[OOC] Application
PLAYER INFO
NAME: Sara
LJ: himura_arimikoe
AGE: 7/16/88 (21)
CONTACT: AIM: albloodsealsoul
LOCATION/TIME ZONE: US Mountain Time
CURRENT CHARACTERS, if any: N/A
CHARACTER INFO
CHARACTER NAME: (Earl) Ciel Phantomhive
SERIES: Kuroshitsuji (Manga)
RESERVED: Yes
WISHLIST: Yes
PERSONALITY: Ciel is shrewd, calculating, cunning, and brilliant. He constantly puts up a hard face and a sharp edge, but when under pressure, he can be coolly biting with his language, enjoying wordplay and mindgames, preferring to keep his mental opponents always on their toes. He has a good head for business, and in a world full of conniving adults, makes a profession of staying one step ahead of them. He handles the management and marketing of his own company (Funtom), a corporate giant which he continues to build, as well as his family ancestral job: the "Watchdog" of the Queen Victoria of England.
Ciel is a cunning planner and businessman, and is comfortable taking the lead in serious investigations and solving mysteries and crime. He has a good head for detail and a knack for understanding people, though he dislikes doing mundane tasks in person. He isn't afraid to wade into the action, and keeps his head well against kidnappers and criminals, refusing to be intimidated by all but the most disturbing of crime, though he doesn't have a good stomach for watching torture or cruelty.
One of Ciel's greatest strengths is his ambiguity. He always has at least a handful of very different reasons for everything he does, and nothing is what it seems like on the surface. Often his plans are revealed to have more layers and secondary goals later in the game. It serves him to keep people guessing about who and what he is, and what makes him tick, to the point where he sometimes confuses even Sebastian, his butler.
Despite Ciel's strengths and maturities, there's the fact that he's thirteen. Most of his weaknesses come from his youth; he's prone to fits of violent temper when he's angered enough (Sebastian once had to prevent him from striking Elizabeth), he's often impatient, and sometimes he can be downright brat. He can be petty and grumpy, and when he's in a bad mood, he often teases and taunts the people he doesn't like.
All of Ciel's staff are completely and utterly loyal to him, though he rarely interacts with Bard, Finnian, and Maylene directly. Though he refers to them as pawns, they each obviously hold him in high regard, grateful to his treatment of them. Indeed, he seems to have gone the extra mile, placing Finnian outside as a gardener, where he would be happiest around nature, and buying Maylene glasses and a beautiful uniform. It could be kindness -- or, it could be a more calculating move to ensure the loyalty of what he views as pawns.
Ciel has a slightly twisted and morbid sense of humor, evidenced in his treatment and banter with Sebastian. He constantly picks at him, at times even attempting to set him up to fail.
Because of his treatment for the month after his parents' death, Ciel doesn't like to be touched or hugged much, though the only person who seems to be able to get away with it is Elizabeth. In fact, he tends to flail and nearly outright panic when he's grabbed. Despite Sebastian's protection and the "army" of his household, Ciel still sleeps with a pistol under his pillow, and will automatically pull it without thought, if wakened from one of his nightmares. There are times when Ciel can become scattered, terrified and dangerously unstable as a result of his torture (and presumed rape), though he usually manages to keep his head. In canon, he has snapped badly enough to order Sebastian to kill everything in the vicinity.
Ciel is portrayed as a shy and sweet-faced little boy with a gentle smile before his world went to hell, who cared very deeply for his family, friends, and his betrothed. He still exhibits signs of kindness and protectiveness, mostly towards Elizabeth and Madam Red. However, he makes it a point not to become close to anyone new, refusing to lose anyone else special to him.
He isn't the teary sort and has a hard time "really" smiling and laughing, although he's able to fake it. He is cold enough to shoot a man, hard enough to make the decision to let someone die in order to catch a murderer, and damaged and afraid enough to order Sebastian, on the brink of insanity brought on by flashbacks of his torture, to burn a manor filled with damaged but still-living young children.
But perhaps the tragedy of Ciel's character is the fact that he still shows remnants of his childish innocence. There are points in canon where Ciel has shown weakness, hanging onto his family's ring, asking Sebastian to stay until he falls asleep, and his random and small acts of kindness, grasping at the humanity he's slowly losing.
When confronted with a trigger, Ciel exhibits signs of Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder; hallucinations, panic attacks, and violent flashbacks. Sebastian seems to be the only person able to call him back from these episodes. He is also mildly sociopathic, depending on the situation -- normally while within the grip of one of these episodes.
TIMELINE: Chapter 35
BACKGROUND: Ciel was born an only child into a well-to-do, titled and monied family in the mid-1870's of England. In his flashbacks, he's shown as very loved and cared for by his parents (Vincent and Rachel), even crawling into bed with them when thunderstorms kept him awake in the night. He had a dog named Sebastian, played often with his cousin Elizabeth, and was being brought up on the fringes of genteel society. His father often brought him to important social events, though Ciel was shy child and had a harder time meeting people.
The Phantomhive family, though titled and ofter present at major events, had a darker side. The existence of the Phantomhive estate was at the behest of Queen of England. The job of the Phantomhives was to handle the underground, the dirty work, and the supernatural. They were the watchdogs, the black knights. They took on the black and even bloody tasks. Though associated with the Scotland Yard, they worked independently of the police and required no sanction from them. They took orders directly from the Queen. Ciel was being groomed for this position. It was presumably for this reason that the Phantomhive family was murdered.
One night when Ciel was ten (either the night before his birthday or the night OF, leading Ciel to no longer actively celebrate it in the coming years), the manor was set ablaze, those inside killed. The child awoke from bed and came upon the murdered bodies of his parents and dog, and only the wounded and elderly butler, Tanaka, was still alive. Though he tried to save Ciel, the boy was captured, taken as a useless and harmless spoil of an undeclared war.
Ciel was made a slave and kept in a cage for over a month, mistreated, terrorized and presumably raped before his abuse culminated in being used as a sacrificial victim for a cult ritual. During one instance in which the boy was tied down to an altar and cut open with a knife, his hatred for his torturers intensified to such a fever pitch that Sebastian was summoned. It is unclear whether the cultists performed the ritual and the demon merely chose Ciel, or if Ciel's feelings alone brought him, but either way, Sebastian was there.
The demon offered Ciel a contract; the death of all who had hurt him (his torturers, and those who ordered the death of his family) in return for the boy's immortal soul. Ciel agreed, and promptly ordered him to kill everyone in the room.
Ciel arose from the ashes, took possession of his family's fortune and rebuilt the Phantomhive manor exactly as it was before the attack, down to the last detail. The last of the Phantomhive family, Ciel became the "Watchdog" of the Queen, and as a major cover to fund his fortune built from the ground up a company called Funtom, which produces luxury toys and sweets (and later added a food branch). In his travels for his job, he and Sebastian assembled a team of servants; Bard, Finnian, and Maylene. Though they are titled as chef, gardener and maid, they are in fact brilliant fighters, and in the case of Bard and Maylene, highly trained professionals. All have given Ciel their utmost loyalty.
The story begins two years later with a few routine days in the Phantomhive house, centered around the antics created by Bard, Finnian and Maylene and their amusing (and astounding) failure at their assigned jobs, which then showcases just how superhumanly competent Sebastian actually is. Although Ciel entertains rarely, he is shown being a perfectly gentlemanly and very polite host.
His right eye is covered by an eyepatch at all times.
Later, Ciel is kidnapped by a group of armed thugs working for a man Ciel hoped to form a business deal with. He orders the boy kidnapped and the servants "dealt with". Although Ciel is beaten badly, he never shows a bit of fear and even taunts his captors with his remarks. When Sebastian finally (and spectacularly) arrives, killing most of the guards in the process, he survives being shot through with bullets, and the true nature of the relationship between master and butler is revealed.
Ciel's eyepatch is torn away by one of the thugs, and Ciel finally has enough fooling around, ordering Sebastian to rescue him. He opens his right eye, revealing the demonic sigil carved into his iris, the physical manifestation of his contract with Sebastian. Because of his orders, Sebastian even manages to perform the impossible -- to remove a bullet from a gun before the thug is able to fire it into Ciel's head.
When Sebastian brings him home from this excursion, cradled bridal-style in his arms, Bard, Finnian and Maylene flip out a little over Ciel's injured state, but Ciel passes it off as having "tripped". Considering the extent of his injuries, this is a very hard stretch, but none of them question it. It's passed off initially as the servants being too stupid to catch on, but in later chapters it becomes clear that with the regularity Ciel shows up injured or randomly missing, they've simply learnt to leave it be, so long as he is safe.
Elizabeth, Ciel's overly excitable cousin (and fiancee) comes to visit and immediately rearranges the manor to her personal taste in decor, favoring brightly colored objects and a LOT of pink. She chooses clothes for Ciel for a dance and day together, but when Ciel wears a blue ring that doesn't match, Elizabeth steals it from him, telling him that it ruins her coordination. When Ciel refuses to give it up, she has a fit of temper and smashes the ring, not knowing the sentimental value behind it. Ciel nearly hits her and is only stopped by Sebastian, who explains that is an heirloom of the Phantomhive house, rich in sentimental value. Although the girl is immediately apologetic and begins to cry when she realizes what she's done, Ciel reaches down, tosses the ring out the window and dries her tears, telling her that it's not something he needs.
However, that night, Sebastian presents Ciel with his fully-restored ring, much to his surprise. It was never an order.
Ciel's connection to the Queen and the Yard is revealed when he is set on the historical Jack the Ripper case, and with Sebastian's help manages to narrow the list of suspects down to a doctor who has a taste for young girls. With Sebastian's coaching in dance and manners and the help of a corset (which Ciel is sure permanently rearranged his organs) he infiltrates a social event the doctor is throwing and manages to get close to him, hoping to find some incriminating evidence. However, he does manage to get himself drugged and kidnapped, awakening in a cage, about to be sold to the highest bidder in a black market auction. Again, it seems Sebastian is unable to find him until Ciel removes the cover over his eye and directly summons him, breaking free of the cage and arresting the doctor for crimes different than the Ripper case.
Ciel's next disguise is as a pauper, and they are able to pinpoint the next most likely target through Sebastian's quick research. However, he is not able to intercept the murderer. He walks in on the very last one to find the woman brutally killed, and blood all over the floor. In the midst of a violent flashback, Ciel becomes sick, and Sebastian steps in. The murderers are revealed to be Ciel's aunt on his mother's side, Madam Red (who up until now had been a recurring character) and her butler, Grell Sutcliffe. It turns out that Grell is in fact a Reaper (or Shinigami), but a rogue, and teamed up with Madam Red to murder young prostitutes whom Madam Red had performed hysterectomies for, out of anger over the fact that she suffered an awful accident, her husband and lost her unborn child, and her ability to have more children of her own. However, when she refuses to kill Ciel, Grell turns on her and murders her in front of Ciel's eyes.
Sebastian eventually overpowers Grell and he is taken into custody by Grell's superior, William T. Spears, badly beaten but alive. Despite the method of his aunt's death, Ciel sends her off by dressing her all in red, her favorite color, and telling no one (except the Queen) of the true circumstances of her death.
Ciel withdraws quite a bit after Madam Red's death, becoming more taciturn, though Elizabeth does manage to bring him somewhat out of it. On a hunting expedition, Elizabeth's mother and Ciel start up a not-quite-friendly rivalry in the form of a hunting contest. They are evenly matched until the little group is attacked by a bear, putting Elizabeth in direct danger. Without thinking of his own safety, Ciel puts himself between Elizabeth and the bear, while the Marchioness shoots it. He concedes victory to her, a rather grand concession considering Ciel's stubborn and prideful personality. It is later revealed that Sebastian actually killed the bear, and he and the Marchioness discuss it in private, where Sebastian admits that Ciel needs to learn a few things, and he only nudges him along. Along with demonstrating just how much Ciel cares for Elizabeth, considering her one of the other people he is still attached to, it also puts a new dimension into the relationship between master and butler. This concludes Ciel's 13th birthday.
Ciel's next investigation involves the Prince Soma and Agni, his human butler. Though mostly filler, Ciel's attitude towards people is explored, as well as his enterprising nature and business savvy. During the course of an investigation he manages to turn a contest to his benefit and secure a Royal Warrant from the Queen herself, endorsing a brand new food branch to his business, Funtom, and giving it a kickstart. Although it was a long shot to gain such a prize, he does reveal that he also has an interest in seeing whether it is possible for Sebastian to fail -- a morbid interest indeed for someone of the age of thirteen. Soma ends up staying around and becoming a semi-recurring character, who proclaims himself to be Ciel's best friend, though why Ciel puts up with him is evenly split between politics, his inability to say no, or a secret wish for some sort of company, even if he finds that company annoying.
The Circus arc takes Ciel and Sebastian into the Noah's Ark Circus, in search of a string of missing children that the Queen herself has expressed quite a bit of concern about. Taking the role of Circus performers, dubbed "Black" and (ironically in Ciel's case) "Smile" they infiltrate the circus in search of leads towards the missing children. The arc is split between Sebastian's adventures and Ciel's, in which he's very out of his element, roughing it in a tent with a "new" performer who turns out to be a girl nicknamed "Doll". Ciel is able to smile and even be genial, but he seems awkward, shy, and out of place. His vulnerability comes to the surface, as well as his childish stubbornness when Doll tries to convince him to take a bath, though it's nearly winter and the baths are outside.
Ciel has a brand scar on his back, a mark he carries from his days as a slave, which he is extremely self-conscious about, proving he hasn't left those days behind him. At one point he ends up in angry tears when his shirt's mostly pulled off, baring the mark on his back. He's also been coughing, never telling anyone how serious his asthma is until he's horribly sick, even Sebastian.
Sebastian realizes that many of the circus performers have artificial limbs printed with a certain hallmark. Ciel breaks into a tent to look for incriminating evidence and discovers some unsettling papers with his name on them -- and soon afterward finds that Sebastian will follow his orders to the letter, even if that inadvertently puts him in danger. In this particular case, he's nearly bitten by a poisonous snake, and only narrowly saved by Doll.
Ciel and Sebastian track the owner of the circus and find Baron Kelvin... a deranged man who started out as a kindhearted benefactor, but took his obsession with beauty and power too far. The man had an unhealthy and perverted obsession with Ciel (which, creepily enough, started when he was seven, at the oldest) and in his quest to change his appearance and body into something that would appeal to Ciel and the other "beautiful people" he contracted a doctor that specialized in surgeries. In return for the doctor's work, he provided the doctor with "materials". In this case, children, whose bones were used as materials for the prosthetics the Baron equipped his circus performers with.
The Baron's "entertainment" (drugged and brainwashed children, performing circus acts that they were untrained to do, resulting in their messy deaths), confessions of obsession with Ciel, and finally the unveiling of the replica of the room in which most of Ciel's torture happened serves to finally unhinge the boy. When he finally has enough, he draws his gun and shoots the man, badly wounding him but not quite killing him.
Meeting the doctor, who proceeds to kill a young girl right in front of him on the altar, is what finally causes Ciel to have a psychotic break. He orders Sebastian to kill them. Once the Baron and the doctor are grimly executed at Sebastian's hands, Ciel, still in the grip of madness, orders Sebastian to burn the place -- catatonic children and all. Sebastian attempts to protest on grounds of the Queen's mission to find and rescue the children, but Ciel snaps and orders, nearly screaming at him and visibly shocking the demon, to burn it all anyway. Sebastian complies.
Later, on a train to visit the warehouse full of abandoned and disabled children that Joker and the other circus performers told them the Baron Kelvin still cared for, with the intent to find a new benefactor for them, Ciel calmly explained to Sebastian that the children the doctor had experimented on could not possibly have been saved, in terms of their minds. Victims of torture, he explains, take a good deal of strength and help to come back from that place. He likened it to his own experience, explaining that Sebastian and his desire for revenge were all that had brought him back from that same place, and those children had had neither. "I am not so arrogant as to save someone, only to brag about it." He insisted the children were better off dead, than living with that trauma.
Despite the explanation, it seems to be more for Ciel's benefit than Sebastian's... and though it makes perfect sense, the way Sebastian looks at Ciel suggests that the boy rationalized it all out after the fact, explained it to himself to make himself feel better about having ordered what amounted to an execution.
When Ciel comes upon the warehouse supposedly filled with rescued children... he finds it empty. The performers of the circus arc, fiercely loyal to the Baron for saving them, had been told a lie. The warehouse had been empty for years. They had died believing that lie, touting the Baron's generosity and even begging for the man's life on those grounds... and ended up dying for it.
Ciel's reaction to the truth about the warehouse is atypical, but it also seems to be another crack in his sanity. He laughs. He laughs until he cries, and turns to Sebastian, explaining how stupid, how cruel, how hilarious it was that humans could be so dark and twisted, how they could die for nothing at all. He then confirms that he himself is human, is himself that ugly and twisted, and accepts it as truth.
He, as a human, twisted and ugly, is more demonic than a demon.
The Earl goes back home, back to his normal life, and continues to act as he always has, but the cracks in his sanity and the harsh reminder of why he wants revenge are raw and painful, just hidden under a cold face.
ABILITIES: Ciel is contracted to Sebastian Michaelis, a seemingly immortal demon who cannot and will not fail in any task yet given to him. Although Ciel himself has no outstanding powers (in fact, he's weak, asthmatic, allergic to cats, and has trouble with buttons), his right eye (which is normally covered by a black eyepatch) bears a sigil that is similar to the one on Sebastian's right hand, and allows him to command Sebastian. Sebastian cannot disobey a direct order from Ciel, or he will breach the contract that will reward him with Ciel's soul upon the death of all the people who had a hand in murdering Ciel's family, enslaving him, and torturing him. When he accomplishes this goal, Sebastian will have his soul.
Ciel, as a young nobleman, has been schooled in languages, arts, and economics. He is good at playing the piano but still needs some work with the violin. His character sheets says that he is exceptionally good at hunting for his age, with a skill at adult level. This would translate to me as being an excellent marksman, and knowing his way around several different types of guns, including the pistol he's often seen carrying in canon.
GAME INFO
EDENSPHERE NAME: Burn
BIRTHDAY LOG: "Think of the giant squirrels. They think of you naked." Yes please!
DREAM: Laughter, happy laughter. Hugs and hands and fingers in his hair, steady and always there. Big, strong hands lifting him up, gloves made of sweet, soft leather ruffling through his hair, there to tuck his own fingers into. Small, soft hands and spindly arms around his neck, scratchy lace and warm weight. Soft cool fingers over his brow, worried murmurs and sweet voices, fuzzy vision and heated puffy breaths, and a warm tongue licking the tips of his fingers.
Falling.
It was so hard to breathe.
The only color was the red of blood, and the sound of someone screaming, high and barely human.
The sound hit him like a tempest, rolled him under and drowned his mind in its pain and cruelty; he realized he was the one screaming. Hands. Hands holding him down, holding him still, catching him, keeping him on his knees. Fingers tightened around his heart until the screams choked out into nothingness, and he was unable to breathe. Pain in his chest, in his stomach, in his lower back, in his eyes, his eye-
Burn it.
Circus music. Organ and drums. Laughter, come one, come all, see things of fancy, of exhilaration, of death. Death?
Death.
Mission, there was a purpose. There was uncertainty, there was confusion, but there was a purpose. There was a letter, a kindly old voice overtaken by the voice of a man, loud and clear.
"From today onwards, we have some new friends. Newcomers "Black" and "Smile"!"
Smile? Smile -- that was wrong, why was it wrong? That shouldn't be his name, but... was it his name?
Sounds of clapping, cheering, and yes, yes he must, it was required, it was-
A gunshot.
Burn it.
"Yes, my lord."
... and the fire spread.
JOURNAL SAMPLE: (Assuming the greeter informs Burn of having been present before in Edensphere.)
[The script is formal and neat, but the letters are childishly large -- familiar, perhaps, to some.]
My name is Burn.
[A bit of a pause goes here, as the writer seems to wait for something to happen. The letters come slowly at first, and then quickly, as though he's getting things out on paper.]
I have been here before.
I don't remember being here.
Apparently, this is normal.
Any and all information would be appreciated, as well as answering general questions. I have read through the pages of this journal and had many answered for me, but I would ask for more. Maps, directions, explanations, even distractions would all be welcome.
[...]
I am blind in my right eye. If at all possible, I would feel most comfortable with an eyepatch. If anyone is in possession of one they would feel comfortable parting with, I would be appreciative.
ASPIRATIONS: Some crack, some plot, and a healthy serving of mindfuck. It'll be very interesting for me to explore the balance between Ciel's natural self and what his memories have made him into, his kind nature bent by and now-ingrained need to be cruel and manipulative, and distance himself from others. It's likely to be a very interesting struggle.
NAME: Sara
LJ: himura_arimikoe
AGE: 7/16/88 (21)
CONTACT: AIM: albloodsealsoul
LOCATION/TIME ZONE: US Mountain Time
CURRENT CHARACTERS, if any: N/A
CHARACTER INFO
CHARACTER NAME: (Earl) Ciel Phantomhive
SERIES: Kuroshitsuji (Manga)
RESERVED: Yes
WISHLIST: Yes
PERSONALITY: Ciel is shrewd, calculating, cunning, and brilliant. He constantly puts up a hard face and a sharp edge, but when under pressure, he can be coolly biting with his language, enjoying wordplay and mindgames, preferring to keep his mental opponents always on their toes. He has a good head for business, and in a world full of conniving adults, makes a profession of staying one step ahead of them. He handles the management and marketing of his own company (Funtom), a corporate giant which he continues to build, as well as his family ancestral job: the "Watchdog" of the Queen Victoria of England.
Ciel is a cunning planner and businessman, and is comfortable taking the lead in serious investigations and solving mysteries and crime. He has a good head for detail and a knack for understanding people, though he dislikes doing mundane tasks in person. He isn't afraid to wade into the action, and keeps his head well against kidnappers and criminals, refusing to be intimidated by all but the most disturbing of crime, though he doesn't have a good stomach for watching torture or cruelty.
One of Ciel's greatest strengths is his ambiguity. He always has at least a handful of very different reasons for everything he does, and nothing is what it seems like on the surface. Often his plans are revealed to have more layers and secondary goals later in the game. It serves him to keep people guessing about who and what he is, and what makes him tick, to the point where he sometimes confuses even Sebastian, his butler.
Despite Ciel's strengths and maturities, there's the fact that he's thirteen. Most of his weaknesses come from his youth; he's prone to fits of violent temper when he's angered enough (Sebastian once had to prevent him from striking Elizabeth), he's often impatient, and sometimes he can be downright brat. He can be petty and grumpy, and when he's in a bad mood, he often teases and taunts the people he doesn't like.
All of Ciel's staff are completely and utterly loyal to him, though he rarely interacts with Bard, Finnian, and Maylene directly. Though he refers to them as pawns, they each obviously hold him in high regard, grateful to his treatment of them. Indeed, he seems to have gone the extra mile, placing Finnian outside as a gardener, where he would be happiest around nature, and buying Maylene glasses and a beautiful uniform. It could be kindness -- or, it could be a more calculating move to ensure the loyalty of what he views as pawns.
Ciel has a slightly twisted and morbid sense of humor, evidenced in his treatment and banter with Sebastian. He constantly picks at him, at times even attempting to set him up to fail.
Because of his treatment for the month after his parents' death, Ciel doesn't like to be touched or hugged much, though the only person who seems to be able to get away with it is Elizabeth. In fact, he tends to flail and nearly outright panic when he's grabbed. Despite Sebastian's protection and the "army" of his household, Ciel still sleeps with a pistol under his pillow, and will automatically pull it without thought, if wakened from one of his nightmares. There are times when Ciel can become scattered, terrified and dangerously unstable as a result of his torture (and presumed rape), though he usually manages to keep his head. In canon, he has snapped badly enough to order Sebastian to kill everything in the vicinity.
Ciel is portrayed as a shy and sweet-faced little boy with a gentle smile before his world went to hell, who cared very deeply for his family, friends, and his betrothed. He still exhibits signs of kindness and protectiveness, mostly towards Elizabeth and Madam Red. However, he makes it a point not to become close to anyone new, refusing to lose anyone else special to him.
He isn't the teary sort and has a hard time "really" smiling and laughing, although he's able to fake it. He is cold enough to shoot a man, hard enough to make the decision to let someone die in order to catch a murderer, and damaged and afraid enough to order Sebastian, on the brink of insanity brought on by flashbacks of his torture, to burn a manor filled with damaged but still-living young children.
But perhaps the tragedy of Ciel's character is the fact that he still shows remnants of his childish innocence. There are points in canon where Ciel has shown weakness, hanging onto his family's ring, asking Sebastian to stay until he falls asleep, and his random and small acts of kindness, grasping at the humanity he's slowly losing.
When confronted with a trigger, Ciel exhibits signs of Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder; hallucinations, panic attacks, and violent flashbacks. Sebastian seems to be the only person able to call him back from these episodes. He is also mildly sociopathic, depending on the situation -- normally while within the grip of one of these episodes.
TIMELINE: Chapter 35
BACKGROUND: Ciel was born an only child into a well-to-do, titled and monied family in the mid-1870's of England. In his flashbacks, he's shown as very loved and cared for by his parents (Vincent and Rachel), even crawling into bed with them when thunderstorms kept him awake in the night. He had a dog named Sebastian, played often with his cousin Elizabeth, and was being brought up on the fringes of genteel society. His father often brought him to important social events, though Ciel was shy child and had a harder time meeting people.
The Phantomhive family, though titled and ofter present at major events, had a darker side. The existence of the Phantomhive estate was at the behest of Queen of England. The job of the Phantomhives was to handle the underground, the dirty work, and the supernatural. They were the watchdogs, the black knights. They took on the black and even bloody tasks. Though associated with the Scotland Yard, they worked independently of the police and required no sanction from them. They took orders directly from the Queen. Ciel was being groomed for this position. It was presumably for this reason that the Phantomhive family was murdered.
One night when Ciel was ten (either the night before his birthday or the night OF, leading Ciel to no longer actively celebrate it in the coming years), the manor was set ablaze, those inside killed. The child awoke from bed and came upon the murdered bodies of his parents and dog, and only the wounded and elderly butler, Tanaka, was still alive. Though he tried to save Ciel, the boy was captured, taken as a useless and harmless spoil of an undeclared war.
Ciel was made a slave and kept in a cage for over a month, mistreated, terrorized and presumably raped before his abuse culminated in being used as a sacrificial victim for a cult ritual. During one instance in which the boy was tied down to an altar and cut open with a knife, his hatred for his torturers intensified to such a fever pitch that Sebastian was summoned. It is unclear whether the cultists performed the ritual and the demon merely chose Ciel, or if Ciel's feelings alone brought him, but either way, Sebastian was there.
The demon offered Ciel a contract; the death of all who had hurt him (his torturers, and those who ordered the death of his family) in return for the boy's immortal soul. Ciel agreed, and promptly ordered him to kill everyone in the room.
Ciel arose from the ashes, took possession of his family's fortune and rebuilt the Phantomhive manor exactly as it was before the attack, down to the last detail. The last of the Phantomhive family, Ciel became the "Watchdog" of the Queen, and as a major cover to fund his fortune built from the ground up a company called Funtom, which produces luxury toys and sweets (and later added a food branch). In his travels for his job, he and Sebastian assembled a team of servants; Bard, Finnian, and Maylene. Though they are titled as chef, gardener and maid, they are in fact brilliant fighters, and in the case of Bard and Maylene, highly trained professionals. All have given Ciel their utmost loyalty.
The story begins two years later with a few routine days in the Phantomhive house, centered around the antics created by Bard, Finnian and Maylene and their amusing (and astounding) failure at their assigned jobs, which then showcases just how superhumanly competent Sebastian actually is. Although Ciel entertains rarely, he is shown being a perfectly gentlemanly and very polite host.
His right eye is covered by an eyepatch at all times.
Later, Ciel is kidnapped by a group of armed thugs working for a man Ciel hoped to form a business deal with. He orders the boy kidnapped and the servants "dealt with". Although Ciel is beaten badly, he never shows a bit of fear and even taunts his captors with his remarks. When Sebastian finally (and spectacularly) arrives, killing most of the guards in the process, he survives being shot through with bullets, and the true nature of the relationship between master and butler is revealed.
Ciel's eyepatch is torn away by one of the thugs, and Ciel finally has enough fooling around, ordering Sebastian to rescue him. He opens his right eye, revealing the demonic sigil carved into his iris, the physical manifestation of his contract with Sebastian. Because of his orders, Sebastian even manages to perform the impossible -- to remove a bullet from a gun before the thug is able to fire it into Ciel's head.
When Sebastian brings him home from this excursion, cradled bridal-style in his arms, Bard, Finnian and Maylene flip out a little over Ciel's injured state, but Ciel passes it off as having "tripped". Considering the extent of his injuries, this is a very hard stretch, but none of them question it. It's passed off initially as the servants being too stupid to catch on, but in later chapters it becomes clear that with the regularity Ciel shows up injured or randomly missing, they've simply learnt to leave it be, so long as he is safe.
Elizabeth, Ciel's overly excitable cousin (and fiancee) comes to visit and immediately rearranges the manor to her personal taste in decor, favoring brightly colored objects and a LOT of pink. She chooses clothes for Ciel for a dance and day together, but when Ciel wears a blue ring that doesn't match, Elizabeth steals it from him, telling him that it ruins her coordination. When Ciel refuses to give it up, she has a fit of temper and smashes the ring, not knowing the sentimental value behind it. Ciel nearly hits her and is only stopped by Sebastian, who explains that is an heirloom of the Phantomhive house, rich in sentimental value. Although the girl is immediately apologetic and begins to cry when she realizes what she's done, Ciel reaches down, tosses the ring out the window and dries her tears, telling her that it's not something he needs.
However, that night, Sebastian presents Ciel with his fully-restored ring, much to his surprise. It was never an order.
Ciel's connection to the Queen and the Yard is revealed when he is set on the historical Jack the Ripper case, and with Sebastian's help manages to narrow the list of suspects down to a doctor who has a taste for young girls. With Sebastian's coaching in dance and manners and the help of a corset (which Ciel is sure permanently rearranged his organs) he infiltrates a social event the doctor is throwing and manages to get close to him, hoping to find some incriminating evidence. However, he does manage to get himself drugged and kidnapped, awakening in a cage, about to be sold to the highest bidder in a black market auction. Again, it seems Sebastian is unable to find him until Ciel removes the cover over his eye and directly summons him, breaking free of the cage and arresting the doctor for crimes different than the Ripper case.
Ciel's next disguise is as a pauper, and they are able to pinpoint the next most likely target through Sebastian's quick research. However, he is not able to intercept the murderer. He walks in on the very last one to find the woman brutally killed, and blood all over the floor. In the midst of a violent flashback, Ciel becomes sick, and Sebastian steps in. The murderers are revealed to be Ciel's aunt on his mother's side, Madam Red (who up until now had been a recurring character) and her butler, Grell Sutcliffe. It turns out that Grell is in fact a Reaper (or Shinigami), but a rogue, and teamed up with Madam Red to murder young prostitutes whom Madam Red had performed hysterectomies for, out of anger over the fact that she suffered an awful accident, her husband and lost her unborn child, and her ability to have more children of her own. However, when she refuses to kill Ciel, Grell turns on her and murders her in front of Ciel's eyes.
Sebastian eventually overpowers Grell and he is taken into custody by Grell's superior, William T. Spears, badly beaten but alive. Despite the method of his aunt's death, Ciel sends her off by dressing her all in red, her favorite color, and telling no one (except the Queen) of the true circumstances of her death.
Ciel withdraws quite a bit after Madam Red's death, becoming more taciturn, though Elizabeth does manage to bring him somewhat out of it. On a hunting expedition, Elizabeth's mother and Ciel start up a not-quite-friendly rivalry in the form of a hunting contest. They are evenly matched until the little group is attacked by a bear, putting Elizabeth in direct danger. Without thinking of his own safety, Ciel puts himself between Elizabeth and the bear, while the Marchioness shoots it. He concedes victory to her, a rather grand concession considering Ciel's stubborn and prideful personality. It is later revealed that Sebastian actually killed the bear, and he and the Marchioness discuss it in private, where Sebastian admits that Ciel needs to learn a few things, and he only nudges him along. Along with demonstrating just how much Ciel cares for Elizabeth, considering her one of the other people he is still attached to, it also puts a new dimension into the relationship between master and butler. This concludes Ciel's 13th birthday.
Ciel's next investigation involves the Prince Soma and Agni, his human butler. Though mostly filler, Ciel's attitude towards people is explored, as well as his enterprising nature and business savvy. During the course of an investigation he manages to turn a contest to his benefit and secure a Royal Warrant from the Queen herself, endorsing a brand new food branch to his business, Funtom, and giving it a kickstart. Although it was a long shot to gain such a prize, he does reveal that he also has an interest in seeing whether it is possible for Sebastian to fail -- a morbid interest indeed for someone of the age of thirteen. Soma ends up staying around and becoming a semi-recurring character, who proclaims himself to be Ciel's best friend, though why Ciel puts up with him is evenly split between politics, his inability to say no, or a secret wish for some sort of company, even if he finds that company annoying.
The Circus arc takes Ciel and Sebastian into the Noah's Ark Circus, in search of a string of missing children that the Queen herself has expressed quite a bit of concern about. Taking the role of Circus performers, dubbed "Black" and (ironically in Ciel's case) "Smile" they infiltrate the circus in search of leads towards the missing children. The arc is split between Sebastian's adventures and Ciel's, in which he's very out of his element, roughing it in a tent with a "new" performer who turns out to be a girl nicknamed "Doll". Ciel is able to smile and even be genial, but he seems awkward, shy, and out of place. His vulnerability comes to the surface, as well as his childish stubbornness when Doll tries to convince him to take a bath, though it's nearly winter and the baths are outside.
Ciel has a brand scar on his back, a mark he carries from his days as a slave, which he is extremely self-conscious about, proving he hasn't left those days behind him. At one point he ends up in angry tears when his shirt's mostly pulled off, baring the mark on his back. He's also been coughing, never telling anyone how serious his asthma is until he's horribly sick, even Sebastian.
Sebastian realizes that many of the circus performers have artificial limbs printed with a certain hallmark. Ciel breaks into a tent to look for incriminating evidence and discovers some unsettling papers with his name on them -- and soon afterward finds that Sebastian will follow his orders to the letter, even if that inadvertently puts him in danger. In this particular case, he's nearly bitten by a poisonous snake, and only narrowly saved by Doll.
Ciel and Sebastian track the owner of the circus and find Baron Kelvin... a deranged man who started out as a kindhearted benefactor, but took his obsession with beauty and power too far. The man had an unhealthy and perverted obsession with Ciel (which, creepily enough, started when he was seven, at the oldest) and in his quest to change his appearance and body into something that would appeal to Ciel and the other "beautiful people" he contracted a doctor that specialized in surgeries. In return for the doctor's work, he provided the doctor with "materials". In this case, children, whose bones were used as materials for the prosthetics the Baron equipped his circus performers with.
The Baron's "entertainment" (drugged and brainwashed children, performing circus acts that they were untrained to do, resulting in their messy deaths), confessions of obsession with Ciel, and finally the unveiling of the replica of the room in which most of Ciel's torture happened serves to finally unhinge the boy. When he finally has enough, he draws his gun and shoots the man, badly wounding him but not quite killing him.
Meeting the doctor, who proceeds to kill a young girl right in front of him on the altar, is what finally causes Ciel to have a psychotic break. He orders Sebastian to kill them. Once the Baron and the doctor are grimly executed at Sebastian's hands, Ciel, still in the grip of madness, orders Sebastian to burn the place -- catatonic children and all. Sebastian attempts to protest on grounds of the Queen's mission to find and rescue the children, but Ciel snaps and orders, nearly screaming at him and visibly shocking the demon, to burn it all anyway. Sebastian complies.
Later, on a train to visit the warehouse full of abandoned and disabled children that Joker and the other circus performers told them the Baron Kelvin still cared for, with the intent to find a new benefactor for them, Ciel calmly explained to Sebastian that the children the doctor had experimented on could not possibly have been saved, in terms of their minds. Victims of torture, he explains, take a good deal of strength and help to come back from that place. He likened it to his own experience, explaining that Sebastian and his desire for revenge were all that had brought him back from that same place, and those children had had neither. "I am not so arrogant as to save someone, only to brag about it." He insisted the children were better off dead, than living with that trauma.
Despite the explanation, it seems to be more for Ciel's benefit than Sebastian's... and though it makes perfect sense, the way Sebastian looks at Ciel suggests that the boy rationalized it all out after the fact, explained it to himself to make himself feel better about having ordered what amounted to an execution.
When Ciel comes upon the warehouse supposedly filled with rescued children... he finds it empty. The performers of the circus arc, fiercely loyal to the Baron for saving them, had been told a lie. The warehouse had been empty for years. They had died believing that lie, touting the Baron's generosity and even begging for the man's life on those grounds... and ended up dying for it.
Ciel's reaction to the truth about the warehouse is atypical, but it also seems to be another crack in his sanity. He laughs. He laughs until he cries, and turns to Sebastian, explaining how stupid, how cruel, how hilarious it was that humans could be so dark and twisted, how they could die for nothing at all. He then confirms that he himself is human, is himself that ugly and twisted, and accepts it as truth.
He, as a human, twisted and ugly, is more demonic than a demon.
The Earl goes back home, back to his normal life, and continues to act as he always has, but the cracks in his sanity and the harsh reminder of why he wants revenge are raw and painful, just hidden under a cold face.
ABILITIES: Ciel is contracted to Sebastian Michaelis, a seemingly immortal demon who cannot and will not fail in any task yet given to him. Although Ciel himself has no outstanding powers (in fact, he's weak, asthmatic, allergic to cats, and has trouble with buttons), his right eye (which is normally covered by a black eyepatch) bears a sigil that is similar to the one on Sebastian's right hand, and allows him to command Sebastian. Sebastian cannot disobey a direct order from Ciel, or he will breach the contract that will reward him with Ciel's soul upon the death of all the people who had a hand in murdering Ciel's family, enslaving him, and torturing him. When he accomplishes this goal, Sebastian will have his soul.
Ciel, as a young nobleman, has been schooled in languages, arts, and economics. He is good at playing the piano but still needs some work with the violin. His character sheets says that he is exceptionally good at hunting for his age, with a skill at adult level. This would translate to me as being an excellent marksman, and knowing his way around several different types of guns, including the pistol he's often seen carrying in canon.
GAME INFO
EDENSPHERE NAME: Burn
BIRTHDAY LOG: "Think of the giant squirrels. They think of you naked." Yes please!
DREAM: Laughter, happy laughter. Hugs and hands and fingers in his hair, steady and always there. Big, strong hands lifting him up, gloves made of sweet, soft leather ruffling through his hair, there to tuck his own fingers into. Small, soft hands and spindly arms around his neck, scratchy lace and warm weight. Soft cool fingers over his brow, worried murmurs and sweet voices, fuzzy vision and heated puffy breaths, and a warm tongue licking the tips of his fingers.
Falling.
It was so hard to breathe.
The only color was the red of blood, and the sound of someone screaming, high and barely human.
The sound hit him like a tempest, rolled him under and drowned his mind in its pain and cruelty; he realized he was the one screaming. Hands. Hands holding him down, holding him still, catching him, keeping him on his knees. Fingers tightened around his heart until the screams choked out into nothingness, and he was unable to breathe. Pain in his chest, in his stomach, in his lower back, in his eyes, his eye-
Burn it.
Circus music. Organ and drums. Laughter, come one, come all, see things of fancy, of exhilaration, of death. Death?
Death.
Mission, there was a purpose. There was uncertainty, there was confusion, but there was a purpose. There was a letter, a kindly old voice overtaken by the voice of a man, loud and clear.
"From today onwards, we have some new friends. Newcomers "Black" and "Smile"!"
Smile? Smile -- that was wrong, why was it wrong? That shouldn't be his name, but... was it his name?
Sounds of clapping, cheering, and yes, yes he must, it was required, it was-
A gunshot.
Burn it.
"Yes, my lord."
... and the fire spread.
JOURNAL SAMPLE: (Assuming the greeter informs Burn of having been present before in Edensphere.)
[The script is formal and neat, but the letters are childishly large -- familiar, perhaps, to some.]
My name is Burn.
[A bit of a pause goes here, as the writer seems to wait for something to happen. The letters come slowly at first, and then quickly, as though he's getting things out on paper.]
I have been here before.
I don't remember being here.
Apparently, this is normal.
Any and all information would be appreciated, as well as answering general questions. I have read through the pages of this journal and had many answered for me, but I would ask for more. Maps, directions, explanations, even distractions would all be welcome.
[...]
I am blind in my right eye. If at all possible, I would feel most comfortable with an eyepatch. If anyone is in possession of one they would feel comfortable parting with, I would be appreciative.
ASPIRATIONS: Some crack, some plot, and a healthy serving of mindfuck. It'll be very interesting for me to explore the balance between Ciel's natural self and what his memories have made him into, his kind nature bent by and now-ingrained need to be cruel and manipulative, and distance himself from others. It's likely to be a very interesting struggle.