Smart men are always looking for loopholes.

[itookashot]

WHO: Jesper Fahey and you!
WHAT: Catch-all for October
WHERE: Cadens, Nocwich, Horizon
WHEN: Throughout October (may add event things)
WARNINGS: Nothing right now.





[ooc: feel free to wildcard below or ask me for a custom starter on plurk]

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[itookashot]

Jesper notices that Claude doesn't respond to that outside of a hum but he doesn't take it personally. He can see the wheels turning in his head so he's considering what has been said. And also what hasn't been said, like his implication about Sylvain needing to be made up to too. He doesn't mean to meddle, but he meant it when he said it reminded him of his own triangle situation, in the past.

"I don't mind, she's excellent company." Hilda and Jesper are very similar in some ways, their sunny personalities and flourishes the obvious ones, but that they hide their inner depth through those bright smiles.

One of said bright smiles show when Claude moves to colors suiting Sylvain. "I'd be happy to. I'm very fond of him, you know. He was there for me when I really needed someone." During the gods, when he was deep into his sickness and couldn't drag himself out of it alone. He was hiding from Inej and Kaz out of deep shame, but Sylvain pulled him out. With sex, yes, but it came from kindness. He understood Jesper needed a distraction.

"You know what solved the problem with me, Inej, and Kaz?" He taps the journal playfully. "We're all together now. I'm not saying it works for everyone, but for some of us, it does."

[godshattering]

"She is, isn't she? One of the very many things I like so much about her." That sliver of honesty slips out before Claude really realizes it's going to happen, but once it does? No need to sweep it aside or cover it up. It's the truth and easy to let it be, especially when the long list of what he loves about Hilda has so much more on it.

And in line with appreciation for that: the idea for the scarves had set in one day while he was (sort of) organizing his closet and thinking about home, and a way to bring that here. There'll have to be some explanations for their recipients, probably, but those can come later with other things tied to them, too.

Claude means to voice that Sylvain's every bit as fond as of Jesper with no question, but that'll have to wait when what follows wasn't something he was expecting even with the mention of Inej and Kaz. This time he chuckles, and a genuine laugh at that, since - "I wouldn't be opposed to such an arrangement either. Far from it, but their thoughts on that are far more important than mine when it comes to deciding."

He's considered it more and more because there's benefits to that in so many ways, he knows, strange as it seems to be considering. Only because it involves the letting of his guard he keeps up closely at all times down for not one but two people, and he shifts his gaze back to the page momentarily before looking back up at Jesper. "It's not uncommon where I grew up for someone to have more than one lover or even spouse, but I think the two of them are less familiar with it. They'll need to figure out if that's what they want too since I wouldn't ask either of them to accept something they don't."

[itookashot]

"Brilliant, funny, kind, beautiful, she's one hell of a woman, you're a lucky man." Jesper is highly complimentary of his friends because he loves them, genuinely. He sees only the best in them, Hilda included. It is difficult to get Jesper to be critical of anyone he cares of, he's always likely to give them the benefit of the doubt or come up with excuses. They earn that.

"I may as well be saying all the same things about you to her though." He doesn't know what the hold up was to get them to this place, but it's nice to know they're getting past it. There's no reason good people should be fighting amongst themselves.

Jesper raises his eyebrows at that, but he's glad to hear it's something Claude is comfortable with and would want. "I mean, there's three of you in this, love. Your wants are as important as theirs, their thoughts aren't the only ones that matter. Sometimes you have to just tell people what will make you happy to give them the freedom to decide the same."

Unsurprisingly, he is the last person to need encouragement to speak his wants. "Right before getting here, Kaz let the two of us go on new paths, but he wanted us to stay, or at least he wanted to know we would come back. But he never said so, and he suffered for it. Here, he finally told us the truth, and now he's deliriously happy, not that you'd know talking to him." Kaz doesn't seem like a guy who is ever happy. He's got that permanent poker face of icy indifference, but Jesper knows who he is under it.

"They might not even think it's possible, Claude. Most people don't believe they deserve everything they can get."

[godshattering]

There's another smile at all those descriptions Jesper offers - all of them accurate and then some, and he's in complete agreement. At the mention Jesper might be saying the same about him, he offers another one of those silly seated bows in playful gratitude for a little levity, but the rest is something he won't treat quite as lightly. Especially not that last statement and how much it resonates.

"It's more that if only one partner is something they'd rather have for themselves, I won't push them to accept something else just because this is something I want, you know? If it's something they've never considered before, I want to give them the time to think it through before deciding because they deserve that and it's a lot to think about. Even if it's the three of us, I don't think my wants outrank something that'd make them unhappy. But that said, you certainly have a point about being clearer."

It'd be a big change in many ways. Even though they aren't in Fodlan, it doesn't mean there aren't some things they've collectively carried with them in different ways. Of course, that also doesn't mean leaving time to think can't be a detriment even if it'd seemed logical enough to Claude. It wouldn't be the first mistake he'd made here - far from it - and that thought is one he keeps turning over in the back of his mind. It does help to hear from someone else who's been in the same position and has made it work, and that mention about Kaz's expression gets a grin from him.

"He's always seemed rather serious when I've passed by him, now that you mention it. So before you came here, there was a possibility for this to happen at home for Inej, Kaz, and you, too? Do you think being here was what made it possible? Or at least to start the conversation about it since you hadn't before?" And now there's an apologetic grin, considering he hadn't meant to ask quite so many questions all at once even despite his curiosity.

[itookashot]

"I know, but how clearly do they know your wants? You've got a diplomat's tongue and mind, but when it comes to matters of the heart, being straightforward is my best suggestion." Jesper gets that it's not always easy to do that. It's very hard, in fact, something he knows personally. It took him longer than it should have to talk to Wylan, but that came from a place of guilt, but they figured it out. What Jesper is glad about is that he told the truth from the start.

He's very fond of Claude but Jesper is quite good at seeing through masks and he thinks Claude hides a great deal behind his charming demeanor. A sharp mind and his own discerning eye, for example. He suspects it isn't easy for people to know what is going on in that pretty head of his. It's not as if Jesper knows, but he can see there's a polite veneer.

"Oh yes, Kaz could have had me at any time, I've been down bad for him for years. The thing is that Kaz is the boss, he's the leader of our gang, and as long as he holds that position, he doesn't believe in showing weakness. That's the sort of thing that gets you killed in Ketterdam." And to him, being in love with Inej and Jesper was a weakness. Keeping them close and valuing them was already a danger, but it was more than that.

"Inej and I would've been his back home if he wanted, but he wasn't willing at that time. Coming here changed that, it changed all of us. So now we're going for it." Jesper grins cheekily. "I knew I'd get him eventually."

[godshattering]

There's a tilt of his head at that, partially in acknowledgment and mostly in entertainment since - Claude has no way of arguing what Jesper's said. He could, of course, but it'd also be somewhat empty and for the sake of being difficult. Years of dodging around this topic or that to redirect conversations where he wants them to go certainly have created a bit of a disconnect with the idea of being forthcoming. All the time, at least; when directness is called for then it's simple to lean into. Mostly.

"Sounds a little bit like realizing you're in love with someone in the middle of a war," Claude adds dryly and totally not from experience. Definitely not. It's close enough to the actual dates involved, anyway, and he's really only saying this to commiserate - a bit - and for Jesper's amusement. "I get that, though. That's the kind of danger you can't overlook quite so easily especially when it comes to being a leader and keeping those you care about safe."

Among other things; from their talks of Ketterdam and from what he's lived through himself, danger can take many forms when it comes to either yourself or loved ones. That's also part of what makes it so easy to grin right back at Jesper when the other man flashes one first. "That also sounds familiar considering being here is what changed things for all of us too, I think. Now it's just a matter of seeing if they'll align, though I'm glad to hear it has for the three of you no matter what else happens."