That Butler, New Face

That Butler, Treated

Sebastian glanced at Ciel and Chêne's hiding place out the corner of his eye. The two of them were stealthily peeking around the corner of the tent, spying on the demon butler and Joker. Ciel nodded at Sebastian in approval, and Chêne signed a 'V' for victory at him.

"Much obliged," Sebastian told Joker politely, flashing him a positively radiant shit-eating grin.

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" 'Ere we go. Right this way," Joker said as he led Sebastian behind the scenes, through the troupe's living area. "Beg your pardon, the place is rather a mess. Watch your step." Sebastian surreptitiously scanned his surroundings, searching for any signs that might indicate whether or not the missing children had been there. "Oh," Joker said, sounding slightly surprised when he spotted a familiar face sitting outside the tent they had been making their way towards. "Snake. Is the doctor in the first-aid tent?" he asked the young man who had danced with the snakes earlier.

"..." Snake said as he glanced up at them. It seemed to be meal time for his reptile friends, because they were currently in the process of scarfing down a couple of mice. Sebastian and Joker noticed that one of the snakes slivering over the young man's shoulders seemed to be pointing its tail in a certain direction, as if to answer their question.

"Oh dear. Seems he's out on business," Joker said, sighing. What bad timing! He decided to try to look for the doctor in the direction Snake's snake had pointed in, and he began leading Sebastian deeper into their territory.

"Oh? Isn't that the lad who was bitten by the tiger?" Sebastian heard a little girl ask as they passed. He looked over to see the boy and girl who had performed on the flying trapeze during the show. They were both perched on top of a barrel.

"You're right! What a lob of a lad!" the boy said, smirking, as he and the girl giggled at Sebastian.

"Oh! There he is!" Joker said when he spied the man they had been searching for through an open tent flap. "Doc!" he called out, as he led Sebastian into the tent.

"Nnoh?" a frizzy-haired man wearing bifocals said curiously as he and his patient, the knife-thrower, glanced up at them. "Heya Joker! Your arm giving you trouble again?" Doc asked amiably as he turned his wheelchair around so he could face them better.

"No, I'm not 'ere for me today..." Joker said, smiling wryly, as he sweat dropped and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ah," the knife thrower said when he realized why Sebastian looked familiar to him. "If I think back, yer the feller that got 'is 'ead bit by Betty! You all right?" he asked.

"Betty bit you!?" Doc shouted incredulously flinching in shock. "That's awful! Come, to the medical tent with you!!" he said anxiously as he grabbed Sebastian's hand, frantic to get his wounds seen to.

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{A few minutes later, in the medical tent...}

"... Were you really bitten by the tiger?" Doc asked Sebastian once he'd examined his head. "There's nary a scratch on you..." he said, sweat dropping. That just shouldn't be possible...

"It was but a play-bite," Sebastian said, smiling so brightly that there were sparkles in the air around him.

'Play...? Play-bite...?' Joker and the knife thrower thought, staring blankly at him in disbelief, as they remembered how Betty had practically tried to devour his head in one bite. Did tigers even do play-bites...?

"Well, if there's nothing wrong with you, that's just as well..." Doc said thoughtfully as he sighed in relief. He didn't really get what was going on, but at least everything turned had out to be all right in the end.