[ It wasn't real - this is something Claude keeps repeating to himself while catching his breath but the feeling alone was something far too much like everything he remembered it could be. But how? The Singularity? He still remembers the nightmares and how the Horizon hadn't been quite what he'd come to understand in his short few weeks of visiting before things had turned on them all.
Does that narrow it down to an illusion cast by the other? There are many mages of all kinds here, he's learned, and he is no stranger to how some of those magics can warp what's around them to be something else entirely. Something darker, something threatening. There's no actual poison in Claude's veins, but memory calls those feelings back too and leaves him no closer to uncovering an answer that fits besides what his mind is forcing this one to be.
When Hythlodaeus draws close, as any concerned person would do, Claude takes an automatic step back quickly followed by another one. Wariness isn't normally something he shows so openly as it will always reveal far too much, will always tell much more than he'd prefer to let on. This response now is too much of an instant reaction for him to stifle it. It's something from being cornered before while looking for a way out and here they have the benefit of space.
So it's space he'll get even while registering the concern written on the other's features - something Claude will recognize later as genuine, but for now? It fits as another puzzle piece into it being something Hythlodaeus is responsible for. The other benefit of recalling this later will be after Claude himself has caused several different kinds of upset and he'll think back on this with added clarity. ]
I think that'd be for the best.
[ No insight now, though; just his voice hoarsened by some nonexistent strangling feeling and the desire for Hythlodaeus to just go. Claude will remain still as he has been until the other leaves, at which point he'll sit down shakily from what feels like far too close of a call with something unknown. ]
yay! if we wanna wrap this one here and continue on w/ the next, i'm good with that!
Does that narrow it down to an illusion cast by the other? There are many mages of all kinds here, he's learned, and he is no stranger to how some of those magics can warp what's around them to be something else entirely. Something darker, something threatening. There's no actual poison in Claude's veins, but memory calls those feelings back too and leaves him no closer to uncovering an answer that fits besides what his mind is forcing this one to be.
When Hythlodaeus draws close, as any concerned person would do, Claude takes an automatic step back quickly followed by another one. Wariness isn't normally something he shows so openly as it will always reveal far too much, will always tell much more than he'd prefer to let on. This response now is too much of an instant reaction for him to stifle it. It's something from being cornered before while looking for a way out and here they have the benefit of space.
So it's space he'll get even while registering the concern written on the other's features - something Claude will recognize later as genuine, but for now? It fits as another puzzle piece into it being something Hythlodaeus is responsible for. The other benefit of recalling this later will be after Claude himself has caused several different kinds of upset and he'll think back on this with added clarity. ]
I think that'd be for the best.
[ No insight now, though; just his voice hoarsened by some nonexistent strangling feeling and the desire for Hythlodaeus to just go. Claude will remain still as he has been until the other leaves, at which point he'll sit down shakily from what feels like far too close of a call with something unknown. ]