Xerxes Break (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
payingfordeliverance) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
deercountry2022-08-25 10:06 pm
payingfordeliverance) wrote in deercountry2022-08-25 10:06 pm
006: So tell me where to put my love
Who: Xerxes Break, close CR, possibly new people
What: Break runs afoul of the Lavish Desires prompt and goes on a darkblood bender about conjuring up unbirthday presents. Some prompts closed, two prompts open to all.
When: Second half of August
Where: Pandora House + avoiding Pandora House so his kids don't yell at him for overdoing stupid shit again
Content Warnings: Obsessive feelings and mania, flooding, drowning, PTSD, withering illness and struggling to breathe, that whole thing where he used to be a serial killer back in the day; others added as necessary
As so often happens for Xerxes Break, Trench's latest idiotic curse on him appears, at first glance, to be little more than a fit of nerves about his usual problems.
First, he becomes thoroughly gripped by the notion that he needs to train harder and harder in the darkblood powers he was so afraid of for so long and still doesn't entirely trust -- well, that makes fine sense. Even outside of his concern about keeping up with those who are stronger than he is in this place, incidents in July proved to him that the practical applications of his work will be worth the risks. Break also finds himself haunted by an awkward need to express his affections to the people he's grown so attached to here. This, too, mostly just feels like a preoccupation that is a long time coming. The first anniversary of his arrival in Trench is swift approaching and Break is painfully aware of it. The many regrets he's been fostering about how he wasn't able to truly reach out to his loved ones in his last life until the very end of it are all the more potent now, and a recent decision to really try to be honest about things was enough to halt Ange's progressing beasthood even if he wasn't able to reverse it. Then, too, Oz Vessalius returned to the sea recently and left the whole house in a pall of grief in his wake. Loss has made Break restless and searching for motivation for as long as he can remember. The main ways he can find to cope with this one all have to do with pouring his attention into others who are still around to need him.
So, it seems only natural when all this culminates in an urge to conjure up unbirthday presents for everyone. This is way easier and less embarrassing than words, and also it will give him plenty of conjuring practice. Definitely this is just Xerxes Break thinking his thoughts and has nothing to do with a dunk in icky cursed floodwaters.
Break's omen, of course, catches on quickly to this whole thing where it devolves into a manic obsession almost immediately. Baltus decides, in his wisdom, to simply let Break have at it. For one thing, it will be good to give him the opportunity to actually catch himself and reach out for help on his own, even if chances are slim to nonexistent that this will happen. For another, Break is the sort of person who needs to learn things the hard way sometimes -- and, if Baltus intervenes, it will just clue Break in to ways he could and should be sneakier about his bad behaviors. If Break is permitted to crash and burn, the kids will notice, and he won't be able to hide the very specific warning signs they need to be keeping an eye out for in the future.
Meh. If Break starts growing beast parts in all this, Baltus will sound the alarm. And so begins the unbirthday bender.
What: Break runs afoul of the Lavish Desires prompt and goes on a darkblood bender about conjuring up unbirthday presents. Some prompts closed, two prompts open to all.
When: Second half of August
Where: Pandora House + avoiding Pandora House so his kids don't yell at him for overdoing stupid shit again
Content Warnings: Obsessive feelings and mania, flooding, drowning, PTSD, withering illness and struggling to breathe, that whole thing where he used to be a serial killer back in the day; others added as necessary
As so often happens for Xerxes Break, Trench's latest idiotic curse on him appears, at first glance, to be little more than a fit of nerves about his usual problems.
First, he becomes thoroughly gripped by the notion that he needs to train harder and harder in the darkblood powers he was so afraid of for so long and still doesn't entirely trust -- well, that makes fine sense. Even outside of his concern about keeping up with those who are stronger than he is in this place, incidents in July proved to him that the practical applications of his work will be worth the risks. Break also finds himself haunted by an awkward need to express his affections to the people he's grown so attached to here. This, too, mostly just feels like a preoccupation that is a long time coming. The first anniversary of his arrival in Trench is swift approaching and Break is painfully aware of it. The many regrets he's been fostering about how he wasn't able to truly reach out to his loved ones in his last life until the very end of it are all the more potent now, and a recent decision to really try to be honest about things was enough to halt Ange's progressing beasthood even if he wasn't able to reverse it. Then, too, Oz Vessalius returned to the sea recently and left the whole house in a pall of grief in his wake. Loss has made Break restless and searching for motivation for as long as he can remember. The main ways he can find to cope with this one all have to do with pouring his attention into others who are still around to need him.
So, it seems only natural when all this culminates in an urge to conjure up unbirthday presents for everyone. This is way easier and less embarrassing than words, and also it will give him plenty of conjuring practice. Definitely this is just Xerxes Break thinking his thoughts and has nothing to do with a dunk in icky cursed floodwaters.
Break's omen, of course, catches on quickly to this whole thing where it devolves into a manic obsession almost immediately. Baltus decides, in his wisdom, to simply let Break have at it. For one thing, it will be good to give him the opportunity to actually catch himself and reach out for help on his own, even if chances are slim to nonexistent that this will happen. For another, Break is the sort of person who needs to learn things the hard way sometimes -- and, if Baltus intervenes, it will just clue Break in to ways he could and should be sneakier about his bad behaviors. If Break is permitted to crash and burn, the kids will notice, and he won't be able to hide the very specific warning signs they need to be keeping an eye out for in the future.
Meh. If Break starts growing beast parts in all this, Baltus will sound the alarm. And so begins the unbirthday bender.
no subject
Something she's slowly getting used to.
But opening the box enough to actually see what's inside is another matter entirely. Of course the girl immediately recognizes the object she takes out of it after opening it up. She and Break have watched that movie enough times for her to basically memorize it all, after all. ]
.. you made this?
[ Of course it's possible, given the nature of Break's powers and their darkblood, but.. it's one thing to know that in theory, and yet another thing entirely to see its effects in person.
Without necessarily waiting for an anwer, Ange moves to grab the little butterfly key, opening it up. It plays the obvious song, but even hearing that in actual real life, rather than just from the movie screen, and seeing the figures inside..
It renders her quiet for a few moments, just staring at the tiny trinket as the figures turn and the music plays. Just music, no words, but those she already knows in her heart.
Soon you'll be home with me-- ]
It's.. a little on the nose, isn't it?
[ This gift, and everything about it. But that doesn't seem to be such a bad thing, judging by Ange's tone - or by the way she can't even raise her head to look at him, too worried she'll be overwhelmed with emotion by such an action.
Instead she just stares down at the music box, slowly closing its little lid again. ]
no subject
[He is not really discouraged by her reaction. As he said himself earlier, Ange's gift is probably the coolest, and a long pause like this rather than an instant response just means she's gathering herself to keep going. Break fiddles with his blankets all the same, lingering jitters.]
Probably I was only able to pull it off because of all those strange power surges we've been having...since that's the case I doubt I could make such a thing again, not without a great deal more practice. As it is, there's a desk in the house somewhere with several music box innards strewn across it all a-jumble. I found an ugly old one in a secondhand shop and got into the pieces, to see how it worked.
[The flood curse did not alleviate the fact that Break needs to really understand what he wants to make if he's to pull it off, and is better combining individual conjured pieces than summoning something whole.]
...I had the notion that it was to be a wedding present, I think. Then I thought -- the far greater gift would be to refrain from giving you such a thing in public.
no subject
Ange moves to gently close the music box to make the music stop for now, but she continues to hold onto it, the thumbs of both of her hands idly rubbing against the top. ]
I guess it is. [ The far greater gift. Indeed - it feels much easier to accept it here in this room, where it's just them. Even if it's right after such a big emotional reveal. ] Besides.. this doesn't make me think of the wedding.
[ Despite the figures in it. Oh, Ange loves those too, but..
The girl finally glances up from the music box, looking over at Break. Her facial expression is soft, even bashful at the edges. ]
It makes me think of you.
[ Something to remember him by, no matter what else might happen to them in the future. ]