The morning had gone as it usually would have started with Sebastian's routine of attending to his master the lord earl Phantomhive. The sole heir to the fortune and estate of his family's legacy. They had decided to continue their search of the RMS Oceanic, but nobody seemed to know anything. And no matter how many stones that they turned, there was nothing to find under them. Sebastian could tell that this truly peeved his lordship and they both agreed to dress as underclass society men in order to discover at least a tiny shred of something.
Sebastian could hear Ciel mumbling something about looking like 'street urchins' and 'street walking rift raft'. Which he couldn't help to smile at. Even in near rags, Ciel had a way of making them look proper and dignified. Though the demon would much prefer the company of his lordship in the nude.
They had just descended down the staircase to the lower levels when they heard a lively ruckus. With their curiosities piqued they headed toward the direction of the sounds and were met by a large room, which could only be their dining hall crowded and full of throngs of people. The sea of people made Sebastian beyond nervous and more than a tad anxious as they made their way through the crowd. There were people drinking, smoking reefer and opium, snorting snuff, dancing, and some in the darkened corners getting a bit more than frisky with one another.
One of the children began to shake Johanna from her deep sleep and more than vivid nightmares that threatened to tear away at her mind. She gasped in pain as she tried to sit up. Johanna's busted body parts were swollen and she could hardly open and close her hands from the swelling in her torn up knuckles.
Johanna's eyes squinted in the darkness and noticed that more than half of the children were missing, but she heard the woman's voice tenderly say, "Do not fret. I will bring you new playmates soon."
Bile. Bile threatened to spew from Johanna. Along with not eating in almost three days, the rocking of the sea on the ship, her fatigued body, and now the information about the children being in the crate...it made her more than sick.
She felt a hand playfully tug at her hair. It was the woman. "It takes a person three days to die without water and two to three weeks without food." She continued to stroke her hair like a motherly figure. Which reminded her of Mrs. Lovett's, which reminded her of human pies, the bile threatened her again.
"I have someone who wants to play with you, my dear." The woman nearly giggled. Johanna was taken from the box and bound and gagged to a chair made of the same material as the box. A man stood before her and began to savagely beat and smack her around. Johanna was helpless to his abuse and anytime she felt an urge to fight back. The chair depleted her strength. It wasn't long until the man finished his fun and Johanna could feel her lip was torn and her eye swelling up. The woman threw her back into the box with a sadistic cackle.
It took all she had to curl up into a ball and she decided to try to build up a reserve of strength and sleep as much as she could in order to do that. Sadly that meant even if more children were taken from the box or even placed in the box. She had to have that reserve of energy for the next time the woman took her out of the box. She cried herself to sleep.
Once again. Pain. Anguish. Dismay. Terror. Helplessness. Began to plague Sebastian and caused him to grab Ciel's arm and hold onto it firmly. At one point he grabbed at his lip and at his eye. As if he had been given a once over with a weighted fist, but that was highly impractical. No one could land a blow on him and it was ridiculous to even entertain a thought such as that.
It still managed to put him on high alert and Ciel just looked at Sebastian in dismay and his ego more than bruised. As his butler man handled him and kept him tightly to his side as if he were a child.
"What shall we do now master?" Sebastian surveyed the scene looking for any out of place behavior. Which was proving to be most difficult because people were more than inebriated on some level. And people aren't quite 'normal' when under the influence. "I still have yet to see anything worth noting."
Mei Rin was bent over a bed making it when she felt warm hands on her outer thighs. They slowly moved up under her maid's skirt, and over the roundness of her hips, until they came to a rest on her waist. The hands pulling her into an upright position. As she righted herself, she looked across the room and into a mirror hanging on the wall. It was Bardroy. He kept a hand up under her skirt, except he angled his hand where the fingertips pointed downward and played with her pantyline. His other hand under her shirt which was now untucked from her skirt and cupping and groping her breast. As he did all of this he nibbled her earlobe and neck. Mei Rin felt her back melt into his chest and let out a soft moan. "Mmmm...and to what do I owe this pleasure?"
Bardroy didn't say a word as he pulled her hips backwards and causing her to lean forward laying over the bed. May Rin saw him undoing his pants, and soon he was burrowed deep inside her. The young maid gripped the sheets as he thrust into her pound for pound. The power within his movements causing her to cry out and moan deeply as he came inside of her. Then smirked smacking her on the ass and walking off. Leaving Mey Rin feeling like putty and a tad bit bewildered.
The woman snickered at Johanna's pain before heading up to the party that was going on a few decks up.
"I'll be back, loves." She said to the children. "You'll get dinner then, and more playmates later."
Ciel couldn't decide which he hated more-the party, or the fact that his butler was treating him so roughly. He understood that they had to stay close, but they didn't need to be touching the entire time! Ciel had no problem being so close with Sebastian in private, but this was far from a private situation, and he needed his space for a number of reasons, so he pulled away, out of the grip of the demon.
The room was packed, and sometimes it was difficult to do so much as walk a few feet. Countless people had accidentally walked or stumbled on their feet, and this was just one reason that Ciel couldn't wait to get out of this place. His feet were throbbing and probably pretty bruised. Speaking of trampling on their feet, a younger girl, perhaps around Ciel's age, was maneuvering her way through the crowd carrying drinks when she, too, accidentally tread on Ceil's aching feet.
"Oh!" She exclaimed, seeing Ciel's pained expression. "I'm sorry, little lad!"
If there was one thing to make the young Phangomhive forget his pain, even for a brief moment, it was to kick him in the pride, which she'd unknowingly done.
"L-little?! You're around my age, aren't you?" He retorted, ignoring Sebastian's chuckling.
"Relax!" She laughed "Me mum calls all kids little lads and lassies. I got it from her. Do ya feel a wee bit insulted?"
Ciel fumed.
"Jiminy! 'Ere. 'Ave some o'this." She thrust one of the large drinks she'd been carrying. "Ya need ta loosen up, little lad." She giggled as she walked away, passing out drinks to others.
There didn't seem to be anything abnormal about the drink, even by Sebastian's senses. Still, his butler started to warn Ciel not to drink it when the young earl sniffed it. It smelled very sweet, and, being a fan of sweets, the young lord downed it. It wasn't until afterward that he coughed, feeling an intense burning sensation. It had been alcoholic, and a man had seen what Ciel had done.
"Damn, kid!" he pat CIel on the shoulder. "That oughta make you feel nice an' right, although I wouldn' recommend ya getin' another. As it is, ya are gonna be on the ground soon. They got some strong stuff here!" He laughed, and Ciel, whose only alcohol consumption had consisted of wine or champange, was a little nervous.
Once the alcohol started hitting his system, Ciel began inching his way closer to Sebastian, no longer caring about his butler holding onto him, and, in fact, now wanting him to do so. Suddenly, a young woman not only stumbled into their path, but fell flat onto Ciel when someone had stepped between the lord and Sebastian. Her drink spilled onto his face, neck, and hair. Some of it got into his mouth and he choked on it for a few seconds, not expecting it.
"O-oh! Clumsy me! I'm so sorry! There are so many people... I'm sorry!" She seemed terribly embarrassed and tried to find something with which to wipe off.
Sebastian was at a high level of stress considering the situation and this definitely was not going to help things and was a means to cut the search short which was also irritating. In a careful and quick motion, Ciel was once again in his butler's arms. As he began to move through the crowd to the closest exit that he could manage. He was almost there when a familiar laugh caught his attention.
It was Lau he had heard a midst a group of bellowing immigrants from his own country. Ran Mao coiled like a feline in his lap as she spied upon them, but not once pointing them out to Lau. Which Sebastian highly appreciated at the moment.
Very nimbly and swiftly Sebastian had brought his earl back into the safe haven of their cabin room.
"You must rest my dear master and sleep off whatever you have consumed." Sebastian had told him, but was caught off guard when Ciel let out a childlike giggle. "Master are you feeling quite alright?"
CIel giggled again. "Oh, I'm alright, indeed, Sebassian..." He slurred his butler's name, then, as soon as he was let down, took a few steps before falling to the floor in a heap.
"Iss so hard to walk!" He laughed. He was in a fit of laughter, his face flushed from the alcohol. He crawled to the demon, using Sebastian's legs to help himself stand, then grabbed his gloved hands, pulling him around in circles before falling again.
Sebastian looked to Ciel with a look of oddity and amusement. This was very much unlike his young master, but he had consumed a libation. "Master perhaps we should have a sit and I can order use something to eat. " Thinking that food could be useful to soak up some of his stomach contents.
"Food sounds delighhful..." The boy said, and he just lay on the floor, watching as Sebastian went to the door to see if someone were nearby, and since there was, his butler left just momentarily to let a worker know that food was needing to be delivered to the room. When he returned, Ciel was still lying on the ground, only he was covering his face. His shoulders were shaking, as though he were merely laughing, but the soft sobs coming from the young lord's mouth explained exactly what he was doing.
Ciel was crying. Sebastian had left him, even if only for a moment. It had reminded him of the events the night before, and his emotions were out of control thanks to his drunken state.
"Why the tears Ciel?" Sebastian asked steadily, kneeling beside his lordship. Very rarely did he call him Ciel, that was reserved for their more intimate moments. But was this not one of their more personal ones? Sebastian pulled the sobbing boy into his arms.
Ciel was equally upset and embarrassed that he couldn't control his own emotions as he wailed, burying his face in his butler's shoulder in an attempt to muffle his cries.
"You left me again!" He took a breath. "I know it was to send for food but... I thought of last night... And... When you were gone... I was.." He wouldn't admit it sober, but this was a different case, indeed. "I was scared I wouldn't find you!"
The boy was a mess at this point.
"I didn't want to cry... It's foolish! Pathetic! But I did and... I can't stop... Everything's out of control!"
There was a quick knock on the door and a woman came by to drop off the food platter. The woman was very beautiful in an eerie sort of way, but not enough to think anything about it.
It was a bit of a fight at first to get the earl to eat a bite of anything, but after a lot of prodding and incentive that he will thank his servant in the morning her did so.
After a few moments Ciel began to look a bit sober although very fatigued and so his dark butler readied him for the night's sleep.
"Master...I shan't ever leave you. Do not worry your mind with such dark fantasises."