By the time evening called upon, Claire and Annie had returned, the two frolicking enthusiastically along the oak staircases.
Elaine, by hearing the sound of the familiar shoes, already had opened the door and as they entered, she welcomed them with integrity and three cups of tea by the small table nearby.
Claire hurriedly took off her shoes and the cloak she had on, and dragged Annie with her as she flopped down onto the cushion and gestured for Elaine to join.
"Well, someone's at rush."
Elaine murmured playfully.
"Oh come on! Can you blame a girl for being a girl?"
Claire responded as she showed the dresses and ornaments they had bought.
Annie's was a soft white, that complimented her ginger hair, and doe eyes. The perfect match for a perfect maiden.
Whereas, Claire had bought quite the dress.
A rose pink, with a pannier skirt that went along with the top. The dress overall was almost identical to her bubbly personality.
Elaine was happy and gave the two words of encouragement for the masquerade.
"Oh..wait, your masks?"
"Right, I haven't shown them"
The two brought masks that matched them, although for Annie, Claire chose something that was not exactly a mask, but rather a cloth of sorts, it did have a captivating effect for sure.
"My oh my, this is...quite the show, you two. "
"I agree, I'm sure everyone will look good, Annie why don't you go and put this away? I'll keep Elaine company. Plus, you should go and get fresh up too."
"Okay"
Replied Annie is a polite, and satisfied tone.
Almost immediately, Claire's "happy face" dropped into her resting face as she leaned in to talk to Elaine, as though ther conversation would be confidential.
"Elaine. I found some helpful information."
"What did you find?"
"For the masquerade, I saw some maids recruiting more servants. Mostly women, actually. I'm not sure if it's exactly for the Lytton household, but it's for someone who's most likely either attending the masquerade like any other or is a funder of the event. "
Elaine blinked and tried processing the information at bay, although the mind could only ponder upon some keywords, "maid needed" "masquerade" "helpful'.
"So..? What are you hinting at?"
"I am suggesting, one or two of us go for it. If we do, we will have time and we can navigate the place and upper class personally without getting caught...well hopefully."
"Claire..I highly doubt you can fill in as a maid, no offense, but neither have you nor have I ever had the experience of being the severant. It's no easy job. And if I may decipher your thoughts, you want Annie to go for the role. If that would be done so easily, I would have said yes right away but please..how much more shall we drag her in? She's just... literally strangled in our mess."
Claire gave out a low scoff.
"I know you feel guilty. But seriously? We did this almost with intentions, we succumbed to boredom did we not? And our entitled selves, decided to come here and now we have to find a way back out and God knows what's going on back at home, plus even if we do return what excuse do we have, and what about our time here, the time after will definitely change due to consequences, and are we even going to-"
Elaine shushed Claire, who seemed to be spiralling way down the rabbit hole.
"Claire. Calm down. I know it is too much, but we are responsible for our current situation right now. We have to fix this and that has to be done without thinking much.
I..have you talked to Annie about it? Does she know?
"She does. I just did not directly ask her to."
"I see. That gives a little hope. If she is willing to, perhaps we can. Either ways, there's only little to few weeks left til the event happens. I honestly have no idea if your plan of seeking in a subordinate will even succeed."
"Oh trust me. You think it won't? What else could go wrong, Elaine? Everything already is messed up, I do not care what else goes lost or goes into mess."
Elaine did not say anything to that and she did realize that even her most optimistic companion was starting to lose hope. Hope.
Just then, the door creaked open, and revealed Vermont. The two were a little shaken at the sudden gesture, and Elaine was surprised, she didn't even know when Vermont had went outside.
"..where were you?"
"I went to the Lytton Manor."
The two looked at him dumbfounded as though he had just said that every human had three eyes.
"What nonsense are you spitting about, Vermont???"
Claire said as she just stared at him blindly.
"You did..what happened?"
Elaine asked as she looked back at Vermont who close stage gate and sat down.
Adjusting his coat, he continued..
"I met a gardener. Who apparently works for the Lytton household. I did not know that, he simply had a lot of supplies to be taken in from the botanical stalls. I decided to help in, hoping I could get some sort of help around. Oblivious to his role, I managed to even enter the Manor with him and honestly, the farthest I could make was under the entrance chandelier. The place is as extravagant as ever, I could see people were preparing little by little for the masquerade. I even happened to see your grandfather, Elaine. Although, I was promptly escorted outside soon after."
Elaine jerked at the mention of someone from her family, right now, it did not bring her feeling of being proud or the feeling of comfort, rather, ur brought upon a shiver down her spine.
"Oh yeah?"
Before they could continue, their conversation, Annie entered and called in for them to join dinner.