vrdantwind | IC Inbox

"He was. Some of the things I was worried about had to do with you, so nobody else could have reassured me." Claude moves past Felix, pausing to press a light kiss to his jaw as he passes. "And Dimitri knew you could. You ought to have more faith in yourself."

Then Claude slips out of the room, and Felix will hear faint murmuring just outside the door. However, he won't get long to pay attention to that (or consider eavesdropping) before he's distracted.

Arbiter, who's been looming large but silent this whole time, shifts in order to lean down, lightly resting his beak on Felix's shoulder. A red eye - eternally baleful by the nature of Corviknights, but somehow calm for now - blinks slowly at Felix, before Arbiter's head lifts again.

There's something...strangely formal about the gesture, somehow. It's almost reminiscent of the flat of a sword being laid atop one's shoulder in recognition of some great deed. It certainly seems to be some kind of odd gesture of benediction from one of Claude's most notoriously protective, judgmental pokémon.

Felix will notice, in fact, that most of Claude's pokémon are currently regarding him. (Not, perhaps, too surprising, as with Claude's absence there's not a whole lot else to pay attention to in the room besides each other, but it might make Felix a little awkward. But there's a definite air of approval. In fact, Sturm beams and actually claps his hands in obvious indication of his happiness. Clearly, Claude's fussing team are happy that Felix has helped Claude out of his funk.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Jadoube the Zoroark, who has some interesting options for showing her approval. She shakes herself off and straightens up...and then, with a shimmer of illusion, she takes on the appearance of Claude himself. And (s)he gives Felix a thumbs up. "You did great!" she says, in Claude's own voice.

There's a certain tone to that praise, interestingly - Felix, having grown so familiar with Claude, might recognize it. It's got that fond, almost paternal tone Claude gets when he's talking to his pokémon, not to another person. Jadoube may well be parroting what Claude tells them when they've done well, in order to communicate the same to Felix.

This friendly (if faintly disturbing) message imparted, the illusion fades and Jadoube is simply a Zoroark again.

You ought to have more faith in yourself. That's just the kind of thing Felix would expect from Claude--always lifting people up, even if all Felix did was lay out the unfortunate truth of what it's like to lose someone you love. He has plenty of faith in himself when it comes to things he knows how to do, but reassuring people is very much not one of them. So hearing that Claude appreciated the talk anyway is a comfort.

He startles when an enormous beak comes down to rest on his shoulder. He turns with wide eyes to see Arbiter looking back at him in approval. "Oh. You're...welcome?" The gesture is an abrupt reminder that these Pokemon were here to witness that entire conversation, have been watching him and listening this whole time. If he thinks about it too much, he'll feel humiliated, so instead he turns his attention to the fact that he's now the center of their attention.

"What?" He can't help backing away a little toward the door at their staring, despite the fact that they're obviously the opposite of upset with him. There's a reason he put all of his and Sylvain's Pokemon other than Inda in their balls today, even Varley. He didn't want to feel watched in his raw, pathetic state. "I caused the problem in the first place, I was just...rectifying it. That's all."

Then the Zoroark moves, and Felix stares as she...turns into Claude and uses his voice. What the fuck? What the fuck.

"Uh...thanks. Don't ever do that again. ...I have to go."

Sure, he said he'd wait here, but he didn't say he'd necessarily stay on this side of the door. He hopes Claude is almost finished with his talk, because he's absolutely going out into the hall now.

Felix will hear a huff from Sicily as he heads out. It's aimed more at his fellow pokémon - look, you spooked the human now.

Claude, meanwhile, looks up in slight surprise when Felix pops out of his room. "Hey - was I taking that long?" His assumption is that Felix got impatient, and that's why he ducked out rather than waiting any longer.

Felix looks up, too, blinking. "What? No. Your Zoroark turned into you and I think Arbiter tried to bless me, and they were all staring at me. I had to get out of there."

Now that Claude's mentioned it, though-- "Are you ready yet?"

If Dimitri and Grant are still around, he pays them no mind, doesn't even look at them. He's not in the mood for any further commentary or gratitude or pity. He'll...talk to Dimitri tomorrow, maybe. He can't handle any more of this tonight.

Claude stares at Felix for a moment, blinking, and then...manages to laugh a little. He's definitely improved from before, just by that alone. "I mean, Jadoube uses her illusions sometimes to look and sound human when she wants to communicate something, but I can't say what exactly she or Arbiter were up to. Sorry they were being weird at you, though."

He steps forward to take Felix's hand. "But I'm ready. Or as ready as I'll ever be. I do...hate seeing Sylvain like that, but I shouldn't let that keep me away from him. Or make you have to deal with it all on your own. I'm sure you don't like it any better than I do."

Felix doesn't have it in him to smile back, but the fact that Claude is laughing seems like a good sign. "I think they were trying to thank me. Which is ridiculous considering--never mind."

He clings to Claude's hand a little more than he'd have liked as they make their way back down the hall. "...you're right. I don't. That's why I came to your room in the first place."

Felix unlocks the door--apparently he locked it, even for the brief time he thought he would be gone--and pushes it open, going inside. Inda's awake now and she's thoughtfully turned on a lamp so that Felix wouldn't return to the dark room he left, not having bothered to turn on any lights himself.

"Thanks, Inda," he mutters, moving to the bed to pat her leaves. Stee, is her quiet response, from where she's curled up on top of Sylvain's chest, and--

And yes, there's Sylvain, exactly where Felix left him: lying on his back on his side of the bed. Felix could almost convince himself that the other man is merely asleep like normal, and that when he lies down, Sylvain will stir and turn to pull him close and mutter something unintelligible. But he's been in and out of the bed all day, and he knows that won't happen.

So he climbs onto the bed and pulls the covers back for Claude, sliding as close to Sylvain as he reasonably can to make room, still sitting up for now. In his mind's eye, he can see Sylvain looking up at him and opening his arms wide the way he always does when he wants to cuddle. Felix doesn't do that, but he does hold a hand out to Claude in invitation.

"Hey, Inda," Claude says softly as he follows Felix into the room. He hasn't gotten to spend nearly as much time with her as Sylvain, or even Felix, but he's still fond of her - and he's even more fond of the way Sylvain dotes on her, and Felix can't help but be soft with her in turn. Usually, though, he just watches indulgently from a distance rather than interacting himself.

He moves over to the bed, eyes drifting inescapably to Sylvain. Like Felix, he keeps thinking of Sylvain waking up, reaching out, doing something...not just thinking it, but craving it with all his heart. He knows it won't happen, can't happen, for a full week yet at least...but it feels so wrong for him to just be lying there. Empty. A bookmark, as he'd once told Dirk, for a story to be picked up again later. Right now, as their own stories continue, Sylvain's has been paused.

It doesn't feel any better now than it did earlier. But...part of him wants to be here for Sylvain, however much it hurts. And part of him knows Felix wants and needs him here to help him with the pain and loneliness of Sylvain's being gone like this, and Claude wants to be here for him, too. Those things mean more than his discomfort.

He slips into bed with Felix, sliding his arms around the (barely) smaller man from behind. And if the uppermost arm reaches past Felix, to lightly rest fingers on Sylvain so that Claude can be touching him too...well, Felix probably understands that completely.

Inda gives Claude a sleepy little wave and a faint smile of greeting, or perhaps gratitude. Once Claude has settled in the bed, Varley rises from her place curled up on the floor to paw at the button to turn the lamp off, before padding around the bed to lick Sylvain's face a few times and returning to her spot.

Felix sighs quietly, relaxing just a little. But he's moving again soon enough, rolling carefully over to wrap his arms around Claude, too, tucking his own head under the other man's chin.

"Thank you," he murmurs. "Good night, Claude."

"I want to be here," Claude murmurs, pulling Felix a little closer against him. He's not used to being the big spoon(or any spoon, frankly), but Felix definitely needs it right now, and he's happy to wordlessly meet that need. And heavens know he needs someone to hold right now, too. "For both you and him. You don't need to thank me for that."

He closes his eyes. "Good night, sunshine...good night, Sylvain." His fingers curl a little in the blanket covering Sylvain. "I love you both." Then, with a slight smile as he forces himself to push back the bittersweetness of those good nights... "And good night, Inda, Varley."

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A good place to end it, I think, unless Felix has a closing comment to make