Then, you -- really have been...watching over me, this whole time.
[That's the conclusion Break comes to. Not that he should be mortified that this man saw him in such a state, or that Qrow has been hiding things from him for shifty reasons. Rather, Break knows himself as someone who was rescued back then, and from his perspective Qrow has just admitted to plucking someone who'd obviously just had his entire world crumble around him out of unforgiving ocean waves and then not bothering to seek credit for it. At any given time, if he'd wanted any thanks or recognition, he could have had it. Instead, in holding it close to his chest, he's essentially been giving Break privacy, and respectfully steering away from an obvious weakness. Right?
The context of their entire relationship has just deepened abruptly. Their "first" meeting...so, not once but twice in a row, Qrow saw him and thought he needed help and swooped on in to give it. How many others has he assisted so casually? That -- it's just the sort of thing Qrow does, then, isn't it? He helps. He's sturdy for people he's barely met when the world throws corpses at them and he's here bothering to talk someone with unfamiliar magic into getting his eyesight back.
There's a warmth that comes with understanding this. Given how Break was already feeling, it's overwhelming.]
...you saved my life that day.
[His voice is small, and he glances over, and -- still can't see Qrow, not really, can't make out the details beyond his general shape. Suddenly it bothers Break intensely that he can't see the other man's face. To realize that Qrow was standing at his side before Break even realized he was there and then have a visual of him only half filled in like this, it makes him feel like some sort of unreachable ghost. Break wants him solid and with him in every way, here in the present moment.]
Ah. Sorry, I still can't quite -- begging your pardon, give me a moment --
[Touch will help. In an echo of their other "first" meeting, when Break had gone patting around in a pile of rubble to find Qrow after he was hurled away, he reaches out to Qrow's shoulder and finds it unerringly. But then, rather than save the moment by reaching up to pat him on the head, his hand moves to Qrow's face. A gentle swipe of his thumb and the angles of Qrow's features start to fill in; there's the feel of scruff beneath his palm and the beard paints itself across his chin. He avoids going anywhere near Qrow's eyes with his fingers, for reasons which are probably obvious now. But he needs to see those too, and for the first time in the past few days, a flicker of his usual stubborn determination breaks through the fog that's kept him shrouded.
Qrow will spot this moment, too, as Break's expression shifts from annoyed searching to open surprise as Qrow abruptly solidifies, and color floods back into the world.]
Oh! [He still has his hand on Qrow's face.] Your eyes are red, too!
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[That's the conclusion Break comes to. Not that he should be mortified that this man saw him in such a state, or that Qrow has been hiding things from him for shifty reasons. Rather, Break knows himself as someone who was rescued back then, and from his perspective Qrow has just admitted to plucking someone who'd obviously just had his entire world crumble around him out of unforgiving ocean waves and then not bothering to seek credit for it. At any given time, if he'd wanted any thanks or recognition, he could have had it. Instead, in holding it close to his chest, he's essentially been giving Break privacy, and respectfully steering away from an obvious weakness. Right?
The context of their entire relationship has just deepened abruptly. Their "first" meeting...so, not once but twice in a row, Qrow saw him and thought he needed help and swooped on in to give it. How many others has he assisted so casually? That -- it's just the sort of thing Qrow does, then, isn't it? He helps. He's sturdy for people he's barely met when the world throws corpses at them and he's here bothering to talk someone with unfamiliar magic into getting his eyesight back.
There's a warmth that comes with understanding this. Given how Break was already feeling, it's overwhelming.]
...you saved my life that day.
[His voice is small, and he glances over, and -- still can't see Qrow, not really, can't make out the details beyond his general shape. Suddenly it bothers Break intensely that he can't see the other man's face. To realize that Qrow was standing at his side before Break even realized he was there and then have a visual of him only half filled in like this, it makes him feel like some sort of unreachable ghost. Break wants him solid and with him in every way, here in the present moment.]
Ah. Sorry, I still can't quite -- begging your pardon, give me a moment --
[Touch will help. In an echo of their other "first" meeting, when Break had gone patting around in a pile of rubble to find Qrow after he was hurled away, he reaches out to Qrow's shoulder and finds it unerringly. But then, rather than save the moment by reaching up to pat him on the head, his hand moves to Qrow's face. A gentle swipe of his thumb and the angles of Qrow's features start to fill in; there's the feel of scruff beneath his palm and the beard paints itself across his chin. He avoids going anywhere near Qrow's eyes with his fingers, for reasons which are probably obvious now. But he needs to see those too, and for the first time in the past few days, a flicker of his usual stubborn determination breaks through the fog that's kept him shrouded.
Qrow will spot this moment, too, as Break's expression shifts from annoyed searching to open surprise as Qrow abruptly solidifies, and color floods back into the world.]
Oh! [He still has his hand on Qrow's face.] Your eyes are red, too!