Xaviers!

"For a willing participant, you sure sound a lot like I did when I was locked in holding. You're surrendering your will for no good reason and something tells me she never once asked for that. I'll ask again. Could it not simply be that she cares about your wellbeing? That you matter to her and your pain is her pain?"

"I'm sure it is. But she shouldn't. I don't want her to hurt because of me."

Basil noticed the next video for him and his brow furrowed.

Basils response plays and the next door opens.

"Does he say that about you? That you exploit him?"

Basil's tape didn't really bring anything new to light for Colette, other than how far he would take the whole servant aspect. She had suspected that she had made him uncomfortable, hence his protests, but having done that and ignored his feelings did hit her a bit.

"No, of course not! Basil would never say zat, zough I am not certain he would even if I were. I just... Basil has been exploited before, by zose he considered to be friends and lovers. I would be ashamed to be just anozer one of zem. But at ze same time I worry zat I may be using him and not even realizing it. I..." Colette trailed off for a moment.

"I did not have much growing up. My family is poor, I learned zis at an early age. And Basil is very much not poor. Even zough I know he does not feel zis way, I do not worry so much zat ze zought may cross his mind zat I am just using him for his money, but more zat he could be right if he were to zink it."

Another door opened.

"See? This servant thing is all you. Why do you think that is?"

"I know why that is.

I was raised this way. Within the terms of A romantic relationship, A man's purpose is to assist and lift up his woman, in whatever manner she needs. If he's not doing everything he can to assure she has what she needs to fulfill herself, he's not a man.

He's a boy."

Basil frowned at his latest installment.

"It's for me to decide if I am being used, not anyone else." He commented to no one. It wasn't as if Colette could hear him.

Colette got Basil's latest, including the comment about being used, thanks to the next question not being asked yet. Then her door opened again.

"Do you think that him being more aggressive in standing up for himself would cause you to stop if you were?"

Colette really hopes that Chase would set Basil straight, because in her mind that kind of thinking was not good for Basil at all.

"Eh? Oh yes, absolutely. Maybe events recently have not been ze best example, but if Basil were to outright tell me to stop, zen of course I would."

She at least liked to believe that she would. But had she relented on occasions when Basil had been insistent? It gave her something to ponder.

"I may lack romantic experience, but that's not a romantic relationship. That's being a butler who's paid with sex. I knew you had self-esteem issues, but damn Basil... it hurts me to know how little you value yourself."

Chase might have expected a scowl from Basil, but instead he was greeted with a salacious smirk. However, Basil bit his tongue on the topic.

Well somewhat.

"I guess it's a good thing you're just my mate then, if you're not into sex butlers." He quipped.

"Please open the door, or ask me another if that wasn't sufficient."

Yet another door opened.

"Do you want to receive love and devotion or merely give it?"

"Of course I do. Doesn't everyone?

But love and devotion takes different forms in different people, and sometimes even in different circumstances. For example, I don't love you the same way I love Madame Rosenhof.

But in the case of a romantic relationship, this is how I show mine." Basil paused, trying to think of a way to express it that wouldn't completely out him.

"Madame Rosenhof was told of this early on in our relationship. If she's coming to the realization that she cannot handle this, I understand. But she cannot act as if this behavior wasn't forewarned. Nor do I feel it's right for her to act overly surprised by my outlook on these subjects, given the warnings."

Chisaki made sure to play Basil's last question, as well as their back and forth.

At the mention of sex butlers, Chisaki had a realization. A realization so big her eyes about bugged out of her head and she almost face planted into the glass partition she'd been perched on, not all that uncharacteristic of the person she was portraying.

instead she fell on her butt with a thump,straddled on the partition as if she were riding a horse. There was a very uncomfortable expression on her face, like a teenager boy who just realized his zipper was down.

"You make her sound like your amateur dominatrix," he said with an awkward chuckle that died in his throat when he actually thought about it.

"Holy crap... is she?"

Basil frowned, turning away from Chase and hiding his face.

There was a long pause before he turned his back to Chase and began casually walking away without comment, back the way he'd been lead.

Colette furrowed her brow. "I guess... I zought zat he was exaggerating a bit when he told me zis. I guess I did not realize how extreme ze dynamic was. I am willing to try! It is just very new to me. And..." She cleared her throat a bit.

"From what I have read online, even in a relationship like ze kind Basil desires, zere is still a sense of equality. Ze subm- er, servant, has ze true power. Wizout zeir consent ze Madam has no authority. Perhaps it is best to zink of me caring for him when he is injured not as me lowering myself before him, but razer as a..." she tried to think of a good analogy. "A equestrian tends to zeir horse to ensure it's healz and well-being so zat it can serve zem to its fullest, but still commands it when zey are riding. Does zis make sense?

"I just... I have a lot to learn, not just about zis particular type of relationship, but relationships in general."

Chisaki turned her head towards Basil, realizing what had happened.

Basil was retreating and immediately the video feed went live and started popping up in front of him in multiple places.

One also materialized back in front of Colette.

Chase decided to keep his mouth shut for the moment. His own lack of understanding wasn't the point of this.

Basil caught the bit from 'online' onward and recoiled back from the feed. Colette couldn't see the look of abject fear on his face, but his body was extremely tense as he spoke, choking on his own words and likely some tears.

" I don't want to discuss this anymore! Let me out! Please!" He cried out, begging to anyone who would listen to him.

Chase couldn't bear the idea of actually hurting his only real friend and guiltily cursed to himself.

"Shut it down Chisaki. This was a bad idea."

The program changed, but did not shutdown. The maze walks dropped, trapping all four of them into a black glass box.

"No.

This program is on private so none of the logs are kept for review and others cannot see us. If I let him out now, he is likely to cause a scene in the hallway where she watches."

"She's bound to know already and probably wouldn't judge if she did," he argued.

For her part, Colette looked horrified and like she was ready to cry herself. She'd done it again, she did something without realizing it and had hurt Basil again. Part of her wanted to just run to him and hug him tight, but at the same time part of her feared that he would push her away, that it would just make everything worse. So she just locked up. Which is strange when one is made out of jelly.

Chisaki's neck tenses and her head quickly wavered left to right in a panic while staring at Chase, clearly that was not the thing to say to get Basil to calm down.

"What? She..." he began before getting it.

"Oh! I mean, uhh... yeah keep her in the dark. Good idea!" he backpedaled unconvincingly.

Basil was trembling as he tried to calm down. He realized Chisaki had him trapped, according to her for his own good.

And that just made him feel even more alienated that the freakiest girl in school was the only one currently looking out for what was best for him, even if it was in an extremely fucked up manner VIA holding him hostage.

After a moment, his shoulders fell and he began to relax physically. But the relaxation was paired with the sort of laughter you definitely don't want to hear in these situations.

"Fine! FINE! You two want to know why I don't stand up for myself more often, eh!? It's because of shit like this! Every time I stand up for myself something terrible happens! This all started because I tried to stand up for myself! It doesn't exactly encourage continuing with the behavior when every time I do I get punished for it! And it's not even in the way I enjoy! It's in the usual, shitty way one means when they say that word!

And on that topic, here's some relationship advice for the both of you! Maybe you don't want to out your lover's proclivities in front of everyone! Maybe that's a thing you want to avoid doing, especially when the lover in question works for the institution you're currently standing in!

Why is the obviously sexless Wednesday Addams On Licorice All-Sorts the only one who understands that concept?!" Basil couldn't stop laughing, despite the fact he was still also crying. And that was probably bad.

Chase couldn't look his friend in the eye.

"I'm sorry... I thought you were just fighting. I just... wanted to help."

Maybe he really was only good for violence.

Colette felt like she only had four options to her, and all of them were bad. One of the options was to just cry and cry and cry, but that would be her back up. It was time to see if what she had told Chisaki was true. The goo girl steadied herself, took a deep breath despite not needing to, and stood up straight and rigid.

"Mister Benson, that is quite enough." She spoke in French; of course she had no idea if Chisaki or Chase could understand her, but given how embarrassed Basil had already been that day she could at least try to offer him some sort of veil. Her tone wasn't her usually bubbly self, but it also wasn't that she took when she was upset or angry. It was commanding, if a touch cold.

"Come."

Basil's expression could best be described as 'are you fucking kidding me right now?'

Nevertheless, he did as he was told, with one caveat.

He went to hug Chase, his arms open in the same way he had done on the bathroom at the XUB, giving Chase an opening to back out if he wanted.

Chase went from dejected to perplexed to accepting the mutually needed comfort with almost comic speed. Though he was stiffer about such things with an audience.

"You trying to cheer me up right now seems a little backwards, doesn't it?" he chuckled weakly.

"It's always good to cheer someone up, no matter what.

Sorry mate."

"Me too," he said, breaking the hug, "Guess I can scratch relationship counseling off my career options, huh?"

"Perhaps a bit of professional training is called for." He replied, providing a wave to him as he followed Colette.

Chisaki shut down the simulation. As the costumes dropped, Chisaki's eyes fell to the floor.

"Sorry for getting you involved in this."

"I shouldn't have agreed to anything so..." he said, beginning to sound angry but it broke with a sigh as he looked at her expression, "... well... at least it got them talking, so maybe it wasn't a complete failure."

"Yes, that is true." She says perking up slightly.

"I should have known though."

"How could you have known... that?"

Chisaki looked at Chase blankly for several moments.

"I would rather not divulge more of Benson-senpai's personal details than I already have today, if that is alright."

"Yeeaah... I've pried enough for probably ever," he said with an effort to veil his embarrassment over the whole thing.

"I am sure he appreciates the gesture Delacroix-Senpai, even if the execution was poor on our part."