Chapter Text
Chapter One – Kate.
All day I've been scraping away at these things. Pots and tubes and brushes, mascara staining my hands. The porcelain sink is almost certainly going to stain grey. I don't mind, though. There's something therapeutic about squeezing out a foundation tube before scraping it's contents into another container.
Irene asks me once every two months or so to sort the new makeup - testament to how much we get through - and I am tasked with distributing it into gilded gold and silver vials of all shapes and sizes, little crystals on the latches and brush-ends.
I wear my green apron to do it, as requested, and tie my red hair into a bun, ends splaying out in protest. It's a messy job, and Miss Adler wasn't happy when I ruined my blouse the first time round. It isn't my fault she dresses me in such pristine creams and pastels.
By the end, I'm covered hand-to-elbow in splatters of grey and black, the odd blue of eyeliner, or red of lip-stain. It takes almost the same amount of time for me to scrub my arms clean as it does the initial repotting. Once it's all done, I'm satisfied. I drop each container into their stand at Miss Adler's dressing table like ornaments, standing back to admire my work.
"That's better." She hovers beside me. She's right, they look much better in gold.