It hasn't been as difficult as one Xerxes Break had expected to adjust to mansion life again after the house ceased to be modern anymore, especially with the city appearing to amuse him and his favorite holiday of all swiftly approaching (whether the rest of the mansion celebrates it as well as he does or not). Today, however, is not a day for ( Read more... )

Break practices every morning, without question. It helped him get his anger out after the Sinclairs. It kept him fit once he settled down with Liam and Pandora. It moved him to regain his confidence and his strength after the surgery, and here in the mansion, it's been a link to the familiar -- a ritual, of sorts ( Read more... )

There was nothing remarkable about the day when Break got up this morning. There was nothing remarkable lying in wait in his bathroom, and nothing remarkable between himself and the kitchen, and nothing remarkable between the kitchen and the library ( Read more... )

Break is in the library today, and he is in a snit. The library is a familiar place, to him -- why? Because he's been here every day at least once, often twice, ever since he's been in the mansion. That's over four months of daily visits, now, all in pursuit of books full of his most beloved stories; the ones he's relied on for safety and stability ( Read more... )

After, he stays in his room.

Probably, he's safe, so long as no one gives his location away. He has no contract to sense, and Hatter has told him he smells and tastes a bit different than the other Breaks. And it...slows down, quickly, after the initial attacks. But he stays in his room all the same for a few days, just in case, because it won't ( Read more... )

For the first time in almost a week, Break has left his room ( Read more... )

Yet again, this particular Xerxes Break has spent a solid three days mostly asleep. This time, however, it’s not because he’s passed the week being all domestic and sewing dresses for a local wedding. It’s because he’s just passed the week in the mansion’s version of the Abyss -- exhausted, hungry, and injured for most of that time. To be perfectly ( Read more... )

Once the vest is gone, the shirt comes off, too, pulled over his head and discarded -- it's also a button-down, but bah, he keeps it open at the neck. Break shivers a bit at the sudden exposure and sidles closer to Jack for warmth, only to shiver again when the blond's fingers get past that first layer of clothing ( Read more... )

[It's a working studio, and it very much looks like it. Just about the only parts of it that aren't crowded with fabric are the space that needs to be free to allow the door to open and the bed; other than that, it's everywhere. It's draped across chairs, stacked in piles meant to allow for speculation on color coordination, and -- occasionally -- ( Read more... )

[The nights are the worst.

They're the worst because everything is far, far too quiet. They're the worst because his bed is way too big for him to be the only one in it, and he can't have Hatter with him all the time. They're the worst because he tosses and turns most nights and if he can't start sleeping properly, sooner or later it's going to ( Read more... )