Sebastian "golden ball man" Michaelis (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cutlery) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
curtaincalls2014-08-08 05:56 pm
cutlery) wrote in curtaincalls2014-08-08 05:56 pm
tl;dr cr meme
RELATIONSHIPS❤MEME
① List all the characters you play.
② People reply with CR they truly, madly, deeply want to know about.
③ tl;dr on character relationships. first impressions count too!
④ ???
⑤ harvest all that tl;dr!
my kaoseba ship manifesto tbh
We’ve chatted and joked about it a lot before, but actually, the easiest way to jump into this is with the explanation that playing through the development of Sebastian and Kaoru’s CR actually really helped me to better understand the sort of relationship that Sebastian and Ciel have, or at least on a deeper level. After all, there are some big base concepts about both sets of relationships that are the same. Like for example, Sebastian and Kaoru working together from the very start was something that was an alliance that was pretty heavily based on the idea that either one of them was totally expecting the other to stab them in the back eventually. They had a very good working relationship, yet neither one of them actually trusted the other, and just both happened to be working towards the same goal.
That’s also why Sebastian did trust Kaoru, though, enough to put himself in danger. And like hilariously in retrospect, Sebastian was putting himself in wayyyyy more danger than Kaoru ever was, but. I’ll get to that later. Even though Sebastian didn’t remember Ciel as a person, I’m assuming his relationship with Ciel isn’t that different in this aspect with previous contracts that Sebastian has held. Even though his contracts never really put him in danger like what he experienced in CC, it’s still the same sort of idea of working with someone untrustworthy for the sake of some shared goal, so they’re also very unlikely to betray the other. As it became clear that Sebastian was apparently like the only person that shared the same goal as Kaoru in such a direct way, he started to relax more, as we laughed about, because to him, Kaoru presenting a danger dissipated the more that became clear.
Up to the Reveal, Sebastian did genuinely enjoy Kaoru’s company! This is unsurprising, but he enjoyed not having to argue or explain everything he said, as well as not having to carefully step around saying what he really feels or thinks, since that’s honestly just tiring, even for Sebastian. Kaoru was someone he respected for his intelligence, as well as his caution and prudence, since yeah, it was needed, and you can assume that once they got to Murder Town, Sebastian even probably thanked Kaoru for reigning him in… Kaoru was always the person that Sebastian liked and trusted most, but that was more because they had similar interests, goals, and viewpoints. Sebastian valued Kaoru because of this, since he was the only other dang person in the castle that did, but there’s also the fact that if Sebastian had been given an option that looked better than working with Kaoru to ensure his survival, he would have taken it. It wouldn’t have been an immediate decision, since Kaoru definitely proved himself to be a worth ally, but Sebastian’s interests were always himself.
But. That Reveal.
That Reveal is where I really was like oh damn at how Sebastian’s view of Kaoru very immediately and sharply shifted, and what made me realize there were some really big similarities in the sort of relationship he had with Ciel, as well as where this gets long. After all, there is one big, glaring difference between Kaoru and Ciel, and that is that Sebastian’s interest in Kaoru was voluntary.
Because Sebastian is an obsessive moron, everything clicked into place for him pretty quickly, so almost as soon as Kaoru revealed that he had known about everything the whole time, Sebastian also realized he’d totally gotten played. For a lot of characters, this would have been a big, huge, and pretty upsetting reveal, and if Sebastian wasn’t a very rigid, classical sort of Faustian demon, uh, he would have been pissed. But Sebastian’s pride also works in a very weird way... In some ways, he doesn’t have any pride whatsoever, like in serving humans in humiliating ways without batting an eye, and then also with this.
He was never mad for even a second, since this was an incredibly impressive feat to him! Kaoru held all the power in this partnership from the start, and it definitely occurred to Sebastian that he could have weaponized Sebastian to take out some of the DKs (especially considering they talked about it) and gotten him killed. He doesn’t think about that as Kaoru potentially liking him, either, but he understood right away that it was more because Sebastian had likely made himself too useful to Kaoru to lose that way. He has to immediately give Kaoru credit for using him not only without Sebastian catching on, but incredibly effectively as well.
Another thing he realized was the circumstances that would have had to bring Kaoru to this point. Sebastian and Kaoru never really talked about their backgrounds much, and when they did, it was always Sebastian to do so because his background is so expansive that it becomes irrelevant. Also, Sebastian didn’t really care, bUT. But to see Kaoru, who had very coolly striding forward and methodically trying to win the game up to that point suddenly brought to a real, heavy emotional point, Sebastian was extremely taken aback, since that means that Stiles had to have meant a lot to Kaoru in the first place, but once their “Goal” was made clear, Sebastian totally understood why. Everything Kaoru had done up to that point was for the sake of this goal, and it was a goal that was so selfless, generous, and impossible that it immediately became something Sebastian was absolutely enraptured with. Like that’s a big word, but remember just why Sebastian is so fixated on Ciel and it makes total sense…
After all, Sebastian never really talks about why Ciel’s soul is so super mega-great, but the one little piece we get is--"He turns his back towards the light without hesitation. That figure that charges into the abyss at a dignified pace. How beautiful and foolish. When you receive your crown decorated in despair, your soul will surely be extremely delicious." Now, Ciel’s goal is obviously very different than Kaoru’s, since it’s like 100% bad end by virtue of it being revenge where your soul gets eaten immediately after, but Kaoru’s goal to destroy the producers isn’t exactly dissimilar. It’s still revenge, and for very good reasons, just like Ciel’s. But Kaoru’s is actually more noble than Ciel’s, because while Ciel isolates himself and pushes people away as he approaches revenge, Kaoru is making friends! This is amazingly interesting to Sebastian, because it has that potential of bringing despair like he’d seen with Stiles if any of them dies. Kaoru is clearly fairly attached to the MM crew, and Sebastian is fascinated by that because it’s such a marked change from what he witnessed.
He knows that the Kaoru he knew was the one that was more of the mask and persona, and that’s why Sebastian almost immediately gave Kaoru his loyalty. There’s a great, tragic sort of nobility to what Kaoru wants to accomplish, because while Kaoru clearly cared about his friends greatly, he never compromised himself or his goal solely for the sake of them. There’s the big possibility here that Kaoru is charging towards an abyss by going up against the producers, because who knows what they could throw at them! And that possibility is why Sebastian wants to stay by his side. Kaoru has all of these qualities that Sebastian really values—intelligence, dignity, shrewdness, and a noble dedication to a goal—but of course they’re not entirely complimentary.
Since the reason that Sebastian gave his loyalty and wants to stay by Kaoru’s side is that Sebastian is playing vulture, in a way. Since Ciel is here, he can’t actually betray Ciel to form a contract with Kaoru, but he’s hoping that he would be able to serve long enough that his current contract might dissolve or be fulfilled, then if Kaoru was struck in a moment of despair where he needed Sebastian’s super fucking godmod help, Sebastian would be in a position to offer a contract to fulfill it. Would this ever happen? Probably not, since they’re on a team of godmods and I don’t see a situation where Kaoru would quite be put in that situation. But since lifespans are an instant for Sebastian, he definitely doesn’t mind waiting around to see, because it’s also just really entertaining, and he does like Kaoru as a person way more than he likes Ciel…
Plus also fuck the producers they’re still on the same boat there
So for Kaoru, this means that he has a very powerful and very obedient demon in his corner, whether he likes it or not. Sebastian isn’t actually the Mastermind sort of character that’s going to sit around just waiting for Kaoru’s guard to drop, though, so he’s very likely to continue as things are now, and will really never speak about his loyalty and admiration of Kaoru aloud again! It’s sort of an unspoken understanding, really, but it does mean that in Murdertown (that’s what I’m calling their commune), other than Ciel, Sebastian would be most vested in protecting Kaoru and would listen to him above any others as well as do anything Kaoru asked of him without hesitation. He’s enamored with Kaoru in a hilariously non-romantic way, so it also happens to mean that without a contract, Kaoru is also the person best suited to actually keep Sebastian in check.
Really, minus the whole waiting around to eat you possibly thing, Kaoru gained a really invaluable and dedicated ally who’s perfectly harmless! To Kaoru, at least. Anyone Kaoru wants dead, though, lol they’re fucked
Re: my kaoseba ship manifesto tbh
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hello big gay vulture
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considering ciel is like... in the same boat...