#sebaciel-adjacent

[mister-astringent]

Ended up falling down a rabbit hole of reading all about the poem Tomino's Hell after watching a playthrough of the Chilla's Arts game: 'The Radio Station | 深夜放送'.

It got on to mistranslations and misunderstandings of the poem's context, in particular the way that 'spits up his soul' has been changed to 'spits up the jewel(s)' in the past when translated to English, due to the written word for 'Jewel' also being understandable as containing the word for 'Soul' or 'Spirit', because both denote something that is precious.

And with that in mind, I'd just like to say:

[mister-astringent]

Some people really be acting like Sebastian dressing and undressing his master on the daily is just a normal and expected everyday part of his job as a servant to the aristocracy,

like buttons haven't historically been sewn onto the opposites sides of male and female clothing since they were first invented because maids would dress the wealthy women of the house but men would dress themselves.

[mister-astringent]

The Murder Mystery Arc tends to get overlooked a lot of the time, but I think it's definitely the one where we first get a good look at that shift in the connection between Ciel and Sebastian.

It is the first time where Sebastian is really allowed any leeway, being trusted by Ciel to act to his benefit by his own devices, put into a situation where he cannot be directly controlled by his master, and I think that his success in accomplishing the task certainly opened the path for Ciel's continued trust in his abilities and loyalty for the future.

Do they still actively work to inconvenience each other along the way? Of course, but even to an outsider - because we must remember, the entirety of the arc is presented to us from the perspective of Arthur - it is clear that these acts are not outright malicious, not from either one of them. It is like more of a game, or a private joke between the two of them that the rest of the world isn't privy to; a conversation held in a different language than that which their guests are able to speak.

[mister-astringent]

Picking up the Bocchan like an angry kitten since 1886

[mister-astringent]

@kuroshitsuji-sama

The trouble with something like 'kindness' is how do you take something that can have a meaning so grey and abstract - that has been proven time and again that it can be superficial and utilised as a means of manipulation and selfish gain - and apply it reliably to any action to call it 'care'. Especially when the person concerned isn't even human.

We don’t know to what level demons can connect with or express emotions as understood by humans. What we do know about Sebastian, though, is that he has grown to respect and admire Ciel, and regards his soul as unique. We know that he has proven himself capable of 'care' in the sense that he will act for his master’s benefit even outside of the bounds of what his contract requires. He wants Ciel's soul for his own, and he wants it at its very best, but that in itself has led him to give a level of attention to his master that surpasses all basic expectations for their covenant.

Sebastian has previously mused that devils do not possess complex malicious intent, so even if his interest can be put down to a pure want for Ciel's soul as his dinner, it would not necessarily make his actions 'evil'; it may be selfish, but there is no spite in what he does. More than that, Ciel already anticipates that Sebastian has no true feelings and has been intentionally trying to keep him at arms length in case of just such an event despite his need for comfort, continuing to maintain the shield even as they continue to grow closer, always reasoning that he allows Sebastian as close as he does for the pure fact that he can be controlled.

And to that end, Ciel will continue to receive Sebastian's loyalty and companionship until the completion if their deal, regardless of the motivation behind it. When the time comes, he will die knowing that he got precisely what he asked for, and that the care and attention he has received from the demon - even if it was false - was no less than what he paid for. He will go with no regrets as to that.

And in this story where the reality of one's own world is governed by one's individual perception, does it really matter in the end whether or not Ciel truly was in control of Sebastian's 'loyalty' towards him, so long as he believed it enough to derive comfort from his presence? Does it matter if Sebastian's 'care' was no more than contractual obligation, so long as Ciel received it? Will it make the ending any less what Ciel wanted if Sebastian shows that he cannot continue to change or 'grow' from the experience after the fact?

Regardless of intentions - or of a demon's capacity for human-type emotional growth - we can see and understand through his actions that he considers Ciel's soul to be worth something that at least looks like kindness - and from an apparently otherwise callous and apathetic creature, maybe that can be considered its own type of caring.

[mister-astringent]

With the bulk of the blood spilled by a Reaper’s Death Scythe producing the record of their memories, I would really like to know whether there is any relevance to the separate spots of blood that are cast off filled with their own individual images.

Are they simply reflective of singular emotions that have 'splashed' free as a surplus from the blood producing the full reel? Are they singular memories that have been kept separate in the person's heart for a specific reason - a moment, or an individual, that they hold most dear to them?

We know that Rachel was the person that Angelina always felt closest to, and that she loved her sister the most deeply of all.

But if that does hold some truth to the nature of these individual orbs, then look at whose image Sebastian's blood held:

[mister-astringent]

We need to address the elephant in the room.

That elephant being the fact of how food/love/intimacy translates to Sebastian Michaelis and the consumption of souls.

We see here that Sebastian directly refers to the prize he is going to take as 'the pleasure that has been offered'. We know that the 'pleasure' he is referring to is Ciel's soul, which he intends to eat.

From that we can infer that - even assuming his intentions with Ciel to be solely meal-based - Sebastian's demonic 'hunger' is more deeply intertwined with the concept of 'lust' than would perhaps be the case with a human or animal. A sensual tie between the intimacy of devouring and desire itself. There is often a particular look that Sebastian has when discussing his dinner and its preparation that gives off a sense of innuendo.

There is plenty of media in existence that makes use of these ties - whether it be through the bloodlust of vampirism, or the portrayal of cannibalism as mirroring the desire to consume with all-consuming desire - or even something more subtle and simple, like the sexualisation of yoghurt adverts - not only as a theme in media from the West, but in Japan too, where food is already considered a treat for all senses and shoku-ero (食エロ, essentially meaning 'meal erotica') is becoming more prevalent in anime and manga, taking the sensory experience of preparing and eating food and displaying it in a sensual or sexual light, with characters making erotic comments and desire-filled facial expressions while enjoying their meal.

The better quility the food, the more there is desire for it - and Ciel's soul is set to be a uniquely delicious morsel.

From here, we shall add a new category to the Food tally:

Hunger as Desire:

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[mister-astringent]

Brb gotta go manipulate my partner into feeling safe by redirecting their attention so as to reassure them that even though we may be falling I will be there to hold their hand and make sure we both land safely.