deatthchat | (no subject)

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Doctor,

I've had a possible insight on the matter I had you look into last week. The undertaker can get you access on my word, but I need you to bring her to handle toxicology. There may still be traces, but I don't trust anyone else to know what to look for.

S. will bring the car round within the hour. As always, you understand that this requires the utmost discretion.

Regards,
🐾

[ A message that was, quite obviously, intended for a different recipient. ]

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I see. And what title are you hiding behind?

One I suspect you'd recognize, Earl Phantomhive. Some things haven't changed in the century between us.

You draw a direct line between us, then.

[ He can't yet tell if that's a threat or a mere cryptic reveal. ]

[ Another thing that makes this app almost worthwhile, just for how fascinating it is to speak to a man she’s only ever seen in the oldest of her family’s photographs. Or a boy, rather—in 1887 he’d be thirteen at the oldest. ]

Several generations removed, of course.

State our relation.

Earl Ciel Phantomhive was my third great grandfather.

Impossible. State our relation.

[ WHAT. ]

puellaregem has uploaded wedding_1897.png
puellaregem has uploaded portrait_1899.png

[ The first picture is well preserved considering its age, showing a slight, somber young man with dark hair, fine features and an eyepatch dressed in a dark suit, standing next to a taller young woman with fair curls in a wedding dress, clearly restraining a smile.

The second shows the same woman in full mourning garb, sitting with an infant about a year old on her lap. ]

You're mistaken. Your photos cannot be of me.

[ ...he knows that that's clearly him, and the woman is unmistakably an older Elizabeth. ]

[ He's struggling to concentrate on the images, and is just kind of completely zoned out. Please hold, Ciel Phantomhive will be disassociating for the next twenty minutes. ]

puellaregem has uploaded campania_1888.png

[ This photograph, rather than a formal portrait, seems to be a remarkably candid shot of the couple from the prior photos as young teenagers, alongside a dark-haired man—whom Shiori had recognized the instant she'd laid eyes on the picture—all three looking waterlogged and worse for wear. And, remarkably, all three of them are smiling. ]

This is the oldest photograph I have.

[ Ciel doesn't understand. The reasoning he'd used to dismiss the older photos was useless when this one is at what appears to be his current age. ]

I have no memory of anything regarding 'Campania' or of this photo.

[ 1888, it says. ]

We must be from entirely separate timelines. I will not be passing on a lineage.

[ ...but then why is Sebastian there? ]

That’s possible. I can only speak for what’s true in my timeline.

[ Anything seems to be possible with this app. ]

We could compare notes on events up until your point in time.

I suppose you may provide your ‘notes’ for my review.

[ Is this a trick to gather information from him? ]

Very well. What month is it?

[ Sebastian should be willing to provide details if she asks. ]

December 28, 1887.

After celebrating your thirteenth birthday following the end of your investigation into Jack the Ripper, your company very recently defeated Harold West for a Royal Warrant in a curry competition at the Crystal Palace.

[ ...And Sebastian claimed to have invented curry bread after going on an unexpectedly flattering tangent about the Indian prince’s butler he was competing against. ]

Is that correct?

This is all true but public information.

You’ve just been informed of a series of kidnappings linked to the route of a travelling circus that will be performing in London in the coming February, and on your birthday, you lost a hunting competition to Countess Midford after she broke a tie by killing a bear.

[ “So he thinks,” according to Sebastian. ]

Yes.

What do your records say regarding my life up to this point?

You were born in 1874, were betrothed from birth to the daughter of Marquess Alexis Midford, and lived an altogether normal life for ten years, before the former Earl, Countess and your younger twin brother were assassinated and the Phantomhive manor destroyed. You disappeared for a month before you returned to reclaim the Earldom and associated titles. By 1887 you had made Funtom Corporation one of the most famous toy and confection manufacturers in the world, and had the favor of her Majesty Queen Victoria and the utmost respect in high society, despite your age. Your work for the Queen had also made Phantomhive a name to be feared by any with ill intent against crown or country.

[ And she'd always admired her ancestor for it. ]

That is correct on my end, as well. It seems our timelines are at least consistent up until this point, if nothing else.

[ ...does this mean he actually has to marry Elizabeth? ]

How does your version of me die?

[ That seems the most eloquent way to ask if his soul was chucked by a demon, probably. Though he doubts that would be on his official coroner's report. ]

Officially, a cause of death was never determined. It was quite the mystery at the time. Given your position, most people assumed foul play of some sort, but there was no real evidence of anything.

[ It's a bizarre thing to just tell someone, but she's quite certain Ciel knows how he'll die, if not when. ]

My family had their own legends, of course.

Legends such as?

So the story goes, as a child, you bargained with a demon who has haunted the Phantomhive family ever since. It grants each family head power and protection, but in the end, it claims their souls, as it did yours a century ago.

At least, that's how most people tell it.

[ He's going to be having a word with Sebastian. ]

An interesting legend. People do love assuming the worst when encountered with power.

What do they say you bargained with this demon for?