-Christmas Interlude Part 1-
It started to snow again. Thick and fast, the snowflakes descended, leaving behind a wintry wonderland. Blaire awoke, peeking out the window of her attic room. Usually, the frost-bitten air inside Ciel's mansion first thing in the morning would leave her in a bad mood. The thought of getting out of bed was soul destroying and only Sebastian's threats of dousing her in icy water were enough to get her up. Today however, the sight of freshly laid snow made her smile. Quickly washing and dressing herself, teeth chattering, she rushed downstairs. Her fellow servants would normally still be in bed. But just as her mood was strangely unaffected by the chill in the air, so to were her colleagues strangely bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning.
"Is Sebastian not here to boss us around? Making everything perfect and whatnot?" Asked Blaire, who found herself unable to put any hint of malice or sarcasm behind her query.
"Nope." Smiled Bard.
"Wanted nothin' to do with it." Finny clarified helpfully.
"Perfect." Blaire clapped her hands together. "Where's this tree then?"
In spite of everyone's best efforts, the yuletide cheer was not to last. It wasn't long before the four servants were fumbling like contrapuncti in a fugue. Blaire observed her fellow maid, holding the ladder Mey balanced on as ornaments dropped like boulders crashing into water, exploding in one last hurrah across the floor.
"Um, Mey? Maybe if you aim for the tree instead of the chandelier?" Blaire suggested, flinching as another ornament narrowly missed her head.
"Sorry! It's hard to reach."
"You want to swap?" Offered Blaire.
"No!" Mey and Bard exclaimed at the same time.
"Jeez, alright." Blaire glanced between the two questioningly, but Bard didn't look at her. He stood by, stroking his chin as he observed the spectacle. Another ornament made its grand descent.
"Oh, Sebastian ain't gon' be happy…" Said Bard.
"Oh yeah, because he's always a ray of sunshine!" Snapped Blaire. "I thought you were getting the lights?"
"I 'ave." He held up a box of long candles. "Ready and waitin' ma'am."
"I meant for the tree."
"Yeah anno." Bard frowned. Blaire frowned. The two stared at each other, until Blaire's mouth made an o.
"Those candles go on the tree, don't they? No electricity."
"…yeh."
Blaire sighed, looking warily up at Mey. She began to sing under her breath in a very poor attempt at a Scottish accent.
"Oh ye cannae fling pieces oot a twenty-story flat
Seven hundred hungry weans will testify tae that
If it's butter, cheese or jeely
If the breid is plain or pan
The chances of it reachin' earth are ninety nine tae wan"
Smash.
Finny skipped in donning a wreath around his neck and holding a watering can. "Where should I put the mistletoe?"
"Somewhere I never go. Don't want any nasty surprises, thank you." Muttered Blaire, dodging another wayward Christmas ornament. Shrugging, Finny decided the mistletoe was best left for another time and went to water the poinsettias, spilling water onto the floor with an audible spatter. "Finny!" Blaire left her post by the ladder to take the watering can from her outdoor-loving colleague.
"Well at least the floor will be extra shiny!" He beamed. Right on cue, Blaire slipped on the wet floor and sent Finny crashing down with her.
With no one to hold the rickety old ladder, Mey-Rin couldn't quite find her balance and plummeted face first into the Christmas tree, sending what remained of the Christmas ornaments to the ground with a resounding crash.
"Oh dear…" Said Mey with her face full of evergreen needles like some kind of human porcupine.
"Well tha' escalated quickly." Said Bard, who hadn't moved from his post. Blaire wouldn't have been surprised if each of the candles spontaneously combusted to really set the cherry on top of the cake. Her once hopeful mood, turned sour instantly. Slowly she stood up, rubbing her sore rear. With one final look at the desecrated Christmas tree, she turned and left without another word.
"How goes the decorating?" Asked Sebastian from the doorway to the library.
Blaire, who had taken up residence and was reading A Christmas Carol in a feeble attempt to regain some of her spirit back, did not even look up to greet him. "Didn't you hear? It was a disaster." She said grimly.
"But you were so excited. Shame it didn't work out."
"Look, if you're just here to poke fun, you can leave me alone. I've re-read this paragraph like, three times now."
"Actually, I wanted to show you something I thought might lighten your mood. Of course, if you don't want to see…"
Blaire peered up at him through narrowed eyes. "Is it a half-eaten mouse? It didn't scare me last time; it won't work this time."
"I would never think you so gullible… twice."
Pursing her lips, her curiosity ebbed her to follow him. She closed the book and stood to join him, feeling oddly at ease.
"Close your eyes." Said Sebastian with all the innocence of Jack the Ripper.
Blaire squinted, untouched by this odd request, recognising safely that she was on thin ice. "Last time you asked Bard to close his eyes, you tied his shoe laces together and pushed him down the hill."
"Do as you're told." His tone was unamused and left no room for argument. She complied, noting that deep down, she no longer felt scared of him. Before she could ponder it much further, he opened the door and gently ushered her inside. Then he prompted her to open her eyes again.
Half expecting to see a room of spiders or a dead body (again), she audibly gasped when she found herself in the drawing room. The Christmas tree that Mey had face-planted into stood proud and tall, decorated with the once-smashed ornaments. Bard's candles decorated the tree, seeming to defy logic as they hung suspended without setting the branches on fire.
"They actually managed it…"
"On the contrary…"
Blaire turned to him with wide eyes, her jaw hanging open. "You…?" She turned to the tree again, feeling warmth spread within her. Her shocked expression morphed into one of beaming joy. "You did the decorating."
"Oh, well observed."
She sent him a toothy smile, bounding towards him and before either of them realised what she was doing, she had wrapped her arms around the butler and given him a great big squeeze. "Jesus Christ, you're skinny…" She muttered, then seemed to recall that she was hugging a soul devouring beast. When she quickly pulled away from him, his expression was completely blank. "Wait a second…" She narrowed her eyes at him. "Why you being nice?"
"You know…" He began, staring at her thoughtfully. "Humans are the only species who bare their teeth at each other when they are happy. So many misunderstandings…"
With that, he turned and blended into the shadows, leaving Blaire elated, and just a little bit confused.
This is pure filler and doesn't address what happened last chapter, I know, I know. My aim is to address it in part 2, which I would like to ideally have up before Christmas.
Based on the reviews, it seems like some people actually care about Blaire. I initially wrote Blaire with the expectation that readers would merely project themselves onto her, so I left her mostly a blank slate. That was bad writing practice, so I intend to fix that, as well as give Blaire a break, like many of you have suggested. Thank you for the kind reviews, as always!
FYI:
Blaire was singing the Jeely Piece song. The plan was to have Bard sing it but the song was written much later than I thought and I was dead set on including it. In English it goes;
"Oh you can't throw (sandwiches) out a twenty-story flat
Seven hundred hungry (kids) will testify to that
If it's butter, cheese or jelly
If the bread is plain or pan
The chances of it reaching earth are ninety nine to one"