Claude doesn't resist; if anything, he seems to relax a little at Felix's touch, letting himself be drawn down onto the bed. (Sturm and Sicily quickly shift to make room for them.) Felix's words unwind him just a little bit more; he closes his eyes. "So that's why...I was wondering why you guys hadn't told us. Even making plans to get Sylvain a place to stay..."
He opens his eyes again when Felix mentions what Sylvain had been afraid of. "Have you ever cared about him fighting beyond making sure he's able to keep himself alive?" he asks, in the tone of voice of someone who's baffled Sylvain ever thought otherwise. That alone might be unintentional but deep reassurance to Felix; Claude, who can read him so well - but who also hasn't known him for nearly as long as Sylvain - knows that the only reason Felix ever even bothered Sylvain about training was out of worry for Sylvain's well-being, never because he'd wanted him to have to fight. (Well, beyond sparring for fun. Felix will spar with anyone for fun who'll stand still long enough to be challenged.) "And Dimitri would do anything at all to make Sylvain happy. No amount of missing having Sylvain always with us would matter to Dimitri more than Sylvain being comfortable."
Claude's brain may be foggy, but it's not that foggy. Sylvain's worries were a product of his own insecurity, and never anything based on what was real or likely. (That Claude has been suffering from a similar problem today is not something he can recognize quite yet.)
He exhales at Felix's diagnosis. "I've never lost anyone before," he murmurs. "No one I was really close to, anyway. And my schemes are usually good enough that I haven't come all that close, even in battle...not that the Alliance saw a whole lot of open battle the past five years anyway, other than Derdriu." He shakes his head. "But I'm - we're not losing Sylvain. We know what's going on. So why am I still such a mess?"
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Date: 2021-02-21 09:20 am (UTC)He opens his eyes again when Felix mentions what Sylvain had been afraid of. "Have you ever cared about him fighting beyond making sure he's able to keep himself alive?" he asks, in the tone of voice of someone who's baffled Sylvain ever thought otherwise. That alone might be unintentional but deep reassurance to Felix; Claude, who can read him so well - but who also hasn't known him for nearly as long as Sylvain - knows that the only reason Felix ever even bothered Sylvain about training was out of worry for Sylvain's well-being, never because he'd wanted him to have to fight. (Well, beyond sparring for fun. Felix will spar with anyone for fun who'll stand still long enough to be challenged.) "And Dimitri would do anything at all to make Sylvain happy. No amount of missing having Sylvain always with us would matter to Dimitri more than Sylvain being comfortable."
Claude's brain may be foggy, but it's not that foggy. Sylvain's worries were a product of his own insecurity, and never anything based on what was real or likely. (That Claude has been suffering from a similar problem today is not something he can recognize quite yet.)
He exhales at Felix's diagnosis. "I've never lost anyone before," he murmurs. "No one I was really close to, anyway. And my schemes are usually good enough that I haven't come all that close, even in battle...not that the Alliance saw a whole lot of open battle the past five years anyway, other than Derdriu." He shakes his head. "But I'm - we're not losing Sylvain. We know what's going on. So why am I still such a mess?"