” the butler corrected with a sigh, knowing the girl would never correct herself. He turned on his heel and walked down the hall and down the stairs out of sight.
“Don’t mind him. He seems quite cross, but I know he’s soft on the inside. I know him well enough,” she told Erina before introducing herself as Elizabeth Fraser. Elizabeth showed Erina the latter’s side of the room and helped her unpack her little things, all the while talking about what she might expect to do around the Joestar mansion. By the end of the hour, her head was swimming with rules and thoughts of tasks she might have to do.
“Of course, with one of our maids gone, you’ll have to take over her old duties. Her job was quite simple,” Elizabeth said, sitting on her own bed and leaning back against the wall. It was a strange position, where she was almost laying down except for her head that was against the wall. Erina smiled and shook her head. What a strange young lady.
“Did this maid quit?” Erina asked, sliding her empty bag underneath her bed. She was given the left side of the room.
“Well, that was what us staff were told, but,” the girl said, sitting up and sliding to the very edge of the bed, leaning in to whisper to Erina. “I, along with the rest of us, think something else happened.”
Elizabeth stared at Erina for a moment, the room falling completely silent. She did not know whether to laugh nervously or to wait it out. Something about Elizabeth’s thought, however, made the warmth drain from Erina.
“I.. I do not know what you are implying,” Erina finally said, breaking the eye contact that Elizabeth held. The latter simply shrugged and stood up, heading towards the door.
“Me neither. Come, let me show you your chores for tomorrow.”
With that, the two of them left and not another word was spoken about their previous conversation.
Erina’s duties were, as Elizabeth had stated previously, simple, but they were grueling. Every morning at exactly six o’clock, she would be given ten minutes to get dressed before having to assist in the cleaning of the dining room while breakfast was prepared. Once finished, she would be able to eat her own breakfast until the people of the house awoke.
She would then tidy up the room she was assigned. She’d have to clean every nook and cranny to ensure that the owners of the house would be pleased with her. The housekeeper—a weathered and gray woman who introduced herself as Mrs. Layla—informed her that she would have to clean young master Dio’s room. Erina noted to herself that she would have to figure out which of the two boys Dio was.
After that, she would haul up hot water so the young master could bathe himself. Then, her duty was to gather both Jonathan (that was the other boy Mrs. Layla told her about) and Dio’s laundry and linens to wash. She would have to spend the next long while separating the whites from the rest, soaking them in hot water, scrubbing them with soap, rinsing, wringing, and hanging them up outside to dry. Erina was not very excited to do this every day.
Once the laundry was finished, she was told that she might have an hour or so of free time after she ate her second meal, giving her time to read. She was most excited about that. She was also told she may be given things to mend and fix, mostly clothing and buttons and whatnot.
Erina would have to put the house to sleep after dinner as well, closing windows and shutters, and lighting the fireplace and making sure everyone was taken care of.
While laying in her new bed, Erina let out a long sigh. She wanted to be optimistic about this new job. After all, this may be her only chance at employment before she gets married off to care for whoever her husband may be. But she was not sure about all the work. All day and every day and without much rest is all she understood. She was sore simply thinking about it.
But in the end, it was what her family needed of her to support them.
She only wished the Joestar mansion would have something exciting as a break from the monotony she would face.