Domestic Assassin (MeyrinxRanmao)

Domestic Afternoon Tea

A small knock on the office doorway startled Vincent out of working, a phenomenon much akin to a full moon on the same night as an eclipse. Which is impossible. Mey Rin could swear his hand snapped to his top left drawer though, something he never did unless he was unaware of the person.

"Sorry to intrude, sir, but I've brought you tea, I did." Mey grinned helpfully.

"Ah, Mey Rin, thank you. Why don't you sit a bit?" There was no question, the Phantomhives always knew what the outcome would be. "You've been here so long, even before this hotel, and yet you still keep your position as head of housekeeping. Why?"

"Well, sir, in all honesty, keeping the estate sparkling clean is my specialty! It wouldn't be the same if I was somewhere else, now would it?" Mey Rin leaned on the desk, sliding down her glasses. "Is there an untidy area that's in need of attention, sir?"

Vincent's lips curled, a Cheshire smile befitting of one such lord as he. "As a matter of fact, there are some rats in the cellar." A picture on the desk. "These rats are quite hideous. It would be ideally cleaned at once."

Mey Rin nodded, pushing her glasses up with an innocent and dopey grin. "Leave it to Mey Rin, I'll get it tidied in no time, I will!"

Vincent lit a candle and set the picture aflame. "I expect no less."

The establishment itself was extremely tall, but it became even more foreboding when one realised it was also many levels deep. The Cask of Amontillado had been retold many a time within these walls. Vincent had wished for a crematorium nearby, but there was not one to be found. Instead, a local mortician took care of anything too Telltale Heart. Perks, one might suppose, or a tie deeper than acquaintances. One phone call to alert the undertaker there that there would shortly be a body, and it wouldn't be his, and Vincent was back to completely pure business. The legal one of running the hotel, that is. An Earl had to keep his domain running flawlessly if he hoped to live prosperously.

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Mey Rin took the elevator to the cellar and followed the maze further downward, down some flights of stairs, and found what Vincent meant. There were indeed rats, but not the ones, it seemed, the Earl meant. A group all tied together with their hands chained in their laps. Only one of the four was awake at the moment; a stubby round-faced man with bandages around his head. As soon as he spotted Mey Rin, sweet-faced and glasses wearing Mey Rin, he shook awake the others and drooled. 

"Oh my, you haven't been taken care of yet, have ye?" She began a pace around the lot, her sturdy boots thunking against the hard stone floor. The next to murmur awake was a blond who was most likely responsible for the faint smell of chemically enhanced roses. Certainly looked like the rose-loving type, anyway, with the way he eyed Mey Rin's legs and up to her chest. The third had a harsh glare and a terrible sense of glasses. He seemed the most strangely dressed, in a butler's outfit. He might be able to be recruited, if he wasn't too much of an ass. The way he stared on, eyes cold and ruthless, and Mey Rin figured he wouldn't do so well working here. The fourth, still asleep, had starkly white hair and the most serene face Mey Rin had ever seen fall into this dungeon. 

The first response was from the blond. "Such a pretty thing, why don't you walk on closer over here?" 

The next to speak was Glasses. "Shut up,  Chamber." So, either the rosey Chamber fellow was an absolute annoyance or this butler character was just Rude. 

"No, no, don't hush up on my account. I need'a know who you lot work for, yes? Seems to be causing problems, he is, so fess up," Mey Rin kept walking around them at a far distance. Far enough to see them at least. It seemed the bandaged man was most enthralled by her face, the blond Chamber with her chest and legs, and the butler one stared at the ground. "Start with your names, why don't ye. You're already Mr. Chamber, yes?" She stopped in front of him and rolled up her skirt to clip it out of the way, and could've sworn Chamber was willing to bow at her feet. He spoke up right away. 

"Yes, Madame! I am Aleistor Chamber, and this grumpy gentleman is Claude!" The way he stared made Mey Rin wish to kill him here and now, but he was the most talkative of the bunch. "Behind me is Angela, and on the other side is Baron Kelvin." 

"Interesting, very interesting. But who do you work for? Who's the one who angered the Earl of this estate?" She took off her glasses and narrowed her gaze. Kelvin immediately lost interest. Guess he's only into soft and young-looking faces. How thoroughly disgusting. 

"There's a guy by the name of Tiao Long, is it? Can we go now?" Kelvin answered, thoroughly disinterested. 

"Wonderful, you happen to know where I can find this Mr. Long?" Mey Rin pressed, very impressed at how easily this was going. Maybe this would stay an easy day. Guessed she rolled high on persuasion. Then Claude stopped studying the ground. 

"None of us are going to tell you anything," Glasses spat before proceeding to call Mey Rin some unsavoury words. Couldn't be easy, could he?