= “Eba the Janitor” =
''Content: Blood, Implied torture''
Name’s Eba, I’m a small blue kobold, and if I’m running around the streets with a cleaning cart, it’s because I’m a janitor of the Underwørld. Though I say streets, but they’re more like giant corridors that never see daylights. So deep underground we can’t hear nor feel that we’re under a very active city state, but that also means most of the population doesn’t know of all the things that goes on around here. It is better that way, as our dragon boss made sure to turn this place into a cesspool of degeneracy, with only two rules : Respect patrons, and don’t mess with the boss. A rule that counts for both the patrons, as well as us workers, disposable kobolds that we are.
But enough exposition, I have a job to do! I just got called out to the Red Wing, which means I need to get there before fluids dries out, makes my job that much easier.
“Out of the way, whelp!”
I obey without question. One doesn’t mess around with a black and tough looking kobold, especially when he’s pulling a corpse carrier that is quite visibly not empty. Judging by the smell, and the lack of excitation from the security team, one can only assume he’s coming straight from the Black Wing, where death isn’t uncommon. I’d rather not get any more into it, and I can only empathize with the cleaning team that works over there. With all that said, that was pretty rude of him. We have a small central road made especially for us carters to not be bothered.
It only takes me a bit longer to reach the place, as I look down at my pager to confirm : the 6th of the Red Wing. Enough to know where I need to be, with an expectation. I’ll be cleaning blood tonight. From the outside, the building looks like most of the others. Walls made of dry dirt, without glass windows, and lightened up by neon lights of many colours. The entrance is a rather large frosted glass door, where you can see the silhouette of the receptionist. On top of it, the number of the building, what I was looking for. On top of that, the neon name of the business that operates here: X-Painsmith, gives hints to what goes on inside.
Now sure to be at the right place, I enter with my cart, getting greeted by the receptionist, a white female kobold, looking bored out of her mind, behind a desk.
“Took you long enough. You were this close to getting reported to the boss, and I believe it wouldn’t be the first time, Eba. Almost as if you’re doing it on purpose. You’re not trying to get downgraded to the Black Wing, are you? Anyway, you know the drill, get through that door and clean this mess up. The pair is gone at least, the room’s yours.”
I sigh in relief, and without adding anything, I swiftly move to the room in question with my cart. The first thing that hit me is the irony smell that permeate the air, mixed to arousal, as well as the scent of whom the pair might have been. I may not have the most developed nose, but it must have been a canine of some sort, with another kobold worker.
I push down on a switch near the door, turning the lights on. If the name of the building didn’t make it clear, the massive tool rack that covers one of the walls did. So many toys and gear, though that wasn’t unusual in the Underwørld’s buildings, but also restraining equipment and torture instruments of all sorts. Some were missing, but not hard to find as a nail whip was laying on the bloody bed, a ball-gag and a set of shackles on the ground.
Luckily for me, this building seems to only deal in handheld tools, easy to clean up. Just have to grab onto them, drop them in my bucket filled with our specially made cleaning product, and let them soak. Then, I simply roll the bloodied sheets, and strap them to my cart, the cleaner will deal with that. I only need to replace them with clean ones myself. Then, there is the matter of the fluids on the ground. I’ll spare you the details, it’s nothing incredible, it’s just cleaning.
What makes the job overall easier than one would expect, is that the whole Underwørld is built for this purpose. All buildings have a complex vent system that gets rid of the smells, drains on the ground with a slight tilt towards them. The walls, ceiling and floor are all made of non-porous material, easy to clean. There is also a backdoor, that usually leads to a staff room, and whatever rooms that might be needed, like an infirmary. Deeper in, there is also an emergency tunnel, when travelling from the outside is complicated. It’s kobold size, to prevent most patrons from accessing it.
This bedroom also includes a bathroom that I’ll have to clean as well, surely. Not too different from any other rooms, except it has access to a shower, a full size drier for the furriest of our patrons, a mirror and a rather large toilet with adaptable seats.
It takes me about an hour to do the job. I’ve always been doing it as far as I remember, and we’ve got the whole process figured out. But now that I think about it, what was I even doing before that... It shall remain a mystery for now, thinking isn’t my job.
After all, I am Eba, a kobold Janitor of the Underwørld.
