Weightless.

The world around her refused understanding. Her actions would be meaningless. Chaos. Fear. The scent of urine and sweat. She heard screaming. There were flashes and pops and then burning garments and roasted flesh. Madness, all around her.

“Mamma!” a young girl screamed, blood trickling from her blue scalp.

The girl was stumbling along a gray stone road, confused. A heavy hand fell on her shoulder, dragging her along, away from the screams.

“Maaamaaa!” The girl cried, hardly able to resist the force pulling her along. The world around her was blurring, too confusing, but with enough focus, she could see her mother’s face at least once again. She strained.

There.

She heard her mother’s voice bellowing.

“Mari!” a giant of a woman bellowed, followed by her war cry. She remained by the wagons, drawing attention to herself. “Get her away! Go–!”

Another flash. Another pop.

Mariane jerked up from her mattress. Cloying wet sheets tangled her, trapping her, giving her a moment of gasping panic, before she realized she had woken up where she had fallen asleep.

A nightmare then. A nastier variation of it, one that gave her hope of at least seeing her mother’s face once more. in a dead sweat. She hated it. She hated it. She hated–

She slapped her cheeks, centering herself. She recalled the advice Esmerelda had given her. “Focus on what I can do, not what happened,” Marianne told herself, as though speaking it aloud made it a little more true.

After a few more pep talks, Marianne hyped herself up enough to start the day with a smile on her face. It started false, as it did every morning, but by the time she had wiped herself down and replaced her bedding, she was roaring to go.

Naturally, her first order of business was waking Jackie. Marianne examined the other girl from where she slept oddly, with her butt in the air and her face cocked to the side. Such a strange posture. Marianne nudged her several times before Jackie’s eyes opened blearily.

“Wwhaaat?” Jackie complained.

“Jackie!” Marianne called with cheer that she only had to force a little bit. “It’s time to wake up if we want the bathes to ourselves.”

“...no…” Jackie responded with eloquence.

Marianne giggled and rolled her eyes. “How you ever survived traveling with this slothfulness, I’ll never know.”

Jackie made an odd huffing sound. “Ch. Sleep debt, and the–” she yawned “-the debtors coming to haul me off.”

“W-what?” Marianne asked, confused. “That made no sense.”

“You’ve never heard of sleep debt?” Jackie asked, opening her eyes wider.

Marianne shook her head.

“Huh,” Jackie said, before slowly shutting her eyes. “I’ll explain it later. Like, in an hour.”

“Half an hour,” Marianne bartered, “Any later than that, and we won’t get baths. Everyone else has priority.”

Jackie groaned. “Just take one on your own then.”

Marianne narrowed her eyes. So it would be like that then?

“Twenty minutes,” Marianne said, cutting ten minutes off. “I’ll be waking you up then. And much more vigorously. Just you wait.”

Jackie groaned, “fine…” as she rolled over, facing towards the wall.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Marianne then proceeded to do her stretches and lunges, followed up with a few of the slow and dextrous dance moves her father had taught her as a child. They were meant to serve as both calisthenics and a means of bettering one’s motions with grace.

At some point during her exercises, Jackie had turned around, and her eyes were open, watching Marianne exercise. Marianne startled when she noticed Jackie watching, especially as it was the same second that Jackie had spoken.

“Graceful,” Jackie said, almost approvingly.

Marianne’s cheeks warmed slightly in embarrassment. Some of the moves were a bit more revealing than she was comfortable showing. Still, at least the other girl was awake. She cleared her throat.

“Ready to wake your lazy self up outta bed?” Marianne asked.

“Might as well,” Jackie said, tumbling from her bed and landing in a crouch.

“Now that was graceful,” Marianne said, feeling a twinge of jealousy for Jackie’s Marks.

When Marianne had finally managed to drag Jackie into the vanity chambers, she inhaled sharply, smelling the sour scent of citrus soaps on humid air. Someone was already there, taking up one of the three baths, and it was someone that Marianne knew far too well. Unfortunate, that.

It was one of Cook’s assistants, a human girl named Anne. Also known as Little Anne, to the girl’s ire, and Marianne’s amusement.

With Jackie pressing in behind her, Marianne was forced to fully enter the chambers, drawing Anne’s attention from where the girl bathed.“

Oi,” Anne called. “Shut the door, you’re lettin’ the heat out… that you Mari? And who’s wit’ ya? The new girl then?” As Jackie stepped in and shut the door behind her, Anne’s eyes lingered on Jackie’s deviation.

Marianne winced. That was monstrously rude of Anne, but then, it was Anne. There was a reason the girl was kept to the kitchens, and it was not her lack of beauty.

“Yes, Anne,” Marianne replied, starting to get her soaps and tub set. “And her name’s Jackie.”

“Uh-huh,” Anne said, beginning to scrub her legs in a rather lewd fashion. “So, what’s with the arm?”

“Little Anne!” Marianne snapped. “You can’t just ask someone that! It’s rude!”

“What’s rude is that nickname,” Anne scoffed. “Besides, it doesn’t even make sense. I’m bigger than Cook is! And she doesn’t even go by her name!”

“Maybe the ‘little’ isn’t a reference to your height?” Marianne scoffed. Jackie watched on, with a bemused expression and a cant of a head.

“Can you please knock it off?” Anne said, while threatening to splash Marianne with stained tub water.

“Well,” Marianne said, ignoring the threat. What was a bit more water while bathing. “I might stop calling you that, but it depends on if you’re gonna keep asking rude questions!”

“What? It was a harmless question,” Anne argued. “All I wanted to know was what that arm could do! No harm in asking. It’s a healthy interest.”

“Healthy?!” Marianne scoffed, turning her back as best she could to Anne. The three tubs were lined side by side, so it was only partially successful. Marianne found some success in focusing on exfoliation, rather than the rude assistant cook. “...none of her business…” Marianne grumbled as she scrubbed.

“Hey!” Anne called to Jackie, who bathed on the far side of Marianne. “I figure I got a right to know, since we’re coworkers an’ all. Won’t you tell me what that arm does? Was the ability worth it?”

“I feel this is more curious than necessary for coworkers,” Jackie said, weighing in. It would make sense that Jackie would keep her abilities close to her chest; gods, Jackie had yet to reveal her abilities to Marianne, and they were roommates.

“Yeah… Jackie’s right,” Marianne said, still trying to avoid facing Anne so much as possible. “You’re in the kitchen, so it shouldn’t matter.”

Water moved from behind her, and for a second, Marianne thought her hair might get wet. It was a rest day for her hair, at least it ought to have been. Marianne glanced over her shoulder, and found Anne had relaxed back into her tub, almost blowing bubbles. Marianne breathed out in relief.

“I might need to find a better pair of gloves,” Jackie said, thinking out loud. “Will patrons be disturbed by the sight of my arm? I wouldn’t want to insight… more drama.”

“No,” Marianne said, a bit too quickly. After Jackie arched her brow, Marianne quickly added, “Well, maybe some of them. It’s rude though, and they should know better about minding their manners!”

“Hey, not a bad idea new girl!” Anne said. “But then again, some weirdos tend to like that kinda stuff, so who knows, yeah?”

“Gods take you, Anne!” Marianne swore, horrified.

“Ha!” Anne said, sticking her tongue out. “Whatchya gonna do ‘bout it?” Anne taunted.

Before Marianne really let the kitchen help have it, Jackie intervened.

“It’s fine,” Jackie said. “I need to plan for this, if it’s the sort of attention I’ll receive. Are such body modifications common?”

“Ehhh…” Anne waggeled her hand around. “Somewhat. Moreso in the Pits. But now that you an’ I are talkin’ directly, what’s it do? Your arm?”

Marianne wanted to speak for Jackie once again, but decided instead to focus on rinsing off the soap, all to more quickly leave the baths, since it was clear Anne was outstaying her visit.

“Oh, you know, the usual,” Jackie grinned. “But it’s interesting you didn’t ask me about my Marks first…”

“You’re Marked too?!” Anne shrieked, slapping her hand down on the water. “I figured you just had some dirty enhancements. What’re you doing working here? Could be a merc, or really anything else. Unless the Marks are bad? I mean, you do got a deviation there–”

“Anne!”