abraxaslogs | [ CLOSED ] the dawn is opening

I hardly think it was stubborn. But if you're saying you want to see stubborn, I can arrange for that.

[ It's not at all what Sylvain meant and the grin on his face is proof he knows it since that's something he doesn't bother to hide. That doesn't even qualify as a threat even in the name of playfulness considering it's difficult for him to think of reasons that might even happen. Or, well - reasons it legitimately might happen instead of something like this. ]

And I suppose my answer to that depends on what it is, exactly, you plan on trying this time around. Something more elaborate than before? You've had a year to think about it, after all.

Do you ever stop being stubborn?

[ That might have sounded a little more taunting… if Sylvain’s tone hadn’t been so full of fond affection. But there’s playful humor still dancing in his gaze as he props his chin in his palm and grins at the man across from him. ]

Oh, trust me. I’ve thought up a lot over the past year. So much so that sometimes I’m not even sure where to start first.

Wouldn't you like to know?

[ Is that showcasing the stubbornness with an entirely unserious question fired right back? Maybe. But Sylvain likely doesn't expect anything less by having asked in the first place, so that's all the more reason to hide yet another smile by taking a drink before following that with a raised eyebrow as he sets it back down onto the tabletop. Because that is intriguing - something else he knows Sylvain meant it to be in an ever familiar way with which they tease each other with details of future plans not fully shared now and then all for the fun of it. ]

I think the saying goes something like taking one step at a time. [ Claude's making a point to say this loftily as if imparting great wisdom rather than yet another form of kidding - minus the part where he's not taking it seriously since 'a lot over the past year' is still holding his interest quite clearly. ] That's the best way to take on a plan since it certainly sounds like you have plenty.

Mmm, but some of them would go so well together, though.

[ Sylvain muses this aloud, tapping a fingertip against his chin as he appears to be considering a great number of options at his disposal right now. ]

Besides. You know I tend to be greedy. Why take one step when I can take three?

Are you expecting me to protest something that's going to benefit us both?

[ That's how that works, Claude's assuming, what with the mention of one step growing into something more exponential. Something he certainly doesn't mind considering they're rather good at that; there's certainly been any number of months which prove it on top of that.

Of course, that won't stop Claude from tapping a finger against his drink as if contemplating something to borrow that motion from Sylvain with a poorly suppressed smirk. ]

Because I think, by now, you know the answer to that is I won't.

Actually.

[ A finger gets waved in Claude’s general direction as Sylvain smirks across the table at him. ]

I expect you to protest everything. Just on principle. Whether it benefits anyone or not.

I wouldn't protest something that benefits me.

[ Whatever mirth had been on his face is quickly wiped away to look Very Serious and with eyes wide in a complete projection of innocence like he hasn't the faintest idea of what Sylvain's talking about. (He does.) ]

Really now, that doesn't sound like me at all! [ Just ignore that he's doing another form of it right now. It's fine. And in case that thought crosses Sylvain's mind, Claude also follows that up by leaning forward slightly over the table like he's about to impart a great secret. ] But maybe I'd protest less if you told me what any combination of the three things were. Still wishing you'd made me wear those boots much sooner than you did?

Hmm, the boots were a nice touch, that’s for sure. [ He grins at that, because Claude knows exactly how much Sylvain appreciated those boots.

The retort that Claude was protesting the very thing Sylvain had been saying was on the tip of his tongue, but Claude successfully distracted him with the boots. Good job, Claude. ]

Honestly, I wish we’d done a lot of things a lot sooner, but I’ll remain content that we’ve done them at all, because I really didn’t think you’d take any of my offers seriously.

[ His tone is joking and his grin easy as he leans back in his chair, propping his ankle atop his knee in a slouch. But there’s an underlying truth beneath those words all the same, even if he disguises it as teasing. ]

[ There's a smirk quickly replacing the expression that'd been there before in his act of complete and total blamelessness for anything happening. Yes, he's well aware about the boots and they've certainly paid off and then some by now.

Before he can continue to mention them, completely just because without anything attached whatsoever, Sylvain says something unexpected. Something almost sentimental even with the voiced disbelief of sorts, if he's reading between the lines correctly even though there's that grin he knows too well. It's the grin which gives him pause, makes Claude move it aside to mere teasing. They're rather good at that, and it's easy to ignore the tiny pang of wistfulness and fall back into it. ]

Maybe you should've bribed me via bribing yourself thanks to the boots a little bit sooner. [ Now it's his turn to grin, as if that's how that really worked, but as Sylvain knows well that won't stop Claude from continuing on - especially when he thinks he has something else to point out. ] Or there was always the near miss in Nocwich. Though really, I think things have worked out pretty well the way they have since.

I certainly don’t have any complaints.

[ He’d almost forgotten that ‘near miss’ in Nocwich, actually, although now he adopts a faint pout over it. Leaning back in his chair, he casts his gaze towards the rafters as he gives a thoughtful hum, recalling. ]

I suppose Nocwich can be blamed on me, however. I chickened out at the last moment. Like four times.

Four times, huh.

[ The grin's disappeared but left a smile behind playing about the corners of his mouth as he considers that pout. He could tease Sylvain about it much as he always would, and the temptation's certainly there, but - a sliver of honesty might not be the worst thing to substitute in instead. ]

I suppose it probably helps we were evenly matched in that, then. Even if it means we're responsible for making it not one but multiple near misses after all, but close enough.

[ Sylvain arches an eyebrow at this unexpected honesty and then grins impishly as he props his chin in his palm and regards Claude with intense speculation. ]

So just how long were you pining for me, then?

[ Claude's immediate response is to arch one eyebrow and then after a pause of a couple seconds, to arch the other right after. All the better for his supposed scandalization going on here, minus that it's completely undermined by also looking entirely too entertained by that question, that propped chin, and the supposed speculation. ]

You can't possibly expect me to answer such a thing just like that. Better yet, how about this: you name a number, and I'll consider telling you if it's close.

[ No promises on anything, after all. ]

[ He just gives an indulgent-sounding sigh, wiggling his fingers at Claude’s put-on scandalized expression. ]

It’s okay. You can admit it was love at first sight. I promise I won’t tell anyone.

That's not a number, Gautier.

[ He'll match that sigh as well like there's Some Disappointment here (there isn't) and that he's put out by Sylvain choosing to play along in a different way (he's not). Along with it Claude lets go of his drink to twirl a couple of fingers as if to say, go on. ]

I bet you can name one if you wanted to. C'mon, entertain us both.

[ His lower lip juts out slightly in a faint hint of a sulky pout at the denial. ]

The number was implied, since I assume you do know how to count. Besides. That number is different for you than it is for me anyway. They’re not going to match.

[ You’ve still got a year on him, Riegan.

That’s also very much implying Claude’s been pining since before Abraxas as well. ]

[ A flash of a smirk crosses his face despite the acts they're both putting on here before it fades out to looking pensive. Claude lets more than a few beats go by just to further the illusion he's giving something deep thought. ]

I have always struggled with numbers.

[ A deeply facetious proclamation for the sole purpose of entertaining Sylvain since there's nothing believable about any of that combination of words coming out of his mouth, what with multitudes of evidence to prove otherwise. All of it helps serve as a cover for contemplating whether to pull upon the thread of something else offered to see what, if anything, it might unravel. After a sip of his drink, Claude decides to do just that. ]

Sounds a lot like you're expecting them not to match. Which makes me all the more curious about what it is you have in mind since you clearly have something leading up to four near misses.

You know.

[ Sylvain just reaches for his tankard again, peering down into the amber liquid as if it holds the secret to the best answer to give here. ]

Since you’re so bad with numbers anyway, maybe I’ll just decline to answer. Besides. I asked it first and you’ve yet to answer me, so perhaps I’ll just keep these cards close to my chest for now.

Looks like we have ourselves a regular little mystery here, then.

[ With a grin again since - as Sylvain's noted, Claude's not willing to reveal his own answer without getting one first even if that's really not how that round of questioning is supposed to go. What he's about to say will surely come as no surprise then, either. ]

I vote we keep it that way. Think of it as some added intrigue even after all this time, what with a whole year having gone by to just stretch that time you've been pining for out even longer.

[ A beat, and then - ]

It's certainly still been a year worth looking back on, at any rate.

[ For the briefest of moments, Sylvain’s expression softens as he stares down into his ale, swirling the liquid around in his tankard before flitting an almost hesitant gaze across the table at the man with him. ]

Full of regrets yet?

[ His lips quirk crookedly, sardonic humor layered in his tone, his expression carefully bemused. ]

About the drink I ordered? Absolutely, since while this ale is still fine it's not the best one here by far as we know now from sampling them all. Maybe I shouldn't have stuck that close to memory.

[ He hasn't missed that the question asked isn't, in fact, about ale, or their surroundings, or anything else he could attribute it to or for in the sake of keeping things light. Nor is it a joke meant as an evasion but more to fill a space to consider what it is Sylvain isn't telling him in there by way of asking something indirectly, or what feels like it. Claude had followed that up frowning down at his drink as if seriously offended by his own choice though in looking up a second later it's with a grin to meet the look on Sylvain's face. ]

But about the rest of it? No, I can't say I am.

[ Claude’s immediate reply carries on the humor he’d started and, well… he had no one to blame for that but himself, didn’t he?

It doesn’t keep his heart from dropping somewhere down into the depths of his stomach anyway. Still, he laughs, a wry chuckle, fingers tightening momentarily around his tankard as he tries to shove off the automatic sinking of disappointment all the same.

What had he expected, really? And why had he let himself expect anything to begin with? He knew better than that.

He doesn’t know what his face is doing when Claude glances up to finish his thoughts, but he doesn’t think he’s managed to convincingly match it to his chuckle as well as he’d hoped. ]

Well, then I can’t be doing all that badly, then. Or your memory’s just getting faultier in your old age.

[ Better to keep the topic light, then. Like always. Nostalgia or not, he doesn’t want to ruin Claude’s efforts at a celebration for the evening. Two friends celebrating a milestone reunion, and all that came after. It’s a dance he can bluff his way through well enough, at least. Claude makes it easy, as he does most things. ]

Or maybe that ale is more potent than you realized.

Just remember that every time you call me old you're really calling yourself old since you're still older. Not even the Singularity's sparing you from that one.

[ There was no way he wasn't going to latch onto that immediately, much of a call back to their friendly squabbling as it is and what with his birthday being all of a month ago. Call it another version of that while he puzzles through the rest of Sylvain's reaction.

It's that time spent together on top of years spent watching people to be able to read them which tells him something is out of sync between how Sylvain's reacting outwardly versus whatever it is on the inside. But what the inside could be - that's the part which feels like a totally unknown variable for why something about that answer so clearly hit wrong. It wasn't as hidden as Sylvain meant it to be, Claude thinks. ]

Maybe the ale's secretly taking us both out in revenge for my casting aspersions upon it. Even if it is, that still doesn't change my answer about not regretting the rest.

Please. I age like a fine wine.

[ Considering Hilda’s hilarious reaction when he’d adopted a Lorenz impression as a distraction technique, he figures it can’t go wrong here, complete with an upturned nose and disdainful sniff.

But it’s quick to melt into a cheeky grin a moment later as he sets his tankard back down on the tabletop, making a face. ]

…Which this is most certainty not. Goddess. Maybe my memory is faulty, I don’t remember it tasting this bad. Maybe Mags is the one getting revenge here.

I think admitting you age well is still the same as calling yourself old in the process.

[ Claude grins shamelessly, endlessly pleased as always to have found what feels like a loophole he can use to continue teasing Sylvain. For the sake of it, and not at all because he disagrees about the fine aging part.

It feels extra fitting after that impression of a certain noble which couldn't be mistaken for anyone else on the topic of snobbery or something adjacent. Something he's certainly entertained by even while taking another drink of the thoroughly slandered ale. ]

Well, she might be considering she has us back to cause trouble for the night. Though we don't have to stay here for too long since, [ with a casual shrug of one shoulder, ] following along with the whole night as we knew it isn't terribly exciting, and I do have some other places in mind.

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