Maleficara

The first time the little pearl saw Vincent's true form as a merman.

For my dearest friend, @sweetmoonbunny. 💚🌹

Oh, a fun ask!!! :D

I'll start with the clothing style - I do like it when people make Ciel more goth or alt in fanfics and fanart, and Yana herself obviously has a strong affinity for drawing him in gothy outfits, but I think it depends a lot on what kind of modern AU you're writing.

Tbh, for the way I write Cielle, I don't really see her expressing herself that way through clothing, let alone openly presenting herself as part of some kind of subculture or underground scene. I think she'd be much more likely to dress mostly posh because she'd want to maintain that lustrous, overly proper and decorous image of herself as someone who belongs to high society. I imagine silk blouses, tailored blazers, pleated or A-line skirts, highwaisted trousers, loafers, riding boots and lots of nice wool coats.

I also think she'd be very conscious of how much information her appearance gives away? I like to write her as extremely controlling about what she reveals about herself, so I don't think she'd want her clothes to communicate anything too specific about her personality or affiliations. She'd probably want to look elegant, expensive and put-together without giving people much of a clue about her inner world.

She has that in common with Sebastian, actually. He presents this impeccable butler persona to conceal the eldritch horror prowling underneath, and it's been confirmed that he gets a kick out of that contrast. I really like that aspect of their dynamic.

I also think that, even in a modern AU, a lot of her clothing would reflect Sebastian's personal tastes, because in canon he's very particular about dressing Ciel in a way appropriate to his noble status, and I always just love it when that carries over into a modern setting too, with Sebastian choosing her clothes for her even if he's not officially her butler. :D

Also, I remember that Ciel is consistently shown in canon as being quite judgy about anything remotely eccentric?? (even though he's one to talk) In the Weston arc, he has some rather uncharitable thoughts about Violet, and he does seem to be a tad conformist, perhaps hypocritically so. :D

But if Cielle were choosing all her clothes by herself, I can very well imagine she'd gravitate towards darker pieces, just still within the realm of posh and relatively minimalist.

I was thinking the other day, that she might even be like Elizabeth Holmes in that respect (ofc, only in terms of fashion. Cielle's morals are dubious, but she's not that horrible, lmao), like owning several identical black blazers, black trousers, and black turtlenecks and just wearing them every day because she cannot be arsed to think about what she's going to wear.

Tldr, given that Kuroshitsuji has so many gothic novel elements, Cielle is basically a gothic heroine by default. But in a modern setting, I don't personally see her dressing in an openly goth or alt way, at least not the way I usually like to write her.

Of course, as I said, it depends on what kind of modern AU you have in mind.

For example, there's this Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll modern AU, "Whisky a Go Go" by Goodgreivances, with Rockstar!Sebastian and a FtM groupie Ciel whose family owns a record label (so far there's only this one-shot from this universe, but Haunt (the author) often shares snippets on their xwitter, and they're just glorious. I'm so looking forward to when they start posting the chapters!!), and in that context it makes perfect sense for Ciel to dress alternatively.

I really like it when changes in a character's style make sense within the framework of the AU, and the same goes for changes in characterisation. Ofc, everyone is free to write and draw whatever they want, for whatever reason, and I'm not saying that Cielle can't be goth or alt in a modern AU. I just personally prefer it when those changes feel like they naturally grow out of the setting, the circumstances, etc.

As for Cielle's music taste... hehe, weeeell... :D

I think she likes music the same way she likes her food - very mild and not particularly spicy. I imagine she'd listen to classical music, or perhaps instrumental film soundtracks without any singing. The most adventurous she can probably get is Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, and even the cannons are pushing it for her delicate sensibilities. xD