kuroshitsuji | veritas diaboli manet in aeternum [1/2]

[diluted_thought]

Title: Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum
Fandom: Kuroshitsuji
Rating: R (bordering on NC-17)
Characters/Pairings: Agni, Soma, Sebastian, and Ciel; Sebastian/Agni (Arshad).
Warnings: AU. Vaguely explicit sexual content.
Word Count: 16,381
Author’s Note: Post Curry Arc of the mangaverse. AU begins towards the end of Chapter 23: His Butler, Intermingling;

Comments

Re: Part one!

[diluted_thought]

First of all, thanks for taking the time to write this wonderfully in-depth, verbose comment, even after giving direct feedback as you read the fic. It means a lot to me! I will address each of your paragraphs piece by piece, if that’s okay.

Thank you! I’m glad you found Soma to your liking. I really hope that Yana elaborates more on Agni, and even more on Soma, since he’s being portrayed as the series’ fool/brat; the kid has quite a bit of potential, and plenty of room for Yana to experiment. Funnily enough, I based my characterization of Soma with that opening page in mind, where he’s wearing that serious expression and looks nothing like he is seventeen and looks ~hella fine~. Soma’s evidence is intentionally shaky. While I do believe that he’s unusually perceptive (given that altercation he had with Sebastian), it would’ve been awkward to go from Foolhardy!Soma to You Want The Proof? You Can’t Handle The Proof!Soma. I had to let him babble, had to let him sort things out and chatter away.

Well, yes, it goes without saying that Ciel’s got a ridiculously extensive library. My thought was that for quite some time now, Soma’s had his suspicions about Sebastian, and while he was (bored) perusing Ciel’s library, the black book-unimpressive, with no title or no markings-caught his eye because it was so unlike the others and he happened to begin reading it. (I am under the impression that most of Ciel’s library would be full of books about demons and the supernatural; it’s only fitting.) I see what you mean about putting in half a line about how Soma found the book, but that-to me-wasn’t quite important. This was from Agni’s point-of-view, so I was focusing more on him and his perception of things rather than Soma having to explain things through and through. Agni is Soma’s butler, so (1) I felt it would’ve been odd and out-of-place for Agni to ask something like, “Why are you reading that book?” and (2) Soma doesn’t have to explain all the details to Agni, his butler. He was already rambling about his suspicions, at that point, so it would’ve felt odd, for me, to have Soma mention why he was reading that book when, “This is a western play I found in the library upstairs” should suffice as an answer for his butler Why he’s reading the book isn’t as important as what the book is telling him. Though I do understand where you’re coming from, like I said, and you make a valid point. :D That was just my thought process.

The servants are paid and Sebastian will get his meal, Elizabeth has her prince charming fantasy and the Queen has her Watchdog - but Soma has already gotten everything he could out of Ciel. He's not staying because he wants something.

I love how you put that so eloquently. That’s precisely the sort of reaction I wanted the reader to get out of this. I genuinely believe that Soma cares about Ciel like he’s his little brother. It’s my thought that sometimes Soma just sits back and observes Sebastian and Ciel’s dynamic, and feels sorry that Ciel doesn’t have a relationship with Sebastian like he does with Agni. That whole spiel (via Sebastian to Soma) about, “No one cares for you, you know,” aside, Agni loves (platonically, imo) and cares for Soma with everything he has because (1) he believes Soma is a deity, (2) Soma saved him from being executed when he didn’t have to, and (3) Soma gave him a reason to live and something to protect.

Ciel can’t say much, I imagine. Agni and Soma may have looked odd, but Ciel’s been forced to crossdress and dance with his butler-not to imagine the unforgettable scene with a corset. At least Agni and Soma’s “moment” was rated G. The “hand” theme was intentional, and I’m glad you noticed! Most people would’ve overlooked that mehndi bit.

Ciel and Sebastian’s interactions, admittedly, are probably one of my favorite parts. Their banter is so fun to write. Ciel’s “fuck off, I’m busy being indifferent attitude” is so fun to play with and gives me a chance to unleash all my snarkiness. Sebastian is an asshole and sometimes I feel like directing him to the door and telling him to GTFO, but the bastard is too fucking hot for his own good and always gets his way.

Re: Part one!

[diluted_thought]

Knowing Sebastian, he was probably the editor or something, if not the guy standing over Goethe’s shoulder and giving him suggestions on how to better phrase things. (Dimitri’s probably got his porn stash in the nooks and crannies.) Thank you for calling the descriptions gorgeous. ♥ Like I said, I exploded with them when writing the second half.

Agni was the most difficult character to write for many reasons-I was doing it from his perspective, my Agni!fanon outweighs my Agni!canon (thank you, Yana), the situation at hand and the themes discussed were inarguably awkward for him, he was torn between his loyalty for Soma and his friendship with Sebastian, and Arshad got in the way. Honestly, I’m actually glad that Agni sounded off to you. He was supposed to. It’s not every day that your prince decides to become unusually perceptive, and tell you that your friend isn’t human. Agni’s not used to dealing with this sort of stuff. He’s used to smiling and being helpful and looking after his prince and apologizing profusely-not promising his prince to look after someone else. If I were in his shoes, I couldn’t imagine my mental voice being spot-on, with all that being thrown at me.

Also, like I’ve said, most of this was written with careful speculation of Agni’s character. I don’t know too much about him. All his nervous tics, the uncomfortable shifting, the stuttering in Hindi?-that’s all fanon. And while I know that, yes, Agni is devoted to Soma in all possible ways, he is still human and he grew up as a sinner-Agni and Arshad aren’t two different personalities like Riff and Riffael. Whether Agni wants to acknowledge it or not, Arshad is always going to be there. Then there is Sebastian, who Agni canonically admires, who knows about his past, and who is so charming and so effortlessly dapper in the most ridiculous ways. And whether Agni chooses to admit it or not, maybe there’s this part of himself-a tiny, tiny part; one that he doesn’t know even exists-that might-kind-of-sort-of-maybe be taken with Sebastian. Sebastian realizes this, Sebastian’s a BAMF demon and tries to tempt the pants (no pun intended) off Agni, because he’s a bastard and wants to know where Agni’s loyalties really rest-like he says, “Is a god’s most faithful servant impervious to all temptation?”

tl;dr Agni’s mental voice probably is going to be unsound, considering the struggle he's going through. And I agree, our fanons have a tendency to diverge at certain points along the road, so it may just be our perceptions of him that are putting things at odd. I wish I had had more canon to go off while writing this, but alas, I did not, so I had to fill it with as much credible fanon as I could. But it makes me incredibly happy that Agni, for the most part, was okay. :)

I’m so, so glad you liked my weird imagery. I look forward to reading your comment to part two. Again, thank you for being so thorough. ♥♥