chalkon app
player name- Het
your livejournal- heatherizcool
age- 25
timezone- MST
character's name- Sebastian Michaelis
series- Kuroshitsuji (mangaverse)
character's age- OLDER THAN YOU KNOW. Although he looks about 30, I’d say.
canon point- Chapter 40 of the manga. The end of the circus arc a few chapters previous was a turning point in Ciel and Sebastian's relationship, and Ciel has begun moving away from his dependence on Sebastian. At this particular place in the chapter, Ciel has essentially just sent Sebastian willingly to his "death," showing he has no regard for Sebastian and has opted to simply use the demon as a tool to the best of his ability. I like this changing dynamic between and would like to play around with it.
history- The wiki links I've found for Sebastian tend to combine manga and anime canon, which are very different, so I've opted to write my own. ... I apologize in advance for how ginormously long this is. But it's the subtleties that make Sebastian's character what he is, so it's important to include a lot of context for the actions he takes within his canon.
Sebastian is a demon, and there is very little known about him before he came to be in Ciel’s service. His real name (if he has one), his real age, and his true form are unknown. The best guess that can be made is that he is at least a century old (he states that gun technology has come a long way in the last 100 years), but implications are that he is much older than that. He tells the shinigami William T. Spears that he tired of living as normal demons do, just mindlessly devouring everything in sight, a long time ago, and he has also stated that working as a butler is not the worst existence he has known. Based on these details, it’s heavily implied that not only has he been around a long time, but he’s been offering servitude in exchange for souls for a while, as well. His true form has been defined in canon so far only by high-heeled boots and very long, black nails. His current human form looks frighteningly reminiscent of Ciel’s father, Vincent Phantomhive, and the name Sebastian comes from Ciel's dead dog. Thank heaven they hail from a pre-Freudian era, because the good doctor would have a field day with those implications.
The current timeline of the series places the action outside of London, England, in the year 1888-1889. Sebastian and Ciel meet prior to this, likely sometime in January 1886, after Ciel's parents are murdered, his house set aflame, and he is kidnapped by cultists to be made a human sacrifice. Ciel is murdered in a ritual, and in his last moments he calls out for someone, anyone to help him. The demon answers. In those final moments, Ciel agrees to bind himself to the demon, forfeiting his soul, in exchange for renewed life and a loyal, unwavering servant until his death for real. The demon agrees, and the human incarnation of Sebastian is born, named, and defined -- Ciel wants a butler. And a butler Sebastian shall be. Ciel accepts the mark of the demon in his EYE because he's hardcore like that, and soon thereafter the entire group of cultists are slaughtered. Ciel is returned to his home, accompanied by a mysterious butler clad in black. That oddly NO ONE QUESTIONS, even the characters who should probably know O HAY YOU LOOK A LOT LIKE VINCENT.
About two and a half years pass without incident. The true start of the series opens with the rather mundane duties Sebastian must handle as the head butler of the Phantomhive family -- he's responsible for serving tea, meals, selecting wines, and managing other household tasks. Most of this he accomplishes creatively with his powers of evil. The bane of his existence seems to be keeping the inept new servants Bard, Finnian, and Meirin on track, and senile old Tanaka, the previous butler, happy and with a never-ending supply of Japanese green tea. Ciel, the last remaining member of the Phantomhive earldom, has proven to be a precocious little shit boy and started a successful toy company called Funtom. He balances the business aspects as well as his studies, and dealing with his cute but exuberant fiancée, Elizabeth. Sebastian must walk Ciel through some grueling tribulations, including teaching Ciel the Waltz so Ciel can dance with Lizzie at a party. Which randomly acquires a full orchestra featuring Sebastian on violin.
Very quickly, however, it becomes apparent that there's much more to the Phantomhive household than meets the eye, and it isn't that their butler comes from the depths of Hell. After an amusing kidnapping attempt -- this happens to Ciel a lot in the beginning -- Sebastian saves him from an angry Italian mobster and it is revealed that Ciel is, in fact, the latest in line of a role taken by the head of the Phantomhive family for generations. Known as the Queen's Watchdog or the Evil Nobleman, the head of the Phantomhive family does the dirty work that Scotland Yard can't handle with their arms tied by red tape: cleaning up drug lords, investigating murders, whatever the Queen desires. It's never actually stated if Ciel was up to this prior to the start of the series or he just started with the action of the narrative, but for whatever reason it's accepted that a 12-year-old can totally handle this and the real cases start. Thank God he has a snazzy attack butler to help him out!
The Jack the Ripper Case
The first case is the infamous Jack the Ripper case. That's where the fun times with the pervy Viscount comes in, and Sebastian must save Ciel yet again. Then they find the real killer: the shinigami Grell Sutcliffe, posing as Ciel's aunt, Madame Red's, butler. Together the two of them were killing hookers who Madame Red gave abortions because neither of them are right in the head. While Ciel has a crisis of conscience over his crazy dying aunt, Sebastian must, under orders, battle the psychotic lust-crazed, gender confused Grell wielding a death scythe chainsaw. (Which is the first but definitely not the last implication that shinigami can operate free of the current timeline, while Sebastian, as a demon, is trapped in a linear existence, with no meta knowledge of modern technology.) This is one of the few times the reader really sees Sebastian emote something other than politeness or calm scorn: Grell's lusting after him REALLY disgusts him. It is also important to note, however, that Grell slashes Sebastian diagonally ACROSS THE CHEST with his chainsaw, cause the cinematic record (in Kuro world, at the time of one's death, a film starts playing showing the major events of a life, so that the shinigami can properly judge what afterlife they should be ferried to) to start playing. By all mechanics of the Kuro world, Sebastian should die. But he doesn't! In fact, the cinematic record only shows the last year or so of his life, all the totally boring butlery stuff. This really pisses off Grell, who wanted something scandalous. Sebastian just smirks and says that you'll need to pay to see the rest.
It's actually totally unclear why this mortal blow doesn't kill him. It could be because he's a demon (although both Grell and later, William T. Spears act as if their death scythes can do him in), or it could be that Ciel's sheer will keeps him alive. Sebastian gets his moment of victory; he throws his fancy wool tailcoat in the gears of Grell's chainsaw, gumming up the gears. Then he messes up Grell's pretty face and nearly sends him back to shinigami headquarters in itty-bitty pieces, when William T. Spears, Grell's superior, intervenes and drags Grell away.
The Killer Curry Case
The next story arc revolves around the characters Prince Soma and his faithful butler, Agni, come from India to seek Soma's lost love, Meena. They meet Ciel and Sebastian while Wunderkind and his pet butler are investigating a series of attacks on British civilians that don't leave them dead, just pretty humiliated, hung upside down naked with hate mail taped to them. Soma and Agni are classic foils to Ciel and Sebastian. Agni has a power bestowed to him via the Indian gods, built on faith in and love for his master. Sebastian notes to Ciel that this power is something they can never have, since there is no love or faith in their relationship, and therefore his magic can never beat Agni's. It turns out Agni is responsible for the attacks, behind manipulated by a Baron who wants to win a curry contest so he can get riches from monopolizing the Indian food trade in England. In exchange for Agni's service, he can get Meena back for Soma. So even then Agni was doing bad things out of love for his master.
Realizing the best way to beat the Baron is to enter the curry contest themselves, Ciel orders Sebastian to enter the contest and win. This is actually the most important part of the arc because it finally demonstrates some decent limitations to Sebastian's power. While Ciel can order Sebastian to win the contest, Sebastian's human incarnation is what Ciel wants it to be: therefore, he sees and does things from a chiefly British perspective. Soma, being Indian, tastes Sebastian's curry and hates it because it doesn't taste authentic. This sends Sebastian on a mission where he must make about fifty different types of curry with different spices until Soma agrees his curry matches Agni's. Ciel helps out with this not at all, and in fact in the middle of the hurried preparations, orders Sebastian to stop what he's doing and make Ciel some chocolate dessert. When someone asks Ciel, "Don't you want to win the contest?" Ciel replies, "But wouldn't it be better to see that butler lose?" (In a wonderful moment of irony, Sebastian decides to add chocolate to the curry to give it the weight and texture that was lacking in it, something he wouldn't have thought of if Ciel hadn't ordered him to make the dessert.)
There's also a fantastic moment where Sebastian scares the shit out of Soma to teach him manners for being a spoiled brat. (He threw a tantrum and broke some China Sebastian picked out personally, so justified.) Sebastian goes a little too far, pointing out that Soma is a big baby for being upset the people he loves have left him, because he never actually had them in the first place and probably no one ever loved someone as selfish and annoying as him. Ciel actually intervenes in this and makes Soma feel better, showing that for all his tough acts he's got way more human compassion than Sebastian ever will.
Ultimately, Sebastian wins the contest, the Baron is foiled, and Soma realizes he doesn't need Meena to be happy, which is good because she's kind of a bitch. Soma and Agni vow to stick around so Soma can learn to be mature like Ciel, much to Ciel's chagrin. At the end, Agni happily calls Sebastian and the rest of the Phantomhive household dear friends, to which Sebastian says no one has ever called him a friend before.
The Noah's Ark Circus Case
Ciel and Sebastian join the circus. No, really. The Queen wants Ciel to investigate the disappearance of children that keep happening when the Noah's Ark Circus is in town. So Boy and Butler go attend the show, Sebastian is mauled by a tiger because he was molesting it and they let him visit the doctor's tent although he's totally fine, the tiger was just naughty and he likes it rough. The behaviour of the performers backstage are suspicious, so Sebastian figures the best way to investigate is to join the show and bring Ciel along with him. They join under the aliases Black and Smile, and while Ciel is the worst circus performer ever, Sebastian helps out with making him look good. William T. Spears shows up because he's investigating a crap ton of deaths that are due to happen in the area, and he and Sebastian must share a tent. Spears despises Sebastian and doubts that Sebastian will be able to keep himself from nomming wayward souls because he's so hungry he cannot help himself. Sebastian explains that he won't break his self-imposed anorexia because he likes waiting for a really yummy meal and everything tastes better when you're hungry. Spears remains unconvinced. No love between these two.
Ciel gets mad at Sebastian treating him like a child around the other self-sufficient circus kids and orders him to leave him alone while they're undercover. Sebastian listens, and it becomes extremely apparent how hopeless Ciel is without him. This ends in Ciel catching a chill from trying to shower outside and from being useless overall. Finally Sebastian intervenes again, because Ciel's just so damn pathetic. Ciel wants to get in to search someone's private tent for info, so he instructs Sebastian to release the snakes from the snake charmer's tent at the most opportune moment, as a distraction while Ciel makes the search. Unfortunately for Ciel, the most opportune moment to release the snakes is when Ciel is still inside the tent. Ciel narrowly makes an escape, and narrowly avoids being found by the other performers. When he storms back to Sebastian him to demand why he did such a thing, Sebastian calmly tells him that while he won't let Ciel die, if Ciel makes a mistake on his own, he can certainly still have a painful experience while alive, and that games become boring if they lack thrills.
Ciel's research leads him to believe that whoever raised the circus performers is responsible for the kidnappings. Unfortunately, the chill he caught from his excursion in roughing it leads to an asthma attack, an affliction Sebastian didn't even know Ciel had. While recovering in the doctor's tent, Ciel tells Sebastian to find out the name of the man who started the circus, because he is likely the culprit. The fastest way to do this is to get it from one of the circus members. (He does try to leave the circus at first to obtain the information from a record office, but Spears blocks his escape, convinced Sebastian will nom on any wayward souls if he’s left to his own devices. Unfortunate, too, considering how much pain and suffering could have been avoided if Spears had just listened to him…) So he does what any self-respecting demon butler would do: he fucks the information out of someone.
And so Sebastian bangs Beast, the tiger/lion tamer, after seducing her with his demon whisper. She'd really not liked him very much up until this point either. It's horrifying yet completely badass and awesome. She gives up the name of Baron Kelvin (literally in flagrante delicto, because everyone likes to talk about their dads during sex), who raised her and her amputee siblings before they started the Noah's Ark Circus. Interesting to note: Sebastian doesn't even get undressed for the act. He only removes his coat. No I have not studied this scene in detail, what are you talking about
Anyway, probably without any pillow talk, Sebastian leaves Beast and returns to Ciel. With the correct information, there's no reason to stay, so they leave the circus and go to confront Kelvin. This is where the real fun starts. Turns out Kelvin is some sort of freak show who became obsessed with Ciel when he was an ickle kid, and was so taken by the beauty of the Phantomhive family that he had botched plastic surgery in an attempt to make himself more beautiful. He's been having his circus kids kidnap small children so that he could recreate the ritual sacrificing that claimed Ciel's life, because he was so disappointed to miss it in the first place. Also, he's in league with plastic surgeon doctor to use the dead children's bones as parts for prosthetic limbs (IT'S POWERED BY A FORSAKEN CHILD?!? -- a cookie for the reference), so isn't this just a little happy operation?
Meantime, the other circus members realize that's up with Black and Smile and attack the Phantomhive Manor. They are met with the power of AMAZING, because while the Phantomhive family servants are shit servants, they are FANTASTIC assassins. That's why Sebastian hired them. About a third of the manor explodes, but all the circus members are killed, including Beast.
Anyway, in his basement Kelvin has recreated flawlessly the underground arena in which Ciel was originally sacrificed and shows him like that should make him happy. Understandably, Ciel FLIPS THE FUCK OUT. He pukes and clings to Sebastian pathetically, begging for help. Sebastian loves this bit. Ciel orders him to kill the perpetrators. Done. All is well, right?
Then Ciel tells Sebastian to burn the mansion down. Sebastian politely reminds him all the forsaken children that the Queen wanted rescued are still inside, and most of them are alive. Ciel yells at him to STFU and burn it to the ground.
So he does. You didn't need those kids, did you?
After the fact, Ciel and Sebastian take a little trip out to visit this workhouse all the circus members were talking about other children living in, children they were trying to protect by following Kelvin's fucked up orders. When they get there, the place has been abandoned for some time, meaning they all of them died for a lie. Ciel has a mental blue screen of death and goes into a laughing fit that confuses even Sebastian. Ciel says that although humans continuously steal and are stolen from, lie without scruples to get ahead, still they look to the future with hope and determination, and that he's exactly the same. Sebastian just smiles and says that's why he finds humans interesting.
Oh, and if you thought at any point Sebastian might have cared for Beast a teensy bit at all, when he's helping to clean the manor after the attack, he recognizes Beast's scarf and throws it away without a second thought. So yeah. Nope.
The Phanomhive Manor Murder Case
So the Queen's a little concerned about Ciel's ability to carry out his duties since he MURDERED A MANSION FULL OF CHILDREN. So she wants him to entertain a bunch of nobles in his manor that probably has a more secret investigative purpose that the audience doesn't know about yet. Attendees to the party include a humble young writer named Arthur Conan Doyle, who has published one teeny little story no one has heard of called a Study in Scarlet. Sebastian's role in this is, of course, main party organizer and he spends most of his time in the background, doing servanty things. That is, until that night, when he and Meirin find one of the guests, Baron von Siemens, has been murdered in his room.
Thus begins the murder case, with the guests trying to figure out who done it. Unfortunately, the only one without an alibi is Ciel. Suspected of murder, the group decides the best day to deal with him is to handcuff him to Arthur for the night, so that he can't escape. Sebastian readies him for bed and Ciel tells him that although he won't be around, be sure to give the guests perfect service. ... And don't forget to keep the coke in the fires from going out.
The reader doesn't know it at this point, but Ciel has just given the order to send Sebastian to get horrifically murdered. The order to check the fires extends to the room where von Siemons was murdered and where Ciel suspects the killer tossed the evidence. Sending Sebastian there to check the fireplace will attract the killer, who will "eliminate" Sebastian to keep him from giving the evidence to his master. Little does the killer know Sebastian can't be killed by human means.
I'm taking Sebastian right from this point, where he knows Ciel sent him off to experience some excruciating pain. He's simply a pawn in Ciel's complicated little chess game to prove his worth to the Queen.
personality- Sebastian is an extremely two-faced being. On the surface, he is ridiculously polite. He’s playing the role of a head butler to a noble 19th century British family, and he will act appropriately. Above all else, he will obey the orders of his master, Earl Ciel Phantomhive. Without Ciel around, he will treat those he meets as “guests” and accommodate them to the best of his ability. Exceptions to this are the servants working under him at the Phantomhive Manor (Bard, Finnian, and Meirin) because he is their direct superior and it is his job to make sure they are doing theirs - which they rarely do. With them, he is often short-tempered and highly annoyed, although he still gives them help when they need it. If another character identifies himself or herself as a servant, Sebastian will still be cordial, but considering his Victorian era sensibilities, he will be more likely to ask them to help rather than let someone of the working class put up his feet and be waited on like a noble.
Under the surface, he is PURE EVIL. He views humans as worms. Tasty, tasty worms. He has no redeeming qualities: no compassion, no sympathy, no love. He will never have a change of heart or do anything unless it ultimately benefits him. Everything to him is a game where he has defined the rules and can break them if he chooses to. Even to his master - and perhaps especially to his master - he shows a great deal of derision, goading Ciel, taunting him, and overall making sure the boy is dependent on no one else but him. He is extremely manipulative in the most subtle of ways, and if left to his own devices too long he will turn that scorn onto others if he thinks he can get away with it. It give him great pleasure to play the submissive while passive aggressively pulling the strings -- and even more pleasure if the person fights back and puts him in his place. He has no morals, only aesthetics, (his aesthetics are explained in more detail in the link in his Facts section), and has even no qualms doing thing such as sleeping with people for information if that is the fastest way to complete his master's order.
Also, like any good worker in the service industry, he rarely volunteers information or a course of action. He prefers to go off commands -- he has described himself as merely a chess piece in a game in which Ciel is the player. He will usually maintain this stance even if he knows something others do not, something which may harm them. For example, while Sebastian and Ciel are investigating the Jack the Ripper case, Ciel orders Sebastian to compile a list of all suspects that would have been humanly capable of doing the crimes on the nights they were committed. Sebastian complies, but although during his research he learns it is actually NONE of the suspects and the culprit must be of supernatural origin (specifically, a shinigami), that is not what Ciel told him to do. So he allows Ciel to use himself as bait against a really perverted Viscount who is involved with human trafficking -- a vile, dangerous guy, but not the killer. When Ciel later finds out he demands to know why Sebastian didn't tell him this from the start, and Sebastian says, "At the end of the day I am only a butler, so I will not express my opinions too much."
His only true weakness is cats. He LOVES cats. Loves loves loves. He’s practically felinesexual. Present him with a cat and he will be distracted from any task at hand so he can molest pet it. This works with larger felines as well, such as tigers.
facts- I have compiled a separate post outlining Sebastian's powers and limitations as a demon. They can be viewed here.
sample action post-
Sebastian contemplates what it means to be cared about by humans. Others add to the discussion.
Aaaand for fun, one of my favorite threads with Sebastian: dealing with his maid Meirin who has sprouted cat ears and a tail during a Loveless plot. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
sample prose post-
Sebastian approaches Joker, a member of that circus he murdered in canon, to make a deal about keeping each other's secrets in the alternate world they've found themselves in. Then there's enchanted wine and they both get drunk.
questions?- Not a thing!
your livejournal- heatherizcool
age- 25
timezone- MST
character's name- Sebastian Michaelis
series- Kuroshitsuji (mangaverse)
character's age- OLDER THAN YOU KNOW. Although he looks about 30, I’d say.
canon point- Chapter 40 of the manga. The end of the circus arc a few chapters previous was a turning point in Ciel and Sebastian's relationship, and Ciel has begun moving away from his dependence on Sebastian. At this particular place in the chapter, Ciel has essentially just sent Sebastian willingly to his "death," showing he has no regard for Sebastian and has opted to simply use the demon as a tool to the best of his ability. I like this changing dynamic between and would like to play around with it.
history- The wiki links I've found for Sebastian tend to combine manga and anime canon, which are very different, so I've opted to write my own. ... I apologize in advance for how ginormously long this is. But it's the subtleties that make Sebastian's character what he is, so it's important to include a lot of context for the actions he takes within his canon.
Sebastian is a demon, and there is very little known about him before he came to be in Ciel’s service. His real name (if he has one), his real age, and his true form are unknown. The best guess that can be made is that he is at least a century old (he states that gun technology has come a long way in the last 100 years), but implications are that he is much older than that. He tells the shinigami William T. Spears that he tired of living as normal demons do, just mindlessly devouring everything in sight, a long time ago, and he has also stated that working as a butler is not the worst existence he has known. Based on these details, it’s heavily implied that not only has he been around a long time, but he’s been offering servitude in exchange for souls for a while, as well. His true form has been defined in canon so far only by high-heeled boots and very long, black nails. His current human form looks frighteningly reminiscent of Ciel’s father, Vincent Phantomhive, and the name Sebastian comes from Ciel's dead dog. Thank heaven they hail from a pre-Freudian era, because the good doctor would have a field day with those implications.
The current timeline of the series places the action outside of London, England, in the year 1888-1889. Sebastian and Ciel meet prior to this, likely sometime in January 1886, after Ciel's parents are murdered, his house set aflame, and he is kidnapped by cultists to be made a human sacrifice. Ciel is murdered in a ritual, and in his last moments he calls out for someone, anyone to help him. The demon answers. In those final moments, Ciel agrees to bind himself to the demon, forfeiting his soul, in exchange for renewed life and a loyal, unwavering servant until his death for real. The demon agrees, and the human incarnation of Sebastian is born, named, and defined -- Ciel wants a butler. And a butler Sebastian shall be. Ciel accepts the mark of the demon in his EYE because he's hardcore like that, and soon thereafter the entire group of cultists are slaughtered. Ciel is returned to his home, accompanied by a mysterious butler clad in black. That oddly NO ONE QUESTIONS, even the characters who should probably know O HAY YOU LOOK A LOT LIKE VINCENT.
About two and a half years pass without incident. The true start of the series opens with the rather mundane duties Sebastian must handle as the head butler of the Phantomhive family -- he's responsible for serving tea, meals, selecting wines, and managing other household tasks. Most of this he accomplishes creatively with his powers of evil. The bane of his existence seems to be keeping the inept new servants Bard, Finnian, and Meirin on track, and senile old Tanaka, the previous butler, happy and with a never-ending supply of Japanese green tea. Ciel, the last remaining member of the Phantomhive earldom, has proven to be a precocious little shit boy and started a successful toy company called Funtom. He balances the business aspects as well as his studies, and dealing with his cute but exuberant fiancée, Elizabeth. Sebastian must walk Ciel through some grueling tribulations, including teaching Ciel the Waltz so Ciel can dance with Lizzie at a party. Which randomly acquires a full orchestra featuring Sebastian on violin.
Very quickly, however, it becomes apparent that there's much more to the Phantomhive household than meets the eye, and it isn't that their butler comes from the depths of Hell. After an amusing kidnapping attempt -- this happens to Ciel a lot in the beginning -- Sebastian saves him from an angry Italian mobster and it is revealed that Ciel is, in fact, the latest in line of a role taken by the head of the Phantomhive family for generations. Known as the Queen's Watchdog or the Evil Nobleman, the head of the Phantomhive family does the dirty work that Scotland Yard can't handle with their arms tied by red tape: cleaning up drug lords, investigating murders, whatever the Queen desires. It's never actually stated if Ciel was up to this prior to the start of the series or he just started with the action of the narrative, but for whatever reason it's accepted that a 12-year-old can totally handle this and the real cases start. Thank God he has a snazzy attack butler to help him out!
The Jack the Ripper Case
The first case is the infamous Jack the Ripper case. That's where the fun times with the pervy Viscount comes in, and Sebastian must save Ciel yet again. Then they find the real killer: the shinigami Grell Sutcliffe, posing as Ciel's aunt, Madame Red's, butler. Together the two of them were killing hookers who Madame Red gave abortions because neither of them are right in the head. While Ciel has a crisis of conscience over his crazy dying aunt, Sebastian must, under orders, battle the psychotic lust-crazed, gender confused Grell wielding a death scythe chainsaw. (Which is the first but definitely not the last implication that shinigami can operate free of the current timeline, while Sebastian, as a demon, is trapped in a linear existence, with no meta knowledge of modern technology.) This is one of the few times the reader really sees Sebastian emote something other than politeness or calm scorn: Grell's lusting after him REALLY disgusts him. It is also important to note, however, that Grell slashes Sebastian diagonally ACROSS THE CHEST with his chainsaw, cause the cinematic record (in Kuro world, at the time of one's death, a film starts playing showing the major events of a life, so that the shinigami can properly judge what afterlife they should be ferried to) to start playing. By all mechanics of the Kuro world, Sebastian should die. But he doesn't! In fact, the cinematic record only shows the last year or so of his life, all the totally boring butlery stuff. This really pisses off Grell, who wanted something scandalous. Sebastian just smirks and says that you'll need to pay to see the rest.
It's actually totally unclear why this mortal blow doesn't kill him. It could be because he's a demon (although both Grell and later, William T. Spears act as if their death scythes can do him in), or it could be that Ciel's sheer will keeps him alive. Sebastian gets his moment of victory; he throws his fancy wool tailcoat in the gears of Grell's chainsaw, gumming up the gears. Then he messes up Grell's pretty face and nearly sends him back to shinigami headquarters in itty-bitty pieces, when William T. Spears, Grell's superior, intervenes and drags Grell away.
The Killer Curry Case
The next story arc revolves around the characters Prince Soma and his faithful butler, Agni, come from India to seek Soma's lost love, Meena. They meet Ciel and Sebastian while Wunderkind and his pet butler are investigating a series of attacks on British civilians that don't leave them dead, just pretty humiliated, hung upside down naked with hate mail taped to them. Soma and Agni are classic foils to Ciel and Sebastian. Agni has a power bestowed to him via the Indian gods, built on faith in and love for his master. Sebastian notes to Ciel that this power is something they can never have, since there is no love or faith in their relationship, and therefore his magic can never beat Agni's. It turns out Agni is responsible for the attacks, behind manipulated by a Baron who wants to win a curry contest so he can get riches from monopolizing the Indian food trade in England. In exchange for Agni's service, he can get Meena back for Soma. So even then Agni was doing bad things out of love for his master.
Realizing the best way to beat the Baron is to enter the curry contest themselves, Ciel orders Sebastian to enter the contest and win. This is actually the most important part of the arc because it finally demonstrates some decent limitations to Sebastian's power. While Ciel can order Sebastian to win the contest, Sebastian's human incarnation is what Ciel wants it to be: therefore, he sees and does things from a chiefly British perspective. Soma, being Indian, tastes Sebastian's curry and hates it because it doesn't taste authentic. This sends Sebastian on a mission where he must make about fifty different types of curry with different spices until Soma agrees his curry matches Agni's. Ciel helps out with this not at all, and in fact in the middle of the hurried preparations, orders Sebastian to stop what he's doing and make Ciel some chocolate dessert. When someone asks Ciel, "Don't you want to win the contest?" Ciel replies, "But wouldn't it be better to see that butler lose?" (In a wonderful moment of irony, Sebastian decides to add chocolate to the curry to give it the weight and texture that was lacking in it, something he wouldn't have thought of if Ciel hadn't ordered him to make the dessert.)
There's also a fantastic moment where Sebastian scares the shit out of Soma to teach him manners for being a spoiled brat. (He threw a tantrum and broke some China Sebastian picked out personally, so justified.) Sebastian goes a little too far, pointing out that Soma is a big baby for being upset the people he loves have left him, because he never actually had them in the first place and probably no one ever loved someone as selfish and annoying as him. Ciel actually intervenes in this and makes Soma feel better, showing that for all his tough acts he's got way more human compassion than Sebastian ever will.
Ultimately, Sebastian wins the contest, the Baron is foiled, and Soma realizes he doesn't need Meena to be happy, which is good because she's kind of a bitch. Soma and Agni vow to stick around so Soma can learn to be mature like Ciel, much to Ciel's chagrin. At the end, Agni happily calls Sebastian and the rest of the Phantomhive household dear friends, to which Sebastian says no one has ever called him a friend before.
The Noah's Ark Circus Case
Ciel and Sebastian join the circus. No, really. The Queen wants Ciel to investigate the disappearance of children that keep happening when the Noah's Ark Circus is in town. So Boy and Butler go attend the show, Sebastian is mauled by a tiger because he was molesting it and they let him visit the doctor's tent although he's totally fine, the tiger was just naughty and he likes it rough. The behaviour of the performers backstage are suspicious, so Sebastian figures the best way to investigate is to join the show and bring Ciel along with him. They join under the aliases Black and Smile, and while Ciel is the worst circus performer ever, Sebastian helps out with making him look good. William T. Spears shows up because he's investigating a crap ton of deaths that are due to happen in the area, and he and Sebastian must share a tent. Spears despises Sebastian and doubts that Sebastian will be able to keep himself from nomming wayward souls because he's so hungry he cannot help himself. Sebastian explains that he won't break his self-imposed anorexia because he likes waiting for a really yummy meal and everything tastes better when you're hungry. Spears remains unconvinced. No love between these two.
Ciel gets mad at Sebastian treating him like a child around the other self-sufficient circus kids and orders him to leave him alone while they're undercover. Sebastian listens, and it becomes extremely apparent how hopeless Ciel is without him. This ends in Ciel catching a chill from trying to shower outside and from being useless overall. Finally Sebastian intervenes again, because Ciel's just so damn pathetic. Ciel wants to get in to search someone's private tent for info, so he instructs Sebastian to release the snakes from the snake charmer's tent at the most opportune moment, as a distraction while Ciel makes the search. Unfortunately for Ciel, the most opportune moment to release the snakes is when Ciel is still inside the tent. Ciel narrowly makes an escape, and narrowly avoids being found by the other performers. When he storms back to Sebastian him to demand why he did such a thing, Sebastian calmly tells him that while he won't let Ciel die, if Ciel makes a mistake on his own, he can certainly still have a painful experience while alive, and that games become boring if they lack thrills.
Ciel's research leads him to believe that whoever raised the circus performers is responsible for the kidnappings. Unfortunately, the chill he caught from his excursion in roughing it leads to an asthma attack, an affliction Sebastian didn't even know Ciel had. While recovering in the doctor's tent, Ciel tells Sebastian to find out the name of the man who started the circus, because he is likely the culprit. The fastest way to do this is to get it from one of the circus members. (He does try to leave the circus at first to obtain the information from a record office, but Spears blocks his escape, convinced Sebastian will nom on any wayward souls if he’s left to his own devices. Unfortunate, too, considering how much pain and suffering could have been avoided if Spears had just listened to him…) So he does what any self-respecting demon butler would do: he fucks the information out of someone.
And so Sebastian bangs Beast, the tiger/lion tamer, after seducing her with his demon whisper. She'd really not liked him very much up until this point either. It's horrifying yet completely badass and awesome. She gives up the name of Baron Kelvin (literally in flagrante delicto, because everyone likes to talk about their dads during sex), who raised her and her amputee siblings before they started the Noah's Ark Circus. Interesting to note: Sebastian doesn't even get undressed for the act. He only removes his coat. No I have not studied this scene in detail, what are you talking about
Anyway, probably without any pillow talk, Sebastian leaves Beast and returns to Ciel. With the correct information, there's no reason to stay, so they leave the circus and go to confront Kelvin. This is where the real fun starts. Turns out Kelvin is some sort of freak show who became obsessed with Ciel when he was an ickle kid, and was so taken by the beauty of the Phantomhive family that he had botched plastic surgery in an attempt to make himself more beautiful. He's been having his circus kids kidnap small children so that he could recreate the ritual sacrificing that claimed Ciel's life, because he was so disappointed to miss it in the first place. Also, he's in league with plastic surgeon doctor to use the dead children's bones as parts for prosthetic limbs (IT'S POWERED BY A FORSAKEN CHILD?!? -- a cookie for the reference), so isn't this just a little happy operation?
Meantime, the other circus members realize that's up with Black and Smile and attack the Phantomhive Manor. They are met with the power of AMAZING, because while the Phantomhive family servants are shit servants, they are FANTASTIC assassins. That's why Sebastian hired them. About a third of the manor explodes, but all the circus members are killed, including Beast.
Anyway, in his basement Kelvin has recreated flawlessly the underground arena in which Ciel was originally sacrificed and shows him like that should make him happy. Understandably, Ciel FLIPS THE FUCK OUT. He pukes and clings to Sebastian pathetically, begging for help. Sebastian loves this bit. Ciel orders him to kill the perpetrators. Done. All is well, right?
Then Ciel tells Sebastian to burn the mansion down. Sebastian politely reminds him all the forsaken children that the Queen wanted rescued are still inside, and most of them are alive. Ciel yells at him to STFU and burn it to the ground.
So he does. You didn't need those kids, did you?
After the fact, Ciel and Sebastian take a little trip out to visit this workhouse all the circus members were talking about other children living in, children they were trying to protect by following Kelvin's fucked up orders. When they get there, the place has been abandoned for some time, meaning they all of them died for a lie. Ciel has a mental blue screen of death and goes into a laughing fit that confuses even Sebastian. Ciel says that although humans continuously steal and are stolen from, lie without scruples to get ahead, still they look to the future with hope and determination, and that he's exactly the same. Sebastian just smiles and says that's why he finds humans interesting.
Oh, and if you thought at any point Sebastian might have cared for Beast a teensy bit at all, when he's helping to clean the manor after the attack, he recognizes Beast's scarf and throws it away without a second thought. So yeah. Nope.
The Phanomhive Manor Murder Case
So the Queen's a little concerned about Ciel's ability to carry out his duties since he MURDERED A MANSION FULL OF CHILDREN. So she wants him to entertain a bunch of nobles in his manor that probably has a more secret investigative purpose that the audience doesn't know about yet. Attendees to the party include a humble young writer named Arthur Conan Doyle, who has published one teeny little story no one has heard of called a Study in Scarlet. Sebastian's role in this is, of course, main party organizer and he spends most of his time in the background, doing servanty things. That is, until that night, when he and Meirin find one of the guests, Baron von Siemens, has been murdered in his room.
Thus begins the murder case, with the guests trying to figure out who done it. Unfortunately, the only one without an alibi is Ciel. Suspected of murder, the group decides the best day to deal with him is to handcuff him to Arthur for the night, so that he can't escape. Sebastian readies him for bed and Ciel tells him that although he won't be around, be sure to give the guests perfect service. ... And don't forget to keep the coke in the fires from going out.
The reader doesn't know it at this point, but Ciel has just given the order to send Sebastian to get horrifically murdered. The order to check the fires extends to the room where von Siemons was murdered and where Ciel suspects the killer tossed the evidence. Sending Sebastian there to check the fireplace will attract the killer, who will "eliminate" Sebastian to keep him from giving the evidence to his master. Little does the killer know Sebastian can't be killed by human means.
I'm taking Sebastian right from this point, where he knows Ciel sent him off to experience some excruciating pain. He's simply a pawn in Ciel's complicated little chess game to prove his worth to the Queen.
personality- Sebastian is an extremely two-faced being. On the surface, he is ridiculously polite. He’s playing the role of a head butler to a noble 19th century British family, and he will act appropriately. Above all else, he will obey the orders of his master, Earl Ciel Phantomhive. Without Ciel around, he will treat those he meets as “guests” and accommodate them to the best of his ability. Exceptions to this are the servants working under him at the Phantomhive Manor (Bard, Finnian, and Meirin) because he is their direct superior and it is his job to make sure they are doing theirs - which they rarely do. With them, he is often short-tempered and highly annoyed, although he still gives them help when they need it. If another character identifies himself or herself as a servant, Sebastian will still be cordial, but considering his Victorian era sensibilities, he will be more likely to ask them to help rather than let someone of the working class put up his feet and be waited on like a noble.
Under the surface, he is PURE EVIL. He views humans as worms. Tasty, tasty worms. He has no redeeming qualities: no compassion, no sympathy, no love. He will never have a change of heart or do anything unless it ultimately benefits him. Everything to him is a game where he has defined the rules and can break them if he chooses to. Even to his master - and perhaps especially to his master - he shows a great deal of derision, goading Ciel, taunting him, and overall making sure the boy is dependent on no one else but him. He is extremely manipulative in the most subtle of ways, and if left to his own devices too long he will turn that scorn onto others if he thinks he can get away with it. It give him great pleasure to play the submissive while passive aggressively pulling the strings -- and even more pleasure if the person fights back and puts him in his place. He has no morals, only aesthetics, (his aesthetics are explained in more detail in the link in his Facts section), and has even no qualms doing thing such as sleeping with people for information if that is the fastest way to complete his master's order.
Also, like any good worker in the service industry, he rarely volunteers information or a course of action. He prefers to go off commands -- he has described himself as merely a chess piece in a game in which Ciel is the player. He will usually maintain this stance even if he knows something others do not, something which may harm them. For example, while Sebastian and Ciel are investigating the Jack the Ripper case, Ciel orders Sebastian to compile a list of all suspects that would have been humanly capable of doing the crimes on the nights they were committed. Sebastian complies, but although during his research he learns it is actually NONE of the suspects and the culprit must be of supernatural origin (specifically, a shinigami), that is not what Ciel told him to do. So he allows Ciel to use himself as bait against a really perverted Viscount who is involved with human trafficking -- a vile, dangerous guy, but not the killer. When Ciel later finds out he demands to know why Sebastian didn't tell him this from the start, and Sebastian says, "At the end of the day I am only a butler, so I will not express my opinions too much."
His only true weakness is cats. He LOVES cats. Loves loves loves. He’s practically felinesexual. Present him with a cat and he will be distracted from any task at hand so he can molest pet it. This works with larger felines as well, such as tigers.
facts- I have compiled a separate post outlining Sebastian's powers and limitations as a demon. They can be viewed here.
sample action post-
Sebastian contemplates what it means to be cared about by humans. Others add to the discussion.
Aaaand for fun, one of my favorite threads with Sebastian: dealing with his maid Meirin who has sprouted cat ears and a tail during a Loveless plot. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
sample prose post-
Sebastian approaches Joker, a member of that circus he murdered in canon, to make a deal about keeping each other's secrets in the alternate world they've found themselves in. Then there's enchanted wine and they both get drunk.
questions?- Not a thing!