The Demon Boy

Day Five - Morning

     With these new victories under his trouser straps, Casper proudly stuffs his rag (it, too, is his property) into a pocket and returns to what he was doing before picking fights with the old house. He goes back to shaking grit out of quilts and covers to use as bedding for the dining room. The small breeze wafting in from outside does miracles in dispersing unruly dust bunnies. The door is left open for better ventilation. Aired blankets are lumped into a pile beside it.

     Casper looks at his work. He's satisfied, both at this morning's progress and the amount of bedding he has so far. He gives his current bed a once over. He won't strip it, not while there's a chance he'll use it tonight. Then again, he could move into one of the other rooms. The change in location would keep him more hidden at night...

     He yanks the quilts off the last bed, shakes them out, and adds them to the heap. He surveys the room to check for anything he missed as he dusts off his hands. Whatever he's looking for, he doesn't see it. Excellent. Thus satisfied, Casper leaves what was once his room. He'll come back for his quilts and covers, never to return again. But that's later. For now, he scouts the path to the dining room.

     He's halfway down the hall when he stops and frowns at the floor. The floorboards are a squeaky nuisance, but that's old hat. It's not why he's troubled. The problem is that the floors are as dirty as they are noisy. Whether it's small footprints in dust or the trail of filth Casper's been bringing in from outside, it's a clear transcript of where he's going and where he's been. That's how Balor traced him to his sleeping quarters.

     Casper sighs at the muck. Unless he wants his future bolt hole to be found, before moving in no less, he needs to do something about this mess. And wipe his feet when he comes inside, but that's besides the point. As loathsome as it is, Casper has to clean up after himself.

     "'Cause of course I got abso-bloody-lutely nuthin' better to than to clean house like a bleedin' scullery maid. Oh, no sir. 'Cause to do this nice an' proper, I gotta do that, an' those too." Casper slams the coat room open. Myr be damned, Casper's too fed up to care whether the drunk wakes. "Fuck my life," he hisses. He thought he saw a broom tucked in here yesterday. He's not wrong. The broom's right there, nestled cozily in a cradle of cobwebs. "Fuck my life."

     He takes the broom handle with a finger and a thumb and pries it away from the webby nest. He takes it slow, praying for no spiders. The broom comes free with minimal resistance. No eight-legged abominations are out for his blood. That was... easier than expected.

     Casper gives the broom dangling from his fingertips a once over before he draws it towards him. He nods. About time something went right.

     He closes the coatroom door and reappraises the mess. He scrapes the broom hard across the floor, swearing all the while.

     You know, when he heard the toff go on about his 'new beginning', he didn't think doing housework would be part of the bargain. He's no stranger to it. He did lots of it in the workhouse and did more in the homes. He just didn't think he'd be doing it again so soon after he left. Or at all.

     Casper practically shovels the lump of filth around as the layers of crud pile up. He shoves all of it into a corner of the hall, just to the side of the kitchen doorway, and considers himself done for the day. If the dirt's off the floor, it's in no position to tattle his whereabouts and is, therefore, not his responsibility. Cleaning isn't his  job. Leave that for the scullery maid, who's been on leave since forever and a day... much like the rest of the staff, come to think of it.

     He plants the broom bristles into the floor and leans on the broom handle, resting, thinking. Fancy houses like this have servants crawling out of the woodwork. There's always someone cleaning, polishing, cooking, watching, and doing every other thing needed to run a mansion. So, what is it that the occupants of the manor do? Balor watches the house. Myr drinks, sleeps, and makes life more difficult than necessary. Casper... He does what he needs to. That's a grand total of three people living in this huge building.