The Wolf's Glen of Gehenna did not sit quietly tonight. People were filing in very excitedly in order to see their fellow supernaturals perform. The money that was raised with ticket sales, it was decided, was going to go to keeping the builders at Pyestock comfortable. They knew that it wouldn't be much, but it was something, and the effort was appreciated. It was already decided that the performance was going to come back for the weekend as well, given how difficult it was for people to find seating at the premiere. The crowd stretched out onto the sidewalk as people still hoped to at least have a listen. Fortunately, Alois and Daniel were able to get a table, given Alois' status in the community, despite the fact that the menace himself was a tad bit ignorant to that being the case.
Daniel sat almost awkwardly, feeling out of place as the only human in a sea of supernaturals, some of which were sitting on the floor in order to not block the view of those in the back who were left standing. It was difficult, but he felt safe enough with Alois there that he was able to function. While Daniel worked day in and day out with supernatural beings, he had his place in their world. He wasn't sure if this was permissible.
Still, he was here and the two of them were early. They had to be in order to get in. They sat around and tried to think of things to talk about while waiting for the first person to take the stage.
"Do you know what kind of government is gonna be set up in Pyestock?" asked Daniel with an arched eyebrow. "That Ravenscroft woman who was running for judge says that she wants to try running for an office there, and I don't want her to. She's a snob and she's rude to her husband and kid."
"That why she didn't get elected here?" the menace answered with a question of his own before actually addressing Daniel's concern. "I honestly don't know yet. We want something a little more democratic, but we also don't want too much of the decision making in the hands of one person."
"You could go for a council thing like we got here. Only instead of being 'leaders of the community,' people can run for seats."
"Good idea! I'll have to remember that one."
"I just don't want Ravenscroft to win… or, whatever it is she's going by now that she's divorced."
"You handle divorces?"
"No. That's a different department." the Westley stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "There's government-run legal representatives in Gehenna, but they didn't know how to contact one, or even that they needed one!"
"Sounds like a pain..."
"It was! The woman's a menace! She made me take sides even though it was completely inappropriate for me to do so?"
"Did you take her side?" inquired Alois, leaning with his elbows resting on the table.
"Hell no. I told her straight-up that it ain't the bloke's fault she lost the election. It's because she's a nasty cow who screams at people for no reason. The man was staying home taking care of their child, of course he's not gonna pay attention to her 'round the clock!"
"You didn't get in trouble for that?"
"I did." nodded Daniel, still seeming sure of himself, regardless. "But Forsetti isn't around there any more, so the scolding wasn't that bad. Besides, the man came back."
"Really? What for?"
"Uh, he wanted help finding a job and a babysitter for his daughter. Cute little thing, she is. Her name's Ruby. She hangs around my office when I don't have clients."
"You're babysitting?"
"Nah, not really. John- that's Mister Ravenscroft ended up taking Forsetti Sibyl's old job, and he brings his daughter until we can find somebody to look after her."
The thought of Daniel looking after a small child caused Alois to grin as he tried to imagine it. Somehow, Daniel seemed like he would be rather decent at it. After all, he had been taking splendid care of Samantha thus far.
"So I take it you're pretty good mates, now?" he questioned.
"Yeah, I guess so. Though, you don't really have to be friends with someone for them to take care of your kids."
"It helps, though! What if Ciel and me wanted to have kids and needed a babysitter? You think we'd trust just anybody?"
"No thanks." the Westley replied, holding up a hand. "Get Kris or Travis to do it. Dealing with a toddler who's a witch and can set things on fire is bad enough. I don't even wanna know what the spawn of Satan can do."
"Understandable. Besides, we have Sebastian. Though he's due for a day off soon, I think." the menace said before pausing. He wore a very thoughtful expression as he made his next inquiry. "Kris said you were kind of down, before. Has this kinda cheered you up or something?"
For a moment, the Phantomhive wondered if that was a mistake as his friend visibly hesitated at the question. "I guess? I still feel… Well… It's not the right word, but 'bad'." Pausing, Daniel looked around to see if anyone was listening in before leaning closer to Alois with a whisper: "I kinda wanna talk to you about something. Later, though. I don't want to talk about it here."
"Sure thing." nodded the demon. "We'll talk."
That alone seemed to inspire some confidence in the Westley, prompting the human to utter a sigh of relief. He was still very much uneasy; that much was very apparent. Still, he was able to relax a little bit. Once that was addressed and out of the way, he was able to enjoy the show as it was about to start. There was a man getting ready to approach the stage area. When he finally did, there was applause.
He was a very tall elf named "Jasper" who worked at The Wolf's Glen regularly and had alright presenting skills, despite the fact that he always looked as though he had just woken up. Both men had met him before and knew of him, but didn't know him well enough to be particularly excited. Still, everyone else certainly was and it was infectious.
"Thanks for waitin' around, everybody." the elf began, clapping his hands together. "I dunno about you, but I'm ready to hear some music, aren't you?" He paused to let the audience cheer and voice their approval with a smile.
"Right! Before we start, though, we want to thank you all for coming and tell you that all of the money is going to a good cause." the man continued. "Our lads and lasses working hard over in Pyestock need support in order to continue not only building homes, but building lives. We actually have a few special guests tonight all the way from the United States here later tonight, so stick around. Their voices are heavenly!"
There was another pause for cheer and Alois clapped along with them, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible. "For the time being though, you'll have to settle for Britain's own heavenly voice. Please put your hands together for our Chief of Police, Chief Tegwen Sibyl!"
Tegwen came on stage wearing a guitar with a few other people with instruments behind her. She performed a rather energetic acoustic piece that Alois knew but couldn't place. He was determined that he had heard it before in Kristopherson's store before. Not knowing what it was didn't exactly ruin it for him, either. In fact, he was really impressed with the police chief's voice. It had sort of a folksy twinge to it, making it sound unique when performing what Alois believed to be a pop song.
Still, she wasn't the only one performing and others followed once she had performed her first song. She would be on later to sing songs that she was more comfortable with, but before that came several groups an individuals with varying fields of expertise. Some came and used household objects as instruments while others had home-made versions of "actual" instruments or in rare cases possessed proper equipment brought from London. There was even a group of all HELLSING officers who came in with Roger Winery on the bass and others that neither Daniel or Alois knew the names of. Occasionally in between, Tegwen would come back, however, and sing proper folk songs, although she field although she felt a bit badly that she made a few people in the audience cry while singing "Auld Lang Syne." It was one of the few moments where the crowd was completely silent.
The other was when the Americans who had come from Pyestock performed. Jasper had introduced three faun to the stage, all of them women. They didn't have a name for their group, so they simply went by "The Michigan Goatwomen," as a nod to the name that humans had given a few of the men in their part of the country. This point was addressed in their introduction, yet there was still surprised to be had.
The trio did not look like "regular" faun that was familiar to those in Gehenna. They were much fuzzier in appearance with hairy arms and dark sideburns. Their ears weren't pointed, either. They had ears that more closely resembled a goat's and were both taller and sturdier-looking than their European counterparts, but they were accepted all the same. No one in that room could judge. They had no instruments that could be seen and just sang, starting with the woman in the middle, only to be joined by the others after a verse.
"Bright morning stars are rising. Bright morning stars are rising!" the first began, soon followed by the others in perfect harmony. They really didn't need the instruments. Singing a cappella was enough. It was wild enough that there were Americans in Gehenna to begin with, but the fact that they could sing the way that they could completely blew the crowd away.
The final performance is what really did it for people, however. As it turns out, the United States shares several folk songs with the United Kingdom. Thus, joining the lead singer of The Michigan Goatwomen, a woman called "Ruth," Tegwen sat beside her with her guitar and they sang together "Black Is The Colour Of My True Love's Hair." While incredibly similar, the two variants were slightly different, allowing the two of them to harmonise in a unique way. They even used different pronouns when singing about their true love, Tegwen singing about a woman while the other sang about a man.
Overall, it was a great evening for everyone involved. The Wolf's Glen managed to raise a decent sum on the first night of the performance like they hoped and Daniel was able to have fun with his friend. The hardest part, however, was getting away from the crowd. For some reason, people wanted to congratulate Alois as if he was the one who organised the event when in reality he had to be told about it by a resident of the town. All he could do was gently correct people and be friendly as he tried to make his escape with Daniel, who was asked many questions about being friends with the Lion. The pair ran away before they were trapped in conversation for too long, fleeing to Alois' car despite the fact that Daniel drove himself.
"Are they always that relentless?" the Westley panted, feeling winded after keeping up with a demon.
"Nah. Usually, they're much more tame." Alois replied, completely unaffected. "I think they're just excited."
"Good for them… D'ya care if I sit for a minute?"
"Not at all. Sit for as long as you need." offered the devil. "I'm not in any hurry. So said you wanted to talk, anyway, didn't you?"
After displaying a moment of hesitance, the Westley sighed and made his reply. "Yeah. I did say that, didn't?"
"You don't have to if you don't want to."
"No, I want to. I just don't know how to talk about this stuff." Daniel clarified. "It's kinda heavy. I know that you might not want to talk about it. It's just that… I just thought that… you might be the only one who 'gets it'."
"Shoot." answered the menace, leaning back in his seat. "I'm happy to help y'out, if you need."
"Uh… I feel like I need to have some kind of build up or something, but I've got nothing." stalled the human. "I'll just ask, I guess? Okay, so… You know… how… if you sleep with someone while they're drunk… that's rape, right?"
"Yeah." the other answered with an affirmative nod. "Drunk people can't consent."
"Well… Does it still count if the person agreed to do it other times after that?"
"Yes. Absolutely. Just because they consented other times, doesn't make that one time not rape." Alois stated with absolute certainty. "There's no special circumstance where having sex with someone who can't or just isn't consenting isn't rape."
Perplexingly, Daniel had a horrified expression on his face for a matter of moments before he uttered a sigh of what appeared to be relief. Alois hoped that there would be an explanation for this and one would definitely follow, but for now, Daniel had to point out something.
"I'm sorry, there's just a lot of feelings going on with that..." he said. "I'm horrified. That's fucking horrifying. I feel violated and disgusting. I kind of hate myself. At the same time, though, I feel a little less like I'm crazy? Like, reassured that I'm not freaked out over nothing?"
"Dan, what happened?" Alois questioned, leaning forward and staring at the other man with concern written all over his face.
"That was… the first time I did it with Blackwood..." Daniel replied, looking down at the floor. "I was drunk and he came onto me… There wasn't a lot I could really do. It was… really fucked up. All of it. From start to finish. I thought he liked me, so I went with it."
Immediately, the Phantomhive's stomach dropped and his eyes widened slightly as his face went pale. Even through the darkness within the car, the demon's horror was plain for all eyes to see despite the subtlety of his expression. He felt defensive for himself, definitely, but also for Daniel. He wanted to protect him although what has passed is passed and cannot be taken back. Sickness wracked his body as he tried to keep himself under control for the sake of his friend.
"Oh, Dan..." the demon finally spoke after realising that he had stopped breathing. "I… I'm so sorry..."
"Not your fault… It's mine. I shouldn't have been so stupid."
"No! It isn't your fault. Blackwood is a decade older than you and he took advantage of you while you were vulnerable." insisted Alois, his brow furrowed with a mix of emotions behind his eyes. "He purposely manipulated you. That's what that was supposed to do by design! You didn't do anything wrong."
"I guess so…" hopelessly answered Daniel, hugging himself. "Still, looking back, I can see signs and wish I hadn't looked past them. I wish I could have been better about not letting myself be messed with like that… I just… I wanna think that I'm smart enough not to do it again..."
"The man's a predator and the only thing he's good for is worm food." stated the menace in a cruel manner. "People like that? They… they know how to get to you. They know how to tailor their tactics to you. You can't always detect them. That doesn't mean you're stupid. That just means that you, like the good majority of people want to be happy in their relationships and want to see good in people. Even geniuses can fall prey to a silver tongue."
"It's just… I know it's not reasonable. I know that realistically there's probably nothing I could have done… I just… I hate it. I hate it so much… I'm pissed off that he was able to do that to me. I'm disgusted with myself. I don't know why. I just feel… tampered with. Then I'm scared that it'll happen again. How do you get over it?"
"I don't know… There's no straight answer for that… I hear therapy helps some people, though it didn't do much for me."
"How many people are gonna believe me? Huh? I'm a bloke, I'm supposed to like that shit. It was with a man, too, so that makes it a big joke. Then I did it with him several times after that! Who's gonna believe it is what it is?" Tears welled up in the Westley's eyes and his voice was strained, cracking as he spoke.
"I will. Ciel will. We all will, for what it's worth." Alois replied. "Listen, if you ever want to talk or need some support, I'll be here for you, alright?"
"It's just not fair…" lamented his friend, shaking his head while tears fell. "He's dead, but I still feel so shitty! It's not fair!"
"No. It isn't. It's never fair." the demon said while putting his hand on the other's shoulder. "I'm not gonna give you some bullshit on how you need to let it go and get over it. Don't do anything stupid, though, either. Don't be getting drunk or getting destructive. You've still got Sam to look after. For real, though. Talk to me when you need to, okay? I'll do what I can."
"Thanks..." Daniel said, wiping his eyes with his sleeve and sniffling. "I'm sorry… I haven't talked to you in forever and I lay all of this on you all of a sudden..."
"Don't be. I'm glad you did. You need be able to get help when you need it, but also, if you just want some space you should be able to get that too."
It was a long while before Daniel was able to leave that car. It was an hour at least with an added thirty minutes at most. Alois walked him to his car and gave him an appropriate but firm hug, squeezing his friend tight enough for it to be comforting, but not enough for it to hurt him. When that was done, they told each other their farewells before parting ways on good terms. After Daniel drove away, the menace sighed with a heavy heart before walking back to his own vehicle, stopping in his tracks as he sensed a presence.
"Show yourself before I drag you out myself." he ordered, earning a nervous squeak before a man stepped out of the shadows. It was that rather annoying man from the Gehenna newspaper, Dennis Darcy. He stood there with his greased hair and Walt Disney mustache while clutching to his camera for dear life.
"H-hello, mister Lion..." Darcy greeted, unenthusiastic about being sensed, since he wasn't anticipating talking to the man. "Nice evening isn't it?"
"Forget that. What are you doing?" the blonde interrogated. "I know for a fact that when someone lurks in the shadows with a camera, it's usually not good."
"I was hoping to talk about your husband, but..." Swallowing, Dennis gathered courage to ask what he did next. "Are you… Having an affair? With that man from the welfare center?"
"What?!" Alois reeled back. "No! Of course not. I love and respect my husband far to much for something stupid like that. Dan is a mutual friend from back when we were in school. I was talking to him about a personal problem he's having."
"Are you sure? I mean, your husband has been weakened, hasn't he? Is that a good reason for an affair?"
"There is no good reason for an affair! I'm not having one!" A snarl formed on the demon's face at the mere suggestion. Angrily, he marched over to the other man and ripped the camera from his hands, tearing out the SD card and making sure that there were no photographs on it. "Don't go spreading lies. If you think Ciel is scary, you haven't seen me angry."
"I-is that a threat?"
"It is what you make of it. For the most part, I'm not to happy about you warping a rather difficult conversation with my friend into something disgusting."
"Then why did you delete my pictures? To remove evidence?"
"To make sure you don't publish bullshit that my husband and I have to deal with later. I don't want to have to drag the whole family down there in order to launch a complaint, because that is what would happen if you did." When the other man failed to move or come up with a reply, Alois continued with another order. "Go! Why are you just standing there? Leave me and my family alone! I've already declined to comment on my husband's injury, and there is no need for you to make stories up in it's place! Go home!"
With that, the warlock scurried back to the gates and was let through while Alois was left to roll his eyes. He would have to send Kristopherson a message to tell him to watch out for any tabloid gossip in what is supposed to be a respectable paper. Thus, he got into his car and began the drive home back to his family.
A/N: This chapter was seven pages long in my word document.
A lot happened. A lot happened in this chapter.
Also, I feel like Tegwen and Ruth would get along because both of them are chill and collect songs like Pokemon.
Dan's a good guy. He used to be my least favourite of the seven, but now I want his happiness so badly. Dude's been through a lot.
On that grim note, I bid thee farewell until next time.
Until the next chapter, my duckies~!
