→ IC
□ Name: Alois Trancy
□ Journal: contrarious
□ Series: Kuroshitsuji
□ Canon point: At the end of the OVA "The Spider's Intention" (Which is chronologically set not too long before episode one of the second season.)
□ History: [Here]

Trying to understand Alois Trancy is akin to sticking your head inside of a beehive: not only is it a precarious thing to do, but it illustrates how Alois' mind – his personality – is a constant flurry of buzzing and shifting. Stinging and venomous one moment, and then excitable and curious the next. He's never exactly calm, although he does have his moments of sobering clarity. At first glance, Alois is a boy who's dizzying with his whims and wants; he's a rich, spoiled child, having been doted upon for far too long. However, there's much more to Alois than just an unhinged, rather young Earl. "Alois Trancy" is his name, yes, but it's an adopted one, given to him like his title of Earl. To understand him, you must first understand what he was before being a noble, when he was a commoner known as Jim Macken.

Jim Macken was the boy who "existed" before Alois Trancy. A scruffy commoner, Jim was defined by being the protective brother to his little brother Luca Macken – and, later, by also becoming the caregiver and mentor to Luca. After their parents passed away, the people in their village viewed Jim and Luca as burdens and parasites, refusing to give them any help. Jim and Luca were harassed and alienated by the villagers; they were driven out of the village, and had to resort to fighting and stealing in order to survive. Somehow, they made do with what they could get. Somehow, as long as they were together, everything would be okay. During this time, Jim regarded the villagers – even humanity as a whole – as nothing more than scum. People were terrible, dirty, and rotten; everyone in their village could just die for all he cared. Even as a young child, Jim wasn't the most stable person. His mood swings were clearly evident, moving him from elation to anger to contentment very quickly. Eventually, after the villagers mysteriously wound up dead, Jim could only laugh and cheer in response, ecstatic at the news.

And then Luca Macken died.

Jim was broken completely and utterly by his little brother's death. The world had been cruel and cold before then, but now it was empty, lonely, and devoid of meaning for him. He had nothing left, and nothing to live for. To deal with this, Jim turned to apathy as his only friend for the next few years of his life. Jim kept on surviving just because, even without a reason to live. When he was about 10, he ended up getting rounded up with other unfortunate kids, and carted off to the estate of a nobleman named Lord Trancy. Lord Trancy was an old, disgusting, liver-spotted man who routinely indulged in his outrageous pedophilic tendencies. From the moment Jim passed into the Trancy estate, he became one of Lord Trancy's many "toys." At first, Jim wasn't very appreciated by Lord Trancy, who considered Jim to have ugly, dirty eyes and even beat him with a cane. Jim took the beating with the same numb apathy he had for years, and was then taken to the holding cells with the other boys, where he would wait for Lord Trancy to desire his company. The apathy would have persisted forever if it weren't for a certain rumor that Jim overheard. According to the other boys, a fairy lived nearby and was actually willing to grant wishes. While many boys were disbelieving, Jim believed enough in the fairy to want to try summoning it. He'd find that fairy and ask it to grant him a wish – even if he had no idea what his wish should be.

But he didn't find a fairy. After going through the ritual, Jim found a demon instead.

Enter: Claude Faustus, the spider demon, the entity responsible that would be responsible for the figurative death of Jim Macken and rise of "Alois Trancy" from the ashes. When they first met, Claude told Jim that he could grant him a wish in the form of a Faustian contract (a deal with the devil). All Jim had to do was figure out what wish would anchor them together. "Figuring out what to wish for" gave Jim a real reason to live, and began his metamorphosis into being someone who wasn't entirely apathetic.

After the other boys died due to a plague, Jim ended up being the only suitable "toy" left for Lord Trancy. Jim used this as an opportunity to take control of his situation, to survive so he could have more time to figure out his wish, and he did it without anyone else's help. If there was one thing Jim was good at, it was acting; he played his part flawlessly, and seducing an old man wasn't very hard. From playing his cards right, Jim became the favorite concubine and was eventually gifted with the name Alois Trancy. (That was Lord Trancy and the late Lady Trancy's actual son, who had been kidnapped as a baby and never reclaimed.) "Caring" for his old, loving "father" was important for keeping his new name, and Jim was more than willing to do it for the power it gave him. He got to sleep in a (real) bed with (goose feather) pillows, which was much better than a dirt floor or bed of hay. Eating real food trumped starving, of course. And he wore expensive clothes instead of dirty rags. It was easy to exploit his body to retain his identity as Alois Trancy, the heir to the Trancy Earldom. He could care less about being abused while he tried to think of a wish.

Then, after another night of being molested and beaten, covered in bruises, Jim Macken finally found a wish. He forged a contract with the demon using the words "I desire you." Claude Faustus manifested and began to shape Jim's soul into something delicious to devour once the contract was completed. Claude ended up becoming everything to Jim Macken — er, Alois Trancy, since Alois quickly discarded his old name for good. As a villainous demon, Claude had no qualms about lying to Alois, claiming that another demon named Sebastian Michaelis was responsible for Luca's death years ago. This gave Alois the impetus to give their contract direction, since Sebastian had his own contractor, another boy named Ciel Phantomhive. Alois wanted Sebastian to suffer for allegedly killing Luca, so he decided he would take Ciel away to punish Sebastian. To do so, he made another wish, this one more like fine print for his contract: "Bring me Ciel Phantomhive."

Soon thereafter, Lord Trancy died. It was necessary. After inheriting the old man's fortune, Alois started to become who he is seen as nowadays, thanks to Claude's influence. Gone is the poor, dirty orphan, who didn't seem to be afraid of anything but being alone. In Jim's place, there is Alois Trancy, the rightful heir to the Trancy estate, originally spirited away by fairies when he was a baby and thus returned only recently. It was Jim's own fairy tale come to real life.

□ Personality:

Alois Trancy, above all else, is a brilliant actor. He sets the stage and plays the lead role of the farce and lie he's woven and built up overtime, trapping people in his web to exploit if need be and use until he has no use for them anymore. He's so utterly convincing that he too has become to believe his own lie wholeheartedly to the point that he's snuffed the identity of who he was before - Jim Macken - and is terrified of his past ever resurfacing. Even at the very end of the series when both Claude and Sebastian are faced with a series of questions where the answers are governed by Alois' soul, the true and right answer to what his real name is is not Jim Macken, as Sebastain guesses, but Alois Trancy, a testament to how strongly he believes in his own lie.

He's a clever and cunning child who knows how to make himself desirable to pretty much anyone, even the people he hates the most. To survive is to endure, and he has survived and endured his entire life by fitting into the various roles he has had to in order to get by. He played the part of doting concubine to Lord Trancy until he charmed the older man to accept him as his long missing son and he has no problem dressing up in the maid uniform of his own servants to trick Ciel Phantomhive to lure him into a trap. The role of Alois Trancy, however, sometimes requires a lot more work than he can handle. The responsibilities that come with being an Earl are grueling; he's more than willing to disregard that work, whether it be paperwork or other things when he can get away with it. Boredom overcomes him quickly as well, leaving him unsatisfied with much of his life.

He'll never be satisfied because underneath his believable cheer and falsely sweet smiles is a terrible disdain for the rest of humanity. That disdain goes all the way back to his life as Jim Macken. He was born into a poor, cruel and unforgiving world and this belief that people are inherently cruel and awful never leaves him. It's a dog eat dog world out there and Alois knows that better than most - after all, he too will be eaten himself someday (quite literally, at that) and eerily enough he finds comfort in the fact. Till then, however, he's set on getting what he wants by whatever means - he isn't afraid to dirty himself if he has to. After all, you can't dirty something that's stained and despite the fact he lives surrounded by riches and believes in his lie nearly to the core, he sees himself as filthy and tarnished. He has an unshakeable disgust for himself and needs to be given validation by Claude so maybe he can think he's worth anything. Sometimes he'll fish for compliments, while other times he'll reject them begrudgingly. Money really can't buy happiness, even after becoming a wealthy nobleman he finds himself miserable, and so his moods go up and down like a yo-yo throughout his daily life.

His hatred for humanity in general is what leads him sometimes to violence. Kindness is something Alois legitimately does not know how to deal with and he doesn't react to it very well. Hannah, his maid (who is also a demon) is treated cruelly and venomously, despite the fact she is the only one who actually shows Alois any true kindness and care. Frankly it freaks him out. A lot. The only person who treated him kindly was his younger brother Luca who was devoured by a demon himself. There is no reason for people to be kind unless they want something from you and Alois has never been given a reason to believe otherwise. In general he reacts badly to it, either in an inappropriate fashion or by lashing out in fear. After all, why would anyone be nice if they weren't going to get anything in return? Why would anyone want to be kind to someone as revolting as himself?

He's a pitiful and lonely child, a romantic to the core, who keeps longing for a whimsical fairy tale. He's so desperately lonely, wanting his forever after ending that he's twisted and romanticized his contract with a hungry demon in his mind into something of a morbid love story. Part of him knows the reality of it all, that Claude is just hungry and has one thing in mind, but the other part of him so desperately wants to be loved and wants that kindness he's so fearful of that he's willing to sell his soul and delude himself for it. Granted he doesn't make a contract with Claude out of love - no, that wouldn't be right to assume at all. He makes a "wish" to ensure he'll always have someone by his side and that he'll never be alone, that he'll obtain the wrongly placed revenge he wants on Sebastian due to his brother's death. In doing so he wants to obtain Ciel Phantomhive so he can make Sebastian suffer just as he has. His preoccupation with Ciel is based on that - the other young Earl is a tool and means to an end, someone who potentially, if given the circumstances could understand him considering similar past suffering they've endured. He wants Sebastian to feel the loss he did when Luca died - he wants him to experience a fate, in Alois' opinion, worse than death.

It's important to make a note of just how lonely Alois Trancy is. Despite having slept his way to the top and now having a grand estate and servants at his disposal, there's no life to the house he lives in. It's just himself, Claude, Hannah and three other servants who are also demons that wander the halls of the Trancy manor. He has no one to talk to, despite his attempts at making Claude react or respond to his antics. He has, quite literally, no friends, and he's never had one (save for Luca) and that fact in itself is incredibly sad. He knows how to carry himself in social situations and what lines to parrot to play the part of an Earl and host when he puts on a costume ball or has his uncle and a priest over to visit, but he rarely interacts with people his age - he just doesn't have the opportunity to, not to mention he'd act just as false with them as he would to adults in his life. He makes mention that he'd love to travel and see the world but he's trapped, in Claude's web and on the estate, perhaps almost afraid to leave the little world he's built up for himself.

At fourteen years old, Alois Trancy is a flighty and needy boy who has become completely dependent on his demon Claude Faustus. Phobias have been forced onto him or else simply enhanced by Claude — his nyctophobia (fear of the dark) is stiflingly strong and overwhelming, as is his phobia of being abandoned. Just the thought of abandonment is unbearable to Alois. It's due to these phobias and his underlying jaded self that Alois can be suddenly, violently cruel to his surroundings, whether he's punishing people or insects. For example, butterflies get their wings torn off so they'll never be able to fly away. Alois even equates himself to a wingless butterfly, trapped in Claude's web and waiting to be devoured. On the other hand, he thinks about tearing off Claude's wings (if he had them) to make sure that Claude will never leave.

If it isn't already plainly obvious, Alois' relationship with Claude is incredibly unhealthy. To be desired by Claude, in Alois' opinion, is to have a purpose to live. Satisfying Claude's hunger at the end of their contract is incredibly important to Alois, just as important as getting revenge on Sebastian. He wants Claude to always want him – to stay with him – which is part of an all-encompassing need to be with someone forever, to never ever be alone. He is in love with Claude, even though he detests demons in general. Claude is his, and as long as Alois owns something, it won't be able to escape him. He's been alone for so long that the thought of Claude leaving him is unbearable. When he's near the end of his life he confesses as much saying that Claude is the only one he needs, the only one left in his world. He's not to leave his side - never.

Simply put, Alois Trancy wants to be wanted, but that isn't all he wants. What's characteristic of Alois Trancy and what Claude notes when he first meets the boy in the forest on the outskirts of the Trancy estate is that he's indecisive. He doesn't forge a contract with the demon right away - he had a wish but he just didn't know what it was yet. Claude himself remarks on his soul; he finds it one that is overly passionate, that burns so intensely he threatens to burn himself up. Such an observation couldn't be more true of the boy. Emotions ultimately govern Alois' choices and decisions - it's his heart, not his head, that forces him down various paths. Sometimes he's incredibly apathetic and others he's overwhelmed. Despite his cruel tendencies he's not really cruel, not anymore than those he's met throughout his life. He sets the other boys Lord Trancy had imprisoned free, making a point to do so, and he tries to cremate the butterfly he'd caged, only to set his own room on fire, saying that he wanted to give it a proper burial. He's a broken child, one that has always been a little off kilter mentally, but constant abuse and cruelty has made him wary and jaded about the world he lives in.

□ Age: 14
□ Gender: Male/Male
□ Appearance: [Here!]

Standing at an impressive 5'4", Alois Trancy is a beautiful child with short blond hair and bright blue eyes. He's lean and slender, with rather shapely legs and hips that he's more than willing to flaunt, and can usually be seen wearing black thigh highs and booty shorts (very un-victorian of him - how scandalous). He also wears a green black pinstriped vest, white blouse with a black bow at his neck and a deep purple frock coat. He's fond of wearing heels too, wearing knee high lace up brown boots with an impressive heel and purple ribbons tied into bows at the front. Usually there's a smirk on his lips and he has permanent bedroom eyes. If there's not a smirk then there's a scowl. He's also one to doll himself up on occasion and is always seen wearing the Trancy family ring on his index finger.

□ Abilities/Powers:

Alois Trancy is simply a human child and nothing more, but there's something appealing about the passionate soul he possesses that convinced Claude Faustus, the Spider demon to forge a contract with him. This contract is visable on Alois' tongue in the form of a sigil. It's infused with dark magic, naturally, and this seal not only acts as a marker but allows Alois Trancy to control (aka boss around) Claude as he sees fit.

□ Personal Items:

1) His ring
2) A set of his usual clothes
3) His boots
4) A red kimono with butterfly/spiderweb motifs
5) Bluebells
6) His frock coat
7) A maid outfit that his servants wear
8) A long blonde wig

□ First Person Sample: [Here]
□ Third Person Sample: [Here]