There Is A Dinner Party Right Across The Hall

[littlest_lord]

Who: Phancyhive and invited/close CR!
When: Wednesday Evening for supper
Where: Phancyhive
Summary: With so many new additions to the household, it's only proper to welcome them with a dinner party.
Warnings: A bunch of crazy people around a dinner table. What could possibly go wrong?

<sub>[Ciel hated parties. Really, he did. They were an unbearable drudgery of having to socialize but he could manage to endure for one night. It was expected of him to host such an event, what with the new additions to the household, so despite his desire to lock himself away in his office, he'd been dressed in lovely clothes and had the whole thing arranged.

The dining room itself was decorated exquisitely and the food that had been set out was unbearably tempting to anyone who'd glance upon it. Hopefully, the whole night wouldn't be an ordeal. The last thing needed was more stress.]</sub>

Comments

(squick warning!)

[maddeninghatter]

[ Somehow, Break has managed to make it through dinner. It's almost over, thank goodness. In truth, he would have left already if he'd followed his better judgement; slipped out quietly. But there were too many people here, too much going on. Enemies to spy on. Fascinating people - Jack Vessalius of all people! - to watch.

And people who shouldn't be worrying about him.

So when his left eye starts to move on his own, he doesn't touch it. He squeezes it shut; no one can see, it's hidden under his fringe.

But... there are too many people, glowing bright, reflected in his new eye. Even through his heavy fringe of hair, even through his eyelid - he can see.

It can see. All night long, from person to person, it's been zeroing in on its own. It wants... ]

GAAAAH!

[ He stands suddenly, gripping the table with both hands. ]

SSSSSSPPPPPLOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHT!

[ …it wants out. Sorry, Gilbert, Ciel, and Alois. Your lovely dinner table, spoilt by blood and zombie eyeball. Paging Dr. Franken Stein? ]

[1/2]

[littlest_lord]

<sub>[Ciel had been just finishing his dinner when he noticed Break begin to freak out. Eyebrows raised he watched with confusion soon turned to horror as he watched Break's eye pop out from his head and roll down the table.

It doesn't take long for Ciel to stand up, horrified.]</sub>

[2/2]

[littlest_lord]

<sub>[Only to push himself away from the table, knocking into the chair in the process as a hand is clamped over his mouth. Sorry guests, your host has a weak stomach and it's currently wrenching.

Ciel literally runs into the kitchen to throw up in the sink. Talk about killing someone's appetite.]</sub>

[psychopath]

[in the midst of commotion and hubbub, Jack will just be pocketing that golden eye, all blood and viscera. How interesting.

He might be able to sell it; AGI did deal with black market items, after all.]

[retraced]

[And sometime later after Break has been removed from the room and things have quieted down, Gilbert approaches Jack. He's still sort of covered in blood, though, so he calls out to him from the doorway:]

Pst! Jack!

[psychopath]

[Jack looks over his shoulder and trots over.]

Hm?

[retraced]

[He gestures vaguely with one bloody hand.]

Do you still have the...uggggh....

The eye...?

[psychopath]

[THIS HOUSE IS SO GROSS JFC]

...no? Gilbert, why on earth would I keep that?

1/2

[retraced]

[He recoils a bit.]

S-sorry! I wasn't trying to imply that you'd--!

2/2

[retraced]

[Wait. Blink.]

Then where did it go...?

1/2

[psychopath]

No, no, it's all right-

2/2

[psychopath]

...what do you mean, where did it go? It's loose in the house?!

[retraced]

If you don't have it then it's possible that that's true...!

[WEEPING.]

[psychopath]

Wait, goodness, is Xerxes all right?

[retraced]

[Gilbert turns away from whatever he's picking at on his plate at the sound of Break's voice. Though they'd had, yet another, angry fight earlier before dinner, he's still on high alert for any pained or otherwise troublesome sounds coming from his superior.

What he sees, though, isn't...exactly what he'd expected to see.

It's easier (again) to tell himself that this is another hallucination, but he doesn't have that luxury anymore. There's nothing fake about this entire situation. Right now, it's very, very real. Whatever strange process Break had gone through in order to attempt to regain his sight has gone poorly. Later, when things have calmed down, Gilbert will think to himself that he was right all along. And that being right is ridiculously painful.]

Break-!

[He shoves his chair backwards, making a pretty good grossed out face at the eyeball before leaping across the table to grab hold of Break's shoulders and move him from the room. He doesn't even know where they're going, only that it needs to be far away from the dinner table.]

[maddeninghatter]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--

[ Break doesn't resist being grabbed and carried. He's too busy screaming. It's not just the pain - it's the memory. He can remember, as if it were yesterday, how it felt when the Will of the Abyss reached in and plucked out his eye. ]

[retraced]

[He wants to tell him that it'll be all right, or at least give some sort of reassurance, but he doesn't dare try to raise his voice over the top of Break's. Instead he simply hurries the two of them out of the room with a short, 'Excuse us!' over his shoulder as he hurries out into the hall. One arm still bracing Break against him, he reaches up with his other hand to pull his cravat loose and press against the once again empty socket, hurrying towards the closest bathroom on this floor.]

[maddeninghatter]

[ Shock and agony: that's how it had felt. And then he had cried out, desperately, to her. He'd begged her. What he'd done had to have meaning. The contract, the murders, his fall - it couldn't be for naught, it couldn't.

And then, afterwards - it was. He'd been a self-indulgent fool, and he'd paid the price. Nothing has changed. ]

AAAAAAA--

[ He stops screaming, abruptly, as he feels Gilbert's hand press the cravat against his eye socket. ]

I--

I'm going to die.

1/2

[retraced]

[The cloth is stained too quickly for this to be such a simple injury to fix. Raven would be able to get them to a hospital quickly enough, but Madam Red would at least be able to treat him temporarily so that they could get there at a more leisurely pace. Though, none of these options stand out to him as being better than the other as soon as he hears Break speak.

He remembers the story that Break had told him back at Barma's, what had happened that day that the Will had taken his eye, the state that he'd been in afterwards. The promises that he'd made in hopes that the future would be changed. He's sure that this must be what he's thinking of; pain alone would never make his superior scream like that.

Still standing in the middle of the hallway, blood smearing down his hands, arms, and leaking onto the floor, Gilbert tightens his grip on Break's shoulder and squeezes hard. Hey, at least he's not kicking him in the spine this time.]

Break. There are a lot of things that I don't understand about your situation right now...a lot of things that I won't be able to understand no matter how hard I try.

2/2

[retraced]

[And then that grip tightens even more as his voice raises up three levels in volume.]

--But if you think that I'll listen to you say things like 'I'm going to die' and be willing to accept them, then you're even more of an idiot than I gave you credit for!

[He twists the cravat in his hand, blood soaking his gloves as he presses the cleaner side to the wound.]

Even if that eye was taken from you again - [or whatever the hell just happened back there.] - so what?! Things are different this time! Your left eye is right here!

1/2

[maddeninghatter]

[ I'm going to die... so why don't you help me along?

Is what he was going to ask. Because he should have died, that night, at Yura's mansion. He was going to die, but instead he'd been Pulled here. Here, he'd lived a sort of half-life, buried in grief and regret. Blind. And, without his Chain, useless.

Release the seal, he'd wanted to ask. But the words die on his lips. ]

...

2/2

[maddeninghatter]

[ He had been hanging, limp, fully supported by Gilbert - his legs useless, his arms by his sides. But now, with great effort, he stands. His hands come up, gripping Gilbert's arms. He is holding on - and not giving up. ]

Gilbert, I need your help.

[retraced]

[Familiarity. That's what this calming sensation taking over his body could be called. This world had been nothing more than a sea of confusion, chaos and grief for the last two and a half years. Gil was sure that there were times when his heart would explode from the stress of it all. But that reminder of a time when he didn't fail to protect someone close to him...

It's simple. It's 'normal'.

It's also a painful reminder of his own selfishness.

He lets out a breath slowly and glances out the side window. Sirens won't be for a little while, they might still have time to get him to a hospital before they go off.]

This wound is worse than anything I can take care of...the hospital isn't far -

[maddeninghatter]

[ At this moment, Break doesn't feel shame - that will come later. Right now he feels an unfamiliar release of tension, like a chord reaching its resolution; or a pattern finally visible, out of chaos.

Gilbert has been so small, long ago. Now he's tall. He had been so weak; now he's strong. And that is the natural order of things, for children to grow up and get stronger and care for their elders, when they inevitably falter. It is the way things are, it is the way things should be.

Break has always struggled against this truth, though he knows it well. But now--

He presses his left hand over Gilbert's, to aid in holding compression over his eye socket. ]

No. This is... no ordinary wound. Call Doctor Stein, you remember him, don't you? From the clinic.

[retraced]

Stein? That guy was...?!

[Wow, suddenly inexplicable rage. Not with just Break for seeking out that lunatic to begin with, but towards Stein for doing whatever the hell he did with that creepy phantom eye. He will yell at you later, Break. For now he's fishing his NV out of his pocket with his right hand, attempting to dial on this stupid tiny touchscreen with one hand.]

I knew he wasn't a person who could be trusted! [He grunts under his breath as he finally locates the right number and dials.]