IC Inbox

[vrdantwind]

"Hey, this is Claude! Pretty sure I'm doing this correctly. You can leave me a message here, and I'll get to it as soon as I can. Talk to you soon~."

Comments

[bestswordmaster]

Maybe. But you have absolutely no shame, so no matter what I call you, you'll figure out a way to make it seem like a compliment somehow.

[Felix falls silent for a minute or so. It starts out as just an attempt to think of something, but Claude's ...everything is distracting, and what he said earlier, about...'ravishing'...it was a joke, or at least he made it sound like a joke. But it makes Felix feel...like Claude thinks he's someone he isn't. Or at least like he's made an impression that makes him feel like someone he isn't. Either way, he doesn't like it.]

...I should apologize. Again, I guess, but. What I did to you was thoughtless. If I were you I'd probably hate me. But you helped me instead. ...anyway, sorry.

[vrdantwind]

[Claude raises an eyebrow, more at the surprisingly timely apology than the actual words being said.] It's fine. I mean, it was pretty enjoyable up until I realized the circumstances, which kind of rained on the parade...but why bring it up now? It's not related to my potential nickname, I hope.

[bestswordmaster]

I guess that
sounds right?
I don't know.
do you think anyone else will show up here?
what are you talking about
I don't brighten anything.
what matters are more important than the city you just risked your life and everyone else's to save?
that would be like
oh.
like dimitri liberating fhirdiad and then leaving immediately to save you.
except it sounds like you left alone.

[bestswordmaster]

What? No. It was what you said. Your...idiotic joke. About being afraid I'd... [His face colors again.] Do something. It sounded like maybe you weren't joking as much as you made it seem. The way Sylvain does.

I'm not... I don't like doing something that makes me feel like someone who isn't me.

[vrdantwind]

No idea if it's right, but it seems to follow a consistent logic at least. Granted, not much here does, so who knows what those kind of inferences are worth...but there's no point in stressing ourselves out over potential negative outcomes, any more than there is in blindly trusting in positive hypotheses.

I don't know, but maybe. Who knows when, though. Let's all just cross our fingers that Hubert and Edelgard don't put in an appearance, shall we? Entirely aside from their murder attempts, I don't want to think of what it'd do to Dimitri mentally.

Don't you? I'm happier when I talk to you than when I don't. That's enough.

Also, that's starting to get into territory of future events I'm not really on board with sharing just yet. Not when I don't know what it could lead to. Let's just say it was sufficiently pressing business, okay? And I didn't do it irresponsibly, so you've got nothing to be mad at me for over it.

[vrdantwind]

[Claude laughs quietly.] No, that wasn't some kind of passive-aggressive thing...or even just some kind of half-joke. I know you're not going to pounce on me again. I mean, let's face it, the last time ended badly for you, right? And you're really interested in Sylvain, with your relationship with him up in the air. Why would you jump me?

And yes, I'm very aware that was totally uncharacteristic of you. Part of the reason I figured out what was going on and why you were doing it so fast is exactly because I knew you hadn't kissed me just because you actually wanted to kiss me. And the alternate explanation was really obvious, under the circumstances.

[bestswordmaster]

I'm not stressed.
I just don't like getting forcibly kidnapped to an unfamiliar world indefinitely.
or at all.
if edelgard comes here, dimitri won't rest until he kills her.
and it's a lot more possible here than with the entire imperial army and an impenetrable fortress between us and her.
I'll kill her myself so he doesn't have to.

[A pause, and then another message:]

you're flattering me again. stop it.
and you have no idea what I might be mad at you for.
unless you talked to me at derdriu and I wasn't mad.
this gives me a headache.

[bestswordmaster]

I wouldn't. Don't flatter yourself.

[Which...is nonsensical, and immediately after he says it, Felix realizes it and scowls. He must be getting tired. Or...distracted. Or something.]

It's...ugh. That's not what I mean. I'm not petty. Jealousy is a waste of time. All this...overly emotional foolishness. That's not who I am.

[vrdantwind]

I just hope it doesn't come up at all. I think we could all use a break from Edelgard, frankly.

It's still so depressing how wrong everything went. I don't think she's necessarily a bad person, or that she doesn't want what's best for Fodlan in her own way...I just can't agree with her methods at all. Even as pragmatic and underhanded as I am...she's prepared to sacrifice so much for what I assume she thinks is the greater good that I feel like the cure's worse than the disease. I wish I knew why she's so convinced that there's no better way...or that she was less stubborn. If she was willing to listen to anybody else, maybe it wouldn't have had to come to all this.

That said...if she did show up here, and someone needed to kill her to keep Dimitri from self-destructing, it should probably be me. Dimitri might never forgive the person who robbed him of that, and he'd need his best friends in the aftermath. So it definitely shouldn't be you or Sylvain.

As for flattering you, I was just being honest. You like talking to me, don't you? I assume you wouldn't bother if you didn't. So why's it so strange that it's mutual?

You were there at Derdriu, but to be honest, we didn't exactly talk. It was mostly a little reunion with me, Dimitri, and Teach; I really didn't get to chat with anyone else. But it's not like we would've had a whole lot to talk about anyway, since we were practically strangers back home.

[vrdantwind]

Maybe you've got more than one facet to you? [Claude smiles, resting his chin on his hand.] Even a sword has more than one side, you know. So maybe the Felix who's obsessed with swords and training and challenging himself, and the Felix who wants Sylvain to kiss him and actually does care about things like romance with the right people...they could be the same person, actually.

[bestswordmaster]

I'm not obsessed. And it's not about--that. Sylvain--the one from where I came from. He's different from this one, a little. We've been marching nonstop together for months, and sometimes things seemed like they were...more. I was already thinking about it before I got here.

What Sylvain did here shouldn't have driven me to do something so impulsive and unreasonable. It's the kind of behavior I would expect from Sylvain, or...I don't know, Caspar. Not me.

[vrdantwind]

[Claude watches him, looking thoughtful.] So why did you do it, then, if that's so unlike you?

[bestswordmaster]

I don't know. ...everything here is unfamiliar. Even people I've known all my life. Ever since Sylvain and I got to Violet, everything has felt wrong. Not just what I did. It's like I'm trying to hold onto handfuls of sand.

[vrdantwind]

What's changed since when you were traveling together? [Claude tilts his head.] Is it because it's not just you and him anymore?

[bestswordmaster]

Yes. [His brow furrows.] Whenever he's with other people, he doesn't act like himself. He puts on that idiotic fake smile and pretends. I hate it. It means he's unhappy and makes him act like a worse person than he is.

[vrdantwind]

The fact that it sounds like he's happy and himself around you the most honestly makes it a little more obvious just how important you are to him, you know. [Claude's voice is mild. He's not calling you an idiot for not figuring out Sylvain earlier when you apparently had all the clues right there in your hand already, but also he kind of obliquely is.]

I guess the question is, why is he so unhappy when it's not just you? Why does he feel the need to be fake around everyone? I'm honestly surprised he's not more himself around Dimitri, at least...and Ingrid when you guys are back home, of course. I know the four of you have known each other forever. So what's he got to hide from any of you?

[rollstoseduce]

You know how to make it hard to deny you anything, don't you? [As if Jaskier wouldn't have sent the pictures anyway.] Just a moment, if you please.

[Some minutes later, two more pictures arrive: one of Jaskier wearing a blue cloak, and another with a yellow one.]

What do you think? Should I match my eyes or my name?

[vrdantwind]

Oooh, now this is a tough call. I've always had such a fondness for yellow, but also your eyes are so enchanting that anything that offers more of that blue is hard to pass up.

I think I have to lean more toward the blue, though. Such a bright yellow might work better as an accent color than a whole article of clothing...plus, cloaks can get dirty, and on a color as bright as that you'll have a hell of a time keeping it looking as lovely as it does right now.

That said, I didn't realize your name had anything to do with the color yellow! Not surprising, I guess, since it's probably from a language I don't know. It's my favorite color, you know~.

[rollstoseduce]

Those are very smart points! Especially the mention of my enchanting eyes. Blue shall it be, then.

Jaskier means "buttercup" - which is why yellow (and by association, gold) is my favorite color as well. [It's also the color of Geralt's pretty eyes, but that's just a happy coincidence. His love for the color goes further back.] I wore an entire gold ensemble when I sang for the Queen of Cintra at her daughter's betrothal, I wish that had been the outfit I arrived in.

That said, a fellow man with a fondness for yellow! Where have you been all my life, I wonder? Your taste gets better by the second, my friend. I feel obliged to find a yellow accessory now to celebrate this delightful occurrence. Gloves? A scarf? I'd say a brooch but I don't think my coin is enough for that quite yet.

[vrdantwind]

An ensemble fit for a queen's court? It must have been stunning. Especially on you. [They're both such shameless flirts, it's incredible. But Claude is having fun with it.]

Buttercup? Really? That's one of my favorite flowers! I mean, since I'm fond of yellow, that shouldn't be too much of a surprise, but did you know they're also mildly poisonous? Or, well, at least the ones from my world are. But you know, it's kind of incredible we have a flower in common between our worlds at all...

[CLAUDE DON'T GEEK OUT ABOUT POISONS HERE THAT IS NOT A PARTICULARLY EFFECTIVE FLIRTATION TACTIC. But look, sometimes he just gets excited, okay.]

So, beautiful and a little dangerous, not to mention one of my favorite colors...what a perfect name for you. [Okay, sort of saved it there. Maybe. Perhaps this is an indication Claude didn't totally lose self-awareness there for a second.]

You haven't seen much of the outfit I arrived in, I suppose, since you were mostly looking at my face, but I've definitely got a few yellow accents of my own. It was actually the color of my house back at the officer's academy, so I had an excuse to wear as much of it as I could work into the uniform.

As for an accessory...I'd say definitely go with a scarf. If it's a light enough material, you can accessorize any outfit with it, even once this miserable cold hopefully passes.

[bestswordmaster]

I never really knew edelgard.
she says she wants to destroy the church and the nobility.
I don't think that's necessarily wrong.
but she was there at remire and did nothing to stop it.
she commands the death knight.
as far as I'm concerned she's unforgivable.
your logic makes sense but the way he is now he'd probably kill you.
but dwelling on it is pointless.
talking to you isn't so bad.
I guess.

[A pause, and then another message:]

I don't know what to give dimitri for this holiday.
and sylvain is no help.

[vrdantwind]

I never said I'd forgive her. She's got a lot to answer for, and the fact that I feel like the things she's done are unconscionable means that I want her to have to answer for those things. But it's sad to think of an old friend having to die, when I really believe that in her own way she means as well as any of us. But...yeah, I knew her better than you, so that might be why it's more upsetting.

I just wish there was a way to resolve things without more bloodshed. There's been enough.

Happy to change the subject, though, to be honest. For Dimitri...well, what kind of gift do you want to get him? Personal, practical, multiple gifts?

[bestswordmaster]

Maybe.

[Felix shakes his head.] Not with Dimitri, usually. With Ingrid, only when she's really in a lecturing mood. And not with Mercedes, she doesn't stand for it. But why he does it is a story I'm not telling you. Ask him if you really want to know.

[bestswordmaster]

I agree.
too many people fight for the wrong reasons.
for dimitri I don't know.
usually I give him weapons or training gear.
he likes practical things.
and I don't like giving useless things.
but I want to make it personal too.
for him the last time he saw me things were
he thought I hated him.
I thought I hated him too.
so I don't want him to think that now.

[vrdantwind]

Well, if you want practical, you can't go wrong with things for fussing over his pokémon. They mean a lot to him, and honestly they're the only way of fighting around here, too, so that's almost the same as training gear.

For personal...I'd give him something related to a shield. You've actually called yourself his shield to me, so...an acknowledgment of that, of your being that for him and being willing to be that for him, would mean a lot. You could go with something that has a shield on it, like an article of clothing or an accessory, or something that just straight up is a shield like a necklace or pin or the like. But it should be something he could wear or carry that'd make him think of you whenever he sees the shield.