Story Hub: [link]
[//~~~//~~~~IC~~~~\\~~~\\]
*The Tomorrow Show cuts back from commercial, without Serena around, Pezzile instead chose to go interview the other workers. With Aphros’s help, she located Princess Atlanta, who was being walked through the garden by Orion. The Princess’s annoyance at being swarmed by a TV crew is blatant, while Orion is simply surprised. Pezzile holds up a microphone to the two of them*
Pezzile: Your Highness, do you or your attendant have any comments about the Multiversal Power Stationtm incident? What was your experience being held hostage again? Orion, is it true you saved Lady Aré during the Fire Moon Festival?
*Atlanta just glared at the questions, while Orion’s mouth was agape*
Orion: Again? What do you mean—?
Princess Atlanta: No comment.
*The Princess turned on her heel and dragged Orion away in the other direction. The camera pans back to a nonplussed Pezzile and a nervously laughing Lady Aphros*
Aphros: Let’s see what Caenia has to say instead.
[//~~~//~~~~~~~~\\~~~\\]
*A brief time later, the Tomorrow Show comes back from another unexpected cut to find the crew approaching Caenia and the Second Princess. Pezzile again tries to start an interview*
Pezzile: Caenia Diane, what’s your take on the Power Station Incident? What’s your relationship with the Second Princess? Why did you take an extended—?
*Wordlessly, Caenia slaps the camera, and maybe even the cameraman, to the ground, much to Pezzile’s shock. Now that the camera’s on the ground, only their feet are visible*
Caenia: No comment.
*Caenia walks away while the cameraman tries to assess the damage. With the camera still on the floor, Aphros walks up to Pezzile and makes another suggestion*
Aphros: How about I introduce you to some workers who do enjoy the spotlight?
Serena trudged through the grand crystalline halls of the palace, not with the delicate step of a maid, nor the elegant click of high heels, but the echoing clonk of the monstrosities on her feet. While Lady Aré’s teachings did help Serena walk straight, they could only do so much to alleviate the drag of an additional twenty kilos. Which was a problem when it came to wrangling Princess Irene, who was well aware of Serena’s new handicap. Now it was a trial just to keep up with the logic-defying child, let alone actually catch her.
“Princess Irene, stop running ahead of me, stop climbing on the walls, and stop racing across the floor on all fours,” Serena demanded, “it’s unbefitting of a princess, and more importantly, my legs are killing me.”
“Nope!” Irene blew her a raspberry. She bounced playfully and recklessly from wall to wall until she reached an intersection. The princess made a sharp right turn only to run right into Caenia.
“Watch where you’re going, brat!” The silver-haired maid spat, but that reaction only emboldened the child.
“Can’t catch me,” Irene challenged.
“We’ll see about that,” Caenia reached out to grab Irene, but the younger girl nimbly dodged before bouncing away like a cartoon character. The maid tried a half-dozen times in as many seconds to seize the princess, but the girl was more slippery than an eel. Even when Caenia did seem to get her hands around the princess, Irene just appeared beside her, as if the maid was only grabbing an afterimage.
“You couldn’t catch me for three days straight before, and that won’t change today,” Irene stuck her tongue out at the frustrated maid, only to be snatched off her feet by Serena.
“Good thing I’ve gotten plenty of experience,” Serena commented as she gripped the princess tightly.
“You’re no fun,” Irene huffed.
“Not in my job description,” Serena replied before she turned to her cousin. “Sorry about that.”
“At least someone can catch the brat,” Caenia blew it off, but was still clearly agitated.
“Where’s the Second Princess?” Serena noted the distinct absence of Caenia’s charge (well, distinct is a strong word considering the Second Princess was about as present as a ghost half the time).
“Taking a leak, or whatever she does in the bathroom,” Caenia shrugged. “She takes a long time, so I figured I could make it to the end of the hall and back before she was done. It’s good exercise.” Serena peered down the hall Caenia had come from and, despite her best efforts, could not see the other end. She knew this place was big, but a corridor this dizzyingly long still took her off guard.
“Right. Is that why you’re so sluggish? Don’t take this the wrong way, but I know you’re faster than that,” Serena commented.
“No,” Caenia glared, “it’s because I’m wearing Aphros’s freaky Maid Outfit of Doom. It’s not that heavy, but man, does it screw with my center of gravity. Good training, though, I’m finally getting back in shape. I finally have a real challenge, this has to be the most fun I’ve had in months, not even the brat can ruin this day.”
‘Not that heavy?’ Serena recalled Aré’s explanation of the 120-kilogram outfit, and now she felt like an idiot for forgetting such a ridiculous detail. ‘Sure, she’s slower than usual, but she’s moving and exercising like she’s only wearing bulky clothing, not weights as heavy as a giant panda. And this is fun for her? Was she always like this, and I never knew because I only talked to her when she was drunk?’
“To each their own, I guess,” Serena abridged her thoughts when they finally reached her mouth.
“And you’re one to talk, you’re moving around like you’ve got anchors tied to your legs,” Caenia laughed. “Oh, wait, you do, ha!”
“Says the girl in the maid outfit designed by an adrenaline junky,” Serena scoffed before realizing she said it out loud. “In my defense, that was supposed to be a thought.”
“Meh, touché,” Caenia shrugged before turning on her twenty-kilo heels and jogging back to her actual job.
‘Just great, not only was Caenia rusty when she kicked our asses last time, she’s getting back in shape. While I’m struggling with a fifth of the weight,’ Serena lamented. ‘Why am I even here? Oh, wait, no one else has low enough self-worth to take on the humiliating task of chasing Irene every day (plus, for whatever reason, no one else is allowed to, wasn’t Medy supposed to be helping me now? Where is she?). And more concerningly, it seems whatever is in the air around here has gotten to Caenia, too, considering she’s turning into as much of an adrenaline junky as Ze. Does the palace just bring out the weirdest in people? Am I doomed to have the same thing happen to me? Or has it already happened, and I don’t even know it? Who can say? Also, I just realized I don’t feel Irene in my arms anymore…’
“Run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m…um… Can’t catch me!” Irene sang as she bolted away down the opposite hall that Caenia did.
“Why me?” Serena sighed as she began the chase again.
[//~~~//~~~~ID~~~~\\~~~\\]
*The interview cuts ahead to Pezzile interviewing Jace and Medy near the servants’ quarters. Jace has puffed out his chest and is trying to look taller, while Medy is barely containing a snicker watching him*
Jace: …So naturally, I was the brains behind the entire operation. They wouldn’t have gotten half as far without me. I marched bravely into the breach while the rest approached with fear.
Medy: Enough about your manuscript, they want to hear about the incident, not your fantasies.
*Medy continued to snicker while Jace became deflated*
Medy: I’d say I was the real biggest contributor. I was making all the decisions while we were fighting the big robot guy, organizing everyone to go after the bombs, and I was the first to realize that the shady guy had turned on us.
Jace: No, you didn’t—
*Medy interrupts him*
Medy: And I confronted that witch who tried jumping me in the bathroom and…
*The maid suddenly went silent with a difficult look on her face, as if she just remembered something unpleasant and it brought her whole train of thought to a screeching halt*
Jace: Medy?...Medy? Um, give her a minute…
*Pezzile turns to Aphros, half wondering what is wrong with these workers and half concerned how the subtext might make the interview unusable*
Aphros: Not to worry, there’s still one more worker who was there who wants to talk!
[//~~~//~~~~~~~~\\~~~\\]
Princess Irene continued to elude Serena’s grasp. The child now ran along the wall in her usual defiance of the laws of physics and gravity. However, Serena was completely focused on retrieving her ward. The only two things on her mind were Irene and the frustration of having two lead weights wrapped around her feet. All else had been forgotten until a tiny spot of concern began to gnaw at the back of her mind.
‘This has to be the strangest time to think this, but,’ Serena thought as she chased Irene up into the hallway’s rafters, ‘I can’t help feel like I’m forgetting something. Not something that I have to do, but something I wanted to be aware of…what was it?’ She swiped after the princess, but the new speed difference between the two made the task nearly impossible. ‘And another thing, why are the rafters in this magic crystal palace made of wood and steel? Has it all just been a façade? I mean, the city was built the same way, but I always assumed it was crystal all the way through, but I never really checked or looked it up. Maybe there isn’t a reason, for all I know the Queen snapped her fingers, and the palace appeared out of thin air.’
“You’re not even trying, Serena,” Irene taunted as she bounced further away.
“Princess Irene, get back here this instan-!” Serena began to say before missing a step, tripping over a rafter, and tumbling to the floor with a heavy thud. Thankfully, the plush carpets they laid out in this hallway gave her a slightly softer landing than slamming face-first into the crystal floors. Most people would still be crippled for life from such a fall, but Serena shrugged it off with only mild embarrassment.
‘Center of balance is still off, if I try to chase her like this, I’ll only be doing that on repeat for the rest of the day,’ Serena realized, ‘time to change tactics, I’ve got a new trick.’ The maid stood tall for one moment before shifting into a squat. Her magic worked best when using a conduit as a medium, and normally that meant channeling her magic through a weapon or weapon-like object to create a better weapon. However, there are myriad other uses, like reinforcing objects and clothing. Serena hadn’t figured that part out yet because she couldn’t keep her magic stable, and usually destroyed whatever object she tried it on. However, these shoes were not only heavy, but robust and sturdy.
“Watcha doin’?” Irene stopped to watch Serena’s plan unfold. The princess cocked her head with a quizzical look, eager to see what new fun this would lead to.
“Alright, full power,” Serena gathered her magical energy into her shoes, building it up like a pressure cooker before releasing it with a fiery blast. She rocketed into the air, on a beeline for Irene’s position. “Hold still!” She declared as she sailed right at and then over the princess. “Wait, wait, wait!” She crashed into the rafters above the little girl and got tangled in the structure. Thankfully, the maid was mostly unharmed, if more than a little humiliated. “Overshot it…again.”
“Do it again, do it again!” Irene demanded as she climbed on top of her maid.
[//~~~//~~~~IE~~~~\\~~~\\]
*The interview resumes again with Pezzile attempting to interview Penelo just outside one of the palace bathrooms. However, Penelo is mid-ramble, barely even paying attention to Pezzile or the camera*
Penelo: …And then I had to switch to the super long brush because the regular brush wouldn’t fit in the pipe, but then the long brush got stuck too, so I had to find the long-grabby-hook thingy to get that out, but when I did it all came spilling out like a-
*Pezzile swiftly interrupts the maid, much to everyone’s relief, before they could hear the gross details of that story*
Pezzile: No, no, young lady, I asked you what happened the day of the power station incident.
*Penelo looked back at her quizzically*
Penelo: But that is what happened the day of the incident, in the early morning.
Pezzile: I meant what happened during the incident itself. That’s what we want to know.
Penelo: Oooooooh, now I get it.
*Penelo nodded her head vigorously, but everyone else present had significant doubt in the validity of her words*
Penelo: I don’t remember much of that. I wasn’t really paying attention in the beginning until I realized the bad guys had captured us. I was too busy thinking about the sound soup cans make when you rattle them in a big bag. Then I don’t remember much of the second half either, the nice nurse lady said it was because of ‘blood loss,’ whatever that is. How would I even lose my blood? It’s inside me. I’m not that forgetful…oh, maybe I am, that’s why I don’t remember anything from that day… I’m not going to forget my blood again, am I?
*Penelo began to panic for a brief moment before she became distracted by her own reflection in the crystal walls of the palace. Pezzile turns to Aphros, who was whistling a jaunty tune innocently*
Aphros: If you need something else, I happen to know one place in the palace where there’s never a dull moment, and that’s frequented by someone I know you’ve been meaning to interview.
[//~~~//~~~~~~~~\\~~~\\]
After her earlier mishaps, Serena was finally getting the hang of the heels of doom. That or her adrenaline had picked up enough that she could muscle through the handicap. Irene still raced around the palace with reckless abandon. She had kept further ahead of her maid than usual, and the princess clearly knew it. It became a pattern that Irene would deliberately slow down just enough for Serena to get close so she could dart right out of the maid’s hands. Serena always figured Irene thought of their daily chases as a game, but now she couldn’t tell if Irene was handicapping herself for fun or trying to torment her. It could easily be both.
“Princess Irene, for the 74th time today, slow down and cease your monkey business,” the maid pleaded.
“Ook, ook, ook,” Irene howled as she swung through the various fixtures of the hallway like a gibbon.
“I’m serious, Princess, you keep this up and no fourth or fifth dessert tonight!” Serena threatened.
“Sorry, can’t hear you, ook, ook,” Irene yelled back as she swung towards a high window, which she quickly pried open and crawled through.
“She so can hear me,” Serena grumbled as she used her magic to rocket towards the window. She held back her full power this time to prevent any repeats of earlier and managed to not faceplant into the wall or window. However, as she scrambled out the window after her ward, she failed to notice the prying eyes that followed her outside.
[//~~~//~~~~IE~~~~\\~~~\\]
*The interview abruptly resumes with Pezzile and her crew rushing after Serena, whom they just watched chase Princess Irene up a wall and out through the window. Lady Aphros is nowhere to be seen, having apparently left them alone near the entrance to the palace gardens*
Pezzile: Now this is what the people will want to see, keep the camera on them.
*The camera struggles to follow Serena as the news crew exits into the palace gardens. The maid performs a variety of acrobatics to catch up to Irene, who is acting more like a monkey than a princess*
Pezzile: We’re live at the New Celene Palace gardens, witnessing the newly famous maid, Serena Diane, chasing after the youngest princess. It seems to be some kind of game or routine?
*Irene blows past a series of caution signs, including a big one reading “WARNING: UNSTABLE,” but pays them not a second of her attention as she clambers onto a crumbling piece of stonework. Likely damaged during the sewer incident. Serena, meanwhile, watches with horror as the stonework swiftly begins to collapse even under the Princess’s light weight*
Serena: Princess, no!
*Serena rockets into the air with a burst of magic as Irene tumbles down, surrounded by large and jagged rocks collapsing around her. Serena snatches Irene in mid-air before shattering the biggest rock with a magic-enhanced kick. Then kicking off the scattered debris to regain control of her trajectory and attempt to land safely*
Pezzile: Are you getting this? Please tell me you’re getting this!
*Pezzile watches the whole scenario in awe, already mentally discarding the other interviews and planning a whole follow-up covering Serena’s actions here alone. Just the views from publishing this as a Celetube short will classify it as a viral sensation, let alone a full follow-up interview or an hour-long puff piece*
Cameraman: Oh snap, we’re not live anymore. The footage is being recorded, but we lost connection ten minutes ago.
Pezzile: What!
*Pezzile glanced back in shock, nearly missing Serena crashing down butt-first into a mud puddle in front of her. Irene bounced away and did a curtsy, not a drop of mud on her, but Serena was covered head to toe*
Serena: As if this day couldn’t…get…any…worse…
*Serena looked up to realize she was being recorded the whole time and immediately went flush with embarrassment as Irene waved to the camera*
[//~~~//~~~~~~~~\\~~~\\]
Serena desperately tried to suppress her humiliation, and it wasn’t working. At the very least, when Lady Aphros and Aré arrived on the scene and took her back inside the palace, they were being very kind about the whole situation, the latter shockingly so (although Serena could still sense her latent fury). The maid barely remembered the actual interview Pezzile subjected her to at all, as she was far more exhausted from chasing Irene all day. Not an unusual workout for her, but with these weights on her feet, she felt like she hadn’t rested in days.
“Cheer up, Serena, this is hardly the worst thing that’s happened to you, heck it’s not even the worst thing that’s happened to you this week,” Aphros attempted to comfort the maid.
‘That does not make me feel better,’ Serena turned aside.
“Yes, it appears to have been quite the spectacle, too bad their footage was unusable,” Aré commented.
“Huh?” Serena looked up in shock.
“I just spoke to Pezzile, and that was unfortunately the case,” Aré explained, “which was doubly bad as you had already rejected the interview on privacy grounds.”
“But I didn’t…Oh,” Serena realized.
“But they already-” Aphros began to say before Aré grabbed her by the lips.
“I said there’s no usable footage, too bad, but she’s had enough spotlight and we can’t let it go to her head,” Aré declared aggressively, before turning to Serena with a slightly softer expression.
‘I guess I should be grateful, but she has a very bizarre way of being nice to me,’ Serena thought. “Oh well, so much for my fifteen minutes of fame. I promise to be humbler in the future, Lady Aré.”
“Nonsense, if anything, you need more confidence in yourself,” Aré asserted. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to sort out a few more fine details with Ms. Pezzile before someone,” she stared daggers at Aphros, “can propose any more disastrous ideas.” The high noble marched off and disappeared into the crystalline halls.
“I don’t understand, why is she being so nice to me all of a sudden?” Serena asked.
“Nice? Aré?” Aphros was taken aback. “Oh, I guess she is being nice, isn’t she? Well, I think it’s because she likes you.”
“I…still doubt that,” Serena shook her head. “She has every reason to hate me after what I said, but ever since then she’s been eerily considerate.”
“What’d you say?” Aphros leaned right into Serena’s personal space.
‘I said she was selfish and manipulative like you,’ Serena thought. “I said she was selfish and manipulative like you,” she also said. ‘I didn’t mean to say that out loud, but I’m too tired to care.’
“Haha, that would do it, wouldn’t be the first time,” Aphros belly laughed. “She likes someone with a little sass and bite in their words. It reminds her of herself.”
‘And this whole time I felt the need to keep all my comments to myself, I should try insulting people to their faces more often,’ Serena considered. ‘No wait, that’s Caenia and Medy’s endearing character trait. I wouldn’t want to take that away from them.’
“Oh, Serena, it’s times like this where I realize you’re just like your father,” Aphros stated.
“I’m sorry, what?” Serena was taken aback. When was the last time anyone mentioned her father to her?
“Oops, said too much, see you later, Serena,” Aphros turned on her heel and skipped off, leaving the maid alone and bewildered.
“Great, more mysteries, just what I needed,” Serena sighed. “Wait…what was that part about being alone? Crap, Irene!” Serena heard a girlish giggle echoing down the halls and raced after it.
\\~~~\\
VII //~~~//
After a long, tedious, and running-filled day, Serena returned to her room after putting Irene to sleep and finally ditched the heels of doom. Her ankles and feet were sorer than they’ve been since the earliest days of her training, and her legs weren’t much better. As she desperately massaged her poor feet to stem the pain, the maid considered making a quick run to one of the palace’s many stores to buy an ice pack, pain meds, foot massagers, and more pain meds. However, she decided that despite everything, her exhaustion was far greater than her pain.
“Serena, are you in there?” Orion knocked on her door.
“Come in, I’m just stewing in my pain as usual,” Serena quipped. Orion poked his head inside her room, a concerned look on his face.
“I just wanted to check up on you,” the blonde admitted, “I heard something went wrong with the news crew.”
“The less said about that, the better. I’m more concerned with my poor feet,” Serena moaned. “They put me in these stupid weighted heels.”
“I understand,” Orion nodded as he gestured to his own uniform, “Lady Aphros put weights around my legs and weaved so more into my jacket. I must have 50 kilos on me, and it’s already beginning to wear on me, but I didn’t have to attend Princess Irene all day, so I can only imagine how you feel.”
‘Cool, another person casually muscling through far more weight than me,’ Serena noted as an ugly feeling began to gnaw at her. ‘Of course, knowing him, Orion hasn’t realized how tired he is,’ the maid considered, “Orion, if that’s what you’ve had on you all day, you should get that stuff off and go lie down right now.”
“You make a good point, goodnight, Serena,” Orion agreed and shuffled away. Serena waited until she heard a loud thud from next door to confirm that he had heeded her advice. With privacy restored, the raven-haired girl took a deep breath and looked inward.
‘Alright, honesty time. It’s not being embarrassed on camera that’s bugging me right now…I mean, it does bug me a little, but it’s not the thing that’s really gnawing on me,’ Serena admitted to herself. ‘It made me look so…weak, and I’m sick and tired of feeling weak. Caenia is so far ahead of me, and Orion is so quick to adapt that I look like a fool compared to them. Even Medy and Penelo are at minimum on my level, and Penelo’s well on her way to leaving me in the dust.’
Serena laid flat on her bed and tried to will the pain away to mixed results. The best she could do was give herself a headache so she’d forget about her sore feet, but the second she realized that her feet would hurt again. The maid turned on her side, hoping to just fall right asleep and forget all this discomfort for one minute, but no such luck. If she wasn’t thinking about the pain, she was beating herself up over being too weak.
‘I want to be stronger, dang it…No, I NEED to be stronger,’ Serena resolved, ‘if not for the sake of the job, then just to survive. I’ll never make it home if I can’t live long enough to see this through. It’s not like they’ll let me be weak either. It’s either I shape up now, or I suffer until I’m either forced to or I die…what wonderful options.’ Unable to suppress her mental or physical pain, Serena sat up in her bed, the first thing that caught her eyes was the haphazardly discarded heels of doom on the floor.
“I’m going to regret this,” Serena sighed. Tomorrow, she’d ask Lady Aré to upgrade her to the real heels of doom. If her options were get stronger or die trying, she might as well take off the training wheels and go for broke. Even if her hamstrings will never forgive her.
May This Fantasy Continue A Little Longer…
>>>~~~~<<<
Damage control is one of the most important aspects of good public relations. It doesn't matter what happened or whose responsible, you always want to come out looking good, or at least less bad then the other guy.
Author's Note: And chapter complete, it's good to be back. So the intention of this chapter was a brief reintroduction to the world through outside eyes of the media, hence all the interviews with the supporting characters. The other goal was bringing us up to speed on Serena's condition following the last arc, she's got her own internal issues to sort out, outside of all the people trying to kill/maim/humiliate her.
Like I said last time, this whole chapter has been through several revisions as I tried to find something I was happy with. It did result in major cuts, Pezzile had her role reduced massively from having a character arc to just being our POV and a talking head (does that qualify as a pun?), but I just couldn't make her arc work in a way I liked. I did keep my idea for a format change whenever we view her show, it's written kind of like a transcript, albeit not an in-universe one, to give a more visual vibe to the proceedings. Think of it like reading the script to a play that was publish in novel form or something like that. It was actually a lot of fun to write, albeit it felt like I was cheating sometimes, but I felt like the format break was justified to give this chapter a unique vibe.
As for other stuff worth mentioning, the heels of doom started as a joke scenario I daydreamed once, but then I realized I needed a Serena and Aré scene this chapter and I needed a new problem for Serena to stress over. As for why they exist in-universe, well Aphros has always had opinions on how the servant uniforms should be (opinions most people ignore for good reason), but she figured she could get away with this if she pitched it as part of training. That's why she went to Ze to workshop the idea. Aré only accepted the idea because Ze vouched for it, and Ze only vouched for it because she had many wonderful ideas on obstacle courses she could design around the heels (good luck Serena, you're going to need it).
That's all for now, the next chapter isn't done yet, but I'm working on another installment of "Free Will is Overrated" that's almost halfway done, and once I get through that the next Maid in Fantasy chapter should follow soon.
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.
