PLAYER INFO. ✖ Handle: Christy ✖ Contact:swagu ✖ Are You Over 16: Y ✖ Other Characters Played in Consignment: n/a
CHARACTER INFO. ✖ Character Name: Michaelis, Sebastian ✖ Canon: Kuroshitsuji, Chapter 97 ✖ Character Appearance:Here ✖ Character Age: Unknown—At least 3,000 years old, but likely quite a bit older than that. Appears to be in his twenties. ✖ Pick A Number: 666, 616
✖ Canon Setting: Sebastian is from a fairly standard, normal Earth during the Victorian Era, more specifically around 1888~1889. While there are some technological advancements that are anachronistic to this time period, such as cellphones, genetic engineering, and more modern radar. Some of these are more often than not jokes within the series, and the ones that are more plot crucial such as the latter two tend to not be explained, or at least not yet. The history of this Earth is the same as the one we know, at least, and other than these small anachronisms, is largely identical.
However, since this a series about the supernatural, the largest difference is comes with Sebastian himself. In the world of Kuroshitsuji, humans are able to summon demons, though the method of doing so is still a bit vague, as that's the mystery of the story. Demons are powerful, long-lived creatures with the ability to grant the wish of a person they make a contract with, with the price being the contractor's soul upon completion of the contract. It's pretty heavily based on the Faust myth, so that's essentially how it works... Demons and where they come from are barely touched upon in the series, and we really only know that they exist in another realm separate from humans. I do take some details from Kuroshitsuji 2 as canon in terms of how demons and their culture works, but these are minute in how they're referenced, and are largely just odd details like how two demons form a partnership rather than anything significant to flesh out how demons work or where they're from.
Similarly, there are also Shinigami/Reapers, who are people that look over the death of humans. They're able to use their scythes to view a representation of that person's life in film strips, which they review to determine that this person is truly set to die. They also note that exceptions are very rarely granted, and are only given to humans that are going to do something exceptional in their lifetime. Sebastian and the Reapers are rather opposed, since he eats souls while they send them along their way, but their confrontations tend to be limited.
✖ Character Personality: In some ways, Sebastian seems to personify everything you'd imagine about the Faustian demon. He's handsome, charming, and sly, able to easily manipulate and lead people as he wishes. He's ruthless and quite clearly considers humans nothing more than something that exists for his amusement and meals. But at the same time... He's also a very odd demon. While he may be suave and charming, on the other hand, he's also a borderline neurotic perfectionist that takes the duties of a butler very seriously and loves cats enough to keep thirteen of them in a closet to save them from being outside. He may be a demon, but he's not exactly the cool, flawless being that he may seem to be.
But to give him credit, Sebastian is bound by a contract, and that contract is a big driving force for his activities. In Kuroshitsuji, if a human summons a demon, they're able to form a contract with the demon—the demon will serve the human to its full capacity and do anything the contractor wishes, but at a cost. The demon will eventually eat his human contractor's soul. In Sebastian's case, his contractor is a young nobleman named Ciel Phantomhive that made a contract both to save himself and out of a want for revenge against the people that killed his family. This revenge drives Ciel, and thus, it drives Sebastian in turn. But Ciel is a wise boy, so there are certain terms that bind Sebastian:
1. To protect and never betray Ciel. 2. To obey his orders no matter what. 3. To never lie.
While most of these terms only apply to Ciel in terms of how they can influence Sebastian, they still carry a great influence otherwise, since some of the orders that Ciel has given have shaped Sebastian. For example, Sebastian's perfectionism, especially as it relates to his duties as a butler, comes from Ciel's rather harsh enforcement of term number two. While Sebastian does seem to innately just take some sort of pleasure in doing things over the top and making things as perfect as possible, Ciel only made it worse by insisting that Sebastian do things by hand. With Sebastian's abilities, he's able to simply create meals, tidy things up, or anything else that would be asked of him without so much as lifting a finger, but because Ciel insisted that he take the effort to do them by hand, he must. Ciel may have high standards for what he expects from Sebastian, but some of this is just a part of Sebastian's character, too. He does things to the best of his ability, and gets annoyed when things don't go exactly as planned, though he goes to great lengths still make sure they're as perfect as possible.
But even beyond that, Sebastian also just tends to think of accomplishing things in unusual, often overly elaborate ways. Some examples include arson to find a missing person, elaborately faking his own death for the sake of incriminating a someone, and creating about twenty different varieties of curry for the sake of winning a curry competition. He's quietly eccentric, in a way, since the ways he thinks to do things are just strange, and the amount of effort they require makes it seem even stranger that he would go through it all for the sake of one (apparently very good) meal.
But that's also easily attributed to the idea that Sebastian is difficult to think of in terms of human ideals and morality. He is a demon, and therefore simply doesn't understand or isn't subject to some human emotions. Materialism is meaningless to him, and the only things he seems to care about (other than cats) are more in terms of the annoyance of replacing them if they get ruined rather than any actual value he places on them. The idea of friendship is foreign to him, and while others may regard him as a friend, it's not a sentiment that's returned. His "friendship" is something purely manipulative, just another proverbial chess piece that can be used to some end. Even crying baffles him, because it's just something foreign to a demon.
But even with his distant view of humanity, it's clearly convincing enough for people to like him and to not suspect that he's anything but a refined, stoic butler. Despite not being human and not being subject to many of their emotions, he enjoys observing them and finds them entertaining, clearly enough to be able to imitate it. He's friendly and charming, and even appears to be generous at times, but that too is usually a manipulative gesture. He can be playful and enthusiastic, in every part seeming to be a butler that truly enjoys and takes pleasure in doing his work and doing it well. Yet everything is in terms of how it could be useful to him (or Ciel), so he's more than happy to play the part he's been given. To anyone that doesn't know that he's a demon, he's pleasant, if a bit distant and stoic. To those that do, he's much more open with the fact that he only does things for the sake of some eventual goal and doesn't seem to like it when people imply otherwise.
He's certainly an unusual, eccentric demon, but Sebastian is a demon nontheless. He's manipulative and downright cruel, and certainly extremely dangerous, should he feel the need to be. Yet luckily, this is something that very rarely gets shown at all. For the sake of one, excellent meal, Sebastian plays the part of a human well as a charmingly eccentric butler who is absolutely devoted to his young master.
To put it quite simply, Sebastian is one hell of a butler.
✖ Character Powers & Skills: Well. See. About Sebastian's powers...
Sebastian's abilities are not very clearly defined, and are more likely vaguely handwaved because he seems to be capable of everything. There hasn't been a situation in the manga that Sebastian has simply been unable to handle, even to ridiculous levels, so rather than giving a clearly defined list, I have to vaguely wave my hand in terms of what he does.
That said, there are a couple abilities that Sebastian has that are well enough shown that I can at least give a bulleted list for his basic abilities.
Super Strength/Speed/Sense/Etc.: As expected from a demon, Sebastian has heighted, well, everything. He's capable of simply running long distances without tiring, pulling along horse carriages himself no problem, and otherwise just doing impossible feats of strength/agility/what have you. In terms of heightened sense, Sebastian is also able to sense souls, though it seems to be not with any identification of who the soul belongs to.
Matter Creation: This is the one that I have to vaguely wave my hand at the most, since Sebastian is capable of creating an elaborate meal or fixing up a ruined mansion in the blink of an eye, and with the only imperfections being in terms of his lack of knowledge (such as the taste of the food). It doesn't seem to have any restraints, since he's able to fix the manor from major damage repeatedly and have it be lasting, so. Who knows.
Immortality: As far as we know, Sebastian seems to be immortal. He can take major damage and not be very worried about it (such a scythe through his chest) and otherwise be injured repeatedly and not suffer ill-effects from it. The exception is with items specifically made to slay demons or a Grim Reaper/Shinigami's weapon, which seem to affect him more, but still not very much.
CHARACTER SAMPLES. ✖ First Person POV:Here at the TDM!
✖ Third Person POV: It's not often that Sebastian gets any mail. In fact, he prefers not to, since the amount of records he wants to leave behind under this name is to be minimal. "Sebastian Michaelis" never existed, after all, since it's just a pseudonym for a creature by a much larger, greater name than that. It wouldn't take much digging by someone wisened in such things to realize that the name is fake, and perhaps from there, to unravel some of the mysteries of the Phantomhive household that he was to protect.
Needless to say, the letter catches his attention. It's even stranger that it would ask him to come to a rather nondescript shop, but Sebastian is nothing if arrogant, so he's not concerned about abiding to the request.
He pauses in front of the door, surprised that the address has lead him to an apothecary, but he enters as he tucks the letter into the pocket of his overcoat.
The shopkeeper looks up from his work, though the store is empty, and asks simply if he can help. Sebastian gives a friendly, easy sort of smile, then reaches into a different pocket to pull out the envelope with the broken wax seal.
"Perhaps so. I received this letter bringing me to your shop, sir, though I realize it may be the wrong addre—" he starts to explain easily, and with a note of humbleness suited to a butler, but the shopkeeper interrupts with a nod.
"Oh, it's you, then? Go on to to back, in that case," he explains, motioning idly to the door to the side of the small shop, though Sebastian notes a certain anxiety and nervousness about how he does so. Interesting. But if nothing else, his interest is piqued, so he places a hand on his chest before giving a soft bow as thanks, then proceeds through. The hallway is narrow, but short, leading through into what's clearly the owner's personal quarters. He's in a parlor, and he looks around with mild interest, but a voice catches his attention before he can nosily look around more.
"Mr. Michaelis? Good, I'm glad you made it."
He turns and looks to a man who Sebastian finds completely nondescript, which Sebastian finds notable in itself. He's a plain, ordinary sort of man, in a way that doesn't have any distinguishing features, and Sebastian knows well the value of such a thing. His thoughts immediately turn to why such a man would call upon him, but he gives a friendly, genial smile.
"That is correct, Sir. Though I believe you have me at a disadvantage, for I do not know your name...?"
It's prompting and leading, but the man doesn't take it. He gestures to the couch, which Sebastian obediently takes a seat on, but it's with mild irritation, since he'd much prefer a name than the formalities. But ah, well.
"It doesn't matter," the man says first as he sits as well, and that makes Sebastian's lips curve into a curious smile, "but I need your help."
Sebastian nods for him to continue, but the explanation is far from what he expects. It's a fantastic story that's woven for him, of alien worlds and planetary destruction, and at first, Sebastian thinks he's been brought into the irritating ravings of a madman, despite the calm of the stranger. But as he's given a chance to question and to ask... It's clear enough that it isn't the case. This is very real, which is incredible enough for some of the facade of the elegant butler to fade and to show his more demonic tendencies, though never completely.
For the good of the world... He rejects that offer at first, since he has only mild interest in such a thing. It was simply for the sake of preserving his food source, if anything, and that alone isn't quite enough to motivate him into action. But then the stranger offers something else, the promise of that information that would lead to the completion of his contract with Ciel... Well, that's quite a bit more tempting.
"So?" the stranger asks, "Do we have a deal?"
Sebastian pulls his pocketwatch out of his jacket, checking and realizing they've been talking for a few hours by now, he laughs. How unlike him. He's running late on his schedule.
"Well, the young master will be quite cross with me, you realize."
The pocketwatch snaps closed, and Sebastian tucks it back into his pocket before he offers a gloved hand with a smile.
"...But I do believe that he would prefer to have that information. We may only hope that he will forgive us both."
CHARACTER ITEMS. ✖ Pick a Team:Red Team: As a demon, Sebastian's skills fall the best into the covert, where he infiltrates and figures out information subtlely, though he has no problem using force if necessary. He prefers working a bit more sneakily and out of the way, since it suits the way he works better.
Green Team: Though, that said, he's still a powerhouse demon that's extremely good at fighting and taking out a lot of enemies singlehandedly, since he's so durable and doesn't exactly tire.
✖ Reason for Joining the CDC: Considering Sebastian is a rather subservient creature by nature and also just really wants to eat Ciel's soul, the destruction of his home planet otherwise would be reason enough for him to join without much of a thought, since Ciel lives there. He prioritizes Ciel's safety, so when he's threatened, even indirectly like this, he would pretty much go along with it. Though also it wouldn't be that hard, because hey, what demon doesn't like a little planetary destruction every once in a while... Though the incentive of getting information that will help him complete his contract more quickly will certainly help as well!
✖ Mission Freebie: Information relating to the culprits of the murder of the Phantomhive family.
✖ Personal Item or Weapon: One set of sharpened silverware knives. Or if a set doesn't work, just one knife.
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swagu
