IC Contact

[untiltheend]

This is Sebastian Michaelis. I am unavailable at present, but please leave a message. Should a response be needed I will reply when time permits me. Please do keep your message brief.

Comments

spam, Zero: Post-Ciel Returning, Pre-Hakkai Waking

[empathicfault]

[ Will has gotten through the first challenge of the gauntlet and spoken with Jedao about coming down here. The second challenge, being in Zero itself, is proving less terrible than he expected. So far. He stops at the doorway and waits for Jedao to come to him.

In-person warning given, Will nods along. He seems calm but slightly distracted. He's focusing on everything he can, letting his mind do what it does. It's his usual pre-interview 'game face', with an extra focus on rehabilitation.

He steps in front of Sebastian's cell with his focus settling on the demon in front of him. ]

Hello, Sebastian.

Re: spam, Zero: Post-Ciel Returning, Pre-Hakkai Waking

[deuceoftears]

[If I think you're just making him worse, I'm going to ask you to leave, is how Jedao phrased it; Will, who can parse nuance, will know that he means ask you, and then make you if necessary.

There are - wisps of emotion from him, deep weariness and bitterness, a glinting suspicion that is less pointed at Will specifically than a wary mistrustfulness in general, a faint jagged edge that Will probably has the language to identify as triggered, although it's impossible to tell what by. All of it is muffled, though, compared to Will's normal empathy sense, a conversation overheard only through the wall from another room, muted and locked down by a combination of 90% deep personal discipline, and 10% tinges of low-level dissociation.

He keeps himself to one side, but he watches Will closely, and doesn't blink.]

Re: spam, Zero: Post-Ciel Returning, Pre-Hakkai Waking

[untiltheend]

[Sebastian sits, prim and proper always, on the bench in the cell. All the blood has been cleaned off and he's wearing a new suit - a Victorian morning suit rather than his normal butler uniform.

To the untrained eye, he looks calm and composed, hands clasped in his lap. But his eyes are still the same cat-like slits, and while he doesn't physically shake, something about him seems to almost suggest it; a barely-restrained wildness. After a moment where it looks like he won't, he looks up at Will.

It's a bland look. Not happy, not angry, not curious.]

Re: spam, Zero: Post-Ciel Returning, Pre-Hakkai Waking

[empathicfault]

[ Will meets his eyes. His lips pull back into a mild grimace. He doesn't like seeing this sort of power locked away, regardless of what it was used for. ]

I'm not here to cause more problems for you. I understand that it wasn't personal. That you were hurting.

[ He pauses in case Sebastian wants to refute that. ]

Re: spam, Zero: Post-Ciel Returning, Pre-Hakkai Waking

[untiltheend]

My kind do not 'hurt' in the way you suggest.

[Sebastian forgets, in the moment, Will's ability and the raw desperation, the utter lack of control he would have been able to feel during the attack.

It's not an active lie on Sebastian's part: he's simply never had opportunity to feel anything close to this in his entire long life.]

Re: spam, Zero: Post-Ciel Returning, Pre-Hakkai Waking

[empathicfault]

I'm not saying it was expressed as a normal human's hurt would be. But there was hurt. A wave of pain, screaming from your core.

[ He gives Sebastian a mirthless smile. ]

I'm glad Ciel Phantomhive has returned. I can't say I would fare much better if certain people were taken off the ship.

Re: spam, Zero: Post-Ciel Returning, Pre-Hakkai Waking

[untiltheend]

[Sebastian's eyes widen slightly in genuine surprise. Right, Will's ability to sense--

He sits with that thought for a moment. But only a moment.]

Why came you here? If not to cause problems?

Re: spam, Zero: Post-Ciel Returning, Pre-Hakkai Waking

[empathicfault]

[ Will breaks eye contact to look at Sebastian's shoulder. His head tilts gently as he thinks over his answer. ]

I guess...I wanted to see an old friend, support him the only way I could. Which- I know, that breach wasn't real. Still...

[ He looks back up. ]

It wasn't personal on my end, either. I've never forgotten what you are or what you're capable of, is all. And I know the agony of being separated from the one you're bound to, through blood and promises.

I don't imagine that there's anything I can provide while you're stuck here, that hasn't already been provided. But if that changes...

[ Let him know? ]

Re: spam, Zero: Post-Ciel Returning, Pre-Hakkai Waking

[untiltheend]

["An old friend", is it? Sebastian doesn't put much value on breach relationships - at most, he considers them a starting point if it turns out the real person is still interesting while fully themselves.

(That his addressing Will as simply "Will" instead of "Mr Graham" stuck is surely neither here nor there.)

He doesn't dislike Will: in fact, he finds him quite enjoyable to talk to, the few times they do.]

Besides Mr Vash, my master and his Warden, you are the only person to visit. [It might have to do with Jedao correctly assuming that having people come down to yell at Sebastian, especially before his master returned, would be the opposite of helpful. Sebastian doesn't expect anyone to come visit him in any other errand than to yell at him (and Mr Vash already took care of that). He can't say he finds the idea comforting - Sebastian doesn't need comfort, anyway - but...]

I appreciate the distraction. Thank you.