[ He ushers her not into the Apothecary proper, but a place that feels a little more private, a little more secure: his apartment right above the Apothecary proper, a homey place filled with natural woods and candles, a fire already roaring in his fireplace, books and mysterious jars lining every shelf, and all manner of weaponry and weaponry-adjacent equipment neatly organized in one corner.
There's already a pot of tea waiting for her on his poky little dining table. There's only two chairs, though it's obvious that he doesn't have guests; the other half of the table is covered in books and papers that he simply shoves off the table and onto the ground. It does look a bit like a very friendly mad scientist lives here.
A mad scientist that's interested in fermenting his own ginseng wine, judging from his shelves, so it's not so bad. ]
I figured you might be a little comfier here. Fewer windows for people to peep through, and all. Sit down, have some tea. [ He pours her a steaming mug, the scent light, floral. ] Chamomile. Not strong enough to put you to sleep, but it's supposed to be calming.
[ So Claude says, anyway. He's so energetic it doesn't seem like he's been calm a day in his life. ]
[Vi's not really one to talk about mess. if it weren't for Caitlyn, she'd probably be a lot more like Claude. not that Caitlyn's a neat freak, but she likes it tidy. Vi, on the other hand... whenever Caitlyn's gone, stuff just starts piling up.
maybe it was the depression more than anything.
she sits down on the chair, leaning back on it as she watches him pour the tea.]
You know, I don't know when tea stopped being fancy for me. Maybe because Cait drinks it all the damn time.
[she takes the cup and nods her thanks...]
I'm more of a coffee or alcohol person myself, but maybe I can use some calm for once.
Coffee will keep you up, and no booze-aided sleep will grant you true rest, [ Claude says lightly, setting the cup in front of her -- delicate as always, the cup is cushioned by his pinky before it's silently set on the table. Though his voice may seem carefree, there's very real concern in the knit of his brow. He had met with Caitlyn already, knows that Vi's lady love is now down an eye, but Vi and Caitlyn's lives are not so simple that a grievous injury is even the worst of it.
He smiles at her, sympathy in his eyes. ]
I was more of a coffee person too, before I came to study in the Monastery. But if even the Archbishop swears by her calming teas, who am I to argue? [ The smell wafting through his home is light, sweet, comfortingly floral with just a touch of herbaceousness. ]
So. What's been on your mind? About half a dozen things, I reckon.
[she studies the teacup as if it's the most interesting thing in the world while Claude speaks, thinking for a minute. tea still isn't really... well, her cup of tea, but she'll try it anyway, when it cools off a bit more.]
You remember when we were patching up your roof, and I was talking about being caught up in a war that me and Cait would be on two different sides of?
[she props her foot up on the chair and rests her arm on it, chin resting on top of her arm.]
It was... actually a lot more complicated than all that. Somehow.
I'm right about most things, [ Claude says with what he considers to be a very fetching sense of pomposity. At this point, he'd settle for a brief snort out of Vi to lighten her spirits, even a little bit.
He soon sobers, however, thinking about Cait -- what she's told him, what they've lost, her whole damn eye... ]
Things never do seem to be simple for the two of you. So? What wound up happening?
I know that one way or another, you've managed to broker peace -- for now. And I know that it came at a cost, the cost of the lives of several of your friends and allies. And that whatever conflict you two had been through was a bloody one.
[ He gestures up at his own eye. ]
I've given Cait some herbs to help deal with the pain, and to accelerate healing. Along with my own meagre healing abilities, of course.
[ Cait has probably shared as much with Vi, but it bears speaking about regardless. A quiet reminder of what Claude is able to provide, and what he is willing to give. ]
I'm sorry for your loss. But I haven't been told what those losses are.
[Vi nods to herself a little. so Caitlyn had given him a broad summary, which she figures is because she wants Vi to fill in the blanks when she's comfortable.
she unwinds her arm enough so that she can take her tea and sip it -- there's a bit of a wrinkle in her nose, because it's not her favorite thing in the world, but again, she's getting used to it because of Caitlyn.]
A lot of good people. My father, who was brought back to life by a fucked up science experiment. And... Jinx.
[ Claude is no stranger to tragedy. He has heard of so many terrible tragedies in his life, of entire families wrenched apart by war, of terrible abuse and violence, of lands razed to the ground. And yet the profound tragedy that Vi utters - father and sister both, one gruesomely reanimated, the other likely combative to the very end - is enough that his breath leaves him like he's received a punch to the gut. ]
Vi, [ he says, astonished and aggrieved. It makes him want to reach out for her hand in comfort, if he wasn't certain it wouldn't be well-received. ] No wonder you can't sleep. Who could?
[ But Jinx is here. Jinx is here, different from home Claude has to assume, as this place has changed them all. Is she to be reminded of her sister's death every time she looks at her? Home had been terrible, but to be here is no blessing either, he thinks.
Claude is fully sincere in a way he rarely is - no jokes are getting him through this one - as he says, ] I'm so sorry. I can't even begin to imagine. Did you have to...?
[ Kill them. It's not unheard of. Sister against sister, brother against brother, daughter against father. He's just hoping that if it was truly necessarily, Caitlin would shoulder that burden for her. ]
[there's a bit of a hollow laugh that escapes her at Claude's shock. maybe it's not so bad after all to be affected like this, because there are times where she still feels like maybe she feels too much about it all.
but continually having people be like wow okay that really does fucking suck kind of comforts her in knowing that she's not crazy for being upset. she appreciates him not reaching out, though -- maybe it wouldn't be badly received coming from him, but still probably would make her feel awkward.]
No. Jinx and I fought at home, but I didn't have to do it.
[her eyes sting, and she inhales.]
I almost had to kill my dad. But I hesitated, and that's when Jinx... sacrificed herself so that she could save me and take him out.
[she'd screamed for what felt like hours until Ekko found her.]
[ Did Jinx save Vi, or did she save herself? When faced with a world with her sister and her father dead, did she not just consider her own death to be a preferable evil? Claude can't say. He doesn't know Jinx well enough. But he knows soldiers, and he knows that there comes a point at which all of that knightly chivalry is simply an easier option than that of survival.
He doesn't think that that is a comforting thought, so he doesn't say it aloud. But it crosses his mind nonetheless. ]
...I'm glad you weren't forced to deal the last blow, in the end, [ he says, finally. ] But what you have to live with afterwards remains the same.
[ What do you do afterwards? How do you go on? Much wiser men than Claude likely have the answer, but Claude himself does not. ]
She's still here, isn't she? Is she from -- did she return home as well?
[Vi picks at a stray thread on her sleeve with her free hand, not looking at him. it still hurts to talk about. still brings up the feeling of her voice sore from her screaming. the fact that she had screamed for so long and so loudly that she couldn't even speak for days. not that she'd wanted to, anyway. not until Caitlyn had woken up from her own injuries.]
It does.
[she nods at his next questions, inhaling slowly before exhaling back out.]
Yeah. She doesn't remember as much as I do, though. Her timeline is... a little further back. [which was both a blessing and a curse, maybe.] She keeps distancing herself from me. Says some shit about the cycle of violence or whatever.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2025-01-09 01:31 pm (UTC)you free right now?
no subject
Date: 2025-01-16 08:38 am (UTC)I've been told I'm not such a bad listener either. Sometimes you need both kinds of medicine to work together.
no subject
Date: 2025-01-20 03:42 pm (UTC)yeah, well. you seem to weasel a lot of talk out of me.
i'll be there in 30.
[true to her word, she's there in 30 minutes. she walks into the apothecary, not taking too long before she calls:]
Claude, I'm here!
no subject
Date: 2025-01-27 03:40 am (UTC)[ He ushers her not into the Apothecary proper, but a place that feels a little more private, a little more secure: his apartment right above the Apothecary proper, a homey place filled with natural woods and candles, a fire already roaring in his fireplace, books and mysterious jars lining every shelf, and all manner of weaponry and weaponry-adjacent equipment neatly organized in one corner.
There's already a pot of tea waiting for her on his poky little dining table. There's only two chairs, though it's obvious that he doesn't have guests; the other half of the table is covered in books and papers that he simply shoves off the table and onto the ground. It does look a bit like a very friendly mad scientist lives here.
A mad scientist that's interested in fermenting his own ginseng wine, judging from his shelves, so it's not so bad. ]
I figured you might be a little comfier here. Fewer windows for people to peep through, and all. Sit down, have some tea. [ He pours her a steaming mug, the scent light, floral. ] Chamomile. Not strong enough to put you to sleep, but it's supposed to be calming.
[ So Claude says, anyway. He's so energetic it doesn't seem like he's been calm a day in his life. ]
no subject
Date: 2025-02-04 02:24 am (UTC)maybe it was the depression more than anything.
she sits down on the chair, leaning back on it as she watches him pour the tea.]
You know, I don't know when tea stopped being fancy for me. Maybe because Cait drinks it all the damn time.
[she takes the cup and nods her thanks...]
I'm more of a coffee or alcohol person myself, but maybe I can use some calm for once.
[she's just so damn tired.]
no subject
Date: 2025-02-21 03:22 am (UTC)He smiles at her, sympathy in his eyes. ]
I was more of a coffee person too, before I came to study in the Monastery. But if even the Archbishop swears by her calming teas, who am I to argue? [ The smell wafting through his home is light, sweet, comfortingly floral with just a touch of herbaceousness. ]
So. What's been on your mind? About half a dozen things, I reckon.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-25 02:13 am (UTC)[she studies the teacup as if it's the most interesting thing in the world while Claude speaks, thinking for a minute. tea still isn't really... well, her cup of tea, but she'll try it anyway, when it cools off a bit more.]
You remember when we were patching up your roof, and I was talking about being caught up in a war that me and Cait would be on two different sides of?
[she props her foot up on the chair and rests her arm on it, chin resting on top of her arm.]
It was... actually a lot more complicated than all that. Somehow.
no subject
Date: 2025-03-03 10:11 am (UTC)He soon sobers, however, thinking about Cait -- what she's told him, what they've lost, her whole damn eye... ]
Things never do seem to be simple for the two of you. So? What wound up happening?
no subject
Date: 2025-03-08 12:01 am (UTC)[her gaze unfocuses a bit as she thinks about what happened. what she lost, what she gained. what they've been through.
it was... so much.]
I know Cait's seen you... what's she told you so far?
no subject
Date: 2025-03-13 01:46 am (UTC)[ He gestures up at his own eye. ]
I've given Cait some herbs to help deal with the pain, and to accelerate healing. Along with my own meagre healing abilities, of course.
[ Cait has probably shared as much with Vi, but it bears speaking about regardless. A quiet reminder of what Claude is able to provide, and what he is willing to give. ]
I'm sorry for your loss. But I haven't been told what those losses are.
no subject
Date: 2025-03-14 06:39 pm (UTC)she unwinds her arm enough so that she can take her tea and sip it -- there's a bit of a wrinkle in her nose, because it's not her favorite thing in the world, but again, she's getting used to it because of Caitlyn.]
A lot of good people. My father, who was brought back to life by a fucked up science experiment. And... Jinx.
[those two hit her the worst, honestly.]
no subject
Date: 2025-03-17 09:49 am (UTC)Vi, [ he says, astonished and aggrieved. It makes him want to reach out for her hand in comfort, if he wasn't certain it wouldn't be well-received. ] No wonder you can't sleep. Who could?
[ But Jinx is here. Jinx is here, different from home Claude has to assume, as this place has changed them all. Is she to be reminded of her sister's death every time she looks at her? Home had been terrible, but to be here is no blessing either, he thinks.
Claude is fully sincere in a way he rarely is - no jokes are getting him through this one - as he says, ] I'm so sorry. I can't even begin to imagine. Did you have to...?
[ Kill them. It's not unheard of. Sister against sister, brother against brother, daughter against father. He's just hoping that if it was truly necessarily, Caitlin would shoulder that burden for her. ]
no subject
Date: 2025-03-28 03:03 am (UTC)but continually having people be like wow okay that really does fucking suck kind of comforts her in knowing that she's not crazy for being upset. she appreciates him not reaching out, though -- maybe it wouldn't be badly received coming from him, but still probably would make her feel awkward.]
No. Jinx and I fought at home, but I didn't have to do it.
[her eyes sting, and she inhales.]
I almost had to kill my dad. But I hesitated, and that's when Jinx... sacrificed herself so that she could save me and take him out.
[she'd screamed for what felt like hours until Ekko found her.]
no subject
Date: 2025-04-10 12:45 am (UTC)He doesn't think that that is a comforting thought, so he doesn't say it aloud. But it crosses his mind nonetheless. ]
...I'm glad you weren't forced to deal the last blow, in the end, [ he says, finally. ] But what you have to live with afterwards remains the same.
[ What do you do afterwards? How do you go on? Much wiser men than Claude likely have the answer, but Claude himself does not. ]
She's still here, isn't she? Is she from -- did she return home as well?
no subject
Date: 2025-04-12 03:33 pm (UTC)It does.
[she nods at his next questions, inhaling slowly before exhaling back out.]
Yeah. She doesn't remember as much as I do, though. Her timeline is... a little further back. [which was both a blessing and a curse, maybe.] She keeps distancing herself from me. Says some shit about the cycle of violence or whatever.