Swabbing the Deck | 2/21, noon | Lily/Gespard

[Lily]

As far as Lily was concerned, everything sucked. With Rowan's presence on board, her mood had turned gloomier by the minute. It was almost impossible to escape anyone on board, one had the tendency of encountering the person one tried to evade. Unfortunately, that also meant that avoiding Rowan was out of question, which was the main cause for Lily's permanent grumpy expression.

She couldn't figure out why in all of the Heavens, Azrael had chosen someone like Rowan as a wife. He could have had anyone else, perhaps some girl who wasn't from the mainland and thus, was more suitable, at least in Lily's opinion. If Tennyson had noticed her temper, he hadn't mentioned it around her yet.

With a frustrated sigh, Lily twisted her hair into a thick knot, as it kept falling into her face, and continued to scrub the floor. It was a grueling task, kneeling on the rough floorboards and from the constant friction, her knees were beginning to chafe. It was punishment for the cheek she had shown Ben the night before. He had asked her to do something and in her irritation, she had snapped at him. Oops. Usually that would have merited a different punishment, but Ben after three years, Ben was bound to know her.

She could readily deal with pain, but boredom was her enemy. Plus, she did not really like having to be on her hands and knees all day. She felt it was degrading. She would have happily preferred a different punishment. At least a whipping was over with fast and it was less humiliating. But this deck swabbing was dreary and set her teeth on edge.