I feel like I'm treading dangerous territory but like, Yana drew Edward and Paula dancing at the end of the Weston College arc and they both were blushy and looked full of tension. Could they be a ship that's okay, or is there something wrong there?? I feel like Ed and Paula are around the same age, she may be Lizzie's servant but I think she's pretty young?
*bangs head against the wall, repeatedly and with extreme force*
Some people reach so far to justify shipping Kuro’s adult characters with minors that they’re at serious risk of tearing a muscle or damaging their tendons. 😑
Although I was unable to track down solid confirmation of Edward’s or Paula’s ages, we do know that Edward was attending Weston College, which Yana modeled after real British boarding schools, during Chapter 81 (when the dance that anon mentioned takes place). One such institution, Eton College, lists the age range of its pupils as 13-18, which is generally consistent with what we’ve seen of Weston’s student body. Thus, it’s unlikely that Ed is older than 18. Keeping in mind, however, that he was Herman Greenhill’s fag at the time, it’s possible that he was even younger (closer to 16 or 17) during the Weston arc.
While Paula certainly isn’t a shriveled old crone, she looks a bit more mature than Edward; my best estimate for her age would be early twenties? Even in these flashbacks from Chapter 129, where Paula reflects on her years of service to Lady Elizabeth (note how Lizzy appears younger in the rightmost panel), the maid has either already reached adulthood or is on the cusp of it. I also find it difficult to believe that Frances would hire a tween still wet behind the ears to care for her daughter!
Furthermore, the context of the scene in question isn’t necessarily a romantic one. As my friend and frequent collaborator @bapydemonprincess noted in this post, Mey Rin and Soma are also cheerfully dancing together, even though she’s in her mid-twenties and he’s in his teens—no ships sailing from that harbor! Instead, they bear a closer resemblance to a mother-son pair. Likewise, Frances is sharing a dance with Tanaka; unless Yana’s cooking up an unhinged plot twist in which the marchioness’s tastes in men secretly verge on the geriatric, I think it’s reasonable to assume that this interaction, too, is platonic in nature. So why jump to the conclusion that Edward must be in love with his sister’s maid because they’re participating in the same innocuous social activity?
A blush alone does not sexual tension make. The characters pictured here are in high spirits and physically exerting themselves—it’s perfectly natural for them to get a little flushed in the process. From what I recall, Edward takes after his mother in terms of his earnest, straightlaced nature, so he might also have grown awkward and flustered in such close proximity to a woman (Victorian morals and all that).
Shipping a rarepair with flimsy to nonexistent textual support is certainly no crime; I myself am guilty of that offense many times over. But warping harmlesss interactions between underage boys and grown women into something with sexual and/or romantic underpinnings? We don’t do that in this household. 😤
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Jane has a Mother2 parallel
Earlier today, I said Jane might parallel a precursor to Li'l Ms. Marshmallow, and yes. She does.
@princess-adrienne reminded me I needed to look into Electra, Pokey Minch's maid while he's working as a consultant for Geldegarde Monotoli, and that's in Mother2, aka EarthBound. Technically, she's Monotoli's maid, working in Monotoli Building, in Fourside, but she serves Pokey whenever he's visiting.
Porky Minchi (Pokey Minch in the EarthBound localization) is "upgraded" to King Porky in Mother3, and Electra is the human precursor to Li'l Ms. Marshmallow. By the events of Mother3, Electra would have died, simply because so much time has passed. Porky doesn't die when he becomes King Porky, simply because the prototype of Dr. Andonuts' time machine keeps him alive, even though he's aged considerably due to a fault in the prototype. While he's "king", King Porky keeps a robot as a maid, and she seems to be based on Electra, possibly as a reminder of her to him.
So, Jane is Electra's parallel, as she's working as a soldier/maid for Chris Heathfield at Heathfield Manor, in Yorkshire. Electra is the human precursor to Li'l Ms. Marshmallow (a machine), while Jane is like a (presumably) human precursor to Layla (an advanced bizarre doll). When Jane's hair is down, you can see how she's an older looking version of Layla but with a shorter braid. Forget age; the shorter braid makes Jane a precursor, as an adversary, and we encounter Jane first anyway, so she's a precursor time-wise, too.
Annie (and to a lesser degree Ran-Mao) becomes the main parallel to Paula in this situation, even though I've already got other parallels to Paula in other Black Butler situations.
I have to choose Annie over Ran-Mao for Paula because Ran-Mao's drugs wear off quickly, whereas Annie has to be disconnected from the machinery and woken up.
According to the fandom wiki, Paula's weakness is paralysis.
That leaves Mey-Rin and Ran-Mao as the parallels to Ness and Jeff here, since they are the ones infiltrating the joint to set the maids free, just like Ness and Jeff set Paula free. Ness is generally going to be a stand-in for Lucas when it's a Mother2 parallel instead of Mother3, and whoever Ness is with is typically a stand-in for whoever is with Lucas at the time (which is usually Boney, the dog)... so Mey-Rin serves as a stand-in for our earl while Ran-Mao serves as a stand-in for Sebastian. Notice that Ran-Mao and Jeff Andonuts (Dr. Andonuts' son) have the same short, straight, shiny, and very evenly-cut bangs. (His sprites in the game show his hair to be shiny.)
This makes Geldegarde Monotoli (new mayor of Fourside) the parallel to Chris Heathfield (baron of Heathfield Manor), which makes perfect sense, because Monotoli keeps Paula as a hostage, just like Heathfield essentially keeps all those maids (particularly Annie) as hostages in his basement.
Here's Electra (for Jane), Monotoli (for Heathfield), and Paula (for Annie):
He's not a strong enemy to begin with, but when Monotoli is released from Giygas' influence, he's very physically weak, and that reminds me of Ran-Mao beating Heathfield up before she's added to the other maids plus all the released maids (minus Ran-Mao) beating him up again as soon as he shows up after their release. 😆
Afterwards, Monotoli relinquishes the town of Fourside back to the previous mayor and becomes a low-level worker again. Heathfield is still a baron, of course, but Polaris reports that the guy was arrested.
Jane gets one last major parallel to Electra because, as @princess-adrienne pointed out, Electra specifically says she doesn't really care about what Pokey Minch is doing -- she's not entirely swayed by his goals -- but she will fight on behalf of whichever side seems stronger. And that's very similar to Jane's approach to working for Heathfield and the Aurora Society's operations there, which she swears she doesn't know much about. Neither Electra nor Jane is especially loyal to her respective employer/master.
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My first O!Cielizzy fanfic aaa >w<. Hello there! I've created numerous pieces of SmilexLizzy fan art, but I have never written anything about them before. I'm really excited! Please bear in mind that English is not my native language, and I use American English in my daily life, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes in my writing (i don't have betas ;w;). With that being said, I hope you enjoy my work!
Anime/Manga: Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji)
Pairing: O!Ciel x Elizabeth
Word Count: 2.225
Summary: On a beautiful sunny day, Lady Elizabeth unexpectedly arrived at Phantomhive Mansion to offer her fiancé a strawberry-flavored pastry tea. While reminiscing about old times, Lady Elizabeth lets slip something that should have been buried three meters under the ground.
Window
The warm rays of sun gently streamed through the window into Lady Elizabeth's chambers. When Paula, her maid, knocked on the door, Elizabeth was already awake.
"Good morning, Miss Elizabeth. The day is truly beautiful today, isn't it?" the maid asked.
"Good morning, Paula. You're right, it's a beautiful day," Elizabeth's beautiful blonde curls reflected the lovely sunlight, and as she looked out the window and clasped her hands together in a show of excitement, she said effusively, "Paula, I will go to visit Ciel for teatime, please make the preparations and bring a basket of sweets for the afternoon tea." The maid nodded, but as she made a farewell curtsy, Elizabeth added, "Ah! Don't forget to pack strawberry cake, it's Ciel's favourite." Paula smiled and left the room.
It was a peaceful afternoon at the Phantomhive mansion. The young master was playing a soft melody on the violin while Sebastian conducted the song.
Ever since he had returned to the mansion, he had learned to play the violin. An earl of high society must know how to play at least one instrument. The young master liked the duality of the violin, where such rigid strings produced a soft and beautiful sound. It was difficult to learn with Sebastian, his butler and teacher, as his hands turned red from so many missed notes, but today he considered himself an advanced student. He was at the peak of the melody when a loud knock on the door interrupted him.
"Young master!" the absent-minded maid cried out.
"Mey-Rin! These are not the ways to interrupt the young master's lessons," Sebastian snapped angrily.
"It's just that... ah... Lady Elizabeth is here," Sebastian opened his eyes a little and looked at his apprentice.
"It seems that we will have to suspend the lessons," he said. The young master lowered the instrument and let out a long sigh.
"Lizzy is always like this, I have told her she must announce herself before coming" he resignedly looked out the window where the carriage stopped. Sebastian also seemed disappointed; he would have to reorganize the scheduled activities for another day. However, he said, "I know it's an inconvenience, but a true gentleman must attend to his fiancée as he should," Sebastian said as he winked at him.
Lady Elizabeth was waiting for her fiancé in the hall with her maid. Mey-Rin had suggested waiting in the tearoom, but it had been some time since the young couple had seen each other, so Lady Elizabeth was eager to see the young master.
As she saw him descend the stairs, Elizabeth could not contain her excitement and ran effusively to meet him. She hugged him tenderly, trying to contain her emotions. She was no longer a child after all. Her fiancé couldn't help a slight blush on his cheeks at so much emotion. He caught a whiff of the sweet notes of her perfume, and it produced a slight tickling in his belly. Sebastian arched the corner of his lips slightly when he noticed the young master's most vulnerable part.
"Ciel! How happy I am to see you. I haven't seen you in so long," said Elizabeth as she separated from him. When she saw Sebastian by his side, she bowed. "Ah, Sebastian, a pleasure to see you again too, thank you for taking care of Ciel."
"Milady, it is a pleasure for us to receive you in the mansion," said the tall butler.
"L-Lizzy, I told you to let me know when you visit..." He must admit he was annoyed when Mey-Rin announced her, but when he saw her, his emotions changed.
"Forgive me, Ciel, I couldn't resist coming on such a beautiful day. Don't you think?" said the young lady. "I promise I'll give you advance notice next time, okay?" Elizabeth took the young master's hands gently, as a slight sign of apology. Her fiancé lowered his gaze to her hands; they were so soft. Only when he was with her did he allow himself to be in that vulnerable state. It angered him in a way, but on the other hand, he could not help himself.
"I brought cakes and sweets! Shall we go outside for tea while we talk about what has happened in these past weeks?"
The young master could not say no. He never said no to his fiancée, it was part of his duty as a count to make his future wife happy. He nodded his head and looked at Sebastian to take care of the preparations. Sebastian nodded.
"Young master, Lady Elizabeth, I invite you to wait in the parlour while the necessary preparations are made," he said, gesturing for them to go to the room.
It wasn't long after they had been in the room when Sebastian came to tell them to please go outside the mansion as the afternoon tea was ready. The young couple stepped out of the mansion and were temporarily blinded by the sun's rays. It was a warm spring day.
The place was perfect under the shade of a tree. A perfectly smooth white blanket was spread out on the lawn. On top of it were the cakes that Elizabeth had brought on a silver tray, as well as ceramic plates and silver cutlery for serving. The young master sat in one corner while his fiancée sat in the other. Paula was not far from them, contemplating the flowers, while Sebastian pulled out a violin to play a soft melody perfect for the occasion.
The young couple were silent. They hadn't seen each other in weeks and yet nothing came out of their mouths. Suddenly the teenager remembered when Edgar Redmond had asked him if he had already kissed his fiancée. He instinctively looked at her lips, soft and small. Elizabeth fixed her gaze on him, to which the count looked away and his cheeks took on a pale pink colour.
"Lizz-"
"Ciel-"
The two young people interrupted each other. Elizabeth began to laugh; she was more nervous than usual because they hadn't seen each other in so long. However, once she started asking Ciel about his adventures at Weston College, they didn't stop talking. The young man only told her about the superficial adventures of course, the prefects, the tournaments, and his discovery about his father's attendance. Trivial things he could tell his fiancée. She was amazed, so many adventures he had to tell. Her brother had told her some of them, but he didn't have the same perspective. Ciel is a much more interesting person than his brother. She knows he is not very social, so him making friends is a great surprise for her. They also talked about what Elizabeth had been doing. Her fencing classes and chess classes.
"This time I'm going to beat you, Ciel!" she said confidently. Her fiancé always beat her no matter how many times she tried. But she was better than her aunt Ann, so she had a chance.
Elizabeth gazed upon the tray still filled with strawberry cakes that she had brought for Ciel. The only ones missing were the chocolate ones. Something stirred in her mind, but she brushed it aside, as always. Suddenly, a memory shook her mind.
"Ciel, do you remember that spring day we spent here with Aunt Ann?" The young man looked into the distance, trying to hide his expression, knowing that he could be in trouble if he answered incorrectly or expressed his true feelings. Every time his fiancée reminded him, he tried to ignore the question for obvious reasons.
"Ah, of course, how could I forget?" he replied, avoiding her gaze, and trying to conceal the evasion in his voice.
"That day I baked cakes for you, but they turned out really bad, fufu," the young woman chuckled softly as she looked at her fiancé. "It was right here where you tasted them and said they were really bad." Her fiancé turned to look at her with a smile.
"Yes, and then Tanaka brought us some very delicious cakes for eat instead," Elizabeth was a little startled. That indeed happened.
"Exactly! Then mother scolded me because my stomach hurt from so many cakes we ate, haha," Elizabeth laughed softly, "it was a wonderful day."
He had not been with them in person of course, but he remembered that day because he always observed them from afar. Just behind his fiancée was the window through which he watched them play. As a child, he longed to play with his brother and his fiancée, but because of his weak body, he had to stay at home most of the time. He was just like his mother. But he was grateful to have watched them from the shadows of the mansion, so he could always imitate Ciel almost perfectly. Besides, his brother always told him what happened during the day, so he always ended up hearing all the details.
"Ah, and through that window he was watching us--" Elizabeth interrupted herself, then immediately regretted bringing up the topic. She knew she shouldn't have talked about him, but she missed him too. She wasn't going to marry him, but they still spent a lot of time together. Both of them easily beat Elizabeth at chess. He understood Ciel much better than she did. She was even a little jealous, but he was family, just like Aunt Ann, who had taught her so much. An uncomfortable silence fell. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." Elizabeth twisted her hands in the handkerchief on her lap and bit her tongue.
"My brother? I didn't know he was watching us," he lied.
"I-I'm so sorry, Ciel. I didn't mean to..." Elizabeth said, looking down.
"Don't worry, Elizabeth, he's not here anymore," the young man said, looking intently at her. "But I am," he said, placing his hand on his chest. "Ah, Lizzy, don’t cry" he noticed that a couple of tears were falling down her face. She hated herself for opening old wounds. She just wanted to create new memories with Ciel, not make him remember the bad ones.
He took out a handkerchief from his jacket and wiped his fingers on it while passing it over her face. She felt his fiancée's hand on her cheek, wiping away the tears.
"How do you remember that Lizzy?" the young man asked.
"I-I always saw him watching us through the window, even though he would hide every time I caught him spying," Elizabeth let out a small nervous laugh. The young man smiled. Perhaps it was one of the few stories they had together as kids, and the young master being, well, not Ciel.
Elizabeth ceased her sobbing.
"Forgive me for crying so much," the blonde said.
"Forgive me for making you cry," the young man replied.
"No, it's not your fault," she said while shaking his head in denial mode, then she smiled at him. "Thank you for sharing this day with me, Ciel," the young man smiled back. Sebastian witnessed the situation with curiosity. He learned something new about the young master, something that he could use to bother him later if needed.
"Should we get going, Milady?" Ciel said, noticing that a cold breeze was starting to blow.
"Ah, yes," the young man stood up first and then helped his fiancée to her feet. Sebastian headed to the spot to pick up the picnic things with Paula. On the way back to the mansion, Elizabeth stopped to look at the window where the younger brother used to watch them. Her fiancé was a little ahead when he noticed that Elizabeth had stayed behind. Turning around, he saw the young woman with a nostalgic and sad look. The Earl felt a strong heartbeat in his chest. Perhaps it was because he never thought she noticed him. She missed him. Really missed him. He felt a small emotion. But then he remembered where he was, he was no longer the replacement for his brother, he was his brother. He was Ciel, Ciel Phantomhive.
"Lizzy," he said. The young woman snapped out of her thoughts and ran to his side. As they reached the mansion's stairs, Lizzy made a small farewell bow, but before she could turn around, the Earl stopped her.
"Are you leaving so soon? I thought you intended to show me what you have learned in chess, did you not?" The young woman's face lit up and she joyfully hugged her fiancé.
"Gladly!" his future wife replied.
And so, they spent a wonderful afternoon at Phantomhive Manor. His fiancée left late, and she had drained all his energy to continue with his duties. Because only when he was with her did he relax to the point of exhaustion. While Sebastian changed his clothes, the young man brought his fingers to his lips, gently touching them. Sebastian noticed this and smiled.
"Thinking of someone special, young master?" The young man snapped out of his thoughts and blushed violently.
"W-what are you saying, Sebastian! Don't be insolent, finish quickly and let me rest." The black-clad butler couldn't help but chuckle.
"Ahh, this is so annoying." The Earl jumped onto the bed and covered himself up to his forehead. Sebastian didn't stop laughing until he closed the door to the young master's room. Deep down, he knew he had a good day.
Thanks for reading, you can find this work on AO3!
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