sirenspull_logs | I know who I was when I got up this morning...

Entry tags:

I know who I was when I got up this morning...

Who: Gilbert Nightray, Xerxes Break, Phancyhive denizens
When: Saturday, August 4
Where: Phantomhive-Trancy Estate
Summary: Bodyswap shenanigans
Warnings: None

BANG! BANG! BANG!

[ Having paid attention to the network and the news over the past few weeks, as well as directly witnessing Ahiru's experiences, Xerxes Break wasn't completely surprised to awaken this morning in a different body. ]

BANG! BANGBANG!

[ Tch! Gilbert's hands are so enormous. Break adored them, at first; but how does one actually accomplish anything with such fat fingers? Getting bullets properly loaded into their chambers is an unexpected challenge. ]

BANG! BANG!

[ Gilbert's height feels awkward; he's clumsy and slow. Yet Break can feel a sense of vigor that he hasn't experienced in years. He'd forgotten what it felt like. Youth. Health. Even taking a deep breath is a pleasure (despite Gilbert's idiotic habit of poisoning himself with cigarettes).

Oh. And… binocular vision. Yes, that.

Which is why Break is outside the Phantomhive-Trancy estate, at 7 o' clock in the morning, shooting his name (Gilbert's name, actually!) into the side of a garden retaining wall. Because he can. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You... worry. Toomuch.

[ Break stretches and leans, shifting his position on the sofa. With difficulty, he manages to keep his drink level, whilst parking his elbow on Gilbert's (his own) shoulder. ]

Always f-fretting, always sulking. Depresshhhed and gloooooooomy. S-ssssickening.

[ A long sip from the snifter. Whisky isn't meant to be drunk that way, so he coughs, a little. ]

When's the last time you had any fun?

[This is the very epitome of secondhand-embarrassment. This, right here. He groans, but puts up with the very sudden elbow on his shoulder. After all, if any of that drink is spilled, he's going to have to be the one to clean it up when all is said and done. And if this takes a while for things to change back to normal, the stain will set by then...

Aaah, it's maddening to think about!!]

I'm not gloomy! I don't have time to be gloomy!

[Shouts the gloomy man.]

And why do people keep telling me to go have fun...what I already do is more than enough.

Take, f'rinstance - Yosuke. He's fun. Introduced me to Misssshter Fudd and his "wascally wabbit," haahahhahahahahaha~!

[ A dangerous almost-slop of the glass, as he giggles. The room is starting to spin a little bit, so he actually slides his arm about Gilbert's shoulders, to hang on. Ordinarily it would annoy him to feel how narrow and bony his shoulders really are; but right now - everything is simply lovely. ]

Going to take you to kar--kara--karakara--

[ And another long sip. ]

I dunno what... but I s-said you'd go!

You did what?!

[Oh yes, karaoke. He's spoken to Yosuke about the karaoke. He's expressed his EXTREME HESITANCE to participate in said karaoke for about a thousand different, but important, reasons. Damn it, how is he supposed to explain all of this to the boy later?

He reaches up to try and get Break to let go, angling his head away as far as it will go.]

That's enough, you've definitely had too much! Put the glass on the table! The table!

[ Whoa, Gil. You are moving a lot. Break feels suddenly dizzy. And not so good. He lets go of Gilbert, drawing woozily away from him. ]

Glass.

T-table.

[ He stares deep into the glass for a long time, as if trying to divine its secrets. Finally, with a look of determination and slow, lurching movements, he manages to get the glass on the side table. Sort of. The foot of it is about half-on, half-off the edge. But he seems satisfied with his effort, as he sits up again and glances over at himself... and... ]

Wuh--

Where--?

Where's Emily?

[He wishes he could see right now. At least then he'd be able to help Break do whatever it is that he's currently doing that sounds so difficult.]

Emily? [He can't tell that he's staring directly at him, or else the question might have made more sense.]

Your doll? You left her behind at home, right?

[ He'd had her remade; it was his very first request to the Network. She isn't the same, of course; but she was always ever a representation; a reminder. He'd kept Emily II on his shoulder ever since. ]

Left her... behind...

[ Until, that is, his sight and his health were unexpectedly restored, in the form of this body swap. Had he also believed his innocence restored as well? His sin, expiated?

What folly! ]

P-poor little girl.

[ Break buries his face in his hands. Enjoy the sound of yourself weeping, Gilbert. ]

[And thus, his bad day just turned worse.

Not only does he now have to suffer through listening to the sound of his own pathetic weeping, he also has to suffer through knowing that he's upset Break and he can't even be mad about it. His words, he now realizes, weren't chosen very wisely at all. He winces and feels himself want to choke, but he swallows that back down bitterly and...very cautiously...

...reaches out a hand to pat Break's back. His own back. Oh god this is really is the worst day.]

There...there. It's okay...

[This is even harder to do in Break's stupid voice!]

She b-begged me not to leave her. SHE BEGGED ME!

[ He can hear her plaintive voice so clearly. His eyes are shut - so he can see her. ]

I left her all alone.

All alone, poor Emily.

[ Sobbing freely, he leans against Gilbert, haunted by his own "worst day of his life." ]

No, you--!

[No, no, no, this isn't happening. He's not consoling a drunken Break weeping in his own voice about ghosts from the past that he definitely shouldn't be talking about. If he remembers this later (please lord don't let him remember this later!) he'll definitely give Gil a good swat to the head for ever hearing this.]

L-let's talk about something else instead. Okay? [He offers a wary arm around the man's shoulders, patting him while still attempting to keep as much distance between them as possible.]

All right.

[ The arm around his shoulders is consoling. He's too drunk to think about whose arm it is - literally and figuratively! ]

Let's talk about - Lady Sharon. She's... she's all grown up now, did you know that? My little girl. Why do they grow up so fast, hmm? Just yesterday, my lady was playing with dolls.

They all grow up. They leave us...

Lady Sharon?

[He'd always known that Break was attached to her, but this is a surprisingly candid thing to hear. That's going to happen a lot tonight, isn't it...]

N-no, she hasn't left you at all! She's just not here right now, but...

You're right.

I'll... I'll p-probably leave her, first.

[ Death is what he deserves. It's what he's told himself, as he feels his life trickling away, day by day. But now, feeling the quickness of health, and knowing it's only temporary...

He feels lonely. ]

Hey.

[He sits back a little, sightlessly stares towards his superior. How many times has he heard him say that so nonchalantly? How much more time that he doesn't believe he has. Without the strain of the Abyss here, no doubt he would have even more borrowed time, but...

In this body, Gil can also feel how heavy that strain really is. If this is what Break believes he deserves, then he has to wonder just what sort of burden he's truly been living with all these years. knowing the past and feeling the past were two completely different things.]

If you think that she'd give you up so easily...then you really are an idiot.

Hunh~?

Ha~! Hahahahaha~! Ha! Ha! Ha!

[ The drunken giggles are back! ]

That sounds...

That sounds like something Reim would tell me...

[ Aaaaaaaaaaaand now he's sobbing again. Strong work, Gilbert! ]

[UUUGGGGH god is this what he sounds like? No wonder Oz opts to hit him or mock him most of the time rather than put up with it!

Okay, patting his back again. Shhh.]

This is really painful to listen to, you know...

[ He tries to curl himself up, into a ball. It doesn't work; his body isn't suited for it. Instead, he overbalances and topples sideways, into his own lap. Eventually his weeping slows. He hiccups and sniffs. ]

What will happen, I wonder. To Gil?

[ After hearing his own voice all evening, perhaps he has drunkenly forgotten who he's talking to? Perhaps he believes he really is talking to himself... ]

[He cringes as Break crawls up into his lap, utterly confused and partially terrified. What's the protocol here?! Will Break be angry at him later if he ignores him? Or would he be more angry if he actually went out of his way to console him?

Either way he's probably going to end up getting hit, so maybe it doesn't matter in the end...

He sighs, lets his shoulders slump forward, and moves a hand up to where he believes Break's shoulder to be. Luckily, he only has to let his fingers dance across part of his arm before finally resting in what he hopes is a safe spot that won't offend his boss too badly.]

Hm? What do you mean?

[ Break seems to relax, apparently allowing himself to be consoled. Indeed, he reaches up and folds his own hand into Gilbert's.

--if he were less drunk, it would irritate him how tiny and small his hand feels compared to Gilbert's. ]

I think... he might... might be... a...

[ He doesn't finish the sentence. His breathing has slowed; it's regular and deep. He is snoring. ]

[Ugh, he doesn't expect him to squeeze his hand back, does he? And wow, his hands really do feel huge compared to Break's. Honestly, he's not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing at this point, but it's definitely worth being self-conscious of later. Especially since his hand does feel...nice?

Ugh, no, he can't even.

When it becomes apparent that Break doesn't plan on finishing that sentence, Gil sits up a little straighter and turns his blind-attention down towards him.]

A what? Hey, don't fall asleep here! [Shake, shake!]

[ Break clings more tightly to his own hand, perhaps to stabilize himself against the shaking. ]

He's a...

[ Half-asleep, half-passed out, very drunken giggling. ]

...useless fool~♥

[Break's face isn't really suited for Gil's Patented Lineface, but he still gives him the best one that he's got given the circumstances.]

I walked into that...

[Okay, enough is enough. He shakes the man's shoulder again.]

Come on, you need to go to bed and I can't carry you like this. Don't sleep yet!

[ brb drooling on you ]

ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

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