More Cash Please

The shelf was far above the television, and held portraits of the academy's past and current headmasters. Lotte frowned, standing on her toes and stretching her body as much as she could. She placed her duster at the edge of her fingers, but even on a chair it seemed futile. Why did the janitor ask her to do this!? The lanky man had no problem reaching up there with a stepladder of sorts, but the girl was too short.
Maybe he wouldn't see it until she got payed. Yeah, sounds good.
Lotte ceased her stretching, resting on her heels and letting out a sigh. Across the room, Ethel was examining some books on an impressive shelf. She flipped through one. "Did you know there is a mysterious island with monsters and stuff?"
"Yeah, I saw that in the orientation pamphlet. I thought it was a joke among the staff and didn't pay it much heed." Lotte answered rather monotonously, busy scanning the lounge from the aerial view of her chair. It was a rather luxurious looking room, with tons of nooks and crannies where dust and dirt could lie. If the girl had known it was this detailed of a room she would have bartered more money, but she had to take what they agreed on now. Maybe if she gave the janitor her puppy dog eyes...
"It looks pretty legitimate to me." Ethel said after reading more of the book. "This book tells of journeys and expeditions and even deaths."
"It is probably academy legend, Ethel. Christ, I am trying to concentrate on finishing this."
"Milady, I'll have you know that we used to go to schools to learn how to clean, and you are doing one room as a past time for some currency."
"Didn't they ever teach you in school to never pester someone working then?" mumbled the girl. Ethel pouted grumpily, and Lotte smirked, raising the camera that was commonly around her neck and snapping a picture in Ethel's direction. The screen on the camera went black for a moment, then lit up to reveal the image she had just captured.
Ethel wasn't in it. Lotte frowned.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing."
Lotte hopped down from the chair, walking herself to a wooden cabinet. It looked hand made and old, with expert carvings that looked like those of a true craftsman. Lotte carefully rubbed it down in it's corners and hard to reach places with an old rag, the cloth slowly dirtying from use.

Falling asleep to some lame reality tv show and taking a nap on the couch sounded like an extremely welcoming idea, his backpack still hanging over his shoulder - heavy as bricks and filled with piles of make-up and late work he was waiting to turn in at the very last minute. He was passing all his classes, lazily albeit, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to get away with straight Cs without some backlash from the folks. So, the entire weekend, he'd been in the library near killing himself. Poor boy was exhausted.
The young man literally threw his back across the room the moment he stepped inside, not caring to look where it went flying and glided to the couch, falling backwards unto it with a groan. He paid no mind to his surroundings, not having noticed Lotte at first as she was ducked down and cleaning. It wasn't until he blinked open his golden eyes and glanced quickly around the room that he had seen something moving out of the corner of his eye. Not the remote he was looking for, but it was something - or someone. He couldn't tell who, but whoever it was, she had a nice a- /shotdownplzsorryebsisgoingtohell. He shook that thought away and grabbed a pillow off the couch, a mischievous smirk on his face as he chucked it at the girl; playfully, but a little harder than he had meant too. "Hey. Remote. Gimme." He called with a smile still.

Lotte was startled as she felt a pillow bounce off her butt. She heard a familiar voice, and a blush began to creep across her face. H-how dare he walk into here and pretend like their last encounter was nothing!
Lotte straightened up and spun around, hands placed into her hips and an angry pout-like expression on her face. In her right hand was a duster. A little soft, but if used to hit hard enough it could cause some nice blunt force trauma. Ethel looked up from her book to see what was going on, and upon glancing at Jace, went back to her read. Just another day with these two.

Jace looked a bit impatient for his television, frowning and tapping his fingers on the arm of the couch. The girl who spun around to face was one of the last people he had expected, and probably one of the least he'd want to see because of - yeah... A blush of his own lit his cheeks as he remembered seeing her last, trying not to think of it but his mind rushing to the details anyways. She was - and he was just -
"Oh, h-hey Lotte." He sat up instantly, forcing an uneven grin on his face. He swore he felt the comedic little sweat drop running down the side of his face. Jason tried to laugh a little, though it still sounded horribly fake. "You're looking nice toda- I mean, You look good - wait - fuck. Just. How are you? You seem to be in a good mood and nothing I just said had anything to do with your appearance what-so-ever." Jace blinked, looking up at the girl. Please, don't kill me.

Lotte brought her duster to her palm a few times, like a nun slapping her own palm with a ruler before whipping a Catholic schoolboy. She said nothing at first, and after a few minutes, she sighed. "Fine. I'm doing....fine." she said simply in a dull tone, laced with bitterness. "Find your own damn remote."
She placed her duster onto the table next to the television, eying Ethel. The ghost eyed her back, and she read the ghost's lips as they said the word money. Augh, she really did need that money, and she wouldn't let that creep stop her from getting it. She picked the duster up once more and went back to her job, paying no heed to Jace.

Jason eyed her as the whipped the duster against her hand, slowly scooting back to the other end of the couch without realizing he was doing it. He seemed to relax a bit when she finally spoke, sitting up and rubbing the back of his neck, he looked at her a little sheepishly; watching her set down the duster and pick it up again. What was she doing? "Good..." He muttered, quieting down and pretending to look around for the stupid controller, though his search was a little half-assed as his mind was pre-occupied, glancing up at Lotte every now and then. "Hey, I'm really... really sorry about the other day, I really didn't mean to..." His words were getting more and more quiet as he went on, eventually just giving up.

"It's fine." Lotte snapped, not bothering to turn around. She couldn't turn around. The whole ordeal was embarrassing, and she just wanted to finish dusting as quickly as she could and leave. However...she didn't hate Jace. It wasn't his fault. Was she being ridiculous? Did she have a plausible reason to be angry? Her responses suggested that, but with a biting tone.

She said it was fine, but he couldn't help but get the tiniest, little feeling that perhaps she hadn't meant it. What was he supposed to say, though? He was still wary of that duster in her hands... or just her all together, not wanting to push it, lest she lash out at him. Like Evelyn did. D: Women have been scaring him lately. Oh well. This was good enough for him, he supposed. Maybe they could both forget about it and things could get back to normal. "Do you want some help?" He offered, stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking up behind her.

"No thanks. I don't want to split the money." Lotte said in a less vitriolic, yet still grumpy tone. She brought her duster from a lower to an upper shelf, standing on her toes once more to reach a higher spot.
"I want to go to this island." an English voice chimed in. Ethel was still invested in that book.
"I want a Ferrari."
"What is a Ferrari?"
"It is a car."
"But milady, you cannot drive."
"It is a saying."
"Oh bother!"
Lotte smiled, thrusting her arm upwards as to reach the deepest parts of the shelf.megusta She clenched her teeth as she struggled to reach each spot, though had no visual on how well she was actually doing. "Get me a chair, Jace." she said, concluding that he could make himself useful by doing that.

Jace raised an eyebrow, "Someone's paying you?" He mused, glancing around to see if there was anyone else in the room that he had missed before flicking his golden gaze back in her direction. "I'm pretty sure we already have someone to do all the cleaning..." Lazy janitors.
He listened in on Lotte's strange conversation with seemingly herself, but he knew better at this point. "What are you guys talking about?" The young man asked with mild curiosity. He paused again for a few moments before a familiar crooked grin grew on his face. "If you need to reach, I could just pick you up myself." He offered teasingly before picking up a chair across the room and carrying it to her.

"Don't make me kick you." said Lotte, snatching the chair and stepped up on top of it with an almost inaudible grunt. "The janitor is paying me twenty dollars. I would have gone thirty if I had inspected it before I made the deal, but...," she searched to find the words, scrubbing a stubborn stain atop the cupboard. ",...I'll take it, I suppose."
As she finished with the piece of furniture, she hopped down from the chair. Her shoes made a small clack as they touched the hard wood floor. She looked around the room and found that she was actually finished. She made a revolution around the room, and the piece of carpentry that remained was the one she started with. Lotte sighed, walking over the couch in a fake wobbliness and collapsing onto her back. The cushions were a little irritating to the skin, but she had been on worse sofas.

Jace was starting to mellow out and getting used to her snarky remarks again at this point, taking her threat with a slight grain of salt and snickering quietly to himself. "Pardon me." He said, throwing his hands up and taking a few steps back. He glanced around again on a whim and spotted the small little devil of a remote hiding from under the couch. The young man got on his knees and pulled it out with a little smile of success and stood back up, watching Lotte collapse weakly on the couch and taking a seat next to her. She looked almost as tired as he felt. "You missed a spot, Sweetie." He teased again, adding the little pet-name to mess with her - just testing the waters. Jason leaned in a bit closer and pointing in the direction of the book on the floor.

Lotte sat up, blinking. "Ethel isn't a spot." she said, and due to this she lay back down on the couch, not giving Jace any room. She closed her eyes, crossing her arms behind her head. She wasn't even planning to fall asleep there, but it would annoy Jace and that was her prime objective. She smiled a light smile, though her eyes were still closed.

Jason blinked and looked quietly over at the fallen book. So, she was just sitting there... staring at a closed cover on the floor? The whole not-as-appeared thing hadn't been explained to him yet, or he simply didn't understand. He shrugged it off and noticed Lotte lay and stretch out on the couch. "What are you doing?" He said, glaring slightly. The spot was his. ;_; "You have about 5 seconds to move before I lay on you." Jace threatened. Don't think he wouldn't.

Lotte didn't think he would, though, so she gave him a dismissive wave, rolling over onto her side with an audible exhale so that her face was towards the back of the couch. She wasn't necessarily tired, but it was fun messing with Jace. Besides, he wouldn't actually lay on her.....right?