i hear we might be going to war

[Pie]

((It doesn't help that I have a longstanding crush on Brendan Coyle. But that show is sooo good.))

Nick looked down at Jane, trying to smile at her, though it felt as if his stomach was falling through to his feet. He didn't have the heart to lie to her, but he couldn't tell her the truth. It was in his eyes, though -- he would have to go. It was his duty.

Out in the yard, Dominic was cleaning the shoes of one of the horses, murmuring to it in his low, gravelly voice. The chill in the morning air had ruffled his dark curls, making him look even more like a gypsy than he usually did. As Bree came out into the yard, he looked over the horse's shoulder at her with a silent frown, but continued to work.

Beatrice turned from watching Bree rush outside, to Nick and Jane by the sink, feeling as if she was watching something she had no right to see. Flushing, she cleared her throat and sat back down at the table, putting on a smile and cutting some bread to distract from the scene.

[Fae]

(( He's so --- I love love love Bates and Anna! Granted I've got a crush on Branson for real -_-))

She frowned and broke decorum leaning her forehead against his shoulder in an act of comfort, not caring if they had an audience or not. It made her own stomach sink, her heart going with it as she did. "Oh dear god no.."

Bree took a deep breath, her hand to her stomach as she held the smoke between her fingers. Regardless she kept walking towards the stables, her hand moving to the horse when she heard Dominic speaking. Her eyes were wide, there was a sheen of tears. "We've declared war.. Dom." The world was going to fall down around their feet.

Franklin sighed, running his hand over the back of his head for the moment. He saw it too but didn't really care to much as he went back to eating his food, "Old Jones come down yet?" They'd get more from him then.

[Pie]

((hee, Branson is pretty awesome. But ohhh Brendan Coyle. ))

Nick carefully put a hand on her shoulder, then looked over at Franklin and Bea at the table. "He's still up with the master."

Bea chewed at her lip and stirred her tea with an absent frown. Things would be so different, with war on the horizon. Much of the staff would enlist, she was sure of it. Not to mention the master, and his son, too, most likely.

Dom patted the horse lightly and looked at her with his brows drawn low. "Everyone knew it would happen, Breanna," he said quietly.

[Fae]

(( I lubs me some Bates...))

Jane didn't move but stayed where she was trying to wrap her mind around the world falling down around them, her eyes raised and she took a breath. "He'll give us more when he comes down." She replied with a nod. "They'll be down for breakfast soon."

"Time to go," Franklin replied getting up and heading towards the kitchens to take food up. They were all gong to enlist... he had an idea it was true. But he'd dodge it if he could.

"I know!" she threw her hands down and shook her head as she played with the smoke in her hand, trying to figure out what to do. Everyone would be gone, everyone would die.. it'd be madness. "God.. It's madness.."

[Pie]

Nick glanced over at Franklin, then patted Jane once more on the shoulder and stepped back. "You should get back to work before Mrs. Castle sees you and gets her ladle," he teased, though his heart wasn't in it. He turned and went to help Franklin with the breakfast trays, face grim as he went.

"Come, Jane, you can help me get the water ready for the floors," Bea called to her as she got up from breakfast and held out her hand to the girl. No sense in sitting around moping over the issue, after all. Some good hard work would keep their minds off it.

"It is that," Dom agreed as he brushed the horse's coat in long strokes, though he was watching her still. "But this will be the last calm we'll have before the storm. There'll be time enough for tears later."

[Fae]

Her smile was unsure but she nudged him as he went, a sigh passing her lips as Bea got up. She took her hand and nodded, "Just until Bree comes back in-- wager she needs a moment." Bree had a habit of reacting to the worst of things, pacing around before she settled. "The young master will be going too..." Jane could see it now and it made her sick to her stomach as she moved to gather the buckets.

Franklin didn't seem at all worried, though he rarely seemed worried about much of anything. He wasn't a bad guy he just seemed to take life in stride and nothing overtly seriously. Taking the trays up the stairs he gave Mrs. Castle a teasing wink before he followed Nick up.

Bree closed her eyes, "There are no tears..." It was mostly anger on the young woman's face, her tightly fisted hands and her stubborn visage. She took a couple breaths, the cigarette still between her fingers, somehow still in tact before she twirled it to do something with her hands. "There will be but there are none now."

[Pie]

"Just fill the buckets for me, I can take them up," Bea told Jane, pouring water into one from a big pot on the stove. She frowned as she worked -- poor Jane would have it hard in the coming weeks, with Nick being gone and the footmen's duties turning toward the scullery maid. She and Bree would have to make sure to help her when they could.

Dom continued to watch her silently, finishing the horse's coat and then taking a seat on a crate to clean out her shoes. If there was war, he wondered if he would go. Someone with his skill with horses would be needed, but the army didn't like his people, and they might shy away from enlisting him.

[Fae]

Jane would have it hard and she could already see it... Franklin and Nick would go, maybe even Jones. It would make her uneasy and she didn't want them on the front at all. but what could one scullery maid do? Nothing, that was what. She wasn't sure what she could do for Nick, but she would try her best. Speak to him later during luncheon.

Bree was a bundle of nerves, pacing the padock, trying to work off the stress in her shoulders before she looked at the horse and paused. Moving over gently and setting her hand on his nose. Her father had loved horses, they'd had them on the farm when she was a young girl. But she said nothing and just stroked the horses nose, calming herself. "Sorry I'll go." She shouldn't have stalked out this way.

[Pie]

Bea filled up the last bucket and then hoisted the handles into her hands, grimacing at their weight. "Keep the pot on to boil for me, will you?" she asked Jane as she started to lug the buckets to the door without sloshing them.

"You aren't bothering me any, nor the horse, it looks like," Dom said as he picked mud out of the horse's shoe, then gingerly lowered her leg and went to the next. "You can stay out here as long as you like."

[Fae]

Jane nodded her head and went to the kettle it was when Mrs. Castle started ranting and raving causing the young woman to sigh. It was another day, war wasn't going to stop the house from running just yet anyway.

Bree set her forehead against the horses nose and smiled slowly, the horse helping her calm-- along with Dominic's voice. She glanced around the horse at him and tilted her head. "I should be getting back in.."

[Pie]

Bea hauled the buckets up to the library on the second floor and set to work. The room was darker and gloomier than much of the house, but in the mornings the sun fell in in great pools of warm light. It was her favorite room to clean, and she settled down in one corner, scrubbing the wood and singing -- the house could use some cheer this morning, even if she was the only one to hear it.

"Mr. Aimsworth will not miss you," Dom said in his quiet voice. "Calm yourself." He dug in the pocket of his vest and pulled out an apple, offering it to her for the horse. "Nothing so cheering as a horse, to me. You should take some comfort from her, if you need it."

[Fae]

The lord made his way downstairs to the dining hall, asking Mr. Aimsworth when his wife was going to be down and their children. She was cheering, the young lord had paused to listen and his sister grabbed his arm and nudged him on. So many people came through the house-- so many people needed to hear that voice for cheer.

She reached out and took the apple, balancing it in her hand before she offered it to the horse, stroking her nose as she fed her. The young maid fell silent, watching the horse. His voice was calming-- "... Thank you Dominic.."

[Pie]

As the family settled into the dining room, the duke's younger daughter Elizabeth gestured Nick over as he was bringing around a dish of kippers. "Is it true, Nicholas? That we've declared war?" Nick glanced at the Duke uneasily, unsure if he should answer Elizabeth's question.

"I believe so, Miss," he mumbled, tilting the dish to allow her to take her breakfast from it.

Dom merely dipped his head in answer, turning to pick up the leather that needed brushing. If she found his voice soothing, he found her presence to be so. Though she was more serious than the other maids in the house, there was something sunny and bright about her, that made him feel warm even in the chill of the English countryside.

[Fae]

The duke nodded his head, "Yes Elizabeth... and there is more to it than that. I've received a massive.. I'll be returning to his majesties service." He probably wouldn't be on the front lines, he'd had a high enough rank chances were he'd be working at the war office state side and not on the front. But that didn't really matter at the end of the day.

The dukes eldest daughter looked over at her father, "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely my dear, do not worry.." but it was clear that Catherine was worried and her jaw locked.

For all the teasing that Bree got in the house for whatever the reason that had him watching her so closely, she didn't think that there was anything wrong with it. A smile crossed her face and she turned to the horse, stroking the horses nose gently to calm. "She's lovely... such a sweet temper."

[Pie]

Nick tried to hide a sudden shaking in his hands as he replaced the dishes on the tray -- if the duke already had his orders, Nick would be enlisting soon. Sooner than he could imagine.

"She's the gentlest of the stables," Dom told Bree as he settled a saddle over his knees, brushing the leather with calm, even strokes. "You're good with her," he remarked as he looked up.