A/N: Wow, you guys took to the last chapter very well. I'm glad! G'naww lemme love you all long time *squeeze then pushes you away* moving on!
Guess what!? Chicken butt. No really, I drew Amy Millington~! *rainbows*
A link to the sketch is in my bio. Go check it out!
Important announcement at the end!
"Y-you wanted to see us, Master?"
The tension in the room was suffocating. The trio were practically sweating bullets as we all stood in front of Ciel's desk in his study. It was odd enough when he talked to us normally around the manor, but to specially call just us into his office and not Sebastian was even more odd. I was confident though that we had nothing to worry about, especially when all Ciel did was sit back in his chair with his hands folded together, a knowing look in that one blue eye. The others, however, weren't that confident. They were tense in posture, lips thinned out into straight lines. Mey Rin was fiddling her fingers together nervously when she approached the young master about his intentions.
"Calm down," he finally spoke, waving his hand at us dismissively. "You're not in any trouble."
Big sigh of relief. Told you so!
"Then what is it?" I inquired, watching as he scanned each one of us before unfolding his hands.
"I have a job for all four of you to take care of."
Oh god... I didn't like that mischievous glint in his eye. Not one bit. The others seemed not to pick up on it though. The relief that had passed over them had changed to confusion and curiosity. That was until they began bursting with excitement.
"Job!? Really!?"
Clasping hands, they joined together into a group hug, practically sparkling with happiness. Did I miss something here?
"See, we didn't have to worry!" Finny cheered. Hey wait! When did you ever say otherwise!?
"When he called us I thought for sure we were fired, yes I did!"
Well... if that did happen... It would only be you three, not me. With a sigh, Ciel ignored them and bent down to the side of his desk, picking up and producing a large wooden box. He placed it on top of the desk with care.
"This is a camera from the famous Talbot collection. It has a story behind it."
"Wow, a camera? Neat!"
I had to admit I was impressed. Cameras were still quite new inventions in this kind of age, though the past few years they've really boomed in sales. The mechanics around them are quite complicated, I've only had the privilege of repairing one camera in my life time; it was a very long task to do.
"Wait... you said it had a story?"
What kind of story could a mere camera have? Well, apparently, a good one.
Ciel nodded. "Yes. It had been missing from the collection altogether for some time. When it suddenly came up for auction I bid immediately."
Running his hand over the box, I watched as he admired the thing with great interest. I was still none the wiser though as to why it was so special.
"So... what can it do exactly if it was able to go missing from a collection for so long?"
My question was somewhat ignored when Finny piped in with a query of his own.
"Who's Talbot?"
Cue fully sized Tanaka manifesting behind us in all his glory.
"Full name William Henry Fox Talbot, let's see..." He stroked his moustache slightly.
"He was a renowned English scientist and one of the inventors of photographic technology. There were some strange rumors about the last camera he used, the one our young master has acquired. Legend has it that if you use this camera to photograph someone, whomever or whatever that person cares about most in the world will appear in the photograph as well."
Wait, what?
"Oh my! That sounds too incredible to be true!" Mey Rin squealed with joy, practically in love with such an idea. I found myself staring at the camera once more.
"B-but how is that even possible..?"
"Yeah? Can such a camera really exist or is it just a rumor?" Bard added, equally as confused as I was. Ciel said nothing for a moment, then peered over the top of the wooden frame.
"Perhaps we should take a picture and find out." Lifting the vale over his head, Ciel directed the lens towards the blonde haired gardener. "Don't move, the exposure takes ten seconds."
Taking off the cap, Finny instantly tensed up as they both fell silent.
"Uh... What exactly is exposure?" Mey Rin piped up next to me, watching the scene with a doubtful look.
"It's what makes the photo. Basically, the camera is copying down an image of Finny," I responded back, folding my arms over my chest. Finny began shaking slightly, eyes clamped shut.
"Stay still or the image will blur and we won't get a good picture." Ciel scolded, before counting down once again. "Eight... Nine... Ten. All done."
With a big sigh, Finny let out the breath he'd obviously been keeping in the whole time. I shook my head slightly.
"You didn't have to hold your breath the whole time," Ciel scolded again. You voiced my thoughts perfectly, kid. Opening the back of the camera, Ciel picked out the piece of paper that was inside and held it carefully in his hands before motioning us all to follow him. Wandering down the hallways, Ciel didn't seem overly bothered that Sebastian the super butler could be lurking around any corner, but I guess if he was confident then we should be. Uh... right?
Entering one room to which is never actually been in before, the whole place was doused in a blood red light and lots of trays, Machines and wires decorated the room. I could only assume this is where the photos were developed. I'd never seen it done before so I was quite new to this part of the process.
In some of the trays lay odd chemicals that really burned my nose when I smelt them; it made my eyes water just a little bit.
Then Ciel began the process of dipping the paper on each of the solutions, before placing it on the final one and giving it a swirl in the liquid. Peering over his shoulder, I watched as an image began appearing slowly on the paper, fading into few until we saw the nervous face of the gardener looking back at us. Pulling the paper out, Ciel held it up for us to see more clearly. Finny, however, seemed to see something that I initially didn't.
"Wow! Look at that! It's my bird!"
Looking at the photo once more, my mouth dropped open in surprise. Sure enough, right next to Finny, was a lovely little bird in mid-flight. That definitely wasn't in the room at the top. By god... this camera actually did work..?
"Huh? Since when do you have a pet bird?" Bard asked, snapping me out of my shocked state.
"Bard's right. We've never seen you with a bird before?"
"Awugh! It's so cuuuute!" Mey Rin cooed softly.
Glancing at Finny, I saw him have a happy smile on his, but it also had a hint of sadness behind it.
Ciel then began leaving the room silently, with us following along once we'd realised he was going to abandon us. Once we had entered the office again, Finny picked up one of the statues from the bookshelves. He looked at it like it was indeed his little friend.
"I gave it food every day," he began softly, stroking it. "Eventually it started eating out of my hand. I was so happy, I wanted to give it a gentle pat and-"
CRACK.
The head rolled off with a thud.
"My little friend never moved again."
Oh... my god...
The only ones who weren't shaking out of us were Ciel and Tanaka.
"Are you saying that he..!?" Mey Rin started, but I finished her sentence for her.
"Died!?"
From behind us, Tanaka sipped his tea then gave a small 'ho' before gracing us with his full form for a second time today. This guy is a party animal right here.
"Oh yes, I forgot to mention something. The camera has one other unique attribute. The new soul that it will show is not of this world. To put it plainly, the dead appear."
"The dead..?" both Bard and I asked in unison, glancing at one another.
"You mean ghosts!?" Mey Rin squeaked, a big smile across her face. Oh yes, she likes this idea very much.
"You can see why I'd be so interested in this camera. Not only does it know who you care for the most, it reaches into the other world to photograph them." Ciel stated plainly, leaning back in his chair and folding his fingers together lazily.
This... this is simply amazing. A camera that can picture whoever or whatever you care for the most, even in death? Just how on earth was this possible? Deep down, I wanted to dismantle the box just to see what exactly inside could make it do such an incredible thing. But then again, dabbling too deep into these things can present a risk. Was it worth it?
Bard and Mey Rin swarmed around Ciel's desk, throwing their own thoughts and feelings about the ghostly camera at him.
"But this is the 19th centuary! Surely no one believes a thing like that now!" Bard half yelled, eyes wide with surprise. Hey, you'd be surprised how many people still fear the unknown, not as bad as the people of past, but enough.
"That sounds amazing! What an incredible camera, master!" Mey Rin beamed a smile, looking very giddy indeed. I just stood back and watched silently, that is until the gardener crouched down next to me decided to make a noise.
"WAHHHH! I miss my poor little birdie!" Finny cried out, tears spilling forth from his eyes.
I reached down and patted the gardener on the head.
"There, there Finny, it's ok. I'm sure the bird holds no hard feelings about you knocking his head off... or squishing him... or whatever way you killed him."
Queen of comforting right here people.
Ciel cleared his throat and motioned us to gather around his desk once more, to which we did. Finally, we would learn of this 'job' we'd been given.
"Take a picture of Sebastian with this camera, but do it discreetly. I don't want him to know what you're up to," Ciel said, placing his hand on top of the camera.
Wait... what!?
Take a picture... of Sebastian? Of the demon butler? Oh... No, no, no... this won't end well at all.
"You want us to take a candid photo?" I asked, bewildered at the little lord, who nodded slightly in my direction.
"That's right."
"Reeeally? That photo will show us who Sebastian cares for most?" Mey Rin asked, a noticeable blush now appearing on her cheeks.
"That's something I'd like to see," Finny piped up, now out of his slump. Bard thought about the idea for a moment and grinned wildly, pumping his fist slightly in joy.
"Bloody right, Finny! He's always bossing us around and mocking my artistic cooking methods!"
Oh Bard... please stop. And no, it's not artistic. I keep having to mend all the shit you seem to break.
"He's as human as we are! He's got to at least have a weakness or two, and now's our chance to see 'em!"
You know nothing, Bard.
"You'll handle it?" Ciel asked them slyly, practically encouraging their excitement. All three lined up together.
"As you wish, young master!" They spoke in unison, serious looks on their faces. Then they broke out on laughter.
"Yeeah! That was a pretty good impression of him, eh!" Bard jeered at the other two with a smile.
"Just like him!" Finny agreed, clapping his hands. I face palmed just a little, shaking my head.
"Was... that supposed to be an imitation of Sebastian?" I asked, and the trio nodded.
"It was rubbish."
"Eh, why?"
"You forgot his bow, dumbass!"
Then proceeded take two of the imitation. Eh screw it, I joined in too. All four of us bowed at the same with hands over our hearts before repeating Sebastian's usual phrases. Hey, we had to take this opportunity before it passed! It's not every day we get to mock him for fun without him hearing.
We burst out laughing again. But between our laughter, I heard Ciel mumble something from his chair, though it was too quiet to hear. He merely sat there though with a grin on his face before shooing us off to start the job.
First stop. The Library.
"Really? We had to choose this hiding spot?"
I twisted my arm from behind me, successfully elbowing Bard in the gut. He groaned slightly and nudged his knee to the side, hitting the side of my head in retaliation.
"It's the only place to hide!"
"It's cramped in here..." Mey Rin mumbled from next to me, while Finny steadied the camera from his space by the cook. Bard took control of the camera, pointing it out from a gap he made between some books.
We were cramped behind a bookshelf if you couldn't tell, and it definitely wasn't made for four people.
The door to the library opened, and in stepped our target. Sebastian strode over to the centre of the room and placed down some cleaning supplies before straightening up and inspecting the room. Each of us held our breath and Sebastian stood there for a while and did nothing. I nudged Bard again.
"Hurry get the photo!"
Snapping off the cap, Bard started the countdown. In front of us, Sebastian adjusted his gloves up and smiled very slightly to himself. Before- well... What could you call it? He disappeared from his spot in an instant and darted around the room with breakneck speed, cleaning as he went along.
Son of a bitch...
And these three still never questioned why he could move so fast!?
I merely stared at the blurred figure as he moved around the room. The others cooed in shock and admiration.
'This is definitely going to be a difficult task...'
"He's so fast!" Mey Rin whispered, voice full of awe. Bard let out a sigh.
"We'll never get a good photo at this rate..."
"Hey, look!"
I pointed out to the butler, who'd finally stopped and was currently staring at a vase full of white flowers, finger resting under his chin in thought.
"What's he doing now?"
Finny asked, as we all stared at him. Well, I snapped out of it quite quickly.
"Quick! Get the photo!"
Nobody moved though. And of course we lost the opportunity to. Turning my attention back to the demon butler, I watched as he took out the handkerchief from his breast pocket and with a flick of his wrist, a red rose replaced the fabric. Delicately, he placed the rose with the white flowers, then left the room, taking all supplies out with him.
Reaching up, I began rubbing my temples. The others breathed out held breaths, looking like they'd just seen the most amazing thing ever. Mey Rin looked flustered, Bard looked exhausted and Finny just looked astounded.
"Wow! He's so amazing!"
'Idiots... I'm surrounded by idiots… I love you guys but, fuck, you're stupid...'
Pushing out of the book shelf, I dusted any dust off my dress and flattened my hair back down while fixing my headgear back in place.
"Right," I started, glancing over at the trio. "You guys need to focus more next time! Where do we go next?"
We all thought for a moment, then an idea struck Bard. He explained to us that he'd be cleaning one of the lounging areas by now, which happened to be near the game room. Bard explained to us his idea, to which we had no choice but to follow.
Oh no...
When we reached the room, Sebastian was already inside cleaning. Finny disappeared inside the game room before wheeling out the large pool table. I stood back away from the scene, WAY back. This was going to go horribly wrong and my gut instinct was telling me to stop this madness. But before I could even blink, Finny took off running with the pool table, pushing the heavy furniture through the doors with speed.
"LOOK OUT!"
He cried as if he was in an emergency. But Sebastian, the wonderful butler who's considerate to people's well beings, hardly batted an eyelid. No, he didn't even bother looking up as the gardener zoomed past him, the red table cloth he was holding brushing over the boys head.
With a crash, Finny broke through the wall and disappeared on the other end, leaving in his path a perfect shape of himself within the structure. It would have been funny if it wasn't so shocking. Sebastian placed the cloth down on the table and straightened it up before waltzing out the door, practically ignoring each one of us.
Surely... he suspected something was up. Usually he'd be on their asses in an instant if they did something like this on a normal day. But today, it was like he wasn't bothering.
Or... Was he playing along? Did he already know what we were up to?
Cautiously, I stepped over to the Finny shaped hole, hoping to find some signs of him still alive. He was, thank god, and left a nice big crack in the ground below. Also the pool table was smashed to bits. I felt myself frown.
"Great..."
"Well, that didn't work," Bard declared from the door, hoisting the camera back into his arms. I snorted in amusement.
"Ya think? What now Mr genius?"
He merely gave me a cocky grin.
"Outside."
"Ok! The young master has just rang the bell, he should be here in a minute. Get ready!"
I'm not getting involved anymore. Nope. Not with these half-baked ideas that were being thrown about. Currently, I stood back at a distance to watch the failure unfold.
"It's not going to work," I called out to them, only to have Bard brush off the comment like it was nothing.
"Stop being so negative. This'll be the one we get!"
"Yeah right..."
Currently, the new master plan was to take a picture through Ciel's office window. Finny stood at the base of the ladder, holding the thing straight. Because of his strength too, he anchored it down quite well. Mey Rin was behind Bard, helping him with the camera while Bard manned the contraption. I stood well away from the ladder, deciding to retreat safely to a tree just in case I was seen.
"Shh, he's here!"
Then it was quiet between us all, except for the happy chirping of the birds around us. Bard took the cap off the end of the lens and Finny began counting quietly to himself, while I watched with a raised eyebrow as Mey Rin slid upwards and stuck her head under the vale.
"He's beautiful in profile too, yes he is!" She cooed loudly from her spot. I sighed just a little bit, but deep down I was curious as to what she was seeing.
That quickly went when both the maid and cook shrieked, Mey Rin sliding down the ladder and hanging on tight and Bard falling backwards. I gasped with horror when I saw him fall back, but he dangled in midair while holding the camera, his legs wrapped around the steps of the ladder. That was the only thing keeping him up.
The windows of the office swung open, making me jump back behind the tree. Peering around the side, I saw Sebastian looking around from side to side, but never looking down. Then he turned back to Ciel, saying something like 'let's air this room out for a bit, shall we?' before heading away from the window.
The trio was sweating bullets once again. Bard the most as the force of gravity was tugging on the upper half of his body. His face turned painfully red, hands clinging tightly onto the camera. Steadily, I stepped over to them, eyes watching the now open window.
"Well..." I stared, finally looking as Bard struggled back up into a sitting position with the help of Mey Rin. "That makes three failed attempts. Got anymore bright ideas?"
The glare I got from them was pretty funny. Though I had to admit I deserved it; I'd been nothing but sarcastic to them almost all morning, but hey, what could I do? This was an impossible task. Finally clambering down, Bard had to admit defeat. We headed back inside to discuss more ideas, but an hour had already passed and still we had nothing that would work. Sebastian was too damn fast at everything. I still had the sneaking suspicious that he knew what we were up to and he was merely humouring us. Knowing him, I wouldn't put it past him.
Now sitting in the hallway in defeat, we moped over our failures- No wait, scratch that. Their failures. I had yet to do anything that benefitted them. And to be honest, I had much more sense than they did to know that we weren't going to get a picture of Sebastian anytime soon. But if Ciel ordered it, we'd have to do it.
"This is turning out to be a lot harder than it should be," Bard mumbled, looking down at the camera with an exhausted look. "Why is getting one little photo so tough?"
"This is Sebastian we're talking about here," I reminded them. "Did you really think it was going to be that easy?"
The others nodded in agreement. Suddenly, behind Mey Rin, the doors to one of the wings opened up and out stepped- you guessed it; Sebastian.
"What are you all doing just lolling around?" He asked us with a raised eyebrow. We looked around each other, hoping one of us would take one for the team and come up with an excuse, but regardless, he didn't give us a chance.
"Actually it doesn't matter. I have a task for the three of you to take care of."
"What is it Sebastian?" Mey Rin asked curiously, glancing up at the butler. The butler's red eyes moved away from us and towards the window. Suddenly, it got just a little darker in here. "Over there."
Turning around, I saw the looming face of Pluto looking through the window at us. Actually, more at Sebastian than us.
"The mangy pooch?" Bard frowned. "What do you want us to do about him?"
"We will be receiving a guest this afternoon. That thing is offensive-"
"Hey! Pluto isn't offensive!"
"-Your job is to transfer it out of sight before the guest arrives." Sebastian openly ignored my comment and stared at the trio with an intense look. It basically screamed 'do not fail or I'll strangle you while you sleep'.
Well. That's how in interpreted it anyway... wait. Hold on. Something just clicked.
"Wait. You said 'I have a job for you three'. Have I been left out or something?"
I felt quite offended. I wanted to play with Pluto...
Sebastian removed his gaze from the others, the look softening slightly when he locked eyes with me.
"Of course not. We had an item return back to the company this morning that needs repairing urgently. I need you to get it done today so we can ship it back out."
Well, damn, why couldn't you have told me this earlier!? I could have been spared the embarrassment of photographing you! Reluctantly, I nodded.
"Aw, alright..."
"Hey! She can control the dang pooch better than us!" Bard argued, but Sebastian shrugged it off, yelling at them to get it done. Finny seemed to love the idea of being around Pluto, and dragged the other two off with a beaming smile on his face.
Glancing at Sebastian, I turned on my heel and left, heading back up to my room before he could say anything about today's escapades. Entering, I found the package sitting on my work desk. Changing into my working uniform, I unwrapped the brown package to see what looked to be a rattle inside, with a large and noticeable crack in the plastic. It was an odd shaped thing; the base was like a circular ring decorated in bright colours, while the outer edge of the ring had different shapes and textures. The most noticeable parts were the two soft cone shapes sticking at the top. Giving them a squeeze, they were soft to the touch. What the heck was this? Was this even a rattle? If it was then it's definitely odd looking.
Focusing on the crack in particular, I saw that the inside of the base was hollow. With a shake, I heard something jingle inside. Ok, it could be a rattle then. Either that or it just got plastic shards inside. Picking out the correct tools for the job, I set up the workspace ready to start. I only managed to get as far as filing down the sharp corners of the crack when a loud scream came from outside my window, then there was a boom and small rumble of the ground below. I should really not give in to my curiosity, but the urge was just too strong. Looking out the window, I saw a scorch mark in the green grass, with a rather crispy looking Finny sitting in the middle.
Wait- Scorch mark!? Did someone light a fire?
My question was answered in moments when I saw Mey Rin and Bard run past the gardener, with Pluto hot in their tails. He breathed out big bursts of fire, the poor suckers narrowly avoiding each one.
Huh... Who knew Pluto could breathe fire? That's a nifty little trick... I guess.
I left the trio to their own tasks while I went back to mine. The job wasn't going to take that long. Though with Pluto's newfound ability, I was weary about going out there now. Better stack up loads of Innuko.
I continued filing down the edges until I was satisfied that it was smooth enough. Because the plastic was cracked on a white part of the coloured ring, that decreased my work load a lot. Otherwise I'd have to do a lot of colour mixing to get the colours to match. And that took time.
Looking through my drawer, I found some plastic that matched the ring as much as it could, the consistency was right but the colour was slightly darker. Oh well, it'll do as a quick repair. Cutting off a big enough piece, I then spent quite some time molding the plastic into the right shape that would fit into the crack. It was a long, boring process and tedious on the arms. Finally making a piece that would fit, I then proceeded to heat a small copper rod on the fire. While that was heating, I took another look outside to see if the others were still out there. It had fallen oddly quite for a while. What I saw though was Pluto lying at the base of the steps to the garden.
The others must have given up on him. Don't blame them really; Pluto has certainly made his feelings about them clear. I saw him lift his head up and stare up the steps at something. Leaning over a bit more, I noticed a black figure sitting on one of the steps. Straining my eyes to get a better look, I saw Sebastian leaning against one of the stone posts, a black furry mass in his hands.
A cat.
I frowned just a little. Obviously, he was rubbing it in Pluto's face that he didn't like him. It was made evident when Sebastian fussed the little fur ball on the stomach and rubbed its paws. He had a smile on his face while he did it; it was actually quite touching. I found myself leaning against the window frame, watching him in wonder. Despite the way he treated everyone else, especially Pluto, just one little feline can bring out the lovey-dovey side in a demon. It was a warming change than the usual sadistic demon we'd grown to tolerate.
...And oddly... I was jealous.
Pluto was too. He didn't like the small animal getting the affection he so longed to have from the butler. In a flash of fire, he changed into human form and ran at Sebastian before taking the cat out of his hands and, literally, hurling it out of the way. Snuggling into his chest, Pluto whined loudly. The cat shook itself slightly before walking away from the two. I choked back a laugh; the look on Sebastian's face was priceless.
'Oh well, back to work.'
Taking the copper rod out the fire with some gloves, I carefully ran the glowing red tip around the edge of the plastic cut out, the material beginning to melt at the heat. With some tweezers, I carefully placed the one melted edge into the crack before doing the same to the other side and slipping it in. It fit perfectly, albeit with some gloopy melted plastic spilling out of the sides but those could easily be filed down. After that was just to clean and polish it up a bit to make it look presentable again.
After an hour, I was done. Holding up the rattle-thing, I admired all the many bits attached to the circular base. They were all made from different materials. Soft, hard, bumpy, smooth... I couldn't help but look though at the two ridiculously big cones on the top. Well, the best way I could describe them was cone shaped anyway. Glancing up at the mirror in front of me, then down at the object. Something just compelled me to just do something stupid with it. And I did. Reaching around, I held the rattle behind my head, the two 'cones' poking from the top of my head. Blinking, I stared at it for a few moments then burst out laughing. They looked like ears! Heh, how weird.
I shook my head slightly.
"Sebastian would love to see this. Maybe this will lighten his mood."
Placing the rattle securely under my arm, I left my room and wandered down the hallway. The place had gone oddly quiet since I started working on this weird thing. I bet they had yet another impossible idea of taking a photo of him and failing miserably at it.
Eventually, my wandering led me to the main stairs leading into the lobby. Of course, on the stairs I caught a glimpse of the one and only butler heading in my direction. In one hand, he carried a small grey hat.
"Hey Sebastian!" I waved at him furiously, catching the demon's attention and making him stop right in front of me.
"Look! These look like ears!"
I reached around and placed the rattle behind my head, grinning down at the butler. His lips twitched into a smirk. For a few seconds, he stood there quite quietly, red eyes scanning from the make-shift ears down towards my face.
"Very nice, I must say it suits you. They look like cat's ears."
"Ha, you wish! Wait, what?"
Of course he'd say that. Jerk.
Removing the object, I noticed Sebastian step closer up the stairs before turning around. I looked over his shoulder to see the supposed guest standing lower down, mouth agape and face red as a tomato.
"Coming, sir?"
"Uh..? O-oh! Yes, of course!" He stuttered, staggering over in our direction. I bowed slightly in politeness when he got closer.
"Hello, sir." I smiled at him. He smiled back but his face burned painfully.
"H-Hello to you, too..."
"I must say sir, your face is very red. Are you sick by any chance?"
His eyes darted from mine to something unseen behind him, mouth stuttering any word he tried to muster. With peaked interest, I peered around him to see what exactly was making him so flustered.
And by god. I wish I hadn't looked.
There, behind him, stood the beautiful Chinese girl known as Ran Mao. She was standing on one of the banisters, leg stretched out and skirt flowing upwards. Revealing to us all her dignity.
If she had any.
"M-Miss Ran Mao! What the hell are you doing!?" I called out, my face going red as well. Obviously they hadn't heard of undergarments in her country. Where did she suddenly come from anyway?
I'd only met Ran Mao a few times before, during Lau's visits. Wait, if she's here then that means... uh oh...
She ignored me, merely staring with that usual blank expression. I looked at Sebastian for answers but he wasn't even looking in her direction. It was like he didn't even notice. The guest followed Sebastian up the stairs and down one of the hallways. When they were gone, I stomped back over to the girl, demanding more answers from her. The only reply I got was a disappointed groan from down below. Peering over the banister, I spotted the trio with the camera and a couple of leaf fans.
"What the-? What the fuck are you guys doing!?"
"Trying to take a photo of Sebastian!"
"By fanning up Ran Mao's skirt? Yeah, great job! You got his good side very well."
"Oh my... I was sure that would work." I shivered when I heard the familiar calm voice of Lau as both he and Ciel stepped out from behind one of the stone pillars.
"Well, it didn't," Ciel seethed at him. "It just wasted time."
Bard sighed heavily, placing the cap back on the end of the camera. From above, Ran Mao jumped down from the bannister, landing gracefully by Lau's side before latching onto him.
"Now what, Young Master? We're running out of ideas..." Finny inquired, voice sounding rather defeated. Ciel places his finger under his chin for a moment, then his one good eye widened with surprise.
"I've got an idea." His lips curled into a smirk. "And I think it'll work wonders."
Suddenly his gaze turned towards me. "Amy."
I jumped, feeling all eyes land on me. "Y-yes?"
"I need you specially for this."
Oh god... I hated that smile... What was he planning?
"Finny, do you still have that costume that Elizabeth made you wear to the ball?"
Huh? What costume?
"What costu- oooh right!" He blushed darkly. "I do."
"Good."
"Whoa, wait. I'm not agreeing to anything! What costume!?"
"You'll see soon enough. Now go and get changed."
I huffed and crossed my arms. "Never."
"Oh dear. Need some help? Ran Mao would love to help you, isn't that right?"
Suddenly, hands clamped onto my shoulders. Spinning around, I came face-to-face with the yellow-eyed girl.
"W-wait! What are you-"
"Strip."
A/N: MAKING SHIT UP AS I GO ALONG BECAUSE I CAN LOLZYOLOSWAG
...oh my god...I can't believe I actually said them vile words. Excuse me while I decontaminate myself.
Anyway, the announcement. This took a little longer than I thought because I've been sick recently. It's starting to go...slowly. But the next chapter won't be up until... maximum three weeks' time? I'm taking a break and that's all you need to know. Har har. So yeah, see you then!
Review, Fav, Follow and all that hoo-ha. Because your words are like music to my ears~