[ Claude sniffs, as haughty as ever when he gets in a certain mood. He doesn't like to act the noble unless it's funny or proves a point -- and this does both. ]
You were never a problem for me, so the curse never managed to sink its claws into me, so that's that.
[ He's not much for curses, admittedly. Marianne had had similar concerns and he'd told her very much the same thing. They're the decider of their own fates, not some bullshit curses. He does, however, obediently poke and prod at where he'd flicked Manjiro. ]
So how did it wind up? Did your friend manage to survive in the end too? [ He stretches his legs out in front of him. ] ...and how many people got to remember their past lives? If he kept on doing that, it's not just you and him who had your fates changed. That's what they say, isn't it? Just one small action can ripple out far enough to change the course of history itself.
(because he left, that's why! but he knows keeping at that part of it isn't going to do much for them, because in the end, claude... cared for him, even when he met a version of him that was ruthless and broken to the moon and back.
there's no arguing. he just doesn't like it.)
... No, I... Stabbed him with a sword, managed to go back in time before he was fully gone... But only the two of us remember. He used to learn who bit it and went back to try to fix it, but the last time we did it together. Everyone lived, dreams achieved, so forth, so forth, so, yeah. One small action - I think the time-travel thing knows that too, it ships you right where you need to be.
So, that's the story of how I am probably 30 in the body of a 19-year-old. Imagine reliving your teenage weird shit when you're mentally in your twenties, oof.
[ Claude is quiet for a moment, wistful. He wonders what life would be like if he had the ability to turn back time. To grasp Teach by the shoulder and urge them to not let his father come along to that fatal mission, to approach Edelgard and Dimitri and to share with them all of his misgivings and hope that they can work together, to be able to evade death, evade war, even if he had to do it again and again and again and again.
Perhaps it is kinder to only make someone live the one life. To dwell on your mistakes in strange perpetuity, several lifetimes of grief and suffering, is no way to live. He's envious anyway.
None of it gets voiced aloud. It doesn't need to be. Nobody feels any joy knowing that others envy their lot in life. ]
I imagine it's the kinder thing, that none of the others remember, [ he muses. ] I'm sure they all went through things I can't well imagine. To live a life that's the best outcome possible to them without the awareness of how different things could have been... that's a gift.
[ But not for the ones that remember. Not for Manjiro. Not for his friend. ]
But I suspect, my friend, that you'd rather not forget. Some lessons are hard-earned. [ He glances at him. ] And at least you have a partner to remember it with you. Pity he wasn't able to join you here too.
(it's all he can say, knowing fully well that, in most of the lives he had lived, things had not turned out well for his loved ones, courtesy of himself. either they're living a life they would not agree with, or they were six feet under - the one time they weren't ruined, takemichi couldn't take 'good enough' as an answer.
he wishes he could say that everything is solved now, but that also isn't true. things that shaped them still, in most cases, happened in a way or another... but things are better, and all live through all the heartache in the invisible fight he had been engaged in for the past years.)
He used to be, before I met you. He sorta told everyone about the curse, that mistletoe thing happened, and then he was gone. I think... The time-leaping doesn't work here, but I have wondered if something would.
That's the way of this place. People here can come and go in an instant... though in that respect, it's not too dissimilar to any other world.
[ Claude knows better than anyone the transience of life. One moment, you may take your way of life, your loved ones, your daily routines for granted. And the next, it's torn from you. It's just more aggravating here because of the lack of warning, the lack of foresight; no sickness, no rumbling strife, no hints of what to come save for the knowledge that you could wake up and your best friend may be gone for good.
But you keep going. What else is there? ]
In this case, I just think to myself that they're back in their own worlds, where they belong, and we're the ones getting the short end of the stick. [ It's easier to bear, that way. He thinks Manjiro would agree. ] What else did you think might work here?
(manjiro knows it too well, along with the intricate web of events that a single death can cause. if anything, his entire story is a cautionary tale of how to handle loss. lose a person, diffuse your sanity even further.
which brings a sigh to his lips, and a rather selfish admission.)
I didn't want him to go. He's got a great girl, and I like her a bunch, but I had him all to myself for once. I like him, so I thought I might score something, almost did, too. He was taken after that, so, I got the short end of the stick twice.
(a shrug follows.)
Don't know. That's really all we can do, I'm not like half these fuckers who can blast fire out of their toenails or any other shit like that.
[ It doesn't have the same ring to it as ladykiller, but it's close enough. For someone who tries to push people away, worried about what he would become, Manjiro sure is attracted to people, isn't he? He just... wants. Their affection more than anything else, he thinks. ]
Weren't you already with Yu at the time? Sounds like he had his girl, and you had a partner of your own too.
[ Unless it doesn't work like that. Manjiro's from a different culture from Fodlan, or the other people here from what appear to be Fodlani cultures. But nothing Manjiro has said ever suggested a culture like Claude's own, a culture in which a man would have several women - and, frankly, men - provided they were in some position of power to maintain that.
Manjiro, lawless as he is, isn't that. His relationship with Yu isn't that either. It's something else entirely. ]
(so, it's not exactly that they're bound to each other, to never leave, never experiment. manjiro's never been like this, although he realized that he never really told claude that part about himself... even with all the hitting on him of it all.
he waits for a moment before he starts out again. how to put this?)
... It's not the norm, but I... Love people, I guess. Everyone I like, I like differently, so it's not like I could ever be with a single person for the rest of my life. It's not me.
[ Claude's brows knit. Not the norm, Manjiro says, as though this wasn't the very thing that has dictated the entirety of his childhood. He can't help the doubt that enters his eyes, even when he's taken every other strange thing about Manjiro's life in stride. ]
And none of you get jealous of one another? No favourites are played? I can't imagine.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2024-11-19 02:14 am (UTC)You were never a problem for me, so the curse never managed to sink its claws into me, so that's that.
[ He's not much for curses, admittedly. Marianne had had similar concerns and he'd told her very much the same thing. They're the decider of their own fates, not some bullshit curses. He does, however, obediently poke and prod at where he'd flicked Manjiro. ]
So how did it wind up? Did your friend manage to survive in the end too? [ He stretches his legs out in front of him. ] ...and how many people got to remember their past lives? If he kept on doing that, it's not just you and him who had your fates changed. That's what they say, isn't it? Just one small action can ripple out far enough to change the course of history itself.
no subject
Date: 2024-11-24 07:30 pm (UTC)there's no arguing. he just doesn't like it.)
... No, I... Stabbed him with a sword, managed to go back in time before he was fully gone... But only the two of us remember. He used to learn who bit it and went back to try to fix it, but the last time we did it together. Everyone lived, dreams achieved, so forth, so forth, so, yeah. One small action - I think the time-travel thing knows that too, it ships you right where you need to be.
So, that's the story of how I am probably 30 in the body of a 19-year-old. Imagine reliving your teenage weird shit when you're mentally in your twenties, oof.
no subject
Date: 2024-12-02 09:22 am (UTC)Perhaps it is kinder to only make someone live the one life. To dwell on your mistakes in strange perpetuity, several lifetimes of grief and suffering, is no way to live. He's envious anyway.
None of it gets voiced aloud. It doesn't need to be. Nobody feels any joy knowing that others envy their lot in life. ]
I imagine it's the kinder thing, that none of the others remember, [ he muses. ] I'm sure they all went through things I can't well imagine. To live a life that's the best outcome possible to them without the awareness of how different things could have been... that's a gift.
[ But not for the ones that remember. Not for Manjiro. Not for his friend. ]
But I suspect, my friend, that you'd rather not forget. Some lessons are hard-earned. [ He glances at him. ] And at least you have a partner to remember it with you. Pity he wasn't able to join you here too.
no subject
Date: 2024-12-08 11:29 pm (UTC)(it's all he can say, knowing fully well that, in most of the lives he had lived, things had not turned out well for his loved ones, courtesy of himself. either they're living a life they would not agree with, or they were six feet under - the one time they weren't ruined, takemichi couldn't take 'good enough' as an answer.
he wishes he could say that everything is solved now, but that also isn't true. things that shaped them still, in most cases, happened in a way or another... but things are better, and all live through all the heartache in the invisible fight he had been engaged in for the past years.)
He used to be, before I met you. He sorta told everyone about the curse, that mistletoe thing happened, and then he was gone. I think... The time-leaping doesn't work here, but I have wondered if something would.
no subject
Date: 2024-12-21 11:33 am (UTC)[ Claude knows better than anyone the transience of life. One moment, you may take your way of life, your loved ones, your daily routines for granted. And the next, it's torn from you. It's just more aggravating here because of the lack of warning, the lack of foresight; no sickness, no rumbling strife, no hints of what to come save for the knowledge that you could wake up and your best friend may be gone for good.
But you keep going. What else is there? ]
In this case, I just think to myself that they're back in their own worlds, where they belong, and we're the ones getting the short end of the stick. [ It's easier to bear, that way. He thinks Manjiro would agree. ] What else did you think might work here?
no subject
Date: 2025-01-13 01:28 pm (UTC)(manjiro knows it too well, along with the intricate web of events that a single death can cause. if anything, his entire story is a cautionary tale of how to handle loss. lose a person, diffuse your sanity even further.
which brings a sigh to his lips, and a rather selfish admission.)
I didn't want him to go. He's got a great girl, and I like her a bunch, but I had him all to myself for once. I like him, so I thought I might score something, almost did, too. He was taken after that, so, I got the short end of the stick twice.
(a shrug follows.)
Don't know. That's really all we can do, I'm not like half these fuckers who can blast fire out of their toenails or any other shit like that.
no subject
Date: 2025-01-16 09:19 am (UTC)You're a bit of a mankiller, aren't you?
[ It doesn't have the same ring to it as ladykiller, but it's close enough. For someone who tries to push people away, worried about what he would become, Manjiro sure is attracted to people, isn't he? He just... wants. Their affection more than anything else, he thinks. ]
Weren't you already with Yu at the time? Sounds like he had his girl, and you had a partner of your own too.
[ Unless it doesn't work like that. Manjiro's from a different culture from Fodlan, or the other people here from what appear to be Fodlani cultures. But nothing Manjiro has said ever suggested a culture like Claude's own, a culture in which a man would have several women - and, frankly, men - provided they were in some position of power to maintain that.
Manjiro, lawless as he is, isn't that. His relationship with Yu isn't that either. It's something else entirely. ]
no subject
Date: 2025-01-16 07:49 pm (UTC)(so, it's not exactly that they're bound to each other, to never leave, never experiment. manjiro's never been like this, although he realized that he never really told claude that part about himself... even with all the hitting on him of it all.
he waits for a moment before he starts out again. how to put this?)
... It's not the norm, but I... Love people, I guess. Everyone I like, I like differently, so it's not like I could ever be with a single person for the rest of my life. It's not me.
no subject
Date: 2025-01-26 07:46 am (UTC)[ Claude's brows knit. Not the norm, Manjiro says, as though this wasn't the very thing that has dictated the entirety of his childhood. He can't help the doubt that enters his eyes, even when he's taken every other strange thing about Manjiro's life in stride. ]
And none of you get jealous of one another? No favourites are played? I can't imagine.