Doors of Kuroshitsuji

Chapter 20: Book of OVA's

                                    OVA ONE

Clouds of cigar and cigarette smoke hung thick in the dimly lit room, obscuring the participants' features in an atmospheric haze as the game progressed. Tensions mounted with each passing round, the jovial camaraderie rapidly disintegrating amongst hurled accusations of cheating and foul play.

"You're hiding cards again, aren't you?!" Bard shouted, slamming his fist against the table and causing the stacks of chips to rattle precariously. Isabella shot him an equally venomous glare from across the felted surface, tendrils of hair escaping her updo.

"Why don't you take your own advice and stop using those freakish underworld hustling tricks of yours, old man," she spat back, fingers tightening around her cards.

At the opposite end of the table, Mey-Rin shamelessly squinted to take full advantage of her long-distance vision, carefully examining each of Finny's cards before adjusting her poker visor with a sniff of derision. Beside her, Maritza simply shook her head in dismay, debating whether or not to attempt reining in the escalating hostility.

Without warning, Finny abruptly shot to his feet, face flushed nearly purple as he slammed his palms down hard enough to splinter the solid oak. "That's it! I can't take anymore of this lying and cheating! This is an honest household and we're supposed to have integrity!"

With a bestial roar of unbridled rage, the hulking groundskeeper seized the heavy table and hoisted it clear over his head in an astonishing feat of brawn. The others barely had time to scramble backwards before he launched the impromptu projectile in a whirlwind of flying cards, chips, and dishware.

"Merciful heavens, he's gone utterly mad!" Mey-Rin shrieked as she frantically unslung her rifles from their back holsters, loosing a barrage of suppressive fire towards the enraged Finny even as the table detonated in a hail of deadly splinters.

A deafening thunderclap abruptly shook the foundations of the manor as Bard apparently found something sufficiently volatile to trigger one of his signature fiery eruptions. Fireballs of searing promethium illuminated the room in hellish bursts, the acrid tang of scorched ether searing their nostrils. The room filled with Mey-Rin's gunfire, Finny throwing things and Bard randomly exploding things, Isabella and Maritza took cover in the back of the room.

"What on earth is going on? Do you know what time it is?" Sebastian's furious bellow cut through the tumult as he burst into the room, closely trailed by an utterly furious Ciel. All movement ceased as the irate demon flared his aura in a menacing display, irises blazing like twin embers.

"Enough of this nonsense! All of you, cease this pathetic display at once! This is the second time this week, playing cards late night is forbidden from now on!" Ciel's heated commands echoed in the abruptly silence as he surveyed the smoldering ruins of the parlor. "Any further infractions and you'll all be cleaning the estate from top to bottom with naught but your toothbrushes, am I making myself explicitly clear?"

Petrified nods met his edict as the bedraggled group hastily disentangled themselves from the wreckage, each one making a hasty beeline for the exits with heads hung in appropriately chided shame...at least until they were out of their master's withering glower.

OVA TWO

The sun-drenched beach was filled of vibrant parasols and pristine white canopies sheltering the assembled noblemen and ladies as they sought out to hide from the sweltering summer heat. Laughter and cheerful banter carried on the salted coastal breezes, occasionally punctuated by shrieks of delight as daring souls braved the crisp cerulean surf.