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]

I mean, I hedged my bets as much as I could at Derdriu already. Sent the civilians out on boats so that they wouldn't get caught up in the battle, had our forces split so the bulk of them could cut and run if the Kingdom's army didn't show to complete our pincer attack. But I didn't have any other cards in my hand, Felix. If the Kingdom didn't show up, Derdriu was going to fall. I bet everything on that, including my life and the lives of my soldiers in the city. So it would've meant the deaths of Judith from House Daphnel, Hilda, and whoever else would be crazy enough to throw themselves between the Imperial army and me.

I know I've never shied away from risky plays and big gambles, but do you really think I'd take the long shot of trusting you guys would take Fhirdiad, before you even reached the capital, and then trusting even further that the Kingdom would come bail me out - led by a Dimitri who'd been half-feral the last time I saw him, by the way - if I had any less risky plans? Plans that were more likely to be successful? I went with the best chance I had.

You're right in that I can't predict the ripple effects, of course. If things do change, maybe I'll have other options. But I didn't have any then. And that success was such a long shot to begin with that I don't like just casually banking on the hope that oh, it's fine, we'll figure out another way!...and I think I like it even less when other people are making my bets for me.

Still, what's done is done. Maybe it's already too late to cling to that path to the future, the way things are going.

[bestswordmaster]

making me keep secrets from my friends is no better.
you're not the only one affected if things change, you know.
but dimitri's already nowhere near the complete disaster he was at gronder.
by the time we get back he'll have improved more.
sylvain is so early in the war that with what he knows he can change the whole course of it.
telling them seems like it can only make things better.

[vrdantwind]

...you know, even as concerned as I am, I have to concede you could be right. The Dimitri I saw after his match today...I don't know if it was just a product of his being so sleepy his brain was shut off, but he's definitely completely different than at Gronder. So if those changes stick when we go back...he will be better off. And if they don't, well, we're no worse off than we were when things worked out the way they did the first time.

Maybe I'm so used to having fallback plans and hedging my bets and preparing for the worst that it's hard to believe there could be a scenario where things can only improve.

So what's your instinct, then? Just...share everything we know with each other, and let the cards fall where they may from there? Although by 'we', I guess I mean 'I', since I'm the only holdout at this point.

[bestswordmaster]

I don't know.
do whatever you want.
I told sylvain because
of personal reasons.
it wasn't strategic.
there were things he deserved to know.
if something is important for them to know then tell them.
if not then don't.

[vrdantwind]

This may shock you, Felix, considering I've only told you about five times now, but: I only keep secrets when there's a reason for it. So if it's something I haven't told you guys, you can probably gather it's important.

Tell you what, though - you've won me over this far. If you can get Dimitri into a genuinely good mental place - as in, well-rested, relatively happy, seems like he can handle surprising news okay - I think I can afford to tell you guys what's happened since the victory at Derdriu. It's not what I'd call bad news - just significant with a capital S. So it's important Dimitri can handle it. But as you said, things are getting better. So maybe there's no harm and some good that can come out of us all being on the same page.

I'm not making any promises about anything else. I was holding off on these secrets because of how it might affect our going back home, and Dimitri's mental state, and how it might affect the war. You've presented a decent argument that I don't have to worry about that stuff. My personal secrets, though...I've got different reservations about those.

[bestswordmaster]

[Felix rolls his eyes at the Gear.]

that's not what I meant.
I meant personally.
but that is a good plan.
though it may shock you claude
considering I've only told you about five times now
but I don't care about your personal secrets.

[vrdantwind]

You can't complain about not knowing me well enough and say you don't care about my personal secrets within the same 12 hours, I think the Hypocrite Squad will come collect you.

Mostly, though, I was explaining why I'm willing to tell you guys this much without actually telling you everything I've been holding back. Because I thought you'd grumble about it. If you don't care, then I guess I worried for nothing.

[bestswordmaster]

ha.
with how much you overthink everything I'm surprised you don't worry for nothing all the time.
speaking of getting to know you
you said you wanted to spend time with me.
when?
doing what?

[vrdantwind]

Aside from pokémon training? I guess it could be anything. Grabbing lunch, going on walks looking for new pokémon to catch, shopping...or just talking like this. Although talking in person's probably better when we can manage it.

[bestswordmaster]

no I mean
when more specifically?
oh but aren't we leaving for azalea today?
I guess we'll have to settle for walking and talking and catching pokemon until we get there.

[vrdantwind]

Yeah, once you guys are done shopping and Dimitri's done sleeping. I told his Pignite not to let Dimitri out of his room until at least 2 PM, so we'll have a late start, but...he needed the sleep.

I might just have him sleep on that sled of his, too. He tried to convince me to let him do that earlier, and I insisted on his having a bed for awhile, but I never said he couldn't sleep on the road as well. Maybe he and Sylvain could take turns.

[bestswordmaster]

that sled is so ridiculous.
so is his army of rats.
dimitri always needs more sleep.
sylvain's fine.
we took a nap earlier.
before the match.
maybe you should sleep on the sled.
sorry for keeping you up so late.

[vrdantwind]

I think his rats are pretty cute...the smaller ones, anyway. The big one's a little intimidating. The sled's...definitely unusual, but I won't argue with results. Or convenience.

Was it a decently long nap, or only a couple hours? Because Dimitri's going to get at least four or five under his belt, so unless you were able to sleep that long, Sylvain's probably gonna run out of juice later unless he can snooze a bit more.

And don't worry about me. I didn't sleep enough, maybe, and I've had a headache from the alcohol, but I'm still doing way better and got more sleep than Dimitri or Sylvain. I've survived much rougher days than this with no ill effects.

[bestswordmaster]

cute maybe if he had ONE rat.
not a steadily growing collection.
and one of them apparently plays games on his gear.
he tried to make me play one.
I almost smashed the damn thing.
the sled beats trying to carry him, I suppose.
does this world have horses?
the nap wasn't long.
maybe you're right.

[vrdantwind]

Hey, they're all cute, and they've each got plenty of personality. More to the point, I like that Dimitri's coming to appreciate the animals he's always either insulted himself by comparing himself to, or been compared to negatively. He won't be able to look down on himself for those associations anymore.

There are, actually! I've read about some of them. That said, most of them start out as foals that would have to be evolved before they could ever carry a person.

"Maybe you're right"...ah, those three little words that mean so much. But yeah, Sylvain should probably sleep more. See if you can bully him onto the sled while we're traveling, okay? Basque can knock him out with Sleep Powder if necessary.

[bestswordmaster]

oh.
that’s one of the things I need to apologize to him for.
I’m not fond of horses but dimitri is and sylvain usually fights as cavalry.
keep your sleep powder to yourself.
if he needs to sleep I’ll make him sleep.

[vrdantwind]

It can't hurt. I'm sure it'll mean a lot, too, coming from you.

I like riding a lot myself, although I admit I tend to lean more towards wyverns than horses...at least when it comes to fighting. Just for pleasure, though, I like them about the same. I wouldn't mind getting a horse of my own if we can find any. But since you mentioned it, I guess I've never seen you ride...

You can't just make someone sleep, Felix. I mean, you can make them try to sleep, but if the exhaustion hasn't caught up with Sylvain yet by the time we shove him onto the sled, I thought Sleep Powder could be useful in sending him drifting off at our convenience.

[bestswordmaster]

maybe.
it's hard to figure out how to feel.
I ride when I have to.
but I'd rather not.
I meant I'll make him sleep when he's tired.
not when you feel like poisoning him.
your obsession with poison is off-putting.

[vrdantwind]

Poison? Me? I don't know how you could make such a baseless insinuation! Sleep Powder is a totally medicinal sleep aid. Something is only poisonous if the effects are harmful and unwanted!

[bestswordmaster]

please.
like we didn't all know at the academy that you sent yourself to the infirmary at LEAST once with some stupid poison you were trying to make.
if sylvain asks for help sleeping that's one thing.
if not then congratulations
your sleep powder has become a poison.

[vrdantwind]

I wasn't actually trying to convince you with those denials, you know. I'm aware of my reputation.

That said, to be fair, have I ever actually poisoned someone that you can remember? Besides myself? I'm not saying I'd be above doing that in certain cases, but I'd never actually poison someone for any reason that wasn't genuinely important. Things like poisoning an enemy army so they couldn't fight to avoid bloodshed. And when it comes to friends, I'd never poison them at all if it wasn't explicitly for their own good in some way...like making someone sleep who was borderline sick with sleep deprivation. I don't just go around poisoning friends casually!

And in a case like Sylvain's, there's no reason I couldn't just ask him if he'd let me put him to sleep. I mean, sleep's not a bad thing, and if he'd already agreed to try to sleep on your behalf, what reason would he have to refuse?

[bestswordmaster]

I don't know if you have or not.
but I believe you.
just don't point your sleep powder at me and we'll be fine.
hey.
you know about plants right?
I caught a bird pokemon that can change its form when it eats different kinds of nectar.
the flowers for the form it's in now grow around here.
I want to collect some to take with me.
but I don't know the first thing about plants.

[vrdantwind]

Hah! My botanical knowledge coming in handy! Sure, I can help you collect some. How much do you need? Because flowers don't exactly give a high yield unless you've got some pretty significant amounts of them...and I don't know how much it takes to transform your pokémon with them. Or how much you want to save up.

[bestswordmaster]

[Felix just sends Claude everything the pokedex says about Oricorio.]

there.
I want enough to last a while but I don't even know where to find the others yet.
enough to be prepared when I do.
show me how to recognize the flowers and how to get the nectar out at least.

[vrdantwind]

You'd better hurry up the shopping with Sylvain, then. We'll need a bit to collect the flowers, not to mention finding the equipment to process them...I'm sure someone around here has it, you can't be the only one who wants to keep samples of the nectar on him, but I don't know where. And then we have to do the actual processing. And we're supposed to leave town at some point today...