The assistant was a busy man ordinarily, but on his vacation, he was still so. His actions, however, were much more shady. Once he left Daniel's place, he went home and immediately got to work on gathering materials to pick his employer apart. It wasn't hard. The man left all of the materials in the hands of his staff so he was certain that it would be taken care of. He had no idea how to get rid of the evidence, but by now, his staff members were extremely proficient.
Most of it took him an afternoon, while the rest involved making calls to his coworkers. Blackwood didn't tell them about Daniel, but he did win the cooperation of a few people. Only one person outright refused out of fear of getting caught.
He understood, while he was disappointed. He would have to wait a little longer to get the rest of what he needed, as he needed his coworkers to supply him. In addition, he knew the other man's schedule, and knew when he was most likely out and about engaging in debauchery and where. Blackwood hated it. He wasn't good at waiting, but it needed to be done.
Blackwood wasn't the only one who had things to do, however. Daniel had to rehearse what he was going to say when he talked to his friends the next day. It was agonizing. He stood in front of the mirror for the longest time in order to steel himself, but he kept getting flustered. Every other sentence, he interrupted himself with things like "no, no, that's stupid" and "yeah, like they're gonna just accept that".
The brunet was determined. He was more determined now than ever. Daniel was going to get his life in order once and for all and he needed to show the others his resolve. He even got his clothes ready a day in advance to make sure he didn't look like the bum he had been presenting himself as over the past few months. There was some thought put into his wardrobe. It certainly wasn't of the same calibre as something that Kristopherson would assemble, but it would do.
For hours, the poor Westley attempted to rehearse, followed by breaks in between to check his wardrobe again or pace around his house. Pacing is what he mostly did, in truth. It was the only way he could calm his nerves somewhat. He knew he had time to prepare, but it seemed like a death sentence. If he failed, he wouldn't simply be forced back to square one, he would be forced beyond.
The poor man was scared out of his mind. His body ached, particularly his lower half, and protested his pacing, but he forced himself to do it, not wanting to be left alone with his thoughts. If he was, he would second guess everything. That isn't what he wanted or needed. It was going to be a long wait until the next day.
Fortunately, the location and time was the same. Everyone was going to meet at a restaurant and eat before going out to wreak havoc on the town in the way of the Sensational Seven, regardless of how many members they had currently. Travis had brought along his girlfriend, Patricia to formally introduce to the others while Kristopherson invited Logan. Admittedly, the incubus felt strange about the situation, but was curious about the friends of his friend.
Audrey was able to get away from work for the day as well. Fortunately, the Intelligence Department doesn't have as strict of procedure in regards to vacation time and sick days as the combat department. It was the first time that he had been in public without his uniform in a while.
Despite the absence of two of the original members, the group was determined to have a good time. They all sat at the biggest table in the restaurant, which was a large booth in the corner that wrapped around a circular table. All of them were able to fit comfortably with space left over. Logan sat on one end, followed by Kristopherson, then Alois next to Ciel with the bluenette's arm around his shoulders affectionately, resting on the back of the seat.. Next to the Watchdog was Travis and then Patricia. Finally, on the opposite end was Audrey, not minding in the slightest that he was sitting next to a woman. The others were actually a little impressed that he seemed to have gotten over his nerves somewhat, but really, Audrey knew that there was no need to get flustered over his friend's girl. Needless to say, the group was an odd bunch, but they seemed to mesh well, even with the newer additions.
"Hey Audrey, I've been meaning to ask you for like, several years now..." Kristopherson began from one side of the table. "What the hell is the 'King City' thing that's always been on your shirt?"
"It's the name of a comic." answered the reaper. "It's weird and you would probably hate it."
"Why?"
"It's about a guy who is called a 'Cat Master' who injects his cat with stuff that makes it able to do anything." Audrey said, propping his elbows on the table.
"Sounds dumb." the faux-blonde replied, wrinkling his nose a bit but smiling regardless. One person, however, disagreed.
"Oh, I thought the logo looked familiar." Patricia chimed in. "My little sister is really into Beast by uh..." she trailed off, snapping her fingers as she thought. "Ma… Marie?"
"Marian Churchland." aided the reaper.
"Yeah! She's really into that one. She's got King City, too."
"As long as that's all she's into..."
"Yeah, I saw some of his other stuff while looking for Christmas Presents online. She probably knows about it and just doesn't talk."
"She doesn't know about what?" questioned Kristpoherson, arching an eyebrow.
"The guy who does it also does the occasional porn comic." answered the woman. "He does that and is still allowed to work on cartoons like Adventure Time? I don't get that..."
Alois shook his head and teasingly asked: "I take it Audrey is a huge fan of his?"
"Nah. I saw a few of those. The dirty part was actually the most boring bit." Audrey stated. "I'm not really into that sorta thing."
"Neither am I." the menace answered, followed by a "likewise" from his husband and a "same here" from Travis. Logan nodded along in agreement, leaving only Kristopherson. This fact did not go unnoticed by his friends.
"You nasty pervert..." accused the blonde Phantomhive as the others looked to Kristpoherson in a faux-judgingly manner. A small blush on the Miles' face indicated guilt to the group, which did not help his case.
"I didn't say anything!" he declared.
"Exactly." answered Audrey, pointing at the man.
"Shut up! You admitted to looking at it more than once!"
"Yeah, but I also said it was boring, and it was. The parts that weren't were just gross."
"Like what?" questioned the menace, turning his gaze back to the reaper in a somewhat innocent manner for the man. Thankfully, he was no provided an explanation.
"I don't think you want to know, probably." spoke the bluenette. He was right, and Alois quickly dropped the subject in favour of eating the free bread that was placed in front of him.
"Probably." the blonde said with his mouth full. "Sounds like Audrey and Pat's sister should hand out, though."
"Sounds like Audrey's got a potential girlfriend." joked Kristopherson with a grin, prompting the woman on the other side of the table to shake her head.
"Probably not since she's fifteen." Patricia replied. While the others snickered, Audrey, however, stayed completely calm.
"I'm not into that sort of thing, Kris." the reaper said. "Don't be nasty. Sick..."
"Why does everything keep turning back to me being a pervert?" questioned the Miles with a frown, earning a reply from the menace.
"'Cause it's funny." the younger Phantomhive bluntly answered.
The others concurred, much to the annoyance of Kristopherson. Even Logan was smiling at his statement, finding the wolfman's mild irritation entertaining as well. The others took notice, having wondered about him for a while. It was the menace who finally commented on him, saying: "You've been quiet for a while, Logan. Nothing to add?"
"Not really." the incubus replied somewhat bashfully. "Just not a lot to say."
In truth, he really wasn't confident in holding a conversation with the others. He came from a different world, after all. He didn't get many of the references they made, so he just smiled and nodded along in most cases. Gehenna was not entirely familiar with human pop culture, including residents who regularly crossed the border.
"I've been dying to ask, though..." began Audrey. "Did Kris style your goatee? It looks like a Kris goatee."
"Uh, yeah." the other answered. "I thought his looked really cool, so he offered to style it."
The poor man was made nervous by the others' grins. Did he say something wrong? This was difficult. Blood rushed to his cheeks as he accidentally blushed at his supposed blunder, but in reality, they were just glad he and the faux-blonde were getting along so well.
"Thought so. That kinda precision doesn't come from just anybody." Alois said. "What do you do when it grows back?"
"Uh, I dunno. Kris just offers to do it again?"
"Well, I'm glad you're getting along. Things have been rough all around, lately."
Everyone knew about the Miles' predicament and were glad that Logan was able to help him. The man needed cheering up and company. The others were very busy with their own lives, so they couldn't stop by every other day. Granted, they did make an extra effort to call as much as they could, which Kristopherson greatly appreciated.
He liked being up to date on what everyone was doing and gossiping about it. That was just the sort of person he was. He also greatly enjoyed the incubus' companionship as well. Logan had been essential to accepting that he is indeed a supernatural and normalizing the idea. Blue skin and horns were no longer unusual to the wolfman. He even liked them. Logan looked somewhat strange to him in his human disguise, although he was admittedly easy on the eyes.
While the group's issues were far from over, they seemed to be getting better. Every time things started to seem that way, however, there was always something else going awry. It was as though they were cursed with bad luck. Perhaps that simply comes with the territory of crossing between worlds. Sometimes things worked out perfectly fine, but sometimes, things went badly in borderline catastrophic ways. Hopefully, they would never replicate the terror of the Scarlet Order fiasco. The Phantomhives as well as Audrey and the Intelligence Department were still dealing with that headache.
It was just as expected, unfortunately. Just as things had calmed down and everything was starting to fit into place, there was trouble lurking beyond the horizon. The group was getting along swimmingly, assimilating the newer members in almost seamlessly. Even the ever-grouchy Watchdog accepted them quite well, despite his presence intimidating Logan somewhat. And it was Ciel who registered the presence of the Westley gentleman first as his vigilance never ceased in public. Truly, he looked like a guard dog that had just heard a potential threat approach, perking up somewhat and keeping his eye fixed in the direction of the brunett, prompting the attention of his beau.
"What is it?" the blonde asked before tuning his senses as well. While he was sharper, he wasn't the type to think about work with friends. Soon, he too sensed the Westley, causing him to frown.
"Daniel's here." he informed the others, capturing their attention. Immediately, their eyes followed the demons', and they stayed that way as Daniel rounded the corner.
The sudden realization that their eyes were already glaring at him from the start nearly caused the poor brunet to jump out of his skin. Daniel let out a sound of surprise before righting himself, trying to come up with something to say. He didn't know what was appropriate given his reputation amoung the group, so for the first time in ages he appeared truly bashful in front of his friends.
"Hey..." the Westley began, trying to break the agonizing silence. He had no idea how the others would react to him being here. He wasn't sure if he was still welcome, but given his previous interaction, he was highly doubtful.
Much to his dismay, it was a while before he finally received a response. The group had to silently deliberate amoungst themselves with their eyes in order to figure out what they were going to do. Each of their heads turned to one another, gauging each other's reactions. Occasionally, there was a shrug or two. Daniel wasn't sure what to make of any of it, but was completely at attention when the faux-blonde sighed.
"Hey, Dan..." Kristopherson said. "C'mon, have a seat."
