welcome back home, babes.

Just got this recommended to me:

"the discomfort this story provides on many levels" to YOU! I'm here busting a fat one at the dark homoerotic shota subtext in the dark homoerotic shota manga by the shotacon artist. We ain't the same.

The memes about Sebastian unionizing the servants are funny yes but I also get frustrated with them because I think it's vaguely out of character for him and it's funny but it's not accurate

Because it's mostly him being annoyed about Ciel telling to do things and like

He enjoys following Ciel's orders. That's canon.

Ciel likely wasn’t spoiled as the “spare” child in the same way as his brother. Privileged, yes, but less so treated to his each and every whim. The reason he is now seen as spoiled and otherwise able to get away with literal murder is because Sebastian is the one spoiling him despite having all the capabilities to not spoil him.

Antishippers if you can eat up content about fictional murderers and cannibals and simp for them but not support them in real life then please shut the actual fuck up about people liking fictional abusers and rapists before I lose my absolute shit

Something that antis who "analyze BB as media that is meant to 'cause discomfort' by displaying shotacon themes" forget is that creative texts (be they in visual, textual, or audial form) are highly psychological in the sense that you can't perfectly measure out every bit of the emotional reaction you will get from your audience.

Yes, there are writers who will specifically want to make their reader question certain moral dogmas, concepts, and ideas. There are also writers who end up writing particular concepts into their story by sheer accident.

In case of BB, though, one can't say that Yana is trying to "make her audience uncomfortable" by showing Sebaciel dynamics because nothing about it is uncomfortable. She definitely wrote it in on purpose, but claiming that it is supposed to cause some sort of a deep discussion on how Sebastian is a Bad Guy is laughable; because S/C relationship is a positive one.

Sebastian is presented - directly, indirectly, symbolically - as Ciel's only source of comfort and protection. Yes, it is a tainted liaison because it's the Devil's sacrament. It's erotic, sensual, intimate - and it's utterly comfortable.

Sebastian is the only person whose touch is comfortable to Ciel. He's among the few adults he trusts being in his vicinity. He's comfortable being alone with him. Ciel heals through his sickened bond with Sebastian. Yes, Sebastian craves him in the flesh-based, primal way. Whether you view it as erotic, beastly, or morbid does not matter: Sebastian craves Ciel. And Ciel is comfortable with that.

Yana did not fucking write it for nearly two decades to have some goddamn idiot who knows nothing about PTSD come in and say that Sebaciel is meant to be a "gross thing causing people discomfort". Sebaciel is a part of the story in the sense, "Sebastian and Ciel have A Relationship: whether it's predatory, romantic, sexual, or anything along the lines doesn't matter, but it's ultimately positive."

i love my girlbossing girlbosses

Sebastian is expressing his love for Ciel through flowers

When looking back at all of Yana's previous artworks, where she depicts Sebastian and Ciel often in pictures with flowers, many have debated the significance of flower symbolism in Yana's pieces. While Yana has said that she enjoys playing with flower symbolism in Black Butler art, she never quite stated the reason behind that. It was not until a while ago when I found this information about the significance of flower language in the Victorian era that I understood how much Yana pays close attention to historical context:

"In the Victorian era, when expressing emotions was often considered inappropriate, the giving of flowers was a common way to convey feelings without speaking them aloud." (source).

this gives further meaning to all the flower symbolism Yana uses in her pieces. It's not merely an artistic choice, and it's not merely her liking flowers. It is part of the narrative. Back in the Victorian era, flower language was the most common way people expressed emotions because being open about emotions was improper, especially in high social classes.

which means that her flower drawings with Sebastian and Ciel have way more textual meaning with the flower language. It even gives it an explanation through the lens of the story, rather than her artistic choice. If given an explanation through the narrative, Sebastian may be gifting all those flowers to Ciel as a way to express something in particular. And if we remember correctly, he's gifted him yellow mimosas (they symbolize secret love), and of course, Yana's most recent artwork where Sebastian is giving Ciel a bright red rose in a cup of tea (Which symbolizes romantic love, lust, desire, passion). Perhaps Yana's flower symbolism is tied even more to the story per se because it's saying that the flowers are Sebastian's way of expressing his repressed feelings towards Ciel. This ties more into the theory that Sebastian's character development slowly ties into the fact that he cannot explain why all of a sudden he's falling in love with this mortal human.

Here's the mimosa art, for a deeper look into it. Ciel is wearing the mimosas over his head, in something that might appear to be a hat. Who is the only person who dresses Ciel? Sebastian, of course. Sebastian made sure to delicately place those yellow mimosas over Ciel's head. He wanted to make sure Ciel received the flowers, if not the message.

And a closer look into the new GFantasy cover. The position of the red rose takes significance because it's in a teacup, which means that Sebastian directly handed Ciel the rose, since he is the one that always makes Ciel his afternoon tea. He gave Ciel that rose because he wanted Ciel to notice.

Thus, the historical context takes on more significance when considering what could've been considered an "impropriety" and therefore not morally correct to declare out loud. Sebastian appears before Ciel with yellow mimosas and red roses, while trying to subtly convey the message that he is, indeed, in love with him.

Made myself mad so here's a reminder: thought crime isn't real.

You are not comparable to real life abusers if you enjoy dark fiction or "problematic" relationships. You are not committing a crime by enjoying age gaps and underagexadult ships. You are not hurting a single soul by doing whatever you want with fictional characters.

They are not real. They are cut-out dolls and some people prefer to burn their toys. You're okay.

too easy

The BoM side story won't let go of me

two of a kind🥂

sending this anon because my main blog is disconnected from my sideblog LOL. i’m sorry i keep spam liking and reblogging all your posts but they are SO GOOD. you’ve motivated me to get back into art after a long one year hiatus (college has been rough >>). i saw that you haven’t been well lately and i sincerely hope you feel better!

my favorite headcanon is that sometimes, ciel wakes up earlier than sebastian can wake him. ciel sneaks on sebastian’s robe, much too large for him, and he tip toes down to the kitchen where he knows he will find sebastian preparing breakfast and tea. “oh, my lord, you’re up much too early- but you look so tiny and darling in my robe.” “well, that is what happens when you’re not beside me when i wake up.”

take care!

Spam liking and reblogging is great Anon! life saving even!!! don't ever let anybody tell you otherwise!!!! I do feel better, and I'm very happy for you, may a hiatus that long never come your way again🌹🌹🌹 I really loved your headcanon, it's so so so very soft and cute, and hits me just right... Thank you so much for writing about it to me, it made me really happy that day! I hope you won't mind if I post my vision for it separately from this post so as to not make it too long🤭

Idea by Anon from this post🌹