Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Kitchen

My best self, or my kitchen drudge self? Even being at choice, at one with yourself, doesn't get you out of House Service. You tug your slop suit and chore apron into place, and mentally rehearse your Invisible Gloves charm.

"Oh, now, you've had quite the topsy-turvy go, Miss Applebum," Cook says. "Best medicine for heartache is work. And I'd say you bear keeping a close eye on, ma belle dame. So let's to, my hearty."

Ma belle dame well, that's me, Fay, La Belle Dame Sans Merci. Yesterday you would have wept, but not today. But neither do you have any argument for Cook. Not Mean Fay, Princess Fay, Conjurations and Summonings Fay, nor Little Bit of Tess Fay, none of your soul's chorus have any argument for House Beavertail's Cook.

"Come, scholar, no woolgathering," Cook tells you. "House service today."

The kitchen chores soon engage your attention, and wash, rinse, dry, polish, sweep, wipe, all the things hold you in their hypnotic rhythm, swaying back and forth to take, to give, to fetch and to receive.

And it works. You polish, scrub, and sweep, and your mind and mood settle.

Some time after hours of this, you find yourself staring at the littlest fingernail of your wand hand. It takes you a full minute to remember why it looks wrong. For two years it bore your shared emblem, an apple wreathed in woodbine, and was a blank shield, polished to mirror-smoothness. Once a devotional charm worn boldly at your fingertip, now smooth and spotless, a tabula rasa. You don't even remember when that happened, and how.

You're grateful to Morgan, you respect and admire her devotion. But that desperate love, well, that's light, empty air inside you. Was this the Fay who entered Boarbristle for the first time, sharp and fearless and looking forward? Perhaps this was she. Welcome back, you tell yourself. Welcome back, Happy Bunny. Not even Mean Girl Fay kicks at being a member of House Beavertail.

You're startled when Cook lays a hand upon your shoulder. "Shift's up, dear. Did you not hear the chime?"

You look up at Cook's broad round face, blinking wordlessly. The other helpers have gone, along with their aprons and slop suits for kitchen day. It's just you and Cook now.

"Ah, Miss Applebum, we seem to have worked a good day from you. Let's to the baths, shall we? Of course there a wee bathing tub just behind the kitchen big enough for just you and me. Let's not march you all the way."

Cook's scent is nothing special at the moment, a large woman who has had an active, busy day. You let her guide you around a corner and down a few steps to a tub that's already warm and waiting for you both.

"Off, off," Cook directs, gesturing for you to drop your soiled chore suit. She's already naked, and scrubbing herself with a soapy cloth and a bucket. When you are bare, Cook briskly does the same for you, working a wordless charm with her fingers to call a little waterspout to whirl over and rinse away the last of the soap.

You doze in the warm bath beside Cook. At length your nose tingles with a delicious scent and your mouth waters.

You have Ambition +2, Bravery -1, Cunning +2, Diligence +0 and XP: 2
You may use either STAMINA or MIND MELD as a Sex Move. Morgan owes you a FAVOR. Tess is your FRIEND.

Roll +DILIGENCE (0) to HAVE SEX with Cook: ⚁⚃ + 0 = 6, Miss. What goes awry?