Shadow of Vanity

*Posted by : White\_Caribou on Mar 28, 2018, 1:57pm*

- August 19th, Corbet Estate, Highholm, Afternoon -

She lit the cigarette with shaky fingers as the leather corset was laced and tightened behind her. Stella's gaze poured out of the stained glass and into the cobble street outside of the estate which she had become so familiar with. So many carriages had crossed it before full of careless people with not a thought bothering them.
"I wish I could be like that," she muttered. The girl repeated her question as Stella found reality once more, tying off the last of the lace.

"What do you mean? Where's Mr--,"

"He's dead," Stella responded too quickly. "And he will be dead unless someone *miraculously* brings him back to life." Her voice got quieter as she took a long drag. Pale smoke covered the window and a frown tugged at her mouth.

 *The Commandments. You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. Both she had wrongly done. But was killing him really so wrong?*

Jessy hesitated to say anything. Stella sat down at her vanity, swirls spiraling upward as she cleaned her face of makeup with a rag in the other hand.
In Dusk it was expected for a woman/widow to mourn for at least three days dressing in most-- if not all-- dark colors. Black gown with puffy sleeves. Black pumps. Black earrings and black hair. Just as dark and dreary as her house. Dusk's rules didn't appeal to her, she believed to mourn nearly thirty days after the death. But, with all he had done, David didn't deserve that much remembrance.

Appearances were simple, keeping up the act was the hard part. She'd finally found her rapture, but the loneliness inside the walls was nibbling at that confidence. Perhaps a clean face and a clean house would be a fresh start.

"You haven't smoked for a few months. It's a bad habit," the girl began undoing the messy extensions Stella hadn't taken out.

"I'm a bit stressed and hurting if that isn't obvious, so I apologize for trying to take the edge off of my husband being killed by a damn earthquake!" Stella snapped. "I don't pay you to talk to me I pay you to work. Don't make me regret hiring you."

Jessy remained quiet despite her temper. She brushed the woman's silky hair with ease while clouds billowed from the lady's mouth. *Just get through the week...*
The orphan thought back to her lessons this morning. Vocabulary and a little mathematics, just the basic operations and such. Mister Solomon was a kind man... at least he was in his teaching. With a twinkle of determination in his eye he'd pulled Jessy aside after the other kids exited, talk of better work for her. They would discuss the details tomorrow where it was more private. He'd given her a location within The Sprawl. A time. Now all she had to do was get there safely.

What kind of job would she be doing?

The thought out shadowed all of her other memories before noon; the words she'd learned, what she could do with numbers, hauling rolls of fabric to Hansen's and selling the gloves to Emily for a good amount, playing hide and seek with Carter. None of it meant anything right now.

Jessy tied Stella's hair up in a ponytail and was dismissed to fetch some tea.

What kind of job would be so special to *her* that they needed a private meeting?
Perhaps this was her chance to make a difference somehow, someway in the screaming monster that was Dusk.