i'm reaching for the clouds

[godshattering]

Who: Claude and various
When: January + early February (pre-event)
Where: The Horizon, Aquila, TBA
What: Catch all
Warnings: None currently, will add/mark as needed


( Closed starters in the comments below. Feel free to find me at indech, arboria#1862, or by PM at any time to plot something! )

Comments

— kyle

[godshattering]

[ There's much to talk about. It's unfortunate there was no time to talk to Kyle about it in person - and many good reasons to avoid it - but on the bright side: they do have a good solution to that besides waiting until the next trip to Nocwich, close as it is.

This time Claude's seated in his own domain with a book propped in his lap, one hand resting on the page and ready to turn it though he's simply studying the page absently rather than making any attempt to absorb the words. It's a novel someone created and put on the monastery library's shelves which he'd stumbled across in his browsing and brought back with him, and one he'll have time for later. A cup of tea's perched on the arm of his chair though it's mostly ignored while he runs through what to discuss in an old habit from before other important meetings in another life.

He's not distracted enough to not hear someone approaching, however, and when Claude glances up to see who it is there's an easy grin which breaks over his face when it's just who he wanted to see. ]

Ah, good, you made it. I trust the monastery worked out as a decent enough landmark to find me here after all?

[ He'd been tempted to suggest it as a meeting place itself but at least this replication of Derdriu is... well, smaller, and with less places to get turned around in if one's unfamiliar with Garreg Mach's sprawling grounds. Still an option for a resource for all of this, though. ]

— steve rogers

[godshattering]

[ Normally he's met Steve in person - at the inn, around Cadens, now out and about in the desert - but with what's on his mind these days now that they've all returned to a relative home? Wariness kicks in about being overheard for a variety of reasons. But Steve is someone he's come to trust a great deal for just as many reasons, and so to be sure any conversation's between the two of them alone he suggests the Horizon for them to meet. On the plus side, it won't be as sweltering as it can get on hot days in Cadens' wilderness.

With the invitation extended, there's nothing to do but wait. Restlessly wait as it turns out; before too long, Claude's picked up Failnaught from the rack of weapons waiting at the training grounds he's created for a little archery practice. The heft of the Relic is as comforting - in some ways - as it was on the day he'd picked it up for the first time and then inheritance had made it his alone. A part of him is ignoring what he now knows about the bow's history or rather, its creation. Maybe it helps that what's here is now not the Relic itself.

He lets another arrow fly for it to sink into the target a hair away from the bullseye before Claude lets out a tsk to himself at that error. Most people would be happy with that, but he reaches for another arrow for another attempt. It's deceptive that Failnaught is mere memory and nothing else, though, given how the bow still glows as the Crest Stone in it calls to the matching one in him.

How this might potentially look to someone walking in who's unfamiliar with Crests, even with their shared nightmare between them, is lost on Claude while he concentrates on lining up another shot. ]

— sylvain

[godshattering]

[ There might have been a lot of complaining involved in this.

Complaining Sylvain isn't going to get to see; oh no, that was reserved entirely for Hilda. Some part of him is still flabbergasted by this turn of events - because even during the war when disguises had been floated around and Teach had suggested making him wear a dress, Hilda had said no and then promptly told him about it. Now they've ended up here, and he can't even tell her that because it's something she's not yet lived.

But. It's a good thing Claude got all of that out of his system (sorry, Hilda) because afterwards came something far more important: the knowledge that sure, he's lost the bet, but that doesn't mean he doesn't get to have fun with everything about it. Maybe this is Sylvain's win, but Claude's not about to make it his loss. Where's the appeal in that?

And so he'd chosen a restaurant but hadn't told Sylvain where; not by name, anyway, since it'd been more fun to present him with a series of hints. Claude thought he was rather nice about it, in his own opinion, since they were less hints than particularly blatant clues to make sure the other didn't spend his night wandering about Aquila. In the meantime, Claude's seated on a stool at the bar in the front part of the restaurant that's a bit more like a tavern, where the entirety is upscale enough to where no one seems to look twice at him sitting there in a dress in a very particular blue while he sips an ale, and not enough that this'll feel more like punishment where they have to behave. Hopefully.

Now all there is to do is wait for Sylvain to appear for the grand reveal. ]

— hilda

[godshattering]

[ Sure, there's the looming threat of a bet coming back to haunt him, but Claude's in good spirits. Bets turning out to not be in his favor's been a bit of a theme lately but for this one? He's mostly convinced himself Sylvain is bluffing. He has to be. There's no way Hilda would betray him like this in getting involved.

He should know better. He really should.

Evening's approaching and after an afternoon of wandering around to see what Aquila has to offer, relaxing with a book sounds like a good plan. At first he was going to head back down to the shore but in the end sprawling out on the bed becomes far more appealing, to the point where he loses track of time. There's a knock on the door and Claude glances up from the book he's reading. Maybe it wasn't for this room. He's about to turn a page when there's a second and decidedly more impatient knock following it. ]

Alright, alright. Just a second.

[ Maybe it's just Felix or Sylvain coming back from shopping with their hands full. But it's not, Claude discovers when he opens the door, because instead it's Hilda standing there with a garment bag which looks suspiciously dress-shaped. He can still escape this! It just might take a little work first, and as such he immediately narrows his eyes in jest. ]

So you are betraying me after all, huh?