[ OPEN ] you got a shock to your system

[godshattering]

Who: Claude and you!
When: May + June
Where: Aquila, Cadens, Libertas, the Horizon, Nocwich
What: Catch all for both months
Warnings: None currently, will add/mark as needed


( Open and closed starters in the comments! Also good with prose or brackets and please feel free to wildcard into the open prompts or the log with something else. If you'd prefer plotting first, you can find me at indech, on Discord, or by PM at any time! )

Comments

[philancer]

[ Sylvain had fallen silent through all this, his gaze ping-ponging back and forth between them as their barbs grew sharper and more vicious. He’d opened his mouth a few times to try and interject, but there’d been no space, not with how focused they were on verbally eviscerating one another. A few of those blows even had him wincing at the pointed aim of them.

And it’s pretty clear by now, they’d completely forgotten he was even here. Or maybe that just didn’t matter.

But Hilda’s physical act was the final straw and Sylvain’s hand darts out to snatch her wrist away - even if its far too late to salvage any of this. ]

Enough!

[ The word comes out heated and sharp and they’re both graced with the very rare sight of Sylvain’s actual temper making an appearance as he lurches to his feet and glares down at both of them. Fortunately, the tub’s deep enough that the mud hides everything but his torso right now, because this wouldn’t have remained a very serious scolding for very long otherwise.

His angry gaze darts between the two of them for a moment before he throws his hands in the air. ]

Look, if all you two want to do is be cruel and continue to hurt each other over and over again, then fine. Have at it. But I don’t have to sit here and watch you do it. I’ve had more than enough of this petty bullshit to last a lifetime and the last people I want to go through it again with is the two of you. So thanks for the invitation, I appreciate the gesture, but today was clearly a bad idea all around.

[ He starts wading for the edge of the bath but pauses before he climbs out, jabbing a muddy finger in their direction. ] Figure your shit out, you two. I thought we were past fights like this when we outgrew the Academy. We’re all supposed to be better than this.

[ Shaking his head in disgust - and maybe more than a little disappointment - he hauls himself up and out of the bath and stomps back off towards the dressing rooms to shower and change. He intends to be gone before either of them can get out and come after him. ]

[godshattering]

[ There's a split second in which Claude recognizes what it is Hilda's about to do when she reaches forward, but in that moment it's already too late for him to react. His face meeting the mud is somehow both surprising and not, and he's more determined than ever to not give Hilda the satisfaction of any reaction when he sits back up and wipes it away to be able to see.

He'd been aware of Sylvain's movement, but the sudden outburst has even Claude freezing in place. His gaze falls upon the other man in an instant as he starts to open his mouth to say - something, an apology but to him alone, maybe, though there's no time to even get one syllable out before they're lambasted.

Deservedly, Claude can admit (to himself), which makes the words smart all the more when they land as intended. Sylvain stands then moves to get out of the tub and he's still at a loss for words. It doesn't matter since then they're left alone in the mud by themselves.

Sylvain's right that this was a bad idea since they couldn't even get it together enough to make it through one treatment of the many that'd been planned for this trip. They really were supposed to be better than this, and that only intensifies the resentment that he doesn't even know where to direct. It starts with a withering look sent Hilda's direction; it both feels right and not, but he's not focusing on the latter. Having nothing to say had been more of an insult than anything else at the time, and now? Now he finds he means it.

When Claude pulls apart the tangled and knotted up feelings later on in the night after returning home, he'll find guilt for things turning out this way, irritation for both being at fault here and not the only one who caused it, and most importantly of all: that incredible ache of loss that'd taken root in his chest after their fight and refused to dislodge its thorns ever since. Each day that goes by without them speaking causes another one to appear, but he doesn't want to fix it.

It's not enough now to convince him to do anything other than climb out of the tub himself to not only move onto something else him but also leave Hilda behind with her own thoughts. Because whatever they are, Claude tells himself in yet another lie as he grabs his towel and exits, he certainly doesn't care. ]

[theidlemaiden]

[ Hilda can't even bring herself to relish in the childish action. When Sylvain raises his voice, Hilda looks like a deer caught in the headlights as the smug look on her face slides right off.

In another scenario, in another time, they might all have laughed at her actions because no matter how much dignity a person had, no one looked cool wiping mud off their face. But at this point in time she and Claude don't get along, their friendship status in shambles. And after Sylvain's words, maybe her friendship with him might be called into question too.

The bratty part of her that has yet to retreat back to where it came from certainly thinks so. The urge to scoff even as Sylvain departs angrily from the room is there but she purses her lips together instead, letting the angry pink patches on her face bloom. Who was he calling childish? Sylvain didn't know the details of their fight, and certainly had no idea that she thought her behaviour towards Claude was justified. And why would he think that? If she told him, the likelihood of him siding with Claude was probably greater than him siding with her. There's no evidence to support that claim, but she's spent so long convincing herself that there's no room for her between them that the evidence doesn't have to be real.

The thought steels her long enough to shoot Claude a frosty look back before pointedly looking away as he departs from the tub and the room. When she's sure he's departed, she wriggles herself from the mud, taking a long hot shower in order to cleanse the mud and what had just happened from her before flouncing off to her other treatments.

Somewhere between her manicure and facial, her rational voice returns along with the guilt. She'll feel bad about dragging Sylvain in as victim and witness to their war path, terrible for even thinking that there were sides to this, and awful about her initial reaction to a justified scolding. And for what she did to Claude? She can't let herself feel bad about anything she had said or done to him. As far as she's concerned, she doesn't care to think about him anymore than he clearly doesn't want to think about her.

Not caring was the only way she was going to move on. ]