#revivancy

Alternately, send “Doodle!” and I will draw our muses together as my muse would draw them! [x]

"It's true! I saw it! She grew a giant forest of flowers! And it was beautiful AND YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS, SIS, 'CAUSE YOUR FLOWERS SUCK."

Garet whirls around on his heels at the mention of- YES, free chocolate, that was him who was asking!

At the sight of the small Cuscuta, he grins broadly, the corners of his eyes welling with tears- his search was not in vain! And, of course, it's gotta be the flower cultivating Cuscuta who honors his call!

"Happy- Valentine's Day?" Shoot, it almost feels like he should be giving them something in return with such a festive greeting (what IS Valentine's Day, though?!), but as he pats his pockets down, he's got nothing except some of the chocolate-covered fruit that he'd snagged from the one he thinks is called Wang Yi, if his phone box thing is to be believed...

WELL, YEAH, he can part with some of these! Picking out the tastiest looking ones, he offers some to her, accepting her box with a sniffle.

"CUSCUTA, thank you! I'm gonna love 'em no matter what! Here, you gotta take some of these; they're from that Wang Yi guy, and they're NOT poisonous, I think, so definitely eat up!"

❱❱  : ( CANON QUESTIONNAIRE ) –  ACCEPTING

@revivancy​​ said:

↪                              2, 9, and 20!

2. How did you get into this franchise/fandom?

my first ever tales of game was actually symphonia! i didn't own it, but a friend of mine brought their gamecube over to my place a few times, and i got to play it with them then-- i'd seen the characters before in the rp circles i was in, so i was so excited to finally try it out. and it's genuinely one of my favourite games of all time! i'm still making my way through the other titles in the series, especially some of the older ones-- i'm not the most well-rounded tales of fan, but rping lloyd has definitely reignited my love for the series!

9. Have you tweaked the character from canon? If so, what did you tweak?

there's definitely some things i've expanded on with lloyd's character, mostly his skills as a craftsman/forgemaster. at the start of the game, he's still honing his ability, and a lot of people comment on it still needing work-- he has a few moments where the trades he learned from dirk come in handy and obviously grow, but i've definitely leaned on him being a bit more artistic in my portrayal. at his canon point, he's had time to garner more experience, and the trade is something he really values learning from his dad, so i think he would continue to let it grow any chance he gets! there has been some canon material outside of the game that shows this too, so i don't think i'm too far off in seeing lloyd that way!

also, though lloyd is definitely still childish in his own ways, after all the development he received in the game (and in the group), i don't make him quite as forgetful as he usually can be. the game opens up on colette's birthday, which lloyd has promptly forgotten about and quickly tries to scramble to get her present done. where he is now, after all the things he's gone through, time spent with his loved ones has become very important to him; so i believe he would make more of an effort to remember things, and to not take important dates like that for granted.

he still gets bored from time to time, though. that's the ADHD in him.

20. If you could sum up your character with one sentence, what would it be?

( 🍭 unprompted valentine's! )

Strangely for today's occasion, Cuscuta's approach was rather noticeable and distinct; noncaring of how much noise she made, hurried steps were quick to approach him unlike her normal pace, almost as if the girl was excited. ❝ Break … Happy Saint Bridget's Day, ❞ she greets with an attempted smile. Gingerly, she hands two items to Break, a bag of treats and a flower, notably a purple iris.

Tied with a yellow ribbon, in the plastic bag were obviously hand-made chocolates and cookies with how misshapen and even slightly burned some of them were. ❝ I gotten the idea to try making sweets for the holiday. I made sure to put sugar rather than salt this time, but I'm still not sure if they're any good … It's okay if you don't want to eat them, ❞ is what she comments when pointing them out. As much as she tried to follow her own advice and put her feelings into them, as expected, her chocolates and cookies were probably not as good as store-bought ones. Still, she can only hope Break appreciates the gesture, even if he doesn't eat them. Or that they weren't actually that horrible.

❝ As for the flower, I remember reading about it in a book ... It reminded me of you. I thought you would like it. ❞ Her statement almost made it sound like an afterthought, but for someone who liked flowers as much as her, it was clear the gift beared some significance. Rarely does Cuscuta grow anything but black or white flowers, however this felt like a special occasion; she did choose this specific flower and color for a reason.

After explaining her gifts, Cuscuta goes quiet for a moment. Shifting her weight from one foot to another, she seems almost hesitant now. ❝ Break, ❞ she finally says. ❝ If there's anything else ... specific you want for today, just let me know … I'll do my best to get it for you. ❞

( geez, break, how come you get three things from cuscuta sorry break for the horrible awful chocolates )

— @revivancy

HE'S ALREADY SMILING THE SECOND he hears those particular footsteps approaching. it's funny, that you can tell cuscuta is in a very different mood just by the way she walks up to him. break doesn't question the change in his own mood too much, how some of the weight on his chest lifts, how he feels a bit warmer. it's nice. it's very different to feeling panicked when she speaks up, standing right behind him, without him noticing her presence at all beforehand.

   it's happened before. plenty of times, in fact. he'd like to think he's learning, or maybe he's just bridging time until he can rely on mad hatter a bit more, to tell him when even the quietest of people are getting closer.

   break takes the flower first. he doesn't know too much about what kinds there are, or what they mean, despite it being a big topic in noble circles back home. sharon certainly talked his ear off about it being a trope in one of her romance novels plenty of times. he regrets not listening to her explanations every single time, now. but, still, stroking a few of the petals carefully, he can tell the difference in shape, its fragility. as he listens to cuscuta's explanation, he lets out a soft breath, carefully tucks it behind his right ear alongside a few strands of white hair.

   ' sugar instead of salt sounds like a good idea, ' he huffs, clearly amused, but with a different note in his voice than anybody would be used to: fondness, clear as day. nibbling at one of the cookies, break's composure dissolves into a short burst of laughter.

   oh, they are horribly burnt. crunchy, one could say. there is the subtle hint of a sweet flavour in there, which must be the sugar she mentioned, but it's mostly burnt, tasting slightly of ... is that caramel? that's almost impressive. definitely better than anything he could whip up in a kitchen. it's humbling, to know that she spent time and effort doing something she hasn't done before, hasn't mastered yet. that she's here, delivering it anyways, despite the uncertainty about whether or not he'd like it. she tells him he doesn't have to eat them, she tells him she read about a flower in a book and went out of her way to collect it for him, because she thought he'd like it.

   he is reminded, vaguely, of sitting in the gardens of the rainsworths, his left eye still healing, covered by bandages. a small lady sharon approaching, shy, bouquet in hand. having gone out of her way to gather flowers, for him.

   ' well! miss cuscuta— thank you very much! ' break does not give her any warning whatsoever. scooping cuscuta up under her arms, break lifts her into his arms and twirls, in a few circles, holding onto her tightly, making sure she won't fall. when she's set back on the ground, break's grin is as wide as it can get, a delighted chuckle on his tongue, patting her head a few times.

   ' i have something for you, as well. ' he rummages once more, but is fairly quick about it this time, excitement evident. before he can think about why, he's already knelt down in front of her, paper in hand.

   ' one card, for the sweet lady. ' it's another simple design, a pastel blue card with two figures drawn on top, easily recognizable despite his lack of artistic talent, since he kept it to very simple shapes: a blue doll, looking an awful lot like emily, next to a black bunny with golden eyes. in zhilan's handwriting, it says, happy valentine's, miss, underneath the figures, with a small heart at the very end.

   break doesn't wait for her to react. in fact, he's used this moment of her looking at it to grab the second present, safely tucked away under his coat. ' and one hat! i knitted it myself, i hope it fits. ' he's tempted, immediately, to put it on her, but instead merely holds it up by the ... are those ears? oh, they certainly are. after receiving cuscuta's drawing, this is either a very smart move, or a very good joke. or maybe it'll be both. here's hoping.

   ' i made sure to include your ... ears? so you can keep them warm, in cold weather like this. can't have you getting sick. who will i spend my time with? ' it's the chunky yarn he'd bought a while ago, but in mustard yellow, this time around, expertly crafted. peeking above the hat, break squints lovingly at cuscuta. ' and as for things i'd like to do ... how about we take a walk? collect some flowers together? i can't be the only one who has one, i'd feel bad. '

( 🍭 weirdly specific character questions ) 28, 52 & 54! — @revivancy

28. what do they tell people they want? what do they actually want?

break has his desires and wants, but i don't think he even knows what those are right now. and if he did, he wouldn't be honest about them. while he doesn't directly lie to people, he'll simply not answer if you ask him something he does not want to answer. he'll say so, as well, alongside providing a rather surface-level answer. (think along the lines of, "oh, but that's really none of your business, is it? i'd very much love some candy right now, if you ought to know.")

he expressed his very first genuine want in the last moments of the manga, which was to stay with his family. and now he's here, apart from them. so, what to want, now? he's using his promise to shelly as orientation, which was to keep fighting as long as he still has those people to live for. he would love to go back home, but at the same time, he's not sure if being here is punishment for his crimes. so he's in a bit of a frozen state, where he doesn't dare to want just yet, unsure of his own position and feelings.

none of which he's going to admit anytime soon.

52. do they act on their immediate emotions, or do they wait for the facts before acting?

↑ big fan of waiting to gather facts before acting, though he knows that's not always possible. occasionally having to trust your gut is part of life. if he got to pick, it's important for him to have as much information as possible before he acts. there's two very nice contrasting scenes in the manga to showcase this: sharon getting kidnapped, and reim getting killed. while he stays relatively calm throughout sharon's kidnapping, because of both the information he already had and the information he acquired after her kidnapping, reim's death has him abandon his plans entirely, purely because of his emotional response to that loss. he ends up killing potential allies that he's been working towards teaming up with.

break will stay calm if he has reason to do so. he's quite calculated, and knows when he's acting on emotions, for which he needs a good enough justification. (later on, when sharon gets hurt because of him, he snaps a bit, as well, using that anger to direct it at people he was already going to kill, anyways.)

54. what’s their instinct in a fight / flight / freeze / fawn situation?

fight fight fight fight. break is a pretty aggressive guy if he has to be, especially in survival situations. he gets angry. mostly at himself, if he's the one getting bested, but that anger is channeled into his fighting. he also just likes fighting. it's the one thing he'll admit he's pretty good at, taking pride in his skill and being insulted if other people don't recognize it once the jig is up and he stops acting like a clown for the moment.

the fact that people at his workplace are collectively terrified of him and his skills with the sword says enough about that tbh. this even extends to people being terrified of his friends, because how could you ever be friends with the hatter through any other means than being more powerful than him?

have a silly little extra comic under the cut featuring reim + elly uvu

first meeting sentence starters || no longer accepting !

"you kidding? same here," he responds in good humor, though there is the teensiest bit of annoyance laced through. getting lost isn't the worst thing in the world, but the winter chill is starting to freeze his butt off and he doubts someone with a smaller frame would be doing much better. maybe it's an omen to finally take up map-making...

regardless, he's not one to let his current incompetence stop him from helping a person out. yes, even if that means going out of his way a bit. he motions forward with the slightest tilt of his head, "got no choice, then. it's an island, right? we'll find somethin' one of us recognizes eventually... can't really end up anywhere else."