I own nothing but my OC.
That Butler, Cogitating 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:
"We'll have to wait and see." Ciel said as he yawned really big. "Maybe this calls for an afternoon nap." His internal clock had been completely messed after he lost a whole night of sleep.
"Just don't sleep too long, or you won't be able to fall asleep later tonight, when you need to." Chêne warned Ciel as she followed after him. She decided to take care of some of Sebastian's chores for him while he was cooking, since Ciel had strictly said not to help him with the curry, other than taste testing. She found that a little strange, but she didn't doubt that Sebastian would manage to come up with something without her help, so whatever.
"My apologies for having kept you waiting." Sebastian said as he came into the sitting room, where Ciel, Lau, an Soma had been playing cards while waiting, ready to serve them his first attempt at making curry with the proper fresh spices. "I present you with a curry of tender chicken stewed with spices and the savor of onions. I topped it off simply with some coriander and yogurt." Soma stared at Sebastian, stunned. An idiot hair popped out on his head.
"Lau, I win with that card." Ciel deadpanned, pointing at the card Lau had just discarded.
"Ehhh, I've been haaad~!" Lau said, smiling wryly.
"I'm tired of Old Maid." Ciel said boredly. This made his eighth win in a row, now.
"Then shall we play Old Man~?" Lau joked.
"You're already done!?" Soma asked, shocked. How was that even possible!? Wasn't Ciel's khansama a novice!? And why were the others so calm about this incredible feat...? "It's only been about two hours since you began—"
"Yes, it unfortunately took me a full two hours." Sebastian said, sighing regretfully. "Please forgive me for forcing you to wait for so long." He said apologetically as he served them his curry. "I see Chêne is not here yet..." Sebastian said, glancing at the door briefly, before pulling up a fourth chair to the table.
"Yes, I believe she is still taking care of her daily chores..." Ciel said, trailing off as Chêne waltzed into the room. He sweat dropped. Sebastian must have 'called' her...
"Ooh, that smells great~! That was fast, as expected." Chêne said, smiling brightly as she sat down at her place, and Sebastian pushed her chair in for her. The butler smirked. He was certain Chêne would enjoy his curry this time. Her reaction was already much more favorable, and she had only smelled it.
"And this aroma, it's... almost like Agni's curry." Soma said, closing his eyes as he inhaled the savory aroma. "How in the world... and in such a short time..." Soma asked, amazed.
"It was simple." Sebastian said, smirking. "I just sampled all of the spices." Sebastian said, giving Soma his trademark shit-eating grin.
"Each and everyone of them!? The whole lot?" Soma asked incredulously, turning blue with shock. Was Ciel's khansama really human!?
"Yes." Sebastian said bluntly, still smiling. "To return to the point at hand, I then blended the spices to match the fragrance of the curry Mister Agni cooked for breakfast the other day as closely as possible." He explained.
"And that was all it took to recreate the aroma?" Soma asked, amazed.
"My sense of smell is a tad better than that of most humans." Sebastian said, smirking slightly as he lightly tapped his nose.
"Come, come, your highness. 'It is better to get down to work than to worry about it,' as they say. Why not have a bite first?" Lau said, smiling.
"Y-Yes, all right." Soma said as he sat back down in his chair.
"Time to eat~!" Chêne said excitedly.
"Let's get staaarted~!" Lau said, smiling as he picked up his spoon. "This aroma is very different from the last. The spices present an extraordinary bouquet." He said as they all took a bite. "My, this is... delicious!!" Lau exclaimed excitedly. The flavor of the freshly ground spices whets your appetite, and... the stewed Chicken is so tender, it practically melts in your mouth." He praised. Chêne was still sampling the new curry, which was a good sign, because the more she ate and the more she savored each bite, the more it meant that she liked it. It meant that this curry was at least worthy of actually being judged by her.
"How is it?" Sebastian asked Chêne. She smiled brightly at him, positively glowing.
"Delicious~! This is similar to Mr. Raja's ≤Murgi'r Kari≥, his brown chicken curry." It's nice and light, but still packed with flavor... However, it still isn't better than Mr. Raja's yellow curry... Although, now that I think about it..." Chêne said, sweat dropping. "... Yellow curry is actually originally a type of Thai curry, and it could just be that I like it because there's coconut cream as well as coconut milk, and a few dairy products, like milk and yogurt, added in... They don't really use dairy products in curry that much in Bengali cuisine..." Chêne said, smiling a little apologetically. Ciel wanted to face palm. In other words, the curry Chêne had praised so highly, wasn't even Indian...? This was an Indian curry contest!
"..." Sebastian said, staring at her for a moment. Chêne shifted guiltily in her chair, looking rather like a nervous kitten. The demon butler sighed indulgently, and he smiled wryly as he patted her on the head. Well, at least she really did know what they needed to win, even if she had admitted that it wasn't her true preference... She had been the first one to tell them they needed fresh spices, and which ones were known to be used in Indian curry... Soma had barely even been able to name five, since he had never really had anything to do personally with preparing the curry.
"...!" Chêne said, flinching in shock at how he was treating her, like an adult indulging a silly child. Was that how he saw her...!?
"Prince Soma, what do you think?" Sebastian asked calmly as he continued to pat Chêne on the head, and she stuffed her face with curry, using it as comfort food. Ciel sweat dropped. He could totally see the whole pet relationship/thing Sebastian had mentioned before, now...
"This won't do." Soma said regretfully, shaking his head. "The aroma is well and good, but... the taste is a whole other story."
"Is that so...? Then let us try a spice blend that has a similar aroma but will create a different taste." Sebastian said thoughtfully. Soma clenched his fist in frustration.
"If only there was even one thing I knew about the way Agni prepares his curry..." Soma said regretfully with an air of defeat around him. "But I, utterly ignorant as I am... cannot do anything for you, no matter how much I should like. And once again, here I am, having to depend on you lot. Someone like me should just—" Soma stopped when he felt some one place a hand gently on his shoulder, just as Agni used to... It was Sebastian.
"Please do not berate yourself so. There are yet things that only Prince Soma can do." Sebastian said, giving Soma a brilliant shit-eating grin. He was smiling so blindingly bright, that Chêne actually had to shield her eyes from the intense glare. Chêne sweat dropped. She knew from personal experience, that the brighter his shit-eating grin, the more harassment that the person it was directed at was about to suffer...
=†=†=†=†=
{The Phantomhive Downstairs, the kitchen}
Soma stared at the scene before him, eyes wide with shock, as he paled, and an idiot hair popped out on his head. There were at least thirty pots of different curries already sitting on the kitchen table, all lined up, and ready to go.
"Here, I made a selection of curries that have a similar aroma but differ in flavor. Please sample and choose the one that tastes most like Mister Agni's curry." Sebastian said, smiling brightly, as though he hadn't just asked the impossible. Finni, Bard, and Mei-Rin were grinning excitedly. Chêne had told them she had a special job for them, and if it was to eat yummy curry, then who were they to refuse?
"You made them all!?" Soma yelled incredulously, shocked beyond belief. "By yourself!?"
"Yes." Sebastian said, smiling. There were little sparkles floating around him. "I am the butler of the Phantomhive family. Wherever would we be if I was unable to manage something as simple as this?" Sebastian said, smirking, as he dipped a ladle in the first pot and smoothly poured one serving onto a plate. Chêne fought to suppress her blush. Why did he have to look so sexy even when he was just serving curry? He had to be doing it on purpose...
"B-But... I don't think I can eat all of this by myself..." Soma said hesitantly.
"Prince Soma. Your cooperation is necessary so that we may create a divine curry as soon as possible." Sebastian said, seriously with a gleam in his eye as he loomed over Soma, holding the plate of curry right under the prince's nose.
"Urgh..." Soma groaned warily as he eyed the plate of curry. It smelled good, but he had just finished eating the last one a few minutes ago...
"What, you're not going to give up now, are you? Don't worry about eating the whole thing, just be sure to focus on tasting it so we can save Agni and Mina. Mei-Rin, Bard, Finni, and I will take care of the rest." Chêne said, smiling supportively as she clapped Soma on the back. Soma clenched his fist. That's right... he still had to help Agni and Mina!
"V-Very well!! I shall eat as much curry as necessary if my eating curry is of use to you!!" Soma said, determined to beat West and save his friends with the help of a few new ones.
"We can make it like a contest. Whoever eats the most curry, will win some of my homemade jelly doughnuts for breakfast tomorrow!" Chêne told the others, smiling brightly.
"Yaaay~! We'll have some tooooo~!" The three stooges cheered excitedly. They got to spend the day eating Sebastian's cooking, and then they got doughnuts the next morning!? It was like a Christmas miracle!
=†=†=†=†=
{Curry #2}
"First we have the curry from before... with salt, turmeric, and coriander added." Sebastian said as he handed the plate to Soma, and Chêne and the others helped themselves.
"The taste is too heavy, and it's too spicy hot." Soma said, sticking his tongue out in an attempt to cool it.
"I actually like the spiciness... But it might help if you reduced the acidity and went a little lighter on the turmeric..." Chêne suggested. "Although we're trying to imitate Agni's Indian curry at the moment, in the end, the judges will be British, and so will most of our targeted audience, so it might help if you keep that in mind as well..."
"Hmm... I see your point." Sebastian said as he stared at the others. Mei-Rin and Bard were running around like chickens with their heads cut off, desperately trying to find water, but Finni looked perfectly happy, and thought the curry was yummy.
=†=†=†=†=
{Curry #3}
"The next candidate... boasts a mildness thanks to the addition of coconut milk and yogurt." Sebastian told them, handing servings to Soma and Chêne, while the others helped themselves again.
"It tastes better, but the aroma isn't even close." Soma said, sweat dropping.
"Yes, if the aroma were more sweet and savory, this would definitely be a winner, in my opinion... maybe I just really like coconut... I think that's the flavor I'm tasting the most in this one..." Chêne said thoughtfully. The others were eating quietly this time, and seemed to be enjoying the flavor of the more mild curry greatly. Mei-Rin was getting full, however...
=†=†=†=†=
{Curry #4}
"Next up, we have... a spicy curry of cumin and cinnamon." Sebastian said.
"Now I feel like... it's not hot enough." Soma said, grimacing as he burped, and held a hand over his aching chest. Eating so much was starting to get to him...
"Yes, the flavor is nice, but there's no heat. Curry without spiciness is like a cat without fur..." Chêne said, sweat dropping as she smiled wryly. Unlike Soma, she was still perfectly fine.
"..." Sebastian and Soma said as they stared at her. What kind of analogy was that...? A cat with no fur... what an appalling thing to imagine...
THUMP.
"Thump?" Chêne said, blinking, as the three of them turned to look at the other servants. Finni was smiling happily as he ate, Bard wasn't looking much better than Soma, and Mei-Rin... Mei-Rin had just passed out from over eating.
"I guess that eliminates Mei-Rin from our little contest..." Chêne said, smiling wryly as she sweat dropped.
=†=†=†=†=
{Curry #5}
"My apologies for the wait. I have prepared this with red pepper and cloves to taste." Sebastian said as he gave then the next curry.
"The flavor is too much... and heavy..." Soma groaned as he covered his mouth, just one piece of chicken away from hurling. He had been stuffed with curry to maximum capacity, and Bard had also reached his limit, and joined Mei-Rin on the floor. Finni was still smiling happily, not at all bothered by the ridiculous amount of food they were being forced to eat... but he wasn't the only one...
"Hmmm... this has a nice amount of heat, and it isn't too spicy, but... My mouth feels overwhelmed by the flavor. It's like being in a room with someone wearing too much perfume... too much of a good thing. You know?" Chêne said, smiling wryly as she sweat dropped. Like Finni, Chêne didn't look the slightest bit uncomfortable, even after eating such a huge amount of curry.
"H-How can you stand to eat so much...?" Soma asked her gloomily as he collapsed in hi chair, leaning his head against the table.
"I have a fast metabolism~!" Chêne said, smiling brightly. "No matter how much I eat, I never gain any weight, fufu~!" She said seriously with a gleam in her eye. Her mom had always warned her that once she reached a certain age, and their 'anti-aging gene' kicked in (which seemed to be around the age of twenty, and from then on, the women on her mother's side of the family always seemed to look only about half their age...), that her metabolism would slow down, but now that she was going to have the body of a teenager forever, that was no longer an issue. Soma sweat dropped as he stared at her incredulously. What was this girl!?
"Uggh... I'm full up to my gills with curry..." Soma moaned miserably. He felt like he was about to explode... at least that should've been that last of it...
"Come, the next curry awaits." Sebastian said mercilessly, flashing them a sparkling shit-eating grin. Soma turned blue with shock, grimacing, as an idiot hair stuck out on his head. Chêne sweat dropped. Sebastian had just completely ignored Soma's suffering, and he did it with a smile...
"I added cardamom and garlic." Sebastian informed them as he placed their servings in front of them. Soma immediately perked up when he caught the scent of this new curry, completely forgetting his painfully full stomach as he shot out of his chair in his excitement.
"Th-This curry is... different from all the others I've had to day..." Soma said urgently.
"?" Sebastian said, slightly curious about the prince's extreme reaction. He and Chêne watched as Soma tentatively reached forward, and picked a piece of chicken out of the curry and tasted it. His eyes went wide in awe.
'This is—!!' Soma thought, amazed, as the magnificent flavor of the curry brought forth an image of an ornate Indian palace full of dancing girls in brightly colored saris, and luxurious floor pillows scattered about. 'A familiar scene— this is my palace.' Soma thought, stunned. 'Then the ones beside me are—' Soma thought urgently, swiftly turning to his side. "Mina! Ag..." Soma cried when he thought he saw Mina sitting beside him, and Agni serving him Chai tea... but it had only been a phantom image, a vision induced by the nostalgic flavor of Sebastian's curry. The one sitting beside him was Chêne, and the one serving him and Chêne tea was Sebastian... They were not in his palace, and the people beside him were Ciel's faithful servants, not his.
"?" Sebastian and Chêne said, looking at him with confusion and concern. Why was he staring at them like that...? Did forcing him to eat so much curry break him? Meanwhile, Finni was happily eating the curry, without a care in the world.
"Prince... Soma...?" Chêne asked, concerned. Soma shook his head, snapping out of it. He leaned back in his chair.
"This... this curry... it tastes very much like the curry I used to always eat... like Agni's curry!!" Soma said.
"Really!?" Chêne asked excitedly as she took a bite too. She had been so surprised when Soma suddenly started staring off into space after he tasted it, that she hadn't even taken a bite yet. Chêne grinned when she tasted it, and turned to Sebastian, smiling with all the radiance of the sun. "Awesome~!! This is amazing, Sebastian~!" Chêne praised excitedly, like a kitten who had just gotten ahold of her favorite ball of yarn. Sebastian smiled.
"You did iiiit, Mister Sebastian~!" Finni cheered excitedly.
"That's our butler for ya!" Bard said, grinning as he slung an arm over Sebastian's shoulder, much to the butler's chagrined at having his personal space invaded. Hadn't Bard been lying unconscious on the floor only a moment ago...?
"Y'are wonderful, y'aaare~!" Mei-Rin said dreamily, also rejoining the land of the living.
"Still, to have to go to such great lengths to achieve the right blend of spices..." Sebastian said thoughtfully, holding his chin. No wonder Chêne's family had decided it was too troublesome... It would have undoubtedly taken a human much longer to accomplish such a task.
"Oh, dear, Finni... you really are a messy eater." Chêne said, smiling wryly and sweat dropping when she noticed that Finni had some curry sauce on his face. "Here, take this and wipe your mouth." She said, offering him a clean napkin.
"Thanks, Miss Chêne~!" Finni said brightly as he took the napkin and started wiping his face like a good boy.
"But it's still not right." Soma suddenly blurted out.
"Eh?" Chêne and the three stooges asked as they Sebastian stared at Soma, wondering what was wrong with it.
"Didn't you say this one was like Mister Agni's curry?" Chêne asked, confused.
"The taste, the aroma, the heat... are indeed the same as Agni's. However... Something is still missing!" Soma said seriously, holding his chin as he tried to think of how to explain it properly.
"And that 'something'... would be?" Sebastian asked, raising an eyebrow at the prince. Since Chêne didn't seem to find anything wrong with it, he knew he was going to have rely completely on Soma for this one.
"Hrrrrrn... To answer your question... Hm, how should I put it?" Soma said thought fully as he crossed his arms and furrowed his brow, frowning slightly in concentration. "Maybe that the savoriness and flavor of Agni's curry are more profound..." He wasn't as good as Chêne at giving concrete descriptions of things like this... Soma glanced at Chêne. That gave him an idea... "Yes, that's it! The body! This curry lacks body!" Soma blurted out excitedly, finally able to put his sense of taste into words.
"Body?" Sebastian asked as he stared disappointedly Soma. He leaned closer, looming over the prince.
"Y-Yes." Soma said nervously, flinching and paling as Sebastian loomed over him threateningly (?).
"Why did you say that after looking at me?" Chêne asked, narrowing her eyes slightly in suspicion. Soma glanced at her again, trying to ignore the source of his trauma.
"Well, I needed to use a metaphor to describe the taste, and it came to me that this curry is like Miss Chêne, who is older than me, yet still has a small and unfeminine body. Like Miss Chêne, this curry is 'a nice girl,' but it does not have curves, it lacks body..." Soma said bluntly, his words stabbing Chêne. The three stooges stared at Soma, shocked. They glanced at Chêne, who was trembling in her seat next to Soma.
"D-Don't let it get to ya, Chêne..." Bard said pityingly.
"Y-Yes! Miss Chêne is very lovely, is she not, Finni!?" Mei-Rin said anxiously, concerned for Chêne. It was a huge blow to any woman to hear such a thing!
"It's what's on the inside that counts, right~!" Finni said, smiling innocently. Bard and Mei-Rin stared at him. What Finni said wasn't wrong, but... that just made it sound like he was contradicting Mei-Rin's compliment...
SNAP.
'Snap...?' The three stooges and Soma thought, glancing warily at Chêne, who was now emitting a dark and dangerous aura. That had definitely been the sound of her self-restraint breaking...!
"I'll show you 'unfeminine'!!" Chêne roared with righteous fury as she launched herself at Soma.
"—!?" Soma yelled in alarm, flinching, and squeezing his eyes shut as he held his arms up to shield himself... but the attack never came. Soma opened his eyes, and was surprised to see that Sebastian was holding Chêne, restraining her all by himself, despite the magnificent fight she was putting up.
"Lemme at 'em!" Chêne yelled as she glared at Soma. "No jury would convict me!"
"!" Soma said, flinching. For a moment, he could've sworn Chêne's eyes glowed.
"I understand how you must feel, but you must calm yourself. Your eyes are staring to glow..." Sebastian whispered sternly in her ear. Chêne's eyes widened slightly in shock, and she immediately stopped struggling, and took a deep, calming breath. It wouldn't do to expose her... inhumanness... Soma stared at Chêne, eyes wide with shock. That had been even worse than when she got upset with him before... Chêne was just as scary as Ciel's khansama when she got angry...
"You must forgive Chêne. She is rather sensitive when it comes to the subject of how mature she looks... I believe it would also be in your best interest to remember that women in general do not appreciate being talked about in such a way, and that there are just some things you should not say. It would also be best if you did not ogle a lady's figure so. Understand?" Sebastian told Soma sternly, giving him a brilliant shit-eating grin. However... Soma and the others could not help but feel that behind that smile was a very thinly veiled threat...
"Y-Y-Yes! I'm s-sorry!" Soma stuttered nervously, nodding vigorously, and turning blue with shock and fear. Why was Ciel's khansama so angry!? He realized now how what he said might have offended Chêne, but it had nothing to do with Sebastian...!
"Good. Now, you said more 'body'... Is that it?" Sebastian asked, reigning in his threatening aura, but keeping a grip on Chêne. Personally, he wouldn't mind seeing her give the prince a good whack, but Soma was still Ciel's guest, so they still had to respect him... to a certain extent, at least. 'The taste must be the same, but the body deeper? How vague... Giving themselves over to senses that are indescribably nonsensical and impossible to understand..." Sebastian thought, furrowing his brow slightly as he pondered the prince's words. At least Chêne had been able to express her feelings in a way he could understand most of the time. "—This is why creatures called humans are...'
"In a spot of trouble, are we?" Ciel asked, causing them to all turn to the kitchen doorway, where Ciel was standing, leaning casually on his walking stick with a hand on his hip. Lau was also there, standing behind the young earl, smiling in amusement. It looked like they had just walked in on something interesting. Ciel furrowed his brow slightly when he saw that Sebastian was holding Chêne... probably to restrain her from pummeling Soma for saying something he shouldn't have... not that he would've really minded. It's not like Chêne would have killed him. What really interested Ciel was that Sebastian had looked thoughtful about something before he interrupted, meaning they were probably still working on creating the perfect curry. "How goes it?" Ciel asked, smirking slightly.
"Young Master. The kitchen is no place for you..." Sebastian said, releasing Chêne somewhat reluctantly. For some reason, holding her gave him a strange, but comforting feeling... similar to the one he had when he held a cat after a very tiring and stressful day... but it wasn't quite the same...
"What's going on, Ciel? Do you need something?" Chêne asked as Ciel walked over to stand beside Finni and stuck his finger in Finni's curry.
"Three days till the curry fair, hm?" Ciel said, smirking as he licked his finger, tasting the curry. Do the best you can and keep at your research." Ciel said patronizing. Sebastian narrowed his eyes slightly and frowned a little bit at Ciel's snide remark. Chêne sweat dropped. Why was Ciel provoking a demon like that...? Was he that bored without them around? "Aah, yes, that reminds me. I would like Gateau au Chocolat for my afternoon snack." Ciel said as he turned to leave.
"Then I guess I'd better get starte—" Chêne said, smiling wryly. She had almost forgotten that Ciel would be wanting a snack soon...
"I want Sebastian to make it." Ciel said, smiling, as he paused in the doorway, turning back to look at them. Chêne blinked, surprised. Why did it have to be Sebastian...? He was already busy with the curry... "Bring it to me later." Ciel ordered Sebastian.
"... Very good, Sir. " Sebastian said obediently, bowing to his young master. An order was an order.
"Hmph..." Ciel said, smirking deviously, before leaving them. Lau smiled and waved goodbye as he followed Ciel and closed the door behind them.
"..." Chêne said as she stared at the door. "I'm not sure what that was about, but... I think you're a bad influence on him..." Chêne told Sebastian, sweat dropping. Ciel seemed to be turning into a tiny sadist...
"I wonder..." Sebastian said, sighing in annoyance. He might as well get started...
