Marie looked at her ever-cool niece.
What did she go through?
Just thinking about it was gut-wrenching.
Guilt rose in Marie's heart, but she quickly shook it off. Feeling guilty wouldn't help her solve this situation.
Instead she walked over to Sarah.
"Let's get some food and water."
Sarah didn't respond but still turned around and started leading the way.
They descended the last flight of stairs into the main hall before Sarah opened an almost hidden door.
Behind lay a rudimentary kitchen with a big furnace in front and a little less than half of the women Marie had seen earlier inside, cutting vegetables, stirring a pot, boiling water...
Once again the smell was horrible, but this time in a different kind of way.
A rotting vegetables and meat kinda way, with a hint of smoke.
Any apetite Marie had previously vanished after taking a whiff of this 'fragrance'.
Despite this, Marie still stepped inside the kitchen, walking around to get a basic idea of what went on this room.
And she found several spots that were defintely more than just a 'possible' health hazard.
Shriveled, unknown vegetables that were already starting to germinate or quietly rotting under a blanket of mold, directly next to dishes with unhealthily green meat. Dirt and food scraps littered the ground, as well as some possible 'droppings' of certain animals.
On top of that Marie felt like she had seen some movement on the meat piles, although she prayed that it was just her imagination.
Yeah, just as she thought, there was no way in hell she would eat anything prepared in this kitchen.
At least not until it had undergone a deep clean.
And looking at the haggard, sickly women working inside, she should get to that sooner than later.
After all, these concerning hygene conditions weren't exactly beneficial to strained health.
Determined, Marie positioned herself directly in front of the furnace.
First, she poiltely asked the woman stirring some brown mass in a pot to stop and put the pot away.
The woman looked at Marie with a mixture of horror and desperation but ultimately took the pot away, the sorrow in her eyes clear.
Marie felt guilty once more, but who knows how contaminated that food already was. The women's stomachs and immune stystems might be able to handle all those germs after living here for a while, but it still couldn't be good.
With that Marie took a deep breath and started her speech with a wide smile.
"Okay, first of, nice to meet all of you and good morning!", Marie greeted the women and waited for the few who weren't already staring at her to look over, "My name is Mario, I'll be working in Dropping Blossom Brothel as your make up artist from today."
There was general confusion on the women's faces, but Marie didn't adress it, continuing on with her speech.
"I'm very sorry that I interrupted your breakfast, but can you help me clean the kitchen first? As it's now, it's pretty much a breeding ground for diseases and vermin."
Marie let her gaze wander over the crowd, with the most earnest expression she could muster. But the women in front of her only had doubtful and confused looks on their faces.
So, Marie tried her best to come up with something to sweeten the deal.
"And after we finish, I'll cook a nice meal for all of you?"
Contrary to Marie's expectations, the women stared at Marie as if she was a madman.
...did she say something strange?
Marie awkwardly touched her nose.
Well, there was no point in contemplating any further.
She left her spot in front of the furnace and went to Sarah.
"Will you help me?", she whispered to her niece, who in turn sighed deeply and reluctantly nodded.
So, Marie began her cleaning efforts, although it was with only the help of her niece for now, as the other 8 women watched with puzzlement and suspicion.
She started by asking Sarah where they could put the rotting meat only to be met with a slightly annoyed ' I don't know.', so in the end, seeing no other way, Marie concluded that they would have to burn the garbage.
That should be fine, right? It wasn't plastic after all.
In a joined effort, Sarah held open the backdoor in the kitchen that led out into a small backyard area before Marie began dragging out the wooden dishes with meat on them onto the grass. Occassionally stopping to dry heave and gag simply because she thought of the wriggling passengers on her rotten meat shuttle that she tried to ignore to the best of her ability.
All while praying to any higher force out there that no slab of meat slipped down to touch or even graze her fingertips, not to mention the disgusting, sick-green liquid sloshing around the meat.
She was certain that she would scream if that happened.
This step, she repeated several times until all the rotting meat was outside.
It was much more than expected, she thought, feeling queazy.
As she looked at the meat, trying her best not to breath in its stench, Marie debated whether to just burn it on the wooden dishes or if she should get it off first.
She decided to get Sarah's opinion, even though she much preferred the first option, when she noticed a few women standing next to her niece.
"Do you want to help? Great!", Marie was overjoyed seeing the women, this meant she wouldn't have to suffer for hours unend alone.
"You can start sorting out the vegetables, wait, I'll show you how!"
Glad to at least temporarily get away from the pile of rot, Marie enthusiastically passed by the women towards the different vegetable piles and loudly started explaining what to look out for, which vegetables to discard and which to keep for now.
Although she barely recognized any of the plants, sorting out the completely shriveled, mushy, moldy and nibbled ones was a no-brainer.
The three women also quickly picked up on what to do and started separating the vegetables.
But this meant that Marie had to return to her previous meat burning task.
She unwillingly stared at the piles before simply deciding to burn the wooden dishes as well.
After all, they couldn't be that important if they just stood around for weeks.
So, Marie quickly grabbed a piece of wood next to the furnace and used it to scrape of the grass and create a rather wide ring of bare earth around the meat.
With the ring complete, Marie dropped the piece of wood to the ground and shook her aching hands.
There was no harm in being careful, especially when working with fire.
...Although she probably wasn't the best person to say this.
Small theater:
Marie: What sets us huma-people apart from animals? Opposable thumbs? Philosophy? Empathy? Wrong!
Marie: Fire is the true god of hum-beastmankind!
Marie: And I'll burn on this hill!