I own nothing but my OC.
That Butler, Competition 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
—^—^—^— change of perspective/area of action within one specific time frame/location
"Time is up! We will now begin the judging!" The MC announced, signaling for the contestants to stop cooking. "First up is Persian Tabb's beef curry."
"Please enjoy." Chef Turpin said confidently as he served the judges his curry. The judges began tasting the dish without hesitation.
"The cuts of beef have not only been stewed to buttery tenderness, they are generously sized as well it is indeed a sumptuous dish." Chef Higham said. "However the stock tastes flat and has no aroma, which tells me... you have used curry powder." The royal chef said, sighing. "That a culinary professional would even consider using such a thing is reprehensible!" Higham scolded Turpin sternly, causing Turpin and two of the other chefs to turn blue with shock.
'Eh!? Uh-oh... we used it too...' Chef Rush and Chef Ripley thought. They were doomed now.
"From this, I'd say Dahlia blends its own spices, hm?" Viscount Druitt asked as he tasted the next curry. "But all I'm getting is heat, with no flavor anywhere to be found. Haah... I do however recognize your efforts..." He said, smiling wryly as he sighed, and Chef Rickman turned blue with shock at the viscount's diagnosis of his curry.
"Next, we have Chef Agni from Harold West!" The MC announced.
"This... is my curry." Agni said as he stepped forth, and he removed the silver cloche covering his curry, revealing an extravagant food platter that had a variety of curries in smaller bowls arranged on the large plate with the blue lobster as the centerpiece, accompanied by a little dome of rice. "A thali of homard... and seven curries." He said as he set it down before the judges.
"A whole homard bleu and a host of red, yellow, and green curries... What a vivid rainbow!" Chef Higham exclaimed, impressed. Agni definitely had full marks for presentation!
"I have prepared curries of differing heat and flavor so you have a selection from which to match your tastes. All the curries have been seasoned to pair with le homard bleu." Agni explained calmly.
"Seven authentic curries made by an Indian, with the shellfish centerpiece being that famed homard, hm..." Chef Higham said thoughtfully as he took a spoonful of one of the curries and some meat from the lobster. "Then without further ado..." The royal chef said as he tasted Agni's dish. "Delicious!! The flesh is firm and when chewed thoroughly fills the mouth with a nuanced sweetness." He said excitedly, blushing slightly out of surprise and pleasure at the sublime dish.
"And the sweet soup, the hot soup, the thin soup, the thick soup... they all harmonize with the savoriness of the lobster without killing it off!" Mister Carter praised, also blushing slightly.
"Ooh... Ooh..." Viscount Druitt moaned excitedly, blushing. Chêne sweat dropped as an idiot hair popped out on her head. It sounded like he was having an orgasm... yuck. The viscount suddenly struck a pose, similar to how a Shakespearean actor would when playing the part of a love-struck Romeo. "The beautiful woman I met at the ball..." Viscount Druitt proclaimed dramatically as he pictured Chêne in her blue dress and wig. "You, who possess a most noble beauty, are stood there with seven gems adorning your sublime form. A gold brooch in the shape of a dove... a bracelet of sapphires and pearls... a choker of garnet... a cameo medallion, and a ring of diamonds and emeralds on your finger. All of them enhance your loveliness. You... have stolen my heart!!" He cried passionately.
—^—^—^—
"You just threw it at me on your own! I return your creepy serve with a deadly spike." Chêne murmured, shuddering, and turning slightly blue with shock and revulsion. Ciel sweat dropped. The viscount really was a creep...
—^—^—^—
"Wonderful! This is the best curry I have ever tasted!" Viscount Druitt told Agni excitedly.
"I thank you, my lord." Agni said humbly as he bowed.
—^—^—^—
"Hmph!" West said smugly, smirking. He had no doubts that he would be leaving the fair today with his Royal Warrant.
—^—^—^—
"What say you!? Has the victor already been decided!?" The MC asked the crowd dramatically. However, Sebastian didn't look the slightest bit perturbed as he stood calmly on the stage, smiling politely as he held his dish. "Waiting in the wings is our final participant, Funtom Corporation!" The MC announced. Agni and the others watched as Sebastian calmly approached the judges' table.
"My curry, gentlemen." Sebastian said as he removed the silver cloche covering his dish and served the judges.
"Th... This is—!" Chef Higham exclaimed dramatically when he saw what was on their plates. It was a magnificent... ball of raw dough...
DIIIING~
Chêne could've sworn she heard a pin drop as all three of the judges stared blankly at Sebastian's... 'curry,' positively stunned.
"You there! What is this white thing!? Are you trying to make a mockery of us!?" Chef Higham demanded incredulously as he pointed an accusing finger at the butler. "Ah!" Higham said, flinching in shock, when Sebastian, instead of answering his question, used a set of tongs to pluck the ball of raw dough off of his and the other judges' plates, and the butler dropped them into a wok of boiling oil.
SIZZLE~
"He... He's frying it!?" The judges yelled incredulously, shocked.
—^—^—^—
"Ciel, what in Kali's name is your ≤khansama≥ doing!?" Soma shouted nervously, shocked. Not only was there no curry to be seen, but he was frying balls of dough now!?
"Is he gonna make a doughnut or something!?" Bard yelled incredulously. No matter how he looked at it, Sebastian's 'curry' looked way too much like Chêne's jelly doughnuts!
"Well, I can't deny that Sebastian's idea for this came from watching me make them for Finni..." Chêne said, sweat dropping. She considered explaining it to them for a moment, but she decided it might be better to let them be shocked by the secret of Sebastian's curry, since they were being such 'doubting Toms'
"..." Ciel said as he calmly watched the stage. Sebastian never did anything without a reason, and although he did not know what the demon had planned, he knew that Chêne, as his acting food critic, would never have approved of anything less than a winning dish... although, she did have some rather strange tastes... like her preference for mixing ketchup sauce with honey to use for herself whenever she made fish and chips...
—^—^—^—
"Now it is complete." Sebastian said as he removed the now freshly fried, soft and crispy golden-brown balls of dough from the wok, and set them back on their respective plates. "This is our company's curry." Sebastian said with the faintest hint of a smirk. The looks on the judges' faces were rather priceless.
"So I ask you, where is the cur—" Chef Higham started to demand irritably, vein mark throbbing on his forehead, when Viscount Druitt cut him off.
"!!" Viscount Druitt gasped in shocked realization as he stared at the fried dough. "Please, just a moment. This is—!!" He said urgently as he grabbed his knife and fork and carefully began cutting into the fried dough like a doctor performing surgery on a patient, sweating slightly from the tension.
CRUNCH.
For a moment, it seemed as though a radiant light was shining forth from within the incision the viscount had made, and he stared at the fried dough, that he had just sliced in half, in awe as he used his knife to push the two halves apart, and a beautiful curry flowed out of the fried dough and onto his plate. "What in the—!?" The Viscount cried in astonishment. "Curry is spilling out from within...!!"
"Wh—!" Agni yelled nervously, shocked.
—^—^—^—
"What!?" West shouted incredulously, sweating nervously.
—^—^—^—
"!!" Ciel said, surprised, but still managing to keep up his poker face. Chêne smirked.
—^—^—^—
"This is the curry we, Funtom, proudly present." Sebastian explained calmly as he held a plate with his curry on it. "Its name is... the Curry Bun!!" He declared grandly, presenting the plate with a flourish.
"Cu—Curry Bun!?" The crowd cried in astonishment, stunned.
"Please enjoy." Sebastian said politely as he served the last curry bun, ignoring the shocked and skeptical murmurs from most of the adults in the crowd. However, he could hear the children chattering away excitedly, cheering on their favorite toymakers.
—^—^—^—
"What is that? I've never seen a curry of its like." Soma asked nervously, hoping they wouldn't be disqualified. Could something like that really be considered curry anymore...?
'I have though...' Chêne thought, sweat dropping. She had been surprised when Sebastian had told her about his 'Curry Bun' idea, because she was so used to seeing curry-pan in animes, that it hadn't even occurred to her that it would be considered something 'new' and 'exciting' in Victorian era England. Although she was a little concerned about how this might affect the timeline, Chêne had decided that it would probably be all right since Sebastian had just technically 'invented' it on his own without knowing anything. Besides, this world was her home now. She couldn't walk on eggshells here forever. Chêne would just have to live her life doing what she felt was right, and accept the consequences of her actions later... who knows, maybe she was meant to come to this world all along...
—^—^—^—
"I—In any case, to the taste test..." Chef Higham said hesitantly as he too cut a piece from his curry bun, and tasted it. "It explodes in the mouth!" The royal chef shouted excitedly, blushing slightly as he panted a little. "This is delicious! The contrast between the crunchy exterior and the fluffy interior of the bread, not to mention the thick, robust curry finish... It is a most skillfully formulated study in textures." He exclaimed, sing Sebastian's praises. "The truly magnificent aspect of this dish is its structure. 'Sealing' the curry in the bread was a stroke of brilliance! The bread literally seals the curry's taste, aroma, everything about it, and blooms the instant one's knife cuts into it."
'... Now I see!!" Agni thought, shocked and alarmed by Sebastian's ingenuity. 'The reason for boiling down the curry was to keep it from seeping out of the bun during the preparation process—!!' He had gravely underestimated Sebastian!
"Moreover, the chicken is toothsome and contributes nicely to the body of the curry, making for yet another plus to the dish. This is cookery at its finest." Chef Higham stated reverently.
"Ooh... Ooh, I say...!" Viscount Druitt moaned in ectasy. "The sweet girl I met at an evening soiree. By day, you chirp childishly, a mischievous little songbird. But by night, your true self peeks out... The seductive smile beneath the mask, where a grown woman stands." He said dramatically as he envisioned Ciel, dressed in his pigtailed wig and pink muslin dress, peeking out from behind a tree on a moonlight night. "I... would... like to put my arms around you!!" He cried passionately as he wrapped his arms around himself, embracing the phantom image in his mind. He quickly recovered from his dream. "An original idea and unmistakable quality... This is a revolutionary curry worthy of the Funtom name!!" Viscount Druitt told Sebastian, as sparkles seemed to float in the air around the perverted man.
"I thank you, my lord." Sebastian said calmly, bowing politely, in thanks for such praise from the judges. For some reason, the viscounts description reminded him of Chêne... although, he was certain it had been referring to a certain someone else...
—^—^—^—
"Waah!" The audience cheered excitedly when they heard the judges' praise. Now that they knew how delicious it was (despite its strange appearance and ingredients), they couldn't wait to taste the new Funtom curry, or Agni's!
"Woohoo! Yeah! Way to go, Sebastian~!" Chêne cheered enthusiastically. She knew they had a winner!
Soma clenched his fist and grinned, excited at the thought of possibly having a chance to defeat West and save Agni and Mina. Ciel's khansama really was incredible! Finni, Mei-Rin, and Bard all cheered excitedly as they grinned and went in for a group hug. Their suffering from gorging themselves with Sebastian's curries hadn't been for nothing, after all!
"?" Ciel said, confused when he instinctively shuddered and paled slightly after hearing Viscount Druitt's little speech. He wasn't sure why he was reacting in such a way when there hadn't been any real indication that the viscount was referring to him... Chêne sweat dropped and smiled sympathetically as she patted him on the back in a 'there, there' motion, knowing full well how he felt.
"?" Lau said, curious about Ciel and Chêne's odd behavior.
—^—^—^—
"And now for the moment you've all been waiting for, ladies and gents... the curry tasting~! Please help yourself to whichever curry you like!" The MC announced cheerfully as hired waiters began arranging tables to display large quantities of the different curries the contestants had made, so the audience could have a taste.
"I think I'll try Agni's curry..." Chêne said thoughtfully.
"Wha—!? You traitor! Why wouldn't you eat Sebastian's curry!?" Bard demanded incredulously as he stared at her with accusing eyes.
"That's right, we need to support Mister Sebastian!" Finni and Mei-Rin chimed in.
"Ehhh, but I've already tasted it. I helped him perfect the Curry Bun as his taste-tester, remember?" Chêne said, pouting slightly. "Besides, Mister Agni was competing so seriously when he made his curry, so it'd be waste not to see what we're up against, right?" She said practically. "You should taste it too, Soma." She told the prince.
"Eh? But I..." Soma said nervously. Was it all right for him to taste Agni's curry when Ciel's khansama had worked so hard to defeat him...?
"He's an important person to you, right? Mister Agni created this curry with you in mind, don't you think you should taste it, and see what kind of curry his feelings for you made? Don't worry about us. You should support the people important to you." Chêne said, smiling reassuringly at him, as she pushed the prince over to the table with Agni's curry. There were already long lines forming in front of Sebastian and Agni's tables... not so much for the other chefs' tables though.
"Well, whatever Chêne says, I say we get Sebastian's Curry Bun! Follow me." Bard told Finni and Mei-Rin, grinning as he marched off to Sebastian's table, followed by the other two servants.
"Bring one Curry Bun back for me while you are at it." Ciel told them. He might as well try it, since it was supposed to be his company's product, after all.
"Which one do you want to try, Ran-Mao~?" Lau asked her, smiling.
—^—^—^—
"This is a most difficult decision to make." Viscount Druitt said thoughtfully as he and the other judges huddled together on the stage, trying to decide who would be brining home the trophy.
"Still, the winner is clearly Harold West's Chef Agni. The harmoniously balanced curries were touching divinity!" Mister Carter said.
"No, I say hats off to Funtom and Mister Sebastian for their ingenuity. It has irrevocably changed the history of curry." Chef Higham stated firmly.
"How to choose!? A beautiful lady... a pretty girl. Both have their own distinct flavors." The viscount said woefully. He could no sooner choose between the two, than he could pluck the moon from the night sky!
—^—^—^—
"So... how is it?" Chêne asked Soma as he tasted Agni's curry. "It's delicious, isn't it."
"Yes... Agni's curry is strong, yet kind and gentle." Soma said, smiling softly as tears started to form in his eyes. "... But it's somehow... lonely... and sad as well. If this is a reflection of Agni's feelings, then he must also be suffering... And it is my fault, because if I had not insisted upon coming to England, then..." Soma said solemnly.
"It's all right, Soma. As long as you understand at least that much, then everything will be all right. Everyone makes mistakes. You can't undo anything you've already done, but you can face up to it. To be able to move on, one has to learn to forgive not only the person or people who have done wrong, but also oneself. You can tell the truth, and you can seek forgiveness. Let God do the rest." Chêne said, smiling softly at him as she placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
=†=†=†=†=
{Some time later...}
"Thank you for your patience, ladies and gentlemen." The MC said, getting everyone's attention. "After much discussion... the winner of today's curry festival is..." He said, picking up the trophy. West smirked. Agni closed his eyes and prayed to Khali. Soma watched nervously, wondering what would happen once the winner was announced. Ciel and Chêne watched calmly as they waited. And Sebastian watched the MC silently with the eyes of a hawk. "... Harold West and Funtom Corporation!" The MC Proclaimed dramatically as he raised the trophy in the air. "We name them both victo—"
WHAAP—!
Suddenly, something yanked the trophy out of the MC's hand.
"...Huh?" The MC said, surprised, as he stared at his now empty hand, and sweated nervously. The trophy twirled through the air as the whip wrapped around it was yanked back to the culprit.
WHAP!
The trophy flew into the black-gloved hand of the young man who had been controlling the whip.
"A moment, if you please." The young man said politely, but firmly. The audience began to murmur amongst themselves. Who was this strange young lad? He couldn't be older than eighteen... Not only had he just used a whip to steal the trophy, but he was wearing the most peculiar eyeglasses... they looked like wraparound sunglasses with mirrored lenses. He was also wearing a white, double-breasted coat with a medal pinned to it, and his trousers were tucked into black and white knee-high length lace-up boots. He looked like he was ready for a steampunk convention to Chêne. A drop of sweat slid down Ciel's face as he, Chêne, Lau, and Ran-mao stared at the young man, slightly stunned. Up on the stage, Sebastian's eyes were slightly wide with surprise. If that boy was here then... The sound of horse's hooves beating against the ground could be heard drawing closer as the boy continued to speak.
"This match... BFFT!" The boy said, painfully interrupted, when a horse's hoof suddenly slammed into his head with a disturbingly loud whacking sound, trampling him underfoot.
CLACK.
Black, leather lady's boots dug into the saddle's stirrups as the bold rider braced themselves and pulled back on the reins, bringing the galloping horse to a sudden stop, just like a boss. Everyone stared at the reckless rider, stunned... It was an elderly lady, riding sidesaddle, and dressed in a high-quality and modest, but fashionable widow's weeds... but what really stood out was that, like the boy, she was wearing wraparound sunglasses with mirrored lenses.
"Whozzat funky granny?" Bard asked curiously as the whole crowd sweat dropped and stared at the woman in shock and awe. The crowd began to murmur nervously about the wild rider.
"That is... If I'm not mistaken..." Lau said thoughtfully, slightly surprised when Ciel suddenly dashed towards the elderly lady.
"Your Majesty! What are you doing in a place like this!?" Ciel shouted anxiously as he rushed to her side. The queen glanced down at Ciel, surprised to see him so alarmed.
"Maj—" Bard, Mei-Rin, Finni, and West shouted, jaws dropping as everyone in the audience, except for Chêne, Lau, Ran-Mao, and Finni (he just didn't get what was going on), turned blue with shock, beyond stunned to hear that it was none other than their queen who had just galloped into the Crystal Palace on a white horse, and trampled an innocent (?) man.
"Good day to you all." Queen Victoria said, giving everyone a radiant and kind smile as she gracefully pushed her sunglasses up, on top of her head so they could see her face properly.
