[ OPEN ] where the wind blows now

[godshattering]

Who: Claude and open!
When: January
Where: Around Thorne, the Horizon, TBA
What: Catch all
Warnings: None currently, will add/mark as needed


( open + closed starters below | action, prose, and wildcards all welcome | find me at indech, by PM, or on discord to plot something! )

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[theidlemaiden]

Liar.

[ Though there's nothing there but affection even as she tweaks his nose slightly with her finger. Even on his best behaviour Claude has never been able to resist the siren call of trouble. The word may as well have been synonymous with him just like "mischief" and "secrets" were. But even if he were stirring up trouble, and even if she would inevitably give him a huge scolding for making Sylvain fret, she knows that they'd both be proud of him for causing trouble for a monarchy that is all too familiar to the three of them.

Though it would still be vastly preferred if he stayed out of trouble - and Thorne's dungeons.

Immediately she rolls his eyes at his teasing. ]

Please. I haven't been there that long. And it's not like I've changed the trends of fashion in the Free Cities either. [ The goats however - ] Funny you should mention the goats though. I did manage to persuade some of them to wear ribbons around their horns but they just don't look as cute as Waffle or Khurshid.

[ Though the latter hadn't tolerated her ribbons for very long. Being the escape artist he is, he'd somehow managed to squirm out of them before shredding them to ribbons seconds later. Good thing they had just been scraps. ]

[godshattering]

[ For once Claude doesn't follow that up with the mock offended gasp he might usually offer along with something ludicrous in supposed defense against something they both know to be true. Instead he's too busy with looking down at her with an intent gaze to file this away for when they're no longer in the Horizon when there's no knowing how long it'll be for a moment like this in person. Something he hopes isn't as long as his increasing worries are insisting it might be the longer they each stay somewhere that isn't the Free Cities and isn't home with Sylvain, though that part he chooses to keep to himself. Why say aloud something they're likely both thinking?

Instead it's easier to crack a grin at her eye roll as if he's said something ridiculous, and yet - ]

Who said anything about needing to be there for long to get it done? It not taking long at all is just a sign of how influential you are since you have impacted the Free Cities. [ Something Claude wholeheartedly believes in each of those statements. It might merit him another eye roll but he'll take it cheerfully. ] The goats might just need a different accessory if they can't pull off the ribbons since maybe those are better meant for wyverns.

[ It'd be easy to keep that going and slide right back into their usual teasing when it's something he's missed so much. What feels like dozens of other quips slip away the longer he looks at her until there's really only one thing to say left. ] I miss you so much, you know.

[theidlemaiden]

[ Hilda can feel his gaze on her, silently cataloguing her in a way that she's doing in kind. It's more than just pressing all of his features between pages of a book in her mind however. The Horizon, being inherently magical, means that all of the Summoned can similarly magic away the things they don't want anyone to see. They can weave clothing, buildings, mimicries of beloved creatures from home – so covering any blemishes, scars, or physical signs of lost sleep – isn't a feat. But she'd like to think she would know if he were hiding something. Though she'd also like to think that they're past hiding things like that from one another too.

Instead of an eye roll, Hilda's nose wrinkles in protest as she shoves lightly against his chest in a way that isn't really a shove at all. ]

I'm not influential.

[ Noticed, perhaps because of her strange to Abraxas colouring. But then the feeling of stares has mellowed after two years here (the looks from the people of Solvunn not withstanding). There is still little in her mind that she has done to really make an impact to Abraxas; not in the way others have. And she mostly prefers it that way. Ready to prove that she nearly launches right into her own defense. Only to be cut short by something unexpectedly tender that makes her heart tighten. The mirth that colours all of their teasing banter dims, replaced with her trying to wrestle her expression into place. Inadvertently her grip on him tightens. ]

I miss you too. Sharing a bed with Wanda from time to time just isn't quite the same. 

[godshattering]

[ There's a distinct Look which crosses Claude's face at Hilda denying any influence. That's the entirety of his rebuttal for right now since there's far further important things to dwell on no matter how much he wants to lightly argue that point. It can be saved for another day when it's better suited to a conversation where he's not still trying to memorize as much of her as he can on top of what he'd already memorized long ago and again and again over the years.

It's part of why going back to being flippant so soon doesn't feel right even if many other times he wouldn't have questioned doing so right before carrying on with whatever thought might cross his mind next. But not now; now it feels right to wait and hear what she says following that proclamation when those words have a smile coming back to his face. ]

I think that's possibly a compliment to Wanda since I doubt she has quite as many books for you to roll across in bed.

[ Well. It was a brief halt to teasing though this will be an equally fleeting about of joking since Claude's expression shifts back to something slightly more solemn a mere moment later. This time he leans down to press his lips to her forehead and to let them linger there as if willing the feeling to stay even once they leave here, whenever that may be. ]

But that just means we'll have to make the most of being here now while we have it, thankfully.