"Until" by objectlesson (R)
Title: Until
Fandom: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Pairing: Sebastian/Ciel
Categories: Character study, supernatural, dark
Length: Medium (4,435 words)
Warnings: Underage relationship (13-year-old boy/ancient demon), though the sex is only implied. Suicidal ideation. Possible TW for eating disorders.
Author on AO3:
objectlesson
Summary: Long before he contracts the Earl of Phantomhive and becomes Sebastian Michaelis for better or for worse, he was known as a poet and a fool among demons.
Review: Reading Object Lesson's stories always feels a bit like standing in the eye of a thunder storm. There is something potent, almost electric in their prose. "Until" is a perfect example of this, a short but beautiful character study that takes an entirely different look at Sebastian than I've seen from other authors in this fandom. One of the central premises of Kuroshitsuji is that demons are guided primarily by their sense of aesthetics. Object Lesson takes this conceit, along with various quips that canon characters have made about Sebastian being "half mad with hunger," and runs with them.
As the summary implies, this Sebastian is an aesthete who "sought beauty while his peers sought sustenance." This Sebastian is melancholy, prone to introspection and self-destruction in equal measure. In Ciel, of course, he finds the beauty he was searching for, to the ruin or possible salvation of them both. Object Lesson has a great grip on these characters, and on the painful but beautiful relationship between them. The end result is a character study that is insightful, poetic, and hopelessly, tragically romantic.
Until
Fandom: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Pairing: Sebastian/Ciel
Categories: Character study, supernatural, dark
Length: Medium (4,435 words)
Warnings: Underage relationship (13-year-old boy/ancient demon), though the sex is only implied. Suicidal ideation. Possible TW for eating disorders.
Author on AO3:
objectlesson
Summary: Long before he contracts the Earl of Phantomhive and becomes Sebastian Michaelis for better or for worse, he was known as a poet and a fool among demons.
Review: Reading Object Lesson's stories always feels a bit like standing in the eye of a thunder storm. There is something potent, almost electric in their prose. "Until" is a perfect example of this, a short but beautiful character study that takes an entirely different look at Sebastian than I've seen from other authors in this fandom. One of the central premises of Kuroshitsuji is that demons are guided primarily by their sense of aesthetics. Object Lesson takes this conceit, along with various quips that canon characters have made about Sebastian being "half mad with hunger," and runs with them.
As the summary implies, this Sebastian is an aesthete who "sought beauty while his peers sought sustenance." This Sebastian is melancholy, prone to introspection and self-destruction in equal measure. In Ciel, of course, he finds the beauty he was searching for, to the ruin or possible salvation of them both. Object Lesson has a great grip on these characters, and on the painful but beautiful relationship between them. The end result is a character study that is insightful, poetic, and hopelessly, tragically romantic.
Until