#but it sure was a trip to be scraping claudia scenes and suddenly be like 'wait a fucking minute why does that dragon look like finnegrin'

[kradogsrats]

fucking losing my mind at the weirdly egregious amount of visual design these two have in common for no apparent reason

[wolfofwinchester]

Claudia was definitely present during the Campania arc. It’s a trip where she’d be surrounded by family, after all! There is NO way she is missing out on it and Ciel knows better than to talk his grandmother out of any decision she makes, so she packed her bags and the trio ( with Gelert included ) set sail.

It was a ship that dreams were made of, to be honest! It’s been ages since she was able to have her entire little family in one place for a long duration - with her husband included, no less. She was sailing on Cloud 9 and enjoying the ride and enjoying the company, her willingly pushing down this dread she felt deep at the bottom of her gut. She wanted to enjoy this, she wanted to let herself enjoy this, and she did.

Until the Bizarre Dolls came.

At first, Claudia was by her daughter’s side mowing down the undead forces with Gelert at her side, who easily sent the dead shambling and stumbling about and losing their balance for easier decapitation or cranium stabbing. It was a bloodbath! But eventually when Sebastian decided to split off from the group to go find Ciel and Elizabeth (and Snake, incidentally), Claudia asserted herself in joining him, assuring Francis they’d bring Elizabeth and Ciel back as soon as they could before kissing her and Edward goodbye.

Thus brings Claudia’s first clash with the known Reapers, her introduction to not only Grell (outside of butler disguise), but Ronald as well. A nasty meeting to be sure, earning a whistle from Ron who compliments her battle style “for being a fine woman of her age”, to which he promptly gets socked in the jaw. It’s a tense tussle, but Claudia holds her own quite well (paired with Ronald respecting the NO HUMANS GET UNSOLICITEDLY SLAUGHTERED rule while Grell is more interested in boxing Sebastian’s head in than facing off with the Countess) while taking note that these assailants have VERY familiar eyes, instantly pinging her mind with memory -- they’re Shinigami. Her heart is racing, but she presses through, dancing with two deaths back-to-back with Sebastian and getting locked down as her grandchildren come under assault.

Elizabeth busting out the skills isn’t a surprise, but it is a sight to remember. She’s never seen her grandbaby properly fight before, this is the first time she’s exposed to it; the elegance, the practical defiance of gravity, the swiftness and the expert way she slices down the masses.. It puts Claudia at a loss for words, but also lights a more fiery determination to break combat lock. Gelert sweeps through and Ron lets out quite the understandable scream when suddenly getting POUNCED BY A WOLF.

As we know the scene to carry on from there, everything flows as normal, aside from Ron getting a nasty bite from Gelert that he’ll whine about when this is all said and done. The Reapers depart, and Ciel is swooped up by Sebastian and carried while Lizzie gets bearhugged by her grandmother and held close to her side as they make off to the deck.

Reunited at last! Claudia ushers Elizabeth into Edward’s embrace and hugs Francis close, assuring her Elizabeth is safe and sound while Ciel might have a few annoying scrapes to deal with once they’ve all boarded.. and of course, here comes the bad news: Ciel says nope, not going, he and Sebastian are staying. He has business to attend to still, Watchdog business, and as to be expected, Claudia has a lot of issue with that. Her grandson was going straight into peril with two hostile Shinigami! And not only that, but her gut was telling her that her husband was somewhere on this ship, so there was no way it was just going to be those two heading in alone! But, like her poor granddaughter who also protested, The Countess gets coldcocked by that “damn vulture” and ferried by Alexis to the lifeboat, where both Elizabeth and herself are fretted over.

Both are quick to snap awake, but it is a chilling sight to awaken to. People screaming in the sea and dying from cold temperature, the sight of the ship sinking, and then the sight of the ship suddenly slicing in half due to a (familiar) green light, and hearing the water roar as it consumes the Campania and so many souls upon it. With her grandson upon it. Panic sets in, and Alexis has to hold the Countess tight to keep her from taking control of the boat. It’s not the easiest thing in the world, but he manages as Francis holds Elizabeth and Edward tight in sheer horror.

Both Claudia and Elizabeth are inconsolable, as many are who still had loved ones on that very ship, and very rare few who might know grief the way the grandmother does. They both need to be held very tight until the rescue ship comes and brings them aboard, where Francis and Alex swap places, as Alexis tends to the children and Francis successfully talks (and shakes) sense into her mother and drags her down onto a shaky foundation.

The hours are unbearable, and Claudia spends many of those hours off in a part of the ship praying and praying hard until morning light comes, and a small ship is found on with two familiar passengers aboard. Relief floods her system as she swiftly rejoins the rest of the family on deck.

When Ciel & Sebastian reunite with everyone the following morn, the bloodied butler gets a harsh STOMP right on the foot ( which he is physically unfazed by but emotionally 💢 💢 💢 over ) and the grandson gets fussed over and showered in a barrage of kisses after he’s successfully mowed down by his frantic fiancée. It’s after a LOT of this fussing that she gets the stone cold moment of recognizing the chain of mourning lockets he has tucked away on his person, recognizing one that hangs haphazardly from his pocket. She knows what that is, she knows what those are and she knows exactly who they belong to, and guess who she hasn’t found on board?

The tense question of inquiring where The Undertaker is gets brought up once all the commotion settles down, and the tension begins to grow from there. Ciel takes time to contemplate how to carefully answer her question, and speaks vaguely, but bluntly: I don’t know, but he’s alive. I’m told to hang onto these until we next meet.

That’s all she needs to know, he thinks. There’s no need for his grandmother to yet learn her longtime companion has suddenly become one of his adversaries. There will no doubt be a time where she’ll learn, but for now, especially for now, there is no need.

But Claudia feels the turbulence in the tides. Something drastic has happened, and there’s been a shift - she feels it, and it causes a great disturbance in her gut. Until they dock, it’s notable the Countess spends an amount of time staring out to sea and sometimes departing from the family to wander, searching through the hundreds of faces in false hope that she might spot a long scar or long fringe of silver. She never does, and part of her heart feels this shadow encroaching from below that this is the beginning of a very long and lonesome journey.