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

[vrdantwind]

Hah - I did the same thing. As gently as I could, considering I didn't want to hurt him and he was miserable enough at the time, but it felt wrong to leave him just denying basic logic and reality like that. Like I'd be leaving him vulnerable and floundering in the dark if I let him believe things I knew couldn't be true.

But yeah, he's come a long way. I don't know when you talked to him last, but you can barely recognize him between when I first arrived here and now.

[To be fair to Claude, he didn't exactly say "and because Dimitri is interested in someone else, he can't be interested in me". He just loosely implied it as a way to shut down Jaskier's painful suppositions. That said, when a man is actively interested in someone other than yourself, Claude thinks there needs to be some solid evidence that either he's actively interested in you, or some persuasive logic that he potentially could be. Claude feels he could build a case for that with Jaskier and Geralt, but that Jaskier can't do the same with any of Claude's relationships.

(In point of fact, he's uncomfortably aware that this may be more due to Jaskier's lacking the necessary knowledge to build such a case than from a lack of persuasive material - if he were so inclined, Claude thinks he could build some decent arguments with what he knows for Dimitri. But personally, he chalks that more up to his own silver tongue and Dimitri's earnest nature than because he thinks there's any credible chance. That's why he wants to nip those speculations of Jaskier's in the bud - they can't lead anywhere good. After all, Geralt seems like a man who might be casual enough to have multiple lovers, but Dimitri? Absurd.)]

Actually, kids are baby goats. Fawns are baby deer. ;) But maybe I should bring Dimitri with me when we drop Sicily off?

[rollstoseduce]

We spoke last during your gym battle! He called you the second-best strategist in Fodlan and "brilliant". He also did not believe me when I told him you hold him in high regard because of things he's said to you. So I suppose he still has some things to work through, but do me a favor, if you will - tell him he's dear to you to his face, would you? His type need things spelled out to him.

[Yes, he's drawing a comparison to Geralt here.]

Correct me all you want, smarty-pants, the point still stands. And please do bring him! I must witness his fussing with my very own eyes, then I'll have something to use next time he tries to get all bleak on me.

[vrdantwind]

Hah! I'd object to the 'second-best' title, but I know who he was thinking of when he didn't rate me first. That'd be Teach. A professor - and professional mercenary of serious renown - who taught at the officers' academy we went to. They taught Dimitri's class, though, despite my best efforts to coax them to mine. Still, even with their teaching, they didn't exactly pass on their talents to anyone in Dimitri's class. They're his strategist now, I understand, and none of their students is showing any signs of stepping up to dethrone them. So being the second-best strategist, even without the benefit of Teach's...well, teachings...is still a pretty high honor.

Man, I still dream of what could've been if Teach had decided to come teach my house instead. None of Dimitri's class even seems to have developed any particular skill for strategy! Think of how much someone like me could've gleaned from them, though...oh well. No point in sighing too much over opportunities missed.

I've definitely told him how much he means to me, but I'll do it again. That's another thing his type needs - a whole lot of repetition to get ideas through their thick skulls.

But don't worry, I'll bring him. He may not be able to hold himself back from coming, anyway. I bet he'll want to make sure you know exactly how to best care for him for the whole day you'll have him...as though he's really that high-maintenance.

I think this one is good to wrap up?

[rollstoseduce]

Learning under the tutelage of the best in their craft is, indeed, a unique experience worth fighting for. But it says something about you that you've managed to achieve the second-best title in the land (and therefore, *the* best of your generation) WITHOUT their teachings. So less sighing over opportunities missed and more bragging. That other class never stood a chance against you, with or without a teacher.

Nobody on this kingdom, be person or animal, is more high-maintenance than myself. Bring him, and let him talk. I shall have some fun with his fussing, mayhap show him what happens when someone tries to out-talk us.

[Talking more than Jaskier or Claude is forbidden, signed: the sanity of Johto.]

MAYBE unless Jaskier has a Reaction to Claude correcting a misconception here! Otherwise we good~

[vrdantwind]

Hah! You'd think, wouldn't you? But that'd only be true under normal circumstances. Despite what you'd think for someone teaching students, Teach was maybe only a couple years older than us, so I'd still say they're my generation - which means I'm still only second best, no matter how you slice it.

(I know, it's weird. The archbishop of the church back home, who was also in charge of the officers' academy - she basically drafted Teach to the teaching staff on a whim after Teach helped us three house leaders fight off a bandit attack. It was all pretty mysterious, and I still wish I knew what she was thinking...but she's been missing ever since the academy fell during the very first major attack of the civil war, so I'll probably never get to know.)

But don't worry, I'll bring Dimitri.