[Claude laughs and pats Dimitri's knee as he settles in beside him.] Relax, it's no big deal. Anyone forget that sort of thing. [Except Claude, who tends to feel horribly exposed around psychic types at the prospect of having his mind read. A guy who likes to carefully curate who knows what about him, being faced with the prospect of not being able to have any secrets around a mind-reader...Claude is always uncomfortably, acutely aware. He's already considered the possibility they could be weaponized against him.
Claude will never understand how Dimitri trusts so easily, especially after having been betrayed several times to extreme cost. He wishes he could learn the trick, though. The stress of constantly trying to anticipate the ways people can use anything you give them (or anything they can steal from you) against you...Jaskier tried to claim Claude made him feel like this, and Claude can only conclude Jaskier's never known what true information warfare looks like, never mind the stakes it's usually played for. Maybe he left the nobility too early in his life to learn.
What must it be like, to trust unreservedly? To not fear other people knowing the same things you do? To not need that little edge over others to feel remotely safe? Claude wishes he knew. His life would be far easier.
But for now, he smiles at Dimitri, and reaches for the flowers.] So where do I start?
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Claude will never understand how Dimitri trusts so easily, especially after having been betrayed several times to extreme cost. He wishes he could learn the trick, though. The stress of constantly trying to anticipate the ways people can use anything you give them (or anything they can steal from you) against you...Jaskier tried to claim Claude made him feel like this, and Claude can only conclude Jaskier's never known what true information warfare looks like, never mind the stakes it's usually played for. Maybe he left the nobility too early in his life to learn.
What must it be like, to trust unreservedly? To not fear other people knowing the same things you do? To not need that little edge over others to feel remotely safe? Claude wishes he knew. His life would be far easier.
But for now, he smiles at Dimitri, and reaches for the flowers.] So where do I start?