Thrawn (thranto) phase

It does take place before the end of the volume 3! Nearish the end of that volume, but before it!

Of course Seiichirou has to be convinced multiple times to take a vacation lol I'm honestly more amazed he's surprised everyone at work encourages him to go lol My guy, when you first met them, most of what they did was take tea breaks. Of course they want you to go lol They believe in work-life balance.

Can't believe we've had Aresh's brother for five minutes and already Aresh wants to commit fratricide lol Typical Indolark family stuff. And of course, Aresh's sister is cooler than his brother. Aresh will not have his partner of choice dictated! This is actually a nice parallel to volume 3, where Seiichirou stepped up to not allow others to steal Aresh from him. Now Aresh is stepping up, again, to not allow others to keep Seiichirou from him.

Of course Seiichirou is excited and Aresh is pissed off that Ist invented a fax machine/e-mail lol I have to imagine Aresh making this face during that scene:

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It took me way too long to make this.

Unsure if this is me misunderstanding something, but is Beata trans? Cool if true.

It's nice that the volume centrally focuses on the importance of increasing access to education, that classism is bad, and usually it's rich people who are being all the world's problems.

Please excuse the messy panel compilations, I wanted all the bits I mention to be visible. Let me know if you can't see and I'll make sure to send you a clearer version of a panel.

BEFORE THE TURNING POINT

A look at already-generous Ciel's attitude from the beginning of the manga to the end of the Phantomhive Manor Murders arc.

At the end of the Black Butler arc (right before the Red Butler arc), we find out Sebastian has pocket money which could only possibly come from Ciel's pocket. This implies he is either paying wages or giving him a little bit of personal money, just so he isn't penniless.

During the Red Butler arc, Ciel gets annoyed at Madame Red groping Sebastian. When they go to investigate the Viscount, Ciel is horrified at the idea of dancing with Sebastian asking how he could dance publicly 'with the likes of him' (essentially pointing out his status, in the original Japanese he asks 'with a butler?') but when Sebastian says a tutor is a part of the upper classes, he agrees to dance with him. However, we know that when Sebastian was teaching him how to dance, he had no problem with it. He seems to focus on the public part more than the dancing part, this attitude is later amended.

Moving on, in the Indian Butler arc, he gets angry that Sebastian cares more about the schedule than his wellbeing after Sebastian steps up to his defence during the fencing battle between Soma and Agni.

At the end of the Circus arc, despite being angry at Sebastian (after the snake incident), he has him sit in first class with him, perhaps due to the affect that arc had on him (Joker and Doll mentioning his noble status, we also know he felt the most guilt to them other than his family members courtesy of his mental breakdown in the Green Witch Arc). This is his first attempt at fixing his haughty noble image in regards to Sebastian. From this moment on, Sebastian is always in First Class with him whenever they ride a train.

In the Phantomhive Murders arc, he tells them to put Sebastian’s cats back into his closet and to not let them out of his bedroom, even though he could have just kicked them out of the house, there was a window there. Clearly he was angry at Sebastian for keeping them behind his back but he did not mention it at all, assuming he keeps them in his room behind his back.

Let's keep in mind that in between all these acts, Ciel was also acting like this (hiring a dude to hit Sebastian in the first chapter, trying to sabotage him during the competition for the royal warrant, hitting him when he was unable to move during the murder arc):

TURNING POINT

The Luxury Liner arc where Ciel's attitude to Sebastian softens after they face an enemy that can mortally wound him.

In the Luxury Liner arc, Ciel panics at Sebastian getting hurt, defends Sebastian verbally against Ronald Knox and doesn't fall asleep even though he is freezing/suffering moderate hypothermia (falling asleep) because he sees a bizarre doll bite Sebastian, this is also where he reaches his hand out to help Sebastian onto the boat, though this is rejected. Him asking if Sebastian can do it is also corrected by Sebastian who tells him to order him as a servant.

Ciel's attitude changes drastically here, not only worrying for Sebastian but praising him and trying to make him happy. He tells him he did well that day and gives him a day of rest in which he brings him dinner and sits with him while he eats (he brings the food himself since the other servants tell him it would make Sebastian happy if he takes it to him himself). He even 'orders' Sebastian to lie down and rest since he was refusing to). Also he teases by saying all that suffering on the Campania was worth it since he got to see Sebastian in a 'rare', 'ridiculous' state.

TWISTED TRUST & CONTROLLED CONCERN

This era of their relationship spans from the end of the Luxury Liner arc to the end of the Blue Cult arc.

In the Easter chapter, he tells Sebastian that his status does not matter in a game and he should freely attack the Double Charles if he needs to. A big change from his shame of dancing with him in public while in a disguise, he yells this out in front of the Queen's butlers as himself, Earl Phantomhive, while knowing they are high nobles who might see this as a transgression.

At the end of the Public School arc, he listens to Sebastian telling him to take the servants to London for shopping, also he trusts him to go to Somerset House when Sebastian asks to make another stop and only asks what Sebastian did there after he comes back into the carriage.

In the Green Witch arc, they once again sit in first class together and he expresses curiosity in Sebastian’s past for the first time. He apologises to all of the servants including Sebastian who is very surprised about it, considering he had just aggressively attempted to eat him (even though it was all to 'shock' him out of the state he was in).

This is also when we find out that Ciel, while bestowing his affection, has absolutely no trust in Sebastian as a person, only as a tool. Yet he still treats him like a person he cares for.

He thinks Sebastian will enjoy being a wild beast (we know he doesn't), he antagonises him but still worries when Sebastian is dragged away in at the Sphere Music Hall, even trying to leave with him. Blavat, in order to convince Ciel to stay, tells him not to worry and that they just left him outside and Ciel still asks him to make it quick. In the Halloween chapter, he tells Sebastian to be careful when it comes to humans (I don't want to get too into this but the dialogue here is wild). Also Sebastian rightfully calls him out for enjoying watching him being bossed around by Nina and trying on outfits (he was sat at the changing room door laughing, to be fair) and Ciel doesn't deny it, calling him a 'dress up doll' with that expression.

WHERE WE'RE AT NOW

The overly lenient and strangely affectionate way Ciel treats Sebastian in the narrative currently.

In the Blue Revenge arc so far, he has bought tea for Sebastian while they were together in the first class dining cart of the train (which Sebastian found strange but he provided an excuse for), he gets curious about Sebastian's relationship with Modri but after Sebastian says he doesn't know him and just wants to compensate him, Ciel even agreed to pay compensation to Modri on behalf of Sebastian (this is also where the 'wiping his ass' comment is from since it can also mean paying someone's debt for them). He also bought dinner for Sebastian (which Sebastian was not expecting but was strangely happy about) then while they were eating (why did the maitre d seat Sebastian and not the little boy...), Ciel tells him to act natural when Sebastian says people remember them from the news, he even asked if Sebastian liked the food and acknowledges his palate is different.

There is probably so much I missed or didn’t think worthy for inclusion but all in all, I think that was all. Hopefully it’s clear that he is, in fact, down bad. Like DOWN down bad. It is serious, it is terminal and it is talked about way too little. Anyway, this post is my attempt to make up for my absence.