[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: 2024-10-12 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!]