Enigma: Well, hello there. I've decided to re-write Punishment, 'cause Tamara ain't getting enough punishment as I wanted her to. Oh, and sorry if some of you were waiting for updates... The reason that I haven't been updating lately is because I've been on FictionPress (I'm known as Octopus in The Labyrinth there. So, if you have accounts, feel free to talk to me there, okay?) Anyway, for now, Tama still has the same demotion, but with other... dudes, and Phoenix isn't her master (well, I went over his design again and again in my head, and I thought, "No, li'l Sutcliffy ain't gonna be punished with this..." So I changed her master. Anyway, don't worry if you like him, he'll be back). Anyway, for the disclaimer, the OCs here all belong to me. List is after this chapter. Enjoy~
Prologue: Those Servants, Unusual
Gah... Um, hi there, I'm Tamara Sutcliff. I'm a shinigami, little sister to a bi (?) brother, and I'm also demoted. You see, my (stupid) brother, who is also a butler (I think), dared me to illegally modify my death scythe. Well, I did, but Mr. Tight-A- I mean, William Spears, another shinigami, caught me and... Well, I needed to be punished. He demoted me, took my oh-so awesome and cool death scythe... and gave me a needle instead. The nerve of that guy! Well, Mr. Tight-Ass said something like, "Tamara Sutcliff, you must now serve a human as a maid... That is your punishment for your actions," or something like that. Mr. Tight-Ass, (I wanted to say) GO AND EAT DEVIL DOG POOP!
Anyway, on my way to the house, I ran into a group of traveling demons. Yes, demons. Well, I sort of saved them from an angel trying to sneak up on them at night, so they were all, "We are indebted to you, reaper. We will follow you 'till death." I wanted to shoo them away, but they didn't want to taint their honor, so... Yeah, I'm with them. Along the way, we ran into a devil dog (he's mine, by the way. Everyone, say hello to Revenge!) and he got attached to us. So by the time we get there, I bet all the empty slots for servants would be filled up. Anyway, I'm explaining too much, let's get on with the story.
The mansion where we arrived, it seemed, was an enormous black one... Oh, wait, it was just paint. Sighing, I went into my human disguise- butler's outfit, black shoes, no glasses, no more awesome shark-esque teeth, dark brown hair with a lacy white headband on top. It was girly, true, and I didn't like it, but I had to bear with it.
"Man, that mansion is big," I hollered, though I was sure no-one but the people I was traveling with heard me. "I don't believe I have to serve as a house maid in that place."
"Well, it's your fault for being so careless with your... weapon," Bruce, a demon, muttered. He had dark blue hair that was extremely close to black and was wearing a black striped jacket, a white undershirt, black striped pants and black shoes. "After all, you shinigami are pathetic..."
I glared. "Shut it, Brustard, or I'm going to make Revenge eat you alive," I threatened. Revenge, who was in his human form (a guy with messy black hair and red eyes, wearing a dark blue suit) noticed me mentioning his name, turned into a dog and licked my hand happily.
"Brustard? That's new," James, another demon, commented. He had dirty blonde hair, brown eyes, and was wearing a white collared shirt and a red tie. He was putting on a black jacket, it seemed, and already had black pants on (of course, I wouldn't look if he was naked).
"Well, I'm being creative with my curses, Jameshit," I said casually. "You see, just as you hate shinigami, I hate demons, for they are greedy self-deceiving things. If their appearance depended on their lame-ness, they would be extremely fat and smelly."
"Likewise, Shinigami are such nosey things," Bruce quipped back, eying me with impressed eyes. "You know, they should be spies, because they always watch human's lives..."
"Watch it. I got punished for that, too." I bit my lip, wishing that I didn't say as much. After a brief moment of silence, we all broke out in unnecessary laughter. To tell you the truth, these demons aren't as bad as I thought they would be... Yes, we were faking the fight the whole time. We don't hate each other, we don't love each other, okay?
"Look at us, if others saw that, we would look like a bunch of sissies," James cackled. He had his black jacket on, and it seemed to be stained with tea. He looked at it, disgusted. "Tamara, did you spill tea on this?"
"Of course not, Revenge hit the cup I placed next to it," I said, grinning. James rolled his eyes and went inside their tent to change it (well, you see, I sleep in a different tent. Hey, I'm the only shinigami plus the only girl. It's kinda gross but cool). I continued, "Weren't there five of us, Brustard?"
"Ask Jameshit," Bruce replied, and started laughing again. "Maybe he's-"
"Shut up, Bruce," James' voice hollered from inside the tent. "I'm not shit!"
"James, don't wake Frederick," I scolded. Frederick was another demon. He had messy grey hair, bored grey eyes and he loved to sleep. I thought he was enjoying his nap then and didn't want him to wake up... If you interrupt him on his "wonderful glorious trip to dreamland", he would actually try to burn you alive while stabbing you with a million knives. I might be exaggerating, but that's what he hollered when Bruce woke him up once. Revenge and James did their best to prevent him from killing Bruce while I, the shinigami, only watched in amazement and enthusiasm.
I heard James sigh. "Tamara, Frederick is up and he's looking for Rex," He said, walking out of the tent with a new and improved black jacket! Was it shining? Wow, it's so cool, I-
"Tamara? Where's Rex?" Frederick asked me, walking out of the tent and interrupting my oh-so wonderful reflection on the wonderful jacket.
"Rex? Who's Rex... Oh, yeah, that dude who doesn't talk much?" I answered.
"Yes, him- Oh, there you are, Rex," Frederick began, until he noticed a demon walking towards him, yawning as well. I suddenly remembered- Rex was that demon with ginger hair, who loved wearing black jackets, white ruffled undershirts and dark grey pants. He smirked as he noticed me.
"Wow, Tama, you're going to be a maid now, right?" He asked, his tone amused. I frowned and groaned.
"One, I like the nickname, Rex," I began, smiling. The second, I frowned. "Two, shut it. Three, I'm going to be a butler-ess."
"There's no such thing, shinigami," Rex said, frowning. "I've never heard of a word like that, and I've lived for centuries."
"Yeah? So have I," I glared. "And, for one thing, I prefer butler-ess to maid."
I knew we were starting another verbal argument. I was prepared to fight my best, because for one thing, I SUCK at verbal fights. Rex, on the other hand, was an expert at it. I knew he was about to say something that would typically ruin my mood, then...
"Tama, Rex, that's enough," James interrupted. He looked at Frederick. "We're going to apply as well, right?"
"Oh, that's great," I said, rolling my eyes. "Now I'm the only girl in the household, surrounded by humans, demons, and devil dogs."
"Woman," Rex corrected.
"Girl," I re-corrected.
"Tama, I think you should go there first and ring the doorbell," Frederick said sleepily. "After all, the man only expects you. We'll wait behind you."
I sighed, glared at Rex, and hurried over to the mansion. I rang the doorbell, prepared myself to face a huge man, and the doors opened...
To reveal a little boy, not much older than thirteen (he was twelve, I think?) He had auburn hair, black eyes with eyebags, and he wore a black noble's outfit. He was unhappy (obviously) but did his best to fake-smile at me. He seemed to be playing with some kind of toy soldier, which was weird, because we were in England, yet his toy soldier had the swastika on it...
"Hi, I'm Schwarze Deathshiek," The little boy said to me. "I take it you're the maid who's applying? ...What's your name, again?"
"Tamara. Tamara Sutcliff," I answered honestly. "Um... Pardon me if this sounds rude, but where is your fath-"
"Dad's dead. Got killed by a Japanese," Schwarze replied nonchalantly. "Mom's missing- I bet the Mafia got her."
"Oh? And why is that?" I asked.
"She knows their hideout. If I'm right, she's dead as well," Schwarze told me coldly. "You can stay for a while, if you want. But I doubt that a single maid could handle the entire house by herself."
"I'm not alone. I brought... friends," I said, the last word staining my pride. I heard Frederick chuckle. "This is Bruce, Frederick, James, Rex, and my dog, Revenge. We're here to apply. Revenge can be the guard dog, Bruce can be the cook, Frederick can be in charge of the garden, James can be your tutor, and Rex... Well, Rex can be in charge of your library, if you have one."
"Three," Schwarze replied. "I have three libraries. And, as for the tutor... What will he teach?"
"Martial arts, basic and advanced studies... And guns," James said coolly. I couldn't help but smirk. We were so going to get in. "Plus, I can teach you dancing- waltz and the rest. And multiple languages."
"Are you serious?" Schwarze said, his eyes growing wide.
James looked at him curiously. "Dois-je l'air que je plaisante?" He asked, grinning.
Schwarze and I stared at him, shocked. I noticed the demons were shocked as well. Schwarze stammered, "What in the hell does that mean?"
"It's French for 'Do I look like I'm joking?'" James said, smiling. "Zhè shì wánquán róngyì- Mandarin for, 'It's completely easy'."
Schwarze looked at all of us, shocked. "Very well... You're hired."
Enigma: Well, I hope you liked the all-new 'Punishment'! Well, anyway, let's have Tamara on her thoughts on this, shall we?
Tamara: I merely have one sentence for you, Enigma- "Why so many demons?" That's all.
Enigma: Well, Tama-chan, it's punishment, after all. Your brother would do anything to trade places, you know?
Tamara: Ew. Don't compare me with Grell when it comes to taste...
Rex: Why? Tamara, does your brother LOVE demons? Didn't he say to Sebastian, "My dearest fellow butler, I'm in your hands?"
Tamara: What the Grim does that have to do with me, Rex?
Rex: He called Sebastian "dearest".
Tamara: Oh, so "he called Sebastian 'dearest'?"! Well, I have one thing for Sebastard- "YOU SUCK, YOU BASTARD!"
Enigma: o_O" Anyway, good-bye, and here's a preview of the next chapter!
Preview:
I heard someone ring the doorbell again... I swear, if this was Rex playing a trick on me, I would definetley kill him... Revenge, well, not so much. I hurried towrads the door, cursing as I did so. I left Schwarze and James to continue the geography lesson, cursing as I left them... What? I wanted to know about the countries now, mainly because it's been a while since I've reaped there... Well, there I was, in front of the door, and I opened it. The shock almost blinded me...
"LI'L TAMA-CHAN OH YOU'VE GROOOOWN!" A red-haired shinigami exclaimed, jumping up to give me a hug. His shark-esque teeth was glinting from the light of the sun. I noticed Frederick was looking at him in curiosity, studying him with big, shocked eyes, while Revenge was growling. Behind him was a brown haired shinigami with yellow eyes and square glasses, and a blonde shinigami with blue eyes wearing glasses. The brown haired one was looking at me as if I punched him, and the blonde one was grinning from ear-to-ear.
"Grell? Mr. Tight-A- I mean, William? Ronald?"
End of preview
Enigma: Oh, and let me add-this is like a crossover of the anime and manga. I wanted Ronald to be in the anime SO BADLY, yet he wasn't there, so here he is. I see him as a blonde with blue eyes (sort of like Alfred F. Jones LAWL). And anime 'cause I wanted shinigami to fight angels, and I thought Tama needed a devil dog (what, it only obeys non-humans, and as a prize for being my very first Black Butler OC, I gave it to her)