Retrace 10 || [Voice]

[break_onthru]

[At first, there is nothing but the sound of voracious chewing. OMNOMNOM. Then a swallow. Then more chewing. Then a slurping of some sort of beverage. And then, finally, Break speaks.]

Good eeeeeevening, Anatole! I hope you all are well. Particularly after these last few trying weeks! Heehee.I would like to ask you a question. Or take a poll, if

Comments

[trickster_treat]

Never get between a man and his sugar fix.

[break_onthru]

Exactly!

Shall I put you down for the count, then?

[trickster_treat]

Sure can!

[break_onthru]

Thank you veeeryy much for your participation, kind sir!

[video]

[wotchesyou]

I know a very grown man who likes chocolate an awful lot.

[Voice]

[break_onthru]

That's two! Thank you for the input.

[video]

[wotchesyou]

You're welcome.

[Voice]

[break_onthru]

But what about you, hmmm? Do yooou like sweets?

[Even though she's a girl, he might be thinking of padding the count a little.]

[Audio]

[isoalgorithm]

Are you all right, Break? [Of course Quorra is looking past the surface of Break's little confession and trying to find the core of the matter. Even though she sounds a little stressed herself.]

[Audio]

[break_onthru]

Just fine, Quorra-kun! Juuust excellent.

[But he's going to eat another piece of candy, because he's totally lying, but the sweets seem to make it marginally better.]

And yourself?

[Audio]

[isoalgorithm]

What? Oh, sorry, I was reading. [The sound of rustling pages in the background, and then a series of thuds, as of several heavy objects hitting the floor.] Oops.

I'm - Are you sure you're all right? You sounded a little...sad. [Deflecting? Quorra? Never. Except this one time.]

[Audio]

[break_onthru]

Ahhhh, reading! [Wistful.] A noble pastime.

[... All right, stop that. He didn't even read all that much when he was able to. This wanting things issue seems to be a topic he can't shake from his mind. He has odd longings for all sorts of things he can't have.]

It's just the Forge. Everyone always sounds a teensy bit different than they do in person, you know?

[Speaking of deflecting. Break is a master.]

audio;

[maelstroms]

What then?

[ A thoughtful pause. ]

Even if makes you a sad and lonely person, you keep living, and you keep muddling through. Because when you escape this place, you'll still have a promise to keep, even if you cannot realize it now.

Sweets, of course, help in tremendous amounts. I do favor them myself, and I'm afraid I'm a great deal older than you, Break-san.

[ And quite far from this 'little girl' description'. ]

audio;

[break_onthru]

That's very optimistic of you, Ukitake-san, to believe there is an escape from this place.

[Break is really starting to think there isn't. And what's worse, he doesn't think he minds.]

Ahh, well. I am a bit older than I loook~! [But, he and Yachiru did speak of ages once, so it's likely Ukitake still has Break beat by a lot.] Nevertheless, I shall add you to the count!

[The mental count. Because writing things down have proved a fool's errand in the past.]

audio;

[maelstroms]

Is it? Personally, I have never once thought otherwise. Whether that escape is granted to us by the workings of the Door, or out of our own volition...

I have been told this is my second appearance in Anatole, though I cannot recall the first. That alone provides testament enough to the existence of a way out, doesn't it?

[ Unseen, he lofts an eyebrow, and mulls over Break's confession. ]

Older than you look. Perhaps we've something else in common then, aside from our affinity for sweets.

[ Age discrepancies. White hair. Candy. Oh my. ]

audio;

[break_onthru]

[Break could dispute that. He could say the Door pulls you in, and then does away with you, and then pulls you back from another point in time. Or there are multiple versions of you, and once you leave your world you are no longer the same person, but a copy of the original. Others here in Anatole remember Break himself from a place called Kannagara, and he has no memory of that. Perhaps that was another Xerxes Break entirely.

Maybe he just wants to believe there's no way out. Because this place is actually a lot better than that's in store for him in his own world. The same is true for Kaien, certainly. If Break had a person or two here from his own world, he'd never want to go back at all.

But perhaps it's better that Sharon and Liam aren't here.]

Perhaps it does, Ukitake-san. I am not so gifted as to understand the inner-workings of this dimension. I just live here! ♥

[He chuckles sadly.]

I think shinigami win out over me, alas. In both age and wisdom, heehee.

[ video ]

[pandamaiden]

That promise does not go away. You will always have the chance to return home and fulfill your promise.

[ She knows from experience. ]

And... if that person needed another reason to live, we should give it to them.

[ Voice ]

[break_onthru]

Heh. Thanks for the vote of confidence.

[What she doesn't realize, and what Break has no desire to get into a debate with a child over, is that he doesn't even particularly want to keep that promise. It was just, at one time, the only thing to keep him going. Nor does he think there is an escape from here. Dilemma.]

How would you give it to him, exactly?

[Genuine curiosity there.]

[ Voice ]

[pandamaiden]

[ A head tilt and a thoughtful frown. ]

I think I would show him what other things are out there. He just needs a little help.

[ Voice ]

[break_onthru]

[Well, that's... more than enough to melt his heart. All right. He coughs.]

I deem that to be an excellent strategy, little miss!