Xerxes Break (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
maddeninghatter) wrote2012-07-01 03:27 pm
maddeninghatter) wrote2012-07-01 03:27 pm
Character information
P L A Y E R;
NAME: Beren
AGE: 21+
PLAYER JOURNAL:maddeninghatter
TIMEZONE: PST
CONTACT:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
tinuvielberen
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: n/a
C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Xerxes Break
CANON: Pandora Hearts
POINT IN CANON: end of Retrace 93
AGE: 39 (appears 24)
APPEARANCE: here
CANON HISTORY: wiki link
CANON PERSONALITY:
Carefree, guilt-stricken, foolish, shrewd, badass, fragile, manipulative, cold, caring, calculating, impulsive, distant and warm, the principal effect of Xerxes Break's contradictory personality on other people is that he is absolutely maddening. He drives the people closest to him to distraction, not only via his relentless teasing and willful weirdness; but also because he is pathologically unable to comprehend that other people might actually care about him, and be willing to help shoulder his burdens.
A silly clown is Break’s surface persona. He plays the fool, clad in a floppy coat that hangs off his shoulders, loose pantaloons, and unbuckled boots. A straw doll, Emily, perches on his shoulder; he talks to (and, via ventriloquism, for) her. He eats sweets compulsively. He dances and skips, balances candelabras on his head, flaps his arms, and performs little magic tricks. However, this show of eccentricity is carefully contrived, His off-shoulder jacket, for instance, is held precisely in place by an elaborate system of straps; when he needs to perform official Pandora business, he cleans up well in his uniform suit. He uses his sense of humor to diffuse tension, particularly when a situation isn't going his way, and his bizarre mannerisms serve to consternate and distract. He uses Emily as a mouthpiece for saying very rude things, with impunity. That said, even though his clownishness is principally to a purpose, he really does take seem to take genuine glee in surprising, scaring, and otherwise trolling people with his shenanigans.
Just beneath the surface is his second persona, which is shrewd, arrogant, and cold. He can speak seriously, and in depth, when he feels the situation calls for it, and is able to rapidly form theories and draw valid conclusions from evidence presented; moreover, he is absolutely meticulous about following up on important details. However, he constantly pushes his tedious work, such as writing reports, onto his superior, Reim Lunettes, and mocks his coworkers at Pandora, referring to them as “tasteless idiots.” Sentimentality and emotions are useless things, he tells young Gilbert, and are best tossed aside. As for friendship, Break declares that it's based solely on mutual self-interest; and that one should drop such a friend whenever they become useless, and expect to be dropped in turn. He "uses" people, which he discloses bluntly - with a smile.
These personas act as a barrier, hiding from the world (and himself) his true nature: that he is empathetic, perceptive, and passionate. He notices immediately that there is something not quite right about Oz Vessalius, in the way that he simply accepts everything without question. When Oz is grappling with the idea that he might be nothing more than a "reincarnation" of the hero Jack Vessalius, Break goes out of his way to remind him that he isn’t and doesn’t need to be anyone’s reincarnation, and reaffirms Oz’s identity. Break bemoans the fact that Oz's servant Gilbert doesn't notice Oz's existential crisis. He is disgusted by Vincent Nightray's treatment of his servant, Echo. He throws away his life's work, twice, to save or avenge the people he loves.
However, there is a dark side to his passionate nature. He is violent; his temper is murderous. He tortures his enemies gleefully, both for information and revenge. He is willing to slice up a little girl to avenge his best friend. He inspires terror: formerly as the "Red-eyed ghost," serial murderer of 116 souls, and now as Mad Hatter, the chain-killer and strongest swordsman in Pandora. He is acutely aware of his darkness, and he loathes it.
He punishes himself continually for his sins. Physical pain, disability, and loneliness are what he believes he deserves. He uses the power of Mad Hatter with a certain carelessness, even though it is excruciatingly painful. He believes that his blindness is nothing more than what he deserves. He has never willingly confided in anyone about his past; he expects that others would hate him if they knew. He hates himself. Thus he strives to maintain distance between himself and the rest of the world. His best friend is always "Mister Reim." The girl he thinks of as his daughter is "Milady." When Gilbert, Oz, and Alice declare themselves his "friends," he cringes. He is anxious and fusses over people, but makes sure to tease them all the while.
Although he is sensitive to the emotional state of others, when it comes to his own feelings and relationships, he needs to be - literally - hit over the head. After going blind, he can’t understand why Reim would offer to help him: Reim has to shout, “Because I’m your friend, you idiot!” Break’s guilty, solitary secretiveness translates to a lack of trust which, to his closest friends, is completely maddening. Gilbert is upset by the fact that, even after ten years, Break wouldn't reveal to him the truth about his identity. Reim berates Break for not confiding in Sharon about his blindness. Finally, Break sets out to avenge Reim's death entirely on his own; when he's overpowered, he gives up, resigning himself to death as a failure, without even thinking to call on his friends for help.
But his friends do come, and they let him know, bluntly, what they think of his shenanigans. Gilbert Nightray identifies himself as "this idiot's left eye," and berates him for his selfishness. Reim appears, apparently from the dead, saves Break's life and calls him "pitiful." Sharon tells him that he's embarrassing, nothing more than a middle-aged man with a hero complex. It is at this moment that he begins to understand that, as bad and broken a person Kevin Regnard was, his persona Xerxes Break is just as deeply flawed. His relationships are based on more than just mutual self-interest; he cannot — and should not — try to do everything alone.
In Break's final hours, he is able to integrate these ideas. He clings hard to his life, even as it is slipping away. Though tortured and repeatedly beaten, he manages to stand up to his tormentors and protect the people he loves. At the very end, he has to come to terms with the fact that he won't be able to fulfill the Will's wish; but he can, at least, set others on the right path. After helping Oz & co through the Baskerville gate, he admits that he loves life and doesn't want to go. Weeping for himself, finally allowing himself to be sad at the prospect of dying, he collapses into the arms of the people he loves the most, Sharon and Reim. As he dies, he thinks of Lady Shelly, who had tried to teach him to cherish his life.
POINT OF DEPARTURE: n/a
ABILITIES:
1. He moves quickly, in the blink of an eye. He can also mask his presence to some extent, so he's pretty good at sneaking up on people.
2.He can sense bloodthirstiness or malicious intent, and can dodge most attacks, even blind (his friends slapping him upside the head for his own good is another matter, however). Ability CAPPED in Synodiporia
3. Although he is built like a twig, he is very strong, and a lethal force with a sword, and was known as "the strongest man in Pandora."
4. He can appear out from under beds or tablecloths or the like, and disappear into small spaces like cupboards. He hates to enter a room "normally."
5. He is contracted with a creature called a Chain. Chains are creatures from an alternate dimension called the Abyss. His particular chain, "Mad Hatter," has the power to destroy other chains, as well as anything related to the Abyss. Canon shows Break stabbing Abyss-infused humans (Baskervilles) with his sword, and reducing them to piles of dust. It can also manifest as a big giant hat with an enormous red eye. And a cape.
6. As part of working for Pandora, a government agency, his duties included political espionage and information-gathering, which he was quite good at (but terrible at writing up any actual reports).
7. He can never get drunk, no matter how much he drinks.
8. He can throw his voice, and somehow manages to keep his creepy doll balanced perfectly on his shoulder (as long as he’s conscious). He can even make her seem to come alive.
9. He can do magic tricks and balance unlikely things on his head, including towers of macaroons, stacks of dishes topped with a teapot, and lit candelabras.
10. He’s a lightning-fast knitter. Need a scarf in a hurry? He’s your man. He can also infuse the things he’s knitted with “protective charms,” although the extent of this is not specified in canon. I’ll be playing it as something quite mild, enough to make someone be slightly less likely to get harmed during an attack, for instance.
11. He is a "child of misfortune," meaning that he can theoretically connect directly to the core of the abyss, although we never see him do this in canon.
INVENTORY; His sword cane and his doll, Emily
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? Because of his canon point, he can see again. Also, he no longer coughs blood when he uses his Chain (though he will swoon and keel over if he overdoes things).
S A M P L E S;
FIRST PERSON: comment thread from another game
THIRD PERSON: Liminal space
He’d passed, but not on. Sharon’s screams saw to that, and then Reim’s offering himself up as a sacrifice to save his worthless corpse. It had been enough to fix his soul to the world, to them. His spirit had always been stronger than his flesh, and this was the ultimate test: refusing death, even after the fact.
How fitting, then, that Lottie had been the one to “kill” him.
He’d beaten her viciously, and murdered her companion. She had every reason to hate him. But it was she who promised to watch over Oz for him. She bid his soul adieu and told him to rest in peace. It was a kind, unlooked-for gesture. He wavered, just for an instant, lulled by the idea of a happy ending to everyone’s story. But in that moment, the world slipped through his fingers. He grabbed, tried to catch it again, and failed, slipping into the fathomless chasm.
Now there is nothing but emptiness and a long, lonely eternity stretching before him. “I don’t want to die,” he had finally admitted at the end, and he knows now that it was the truth. He didn’t want to die, and he doesn’t want to be dead. It’s unspeakably painful, this void inside him, and his left leg is asleep.
…
His mind catches that thought and runs it back again, several times just to be sure. His left leg… is asleep. He moves it, tentatively. It’s all pins and needles. He breathes in and opens his eyelids — and in so doing, extinguishes the hope flickering wildly inside him. As soon as he sees the graveyard, silhouetted in the twilight mist; as soon as he feels the air flowing easily through his lungs, he knows absolutely that he cannot be alive.
In life, he had been blind and breathless. In life, pain had been his constant companion. But now… now he presses his fingertips to his cheek; it’s still damp with the tears he had shed on the other side of the veil. He is holding his sword-cane in his left hand, he realizes, and there’s a familiar presence on his shoulder; he doesn’t even have to look at her (but he does because he can).
“BEING A STIFF IS NO EXCUSE FOR SITTING AROUND FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF, STUPID!”
“Haha! Quite so, my dear Emily, quite so indeed.”
He pats his doll and rises to his feet (lightly, easily). He has passed on. He grieves the life he has lost forever, but he knows he must move on, to avoid drowning in despair — and also to see what’s around the next corner. He is, in spite of himself, curious. His nose twitches. He fancies he can smell pastry, freshly baked and cooling, beyond the door of the nearest mausoleum. As he approaches it, he can’t help thinking that even as his old life recedes away, new possibilities are beginning to unwind and unfold before him. Even here, at the end of all things, the bottom of the box still contains hope.
And maybe, if he’s lucky, some scones.
NAME: Beren
AGE: 21+
PLAYER JOURNAL:
maddeninghatterTIMEZONE: PST
CONTACT:
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: n/a
C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Xerxes Break
CANON: Pandora Hearts
POINT IN CANON: end of Retrace 93
AGE: 39 (appears 24)
APPEARANCE: here
CANON HISTORY: wiki link
CANON PERSONALITY:
Carefree, guilt-stricken, foolish, shrewd, badass, fragile, manipulative, cold, caring, calculating, impulsive, distant and warm, the principal effect of Xerxes Break's contradictory personality on other people is that he is absolutely maddening. He drives the people closest to him to distraction, not only via his relentless teasing and willful weirdness; but also because he is pathologically unable to comprehend that other people might actually care about him, and be willing to help shoulder his burdens.
A silly clown is Break’s surface persona. He plays the fool, clad in a floppy coat that hangs off his shoulders, loose pantaloons, and unbuckled boots. A straw doll, Emily, perches on his shoulder; he talks to (and, via ventriloquism, for) her. He eats sweets compulsively. He dances and skips, balances candelabras on his head, flaps his arms, and performs little magic tricks. However, this show of eccentricity is carefully contrived, His off-shoulder jacket, for instance, is held precisely in place by an elaborate system of straps; when he needs to perform official Pandora business, he cleans up well in his uniform suit. He uses his sense of humor to diffuse tension, particularly when a situation isn't going his way, and his bizarre mannerisms serve to consternate and distract. He uses Emily as a mouthpiece for saying very rude things, with impunity. That said, even though his clownishness is principally to a purpose, he really does take seem to take genuine glee in surprising, scaring, and otherwise trolling people with his shenanigans.
Just beneath the surface is his second persona, which is shrewd, arrogant, and cold. He can speak seriously, and in depth, when he feels the situation calls for it, and is able to rapidly form theories and draw valid conclusions from evidence presented; moreover, he is absolutely meticulous about following up on important details. However, he constantly pushes his tedious work, such as writing reports, onto his superior, Reim Lunettes, and mocks his coworkers at Pandora, referring to them as “tasteless idiots.” Sentimentality and emotions are useless things, he tells young Gilbert, and are best tossed aside. As for friendship, Break declares that it's based solely on mutual self-interest; and that one should drop such a friend whenever they become useless, and expect to be dropped in turn. He "uses" people, which he discloses bluntly - with a smile.
These personas act as a barrier, hiding from the world (and himself) his true nature: that he is empathetic, perceptive, and passionate. He notices immediately that there is something not quite right about Oz Vessalius, in the way that he simply accepts everything without question. When Oz is grappling with the idea that he might be nothing more than a "reincarnation" of the hero Jack Vessalius, Break goes out of his way to remind him that he isn’t and doesn’t need to be anyone’s reincarnation, and reaffirms Oz’s identity. Break bemoans the fact that Oz's servant Gilbert doesn't notice Oz's existential crisis. He is disgusted by Vincent Nightray's treatment of his servant, Echo. He throws away his life's work, twice, to save or avenge the people he loves.
However, there is a dark side to his passionate nature. He is violent; his temper is murderous. He tortures his enemies gleefully, both for information and revenge. He is willing to slice up a little girl to avenge his best friend. He inspires terror: formerly as the "Red-eyed ghost," serial murderer of 116 souls, and now as Mad Hatter, the chain-killer and strongest swordsman in Pandora. He is acutely aware of his darkness, and he loathes it.
He punishes himself continually for his sins. Physical pain, disability, and loneliness are what he believes he deserves. He uses the power of Mad Hatter with a certain carelessness, even though it is excruciatingly painful. He believes that his blindness is nothing more than what he deserves. He has never willingly confided in anyone about his past; he expects that others would hate him if they knew. He hates himself. Thus he strives to maintain distance between himself and the rest of the world. His best friend is always "Mister Reim." The girl he thinks of as his daughter is "Milady." When Gilbert, Oz, and Alice declare themselves his "friends," he cringes. He is anxious and fusses over people, but makes sure to tease them all the while.
Although he is sensitive to the emotional state of others, when it comes to his own feelings and relationships, he needs to be - literally - hit over the head. After going blind, he can’t understand why Reim would offer to help him: Reim has to shout, “Because I’m your friend, you idiot!” Break’s guilty, solitary secretiveness translates to a lack of trust which, to his closest friends, is completely maddening. Gilbert is upset by the fact that, even after ten years, Break wouldn't reveal to him the truth about his identity. Reim berates Break for not confiding in Sharon about his blindness. Finally, Break sets out to avenge Reim's death entirely on his own; when he's overpowered, he gives up, resigning himself to death as a failure, without even thinking to call on his friends for help.
But his friends do come, and they let him know, bluntly, what they think of his shenanigans. Gilbert Nightray identifies himself as "this idiot's left eye," and berates him for his selfishness. Reim appears, apparently from the dead, saves Break's life and calls him "pitiful." Sharon tells him that he's embarrassing, nothing more than a middle-aged man with a hero complex. It is at this moment that he begins to understand that, as bad and broken a person Kevin Regnard was, his persona Xerxes Break is just as deeply flawed. His relationships are based on more than just mutual self-interest; he cannot — and should not — try to do everything alone.
In Break's final hours, he is able to integrate these ideas. He clings hard to his life, even as it is slipping away. Though tortured and repeatedly beaten, he manages to stand up to his tormentors and protect the people he loves. At the very end, he has to come to terms with the fact that he won't be able to fulfill the Will's wish; but he can, at least, set others on the right path. After helping Oz & co through the Baskerville gate, he admits that he loves life and doesn't want to go. Weeping for himself, finally allowing himself to be sad at the prospect of dying, he collapses into the arms of the people he loves the most, Sharon and Reim. As he dies, he thinks of Lady Shelly, who had tried to teach him to cherish his life.
POINT OF DEPARTURE: n/a
ABILITIES:
1. He moves quickly, in the blink of an eye. He can also mask his presence to some extent, so he's pretty good at sneaking up on people.
2.
3. Although he is built like a twig, he is very strong, and a lethal force with a sword, and was known as "the strongest man in Pandora."
4. He can appear out from under beds or tablecloths or the like, and disappear into small spaces like cupboards. He hates to enter a room "normally."
5. He is contracted with a creature called a Chain. Chains are creatures from an alternate dimension called the Abyss. His particular chain, "Mad Hatter," has the power to destroy other chains, as well as anything related to the Abyss. Canon shows Break stabbing Abyss-infused humans (Baskervilles) with his sword, and reducing them to piles of dust. It can also manifest as a big giant hat with an enormous red eye. And a cape.
6. As part of working for Pandora, a government agency, his duties included political espionage and information-gathering, which he was quite good at (but terrible at writing up any actual reports).
7. He can never get drunk, no matter how much he drinks.
8. He can throw his voice, and somehow manages to keep his creepy doll balanced perfectly on his shoulder (as long as he’s conscious). He can even make her seem to come alive.
9. He can do magic tricks and balance unlikely things on his head, including towers of macaroons, stacks of dishes topped with a teapot, and lit candelabras.
10. He’s a lightning-fast knitter. Need a scarf in a hurry? He’s your man. He can also infuse the things he’s knitted with “protective charms,” although the extent of this is not specified in canon. I’ll be playing it as something quite mild, enough to make someone be slightly less likely to get harmed during an attack, for instance.
11. He is a "child of misfortune," meaning that he can theoretically connect directly to the core of the abyss, although we never see him do this in canon.
INVENTORY; His sword cane and his doll, Emily
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? Because of his canon point, he can see again. Also, he no longer coughs blood when he uses his Chain (though he will swoon and keel over if he overdoes things).
S A M P L E S;
FIRST PERSON: comment thread from another game
THIRD PERSON: Liminal space
He’d passed, but not on. Sharon’s screams saw to that, and then Reim’s offering himself up as a sacrifice to save his worthless corpse. It had been enough to fix his soul to the world, to them. His spirit had always been stronger than his flesh, and this was the ultimate test: refusing death, even after the fact.
How fitting, then, that Lottie had been the one to “kill” him.
He’d beaten her viciously, and murdered her companion. She had every reason to hate him. But it was she who promised to watch over Oz for him. She bid his soul adieu and told him to rest in peace. It was a kind, unlooked-for gesture. He wavered, just for an instant, lulled by the idea of a happy ending to everyone’s story. But in that moment, the world slipped through his fingers. He grabbed, tried to catch it again, and failed, slipping into the fathomless chasm.
Now there is nothing but emptiness and a long, lonely eternity stretching before him. “I don’t want to die,” he had finally admitted at the end, and he knows now that it was the truth. He didn’t want to die, and he doesn’t want to be dead. It’s unspeakably painful, this void inside him, and his left leg is asleep.
…
His mind catches that thought and runs it back again, several times just to be sure. His left leg… is asleep. He moves it, tentatively. It’s all pins and needles. He breathes in and opens his eyelids — and in so doing, extinguishes the hope flickering wildly inside him. As soon as he sees the graveyard, silhouetted in the twilight mist; as soon as he feels the air flowing easily through his lungs, he knows absolutely that he cannot be alive.
In life, he had been blind and breathless. In life, pain had been his constant companion. But now… now he presses his fingertips to his cheek; it’s still damp with the tears he had shed on the other side of the veil. He is holding his sword-cane in his left hand, he realizes, and there’s a familiar presence on his shoulder; he doesn’t even have to look at her (but he does because he can).
“BEING A STIFF IS NO EXCUSE FOR SITTING AROUND FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF, STUPID!”
“Haha! Quite so, my dear Emily, quite so indeed.”
He pats his doll and rises to his feet (lightly, easily). He has passed on. He grieves the life he has lost forever, but he knows he must move on, to avoid drowning in despair — and also to see what’s around the next corner. He is, in spite of himself, curious. His nose twitches. He fancies he can smell pastry, freshly baked and cooling, beyond the door of the nearest mausoleum. As he approaches it, he can’t help thinking that even as his old life recedes away, new possibilities are beginning to unwind and unfold before him. Even here, at the end of all things, the bottom of the box still contains hope.
And maybe, if he’s lucky, some scones.