Work Text:
"Um, Eris?" Eloïse asked immediately after opening the door, quite obviously freaked out about something or another. She held her hands behind her back to try to control her stimming, but that didn't stop her from tapping her fingers on her wrist.
"Is it important, Eloïse?" asked Eris. "I'm quite busy teaching Esmée how to—"
"I need help finding something." Eloïse responded immediately, uncharacteristically interrupting Eris in the process. "The ingredients for Master's birthday dinner. I understand you hid them so you could surprise her, but I can't find them either."
"Oh." Eris said, a tiny smile on her face. "I'm afraid I didn't order anything."
"What?" Eloïse stared at her as if she were frozen in time.
Esmée looked at Eris, then to Eloïse, then at Eris again and her fellow slave's devious smile. "Why... not?"
"You— I can't believe you forgot this." Eloïse said, walking into the room proper and pacing rapidly in a hopeless attempt to get rid of that anxious energy of hers. "You didn't get anything? I mean, I can see why you'd forget one or two ingredients, I did send you an extensive list... wait, I did give you that list, right? Fuck, I forgot, I forgot, it's all my—"
"You gave me the list." Eris said, trying to reassure Eloïse. "I still have it, in case you think I lost it. No, you did nothing wrong — the dinner seemed lovely! — but I just decided to not order anything for her birthday."
"You're joking." Eloïse whispered.
Eris didn't respond; Esmée didn't dare make a sound.
"Right?" Eloïse tried again, voice even weaker than it was before, tears in her eyes.
"I made an executive decision." Eris explained. "I didn't think our Master would appreciate a birthday dinner. Think about it, Eloïse—"
The door slammed shut before Eris could even explain herself to Eloïse.
"I... I didn't know she could do that." Esmée commented after what must have been at least fifteen seconds of pure silence.
***
There was a knock on her office door.
Lilith didn't respond. Not immediately, anyway. Her slaves knew to wait for permission, especially the ones who weren't smart enough to just barge inside, like her Eris was.
But there was another knock. Faster, louder, more insistent.
Odd.
Concerning.
"Come in." She responded, assuming that whatever it was, it had to be more important than the porn she'd been watching just now.
Eloïse entered the room with red eyes and ruined make-up, too shaky to fall to her knees, as she usually would. "Mistress— Eris— She, um, Eris—"
Extremely concerning.
Yet, she didn't panic.
"Come on, out with it." She ordered.
"I need to go to the supermarket, Mistress."
"... what do you need from the supermarket?" Lilith asked. If something was up with Eris, and it was bad enough to get Eloïse to tears, then surely Lilith can just drive to Walmart herself and get whatever medicine Eris needed rather than make Eloïse walk there for a whole hour.
"Eris didn't order anything for Master's birthday dinner — she said she did so intentionally — so I need to go the supermarket to pick up some ingredients for dinner today, I'm so sorry for not noticing this earlier Mistress, but I trusted that Eris would do something as important as this—"
Ah. She's going to be rambled at by a slightly-more-anxious-than-usual slave today. Lilith would much rather get back to her porn.
"... this is not an emergency, Eloïse."
That seemed to snap the slave out of her ramblings, if only because she was genuinely surprised by what was being said.
"But— Master's birthday..."
"I trust Eris knows what's she's doing."
"But..."
"And if she doesn't, she's the one getting punished. Not you."
"I don't want Master's birthday to be ruined..." Eloïse said pathetically.
"You're not going to leave the house today, slave. Eris and Esmée will handle dinner. If it's not good enough, that's their problem, not yours."
"But—"
"That's my final decision, slave. Do you understand?"
"...Yes, Mistress." Eloïse said in the most defeated voice Lilith ever heard from the girl.
***
Once upon a time, long ago, Celine hated her birthdays. Her 'mother' had made sure of that; Edith and the others could only do so much to make up for all that.
Then, for a few years, she got to look forward to her birthdays. Eloïse always made sure she was properly attended to, and the girls at the facility would go out of their way to make sure she got the kinds of gifts and attention she'd always wanted on those days. Sure, she had to give the slaves the reassurance of doing a good job in return, show appreciation for their hand-made gifts and all the passion they'd put into those things, but it was more than worth it.
And then the facility went from having five girls on staff, to ten, to fifty, to a hundred. They went from having some ten girls in the final year to a hundred and twenty... and went from a two-year programme to three.
All in all, Celine received some 300 gifts today, the only limiting factor seeming to be the second-years deciding to pool their time and resources this time around— they didn't have much to give away, after all.
Thank God for Amelia, who agreed to handle the intensive task of making sure all the gifts were organised and properly redistributed. Some of it to be shipped to their home, others displayed in her office — or some part of the facility for guests and slaves alike to appreciate — and some of it, mostly the food, directly distributed to the staff and slaves themselves for consumption: Celine couldn't consume that many lovely treats in a whole year if she tried, especially not with what Eloïse prepares for her on a regular basis.
Eloïse, who'd no doubt have prepared another birthday meal for her today, fit for a queen. Something she'd normally appreciate, especially the pleading looks from Eloïse begging to hear she'd done a good job that day, something Celine loved denying the girl for as long as possible to keep her on edge... But it's just not enjoyable when she already is so tired after a long day of having to socialise with so many slaves in the first place.
Not that anything would actually stop Eloïse from trying to spoil her on a day like this, nor should Celine try to stop her: it's only natural that a slave would want to show love for its owner.
***
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Eloïse was kneeling on the hardwood living room floor with the worst migraine in years, every heart beat reverberating through her body and causing her head ache to ring even harder.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
She'd seen Master's car drive into the garage just a minute ago, and immediately headed for the living room; Eris and Esmée seemed to have the same idea. The latter seemed to be as anxious as Eloïse was, clearly aware of just how much trouble the three of them were in now, whilst Eris looked awfully calm and at peace with what'd she'd done.
Nails dug into her skin.
Eris ruined Master's birthday, and she didn't even have the decency to look sorry for it.
Eloïse closed her eyes so she didn't have to look at her fellow slave right now.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Click. Creak.
A sigh. Master's sigh. The sound of her dropping her bag on the floor, then of her crashing into the couch and turning the television on.
PBS. Washington Week in Review. They were talking about some infrastructure bill— it sounded like the ninth Long-Term Railway Investment Act. The High-Speed Horseshoe Curve bypass made it in, as did the Gulf Coast Express, with an alignment through Baton Rouge winning out over New Orleans. Master sounded satisfied with that; she was a Louisiana native, after all. Finishing electrification works in the South and West, improving the main line between Albany and Montreal to enable speeds of up to 125mph.
And throughout the entire broadcast, not a single word was said to any of the slaves. Master must have known already. This was just her revenge.
And then she spoke.
"You have permission to speak, Esmée." Master said, sounding tired and almost a little sad.
"We know you'll have had a long, tiring day so... the three of us decided that it might be best if we just ordered some pizza... and like watched a movie or something." Esmée spoke words that were clearly practised yet undeniably anxious. "If that'd please you, Master."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Just for Master to laugh, loudly, like it was the best thing she'd heard all week, needing a moment to come back to her senses before the inevitable punishment the three of them would get—
"Fuck yeah." She said. "I'd love some pizza and movies."
***
It was almost four hours later when Eloïse, Eris, and Esmée found themselves in their cage again. Esmée had fallen asleep almost immediately, exhausted as she was at the end of a day like this— but Eloïse couldn't quite sleep yet. Neither could Eris. She still had something to say.
"See, Lowie." Eris whispered into her ear. "It wasn't so bad."
Eloïse didn't respond, not immediately, still a bit angry about it all. She'd been so scared and stressed about it all, how could Eris have done something like this to her? She thought they were best friends.
"You could have told me." She eventually said with a pout.
"I could have." Eris agreed. "And you wouldn't have believed me if I did."
"I..." Eloïse wanted to defend herself, then took a step back and thought it through instead. "I... guess I wouldn't have believed it'd work, no."
"Mhm." Eris agreed, pulling Eloïse closer against her. "I know you want to spoil our Master, and that's a good instinct most of the time, but sometimes... sometimes it's better to keep things simple and show your love for them by giving them exactly what they need... even if the slave manual suggests you should do something else."
"But how do I know when to deviate from expectations?"
"You won't have to know as long as I'm around, sweetheart. You just have to accept it when I do. Because good things will happen to you when you let others guide you, elo-easy."
With that, Eris kissed her on the cheek and the two of them got to drift off into the night.