[ He doesn't look away when Sylvain speaks though he wants to, and we before it's swapped for they is only scratching the surface. Here again feels like a misstep but he's at a loss for how to fix that. Even now he can recall the exact moments he knew that not all of them would be walking away from what was to happen at this battlefield or that one, and whether Teach would try to convince whoever it was to join them if he could, and Claude would then devote his plans to keeping who he could safe.
It was war. But then - he has to remind himself it's only past tense for one of them. Or only him.
Is it better to rip the metaphorical bandage off now rather than later, several months down the line, when things may have shifted even further in who knows how many ways? The answer to that is no clearer than the first time Claude realized it was something he couldn't avoid here and the question's lurked in the corners of his mind ever since, so his deliberately short answer in response is, ] Yeah.
[ Because what else is there to say? For all the many ways he has to spin a thread of a conversation into something wilder and more distracting, it seems like they've all deserted him now. Nothing to do but watch Sylvain process it and silently brace himself for whatever comes next. ]
no subject
It was war. But then - he has to remind himself it's only past tense for one of them. Or only him.
Is it better to rip the metaphorical bandage off now rather than later, several months down the line, when things may have shifted even further in who knows how many ways? The answer to that is no clearer than the first time Claude realized it was something he couldn't avoid here and the question's lurked in the corners of his mind ever since, so his deliberately short answer in response is, ] Yeah.
[ Because what else is there to say? For all the many ways he has to spin a thread of a conversation into something wilder and more distracting, it seems like they've all deserted him now. Nothing to do but watch Sylvain process it and silently brace himself for whatever comes next. ]