I own nothing but my OC.
That Butler, Competitive 3
≤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:
"Platters must be heavy for a lady. When you must retrieve them from a high shelf, it is safer if you get them down one at a time. You would not want to drop them and hurt yourself." Agni told her kindly, smiling brightly. He was like a breath of fresh air, compared to how mean Sebastian could be when he was upset... Mei-Rin had remembered Chêne telling her something similar before, but for some reason... it was more appealing to Mei-Rin when this kind and handsome man said it...
"Y... Yes... I understand..." Mei-Rin said, blushing.
Sebastian stood back and smiled, satisfied with his handiwork. He had managed to complete the main dish for tonight's dinner, now he just needed the sauce... It was time to check on Agni's progress. He picked up a towel and began wiping his gloved hands off.
"How are things going, Mister Agni? Coming along well?" Sebastian asked as he peeked into the other kitchen.
"Yes~! We are doing fine~!" Agni said, smiling happily as he paused in using the rolling pin to flatten the piecrust dough. Bard was busy peeling a very fat carrot, and Finni was calmly mashing potatoes, while Mister Tanaka, who was dressed as a chef, was laughing as he juggled a tomato, onion, and bell pepper. The atmosphere in the kitchen was light and merry, rather like it usually was whenever Chêne cooked. There didn't seem to be any sign of destruction either... Sebastian stood there, frozen in place, not sure whether he was dreaming or not...
"Mmm... Something smells delicious~! Like cottage pie, but with chicken~!" Chêne said dreamily as she entered the kitchen, lured in by the yummy aroma that was wafting out through the open doorway. She paused, her eyes widening slightly in surprise when she saw everyone working peacefully in the kitchen, and judging by the look on Sebastian's face, it wasn't his doing... that left the only other 'responsible adult' in the room. She smiled. 'Saint Agni strikes again...' She thought, amused. "Oh, I see everyone is helping out tonight." Chêne said, smiling brightly at them. They seemed to be having fun. "Are you okay...?" she whispered to Sebastian when she walked over to him. Sebastian glanced at her, and realized that he was not dreaming... The three stooges really were being... productive for once.
"Mister Sebastiaaaan~!! Miss Chênnnne~!!" Finni said excitedly as he held up his bowl to show them his perfectly mashed potatoes. "Look, I mashed the potatoes for the pie!!" Finni said excitedly, smiling proudly. He had managed to do something right, without breaking anything, all by himself!
"That's great, Finni! These look perfect!" Chêne praised him, smiling, as she ruffled his hair affectionately. Finni was like a cute little puppy that had just learned a new trick. She knew how difficult it was for him to control his strength, too. "Maybe I should get you to help me next time?" She said, laughing.
"Okaay~!" Finni said excitedly, beaming with delight at his success.
"I chopped up the onions, and now I'm doin' the garnish! Eh-hen! 'Cos I'm the Chef!" Bard boasted proudly as he pulled his goggles up. The garnish was just boiled vegetables, and Agni had already cooked them, but being able to do some of the prep work, on top of being called 'Chef' had obviously made Bard extremely pleased. Chêne smiled wryly. She knew Bard was fairly good at chopping vegetables, since she sometimes had him help her with that when she was running short on time, but she never realized how badly he wanted to be addressed as 'Chef' until now... but he was acting kind of like his ego might have been a little over inflated, so she didn't think she'd be changing how she addressed him anytime soon... just 'Bard' was fine for now.
"The table has already been set too, it has! I polished the silver." Mei-Rin said, blushing. Chêne walked over and inspected one of the silver plates. Mei-Rin had used the right polish this time, and it was spotless.
"Good job, Mei-Rin~! It's super shiny, like a mirror!" Chêne praised her fellow maid. Mei-Rin smiled and blushed at the praise.
"Thanks to everyone, the food should turn out to be delicious~!" Agni said, smiling brightly, as the other servants smiled happily after being able to help, and hearing Chêne's praise. Sebastian just stood there, honestly shocked that this was really happening... He never would have thought anyone other than Chêne would be able to have the patience to deal with these three harbingers of disaster, and keep them from running amok...
"?" Agni said, slightly puzzled by Sebastian's reaction. "Mister Sebastian?" Agni asked, wondering if something was wrong.
"No... I am just amaze that you were able to get them to help you." Sebastian said, watching the other servants in disbelief as they talked with Chêne, and continued to work. They were all helping to put the pies together on their plates.
"They work hard. They are good people!" Agni said, smiling brightly.
"Well, they are not evil per se..." Sebastian said, sweat dropping... but they were still as irritating and disastrous as the seven plagues of Egypt sometimes...
"Everyone is born with a gift. Each of us has a path and god-given duty." Agni said, smiling serenely, as he held his hands together, as though praying. "We children of god must simply follow the path we are set upon... and do what we have been sent here to do without haste."
"..." Sebastian said as he stared at Agni, amazed. This man was too good to be true...
"Well, said, Mister Agni!" Chêne said, smiling, and clapping him on the back as she popped up beside them. The others were doing just fine on their own now, so she decided to hang with the two butlers for a bit.
"How do I put this... Mister Agni is truly a man of fine character. I cannot believe a human being like you actually exists." Sebastian said, sweat dropping.
"Hey! What about me? Aren't I a decent person!?" Chêne asked, flinching in shock. Was she turning evil without realizing it...!?
"Chêne is 'Chêne.' You do not count." Sebastian said, flashing her a brilliant shit-eating grin. Chêne furrowed her brow slightly, not quite sure what to make of that...
"well, in any case, you're right... Mister Agni is practically a living saint." Chêne said, smiling wryly at the Indian man.
"Oh no, not at all!" Agni protested nervously. "I was a hopeless ≤paagal≥ until I met my prince." Agni said self-depreciatingly. "The debt I owe him is one I will never, ever be able to repay... My clan was Brahmin, of the highest caste, members of which were allowed to serve god. However... my father was a Brahmin only in name. And I, who ha grown up watching him enveloped in lust and greed, lost my faith in god." Agni said, remembering how he had watched from a distance as his father ignored him, and surrounded himself with beautiful women, and other worldly luxuries instead of properly worshiping their god and behaving as was fit for a holy man.
"..." Sebastian and Chêne said as they listened. As a demon, Sebastian knew all too well how easily humans fell into sin when lured by the proper vices, and Chêne knew what it felt like to have your religion shoved down your throat by self-righteous adults who didn't practice what they preached. When her family evacuated for Katrina, they had to stay with her cousins that live in Alabama for a while, and the catholic school she had gone to while they were stuck there (at least until their home was fixed and her school re-opened), was full of bullies and hypocritical teachers who turned a blind eye to the popular kids' bullying, and only cared about 'appearances.' Chêne had convinced her parents to let her go back home to New Orleans as soon as her school re-opened, so she could get away from that horrible school and be back with her real friends, like Lacey. So, Chêne stayed with her father in a Holiday Inn while he supervised the contractors working on their house... but after going to Cabrini High School, her mother's alma mater, an all-girls catholic highschool... Chêne, (though she had never really lost her faith) realized that just because the people preaching a religion were corrupt, didn't mean that the religion itself was bad... Priests, nuns, religion teachers, and the lay people of the Church were all human, and therefore, everyone was flawed. But God was different. No matter what humans did while using his name as an excuse, God was God, and nothing would change that. God would deal with judging and punishing all the sinners, so she would just live her life the way she wanted, and do what she thought was right. Chêne decided to let God handle the hurtful people, instead of holding onto grudges, and letting them drag her down with them. If they deserved to be punished, they would be. Death is a debt all men have to pay.
"... Taking advantage of my social status, I sinned day in and day out." Agni said solemnly as he continued his story. "I hurt people. I sinned against god. I kept sinning, and... The day finally arrived upon which my sins were to be judged—" Agni said as he remembered that fateful day...
=Flashback=
"We will now execute the Brahmin's son, Arshad." One of the officials presiding over his execution announced as Agni, known as Arshad back then, stood on the hanging platform next to his noose, guarded by another official, in case he decided to run.
[Then, before me, the godless sinner... the fool with no lingering attachment to this world...]
Arshad's guard put the noose around his neck, and the crowd began to murmur... but it wasn't about him. Something else ha caught their attention, but Asrhad didn't even bother looking to see what it was. He would be dead soon, after all...
[...The man who had thrown everything away—]
"Hey, you there." Arshad heard someone call out boldly to him. Arshad slowly turned his head to see who would want to speak a sinner like him. He watched despondently as the crowd parted to allow a young teenage boy to pass through. He was obviously a member of the highest caste and very wealthy, judging by his clothes.
"I've heard you're a ferocious man with the strength of an untamed beast!" The boy said as he leapt up onto the hanging platform.
"My Prince! What are you doing!?" The official on the ground shouted, turning slightly blue with shock.
"How amusing." The boy said as he landed on the platform with Arshad. "As of today, you'll be my new sparring partner!"
"No, my Prince. He is for the hangman's noose—!" The official yelled, alarmed.
"Ahhhh, shut up, would you!?" The boy yelled back, clearly annoyed by the outside interference. "Then how about we do this?" The boy said as she suddenly drew his dagger from its sheath, and grabbed the ends of Arshad's long, white hair. The boy raised the dagger swung it at Arshad without hesitation. Arshad flinched in surprise and squeezed his eyes shut. He had thought he would die by the noose, not having his throat slit...!
SHK!
Arshad was surprised when he realized that instead of killing him, the boy had used his dagger to cut his hair, an had also simultaneously slashed the rope of his noose, freeing him.
"The person you were has now died." The boy said as he threw away the long, white hair he had just cut from Arshad's head, and it scattered in the wind, disappearing. "You shall be reincarnated with a new name an a new life." The boy declared as Arshad raised his head to look the boy in his face, and really looked at him for the first time. "I am Soma Asman, Kadar, the twenty-sixth child of the Raja. And I shall be your master from this day forth." The boy said boldly, grinning confidently at him as the Indian sun shown down upon the young prince, illuminating him with a warm and heavenly light that seemed almost as if there were a halo over his dark, violet hair and made his eyes glisten like gold in the sun.
[... God appeared.]
"All right, Agni!?" Soma said, addressing him by his new name. Agni stared at the boy in awe, and fell to his knees before his savior, holding his hands together, as if to pray. Tears slowly began to fall from Agni's eyes.
[And he made me realize that the divine resided inside of this man—]
=End Flashback=
"That day, I saw the face of god radiating holy light from within my prince!! As though he were Ramakrishna himself!! Hauaaah~!" Agni declared dramatically, trembling slightly, feeling incredibly moved, as he remembered that fateful day.
"How nice, good for you!" Chêne said, smiling wryly. She was a little concerned about how over-excited Agni was getting, but she had to admit, she like Soma a little more now, after hearing how he had saved Agni. Prince or not, Soma probably could've gotten into a lot of trouble for interfering like that...
"Mister Agni, the pot is boiling over." Sebastian deadpanned as he pulled on some oven mitts and removed the pot from the stove before the sauce was ruined. The other servants, who hadn't been paying attention at all, were still working on the pies.
"That's too much!" Bard said.
"Let's put a flag on top~!" Finni suggested. Chêne had bought some cute little paper flags on toothpicks when she went out earlier, since she thought they were cute and funny.
"Good idea~!" Mei-Rin said. They sometimes put little flags like that on children's meals in family restaurants. Chêne sweat dropped and smiled wryly at her fellow servants, wondering what Ciel's reaction to that would be... She had originally bought those flags for them though, so she was glad they like them.
"Ah, forgive me." Agni apologized nervously, hoping that he hadn't accidentally let the sauce get overcooked. "I have been in my prince's service ever since. He is both my Raja an my God."
"God, you say..." Sebastian said as he set the pot down on the kitchen counter, beside the stove, after Chêne placed an iron griddle on it to keep the pot's hot bottom from possibly damaging the counter. The two of them exchanged a quick glance, but said nothing, not wanting to offend Agni.
"Thus, even if I must risk my life to do so, I want to protect my prince, who gave me this new life, and... insofar as I am able, try to grant all of his wishes." Agni said humbly, smiling a little shyly. Chêne smiled warmly at the Indian man.
"I see... I think I can understand that feeling..." Chêne said, smiling softly as she thought of Ciel and Sebastian. She didn't worship either of them, but she loved Ciel like a bratty, but cute younger brother, and Sebastian... well, he seemed to be an expert at pushing her buttons and pissing her off lately, but... she did love him, unfortunately for her, since he was a sadistic demon... But she would do anything to protect to people she cared about, and to help them be happy. "But please remember this, Mister Agni. It's an important lesson I learned the hard way... If you want the people you cherish to be happy, then you must cherish yourself, as well." Chêne said seriously. "As much as we want to protect them, even to the point of sacrificing ourselves, or dirtying our hands for their sakes... that will not make them happy, seeing us hurt like that. By doing such things, it is possible to instead become the very person who is causing them pain. I have learned that it is best to protect them by 'fighting to live' for my loved ones, rather than 'fighting to the death.'" Agni stared at Chêne for a moment, as though in awe.
"You truly are like the goddess Durga, Miss Chêne... to have so much wisdom at such a young age..." Agni said, smiling. Chêne tilted her head slightly in confusion. There was something... strange about Agni's smile...almost as though... he was trying to forget something painful.
"Well, a lot of actual gods are good–for–nothings." Sebastian mumbled darkly as he thought about some of the idiotic 'divine beings' that he had encountered in the past. Chêne sweat dropped. She could only imagine what Sebastian must have gone through...
"Eh? Did you say something?" Agni asked Sebastian innocently. He didn't have slightly super-human hearing, like Chêne did now, so he hadn't heard anything other than some very faint mumbling.
"No, No, Nothing." Sebastian said casually as he stirred the sauce. There were some things that were better left unsaid...
