saltburnmods: (the family)
𝖘𝖆𝖑𝖙𝖇𝖚𝖗𝖓𝖙 𝖒𝖔𝖉𝖘. ([personal profile] saltburnmods) wrote 2024-06-23 01:13 pm (UTC)

Essentially all of the house help are extremely loyal to the Balfours who pay them well, so most of them are disinclined to talk to Matt and Betty, who don't have much to offer them. Largely, the pair go ignored if not treated with outright hostility once they start getting in the way. However, Betty rightfully picks out a younger lady in the collection of workers who can't have worked there long, and after cornering her in the walk in pantry, Matt is nice enough to her to get her to open up — her family has worked for the Balfours for multiple generations, and she's here for the summer to work before her first year at uni starts. Her name is Ella. She's uncomfortable in a way that you can rightfully assume is because she feels she shouldn't be talking to the guests, frequently looking over their shoulders to make sure no one in listening in on the trio.

When the subject changes to what happened at the Rococo party, she tries to shoulder her way through both of them, but Betty holds firm and lays on the pressure. Cracking a little, Ella says, "I really don't know anything. But ..."

Leaning in, she drops her voice, and speaks very quickly.

"Things like that happen all the time. There's something wrong with this place. I don't know — like, I don't know what, but there's something to it that none of us talk about it, I guess. Like an open secret? I don't know. This place is so weird. It's a nightmare to clean, and sometimes — you know! We're not cleaning just shit off the floor, I mean. It's a mess. And — and I really have to go, thank you!"

Ella does succeed in pushing by the pair this time, and when you watch her exit the pantry, you see a head chef stalk her out. Safely said, this conversation will be reported on, for all three of you.

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