The Phantomhive Manor. It's grand exterior and exquisite interior make it unparalleled to any other edifice. Healthy greenery complimented the manor, keeping the high aesthetic of which it had original pertained before it was destroyed. From looking at the cultivated architecture one could tell the class of it's resident and many others that may reside as help, obviously there were servants from such an exorbitant house.
Within the house was a butler, a butler dressed in black, the colour flattering his naturally black hair. Making his cardinal eyes more prominent, the beauty within them too inhuman for the ordinary butler. His skill as a butler also unnatural for the average person. He pushed the cart that conceived the china of which the master of the house's favourite tea was held. He knocked the door politely, then entered silently before speaking, leaving the cart next to the master's bed ready to attend to.
"Young Master…," the butler called out as he withdrew the curtains letting the light of the sun to enter the bedroom promptly. "It is time to wake up." He commanded whilst pouring the tea into the fine china cup.
The 12 year old male who the butler had been addressing sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eye groggily. His dark blue hair dishevelled slightly from the movement in his sleep. The oversized, white shirt engulfing his smaller form. He looked towards the tea and then the window, still not adapted to the burning light.
The butler ignored this and continued, "for breakfast today, we have a lightly poached salmon accompanied by a delicate mint salad. I can also offer toast, scones or pain de campagne. Which dish do you care for this morning?" He offered.
Before the boy could answer he was interrupted by the newest edition of the Phantomhive servants, the girl casually walking in whilst the earl frank his tea. Her roseate hair swayed slightly as she walked at waist length. The young earl blushed at her sudden appearance, aware that he was only in a thin shirt. He was about to complain when the girl spoke, "if you keep feeding him like that, he'll become fat." Rin giggled at the idea of a obese Ciel but shook her mind of the image to glance at the butler.
He looked back down upon the maid, the head maid to be exact. She had joined at least 4 months ago, she was benevolent to every resident in the manor causing quite the camaraderie between every person, even the young master. She seemed to have a positive effect on everyone despite her sometimes pessimistic attitude. Her relationships between her and the young master had grown more than the other servants, making the butler in black become quite jealous. She was his after all.
The young earl only sighed at her entrance and tried to ignore her presence, drinking more of the tea, "the scone."
Rin turned around to avoid looking at the boy being stripped by his butler, albeit listening to his schedule anyway. "Today you have a meeting with Mr Hughes, the authority on the history of the Roman Empire. And this evening, Mr Damiano of the Poseidon company will be paying you a visit," he resided as if it was a script. Rin internally chuckled as she imagined Sebastian sitting in his room reading and repeating the lines written on a piece of paper, although she guessed it wasn't necessary for him to practice given his circumstance.
Ciel spoke out, "oh… Is that the man I have in charge of stuffed animals at my factory in India?" He questioned as the demon buttoned his over coat.
"Yes, I'm told he's Italian. We will of course offer him all the hospitality the estate can provide," Sebastian answered. Even with her back turned, Rin could feel the smirk on his face. It was strange, that even though she became closer with Ciel, she still felt unnaturally connected with Sebastian, more...emotionally. However, they still had their own relationship where they liked to tease each other from time to time (all the time).
Ciel sipped his tea, then sniffed it, "I know this smell. Is it Earl Grey?"
Sebastian gave an impressed look and answered earnestly, "yes, from Jacksons of Piccadilly." He finished and stood from his kneeling position, Rin turning around to clear away the china, returning everything to the cart in it's originally space.
"I shall wait for you at the dining table, Master. Come, Rin." As Sebastian stood in the doorway, a dart made it's way to Sebastian's head with great accuracy. The man caught the dart between two fingers with reflexes faster than the average human, making the girl's eyes widened. "Well thrown, My Lord. Even so, let's save the games for later."
He turned to lay his crimson eyes on the boy as he sat back up with a sour look, "yes, I suppose you're are right, Sebastian." He said with a huff.
The butler turned back around, but stopped once again when he caught a second dart, this time turning to glare at the female servant, who only rubbed the back of her neck grinning. "It looked fun. I was only checking your reflexes and I thought we were all doing it," she explained her excuse as she darted out of the room avoiding the wrath of which Sebastian would show her, giggling when she brushed past him.
He smirked already imagining the revenge as punishment, stalking out of the room to catch up to the maid, closing the door behind him. He loved a good game of cat and mouse, and Rin always displayed a good show.
Ciel 'humphed' at the two before returning to his own thoughts, My butler is an able man.
"Ow! Ow, ow, ow ,ow, ow!" The blond gardener screamed in pain. Holding his head whilst flailing and stomped his legs and feet. For a gardener he was surprisingly clean in his appearance, his blonde hair was clipped back by five red bobby pins, no matter how short his hair was. He wore a plain shirt, with plaid pants and black knee high boots, overall they were scruffs that allowed him to become dirty. A hat hung loosely round his neck.
He ran towards the seated earl, "What was that for young master? What did I do?!" He questioned rather loudly. Still holding his head to stop the bleeding from which the dart was thrown at him by Ciel. His large, turquoise eyes looked uncertainly towards his young master.
Ciel took a bite from his scone and spoke, "nothing. I don't need to justify my actions." He spoke monotonously.
Rin, who was stood beside Ciel as he ate spoke out, "Ciel, you shouldn't abuse your servants. You'll turn into one of the pompous nobles who think they're above everyone and become vain." The maid chided, exaggerating a bit more than necessary, however Ciel shivered at the thought so she assumed it worked.
Ciel argued, "don't jest about my image so. As I said before, I do not need to justify my actions." He turned to hear Rin grumble something about him being a 'ostentatious ass' and glared at him before turning to eat his scone again.
The servants suddenly jumped when the door burst open with a loud BANG, as the head butler walked through with an irritated expression, "There you are! Have you finished weeding the courtyard, Finny?" Rin just watched as she watched the boy shift and scramble uncomfortably but came to a rigid stop. She'd help if it was against Ciel, but there was no way in hell that she would go up against Sebastian. He eat her alive, he literally tried to.
The butler then looked towards the cherry haired maid who held her face, smiling happily. Her thick, cracked glasses concealing her eyes that withheld so much power for such a humble maid. He haired tied back into pig tails with a white bonnet at the front. "Mey-Rin, Have you washed all the bedding?"
She gave a startled look, lifting her hands from her face, blushing, then twiddling her index fingers. "Erm.. well…," she tried to explain but was ignored as the butler turned to the chef.
The chef had a cigarette dangling from his mouth. His short dirty blond hair was being scratched as the man let his turquoise looked away from the butler. His goggles hanging loosely around his neck. In appearance he looked quite similar to Finnian. The butler further interrogated, "Baldroy, shouldn't you be preparing for tonight's dinner?" His looked becoming more agitated as the chef only 'tsked'.
He then turned to the maid beside Ciel who looked up from her feet, "Rin, did you finish cleaning the mess those three maid yesterday?" Rin was about to answer when she was interrupted by the demon, once again. "Tanaka…" He started turning to the older help who sat calmly drinking his tea quietly, "well, I suppose you're all right as you are. Now all of you, we have no time for thumb twiddling this morning. So get to work!" He pointed to them all, the sparks of anger erupting from him.
The four mumble as they left the room with their heads pointed down towards the door. Mey-Rin spoke for the four, "Yes, Sir!".
Sebastian looked to the four, "simply hopeless."
Rin looked towards the butler and glared, she did finish her work...nearly...she just needed to pick up some of the broken china. He gave a satisfying smirk to her, both of them knowing full well that this was his vengeance for the dart. As Ciel went back to his paper, Sebastian pinched the girl's posterior, making her eyes widen. She raised her hand to slap him, feeling embarrassed, but he caught her wrist. He smirked bringing her face close to his, "ah,ah,ah. No violence in the dining room." He whispered huskily in her ear.
"Aw, and I was going to let you get out the chains and whips," she retorted, giving the man an innocent look, pouting slightly for effect.
His smirk widened, suddenly feeling the slightest twinge of lust, leaning in to her ear once more, "I didn't know you were into such things, my little masochist. However, there's still the bedrooms." He winked, making her become more infuriated.
Ciel still wasn't paying attention, so she snatched her wrist from him and stormed out fuming at his inappropriate action. Thinking that she would get revenge later, knowing today's events like the back of her had. She smirked at Sebastian's future suffering and carried on to do her daily chores.
The butler stood alone in the kitchen as he peeled the vegetables for this evenings dinner. His sleeves rolled up, his attire including an apron, though would look feminine on any other male added a further attractive side to his many other looks, not that he had any unattractive sides as a human.
The silver is polished to a spotless shine. The tablecloth is crisp, clean and wrinkle-free. There is not a single bruised blossom among Master's favourite white roses. And finally, the highest quality ingredients have been gathered to prepare a first-rate dinner. The table is perfection. This will be an elegant Phantomhive welcome.
His inner monologue was interrupted by the bell of his master's calling. Leading to his office. With a sigh he thought, Still so much to do and he calls me now. He thought the br-child liked to cause such inconveniences for him, which he probably does thinking it all as a game. A challenged. He took off his apron and put his tailcoat and gloves back on dusting of the invisible dirt that was supposedly there. He was quite vain when he wanted to be, he needed to keep up the Phantomhive butler aesthetic. With that he stalked towards his lord's office.
Unaware of the four staff members peeking round the corner at his retreating form. The head chef speaking to the other four with enthusiasm, "a guest is comin'. All right, this is our chance. Sebastian looks down on us all the time. Today we will be so perfect he won't even know what 'it 'im." He said as he imitated of what was assumed was Sebastian's mocked face, "'Ah!' Yeah, that's what he is gonna say."
He spoke with confidence. The other two servants emulated his facial expression of shock, "'Ah!'"
The ex-veteran didn't look pleased as he glared at them slightly, "that's for him to say, not you." He mumble gloomily at their figures.
Mey-rin nodded her head eagerly, bringing her hands to her chest at the thought, "Oh, that's a good idea." She complimented in agreement.
Finny nodded his head in agreement also, wanting to encourage him further, "right, we have to stop relying on Sebastian for everything." He spoke with enthusiasm as well.
They nodded between them as Baldroy spoke, "It's settled then, we got a plan of attack!"
They all cheered and raised their fists in the air with high motivation, "let's get to it!"
They went on their way ignoring the second giggling maid who quietly sipped green tea with the head steward, Tanaka, lost in their own thoughts. The man without any specific thoughts and the girl with many, being highly amused at their exuberance. This should be entertaining. She quietly sipped her tea, looking down upon the tea stalk, promising a strange is coming, a hard, woody stalk that indicates it was male, which it will be. She chuckled silently to herself, glad that she had finished her midday chores early.
Back in the young master's study, the young earl sat reading some trivial reports on his factories and business. Noticing his butler's appearance who made his way to the centre of the room, bowing towards him in respect. He then spoke out to him, "I'm a bit hungry. I'd like something sweet to eat." He demanded more than asked.
The butler didn't looked amused for being pulled out of his busy schedule for something so trifling. With a sigh he argued, "You shouldn't eat now, Master. You don't want to spoil your appetite for dinner with your guest tonight."
"I don't care. Make me a parfait," the boy ordered to his butler, not even glancing up from his paperwork.
"I'm sorry, Sir," the butler refused making Ciel give him an irritated look but sighed already giving up at his attempt to have a dessert.
He stood up, laying down the pen that he held, walking towards his window to look down to the grounds. Without even glimpsing at Sebastian he spoke, verbally making it known he surrendered, "fine then. About the portrait in the hallway…" he trailed off.
"Yes."
"Take it down," Sebastian's eyes widened slightly, confused by such an action.
He was about to carry on when he was halted by the pink haired maid, who stumble clumsily into the study without notification. She looked flustered at her ineptitude and give away. Her expression was then replaced with anger of what she had heard, "Don't take it down. I love that portrait." She claimed as she flailed a bit regaining balance. She saw Ciel give a guilty look towards her but it was replaced before it was even seen with an even sterner one.
"I am Ciel Phantomhive, son of Vincent, and I am the head of the house now," he proclaimed with confidence looking directly at the two servants. The demon gave a smirk at his choice of prey and bowed with equal smugness as Ciel's self-assurance.
"I am Ciel Phantomhive, son of Vincent, and I am the head of the house now," he proclaimed with confidence looking directly at the two servants. The demon gave a smirk at his choice of prey and bowed with equal smugness as Ciel's self-assurance.
"Consider it down, My Lord." He spoke as he bowed beginning to leave. "Come along, Rin." Ciel gave a sympathetic look to his maid, Rin only smiled at him forgetting his action. He seemed shocked at this, but was even more shocked, blushing as she blew him a kiss and walked out, following after Sebastian. Ciel felt a twinge of jealousy but dismissed it as he returned to his work, he'd get his chance to spend time with the maid later.
Sebastian stood over each mess with a frustrated expression, that only someone of his calibre could produce. Rin stood behind him silently laughed, but couldn't help but notice how his seductive darkness only increased when he was angry, making her want to… 'It's so beautiful, I just want to lick it', France style. It was alluring that she considered jumping him, but restrained herself as not to become… unsightly.
She was interrupted of her mind raping of Sebastian as he spoke with the same temper, "Now, how exactly did this happen?" He said pointing to the destruction that the three stooges, as many had called them, had caused.
Finny rubbed his neck sheepishly as he stood in front of the demolished garde. The flowers had burned to a crisp, unusual since no fire had been used. The trees also blackened, without their leaves. The grass an unhealthy camouflage colour, dry and beyond recognition. "I thought things would go faster if I used extra strength weed-killer on the garden," he explained, obviously meaning no harm.
We were now upon the broken china and cupboard, glasses windows that would display the set shattered across the floor. Mey-rin flailed her arms and then twiddled her thumbs, "I was trying to reach the tea set we use for guests, but I tripped and the cabinet fell!" She excused, her accent more prominent as she became more uncomfortable. Throughout her explanation, Rin's chortles became louder.
We stood in front of the Chef, his hair humorously fluffed up in an afro fashion. The food that was prepared by Sebastian had been burnt into something similar to charcoal. "There was a lot of meat to be cooked for dinner, and it was gonna take a long time , so uh, I used me flame-thrower." He also rubbed his neck sheepishly.
They all stood in a row looking at the head butler with fear. Mey-rin and Finny seemed to burst out, "Oh, We're so sorry. We didn't mean to." They wailed hugging Sebastian's pant legs. By this time the maid who had been in the shadow of the butler all day exploded in laughter, making Sebastian turn to glare at her.
"You knew this would happen. Yet, you still let it," he said in a scolding tone, a frown on his face. It made the maid laugh harder but she still felt a pinch of guilt at his look, as if she truly cared that he might have actually felt hurt.
The maid stood on her tip toes, the servants too busy bawling their eyes out to notice the seductive gleam in her eyes, "it was a revenge for pinching my ass earlier." She whispered in his ear provocatively, noticing how much the two of them actually whispered in each others ears.
Sebastian was tempted to tease as well but came back to the task at hand not before saying, "then you shall be punished further by me personally later." He then turned back to the servants as he brought his hand back to his lip in thought. Our guest will arrive just after 6. At most we have two hours left. Not enough time to replace the tea set or find premium meats. What should I do? He felt distracted by the servants' weeping, "Calm down, all of you. Perhaps you should try taking a page out of Tanaka's book, and start behaving like…" He looked towards Tanaka, an idea suddenly coming to mind, clicking his fingers in 'eureka.'
"Everyone. Listen closely and do exactly as I say, understand? We must be quick about this. We might save this night yet," He spoke picking up the tea cup on Tanaka's. Rin huffed at his threat ignoring her surroundings and his plan. Knowing they could do it without her, but stubbornly chose to ignore the demon butler for his crude comment.
A man of Italian nationality, with short, brown hair that matched his mustache and goatee. He had olive-toned skin similar to that of Rin's when in her world. He had dark blue eyes, his attire consisting of a dark suit with an ascot red tie, that wasn't quite… appealing to today's fashion.
As he exited the carriage the two servants, Sebastian and Rin, bowed politely. He looked towards Sebastian and bowed to him in respect. Then he looked towards the maid, she was unaware of the lustful gaze the man was giving her as she also bowed. Further oblivious of how he saw he cleavage, making him more aroused. Sebastian frowned in disgust, having the urge to put his arm around her waist, since the man was looking at his pet. The girl ascended and she spoke.
"Welcome, Mr Damiano. If you will please allow me to escort you to our Young master," she said with a smile. The man nodded a bit too eagerly as the young woman walked off with the butler and guest in tow.
The Italian man noticed the deadly glare that was being sent his way for looking at the maid, he looked around the garden as he was being lead. To try and lighten the tense atmosphere he spoke with much optimism, "oh, how impressive!" He complimented.
The servants stood neatly in a row on the stairs and bowed towards the man, speaking in sync to him, "Hello, welcome, Sir." They chimed.
Rin spoke out as they carried on walking, "this is called a stone garden. It is a traditional feature in Japan." She resided, remembering Sebastian saying it in the episode. It confused Rin greatly that they had Mr Damiano as a guest since it should've been Mr Chlaus, she knew it was the manga timeline because of the double Charles as her majesty's butlers. She dismissed it since she had read and watched both versions. and carried on to the draw room.
The Italian man spoke out to the maid with enthusiasm that she's spoke to him, "oh, prodigioso! Wonderful! Truly an elegant garden." He complimented further to try and get a reaction from the pink haired maid, wanting more of her attention. Sebastian noticed this, his frown deepening, pig.
He wanted to halt his lewd thoughts of his pet and spoke, "we thought it appropriate to serve dinner al fresco this evening. Allow us to escort you inside until the meal is ready." He offered, internally murdering the man.
The brunette laughed as he followed the butler and maid, "I should have expected this from a Phantomhive. I cannot wait to see what else is in store!" He said with a thick accent. The butler stayed behind slightly letting the steward and maid lead the guest to the draw room.
The servants looked to their work. The stone garden raked in different patterns. With small bamboo fountains that acted as a see-saw of sorts but with water. The sound of them banging against the bigger rocks that were scattered around the garden filled the silence. Bard wiped his head with his forearm, "phew! We actually did it."
Finny admired the garden greatly with large eyes that gleamed. "Who would've thought that a dozen boxes of gravel could turn into such an amazing garden?" He mused looking throughout all out the garden carefully.
Sebastian spoke out to him, not affected by their achievement, "Naturally we were able to handle this. We serve the Phantomhive family after all. There's still work to be done. Let's take care of it while the master is talking business with his guest. Look sharp now."
"The progress we've been making with the East India Factory is quite astonishing. We are already have the makings of a top-notch staff." The man tried to speak business as him and the earl played one of the new games that he had obtained.
The earl, however, ignored him as he moved his piece across the board, "bewitched by the eyes of the dead. What terrible luck. It appears 1 lose a turn." The man looked quite flustered as he was ignored of what he was here for in the first place.
He deflated slightly, but carried on trying to speak more on the factory and money, "right now is the perfect time. We should begin expanding the company and building a strong labour force, it would-" He was interrupted by Ciel once again.
"Go on. It's your turn," he encouraged, giving a bored expression to his subject changes. The man felt like they were having two different conversations but considering the child's power he complied to his request abruptly.
"Oh, yes, I just spin this then," he said, spinning the hexagon. It landed on 5. "Okay, there. Five spaces." he said moving his five, wanting to bring the conversation back to his favour, "Now, what I wanted to ask you. Perhaps you could contribute another 12,000 pounds to support our expansion? I believe it will be quite a profitable venture for you, my lord, and I would consider it an honour to help expand the Funtom Company…" He trailed off feeling more ignore than ever.
He looked up to the maid for help, who was also concentrated on the board game, her hair hiding one of her eyes. His eyes lingered on her more than necessary, which Ciel noticed so he spoke out to gain the man's attention, "Lose a leg in the enchanted forest. And it's your turn again. I lost a turn, remember?"
"Oh I see. Right, I move six," The Italian man became flustered as he had been caught and rolled one again.
He was about to move the six but was halted when the maid spoke, "You don't. You move three." She said as she pointed to the board innocently.
Mr Damiano looked at her confused, "what? but…" he wanted to question again.
"You lost a leg remember, if you recall. Now you only move half of the number of spaces," Rin pointed out, as he gave her a bewildered look, with slight disgust.
Ciel spoke, "Rin is correct."
The man laughed awkwardly, uncomfortable with the atmosphere and game, "oh my. This is a gruesome board-game, isn't it? Is there-a no way for me to restore my leg, then?" he questioned, making Ciel's face darken into a sadistic smirk.
"I'm afraid once something is truly lost, Sir, one can never get it back." He spat snatching the man's piece from his hand and moving it back three spaces, reading the board space, "your body is burnt by raging flames."
Sebastian walked into the kitchen to check up on the Chef, not trusting him alone for more than five minutes. He immediately questioned, "how is it going?" Peeking his head through the doorway then entering fully to see the chef finely cutting the charcoaled meat into thin slices.
"I'm doin' it like you said to. Is this really what you want?" He said looking up from his task of slicing.
Sebastian nodded in acknowledgement, "yes, that looks excellent."
They were shocked when they heard the loud footsteps of the clumsy maid, not that either of them were not clumsy but the more clumsy one, who carried the many boxes that contained the set of tea cups. "Sebastian!" She screamed, "Found 'em!" Ignorant to her untied shoelaces, causing her to trip and fall as she ran down the corridor, dropping the boxes in the process, "Aah!"
In a flash Sebastian caught all the boxes in one hand stack them up in one hand, catching the maid falling into his chest and the other hand. He calculated the other box to land on his foot but was surprised when it didn't land. He looked passed the red-haired maid, to see the other clumsy maid catch the other box. She sighed after catching it and looked down to Mey-rin, "what have I told you Mey-rin? Please don't run in the Manor, we wouldn't want that pretty face tainted with something such as cuts and bruises."
The ex-sniper blushed at her comment and Sebastian holding her against him. Rin only said this since she enjoyed the reactions the red haired provided. She grabbed another box from Sebastian and walked into the kitchen, setting them down on the table. Sebastian was mightily impressed, proud of his decision in his choosing of her. He dropped Mey-rin and followed the girl into the kitchen setting his down on the table, directly in front of her. Leaning his body on hers, having thrust his pelvis on her ass, expectantly waiting for a reaction. He was however disappointed when she just walked away with her nose held high as she made her way to the the study. He thought about her lack of reaction and smirked. She was being defiant. That was too cute. He dismissed it for now, knowing that she still had a punishment later on.
He then turned to the servants and gave them a stern look, "These are the last items we needed for dinner. Splendid work, everyone. And now I believe you can leave the rest of it to me and relax for a bit. But I need you to do well, very well, during dinner tonight," he said gravely.
The two male servants looked up at him wearily, "he said it twice…"
"ooh, that's serious."
Back in the drawing room, the earl and Italian guest we're still half way through their game as Rin stood behind Ciel also engrossed in the board game once more, from her little errand. They all heard a knock as Sebastian entered and bowed, "pardon the interruption, but dinner is served." He announced.
Mr Damiano turned to Sebastian instantly wanting to end this boring game almost as much as he wanted the money. "Oh, dining out in that exquisite stone garden? Shall we go, my lord?" He urged further, desperately wanting to depart.
As he stood up, Ciel agreed, "very well, we'll finish the game later."
The man deflated slightly at this, really not wanting to continue, "oh, is there really any need to finish it? It's obvious I'm-a going to lose." He stated matter-of-factly, shrugging, obviously not disappointed that he would lose. Unfortunately, losing in real life, he would have a totally different attitude. This made Rin smirk at his haste.
Ciel argued, "I'm not in the habit of abandoning games halfway through." Not impressed by the man's disposition.
Mr Damiano didn't look impressed, resulting in him mumbling, "how childish." Ciel turned to glare at him, Rin also glaring for calling her master such names. He tried to recover by stuttering, "oh I...I mean that sometimes it takes a child's eyes to see what's really important. It's a true gift. Maybe that's what's made the Phantomhives the nation's foremost toy makers. It certainly impresses me!" He complimented to recover from his previous comment.
Sebastian narrowed his eyes at the man, as did Rin but dismissed it and lead the two to the garden for dinner.
The lanterns around the table and garden flattered it all the more. The guest sat at one side of the long, clothed table as Ciel sat at the other. Sebastian, Mey-rin, and Rin stood on the path in the middle of the area. Sebastian announced the evenings menu, something that the pink haired maid wanted to do, "On tonight's menu is a dish of finely-sliced raw beef donburi courtesy of our chef Baldroy."
Mr Damiano looked down as his dish was laid in front of him, with wide eyes, "a pile of raw beef. And this is dinner?" He asked utterly confused at the strange, more like foreign, traditions.
"Yes," Sebastian answered softly, "but surely you have heard of it? This, good sir, is a traditional Japanese delicacy, a dish offered as a sign of gratitude to someone who has accomplished important work. That, sir, is the wonder of donburi!" He practically screamed with pride to add more a dramatic effect. Rin heard a light 'oh, donburi!' from Mr Damiano, overwhelmed by the butler's melodrama. She laughed at him quietly.
"This is a token from our master, to show his thanks for all your hard work on the company's behalf. He wanted you to know it was much appreciated." He finished as if truly grateful.
The servants who were 'discreetly' hidden, were seen by Rin, not only from the knowledge of the future scenes, but the fact that their camouflage was terrible and they were considerably loud. She silently laughed as she heard Finny praise Sebastian, "Now that's our Sebastian for you!"
Bard praised also, "he saved the day."
In addition to a quiet, "ho,ho,ho," from Tanaka.
Mr Damiano snapped out of his bewilderment from the dish and praised as well, "excellent, what an inspired idea! The legendary Phantomhive hospitality in action!" He faked excitement. Rin pushed the cart towards the table next to the guest as Sebastian announced it, with Mey-rin holding the bottle. What no one noticed was when Mr Damiano pinched Rin's backside, making her eye's widen and jump slightly. She looked down to him, blushing and furious, but kept quiet as he winked and smirked at me. I made a disgusted face and returned back to Sebastian's side.
"The vintage we are pouring tonight was specially selected to compliment the flavour of soy sauce. Mey-rin," He said expectantly. He sighed, "now Mey-rin."
"Yes, sir!" She answered.
Sebastian came close to her ear, making Rin feel a slight twinge of jealousy, unknown to her, as sebastian whispered to her, "Why are you just standing there? Pour the man a glass of wine." He demanded quietly.
"Of course. Yes, Sir!" She obliged. Then Rin's eyes widened as she remember what would happen when Mey-rin poured the wine, but she didn't say anything wanting to see Sebastian take the table-cloth away.
She then heard Bard speak to Finny from the bushes, she was surprise when Sebastian didn't do anything, she knew he could hear them. "Hey…" Bard said gaining Finny's attention.
"What?" He questioned.
"Is it just me or is Mey-Rin acting a little strange?" He asked as they all watched the maid spin to the table in a dazed manner. Sebastian is watching me. I can't take it. Don't look at me that way! She thought as she imagined his face so close to her's.
She became so distracted, that she spilt the wine over the tablecloth, the maid not showing any signs of stopping. "Ah!" Rin heard the male servants scream from the bush, her laughing at the spill. Sebastian looked down to the chuckling girl, narrowing his eyes at her, she knew this would happen, more of her revenge.
"Mey-rin, Stop it! Can't you see you're spilling the wine?" Finny said.
Everyone watched as a drop was about to land on the guest, frozen in shock. Mr Damiano too ignorant and occupied with his food to notice as Sebastian skilfully pulled the tablecloth from under everything on top of it. Rin's eyes widened once more as she watched only the water slosh around, the only evidence that the tablecloth left. Mr Damiano looked up from his food and had a shocked look, almost scared, "oh? Where did the tablecloth-a go?" He questioned.
Ciel smirked as he carried on eating, "A speck of dirt, most unsightly. I had the cloth removed so it wouldn't distract us. Think nothing of it."
Sebastian bowed, the tablecloth folded in his arms. Bard and Finny pulling an unconscious Mey-rin away by her arms and a still chuckling Rin trying to stifle her giggles by covering her mouth. "Please accept my apologies, sir. Do continue. Enjoy the meal at your leisure," he assured.
The Italian still looked astonished and flustered, "Oh, Oh my! Lord Phantomhive, once again you have truly impressed me. What an able butler you've acquired. And maid for that matter." He smirked slyly towards the maid, who stopped her giggles at his obscene comments.
The earl and butler glared towards him. However, the earl spoke on behalf of the butler, "Pay him no mind. He merely act as befits one of my servants."
"My master is quite correct about that. Naturally, you see, I am simply one hell of a butler." Ciel looked up to Sebastian, not amused by his line but paid it no mind and carried on eating with a 'humph.'
Sebastian lent down to Rin's ear, "another punishment for not telling me about the wine, Miss Rin." She looked towards him with a slight glare but more fear since he sounded serious. She was about to speak but he was already tending to the guest.
"That was a thoroughly enjoyable dinner, my lord. Now then, about the contract…," the Italian man started sitting in consent of the meal, yet still focused on his conniving plan.
Ciel wouldn't have that, interrupting him, "before we discuss that, we must finish the game." He was only finding a distraction so he wouldn't have to give the man what he wanted. He moved forward slightly to inspect where they were up to in the game.
"Ah, yes of course. I do have a pressing-a appointment, perhaps another ti…," he was about to reason, hastily but was again disrupted.
However, Ciel gave a malicious smirk looking darkly towards the Italian, "Children can be very demanding about their games. Surely you wouldn't want me to get upset." Picking up his piece to move once again, wanting to lengthen the games.
The man faltered at his sinister aura, but stood abruptly, "No, no of course not. Perhaps you would permit me to use your telephone?" He asked hastily.
Sebastian then knocked on the door, walking in with a tea cart, "I've brought some tea for you and my lord. Rin is presently preparing the dessert, for tonight's dish we shall be serving Lemon Meringue Pie."
He watched as their guest walked through the doorway uncomfortably, "I'll be right back."
As the guest left, Sebastian poured and served the boy's tea. He sipped it calmly, "What is this? It smells terribly weak." He complained making a disgusted face looking down at his reflection in the brown liquid.
"Out of consideration for our guest, I bought some Italian tea," he explained, with a troublesome look.
"Italian?" He questioned, his expression becoming more appalled by the second.
Sebastian looked worrisome at his young master's distaste, "Italians drink more coffee than tea, sir. So finding high-quality Italian tea can be difficult. This particular selection is not to your liking, master?" Watching the boy for his answer.
The earl only glared at his tea looking at his reflection once more, frowning, "No, it is not. I don't like it at all." The butler narrowed his eyes at his young master, knowing full well what to do.
Sebastian nodded, "I'll see to the dessert preparations."
"Good. We must show him every available hospitality. The Phantomhive family is known for it's courtesy," the boy smirking putting the tea down in disapproval, a hidden message in his every word, symbolism in every action.
"Yes, My Lord," the butler stated bowing before departing.
"I'm-a tired of-a babysitting this-a child earl," he spoke with disdain, putting a cigar in his mouth, clipping the end, then lighting it. A disgusting habit for a person. He heard the other person speak from the other end, "Yes, I've already sold off the factory. Now all that's left is to pocket the extra cash. I'm trying to squeeze more out of the brat right now." Grinning at his cunning plan. Hearing another response from the unidentified person before speaking himself, "The employees? Who cares about them? Ah...! Never mind. The rest of the formalities are for you to deal with. No, it'll be easy. Please, he's only a child." He reassured the person.
Unaware of the eyes that stalked him, hidden beings within the darkness. Both equally quiet, getting ready to follow through with their plan, the maid more hesitant than the butler. The man walked through the many hallways baffled at the many twists and turns. He was utterly lost, feeling petrified at the feeling of being watched.
He moved to every room, opening each door of the different corridors to check the different rooms. He turned to look down the hallway to see a malevolent, ghost-like figure, a ghastly look upon it's unhealthy, white face. His eyes widened, "Ah…! Impossible… I'm seeing things." He said rubbing his eyes, his fear increasing so a point where a demon could smell.
He looked back to the position the figure once stood to find it empty. He carried on walking until he heard a voice similar to the Earl's, "Bewitched by the eyes of the dead."
"Ah...No,that's ridiculous," he assured himself moving promptly back to the drawing room.
He checked every door, "Huh. Not here either." Another door. "Or here… This manor is like a giant maze. I can't even find the drawing room." Walking down the hall, he saw the figure's face walking towards him, speaking to him.
"Bewitched by the eyes of the dead."
"Ah… eh, Ah! St-stay, stay, stay away from me!" The man screaming, running down the hallway, his pleas echoing around the hallway in an unattractive way.
This caused the two male servants, a few hallways down, to stop their task of carrying the portrait to a new position. Very heavy for them to keep stopping. However, the younger of the two asked the older, "that's odd. Was that our guest I heard just now?"Looking around for indication of the guest, straining his ears.
The older disrupted this by complaining, "Hey! We need to move this, or Sebastian will start yellin' again!" The cigarette that hung naturally from his mouth still there.
"Right," the gardener agreed.
In the main hall, the red-haired maid stood with a mop and broom ready to clean. Suddenly, blushing from the reminiscence of the previous events. "Oh, how embarrassing! Oh, I really messed up this time! Oh, but at least I was able to get close to Sebastian!" She said aloud, daydreaming about the two as a couple, but halted herself flailing her arms around, unaware of the bucket that was in her hand, flung over to the stairs for anyone to trip on. "Oh, what a shameful day it all! What kind of lecherous maid am I?," she looked to her hand and noticed the missing bucket in confusion.
The guest in haste fell down the stairs, from running, by tripping over the bucket. He lay there in pain, holding his leg as it was twisted round in an unusual way. He panted lightly in pain and screamed, grabbing the maid's attention, "Ah..Ah!"
"You lose one turn," the voice of the white face spoke out to him. Making him terrified than he already was.
The maid ran to help as she looked upon him, " Ah, Sir, are you all right?" She asked. She saw his leg and recoiled, "Ah! His right leg... it's twisted round. What happened to it?" She looked down horrified at him.
Bard and Finny entered the room with the portrait. They stopped hearing Mey-rin's fear, asking, "hey, what's wrong?" He said calmly.
The Maid flailed slightly, "Our guest," she pointed to him. "Something's happened!"
The said man looked to to the portrait, his eyes widened in panic as the face appeared once again,"And now you lose one leg in the enchanted forest." He screamed, standing up from the stairs and made his past the servants, limping in pain.
The servants started to call out to him, unsure of what to do, but knowledgeable enough to know that he shouldn't move, "Sir? Uh Sir? Come back." The maid spoke out timidly to his retreating form, only observing his departure.
The man crawled into the another room, where the kitchen and servants' quarters resided. At the end of the hall he saw the second maid of the Phantomhive household, casually leaning against the wall. She wore a Gothic dress, that showed off her legs from the mid-thigh downwards. The top showing a generous amount of cleavage. However, the was all ignored by the man as he looked at the black liquid that poured from her eyes, mouth and nose. She walked up to him, excruciatingly slow, and bent down to his level. She brushed her lips against his making the man recoil in fear instead of lust like he usually felt towards the maid.
"Miss...Rin…," He said hesitantly, but froze as the same black liquid poured in large amounts from her mouth. It had the colour of evil and the thickness of blood.
He crawled further down the hallway, coming in contact with the familiar butler's legs, who only looked down on him menacingly. "Surely you aren't leaving the manor yet, sir? We haven't given you the full Phantomhive treatment yet. We still have to serve dessert." Smiling to the man on his knees. Mr Damiano crawled away from him, Sebastian effortlessly walking to catch up to him. "You've lost a leg, remember? Now you can only move half the number of spaces. So why not just relax a bit and make yourself at home?"
Sebastian stayed behind, watching the man crawl away into the dark kitchen. He waited for the now clean maid as he turned to her, still blessed with an amused smirk on his face, "that was a great performance, Miss Rin." The maid looked away, feeling guilty. She didn't like being so...immoral. She was disturbed of his guilt when she was suddenly slammed into the wall, the butler pinning her arms against her body, pushing his flush against hers, "however, ever go that far with another man, even for such reasons as performance, then I will punish you further, Understood?" His eyes flashed pink, making the maid's eyes stare into his. She couldn't look away, in fear that it would be an act of defiance, but nodded, shrinking slightly. She didn't know why he cared, it meant nothing to her of what methods she used as long as it didn't go over the limits of losing her dignity.
He let go, his eyes returning to his original colour, pulling her into the kitchen. The man was tightly squished in the small oven. Hearing his faint confusion, "Damn, It's too dark. Is this a cupboard? Damn, these are really tight quarters. What's this…? Smells like sugar." The oven was suddenly lit by Sebastian as he opened the airing slot to check on the guest. Throughout this, Rin just watched silently, the guilt eating her from the inside out.
"What an impatient guest we have. You couldn't even restrain yourself until dessert was out of the oven?," Sebastian said.
You could hear the panic in Mr Damiano's voice, "The, the oven? Open up! Please, open the door!" He shouted banging on the door, trying to force it open.
Sebastian stood up, closing the airing slot, bringing his fingers to his chin in thought, "Perhaps the Italians aren't familiar with our customs. There's plum pudding, mince meat pie. There are many traditional desserts here in England that make use of meat. I find them all quite tasty." Licking his lips then looking towards Rin.
She gulped and spoke out timidly, "I-Is this really necessary?"
Mr Damiano shouted out to Rin, hearing her voice, " Please, Miss Rin, let me out." Banging once more. She reached out to the handle, but her wrist was grabbed by Sebastian who glared at her action, bringing her closer to his form, wrapping his arm around her waist. Restricting her from any further action to help.
"Your body is burnt by raging flames."
The man was eventually let out his screams echoing out throughout the whole manor. His charcoaled form running away from the 'fun house.'
Rin returned back to her master's side, back in the drawing room. Both of the watching the man scream from the window. One had a contempt look, the other one of remorse. She then heard her master laugh at the man's shrieks, "Mamma Mia!"
"Humph, ha ha ha. What an unattractive scream. He sounds almost like a pig taken off to slaughter. Humph, What presumption, first he sells the East Indian factory without telling me, and then he dares to ask for more money? Did he think to retain my trust? I'm afraid once something is truly lost, one can never get it back again." He chided as he held his game piece.
Rin then went to sit on the seat that the guest had sat. Sighing with regret. "I still don't like your actions, or his death. You know my conscience, and yet you're still so wicked." She shrugged, "even if he did harass me, I still wouldn't wish death upon him."
Ciel abruptly slammed his piece down on the table and glared at the maid. "How did he harass you?" She looked towards him sensing his vehemence.
She actually felt like shying away from him but shrugged once again, "well, erm...He touched my...err...backside without my consent, but it doesn't matter any more...so…" she trailed off, feeling his rage only grow.
He stood and walked to the behind of her chair. She didn't like anyone behind her, she felt vulnerable at not being able to see the person. He lent down, to loom over her despite his natural height. "If anything like that happens to you again, tell me and I shall deal with them personally. I will not let my maid be tainted in such a way," He whispered dangerously in her ear, his lips grazing against the shell of her ear made her shiver.
He stood to his full height and exited the room to retire. Leaving the maid alone sitting and looking out of the window. Contemplating today's events and behaviours.
Author's note
Hey all, I'm back, I have over 600 views, I was so happy when I read that. Last chapter was painfully short, it was pathetic and I apologise but this one is very long to compensate so enjoy. This is the anime but I will be following the manga.
I appreciate those who followed and favourite and reviewed, you beautiful people. I'm in a good mood because I finished this chapter. It took me a while and I thought 'wow, this episode is long' Then I realised that their all the same length and I was like grrrr. But what can you do it passes the time for me.
enjoy, reviews are appreciated.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything other than my Oc and her little mishaps that she causes to the plot.
-C