I own nothing but my OC.


That Butler, Foreign 2


≤speech in Indian language≥

'thoughts'

"speech"

"Demonic speech"

{setting/stage directions?}

SOUND EFFECTS

An entire sentence like this, without quotes, is narration for dreams or stuff like written letters.

=†=†=†=†= scene shift/time shift


Previously:

"That wasn't very nice of you, Sebastian. Who put a bee in your bonnet?" Chêne asked him, furrowing her brow slightly in disapproval as she walked with him. Sebastian glanced at her for a moment.

"Heh. Wouldn't you like to know." Sebastian said, smirking slightly to himself as he turned away from the petite maid and continued on his way.


"... So?" Ciel asked, frowning slightly as he furrowed his brow in irritation. "How long do you intend to stay here?" Ciel demanded sternly as he, Lau, and Soma all sat at the dining table together to eat breakfast. Today's meal was comprised of Agni's Shrimp Curry and the usual Indian side dishes that accompanied it. Chêne had helped by making some French toast with ginger to go with it, since she knew Ciel didn't particularly care for spicy foods. She usually had to tone down the spice when she served him any Creole dishes as well. True to her prediction, Ciel had not touched his serving of curry yet, but if he decided to be adventurous, the ginger she added to the French toast should complement the curry rather nicely.

MUNCH. MUNCH. MUNCH.

"We'll leave when we've finished our errand." Soma said frankly as he munched on a naan, and Agni poured him some Chai tea. His cheeks were puffed out from stuffing the Indian bread in his mouth. It reminded Sebastian of what the 'hamsters,' that had been in the pet shop back in Chêne's world, looked like when they were eating. It had been strangely entertaining seeing a small animal shove so much food into its cheeks, but on a human... well, that was another matter entirely...

"That—" Ciel started to speak as a vein mark throbbed on his forehead, about to give Soma a piece of his mind.

"You mean the person you were looking for before, right?" Lau asked, smiling as he ate the delicious curry, cutting Ciel off before things could take an 'uncivil' turn for the worst.

"And why are you staying over as w—" Ciel asked Lau, chagrined, as a vein mark throbbed on his forehead.

"Yes. I'm in search of a certain woman." Soma said, interrupting Ciel again, as he continued to munch on his breakfast. Chêne sweat dropped. What was this, 'ignore Ciel day'...? Soma suddenly pulled a piece of paper out seemingly nowhere, and held it up.

BAM!

The image on the paper made quite an impact... it was the same crude drawing of the 'seal woman' he had shown them before when they had bumped into those thugs.

"This one." Soma said, indicating the... 'woman' in the picture. They all sweat dropped as they stared at it. Chêne accepted the prince's 'masterpiece' and handed it to Ciel. Agni smiled gratefully at her.

"Her name is Mina... and she was a servant in my palace." Soma explained as Ciel, Sebastian, Chêne, and Lau stared at his artwork. They were speechless.

"This is..." Ciel said, furrowing his brow, as he examined the drawing. He and the others sweat dropped. So it really was supposed to be a woman...

"I drew it. You'll know right away when you see her because I drew her so well! Isn't she lovely?" Soma said as he continued eating. This prince could really eat... Although, he had a few crumbs on his face...

'I hope for this Mina's sake, that Soma is either just incredibly untalented, or partially blind...' Chêne thought, sweat dropping.

"Sebastian, will you be able to seek her out with this...?" Ciel asked dubiously as he glanced at his demon butler. If anyone could find a human being using only this, it would be Sebastian. The air was already heavy with a sense of doom, though... Sebastian sweat dropped.

"Even for me, this is a bit, erm... well, I shall try." Sebastian said, resignedly. He might as well give it a shot... but really, who did Ciel think he was, God...? Sebastian might be a powerful demon, but even he couldn't perform such a miracle... probably.

"I'll draw a copy of it, and take it with me to show people when I go shopping in a bit..." Chêne said, sweat dropping and blushing slightly, as she imagined the weird looks she would probably get for trying to find someone using such a picture.

"Ooooh... I myself have never encountered a beauty like this, I saaay~! Haha!" Lau said, smiling wryly as he held the picture and took a closer look. Chêne sweat dropped. Even Lau was slightly fazed by it, huh?

"To be expected! She was the most beautiful woman in my palace." Soma said as he clapped his hands together, as though praying. "My thanks for the meal." Soma said, burping. Chêne sweat dropped when she noticed the look on Sebastian's face.

"Mrs. Karishma told me that in some parts of India, burping is considered a way to express gratitude to the chef." Chêne whispered to him. Sebastian raised an eyebrow skeptically at her, but decided to let it go for now.

"... So. Why is that woman in Great Britain?" Ciel asked.

"∆XO◊~ OX∆~∆XO◊~ OX∆~" Agni and Soma chanted as they humbly kneeled before a rather morbid looking statue of a mutli-armed woman standing on top of a man. The had their hands pressed together, so it was obvious that their strange chants were prayers, but to Ciel and company, it sounded like a bunch of gibberish.

"Listen to me!!" Ciel yelled angrily, vein mark throbbing on his forehead. "What are they doing all of a sudden?" Ciel asked incredulously, slightly blue with shock.

"And where did they get that statue from...?" Chêne asked, sweat dropping. She could've sworn there hadn't been anything like that there a moment ago.

"They seem to be praying, but their object of worship seems quite surreal." Lau commented as he stared at the two Indians and their idol curiously.

"You would call that an object of worship?" Sebastian asked thoughtfully as he held a finger to his chin. "It looks nothing so much as a statue of a woman dancing in a frenzy on the abdomen of a man whilst carrying severed heads and wearing a necklace of said heads... to me..." Sebastian said seriously as he stared at the statue, his brow furrowed slightly in concentration. This female deity's statue (if that's what it was) looked so different from all the Christian renderings of the Virgin Mary and many other female saints, who were all depicted as graceful and lovely martyrs... not raving lunatics.

"Pretty much." Lau agreed, smiling in a rather carefree manner. Ciel sweat dropped.

"That's because... that is exactly what it is... This is the Hindu goddess Kali." Chêne said, smiling wryly as she sweat dropped. "See how she's sticking her tongue out? I mentioned earlier that the tongue was used as a symbol of a certain Indian deity, didn't I? I was talking about her." She explained.

"Yes, Miss Chêne is correct~! The goddess Kali is a deity of Hinduism, our faith." Agni explained to the others, smiling. He was pleasantly surprised to find that they had managed to meet a 'foreigner' who was so knowledgeable and accepting of the customs of his homeland. Not many Englanders were that accepting of their ways, since their cultures were so different.

"So it is an Indian God." Ciel said.

"Our goddess Kali is the wife of the god Shiva and the goddess of strength. She protects us against misfortunes. There are also other divine favors." Agni explained as Soma continued to pray. Well, he might be bossy and a messy eater, but... at least he was faithful. "In ancient times... a devil dared to challenge the goddess in a battle. Of course, the goddess Kali was victorious. However, she could not stop raging... and continued to destroy and kill. She kept killing and made a necklace of severed heads, drank blood..." Agni said gravely, looking very distressed as he held his left hand over his heart and clenched his bandaged right fist.

"It sounds as if the goddess caused more harm than the devil." Lau said bluntly as he smiled. "Truly amazing."

"Yeah, it reminds me of my mom when she gets mad... Though she's never actually killed anyone, since she said going to jail for it would be too annoying..." Chêne said, sweat dropping. Pomona was not someone whose wrath you wanted to be on the receiving end of.

"Even the gods could not stop the goddess Kali, and the earth was about to fall to ruin, when... at that very moment—!!" Agni said dramatically as he stepped up, passionately sweeping his arms to the side. "Her husband, the god Shiva, lay down at her feet to protect the land." Agni proclaimed passionately, panting slightly. His face was flushed slightly from all the yelling he was doing... at least, Chêne hoped that's why he was blushing...

"Aah! That is why she is stepping on him." Sebastian said, hitting his hand against his palm in an 'aha!' motion. "I had assumed they were simply having a lovers' quarrel!" he said, smiling.

"Just what kind of 'lovers' quarrel' involves severed heads and crushing a person's gut under your heel...!?" Chêne asked incredulously, flinching and turning blue with shock.

"The husband was very slow to act." Ciel said, sweat dropping, also slightly blue with shock from Agni's story. "Wasn't he too late? In a whole number of ways?"

"When she stepped on her husband with her unclean foot, the goddess Kali returned to her senses and peace returned to the land." Agni said, smiling contentedly as he thought of how peacefully things had been resolved.

Chêne sweat dropped and smiled wryly as ani image of a chibi version of Kali stepping on a chibi Shiva popped into her head, and Chibi Kali said 'Oh nooo~! Darling, I'm sorry~!' as she playfully bopped herself on the head in a 'silly me' way, and Chibi Shiva carelessly said 'Hahaha~! You tomboy, you~!' Why were such ridiculous images of foreign gods popping into her head...? It was especially weird, since they were acting similar to how her parents did after they had a little spat... only without the whole stepping on each other thing.

"Therefore, the goddess Kali is a supreme deity who engaged in mortal combat to defeat the devil." Agni said, smiling serenely, and bowing respectfully to the statue of Kali. "That is why she holds the severed head of the devil."

"... So that's the story." Ciel said, glancing at Sebastian.

"I was not aware that such a strong goddess existed... I must be careful when I go to India." Sebastian said seriously as he thought over Agni's story. Chêne sweat dropped and smiled wryly at that. She was about to comment on that, but she realized, that with all the supposedly 'mythical creatures' that seemed to be popping out of the woodwork, she couldn't be entirely sure whether Kali really was a just a myth... If devils really existed, wasn't it natural to assume that so did their opposing force?

"?" Agni said, wondering what they all looked so serious for.

"Well, we're done praying..." Soma said as he stood up and brushed his knees off, getting their attention. "... So let's go, Runt~! You'll guide us." Soma declared brightly as he grabbed Ciel.

"Why me!?" Ciel demanded incredulously, sweat dropping. "And furthermore, I am not the 'Runt.' I am Ciel..." He shouted angrily as he dug his heels into the floor in attempt to keep the selfish prince from dragging him off to god knows where.

"Then, Ciel! I order you to guide us." Soma said, unfazed, as he continued to drag Ciel off.

"Excuse me, Prince Soma, but as we are currently in England—You do not have the authority to order our young master to do anything he doesn't want to." Chêne pointed out as politely as she could, smiling patiently at the prince. Soma paused to stare at Chêne for a moment.

"You look just like our goddess when you smile like that." Soma said, causing Chêne to flinch in shock. "Right, Agni?"

"Oh, you are right, my Prince! Miss Chêne's kind smiles are just like one would expect to see on the radiant face of the benevolent Durga~!" Agni said, smiling brightly.

"Oh, good... so you were referring to Durga, not Kali, when you said that..." Chêne said as she sighed in relief.

"Durga?" Lau asked curiously.

"Oh, In Hinduism the goddess Durga is the mother of the universe and believed to be the power behind the work of creation, preservation, and destruction of the world. Hindus believe that goddess Durga protects her devotees from the evils of the world and at the same time removes their miseries. Kali is one of her incarnations..." Chêne explained.

"Yes, it is just as Miss Chêne has said." Agni said, nodding in agreement as he smiled. "In Hinduism, Durga, meaning 'the inaccessible' or 'the invincible' or Maa Durga (meaning 'Mother Durga') 'one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress' is a form of Devi, the supremely radiant goddess, depicted as having eighteen arms, riding a tiger, carrying weapons and a lotus flower, maintaining a meditative smile, and practicing mudras (symbolic hand gestures). She is an embodiment of creative feminine force. Durga exists in a state of svātantrya (independence from the universe and anything or anybody else, i.e., self-sufficiency) and fierce compassion. Durga manifests fearlessness and patience, and never loses her sense of humor, even during spiritual battles of epic proportion." Agni explained.

"I see..." Sebastian said thoughtfully. There certainly were similarities between the two.

"Hahah! I like you, girl! You can guide me as well~!" Soma declared as he grabbed Chêne too.

"Hey, wait a min—!" Chêne said indignantly as she tried to break free of Soma's grip as he continued to march on despite the protests of Chêne and Ciel. Chêne could've easily broken free by flipping Soma, but she didn't think it would be a good idea to possibly cause an international incident over something so silly by injuring one of India's princes. Soma was forced to pause in his march to the door when Sebastian held his arm out, obstructing his path.

"Forgive me, but... the Young Master has a full schedule with his studies and work today, and Chêne has some errands of her own that she must run." Sebastian said, smiling apologetically (?) at Soma.

"As you can see, we are busy. Find your quarry on your own." Ciel said, sighing in relief when he and Chêne were released.

"Tchhh!" Soma said, slicking his tongue in disappointment as he pouted and leaned back against the wall.

"I'll take the drawing with me and ask around while I'm shopping." Chêne said, smiling wryly as she sweat dropped. Even if the prince was kind of annoying, she could at least do that much since she was already going out anyway.