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toffee4you · 9 days ago

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Please may I have a Black butler platonic headcanon of what it would be like to be a Phantomhive Servant for Ciel Phantomhive as a live-in doctor and a older sister figure to the young Master..she isn't that much older than 16 and she apparently only agreed to start working at the Phantomhive manor genuinely just to make money for her unwell mother who barely makes enough money as a washer woman and her little brother age 11 was too young to work and her father had passed away in a carriage accident long before that. She knew all the basics of medical care to the most complicated ones..as her father did teach her. She was the nicest girl on the planet and one of the only ones who did her job properly..and everyone else's. Had a good knowledge of what plants and mushrooms were safe to eat and what to avoid and how she is genuinely a Phantomhive soldier? If the intruders did manage to get in via the kitchen behind Bard's back? She used the least bloody method which genuinely involves poisoning their food or drinks with lethal chemicals which is most likely to kill them and it was effective or if she had no choice..she sliced their most vital parts of their body and the intruders died from blood loss.

Relationships:

How would the Phantomhive servants get along with her

Ciel Phantomhive's relationship with her

Sebastian's relationship with her

Hello, thanks for the request! I'll be honest, it's been a while since I read earlier chapters of Black Butler, but I'll shoot my shot at it.

I also notice you know The Letter, which my mutual spoke of some days ago. Fun find in a small fandom!

The Phantomhive's Doctor

Content: platonic, femPOV, bullet point format, contains information from the Book of Circus and Book of Murder.

Triggers: mentions of blood, poisoning, and killing. I mean, it's black butler. TBE.

All character banners are made by me. Art is sourced from the official Black Butler manga.

*Not proofread, will check for typos later.

Daily Life—--

You had a small room, a workspace—often referred to as the infirmary, and a special outfit for the job.

Your room was similar to the other servants', but you adorned it with essentials for the job, tools for self-defense, and a small, framed portrait of your full family. There's also the wardrobe of clothes and a desk, where you would occasionally practice writing or record your day in a diary. It wasn't common for others to barge into your room, so it was a safe space for you.

Your workplace was also quite nice, filled with the scent of herbs and minerals. It wasn't excessively large, but mostly the same size as the kitchen. You had an area for sorting or pestling the medicine's ingredients, a few beds for patients, many shelves and pegs for storing items, and a large pail of water for several other uses. You always did your best to ensure the infirmary avoided any chaos, with all the effort and meticulous placement it required.

Though the infirmary has a bell for service, it's more common to find someone else bringing a patient to you. You treat everyone: guests, servants, and the young master. Regardless of who they are, you always give them a rabbit-shaped candy after their visit. There's a whole bowlful of it stored in one of your shelves' cabinets.

Your original outfit was only meant for your job as a doctor, containing many pockets and a complimentary mask for patients who may have anything contagious. This quickly became lined with a full-body, double-sided apron in the front, another apron that was typically worn on your backs, a linen cloth, and many more pockets. The reason? For when you had to take over everyone else's job. One side of the apron for cleaning, flip it over, one side of the apron for cooking, use the one on the back for gardening. It was a hassle, but at least you were clean by the time you took everything off and returned to the infirmary.

On certain occasions, you are expected to defend the manor. You're the most capable of capturing spies alive, often in charge of sedating their food. However, if given orders to kill, you simply use poison instead. For this purpose, you spend many hours crafting different types of poison. Scentless, colorless, tasteless, liquid, solid, potent, weak, slow, or fast. You prepare different combinations for every situation.

Of course, not all intruders will sit down to have tea and a meal. You can incapacitate others, knowing pressure points—but if you must kill, your medical tools are thin enough to reduce the splatter. Most tools are poisoned, so it's rare that you cause a huge mess. In any events which your poison doesn't work, you try your best to avoid arteries while aiming for vitals, preferably ones that are least likely to spill heavy amounts of blood. In the absolute worse case, you would aim for arteries, all before spending the next few hours cleaning pools of blood.

Although you have tampered with poison gas before, it's not preferable in many cases. When you're working alongside someone else, or protecting a guest... There's also a risk of any protective gear being damaged, putting yourself in danger.

As with all other servants, it was Sebastian who had recruited you into the manor. He found you defending your family singlehandedly, taking note of your clean methods. The Phantomhive Manor needed a doctor, which is what you clearly looked like... But more importantly, someone who could take down intruders without the entire manor collapsing.

Somehow, he seemed to know all about your family situation, even before you explained the bits and pieces. During the first two weeks, his occasional remarks about your situation was always a source of unease, keeping you sharp on the job. "It would serve you well to remember, any failure that may result in the young master's harm will cost you this job... as well as the payment you oh-so need. Treatment for her affliction is certainly not cheap" -- It was sometimes difficult to discern if his words were meant as harmless teasing, or a threat. You weren't too fond of how he didn't hold back from mentioning your mother or younger brother, even as an implication.

Once you settled in, it was no longer an issue. Rather, he seemed to be the least exasperated around you, often telling the other servants to "take note" of how you do your job—and theirs.

Whenever Sebastian has to leave with the young master, he will "assign" everyone to their own jobs. In reality, he drags you aside, sighing with a hand on his head. "You're in charge of watching them," he would always tell you. And, understandably so.

Bonus

Despite your relationship being mostly formal, one of the most casual sides you've seen to him is when he visits your workspace, asking if you still keep around any catnip. With how discreetly he asked, you would have thought you were selling something illegal, or that he was doing something shady with it. All of these suspicions fell flat when you happened to spot him being hoarded by a group of cats, crouching down and smiling rather uncharacteristically at them. You simply chuckled to yourself and moved on with the day, determined to earn your pay.

Initially, you found it odd how understaffed the Phantomhive Manor was. Though everyone was nice, you soon realized they weren't exactly... efficient, for the job.

For this reason, they were surprised once they realized you could actually do your job. You could often find all four of them peeking around the corner, watching you prepare your medicine without any sort of catastrophe.

Baldroy asked you to help out in the kitchen one day, seeing as some of your medicinal herbs were technically cooking ingredients. It did not mean you knew how to use it, but he seemed pretty adamant about having you cook. Despite his logic being faulty, your food did not turn out charred or exploded... With the courtesy of politely refusing his methods of help, of course.

Next was Mey-Rin, who had such trouble cleaning the most simple items. She asked you for advice on cleaning after seeing how organized your workspace was, the medicines and poisons labeled in neat handwriting. Just seeing you dust a vase without it shattering into a thousand pieces was impressive enough for her, though it seemed all of your efforts to teach her strength control and precise movements were for nothing.

The two of you also bonded well as the only other female in the manor, besides Elizabeth, who would only occasionally visit. Sometimes, she would have you try on her clothes during breaks, almost like playing dress-up with a doll. In return, you would also let her try yours on, and she would absolutely love it. You figured it was too practical, considering most of your outfits had to be multi-use; not only presentable enough for the public, but also conventional enough to be used for gathering or self-defense.

Finnian's work was something you were especially talented at, and one of the jobs you could assist most often. Since you often visited the garden for medicinal herbs, you always helped Finnian with the lawn work. With careful guidance, you pointed out what was a precious plant and what was a weed, or which plant had become wilted beyond saving. Seeing flora fairly often, you could also tell when trees or bushes had become overgrown, and how to trim them. Finnian was better at the physical labor, but you weren't exactly low on stamina either, often traveling far for basic necessities or gathering ingredients.

Tanaka... He was the least troublesome, but also the most difficult to understand. You adapted to his odd gap between a wise, old man or simply dormant and drinking tea. It was unexpectedly odd how comforting his presence could be, noticing the stress and concern that would only dawn on your face at the end of the day, in hallways or rooms you assumed to be vacant. He would patiently listen to your troubles, whether you were worried by recent events or homesick. Then, he would offer his advice, all while assuring you that your family—including the one you had gained in the Phantomhive Manor—were going to be alright.

For the most part, everyone bonded with you quite well. They often feel indebted for your help, but you adamantly refuse on receiving their help for obvious reasons. In return, they often stick up for you if you're ever being blamed or admonished, and you're always the first they check on after an attack on the manor—aside from the young master, if he's present.

Bonus

Being one of the few people who knew of Snake's involvement during the manor's lockdown from a heavy snowstorm, you were cautious when he became a servant. You remained especially vigilant whenever he was around the young master, your watchful eyes glancing over him and his snakes.

You eased up after realizing how harmless he was. Somehow, he was less destructive than everyone else, though not exactly fantastic at any particular job. Being naturally sympathetic, you made sure to stick up for him whenever guests were rude about his scales, eyes, or even his snake friends.

Speaking of the snakes, you got along well with them. You were no stranger to handling venomous and poisonous animals, especially since these snakes were friendly. They would let you extract their toxin, which was done by biting into thin parchment placed over the opening of a jar. You would use it for making antidotes, or for self-defense if push comes to shove.

After sticking up for him so much, and after hearing his snakes putting in good words for you, he became comfortable around you as well. Particularly, he was one of the few servants you would willingly ask for help, mostly asking him to bring his snakes over.

He had little opinion of you at first, waiting to see your worth in the manor.

Despite what people think of him, he is actually highly prone to sickness. You tried offering preventive medicine in daily doses, but he refused, stating it tasted awfully terrible for something he would have to consistently take. It didn't come as much of a surprise to you, since even your younger brother acted that way. You opted to hide it in his food instead, with the approval of Sebastian.

The young master was a bit confused by the flavor of your food, as he thought any normal-looking dish was automatically made by Sebastian. He was in for quite a surprise to learn one of the servants could... Actually do housework? Despite your food often being served with medicine, he didn't mind the taste, saying it was a nice change of pace from Sebastian's cooking. It seemed that, always making meals for your family trained you to cook sufficiently for even a noble.

There are very few times where he has asked you to poison test his food first. It is typically Sebastian's job, but if Sebastian cannot be present, you are the next in line. It is not possible to gain tolerance to all types of poison, but for the ones that allow it, you've already trained your tolerance well. Besides, you know the best medicine to treat yourself, so the impact is often minimal.

In a few emergency cases, the young master had been rushed to the infirmary for asthma. For whatever the reason, Sebastian had asked you to stay silent about his condition. Since then, you have always made sure to carry additional masks, umbrellas or coats for the young master. You're well aware that the cold, and any allergens or sicknesses can cause asthma attacks to flare. You have prepared preventative measures against every environmental condition you could think of. If he doesn't allow you to come along, you pass off these items to Sebastian with clear instructions.

Outwardly, Ciel shows irritation at your overprotective behavior, declaring he does not need "babying", and that he is perfectly healthy as is. However, all of the servants—yourself included—know that the young master puts on a tough front. He may never admit it, but the kindness of an older sibling is something he needs in his life, always being forced to act like an adult. You are well aware that many people in his life, especially the adults in which children are taught to be trusted, have attempted to stab him in the back; figuratively and literally. You feel compelled to be your truest self around him, open up in hopes he will reciprocate this honesty.

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gemini-queen42 · 6 months ago

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Batb: Other Than Human - Themes stuff (& why I Called It That)

That's right folks, the self-indulgent "throwing any concept I like at the wall and haphazardly mixing together what sticks" au rewrite Thing has Actual Themes! That kind of happened accidentally but they are so real for that so let's get into it.

The Main Narratives Themes Trio of the story now all also embody expanded themes about being an "Other", when being a person is not enough to be properly considered human- more specifically of a neurodivergent/queer girlhood type flavor.

Summary is that it's called "Other Than Human" because the prominent theming is about being considered something other than human due to not fitting the mold of the 'norm'.

[This is a long one so details & specific character stuff are under the cut<3]

Amalure has the greatest departure from her original counterparts thematic placing, so we'll start with her. Amalure retains Gaston's social standing, reputation, etc. But it's of course not quite the same- because she is a woman, and she is not revered for being the picture of ideal womanhood/femininity. Instead, she excels in masculinity, but remains firm that she is and always will be a woman. So, to justify the desire & awe people have for her, they dehumanize her: She doesn't need to follow the Rules because she is outside of them. Amalure is not a person: she is a symbol, a figure, an object. A legend, a folksong, a modern myth. Her skills are not skills they are blessings, inherent, a mundane magic or supernatural. Despite having grown up in Villeneuve for her entire life, she is considered exotic, and is practically, if not actually, fetishized. And through all of this, the status quo and social order gets to be retained without question, and she gets to exist as the exception that proves the rule, rather than the Undesirable that she'd be marked as otherwise.

Amalure is fine with this, because this dehumanization is her status quo: She doesn't really view herself as a person either, she is defined by her relationship to other people, by who she is to them. Amalure has never been a person to anybody: Growing up she was never just a girl, never just Amalure: She was a girl with a mans brain, an embodiment of her fathers greatest achievements, an embodiment of her mothers worst mistakes, she is her fathers daughter or her mothers daughter, but not her own. (and she never both, it is either or, mother or father, never both, never parents.)

Princess Eve/The Beast is the other end of this, of operating through her dehumanization. Upon being cursed, she adheres to what societies have oft wanted to happen to their Undesirables: Hide away and never be seen by the public again. It is entirely self-inflicted, as most of her suffering truly is. She operates not through others dehumanizing view of her, but her dehumanizing view of herself and its warping of how she believes others view her. Because, well, the servants still view her as a person. I mean, they're still human- under the new object forms. And the separation of humanity that is easy to slip into on matters of royalty is awfully minimal as well; they watched her grow up, and she grew up among them.

The girl's bratty, spoiled, temperamental, and is a ball of horrid consequences of the shallow views and ideals learned from surrounding nobility. But she's also the girl that fell asleep listening to Cogsworth explain the many technicalities to managing servants; because she was stubborn in asserting her authority as the mistress of the castle, and thus she Must have say over its goings ons. But the majordomo's voice can be awfully soothing when he's not high-strung on anxiety, and it's hard to pay attention when you don't understand what's being discussed, so its all going in one ear and out the other. And She's Lumiere's 'Evie', who was so amused when Lumiere would draw on a little mustache when dancing the male roles so the princess could learn some duo dances, or because she didn't look very "waiter-like" (because Eve wasn't entirely sure what a maître d' did, but it seemed to have something to do with waiters), and who got annoyed every time the dance teacher/maître d' would warn her not to hurt her body in her pursuits, because it seemed so silly, why would anyone do that? And she's the girl who dragged Mrs. Potts to have tea with her, because she made the best tea and as princess she would have only the best; and if you're going to have tea you may as well have a tea party, and you can't really have a party of one, but two isn't much of a party either so she's going to drag Babette away from her duties too, since the maid was so elegant and thus would be perfect.

Honestly, the girl probably would've turned out fine if she was raised by just the servants. But they weren't the only forces in her life: she's a princess, so she's got to host and interact with important people and learn how to Be noble which isn't something any of the servants can teach her. And it is under the pressures and eyes of nobility, is in mixing and learning their social rules, that learns the lessons that will lead to her curse: That to be considered human and treated as such, one must look human. And to be such as a woman meant to look beautiful, like the ideal. As a woman, to be worthy is to be beautiful and vice versa. And even if she does not, she must have some way to serve men. Otherwise, she is nothing. Eve met these requirements well, and where she did not yet her authority as princess covered. So when a beggar woman is at her doorstep, the princess turns her away: because she is old, ugly, so long past her 'prime'- there is no worth to her anymore. There is no point caring for her future.

Helene stands as both the middle ground and inverse to the other two. She is an Other by virtue of her mind, she is Objectifiable by virtue of her beauty. She sits on the precipice between Undesirable and Desired, seeming nearly apathetic to where she lands despite popular encouragement to embrace or smother aspects of herself. Helene is quite sure she's a person like anyone else, thank you, and is frankly frustrated and a bit weirded out that others seem to have a hard time getting the memo- she doesn't like or want to assume the worst, though, so maybe she just missed another confusing untold social rule or something. I mean, the local triplets really do seem to be advising in good faith- they really do think of her as one of them to an extent (for reasons Helene is yet to know); they just don't understand her.

When Amalure pursues her, there's an unspoken aspect to the deal of marriage she proposes: Helene will get a secured place on the in of the community, a secure standing the promises people no longer questioning or trying to encourage her to no longer be herself. But Helene just isn't interested in Amalure like that, and she also sees what the real trade-off of that security is; that uncomfortable dehumanization that is exactly what Helene doesn't want to deal with anymore. If Amalure is fine living with it than she is free to do as she pleases, but the huntress doesn't seem to understand what Helene could possibly have a problem with- and it's not like they can discuss it, because it's unspoken, and you're not supposed to speak the unspoken things, because they're unspoken for a reason- even if you don't know what that reason is. Helene knows that rule, at least.

When Helene meets the Beast, she regards her as she does any other. It's plain as day that the Beast has a humanity to her, whether she's really "human" or not- she thinks and she feels, and that's enough for Helene.

Because Helene grew up raised by a single dad who she got most of her brain workings from, and he is a man of compassion and science. Off he'd send his beloved daughter to go and question and figure out the world for herself, to experiment and learn and become whatever she desires. Off to bed he'd send her to tell her fairy tales and have their lessons of love and compassion and humanity understood as she drifted off to sleep. Helene was never Odd with her father, never Other, in fact they were so easily two of a kind. It was so jarring, hearing people imply Tyndare less than sane; his logic paths were so easy to follow- but apparently his voice gruffs enough that others have a hard time understanding what he's saying sometimes, so that's where things seem to get lost in translation she guesses. People became jarring in other ways as she grew up too, because suddenly there seemed to be lots of social things she was supposed to know or be but didn't and wasn't, and it became very apparent very quickly that she was an Other among her village.

Overall: Eve & Helene get to go through these themes through the main plot, and post curse-breaking is when Eve gets to properly deal with the internalized issues and whatnot. Like she's learned beauty doesn't matter when it comes to love, and shouldn't decide whether or not someone should be cared about, and Helene loves her despite her having been beastly and despite her being a failure of a woman- (because she no longer fits the feminine ideal after the curse is broken, and frankly she never will again.) But she's still a Failure Of A Woman and Helene deserves Better Than That! So there's still work to do.

Amalure remains static on this aspect of the narrative until after the battle at the castle, where she does survive! .. barely. and it's later, in an argument with her mother that same night, bleeding out on the kitchen floor, when she asserts that she's her daughter too, not just her fathers. she has always been her daughter, always will be, she is the daughter of both of them, because that's not something that just switches or turns on and off- and it's an entire rant that I will not recite here, but the important part is the assertion that she is, always has been, always will be, the daughter of both her parents at once- that's the first little step for her arc of recognizing her own individual personhood and whatnot.

#Amalure's mother is a CHARACTER alright #she has a ref I need to make too...#fun fact Amalure falls asleep in her childhood bed that night being convinced the last thing she did was yell at her mom #and acutely aware that there is no comfort for her in this house.#Wire monkey mother frfr #anyways uh hi.#how obvious is it that the person making this is a she/it ND sapphic???#because Hi hello that is I #Yes Helene is VERY definitely Neurodivergent.#I can easily say she's autistic because the traits she displays are most commonly associated w/ it #but tbh I don't have autism and I didn't give her those traits with specifically autism in mind or research #so she's just.. generally Not Neurotypical.#project whatever you want onto her as you will #Fun fact the physique change Eve gets after being uncursed is me finding a justification for me basing part of her design on thinking that #Amalure seeing her and immediately having the Worst gender envy of her life since her dad died #while Eve is having like the worst body image issues of her life #would be kinda funny lowk #Also I might have a type but shhhhhhh #anywayss uhhh #gem stop yapping in ur tags #ramblez brambles #doodlez #I just did some mild editing w/ the ref art cuz I'm too lazy to make new shit for this and I didn't want this to Just be a text post #Princess Eve #Helene #Amalure #sorry of any of this is rambly/hard to read I randomly woke up at like 2:30am #idk when I started writing this post but idr doing much of anything beforehand besides making the little banner thing #and it's... 6:13am now.#batb: Other Than Human

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