But that's just me. Not Jaskier and me. And it's a new medium.
It is. I'll be honest, I think this one is going to take more time to digest than the cult because the mindfuck is so distinctly different.
Did you get a sense of how he's coping? I've not checked in. Whatever terms you left him with, I....definitely got into a fight that involved some reckless lashing out.
It is. I'll be honest, I think this one is going to take more time to digest than the cult because the mindfuck is so distinctly different.
Did you get a sense of how he's coping? I've not checked in. Whatever terms you left him with, I....definitely got into a fight that involved some reckless lashing out.
After I found out about the 800 years being a fiction, I went to go and try to prevent him from trying to make further modifications to himself in order to escape the reality of it. Words were exchanged and...I realized he hadn't been the friend I made for a long time. So I just left.
I'm not proud of it and I'm not sure how to go about apologizing so that it won't turn into a second round of the same fight. What he did back there....Hilda, I can't even articulate why it upset me so much, but it did.
I'm not proud of it and I'm not sure how to go about apologizing so that it won't turn into a second round of the same fight. What he did back there....Hilda, I can't even articulate why it upset me so much, but it did.
[he's typically not the most social of creatures but there's been a few connections from a false reality that he knows he needs to foster]
Got any ideas?
[whereas he has zero problem and does actively remember her from Before and from During
which is the only reason he considers Caution]
which is the only reason he considers Caution]
Oh I'd say any and all but that opens far too many cans of worms from you.
Enchantments.
[ He has said before, he's glad Viktor has her for a friend. ]
We talked briefly. We'll talk again next month.
[ He doesn't want to admit much more. This might be where he teases Hilda about still being madly in love with her, as is their usual game, but this time he doesn't. ]
What about you and your men?
We talked briefly. We'll talk again next month.
[ He doesn't want to admit much more. This might be where he teases Hilda about still being madly in love with her, as is their usual game, but this time he doesn't. ]
What about you and your men?
The first part. Not even the losing the memories, it was walling himself off so much, refusing to be anything but his work. Forgetting that there's more to life than work. Then shrugging off every time I tried to approach him about it.
I know I have overly strong feelings about one's humanity, and that Viktor's need to alleviate his own pain is valid but...the balance went so far off, it felt like?
I know I have overly strong feelings about one's humanity, and that Viktor's need to alleviate his own pain is valid but...the balance went so far off, it felt like?
[ He... feels for her in that. ]
Eight hundred years is a long time to spend with anyone, I think.
But I know what you mean about not wanting to assume anything about what happens now, after all of that. It's hard, not knowing. Do you think one of them will bring it up to talk about, or will it have to be you?
Eight hundred years is a long time to spend with anyone, I think.
But I know what you mean about not wanting to assume anything about what happens now, after all of that. It's hard, not knowing. Do you think one of them will bring it up to talk about, or will it have to be you?
You're not wrong that it'd be worse without someone to keep an eye on him - I think that's why I tried to do something similar.
I'm worried about the immediate future as well. I already suspect he's going to just throw himself into work to avoid dealing with any of the fall out.
I'm worried about the immediate future as well. I already suspect he's going to just throw himself into work to avoid dealing with any of the fall out.
[ To say the return had been turbulent in some ways - that'd be an understatement. It'd taken Claude some time to process... well, not all of it, as has become apparent the longer he's been lost in his thoughts piecing it together as things had returned to some measure of stability for as much as they could. And more than that: this isn't something he should work on doing by himself. The past has taught him that much. For all the mistakes he's made, both actually lived and in those years which felt all too real as if they were ones made here, there are many he doesn't wish to repeat ever again.
But: the years in which they've known each other and all that time spent circling around truths with himself no exception as the mastermind of setting so many of them in motion, it won't be as simple as that.
It's a matter of waiting for the right moment, even as the more time which ticks by it feels more and more urgent. The sort of thing which starts to keep him awake at nights - nights just like this one with Hilda tucked against him with her back to his chest and an arm draped around her waist and where there's no reason he shouldn't be asleep. Not even with his habit of being awake at odd hours or even with the first warm nights creeping into Cadens; Claude's slept plenty on any night just like this. Then again, so has Hilda - and asleep she certainly isn't either.
He could pretend to not notice. That'd be a disservice to them both and he knows it as he leans down to press one slow kiss after another along the line of her shoulder trailing towards her neck with the words in between murmured against her skin. ]
You're managing to think even louder than I am right now.
But: the years in which they've known each other and all that time spent circling around truths with himself no exception as the mastermind of setting so many of them in motion, it won't be as simple as that.
It's a matter of waiting for the right moment, even as the more time which ticks by it feels more and more urgent. The sort of thing which starts to keep him awake at nights - nights just like this one with Hilda tucked against him with her back to his chest and an arm draped around her waist and where there's no reason he shouldn't be asleep. Not even with his habit of being awake at odd hours or even with the first warm nights creeping into Cadens; Claude's slept plenty on any night just like this. Then again, so has Hilda - and asleep she certainly isn't either.
He could pretend to not notice. That'd be a disservice to them both and he knows it as he leans down to press one slow kiss after another along the line of her shoulder trailing towards her neck with the words in between murmured against her skin. ]
You're managing to think even louder than I am right now.
Not that I'd ever say this to his face, but I think at least a portion of this now is his refusing to engage with his feelings about Jayce's departure.
[...............oh. so that's why he's making the dad comparisons. Shit.]
He won't. I need to talk to him about work things, so I will try to apologize without things veering into a fight then.
But I'm still worried. I don't know what else we do besides keep an eye on him.
[...............oh. so that's why he's making the dad comparisons. Shit.]
He won't. I need to talk to him about work things, so I will try to apologize without things veering into a fight then.
But I'm still worried. I don't know what else we do besides keep an eye on him.
[ Familiar fingers linked through his get his own to part to be able to curl them around hers to tangle them that much further. The same goes for adjusting the ankle he has hooked through hers while a chuckle's muffled against her shoulder. ]
It's not? Maybe we're competing each other to see who can think louder then and you happen to be winning right now.
[ Something equally familiar would be joking about what's supposedly occupying them both to vault right into teasing. Like the diet they might need to put their collection of animals on after a helpful neighbor fed all of them rather generously in their absence, or whether they should really start lizard racing, or if when Nocwich opens if they could try the old arm wrestling scheme again. All things which he knows aren't on her mind and aren't really on his either but would lighten things momentarily.
Even Claude of all people finds no appeal in doing so. When he finishes that meandering path of kisses, he rests the side of his face against her shoulder with a small sigh to look out at the room around them without really seeing it. ]
Honestly, I don't even know where to start if what's on your mind is anything like what's on mine. 'Anything and everything' probably summarizes it enough when it feels like I can't settle on any one thing in particular.
[ Which - sounds a bit like any given day when his thoughts won't settle, as Hilda might be quick to point out. After a pause when there's a leathery rustle of wings from wherever Khurshid's settled himself for tonight on his rotation through rooms since their return, he finds a better answer than leaving it at just that. ]
Maybe this isn't what you're thinking about right now, but what I am is that even though there's much about all those centuries I hope doesn't happen, and that if we have to be here that long, I'm glad we were together. You and me, and all three of us, too.
It's not? Maybe we're competing each other to see who can think louder then and you happen to be winning right now.
[ Something equally familiar would be joking about what's supposedly occupying them both to vault right into teasing. Like the diet they might need to put their collection of animals on after a helpful neighbor fed all of them rather generously in their absence, or whether they should really start lizard racing, or if when Nocwich opens if they could try the old arm wrestling scheme again. All things which he knows aren't on her mind and aren't really on his either but would lighten things momentarily.
Even Claude of all people finds no appeal in doing so. When he finishes that meandering path of kisses, he rests the side of his face against her shoulder with a small sigh to look out at the room around them without really seeing it. ]
Honestly, I don't even know where to start if what's on your mind is anything like what's on mine. 'Anything and everything' probably summarizes it enough when it feels like I can't settle on any one thing in particular.
[ Which - sounds a bit like any given day when his thoughts won't settle, as Hilda might be quick to point out. After a pause when there's a leathery rustle of wings from wherever Khurshid's settled himself for tonight on his rotation through rooms since their return, he finds a better answer than leaving it at just that. ]
Maybe this isn't what you're thinking about right now, but what I am is that even though there's much about all those centuries I hope doesn't happen, and that if we have to be here that long, I'm glad we were together. You and me, and all three of us, too.
Maybe the nine hundredth year would've been the one to really do us all in.
[ There's a lack of humor behind those words considering that joke falls flat for so many reasons. That Hilda moves to turn over is a good distraction; it gives him time to contemplate her answer, to peer beneath it for what isn't being said even if it's agreement being offered. Agreement that's a relief to him when it settles something he hadn't known he was looking to hear as she entwines the two of them together again. Claude slides an arm beneath her pillow to cradle her head and let that hand rest against her shoulder in one more way to keep them folded together as his other arm returns to her waist.
It's after some careful consideration of her expression, taking in each and every detail of that so cherished face he'd memorized so long ago while absently running some loose strands of pink hair through his fingertips in another familiar pattern on their late nights before - in every before and after, Claude thinks, like all of those lives were meant to lead here - and finds what to ask first. ]
What's on your mind?
[ My love, he would've added once in those times which had both happened and were mere imagination though they've not been uttered in the present before. But the sentiment - that part has never changed, never wavered. Not now, not before when they'd rent each other's hearts over a misunderstanding or in the possible future where it'd happened again at his hands. Two words meant to fall into place at the end of that question and so much so Claude nearly adds them anyway before catching himself with only the smallest breath to hint the space where they belonged.
He doesn't add them even if they continue to sit behind his teeth. The question is left as it is with ten thousand answers he could supply if it was asked to him, but he waits to hear what Hilda will tell him in her own time. ]
[ There's a lack of humor behind those words considering that joke falls flat for so many reasons. That Hilda moves to turn over is a good distraction; it gives him time to contemplate her answer, to peer beneath it for what isn't being said even if it's agreement being offered. Agreement that's a relief to him when it settles something he hadn't known he was looking to hear as she entwines the two of them together again. Claude slides an arm beneath her pillow to cradle her head and let that hand rest against her shoulder in one more way to keep them folded together as his other arm returns to her waist.
It's after some careful consideration of her expression, taking in each and every detail of that so cherished face he'd memorized so long ago while absently running some loose strands of pink hair through his fingertips in another familiar pattern on their late nights before - in every before and after, Claude thinks, like all of those lives were meant to lead here - and finds what to ask first. ]
What's on your mind?
[ My love, he would've added once in those times which had both happened and were mere imagination though they've not been uttered in the present before. But the sentiment - that part has never changed, never wavered. Not now, not before when they'd rent each other's hearts over a misunderstanding or in the possible future where it'd happened again at his hands. Two words meant to fall into place at the end of that question and so much so Claude nearly adds them anyway before catching himself with only the smallest breath to hint the space where they belonged.
He doesn't add them even if they continue to sit behind his teeth. The question is left as it is with ten thousand answers he could supply if it was asked to him, but he waits to hear what Hilda will tell him in her own time. ]
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