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[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~."

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[vrdantwind]

And you say you aren't sweet.

Although...that reminds me of something a lot more serious. Dimitri was asking me about Rodrigue the other day...about how you told him what happened to him.

First of all...I wanted to offer my condolences. I know you and Rodrigue had a lot of tension between you, to put it mildly, but from everything I've ever heard of him, he was a great man. And I'm sure his death had an impact on you, no matter what your feelings were about him, so...I just wanted to say I was sorry to hear it. And that I hope you're doing as well as could be expected after something like that.

I never got much of an opportunity to speak with you at Derdriu, actually, so this is the first chance I've had to talk to you about it at all.

[bestswordmaster]

[This message comes quicker than any of the others have.]

I'm not talking about this.
thanks for the advice.
I'm going to sleep.

[vrdantwind]

Okay, okay, I get it! We don't have to talk about it. But there is something adjacent to it I want to talk about - either now, or later.

How much do you think is...well, wise to tell Sylvain and Dimitri about things that'll happen in their respective futures? Which kind of seems to be the way this stuff is working out. Because I've been trying to avoid dropping any revealing details like that.

[bestswordmaster]

[Felix is literally in the process of closing the Gear when Claude goes on. He flops down on his back onto the bed and lifts the Gear to operate it from below, glaring slightly at the buttons.]

have I ever told you you talk too much?
you must really love the sound of your own voice.
though I can see why if it distracts you from this infuriating music.
what is that about???
I don't know.
I was wondering the same thing.
when I told Dimitri it just
happened.
I think
this is part of why things are so weird with sylvain?
he's from much earlier in the war.
will it change things back home?
to tell them?

[vrdantwind]

We're literally not even actually talking but okay?

And I don't know. But that's one of my major concerns. I mean, among other things...my life is kind of riding on Dimitri's recovering and showing up with you guys at Derdriu. So if that changes, or doesn't happen...

[bestswordmaster]

you know what I meant!
oh.
I can see how that would be a concern.
in this case it's the opposite though.
it
that thing I told him about
was the beginning of his crawling out of the hole.
if anything he'll be much better off much earlier.
and maybe he won't insist on fighting you at Gronder
for literally no reason.
and that battle at Derdriu won't even happen.
I don't know.
but he needed the news.
and hiding from it accomplishes nothing.

[vrdantwind]

Is that what helped turn him around? I never actually knew what helped him out of that pit. I just saw him at Gronder and he was...well, worse than he is now, but the way Dimitri is right now is still closer to what I saw aat Gronder than anything else. And then we met again at Derdriu, and he was a king.

[He means that in every favorable way the word can possibly be interpreted.]

Well...if that is actually something you think will help in the long run, then I guess I'll just cross my fingers and hope that's the case. He's obviously pretty upset about it, and I really didn't think he needed to hate himself more, but if that somehow leads to him moving past all this I won't question results.

Whatever happens, though, as soon as you guys reclaimed Fhirdiad, the battle at Derdriu became inevitable. Why do you think I sent my messenger so early - early enough for you guys to get the message and arrive to help? It's because I knew if you took back Fhirdiad, then the Kingdom's position would be significantly stronger - threatening, even. And as soon as that happened, I knew exactly what Edelgard would do.

She's shrewd, and she's got an excellent command of war strategy. I knew that she knows the Empire can take on the Kingdom or the Alliance fairly easily, but both together is way too risky. And the Alliance might've been neutral for five years, but with the Kingdom shifting back into being a major power again? And our already having engaged her army once on the Kingdom's behalf? Even if she wasn't sure the Alliance would ally with the Kingdom, it'd be crazy for her to leave the risk open. And while the Kingdom was preoccupied with Fhirdiad was the perfect time for her to try to eliminate her other major competition. Anyone with a decent grip of politics and war would've done the same.

I guess, in a way, it wasn't even Fhirdiad itself that tipped the scales. It was Dimitri coming back to himself. Without that he couldn't have taken Fhirdiad, I think. Fhirdiad just proved he was as much of a threat at the head of the Kingdom as Edelgard might've already feared from him. So a Dimitri that recovers at all guarantees the battle at Derdriu, because he signals the turning of the tide against the Empire.

[bestswordmaster]

hm.
I see why they call you the master tactician.
I loathe politics.
but even I could tell the way you handled the Alliance for those first five years was masterful.
you know how to do a lot with a little.
it's impressive.
but. with dimitri it was complicated.
that was the beginning but
the professor talked to him.
and then I did, and Gilbert.
and others.
to get to where he was at fhirdiad.
so it's good that we're all here.
but if I have to have that whole conversation with him again
I'm going to toss him into the river.
there are
some things I never apologized for though.

[vrdantwind]

He's threatened to throw me in the ocean, and I'm not sure what you leveling a similar threat at him says about me.

I'm flattered you approve of the way I handled things! I mean, normally I wouldn't brag - okay, I would, but only about silly things - but frankly I deserve way more appreciation than I get for having to spend five years herding self-serving, cowardly nobles like cats. And one of them is Count Gloucester. I'm owed a medal, frankly? Or at least a lifetime of tea for treating headaches.

What did you have to apologize to him for, though? Are they things this Dimitri will remember?

[bestswordmaster]

you probably deserved it.
I'd throw you in the ocean, too.
sounds like your nobility isn't too far off from ours.
except instead of cowardly they're CHIVALROUS.
which is worse frankly.
also cats aren't actually that hard to gather.
that saying was invented by someone who didn't know what they were doing.
he will remember them.

[A pause, and then another message comes:]
this is stupid.
you're two doors down.
why are we still sending message on here?
it's a pain.

[vrdantwind]

I mean, you say that, but you didn't have to talk Margrave Gautier down from wanting to throw his support behind Edelgard because he was hoping she'd reward him with some more land, so...trust me, you got the better end of the deal.

Not that I have too high of an opinion of Margrave Gautier after that mess with Miklan and what I heard about it back during our academy days. But at least armies don't make him flinch, and the merest suggestion of potential profit doesn't make him blind. It's not much to say of a noble, but it's a lot more than I can say for quite a few of ours in the Alliance.

Also, I assumed you couldn't stand looking me in the face while being honest? But if you want to come to my room, the door's open.

[bestswordmaster]

[Felix frowns at the screen, then pockets his Gear and runs a brush through his hair briefly without bothering to put it up before marching down the hall to Claude's room and entering without preamble, wearing what passes for sleepwear--the slim blue pants from the outfit that was packed in his bag, and the sleeveless black undershirt that goes under its jacket. He shuts the door behind him.]

Margrave Gautier is the lowliest scum in the whole Kingdom. He's a perfect example of everything wrong with the Faerghan nobility. I despise him.

[vrdantwind]

[Claude sits up in bed when Felix storms in, and - oh.

The thing is, Claude's never seen Felix with his hair down. He's also never seen Felix in what amounts to sleepwear. He was not necessarily prepared to suddenly experience these two things, both at once, without warning.

It's a good thing he has such excellent self-control of both himself and his expressions. His eyes rake over Felix once - it's all he'll allow himself - before he affects his usual, easy smile, and an attitude as though he and Felix were talking on any other day.

Luckily or unluckily for Felix, Claude had actually thrown on the comfortable hoodie that came with his supplies when Felix had suggested he'd come over, or Felix would've stormed in on Claude shirtless.]

The lowliest? Even lower than the Faerghus nobles who did side with Edelgard and Cornelia? [He cocks an eyebrow.] He must treat Sylvain pretty terribly, then.

[It's not a hard conclusion to draw. What else would get Felix so worked up about Sylvain's father? And, of course, the Gautiers' treatment of their other son - and what that resulted in - had been the talk of the academy for a month or two.]

[bestswordmaster]

...okay, not that bad. But close.

[Felix folds his arms and leans against whatever convenient piece of furniture is near where Claude sits, eyes hard.]

Yes, he treats Sylvain terribly. You heard what happened with his brother; that was their father's fault, too. A lot of nobles are obsessed with Crests and arranging 'good' marriages for their kids to get more Crested blood into the family, but the Gautiers take it to a horrific extreme. Sylvain has a Crest, obviously. Miklan didn't.

...my father had plenty of his own problems, but at least he never treated me like a commodity because of my Major Crest.

[vrdantwind]

Yeah, that's pretty admirable. Especially since in this day and age, major Crests are pretty hard to come by. I think out of everyone in the academy, only Flayn, Lysithea, and Catherine had major Crests besides you...well, and Balthus and the others from Abyss. But they seemed like...special cases, in general.

The point is, it wouldn't have been that unreasonable for him to make a fuss over it...but I can't look at you and believe you got any special treatment from him over that.

Since I grew up outside Fodlan, and Fodlan's the only place I know of where Crests are such a big deal...I can't say I ever had to deal with much nonsense about Crests growing up. But even so...I can sympathize with Sylvain about things we have no control over, affecting our lives and how people treat us. I won't pretend I know his situation exactly, but...I won't pretend I don't know anything about how it feels, either.

[bestswordmaster]

Hmph. You wouldn't believe how many ridiculous marriage proposals he received for me. I told him if he ever tried to force me into a marriage, I'd just go become a mercenary and let him deal with it. ...he didn't, though.

[He shakes his head.] It wasn't just that for Sylvain. I'm sure you know the Gautiers guard the border with Sreng. They expected him to defend the border because he wielded the Lance of Ruin. Even while we were busy defending the eastern Kingdom from the Empire. He didn't want to. They made him do it anyway.

[Felix tilts his head, finally looking at Claude instead of in his general direction.] Huh. I didn't know you grew up outside Fodlan. Though I guess it makes sense. If nobody cared about your Crest, what was out of your control?

[And now that he's looking...he abruptly notices how Claude's tousled curls tumble into his face and give him a...wilder look than usual. Felix's eyes widen slightly and he swallows and his hands itch to...run his fingers through Claude's hair. That's...weird. That's weird, isn't it? It just looks...ugh, it looks really good. Dammit. His fingers tighten on his crossed arms just a little.]

[vrdantwind]

On the one hand, defending the borders of Fodlan from Sreng incursions is pretty important, I'm sure...although I admit that I don't know much about Sreng, what with it being so far removed from the Alliance. [He smiles faintly, resting his chin on one hand, the other on his knee beneath the covers of his bed. (Because he is, in fact, just sitting up in bed. It's too late to be late anymore, while still too early to be early; he, like Felix, was sleeping before this.)] I like learning about everything, as I'm sure you know, but obviously things that are immediately relevant to me take precedence...and Sreng was never particularly relevant to me, all the way up north.

That said...even knowing as little of Sreng as I do, I can see how ridiculous it is to ask a teenager trying to attend school to go fight off a border incursion on his own. What on earth was Margrave Gautier thinking? Some kind of macho rite of inheritance? [If so, Claude's own father and Sylvain's might get along.]

As for what might be outside my control... [Claude shrugs and smiles.] Well, without getting too deep into it, Fodlan doesn't have particularly friendly relations with any country around it, does it? Dagda, Brigid, Almyra, Sreng...let's just say that having a mother from Fodlan never won me a single popularity contest back home and leave it at that.

[bestswordmaster]

[Felix tears his eyes away from Claude's hair to pay attention.] It's important, but half the reason the border needs defending is because our fathers invaded them first and annexed a large portion of land. They pushed the border back.

As for the margrave, he was putting on a show. [His lip curls in disgust.] Showing off his Crested son with a fearsome relic, fighting off the Kingdom's enemies. Making sure everyone knew how important and powerful House Gautier is. It's sickening. Putting Sylvain's life in danger for nothing but his own ego...unforgivable.

Hmph. The return of the Mystery Man, I see. But no, Fodlan's foreign relations are laughable at best. So I can see how that would have been difficult. That's the one good thing about Sylvain inheriting the margravate someday. He wants to make peace with Sreng.

[vrdantwind]

[Claude chuckles.] You seem to pay a decent amount of attention to politics when it's directly relevant to you or the people you know, huh?

[He shrugs and smiles at Felix's (admittedly casual) accusation.] Honestly, my secrets...they don't have a whole lot of purpose here. In fact, after Derdriu, I kind of shook off any need to keep the old ones anymore...and it's a bit tiring to have to go back to keeping them again now. [He sighs.] But it's like I said when we were discussing Dimitri - I don't know what might happen if I give away things now that you all didn't know then. So maybe it's better to just stay mysterious.

But hearing that Sylvain wants to make peace with Sreng...that's wonderful. Admirable, even. As you said, Fodlan's foreign relations are pretty awful, so hearing that the next generation of nobles in Faerghus are looking to alleviate that somewhat is hopeful.

[bestswordmaster]

I never said I didn't pay attention to politics. I'm the Fraldarius heir. I have to. I just loathe them.

[Felix shrugs.] Fair enough. I don't really care, it just makes you harder to talk to when you deliberately act like some enigma instead of a person. It's not just the secrets, it's the way you talk.

[He nods.] Dimitri's always wanted peace too. And he has every intention of giving Sreng and Duscur back their land when he officially takes the throne. ...he'll be a good king as long as he has advisors he can trust. The people already love him. They always have. He just has to open his eyes and accept that.

[vrdantwind]

[Claude laughs.] I guess you're so vocal about not paying attention to anything else that annoys or bores you that I just assumed you did the same with politics. My bad.

As for my secrets...I suppose you wouldn't really care about them, so I guess they can't get on your nerves too much. [Claude looks amused.] But what do you mean, the way I talk? Going to tell me I get extra annoying, I'm guessing?

And Dimitri will make an incredible king. I expect they'll be taking about him long after Loog has faded into the mists of time. [Loog, after all, didn't rule a united Fodlan, but Dimitri will...provided everything goes as Claude trusts it will.] I expect they'll be talking about his advisors, too...Gautier and Fraldarius, his left and right hands.

[bestswordmaster]

Pff. I'm still paying attention to you, aren't I? [He smirks.]

And yes, extra annoying. You get weird and coy, like you want people to ask you what you're hiding just so you can not answer them. I don't get it.

[He blinks then, scowling slightly.] Shut up. If anyone deserves mockery for thinking they're more important than they are, it's you, with all your showing off in battle. You're a skilled archer, but you make things more difficult for yourself with your unnecessary flashy nonsense.

[vrdantwind]

[Claude winks at Felix.] I'm just glad I'm annoying rather than boring.

That said, mostly it's to maintain an air of romance and mystery~. That can be very appealing, you know. [He grins for a moment before his face falls, ever so briefly.] But maybe a bit of it right now is wishing I could spill my secrets, I guess. It was nice to be past all that, you know? Not having to lie or hide anything from my friends anymore. I don't keep secrets just because I think it's fun to be anything but myself, you know.

[He shrugs then, a smile finding its way back to his face. In this moment, how similar he and Sylvain can be is in particularly sharp relief...but unlike Sylvain, the smile doesn't seem to be just some fake mask. (Or, if it is, he's so good at faking that it looks genuine enough.) More, it seems to be the smile of someone who's making the best of a bad situation.] But there's no point whining about it. Needs must, right? I just wanted to say that if I ever seem to be teasing secrets, it's not just to aggravate people. Sometimes it's just...dancing around the edges of things I wish I could say.

[He's a bit startled by the glower and snapping.] I...wasn't mocking you guys, Felix. I seriously believe - and hope - that's how it'll be. [He smiles then, eyes glinting.] That 'unnecessary flashy nonsense', I'll have you know, takes a lot of skill to pull off. Especially in combat. The whole point of that is basically extra training, extra challenge. I would've figured you'd appreciate something like that.

[bestswordmaster]

[Please Goddess let Felix not be blushing right now at that wink...sadly, the Goddess isn't in this world, and he is blushing. Just a little.

But he frowns thoughtfully as Claude goes on.] Sometimes you're a lot like Sylvain. I hate the way he pretends to be someone he isn't. [Although he does sort of like that he's one of the few who know the real Sylvain. Still, it's awful for Sylvain's self-esteem, and Felix suddenly wants to punch Margrave Gautier in the face all over again.] It never made any sense to me. I always had to fight to get people to see me as myself.

[He gives Claude a confused look.] Why would you hope that? I don't want to be some...fanciful legend. I doubt Kyphon and the others were anything like the way the stories paint them. And I don't want people thinking they know me from some fairy tale when they have no idea who I really am.

[He tilts his head again, studying Claude.] Huh. I wouldn't have guessed that was your reason. It's inefficient in a real fight, a waste of energy. But as a personal challenge, I can see why you'd do it. We've never sparred together, have we? I bet I could learn a lot from you.

[vrdantwind]

Well, I'm not going to speculate on Sylvain's reasons for hiding his real self; I'd need to know more about him than I do to have any idea why. But for me, there's always been an element of...requirement to it. After all, as I mentioned, the real me is someone people never liked or even got to know, because they didn't think I had the right kind of blood in my veins... [He shrugs.]

And it's not that I want you to be some fanciful legend. It's that I think people only become legends like that because of the incredible things they accomplish. [He smiles.] I want to see you and Sylvain and Dimitri leave such bright, indelible marks on history with the incredible things you do for Faerghus, if not all of Fodlan, that people can't help but talk about you for centuries to come.

And yes, maybe to a degree that means people will lose sight of who you really were after you're gone, and built up some legendary, fictional version of you instead. But I think that's probably the fate of anyone whose records of glorious accomplishment outlive them, and it's a small price to pay. You won't have to be around to get annoyed at it, for one thing. [He gives Felix another wink, raking a hand through his hair. This makes it more tousled rather than less so, honestly. He must dry it in a certain way to make it lay as smoothly as it does these days, because it's not so obvious now.]

That said, rather than giving you a false impression...the personal challenge and heightened demands of my skill are admittedly only part of it. Part of the point is actually the show itself. It has a psychological effect, you know. [He taps his temple.] Demonstrating how unconcerned you are to your enemies, bolstering your allies with your confidence, drawing attention to yourself at critical moments as a distraction...and, oh, yes, inflating your reputation against people who might try to usurp your position. Can Count Gloucester shoot someone with an arrow upside down on a wyvern? I'd love to see him try.

You can fight on so many different levels besides the purely physical, Felix. Someday you'll appreciate the multifaceted levels of my genius. [A beat.] It probably won't be the day you beat me into the dirt, though. I'm more skilled with axes than swords, and even then I'm an archer first.