If it wasn't Marianne gone home first, it would have been Claude. Claude isn't certain whether he counts himself as being fortunate or not for staying -- he knows that if he had a chance to leave, he'd feel as though he'd have to take it. And yet, there's a greater part of him that is reluctant to leave the people here behind with nary a parting word, just as he believes that Marianne herself would have much rather given everyone a hug good-bye, given a horse an apple or two, clean up the remainders of her business.
It feels a bit like fate, her going home so soon after he'd confessed to Jim that he and Marianne weren't likely to ever see each other again. Not the versions of them they had come to know and love. Back home, a different Marianne waits for him, still as retiring and sweet, but one who has not yet accepted him for who he is, one who has not yet confessed to him the nature of her anxiety.
It's all deeply depressing. And so he focuses on his work, this time not busying himself with some concoction behind the counter, but with a pile of papers. Bills, agreements, plans -- he has a business to build, and workers to hire. ]
Ah, hello Ethlyn! [ He greets her pleasantly, absently licking at the end of his pen to get the dried ink to loosen up. ] You weren't expecting an order, were you? [ He frowns, shuffling a little through his sheaf of papers. ] I don't think it'll be ready in full until next week.
[It's a little unusual to see Claude at paperwork, although of course he has it, just like Ethlyn does. Usually when she comes by, he's doing something with herbs, which depending on what it is and her own mood can be worrying.
At the casual greeting, Ethlyn hesitates; maybe he's trying not to think about it, or mabe he's getting on with things in spite of it and being reminded won't help.
But she also knows how good Claude is at constructing a facade--so good that he can do it without even knowing that he's done it. and that can't be healthy. Besides... she wants to talk about it.]
No, I just came by to see how you're feeling. Now that... Marianne's gone home.
In truth, he doesn't know how to feel about any of this. This place has been a living hell in many ways, with just one bad thing happening after the other, poor Marianne faced with all of her demons, with death and destruction and despair. Even if she's going home to a war much like Claude's own, he knows she will at least be well taken care of, well within the arms of a house of people who love and cherish her the way that she deserves to be.
There is a moment where Ethlyn will be able to actively see Claude debating whether or not he's going to lie. Eventually, he relents. Ethlyn deserves the truth. He sighs. ]
I can't say I'm sorry that she's free of this place. It was all just... too much, for a gentle soul like her. The war is as the war may be, but at least there is a forseeable end to it. I will miss her, though. As will you, I'm sure.
[ They'd always been close too. Ethlyn must be sad as well. ]
[It's true. Marianne is one of the gentlest people that Ethlyn had ever met. Ethlyn had pitied her at first, but had soon discovered that there was more to her than the timid outer shell.]
She was the first friend I made here... I thought that she would need my help getting by in a strange place like this. [Aldrip is even stranger now, but it was unsettling in its own distinctive ways before.] As it turns out, she was much stronger than I thought.
But you're right, I'm sure--home, even a home at war, is a better place for her to be. Among her comrades and her family.
We understand war, at least. There will be an end to it, and I have reason to believe that we will rise victorious, and that Marianne will be able to spend her days with Dorte and the rest of her beloved little furry friends. I only regret that I won't be there to share it with her.
[ Claude offers Ethlyn a small smile -- dry, remorseful, not altogether meeting his eyes. ]
I don't believe either of us told you that we are technically from two different worlds. My own Marianne was never here.
[It's pretty grim when war is a more comforting and understandable familiarity than wherever you're at now.
Her hands tighten around her cup of tea when Claude first says that he won't be there to share victory with his friend--surely he isn't about to reveal that he's dead too!--and then he explains.]
Another world... parallel worlds. [When Ethlyn first learned the concept, she almost immediately tried to put it out of her mind, so confusing and disturbing was the thought that there might be infinite her playing out lives slightly different out there in the universe.] That must have been confusing for you to figure out.
It's a little embarrassing, actually. We did gather we were from different periods of time -- she was in active combat, after all, and where I'm from, Leicester has yet to truly join the fray. It took us months to figure out that we weren't from the same time at all. I knew an old classmate as dead, and she knew him as alive.
[ Ethlyn can certainly piece together why that didn't work, chronologically speaking. Claude hasn't thought much on the whole business with parallel worlds -- had tried intently not to do so, in fact. It would drive him to madness. He has faith in his own grit, but what does that mean if he's in one of the worlds where he doesn't succeed?
And he'd wanted to avoid thinking about the grim reality of never being able to see Marianne, this Marianne he had grown closer with than even his own, ever again. He'd known it was coming. There was no need to mourn in advance; he knows by now that you cannot prepare yourself for that sort of grief. ]
But if she remembers everything she'd learned here... that other-me is a lucky man. She'll be able to help him tremendously.
[That has to be jarring. Ethlyn's thought sometimes about the different choices she or her comrades could have made during those two years of fighting--the war with Agustria, the war with Verdane, even back to the war with Isaach. She's wondered if choosing differently at one time or another would have resulted in living to raise her own children.
Claude and Marianne's experience would seem to confirm that.]
He is. And unless he's radically different than you, I'm sure he'll appreciate it, and they'll help each other grow stronger. [She smiles a little, because even if one choice or another was different, she's sure that Marianne's Claude is still the same in fundamentals as the one Ethlyn knows and trusts.] It must have been quite a shock to know that there's absolutely, definitely another you out there.
If we were radically different, Marianne would have noticed the differences between us a lot sooner. That other me is a little more... proactive, I think. Bolder. [ He offers her a small smile. Perhaps it would be of little comfort to most people, to know they'd never see their friend again, but it offers some comfort to him to know that Marianne is in good hands. ]
From Marianne's time, they're already at war. Me? I've been biding my time. [ He drums his fingers against the counter. If he had been more proactive, would Dimitri still be alive? Would Dedue? He can't imagine Dedue lasted long without his lord, through heartbreak alone.
But those are only two people. Claude has a country's welfare to think of. ]
It was strange to hear of another version of myself, [ Claude admits, ] but after everything we've been through here, it seems like little more than a footnote. I imagine there's different versions of all of us out there. I'd say I hope that they're all happier versions but, [ he says, shooting her a sly smile, ] I think I'd be a bit jealous if that were the case. I'm not as selfless as all that.
[ The idea of a world where Ethlyn survived is magnificent -- but utterly depressing for the woman standing before him. ]
...I hope that other you is a little less prone to sampling poisons on his own body.
[So the other Claude moved to battle before this man. Ethlyn wonders how that will end. She scolded Sigurd so often for leaping without looking... not realizing just how apt her warnings would become. Often she wonders how things would have turned out if he had been a little more cautious. Would Eldigan still be alive? Would they have looked back towards Grannvale and seen how their father's enemies were rapidly burning the bridges behind them? Maybe then, they all could have raised their own children.
But this Claude, the less bold one, knows a classmate dead, and the difference he knows is his own hesitation.]
I suppose compared to giant possessed octopus monsters, it may not be so strange after all. [She grins a little at Claude's self-deprecating joke.] I feel like a happier you might be even more prone to show off how clever he is.
Oh, I doubt it. He's still me, after all. And if he moved onto war, then he has even more reason to dabble in poisons and tonics than I do -- the opposing general can't very well lead his troops if he's otherwise disposed, after all.
[ It's the sort of trickery that he favours; a way to make sure that he wins with minimal bloodshed. He wonders if the other version of him had shed his reservations. He knows that he himself will have to shed them one day. It's a distasteful thought. He loathes unnecessary bloodshed. But it is what it is, and even Ethlyn, healer that she is, had led her own troops to bloodshed of their own. ]
I think a happier me would be entirely too busy to show off. I'm not happy unless I'm otherwise occupied, you know -- hours spent in the library would treat me well. [ He sighs, shaking his head with a rueful sort of smile. ] I can't speak on those other versions of me, though. We live with our own choices, like it or not. It'd be enough to send anyone into an existential crisis to think about it too terribly hard.
Though if a different me ever shows up and is a complete ass, I'll thank you to not let it reflect too badly on me.
[Well, that's about the answer Ethlyn expected. It would take a very different sort of universe, it seems, for Claude to avoid poisons like a sensible man.
That he openly admits to a willingness to use such underhanded methods can't surprise her, either. At one time, Ethlyn would have been shocked and disgusted by the thought--when she imagines someone like Eldigan laid low by a treacherous bite of food, it seems unconscionable.
But Eldigan's troops led by a lesser man might have done less damage in the field. Eldigan desperately ill would have hamstrung his king's "strategy", such as it was, and forced him to sue for peace.
It's a calculation, and it's no more brutal than the calculations of how many men can be lost to arrow and blade before it's "too much."]
I imagine you would write the sorts of books that would send all the established scholars into a rage for contradicting your theories. Folios and counter-folios and a nation full of very happy, very rich printers. [She grins.] That depends on exactly what way he is an ass, though. Maybe it would only be you without your careful diplomacy and restraints?
[Something she knows about only too well herself!]
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2024-09-10 08:27 am (UTC)If it wasn't Marianne gone home first, it would have been Claude. Claude isn't certain whether he counts himself as being fortunate or not for staying -- he knows that if he had a chance to leave, he'd feel as though he'd have to take it. And yet, there's a greater part of him that is reluctant to leave the people here behind with nary a parting word, just as he believes that Marianne herself would have much rather given everyone a hug good-bye, given a horse an apple or two, clean up the remainders of her business.
It feels a bit like fate, her going home so soon after he'd confessed to Jim that he and Marianne weren't likely to ever see each other again. Not the versions of them they had come to know and love. Back home, a different Marianne waits for him, still as retiring and sweet, but one who has not yet accepted him for who he is, one who has not yet confessed to him the nature of her anxiety.
It's all deeply depressing. And so he focuses on his work, this time not busying himself with some concoction behind the counter, but with a pile of papers. Bills, agreements, plans -- he has a business to build, and workers to hire. ]
Ah, hello Ethlyn! [ He greets her pleasantly, absently licking at the end of his pen to get the dried ink to loosen up. ] You weren't expecting an order, were you? [ He frowns, shuffling a little through his sheaf of papers. ] I don't think it'll be ready in full until next week.
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Date: 2024-09-13 10:24 pm (UTC)At the casual greeting, Ethlyn hesitates; maybe he's trying not to think about it, or mabe he's getting on with things in spite of it and being reminded won't help.
But she also knows how good Claude is at constructing a facade--so good that he can do it without even knowing that he's done it. and that can't be healthy. Besides... she wants to talk about it.]
No, I just came by to see how you're feeling. Now that... Marianne's gone home.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-23 10:06 pm (UTC)[ Claude's hands still. So does the rest of him.
In truth, he doesn't know how to feel about any of this. This place has been a living hell in many ways, with just one bad thing happening after the other, poor Marianne faced with all of her demons, with death and destruction and despair. Even if she's going home to a war much like Claude's own, he knows she will at least be well taken care of, well within the arms of a house of people who love and cherish her the way that she deserves to be.
There is a moment where Ethlyn will be able to actively see Claude debating whether or not he's going to lie. Eventually, he relents. Ethlyn deserves the truth. He sighs. ]
I can't say I'm sorry that she's free of this place. It was all just... too much, for a gentle soul like her. The war is as the war may be, but at least there is a forseeable end to it. I will miss her, though. As will you, I'm sure.
[ They'd always been close too. Ethlyn must be sad as well. ]
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Date: 2024-09-28 02:31 pm (UTC)She was the first friend I made here... I thought that she would need my help getting by in a strange place like this. [Aldrip is even stranger now, but it was unsettling in its own distinctive ways before.] As it turns out, she was much stronger than I thought.
But you're right, I'm sure--home, even a home at war, is a better place for her to be. Among her comrades and her family.
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Date: 2024-09-29 12:22 am (UTC)[ Claude offers Ethlyn a small smile -- dry, remorseful, not altogether meeting his eyes. ]
I don't believe either of us told you that we are technically from two different worlds. My own Marianne was never here.
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Date: 2024-10-07 12:07 am (UTC)Her hands tighten around her cup of tea when Claude first says that he won't be there to share victory with his friend--surely he isn't about to reveal that he's dead too!--and then he explains.]
Another world... parallel worlds. [When Ethlyn first learned the concept, she almost immediately tried to put it out of her mind, so confusing and disturbing was the thought that there might be infinite her playing out lives slightly different out there in the universe.] That must have been confusing for you to figure out.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-09 07:48 am (UTC)[ Ethlyn can certainly piece together why that didn't work, chronologically speaking. Claude hasn't thought much on the whole business with parallel worlds -- had tried intently not to do so, in fact. It would drive him to madness. He has faith in his own grit, but what does that mean if he's in one of the worlds where he doesn't succeed?
And he'd wanted to avoid thinking about the grim reality of never being able to see Marianne, this Marianne he had grown closer with than even his own, ever again. He'd known it was coming. There was no need to mourn in advance; he knows by now that you cannot prepare yourself for that sort of grief. ]
But if she remembers everything she'd learned here... that other-me is a lucky man. She'll be able to help him tremendously.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-12 03:04 am (UTC)Claude and Marianne's experience would seem to confirm that.]
He is. And unless he's radically different than you, I'm sure he'll appreciate it, and they'll help each other grow stronger. [She smiles a little, because even if one choice or another was different, she's sure that Marianne's Claude is still the same in fundamentals as the one Ethlyn knows and trusts.] It must have been quite a shock to know that there's absolutely, definitely another you out there.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-15 11:49 pm (UTC)From Marianne's time, they're already at war. Me? I've been biding my time. [ He drums his fingers against the counter. If he had been more proactive, would Dimitri still be alive? Would Dedue? He can't imagine Dedue lasted long without his lord, through heartbreak alone.
But those are only two people. Claude has a country's welfare to think of. ]
It was strange to hear of another version of myself, [ Claude admits, ] but after everything we've been through here, it seems like little more than a footnote. I imagine there's different versions of all of us out there. I'd say I hope that they're all happier versions but, [ he says, shooting her a sly smile, ] I think I'd be a bit jealous if that were the case. I'm not as selfless as all that.
[ The idea of a world where Ethlyn survived is magnificent -- but utterly depressing for the woman standing before him. ]
no subject
Date: 2024-10-20 03:40 pm (UTC)[So the other Claude moved to battle before this man. Ethlyn wonders how that will end. She scolded Sigurd so often for leaping without looking... not realizing just how apt her warnings would become. Often she wonders how things would have turned out if he had been a little more cautious. Would Eldigan still be alive? Would they have looked back towards Grannvale and seen how their father's enemies were rapidly burning the bridges behind them? Maybe then, they all could have raised their own children.
But this Claude, the less bold one, knows a classmate dead, and the difference he knows is his own hesitation.]
I suppose compared to giant possessed octopus monsters, it may not be so strange after all. [She grins a little at Claude's self-deprecating joke.] I feel like a happier you might be even more prone to show off how clever he is.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-23 01:08 am (UTC)[ It's the sort of trickery that he favours; a way to make sure that he wins with minimal bloodshed. He wonders if the other version of him had shed his reservations. He knows that he himself will have to shed them one day. It's a distasteful thought. He loathes unnecessary bloodshed. But it is what it is, and even Ethlyn, healer that she is, had led her own troops to bloodshed of their own. ]
I think a happier me would be entirely too busy to show off. I'm not happy unless I'm otherwise occupied, you know -- hours spent in the library would treat me well. [ He sighs, shaking his head with a rueful sort of smile. ] I can't speak on those other versions of me, though. We live with our own choices, like it or not. It'd be enough to send anyone into an existential crisis to think about it too terribly hard.
Though if a different me ever shows up and is a complete ass, I'll thank you to not let it reflect too badly on me.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-30 02:30 pm (UTC)That he openly admits to a willingness to use such underhanded methods can't surprise her, either. At one time, Ethlyn would have been shocked and disgusted by the thought--when she imagines someone like Eldigan laid low by a treacherous bite of food, it seems unconscionable.
But Eldigan's troops led by a lesser man might have done less damage in the field. Eldigan desperately ill would have hamstrung his king's "strategy", such as it was, and forced him to sue for peace.
It's a calculation, and it's no more brutal than the calculations of how many men can be lost to arrow and blade before it's "too much."]
I imagine you would write the sorts of books that would send all the established scholars into a rage for contradicting your theories. Folios and counter-folios and a nation full of very happy, very rich printers. [She grins.] That depends on exactly what way he is an ass, though. Maybe it would only be you without your careful diplomacy and restraints?
[Something she knows about only too well herself!]