Togruta Marking Headcanons (Evolutionary And Epigenetic)

"Your lion's fallen." - Kageyama Reiji

"He'll get up. He always does. Stronger this time." - Lina Kruger

RocoEn Tiny Playlist

Giant Woman

The Jam Song

Let Me Drive My Van Into Your Heart

This is quite a subjective opinion; but I am endlessly fascinated by how the romanticization (or sentimentalization) of Sebastian and Ciel’s relationship is such a big, important part of Kuroshitsuji—partly due to Sebastian’s own nature as a demon, but also due to Ciel’s character himself.

Sebastian is evil, and he is meant to lure people into damnation. He is the embodiment of a poisonous yet appealing temptation. He speaks sweet, gentle words. He is undeniably physically attractive, and generally, people find him charming. I can go on forever, but you get the gist; all of him is designed to slowly attract and lull people into complacency with him—into not seeing the predatory nature that lurks beneath that gorgeous skin.

This powerful creature, who can kill people with his bare hands, prefers to use sweet promises over threats—finding physical torture less effective than honey; so confident in his ability to understand human desires and tempt any person into the route he designs for them. He presents people with two choices; one of which seems infinitely more attractive than the other—but would certainly lead them to damnation. And it delights him very much when they inevitably chooses the sweeter option. It seems to be essential to the demonic contract that the contractor gets to choose (even if the choice was most likely—almost always—highly uninformed).

Now; if the contractor was an unassuming human who was tempted or fooled by the demon, or if the contractor was someone who’d kill and sacrifice another person on purpose, maybe we would say, “Well, he did that to himself.” Or even, “He deserved that.” But not only did Ciel manage to summon Sebastian by happenstance; he—arguably—did not have much choices other than to agree to the contract; it was either the contract or death at the hands of the cultists.

His consent was highly dubious (not that Sebastian ever cares); he was in a state of emotional distress—unfit to be making choices that would define the rest of his life—not to mention his youth, his vulnerability, and the glaring power imbalance with the predatory adults and demon surrounding him. From that moment on, his soul is forfeit; no matter how many times Ciel states that he is firm on his revenge and that he is doing this for himself—you can always argue that he is only saying this because the choice is either this or death.

Still, instead of highlighting the dubious nature of this agreement, the author shows that despite his young age, he is perceptive enough to read through Sebastian’s lies and see Sebastian’s true nature for what it is, and still “chooses” to have the contract. The author repeatedly, over and over, shows Ciel “choosing” this road for himself, Ciel saying that he has no need for the past and will not look back—and the whole time that Ciel charges unwaveringly into the darkness, Sebastian looks at him and smiles meaningfully.

Since we have no idea what “souls” present in Kuroshitsuji; the concept of what Ciel is actually paying with in order to get his revenge is exceedingly vague—it’s difficult to feel loss over something with an unknown value. This is exacerbated by Ciel’s easy acceptance of his own fate, and the practical logic on how it’s simply fair to pay a servant for his services.

Sebastian, for his part; always revels and delights in how Ciel chooses him. He basks in it, and gloats about it; the dubious nature of Ciel’s agreement forgotten, or frankly does not even seem to compute in Sebastian’s mind. What’s important is that Ciel made a choice; and that choice was Sebastian. We know that Sebastian will eventually kill Ciel, but we may contend that Sebastian is good for him. Sebastian saved Ciel and Ciel consented to having Sebastian. Sebastian gave Ciel the autonomy and independence and protection he desperately needed. And this does not come out of nowhere; as the author too, seems to deliberately romanticize/sentimentalize their relationship—the readers are simply picking up on the context cues.

They are certainly predator and prey; but people may love their appeal as a pair of lovers, like Bonnie and Clyde; or as found family along with the rest of the servants; they are partners-in-crime; soulmates; always understanding each other with just a glance, simply meant to be together, there is no Ciel without Sebastian and vice versa, etc.; it’s all a terribly romantic and sentimental view of their relationship.

The portrayal of Sebastian as a loyal and caring protector (although he is always hiding his hunger and fangs) and Ciel as a brave and pitiable victim resolutely seeking justice (although he arguably never had much choices) are done on purpose to allow their relationship to be romanticized/sentimentalized by the readers who want to root for them. If Sebastian was not portrayed attractively enough; if he wasn’t a handsome, gentle caretaker, who is devotedly loyal to Ciel and protects him from kidnappers and assassins and whatnots (see how he treats Ciel so much better compared to Ciel’s fellow humans?), this romanticization of him will not be possible. Likewise, if Ciel was portrayed as an innocent run-off-the-mill ten year old—instead of a smart one, a perceptive one, one who is “mature for his age”; if Ciel was a regular noble instead of the Queen’s watchdog; one who is meant to be the Earl of Phantomhive despite being born as an underdog (which makes the readers want to root for him and believe him to be capable of besting a demon on the negotiation table)—we will not be reading the contract scene and thinking, “Can he outsmart the demon?” Or even, “Well, certainly this ten year old understands what he is doing.” We would have instead understood the contract to be an exploitation of the child’s vulnerability and circumstances. Instead, Ciel is portrayed as wanting the contract; willing to sacrifice his soul to get his revenge; a fully-consenting party in a mutually beneficial agreement. When Sebastian offers his hand, Ciel consensually places his own hand in Sebastian’s.

What is truly “good” for Ciel becomes a moral dilemma that the readers cannot solve, and Sebastian’s true “feelings” (or whether he has any at all) is never explained. The readers are left to guess and come up with our own theories that will remain unanswered—we insist that Ciel needs and wants Sebastian, that Sebastian cares for Ciel beyond seeing him as food; and the whole thing is so morally dubious, but we are given a lot of incentives to see them in a positive, sentimental light. Every once in a while something may happen that seems to reinforce our beliefs in their relationship, but never fully confirm how they feel towards each other. The occasional “warning bells” reminding us of Sebastian’s nature as a demon are—more often than not—ignored, as the future when the contract ends still seems so far away, and regardless; Ciel is far too dependent on Sebastian to even think of living without him.

Day 5 of Codyan week -  Morning After (alt. art prompt)

Happy birthday @hoodedmiho and thank you so much for introducing me to this ship! <3

Rex and Fox commission <3

Hey I’m bored reblog and tag the reason why Kageyama Reiji would kick you out of Teikoku Gakuen, and please make it as dumb as possible. <3

Ahsoka and Rex go to Tatooine

Ahsoka gets pointed to Tatooine about two years after the Empire rises. Bail is vague about it, but tells her she’ll find Someone She’s Looking For if she goes. Ahsoka brings Rex because reasons. Bail intended for her to find Obi-Wan, because he’s heard about training bonds and one time Obi-Wan mentioned Ahsoka had formed a minor one with him, but he doesn’t know enough about the Force to realize she’d be drawn directly to Luke instead.

So one day, Beru and Owen just open the door, toddler in hand, to see an exhausted, distraught former Jedi a good decade their junior on the step, with an clone soldier, eyes fixed on Luke and looking like she’s about to cry.

For a particularly high level of drama, this wasn’t planned, and Bail had only told her that she could Find Allies on Tatooine if she ended up in the absolute worst possible situation (she is pretty much the only person he felt deserved to know there were allies on Tatooine at all), and what actually happens is that Ahsoka passes out like two seconds after the door opens and Rex is left holding the bag of “how the fuck do I explain the thing.”

Rex gains a bit of favor by explaining about the chip in his head after Owen demands an explanation because last he heard, the clones had turned on the Jedi on the Emperor’s orders, and Beru and Owen have enough knowledge of slavery (and Beru’s family has been freeing people for so many generations) that the story of what happened during O66 on Mandalore immediately wins Rex some points, at least enough for someone to go get Ben.

This is the point at which I admit that this was partially driven by me thinking about one of those “Cody finds/is found by Obi-Wan on Tatooine, gets de-chipped, they end up Husbands” AUs and me really wanting post-O66 Ahsoka crying on Obi-Wan while he awkwardly explains to the Lars family that this girl is Basically His Daughter

Probably while Ahsoka’s passed out in his lap.

Also I want that dramatic moment of Owen telling Obi-Wan that someone showed up “looking for Jedi” but not really explaining much, just enough for Obi-Wan to panic and jump on a speeder with Cody in full armor and with a blaster because Owen doesn’t seem worried enough for it to be imperials but what if and then he shows up and instead it’s Ahsoka, exhausted and injured and unconscious, but it’s his grandpadawan.

He freezes when he sees her, almost doesn’t even parse that Rex is there until the man starts talking, and then he backpedals, grabs Cody from outside where he’s helping Owen secure the speeder, and shoves him into the building because Brothers.

(In Owen’s defense, he had a vague idea that there were millions of clones and had no reason to assume these two in particular would know each other.)

There’s a Keldabe kiss with some tears that everyone later denies happened, and Obi-Wan just goes over to sit with Ahsoka and push some healing energy into her body until she feels well enough to wake up. Luke toddles in and basically just gets passed around between Beru and Owen and Obi-Wan. He gives Owen and Beru an abridged explanation of how they all know each other and how Jedi families work, which leads to Beru declaring that if Ahsoka was Anakin’s adopted family, then she’s family to the rest of them, too, by Tatooine standards. And since Rex is a brother to Obi-Wan’s husband–

“Your WHAT?” Rex demands.

“Husband, vod'ika, keep up.”

Anyway, everyone’s family somehow but the important part is reuniting clones and having the disaster lineage crying on each other because I have seen those screenshots where Ahsoka canonically refers to Obi-Wan as her adoptive father when talking about him to strangers post-O66 and sure that’s arguably just her reframing to fit the conversation and her audience, but also. Like. That’s Her Dad.

I’m reading all the dragon jedi asks, and suddenly I get an image of dragon!Plo with his wings tightly clasped to his sides, then someone bumbs into him and three or four clones fall out from under his wing.

Oh my god that's amazing.

Quick reminder.

CANONICALLY, this is what the Clones look like.

So I don’t EVER wanna hear “the Bad Batch ARENT white washed” EVER AGAIN

BECAUSE THIS

IS NOT THE SAME SKIN TONE AS THIS

Ok but real talk here, big, important question for everyone:

Why do you like but not reblog?

It feels like the bare minimum in fandom to reblog stuff you like. It’s the easiest way to support artists/writers and guarantee they do more of that same kind of thing.

I thought of some reasons people might not want to reblog and I’m going to debunk them:

Reblog = repost and reposts are evil!!!

Reblogs are different than reposts. As long as the original post came from the artist, the artist gets the credit for it and that’s what they want. REPOSTS are when you find a piece of art you like, save it to your computer, and later make your own post with it, and that’s not cool

Reblogging is too much effort!!

It really, really isn’t. On mobile? Press and hold the reblog button. The post has now been reblogged. On desktop? Hold the alt key and then click the reblog button. Off it goes, letting more people enjoy the beauty of the post you just enjoyed yourself!

I don’t want to tag things though

So then...don’t? Just reblog it with no tags. You want to tag it later, you can. You never want to tag things? Cool, neither do I most times!

I DO want to tag things but I feel like I’m bothering people

I guarantee you, 90% of the time, artists love tags. Even the keyboard smash tags. The ones they don’t love are the ones demanding more art/for the artist to do things in a specific way/to change the art to suit one specific viewer’s preferences.

If I reblog things a lot, it’ll annoy people!

If people are following you, it’s for your content. If it annoys them, they can unfollow you. That’s on them. If you mean it’ll annoy the ARTIST if you go in and reblog their whole art tag...wrong, false, no, definitely not, they might even make more art specifically for you if you do that. Especially if you tag with ‘I love this piece because...’ and then give a reason why you love it, that is the most encouraging thing.

Reblogging doesn’t fit my blog aesthetic.

Idk what to tell you here, you’re in control of your aesthetic. Make a side blog maybe, reblog there and leave your main ‘clean’. Or vice versa. No reblogs = a quickly dwindling supply of art that people are willing to post.

Reblogging is an important part of fandom/tumblr community in general. It encourages more people to make more content which means more things for you to do/see/read.

It’s part of the fandom ecosystem; we have content makers and we have content viewers. Without makers, we have no art. Without viewers, there’s no reason to post it online. If viewers are limited, people start reconsidering whether to bother posting their art online or just share it with their friends they know will give feedback.

Reblogs are how you contribute to the fandom. Try it.