tampered | You Mean You Can't Take Less...

When; Oct 6^th, Mad Hatter Day Curse
Rating; G - PG-13
Characters; OPEN!
Summary; On a day that you can be sipping tea with friends one moment, passing sugar to an enemy the next, only only to find yourself eating cake with a deity, this is merely one of the tables the City's inhabitants may find themselves dining at.

Log; The City is the City is a city, and it is down in the streets, in canyons of steel, "it's making me feel I'm home." It's autumn in ~~New York~~ the City. It's good to live it again.

So Laszlo has set a table too, in sharp and stark and bright and direct and pointed and intentional contrast to the greenery and garden party out in Xanadu. Garden parties. Like picnicking in a cemetery--oh, but they did that, didn't they? The Sunday afternoon walks out to go and spit on ol' Laszlo Jamf's grave.

This would do better if it were indoors, in a penthouse, in some corner apartment--name your other city, he's been to them all. But, close enough, to set it in the street, under the windows and brick and steel. It will do.

A red table. Red and sharp. Dark wood, yes, but red cloth over it, neat and straight--no flow or foam or excess. Tailored--that's the word.

Formality and modernism, that is the center of this table. Black and white dishes, Art Deco, lines and angles and planes. It's an era with which he is familiar. But the effect is striking and cold.

He would have set it in white with stainless steel--medical, clean, efficient--but that idea had been nixed. Damn it.

So red and black and white. And a smattering of steel. He couldn't resist. And better still to sit at the head of the table and observe, the sweep and stretch of the table, the moods and ways of those who sit there--and, always, room for one more.

At least until the bell rang, the gun fired, the call came, and the rush began again.

The Unmoved Mover.

Note; See here! Mark your subject lines with "open" or "to ____" if you like. Prose OR comment log style is alright. Laszlo will speak with any marked "open" or "to Laszlo". Enjoy, and feel free to pop your character in and out as it pleases you and the curse description goes!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Why was he even here.

The strange events over the network, as well as Lockon's strange actions, should have been investigated on. Instead, he found himself in this... gathering of sorts, and strongly against his will. But at the very least, at least he was being forced to associate (and Lockon—if he had been himself—would have told Setsuna that at least he had no choice but to converse with others now).

And so he blinked as he found himself seated before the white-haired man, perhaps staring a bit too long at the balancing trick.

Edited 2009-10-07 14:49 (UTC)

Xerxes didn't blink at all, at least, not more than normal, even at the sudden arrivals and departures all around him. He was waiting for his next table, and enjoying this one- there was something altogether natural about it, to boot.

He cracked a cheshire grin for the staring, making a show of humming brightly as he plucked one of the treats from the towel of them on the plate balanced on his knee, holding it up and making as if to toss it over the table to him.

"Cake?~"

Another stare. The cake looked good.

Setsuna was silent for a while, attempting to gauge whether the person before him was a threat (he did not appear to be such, but something about him was rather unsettling), before he finally said: "Alright."

Another pause. The person did not intend to actually throw the cake, did he?

Oh, yes. Yes, he did, it seemed.

"Catch~!" Break lobbed back for the throw, about to slam the thing over to the other side- but in the end, he plopped the cake on to a seperate saucer gently, moving over a second to find a clear spot, then slid it neatly over to the young man, chuckling softly.

"Didn't think I was going to throw it, did you?"

Another blink.

And then, in a completely honest yet deadpan manner: "I had assumed so."

But at least this person did not appear to be causing any trouble. Setsuna stared at the cake for a while before taking a bite. As he chewed, he thought that perhaps he should be relating to this person while he was here, as well; maybe the stranger knew about the recent events? And though Setsuna was hardly the type to start casual conversations, it would not hurt to attempt. He thought for a while before asking: "Your name?"

"Never waste a cake like that, young man." He nodded as if he was passing sound advice, lips pursed before he smiled again, a cake halfway to his mouth suddenly, fork pausing mid-air.

"Xerxes Break." A flap of his too-long sleeve in what may have been a wave, popping the cake bite in to this mouth and chewing, yet somehow managing to speak perfectly well.

"You?"

"Of course." To understand, one must get to know each other first, he recalled Marina saying. This is one way of getting to know others, right? To talk to them, learn more about them.

He was trying his best in this world, too.

He nodded in acknowledgment at the introduction, observing Break's rather uncommon movements, but Setsuna looked directly at the other person at his response. "Setsuna F. Seiei."

Xerxes Break may not have been the best to practice with, when it came to getting to know you. He was wrapped so tightly in secrets and smiles it was hard to tell where which ended and began. But on the surface, the discernible-

He was a friendly man.

"Pleasure, Setsuna F. Seiei~" He knew him- or he knew his network activity, at any rate.

"What brings you to our fine table this afternoon?" Like it wasn't obvious.

Setsuna didn't quite know what to say in response. Of course, he has been told before that it was a "pleasure" to meet him, but he never really knew the correct protocol in this situation. So he simply nodded.

"A curse," he still replied anyway to the man's question. Well, his companion seemed to be enjoying the curse, at least. At the back of his mind he wondered if Tieria had any success in returning Lockon back to normal.

"Well, of course a curse." He waved his too-long sleeves once more dismissively, as if that answer wasn't the right one, even though he agreed that it was.

"But besides that!"

He stared at Break in slight confusion. What other reason was there? If it had not been for the curse, he would have warned others of the threat that had attacked Lockon.

Before people can understand each other, they must get to know each other first, right?

His expression softened as he recalled the words of the princess. There's yet another pause before he responded: "I want to associate."

"Good answer." Break popped a chocolate in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully for a moment, fingertips carefully wiped off on a napkin.

"Let's!" A shrug, and the puppet on his shoulder cackled in a high-pitched tone before a voice seemed to come from it.

"Let's, he says! Is that how you say it? Let's associate?"

His eyes widened as he stared at the puppet on the other person's shoulder. If he did not know the protocol for responding to a "pleasure to meet you", then he most definitely was not aware of how to associate with a puppet.

"Yes. Let's associate," he finally chose to reply.

"Oh, shush, Emily~" Break chastised the puppet as if it were a real person, poking at it's simple little face with a finger before he plucked another cookie from the table, then another and another, building a tower on the plate balanced on his knee.

"Shall we! What shall we talk about, Setsuna F. Seiei?~"

Edited 2009-10-08 07:19 (UTC)

"I do not know."

The response was straightforward and honest, as he continued to stare curiously at the strange puppet. It even had a name; such a concept was something he had not heard often—or maybe it was just because he had been more concerned with ending warfare to notice. It still was not too late to begin anew, however. It was part of changing for the future, too.

"What do you want to talk about?"

Break laughed, kicking up his knee and catching the saucer on the tips of fingers, then managing to lean over and prop his elbows on the table, watching the boy with a smile.

"You~"

Another blink, and before he could ponder on that thought he had already blurted out: "Me?"

And then he thought: Someone had to start the conversation, so that was understandable. Marina wanted to know about him back then, too. But he didn't know exactly where to start when it came to talking to an almost complete stranger.

"Mmmhhhm~" Another cookie popped in his mouth, closing his revealed eye with a smile.

You Mean You Can't Take Less...

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