Hellloooo~! You have reached the Break and Enter Detective Agency, and its founder, Xerxes Break! Please leave all inquiries here and I will return the correspondence as swiftly as possible! ♥
awkward video hi :3heartbetweenJune 5 2011, 06:43:06 UTC
[Kaien's quite a bit roughed up after the events of the past several days and Break may catch the fatigue in his voice.
...There's something else in his voice, too. Their last conversation...didn't exactly end on the nicest note and he's a little awkward about making this call.]
Hey...um, it's Kaien. [Pauses for a few moments and looks off to the side, brushing off some dirt from his shihakushou.]
I just. Wanted to know if you were okay after all that's happened over the past few days.
[...]
We don't...have to talk for long if you don't want to but--
awkward voice response XDbreak_onthruJune 6 2011, 14:42:19 UTC
[He listens to the message a good three times before deciding to return the call.]
Kaien-san! Of course I am just fine! How flattering that you would think of me.
[It's as if their previous conversation never happened.]
Heh heh. You thought a little fighting in the city could finish me off? You don't give me enough credit~! But how about you? Don't tell me you got caught up in someone else's war.
awkward switching to voice XDheartbetweenJune 6 2011, 21:45:29 UTC
[He stares at the blank screen for a few moments before reluctantly switching to audio to respond.]
I-I'm glad. That you're okay. [It's genuine, even if he still sounds a little...uncomfortable. And Break might notice the lack of immediate correction on that second point--there's nothing to be flattered about, they're friends, so of course he'd ask--replaced only by an awkward, hanging silence.]
...I got caught up in helping keep people from not being collateral damage in someone else's war.
[Batting at dust on his shoulder again.] I'm fine, though.
so much awkward voicebreak_onthruJune 7 2011, 21:54:58 UTC
As I said. I'm stronger than you miiight think. [What was it that Oz told him? He's weaker than he pretends to be but stronger than he believes himself to be. There's a bit of a silence as Break thinks that over.] Well. Good to see you've come out of it all right, too.
-Same difference, in my experience. Best to stay out of it, if you ask me. [Which Kaien didn't. But he's going to offer anyway.] Meddling in the affairs of others rarely comes to any good.
all the awkward voiceheartbetweenJune 8 2011, 00:56:08 UTC
[...Yes, but you're still human Bites his tongue on that thought. Instead:] I'm sure.
[The next comment makes him scowl a bit, though.] If you're suggesting I should have hidden myself away and only watched out for my own tail, that's...that's just not who I am.
There's a difference between taking sides and defending innocent bystanders from the fallout. Protecting humans is my duty as a shinigami.
It's what I do, Xerxes. It's what I've devoted my life to.
all the awkward voiceheartbetweenJune 8 2011, 08:44:00 UTC
[Even though the setting is on audio only, that first comment makes him look away from the Forge. He remembers being horrified when one person asked him if it was his job to kill humans. He remembers the other shinigami he met, the one who was so frustratingly indifferent.]
Yeah. Doesn't seem to be a concept that holds across worlds. Can't say I've liked the renditions I've found out about so far.
[There's just the crackle of static after that, as he hesitates. He's not really sure if it's okay to ask, but...
You know nothing about me.
...
But I'd like to, if you'd let me.]
...Isn't there anyone in the city you want to protect?
all the awkward voice - behold the mighty hypocritebreak_onthruJune 9 2011, 01:55:40 UTC
If that's the case, I doubt you'd like the stories I've heard in my world about them.
[And an equally awkward pause after Kaien asks the question. Break knows what he's doing: fishing for information, out of that blasted compassion he has in spades. Because he wants to "understand" Break. But Break doesn't want to be understood. He doesn't deserve to be, which was why there was a period of time when he barely spoke and wouldn't let anyone touch him. When he wouldn't even smile, as if the right to be happy had been stripped from him.
And it had.]
I thiiink everyone in the city would get along just fine without me.
[They did, for a bit, when he was taking a nap for a few days in a dumpster. And he wants to be someone no one would miss. Someone no one would love.]
all the awkward voice - bahahah /pets the hypocriteheartbetweenJune 9 2011, 04:44:18 UTC
Probably not.
[This time, though, there's barely a moment of hesitation.]
That's not what I asked. The question was about you, not them.
[See, he knows what you're doing, too. And he's pretty good at dealing with deflection. He does pause for a few brief moments, because he is of course still wary of pushing too hard, but...it just doesn't seem right to back down now.]
And for the record, people are appearing and disappearing in Anatole all the time. Just because the city wouldn't stop functioning without someone doesn't mean they wouldn't be missed.
[While he doesn't outright say that he would, for one, the implication is very heavy in his words.]
all the awkward voice - ahahah those keywords. so fitting.heartbetweenJune 15 2011, 04:03:13 UTC
[This is the part of the conversation where Kaien debates whether or not it would be worth trying to keep pushing that line of questioning and risking the conversation taking a sour turn like the last one, or if he should just gracefully accept the change of subject.
Sure, it is evasive, but it's not often that the other man volunteers information about himself. So he'll let it go, for now. All right, Break. You win this round.]
all the awkward voice - haha it's from the song that made me play break XDbreak_onthruJune 17 2011, 21:36:20 UTC
Liam. A bit more uptight than you, but veeeeery similar~!
[Break falls silent. He hasn't heard from Liam in months. The last night in his own world, he was so certain his friend was dead, and had been willing to throw aside his own plans in order to avenge him. But then, after all that, Liam was alive. Hurt, like Break had been, but alive. And they hadn't had a chance to talk. Break's not even sure Liam heard him say that he was glad Liam was still alive.]
all the awkward voice - ooooh what song?heartbetweenJune 17 2011, 22:45:32 UTC
[Kaien doesn't respond right away, because there's that silence, and it gives him a good sense of just how important this Liam is to Break. And then that comment at the end. He has an idea of what that comment is in reference to, and why his friend is bringing it up now.]
You'll see him again, Xerxes. I'm sure of it.
[There are a number of things he could have said to try to reassure his friend, but for now, it's the one he goes with. And then he pauses a brief moment again before asking the question he thinks he already knows the answer to.]
all the awkward voice - I SHARED IT :DDDbreak_onthruJune 19 2011, 01:43:36 UTC
[Break chuckles sadly at that. He won't be seeing anyone again, unless some deity he doesn't quite believe in decides he won't be excluded from paradise in the afterlife. And the chances of that are slim.]
Never in this city, I hope. He's needed elsewhere.
[So is Break, but. Details.]
Ohhhhhh I'm sure you have plenty of reasons why he'd think that, Kaien-san. Why don't you pick one and we'll go with it, hmm?
all the awkward voice - 8D it was stuck in my head awhileheartbetweenJune 19 2011, 02:16:58 UTC
[Okay, that was somewhat poor word choice, and fortunately, Kaien's slight flinch when he realizes his error doesn't get broadcast due to the audio setting. He decides against apologizing and drawing attention back to it either--that would only make things worse.]
Maybe back home, then. [His tone is a little...odd, at that. Hope, and a touch of sadness--the fact is, he'd miss Break if he ever went home. But on the other hand, the man at least has something to return to. More than a death. More than heartbreak for the closest people in his life.
But that last remark draws a silence from him--a somewhat protracted one. When he does speak again, one could say he's taken a page out of Break's own book with his response.]
Why do you keep doing that?
[But it's a conversation Kaien is starting to find nececessary.]
all the awkward voice - IT IS CATCHYbreak_onthruJune 19 2011, 18:02:30 UTC
Yes, there.
[It's a place he does miss, although the situation there is far more dire than in Anatole. Here he feels... well. A certain uselessness all around. Wars that aren't his, a city he doesn't understand, people he'll never be able to see. The projecting he does, after just a few months; imagining old faces on new people. It can't be healthy, but he still does it. Maybe he just wants to keep the memories of the ones he loves fresh in his mind.]
Doing what?
[You had to have known that was coming. But he still wants to admit nothing. It's his burden, his penance. He carries it alone. But even he realizes how tired his voice sounds.]
...There's something else in his voice, too. Their last conversation...didn't exactly end on the nicest note and he's a little awkward about making this call.]
Hey...um, it's Kaien. [Pauses for a few moments and looks off to the side, brushing off some dirt from his shihakushou.]
I just. Wanted to know if you were okay after all that's happened over the past few days.
[...]
We don't...have to talk for long if you don't want to but--
Just. Just let me know. Thanks.
Reply
Kaien-san! Of course I am just fine! How flattering that you would think of me.
[It's as if their previous conversation never happened.]
Heh heh. You thought a little fighting in the city could finish me off? You don't give me enough credit~! But how about you? Don't tell me you got caught up in someone else's war.
Reply
I-I'm glad. That you're okay. [It's genuine, even if he still sounds a little...uncomfortable. And Break might notice the lack of immediate correction on that second point--there's nothing to be flattered about, they're friends, so of course he'd ask--replaced only by an awkward, hanging silence.]
...I got caught up in helping keep people from not being collateral damage in someone else's war.
[Batting at dust on his shoulder again.] I'm fine, though.
Reply
-Same difference, in my experience. Best to stay out of it, if you ask me. [Which Kaien didn't. But he's going to offer anyway.] Meddling in the affairs of others rarely comes to any good.
Reply
[The next comment makes him scowl a bit, though.] If you're suggesting I should have hidden myself away and only watched out for my own tail, that's...that's just not who I am.
There's a difference between taking sides and defending innocent bystanders from the fallout. Protecting humans is my duty as a shinigami.
It's what I do, Xerxes. It's what I've devoted my life to.
Reply
[He sighs, but it's not an exaggerated sigh just for show. He's truly feeling weary from this conversation already.]
I guess my definition of a shinigami is different from yours.
[Not to mention other things. Duty and devotion and protecting others; all things that make him feel so very tired to think on for too long.]
Reply
Yeah. Doesn't seem to be a concept that holds across worlds. Can't say I've liked the renditions I've found out about so far.
[There's just the crackle of static after that, as he hesitates. He's not really sure if it's okay to ask, but...
You know nothing about me.
...
But I'd like to, if you'd let me.]
...Isn't there anyone in the city you want to protect?
Reply
[And an equally awkward pause after Kaien asks the question. Break knows what he's doing: fishing for information, out of that blasted compassion he has in spades. Because he wants to "understand" Break. But Break doesn't want to be understood. He doesn't deserve to be, which was why there was a period of time when he barely spoke and wouldn't let anyone touch him. When he wouldn't even smile, as if the right to be happy had been stripped from him.
And it had.]
I thiiink everyone in the city would get along just fine without me.
[They did, for a bit, when he was taking a nap for a few days in a dumpster. And he wants to be someone no one would miss. Someone no one would love.]
Reply
[This time, though, there's barely a moment of hesitation.]
That's not what I asked. The question was about you, not them.
[See, he knows what you're doing, too. And he's pretty good at dealing with deflection. He does pause for a few brief moments, because he is of course still wary of pushing too hard, but...it just doesn't seem right to back down now.]
And for the record, people are appearing and disappearing in Anatole all the time. Just because the city wouldn't stop functioning without someone doesn't mean they wouldn't be missed.
[While he doesn't outright say that he would, for one, the implication is very heavy in his words.]
Reply
You know, Kaien-san. You remind me of someone from my own world. You'd like him, I think.
[Kaien and Liam could commiserate over how difficult it is to have Xerxes Break as a friend.]
Reply
Sure, it is evasive, but it's not often that the other man volunteers information about himself. So he'll let it go, for now. All right, Break. You win this round.]
Heh, really? What's his name?
Reply
[Break falls silent. He hasn't heard from Liam in months. The last night in his own world, he was so certain his friend was dead, and had been willing to throw aside his own plans in order to avenge him. But then, after all that, Liam was alive. Hurt, like Break had been, but alive. And they hadn't had a chance to talk. Break's not even sure Liam heard him say that he was glad Liam was still alive.]
He thinks I'm an idiot. I suppose that's true.
Reply
You'll see him again, Xerxes. I'm sure of it.
[There are a number of things he could have said to try to reassure his friend, but for now, it's the one he goes with. And then he pauses a brief moment again before asking the question he thinks he already knows the answer to.]
...Why does he think that?
Reply
Never in this city, I hope. He's needed elsewhere.
[So is Break, but. Details.]
Ohhhhhh I'm sure you have plenty of reasons why he'd think that, Kaien-san. Why don't you pick one and we'll go with it, hmm?
Reply
Maybe back home, then. [His tone is a little...odd, at that. Hope, and a touch of sadness--the fact is, he'd miss Break if he ever went home. But on the other hand, the man at least has something to return to. More than a death. More than heartbreak for the closest people in his life.
But that last remark draws a silence from him--a somewhat protracted one. When he does speak again, one could say he's taken a page out of Break's own book with his response.]
Why do you keep doing that?
[But it's a conversation Kaien is starting to find nececessary.]
Reply
[It's a place he does miss, although the situation there is far more dire than in Anatole. Here he feels... well. A certain uselessness all around. Wars that aren't his, a city he doesn't understand, people he'll never be able to see. The projecting he does, after just a few months; imagining old faces on new people. It can't be healthy, but he still does it. Maybe he just wants to keep the memories of the ones he loves fresh in his mind.]
Doing what?
[You had to have known that was coming. But he still wants to admit nothing. It's his burden, his penance. He carries it alone. But even he realizes how tired his voice sounds.]
Reply
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