hadriel | first

[ Now he's banging the phone with the video still on, which promptly removes Hermann's smirk. He winces instead. ]

Stop that, it won't do a thing, what would make you think that would help?!

[The screen is dark; the phone has been turned face down on the table and Ichigo's talking at it from about three feet away.]

I thought that maybe if it had decided on its own to put a bunch of crap on my face, hitting it would make it stop. It's weird and alien like everything else here, right?

No. Except that the current malfunctions are not at all explainable by its coding, and for a few other functions, these phones behave entirely like those back on Earth. They can be taken apart, applications can be coded, and though I have not tried it, I would bet they can break.

[ He's lecturing, just about, but impressed that Mr. Kurosaki had the common sense to put the phone screen down.

As long as it doesn't start tampering with the audio. ]

Furthermore, it seems likely this nonsense is this month's god's activity, meant to draw out an emotion. [ It must be Miss Rage. ] That means it should finish in a few days at which point the phones will be useful again.

[It was sensible all right -- except that he's going to have to get in the camera's field of vision again to switch it to voice or text. But he hasn't realized that yet.]

...oh.

[Ichigo goes through his mental list of gods--at least, the ones he can remember. Fear, Hope...Sadness?...Rage.]

Dammit, this is Rage, isn't it? It got me again!

[There's a thunk-thunk as Ichigo's fist hits the table and the phone bounces off the surface for a half-second. It lands harmlessly, though, right back where it was.]

[ Which may not be a problem, as neither voice nor text have been any more reliable.

As Hermann's raising his eyebrows at the exclamation, he notes a flash of color, the black screen shaking. Combined with the heavy sound, Hermann can guess at why. After a second's debate, he sets down his own phone. ]

You just arrived. How did Miss Rage have you before?

[There's a muffled ugh sound, like he's running a hand down his face.]

She got me on my first freaking day. I found a letter with a whole bunch of stuff in it--you know, the kind of stuff you'd punch somebody over--so I found the person who it said it was from, and I punched him. Turns out the letter was fake and Rage was most likely the one behind it, and it was all part of a plan to get me mad. I felt pretty bad about hitting a random guy who hadn't done anything, but then he turned out to be kind of an asshole anyway, so I'm not too torn up about it.

[ Had they both been using their phones for the video function, Mr. Kurosaki would have seen Hermann stare through that explanation.

Oddly targeted, that. He hadn't heard of anyone else with a letter. But more than that, perhaps one of his initial impressions about Mr. Kurosaki was correct, that he'd go and punch a stranger first thing.

He's a punk. ]

No, I don't know. I cannot imagine anything someone could put in a letter that I'd punch them over.

[Got it in one, professor. He's talking about punching people like it's completely normal and no big deal.]

What, seriously? You can't think of anything at all? ...well, I guess it makes sense. It's hard to imagine you getting into a fight.

But there was stuff about my sisters in there. I'm not gonna let anybody get away with saying shit like that. Doesn't matter who they are.

[If he meets Rage, he'll probably punch her, too.]

Edited (it was late when I tagged this and I can do better) 2016-07-27 23:06 (UTC)

[ ...Actually, he can think of a few things.

Only, as it would be in a letter, he wouldn't prioritize hunting them down to slug. Perhaps if something said to his face and the heat of the moment prompted it.

He's not, however, about to admit that he might, in fact, be a person who would get in a fight. Perhaps it will be easier for Mr. Kurosaki to imagine once he sees Newton and him together. Unfortunately.

In the meantime, Hermann simply avoids answering the question, allowing that impression to last for as long as it can.

As for sisters -- he thinks of Karla.

It's been a terribly long time since last he did. His older sister. They had never been a close family, but she'd been better at it. Remained in sporadic communication, even after his father had explicitly cut him out.

More to the point, if it's about family, it softens his impression of Mr. Kurosaki. ]

Fair enough, I suppose. Only, did you think to ask why that man would have known anything about your sisters, or you?

Well, yeah, sure I asked. If he'd been following me and my family, I wanted to know why and what he was after. He said he didn't know and that the gods had done it, but I didn't believe him. I mean, I hadn't heard anything about any gods before that, and it sounded like a pretty lame excuse.

[In other words, your explanation, Hermann, was loads better than Mello's half-assed, sarcastic one.

His expression turns a touch shamefaced, though, as he goes on.]

...but I guess I wasn't exactly thinking straight, either.

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