[ The tavern is a good choice. A smart choice, Claude thinks as he takes a seat and surveys the interior from their table. There's plenty of activity, their table is out of the way - it's nearly as secluded as possible for still being in plain sight where no one will pay them any mind with more interesting things happening around them.
Of course, they aren't here to idle away the hours even with drinks (soon to be) on the table. When Thancred speaks, Claude's attention is back on him in an instant even if it takes an additional second for him to shift his gaze back.
It's a loaded question, and perhaps what makes it all the more loaded is that he hasn't the slightest whether Thancred means it as one or not. Sure, the other man knows Edelgard and Byleth, but: in what capacity? How much of Fodlan had been spoken about between them, and what had been shared compared to what hadn't? Claude's no stranger to walking a fine line between revealing just enough versus too much, but this is the first time he's really had to consider it in something larger than the Free Cities alone. ]
Forgive me for asking you this first before I answer. Can you tell me what Te- Byleth looked like?
[ Possibly not Teach, he has to remind himself, as painful as that is. Claude also doesn't provide any other context to what he'll admit is a Strange Question if Thancred rightfully chooses to volley it back his way. But - it's really the only way he has a chance of narrowing down where Edelgard and Byleth came from, if they even arrived together and he's not just grouped them together as a Fodlan unit, and that may need to play into how he chooses his answers to Thancred. ]
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Of course, they aren't here to idle away the hours even with drinks (soon to be) on the table. When Thancred speaks, Claude's attention is back on him in an instant even if it takes an additional second for him to shift his gaze back.
It's a loaded question, and perhaps what makes it all the more loaded is that he hasn't the slightest whether Thancred means it as one or not. Sure, the other man knows Edelgard and Byleth, but: in what capacity? How much of Fodlan had been spoken about between them, and what had been shared compared to what hadn't? Claude's no stranger to walking a fine line between revealing just enough versus too much, but this is the first time he's really had to consider it in something larger than the Free Cities alone. ]
Forgive me for asking you this first before I answer. Can you tell me what Te- Byleth looked like?
[ Possibly not Teach, he has to remind himself, as painful as that is. Claude also doesn't provide any other context to what he'll admit is a Strange Question if Thancred rightfully chooses to volley it back his way. But - it's really the only way he has a chance of narrowing down where Edelgard and Byleth came from, if they even arrived together and he's not just grouped them together as a Fodlan unit, and that may need to play into how he chooses his answers to Thancred. ]