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Unnamed Servant Blog Entry |
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December 27, 2024, 12:01:07 AM 12/27/24: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." This week's characters from my anthro WWII storyline are Unnamed Resistance Doctor and Unnamed Servant. The doctor is the one who helps save Otto Himmel's life when the resistance finds him badly wounded after his brother-in-law's attempt on his life; he also brings him books to read to try to sabotage his brother-in-law's work. The servant works in Schavitz's castle and she and Udo Eisen share a casual relationship; they're both lonely and invisible and all she has to do is smile at him. There'll be more about them later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se. Regarding their designs, well, the doc has glasses, and the servant is meant to be quite plain. TUMBLR EDIT: Individual entries for both characters. Unnamed Servant appears in an adult WIP featuring General Schavitz and the nasty things he gets up to during the war. Sgt. Eisen, his dutiful chauffeur, gets stuck with the job of "fixer" after witnessing Schavitz accidentally kill one of his (teenage) romantic partners; unwilling to become the next victim, he hastily offers to handle the incident so it doesn't come back to Schavitz. And he does so, admirably. Eisen isn't really a bad person at heart--he sympathizes with the girls Schavitz keeps bringing home, even as he helps him procure them--plus he deeply despises his boss, and often daydreams about killing him, himself. He just really will do anything it takes to stay alive, and that means doing some really reprehensible stuff...like disposing of a body in the river behind the castle, and paying off the unhappy girls who are lucky to live. Result of all this is that Eisen struggles with a great deal of guilt and loneliness, due also to his isolation at the castle and lack of any intimate social contacts whatsoever. The castle--which, it's rumored, Schavitz obtained from a Jewish family which abruptly, and mysteriously, disappeared--maintains a skeleton staff of maids, butlers, and various sorts of servants, though they're all just about as miserable and misused as is Eisen. He pities the younger, prettier maids, especially, knowing that Schavitz takes advantage of them whenever the mood strikes, and Schavitz's moods are very unpredictable--stand up to him and he might laugh, or he might strangle you to death. So, pretty much everyone is terrorized by him, and constantly on edge. Everything is about merely staying alive and on Schavitz's good side; there's no time or place for friendships. Eisen just happens across an exception to this rule when he finds himself bored and needing a distraction one night: Aside from the maids, there was another woman who helped keep the castle in basic order, reshelving books when they were left out, returning art and decorative objects when they were misplaced, washing and dusting and arranging the more delicate objects Schavitz didn't trust the young maids to handle. She was older than they were, perhaps even a little older than Eisen himself, and quite plain looking, thin and shapeless in her loose, dowdy sweaters and skirts, her graying hair kept tied in a tight bun, a perpetually weary look on her face, the way Eisen figured he himself must look. She wasn't beautiful. She attracted no one else's eye. No one really noticed her as she moved silently about the castle like a ghost. She was childless, unmarried, so perhaps no one had ever noticed her. Eisen had noticed her, one gloomy afternoon, when he'd stepped into the library seeking a particular book with which to distract himself. She'd smiled at him. Those otherwise weary brown eyes were the warmest, kindest thing he'd seen in years. He wasn't sure his heart could do a flip anymore but in that moment it sure felt like it had. She'd easily located the book for him. He was too distracted to be distracted by the book, though... Eisen and this unnamed servant manage to find a tenuous connection even amidst all the castle's misery. They're both invisible, unnoticed, unwanted, and painfully lonely. No wonder all it takes is a smile for Eisen to fall for her, and she obviously feels the same. They actually go quite a while without doing the deed, content just to kiss and hold each other since they've never even experienced that much, at least in a manner that was wanted. They also keep their relationship discreet, as, if Schavitz were to find out, he'd surely pull some sort of nastiness, just to amuse himself...that's simply the kind of person he is. Eisen doesn't survive the story--neither does Schavitz. When word reaches Castle Schavitz of his death at the hands of Trench Rat Gold, the castle staff are at first in disbelief. Schavitz just seemed so powerful and corrupt as to be beyond death's reach. Eisen steps forward to ask the officials who arrive with the news if it's true, is he really gone? It's assumed that Eisen is devastated by the news, as he always served Schavitz so faithfully. The officials confirm Schavitz's death, at which Eisen draws himself up, swallowing hard, and claims that he has a statement to make. He then gives his name and rank, admits his complicity in covering up Schavitz's crimes...and unleashes a deluge of increasingly more horrifying accusations against the deceased general. Everyone just stands there, mute, eyes goggling at the sheer depravity of it all. Eisen literally knows where all the bodies are buried, and he gives EVERY detail, including where to find bits of evidence he held on to as insurance. He might be loyal, but he's not stupid. Most astonishing of all, however, is the final charge he makes against his late boss. He mentions Schavitz's attempt to apply to join the SS, and his fury at being denied--a possible trigger for his violent behavior and drunken rages. Eisen got a look at Schavitz's genealogical papers, now locked away in a safe, and figured out why the SS turned him down, as well as why they acted with an extreme amount of grace yet Schavitz still raged and insisted they must be lying. Schavitz's own copy of his family tree has been altered; the SS had a genuine copy. Schavitz's parents, as named in his copy, are not his actual parents; turns out he was adopted. From a Jewish family. Schavitz was 100% Jewish. Eisen tells the officials the location of the safe where this evidence may be found, as well as how to open it. He again takes responsibility for his own actions, and apologizes for everyone he's hurt. And before anyone can stop him, he pulls out his gun and shoots himself in the head, dying instantly. After a few shocked, frantic moments spent cursing and yelling and trying to revive Eisen, the officials go looking. The safe and Schavitz's personal papers are found. As well as the evidence Eisen kept hold of. Everything is exactly as he claimed, and the SS confirms their role in the bizarre story; Schavitz escaped incarceration and possible execution only because of his importance and social influence. He died, however, genuinely believing he was a good Aryan and that the SS had maligned him. Eisen is given a perfunctory, unglamorous burial. No mourners. He entered the world invisible and insignificant; he leaves it, despite his last-minute effort to set things right, the same way. Nobody really misses him when he's gone. ...Well, with one main exception. Even though their relationship had been by necessity kept rather casual, he and the servant lady had genuinely been fond of each other, and at least to themselves, entertained vague thoughts that maybe, if/when the war was over, just maybe they could be together. They never really got to know much about each other, but they were the only dim light in each other's dreary life, and that counted for something. When she learns of Eisen's death the servant lady retreats to her room to weep to herself. Schavitz is gone, the war is drawing to an end, hope for something better is finally on the horizon, yet Eisen won't be a part of it. After spending his entire life doing so many unsavory things just to stay alive, at the last, he decided that to keep living was no longer worth it. She doesn't blame him for his decision, though she wishes she could have been reason enough for him to stay. She wishes he would have reached out to her again. I don't know what becomes of her after the war, though I don't imagine her ever finding anyone else. She and Eisen were the only ones who really saw each other as worthy of love. [Unnamed Servant 2024 [Friday, December 27, 2024, 12:01:07 AM]] |