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castle_perraultAdam Brooks is one for following the rules.
Not the inherent rules set out by law enforcement and people he is far above, no. Those are all based on an unwavering idea of morality that Adam refuses to see as productive. No, he's one for following the rules his mind has constructed in order to further himself towards a goal. These are rules that are based on his observations of the world around him, ones that make sense and help him make sense to others.
The rules help him look like a normal person. They're honestly quite helpful in a place like this, where Adam doubts his appearance would be taken well. Barnaby certainly hadn't taken it well, but Adam couldn't imagine any scenario where he would. It's not everyday your brother comes back from the dead, after all. That is, regrettably, a rule Adam has had to break.
But other rules have been easier to follow. They remind him to remove Barnaby's clothes so he can wear them as a disguise, without anyone asking about any regrettable blood stains. They remind him to walk like his brother and talk like him instead of screaming for revenge. He is cautious and careful.
Kotetsu will be found first. He needs to check on him and gain his trust immediately, so that he has someone to back him up. To laugh off his strangeness towards other prisoners in this strange castle as social ineptitude. Toshi will be found afterwards, with Kotetsu still at his side. He doubts his disobedient slave will rebel for a second with Kotetsu already in his grip. He'll be sweet and kind to both of them, just as Barnaby would. Follow the rules. Soon enough his opportunity will come to strike.
So those who are around the hallways may see someone very much like Barnaby walking over to his room, straightening his clothes before peering inside in his search for Kotetsu.
After his reunion with his dearest partner and the android made in his image, 'Barnaby' will be all over the castle. He adores the library as much as he always has, and seems to have picked up cocking as well. He is deliberately careful to stay quiet and calm, so only those with a sharp eye will notice anything strange. For example, that bunch of berries from the garden can't be used as an ingredient in his soup, right? They're poisonous... Some may find it odd to find him coming out of the armoury with a crossbow, or practicing violin in the music room.
Or perhaps you may catch him wandering up the stairs leading down to the basement late at night. What would he be doing down there? Surely it's not a bad thing to ask.
((Okay, let's see if I can get this asshole to cooperate with me this time! Adam Brooks is impersonating his brother, Barnaby, and will be friendly to most everyone he runs into, if a little forgetful. Should anyone notice his odd behaviour, though, he may be forced to do something not so nice... so a trigger warning for possible character mutilation and death in here, as well as psychological mindfuckery which happens with a character like Adam. Should you not want him to tag you, please message this account to let me know!))
Not the inherent rules set out by law enforcement and people he is far above, no. Those are all based on an unwavering idea of morality that Adam refuses to see as productive. No, he's one for following the rules his mind has constructed in order to further himself towards a goal. These are rules that are based on his observations of the world around him, ones that make sense and help him make sense to others.
The rules help him look like a normal person. They're honestly quite helpful in a place like this, where Adam doubts his appearance would be taken well. Barnaby certainly hadn't taken it well, but Adam couldn't imagine any scenario where he would. It's not everyday your brother comes back from the dead, after all. That is, regrettably, a rule Adam has had to break.
But other rules have been easier to follow. They remind him to remove Barnaby's clothes so he can wear them as a disguise, without anyone asking about any regrettable blood stains. They remind him to walk like his brother and talk like him instead of screaming for revenge. He is cautious and careful.
Kotetsu will be found first. He needs to check on him and gain his trust immediately, so that he has someone to back him up. To laugh off his strangeness towards other prisoners in this strange castle as social ineptitude. Toshi will be found afterwards, with Kotetsu still at his side. He doubts his disobedient slave will rebel for a second with Kotetsu already in his grip. He'll be sweet and kind to both of them, just as Barnaby would. Follow the rules. Soon enough his opportunity will come to strike.
So those who are around the hallways may see someone very much like Barnaby walking over to his room, straightening his clothes before peering inside in his search for Kotetsu.
After his reunion with his dearest partner and the android made in his image, 'Barnaby' will be all over the castle. He adores the library as much as he always has, and seems to have picked up cocking as well. He is deliberately careful to stay quiet and calm, so only those with a sharp eye will notice anything strange. For example, that bunch of berries from the garden can't be used as an ingredient in his soup, right? They're poisonous... Some may find it odd to find him coming out of the armoury with a crossbow, or practicing violin in the music room.
Or perhaps you may catch him wandering up the stairs leading down to the basement late at night. What would he be doing down there? Surely it's not a bad thing to ask.
((Okay, let's see if I can get this asshole to cooperate with me this time! Adam Brooks is impersonating his brother, Barnaby, and will be friendly to most everyone he runs into, if a little forgetful. Should anyone notice his odd behaviour, though, he may be forced to do something not so nice... so a trigger warning for possible character mutilation and death in here, as well as psychological mindfuckery which happens with a character like Adam. Should you not want him to tag you, please message this account to let me know!))
i am ready for hell
Date: 2017-05-04 02:12 am (UTC)So when they walk into the kitchen, they are fully prepared to just turn around and leave again as soon as they spot the golden lengths of hair. What stops them is a natural flash of their gaze to the movement of his hands, and a stilling.
They immediately doubt their judgement as they think it but... they are fairly sure those berries are nightshade. They look just like the illustrations. Had they not been from the Castle, it's doubtful Chara would have recognized them as poisonous, but with their interest, they had been looking up plants that caught their eye while gardening.
*We can't just leave!
They very much can. It's incredibly within their capabilities. They could walk out without a word, and leave him to poison himself as he pleased.
Instead, they clear their throat, back already straightened and hands clasped in front - look, no weapon. "Barnaby." They're trying not to block the door while staying close to it, which is a mild puzzle. "A moment of your time."
Good because that is definitely where we are going
Date: 2017-05-08 11:38 pm (UTC)He sets the knife down, and his eyes dart down to Chara’s hands, noting that they are unarmed. He smiles gently and moves away from the counter where he’s working. His posture is relaxed, even if his mind is working on overdrive to try to get any information that could confirm the child’s identity.
“Of course. What do you need?”
awww yeah
Date: 2017-05-10 02:03 am (UTC)He's utterly at ease, pitch perfect polite, and that's what gives them pause. His utter lack of unease is setting up some within themself, although they keep it hidden behind their own prim and proper expression. They can't pinpoint precisely why things feel just a tad off kilter - like they walked into an automatic door expecting it to open and smacked into it.
Still, if he's calm with their presence, that's a plus. Isn't it? They breathe out.
"Perhaps it has escaped your notice, but those berries are poisonous." An old urge suddenly frantically fights to tack on a 'sir' at the end, and they strangle it with gritted teeth, head tipping up just a bit, tone dry. "I would recommend removing them from the recipe."
(no subject)
Date: 2017-05-10 11:47 pm (UTC)But they won’t. He’s confident that being polite will circumvent any need for violence. Just act friendly, just act like Barnaby would. Either this is the child Barnaby gets along well with, or the one that he doesn’t, and even then, he would never act rude. So he stays calm, oblivious to the fact that he should be uneasy.
At least until he hears those words. Then he looks at the plant with complete surprise, picking it up by the stem.
“These are? ...Wait, nightshade, isn’t it? I should have guessed.” He sighs at himself, apparently annoyed that he made such an avoidable mistake. “Thank goodness you told me. I would have given this to Kotetsu otherwise…”
No, he had other plans for this recipe, and he’ll probably still follow up on those plans if he can get the kid to leave. So he offers a sheepish grin.
“Sorry that you had to interfere. You don’t have to stick around.”
(no subject)
Date: 2017-05-11 05:06 am (UTC)Everything seems to go well. And then there's... an absence. A missed beat. A sound not heard until it stops, and then you can't recall the sound. Something is off. What is?
Frisk is suddenly equally as ill at ease, and it percolates, amplified as it seeps between sides. Realization is abrupt, and it's difficult to tell whose it is - he picked them up, but he hasn't thrown them away. Hasn't made a move to. Just acknowledgement, and dismissal.
It's silly. It's stupid. It's such a little thing to focus on. So why is it eating up all of the attention? Maybe it's a fuss over nothing, although there's something in the pit of their gut...
On impulse, Chara speaks. Is it Chara? Is it someone else?
"Before I leave, may I have them? I have read that they can make a good dye, despite their inedibility." This is a complete lie, they have no idea, but it would stand to reason, wouldn't it, that they might stain like other berries?
A good die. Haha.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-05-12 01:58 am (UTC)That’s why the berries are still dangling from his hand, not being deposited into a trash can. He had plans for these, and it would be so very disappointing to throw them away…
But it would be more disappointing if someone figured out something was wrong before he was ready to show his hand. He notes the child’s obvious nerves and concern, and so instead of continuing with his plans, he passes them over. He can always find other poisons.
“If you’ll be careful with them. I don’t want you getting sick, after all.”
cw oblique ref to suicide - they've gotten the wrong end of the stick
Date: 2017-05-17 05:01 am (UTC)"Since when am I anything but the epitome of caution?"
The statement is accompanied by a birdlike twist of the head. The tone is more sharp and dry as desert sand than the playful it might have been with someone they knew better - but it carries the wryness of reference to the puppetry incident. No, Chara isn't careful, at all, not as much as they should be. Maybe red and yellow make orange.
He can always find other poisons, if poison was his intent, the oddities of the situation crystallising into a thought. In their brief meetings, he struck neither Chara or Frisk as the type to poison others, however (then again, how can anyone be sure anyone is as they seem?) Perhaps the effort of going out and getting more might be a little more time to consider. Especially if a short child has harvested the rest for their 'project'.
He could find things other than poisons, too, easily. Kitchens have a lot of sharp things in them. But he chose poison, and probably for a reason.
"You're too kind."
The words are sardonic, but there's a grain of truth to them. He really is, from what they've seen.
Good guess, Chara, but no, Barnaby hasn’t gone that far.
Date: 2017-05-18 02:33 am (UTC)“Hmm. You haven’t been one for caution as far as in our interactions,” he says with a bit of a smile. Not exactly a joke, but the acknowledgement of one.
The more he puts it together, the more he thinks he knows what this is about. This is the one Barnaby mentioned in passing, when Adam had forced him to talk about the strange things possible in this castle. They were the one that held Barnaby’s strings, weren’t they? It makes sense, with the way they seem distant but concerned. The backhanded compliment of sorts is the final straw. Adam ponders if he wants to try to use this to his advantage, and eventually decides to take a risk.
“Perhaps. But no amount of kindness will repair the damage, will it?”
thank god
Date: 2017-05-27 09:26 am (UTC)All the same, they don't flinch when the next statement lashes out - lashes even being the wrong word. Settled down gently in the air between them, and allowed to seep into those cracks like poison. Instead they close off, a tight-lipped smile in return twitching to life on their face and arms folding behind their back.
"It never does," they say with the offhandedness of someone having the soft parts of their thoughts tucked away. It never does - there is no amount of kindness that can erase the past, and resetting is not a kindness. On the part of the wronged, and the wronger. There's a self-vindictive satisfaction at the pain of it, a sort of relief at the other shoe dropping, at that hidden-hooked barb, no matter how small.
The risk pays off. Chara was not intending to stay after their goal had been completed, could perhaps have been coaxed to, and now is fully invested in sparing him their presence.
"If you have no more berries, then I shall take my leave." And leaves, perhaps, but they are not in a punning mood. They're eager to try their project is the surface projected layer in tone. They take a step back, going for casual, a confirmation of intent.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-06-04 09:48 pm (UTC)At the same time, he does notice that bit of relief. Odd, that. Was Barnaby not showing any anger to them? Probably not, weakling that he is. Probably couldn't bear to hurt them. Luckily, Adam has no concerns about being kind, and apparently it's done good for this relationship anyways. Barnaby would thank him if he survived to see it.
"No more. I'm almost done cooking anyways. Don't think there's any other poisonous spices I could add to ruin it now. I'll see you, then."
He probably won't. But he'll offer the possibility anyways.