I'm back! And requests are open. (Hint, hint.)
Ciel landed in a strange seat unlike anything had he had ever sat in before. It was plush, with armrests at the side and a hole in one of the armrests, looking as if it were meant for a cup. It reclined back and was made of plastic, and there seemed to be rows of them.
Sebastian landed on one side of him, a now full-sized Tanaka on the other. After checking on him again, Sebastian turned forwards to look at a giant, looming, rectangular object on the wall ahead of them. There were stairs at the edges of the seats, and lights shine on the walls, dimly illuminating the room.
Val's voice rang through the room, and everyone jumped. The noise seemed to come out of nowhere, perhaps there were some speakers in the room.
"Welcome everyone! This is known as a movie theater. You're going to be reading fanfictions, reacting to images, so on and so forth, got it?"
Everyone nodded.
"So we're starting off with ships. We'll find a fanfiction and some type of art for each, if possible."
"Are there gonna be… weird.. ships?" Dagger inquired, looking slightly apprehensive. He wasn't expecting hysterical laughter to sound through the speakers, startling Ciel so badly he crashed out of his seat and landed in a navy blue lump on the floor. Almost everyone froze, some in horror and others in confusion.
"Oh, child, oh, sweet child…" She said, her voice trailing off into another fit of laughter. "Indeed there will."
Whatever could have cracked up the girl who they had gathered was somewhat insane… it couldn't mean well. Some lights illuminated on a small platform, and there stood Val, who had changed into Victorian male riding pants and a ruffled white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. She walked over to a podium, tapping something that made a loud screech echo through the room. She opened something that looked like a thin, silvery book that somehow managed to stay up on its own, beginning to tap something else and the screen lit up with a glowing blue light. Sebastian winced, covering his eyes as the screen flashed white and an image of rolling green hills, small huts and fresh grass appeared.
"Where's that place?" Joker asked, Val somehow being able to hear him all the way from up on the small stage.
She smiled widely, cradling an invisible book to her chest as she looked up at the projected image, speaking into a black device attached to her shirt. "That, my friend, is the Shire, from a movie and book series."
"Movie?"
"A book developed into moving pictures."
"Whoa…"
"Yep."
"Anyways," She turned back to her screen, clicking a small icon and a different window came up that said 'Google'. "I've got our first ship ready, just let me navigate over to it and I'll pull it right up. Would anyone like to guess who in this room it involves?"
Finny spoke up. "Wait, so these all involve us?"
Val sighed. Do not get angry at the smol child, do not get angry at the smol child. She settled for just facepalming instead, silently thinking of a million better uses for this time instead of entertaining characters from the 18th century/scarring them for life. She had that new fanfiction, and she had homework… and there was that new youtube video… nah, this was gonna be worth it. She was going to make it worth it. "Yep. Any guesses?"
"Is… Mister Sebastian… part of it?" Mey-Rin hesitantly guessed. Val nodded, smiling viciously as she pulled up a bookmark and was about to click on it.
"And now… presenting our first ship… Sebastian and…"
"I am very not ready."
"Shush, we'll get in trouble!"
"What bothersome human am I being 'shipped' with here?"
I wouldn't say human, Sebby... Val giggled to herself. There was some good material for this ship, yes indeed there was. She made sure she had her friend on speed dial with the tissues, they might need some incase there was any smut involved. I better make sure that I keep this as a video. It'll be quite the source of entertainment.
"Sebastian and…" She clicked open the bookmark. "Snake!"
"What?!" Dagger's familiar Cockney accent pierced the air, slightly more high-pitched than usual. It was as if with that one word, someone dropped a bomb.
Let the chaos begin.
The air was full of chatter, some slightly louder voices and the air seemed to sizzle with the shock radiating off of everyone. Snake had sunk down further into his seat when the picture showed up, one of Sebastian pulling Snake into a kiss, a slight blush crossing the serpent man's features at the thought of ever being in a relationship with the butler.
"Two boys?" Inquired Beast, raising one eyebrow. When Val sent her a small angry look, she quickly explained herself. "Not that I have anything against it, I'm just curious."
"Yep, that's very popular among the fans." She said, her face quickly shifting from angry to a vampire grin. "And wait until you see the stuff they write."
"And there's girls together too, right?"
"Correct."
"Sebastian would never do such an undignified thing!"
"What the bloody hell is this?"
"So," Her vampire grin stretched wider. "First fanfiction." She clicked a link. "It's called A Slither, and He Withers. It's very short, and would you prefer for me to read it out loud or for you to just read it yourselves?"
"I'd prefer if we could read it ourselves, says Goethe."
"Okay, I'm just gonna–" Val stealthily slipped away, hiding in the shadows as the others began reading it.
"Three sentences in and there's already the word handsome." Baldroy mumbled, holding an unlit cigarette between his teeth as he slowly read the first part. Dagger, meanwhile, who was a faster reader, had already reached the confrontation between Snake and Sebastian. A rising blush spread across his face as he read further down, finally turning away from the screen with his face tinted pink.
"What the f—" He was cut off by Val appearing behind him and slapping one hand over his mouth with a disapproving glare.
"Keep the cursing to yourself, thanks."
The knife thrower mumbled in reply, shoving her hand off his mouth and making a face before turning to read the last part.
Once she was sure everyone was finished reading, Val turned to the audience. "Your thoughts?"
"Disgusting." Ciel scoffed. "I see no reason that they should be together, nor a reason that two men should be together."
"Oh, homophobic, huh?" Val muttered under her breath, sliding a knife out of her belt and fiddling with it. For what felt like the umpteenth time, she reminded herself that they were from the eighteenth century and their beliefs were very different from how things were in her world. Control, kindness and patience were key.
Wendy added on, "Wasn't this forbidden in the Bible? Do people disregard that in… this new time period?"
"There is a lot more respect for those people now, and they're treated with acceptance. And some people still disapprove, but things are somewhat better now."
"Wait, Black's real name is Sebastian?"
"Yes, Dagger." She sighed, rubbing her temples. "Anyways, anyone else got something to say?"
"If you don't mind my asking-" Everyone turned to look at the butler. "Is it required that we approve of this relationship."
"Thank you for the reasonable question, and no, it is not. I'm not the greatest fan of it myself. But please do remember that the people viewing us may have different opinions, so try to always be a bit respectful and consider how they feel. Basically, no ship bashing or you could have a very pissed off audience."
"Oh, 'ello there, fans!" Joker smiled, waving cheerily at a camera. Val sighed as she watched another crack appear in the fourth wall.
After everyone had given their opinions and Snake had refused to speak a word, despite the constant hissing of his snakes, the projector switched to a new page and the somewhat terrifying blond girl grinned, her eyes lighting up. "Ohoho, this is gonna be fun."
"We're going to die, aren't we?" Whispered Peter to Jumbo. The fire-eater nodded.
"Most likely."
And yes, I will always try to be accepting ships and not let personal bias influence how the characters would actually act in these situations. I'm staying true to their personalities, despite how much I might not want to.
