victory_road | [closed] a very late catch all for november-december

People cheat when they know they’re not good enough to win. I take his cheating as a compliment. But it’s still the coward’s way out.

[What is taking Dimitri so long? How long does it take to pack one measly snowball? Felix makes a disgruntled face and throws his latest ammunition, the snow smacking against Dimitri’s leg.]

What are doing over there? If you want to yield, just say so.

I am not yielding.

[He's just preparing! It's not his fault he's taking a little while!]

Is it not dishonorable to attack an opponent with his back to you?

[...Wait, this is the same Felix who said that one should probably decimate someone from behind so that they don't see the other's face. Nevermind.]

And?

[Felix rolls his eyes when Dimitri continues doing whatever he's doing and takes the opportunity to build up a little arsenal of his own, rolling snowballs and lining them up for ease of access once the prince finally gets his head back in the game. Hitting him with snowballs while he's not even doing anything--not even trying to dodge!--grants no satisfaction.]

Come on, already. If you're trying to wait me out until I give up, you'll be waiting a long time. [And he'll bitch every moment of it, too.]

[And right as Felix starts to hit the end of that last sentence, Dimitri twists around in his spot and fucking hauls a giant snowball a little bigger than a person's head right at Felix.]

[He's not going for a headshot; he's not even sure a snowball this size could keep itself together going that high. Besides... Better to go for the larger target that is the body, he thinks.]

[The moment Dimitri starts to turn, Felix is ready--or at least, he thinks he is. He's prepared to dodge a snowball--maybe a few in a row.

He's not prepared to face whatever this is.]

What the--

[Dimitri may not possess magically enhanced strength anymore, but his ordinary and perfectly natural strength is still plenty for the giant snowball to knock Felix over into the snow with a noise that is absolutely not any kind of squawk, or anything nearly so undignified, and definitely no flailing.

He just lies there for a moment, blinking up at the sky, half-covered in snow. Soon, his face descends into a fierce scowl of determination. He has no intention of allowing such a thing to defeat him!

With a sound akin to the snarling battle cry he usually saves for enemies who annoy him, he twists up into a crouch and then launches himself at Dimitri, low to the ground, with the intent to bear the larger man down into the snow the old-fashioned way--via tackling. He didn't come away from his snowball shenanigans with Sylvain without learning anything, after all.]

[A part of Dimitri wasn't sure that he would hit. Felix is so skilled and quick, after all - it's why he can flick through battle unarmored and his blade practically shining. What if the element of surprise isn't enough in this case?]

[And then Felix flails right into a snowbank.]

[Dimitri lets out a sharp bark before he knows what he's doing, and the sound actually startles him from how it comes out of his own throat. He's laughed before in this place, hasn't he? Chuckles and other noises? Yet somehow, here, with Felix, it feels so different...]

[There's not really a lot of time to ponder that sort of thing. Felix bursts out like a cat that's been dumped in water, and Dimitri can't really stop his tackle. The snow doesn't really make for the best thing to dig his heels in, and, well, Dimitri is so low already... He falls backwards with a grunt, hair splaying out against the snow.]

I'll give you something to laugh about--

[Felix lands on top of him, scrambling onto his hands and knees above him to look down at the prince with an almost forceful look of triumph and that not-quite-grin again.]

Now do you yield?

[Oh - As Dimitri blinks the dizziness and snow out of his eye, something about Felix there above him makes the other man seem... radiant. Maybe it's because of his dark hair, some loose strands spilling around his face, or how the pale sky is almost a halo around his head... But he seems more than himself.]

[Or maybe he seems absolutely himself.]

[Dimitri reacts almost automatically, chest heaving a little.]

Do you truly think you can keep me down in this manner?

[The exhilarated feeling hasn't left him, even now that their fight is--on hold, perhaps, if not over. He's never been able to do this kind of thing with Dimitri; the prince was always too afraid of hurting him.

...but the more time they spend together here, the less he wants to compare this man to the boy he once was. For a long time, Felix mourned the beloved friend he'd lost to violence and tragedy. He'd thought of the man they found at Garreg Mach as nothing but the violence, as though the boy he knew was truly dead and gone. But seeing Dimitri in Fhirdiad, and then here...Felix thinks he can finally start to reconcile what the prince himself said the last time they talked about it after Gronder. He can try to believe that all of those faces are his Mitya, for good or for ill, and they all make up the man he lo...knows.

And how hypocritical Felix has been, to berate Dimitri for being unable to let go of the past when here he has been, clinging to the prince of his childhood for so long.

But this man, lying beneath Felix with his beautiful golden hair spread over the snow like the sun's corona, speckled with glittering snowflakes, and his crystal-blue eye staring up at him--this man is worth clinging to, too. And he has the added benefit of being right here, right now. And if his heart is beating a little faster than his minimal exertion would suggest, it's probably just the thrill of it all.]

Without your Crest? We'll see.

[Truthfully, he's pretty sure he can't, Crest or not. He's no slouch in unarmed combat, but he's never been much of a grappler. But he's not about to willingly let go of his advantage, either. And, well...it's an easy excuse to stay close to Dimitri. So he digs his feet into the snow and leans his full weight into keeping the prince where he is for as long as he can, and braces himself.]

Confident as ever, I see.

[But that has always been a part of the appeal to Felix's personality. That hard won confidence, that determination to pour everything he's ever been and ever felt into his swordsmanship... It was stunning, even with that difference which has been between them for so many years.]

[Up close? Up close, it's as though Dimitri is holding the sun against his chest... or maybe it's the other way around, considering the situation. Perhaps because they've been separated for so long, even when they were standing right next to one another, but Dimitri almost wants to be greedy, and never let him go...]

[For now, he doesn't have to, and he breathes out an amused sound before he reaches down to sink his hands into the snowy ground. He's already covered in the stuff; what's a little more?]

[Besides, it's for the good cause of seeing if he can just... lift his body, with Felix right there on top of him.]

[Felix is not weak by any stretch of the imagination (and if anyone ever called him such a thing, he would be hard-pressed not to drop everything and duel them into oblivion right there). But Dimitri's strength doesn't all come from his Crest, not even close. So when he pushes himself up first to a sitting position, Felix's feet slide back in the snow. He grits his teeth and shoves, and for a moment it works, but not well enough; he soon finds himself...sort of...sitting in Dimitri's lap.

Hmm.

He only lets himself look up at the prince from here for a second or two (and you know, it often bothers Felix that he has to look up to meet most people's eyes, but he never minded it when it was Dimitri...) before he changes tactics.

With a noise somewhere between a grunt and a growl, he shifts his weight, swinging around Dimitri to grab him by the shoulders from underneath, wrapping his arms up and around them and then letting his full weight plus gravity help him out in an attempt to drag Dimitri back down.]

[Trust Felix to still stubbornly forge forward, regardless of the odds. Dimitri bares his teeth in a slightly feral grin as he feels Felix's arms and hands at his shoulders, pulling at him. Without the strength that his Crest has given him throughout his life, he can definitely feel this now...]

[But that doesn't mean he's going to succumb. Letting his hands catch him before he can hit the ground again. The chill is starting to bite a little bit at his exposed skin, but Dimitri doesn't mind. All he does is grit his teeth, trying to get his feet underneath him so that he can stand up.]

[Felix has much better leverage from here, but even that isn't enough to surpass Dimitri's overwhelming strength. He doesn't really have any chance at victory, here...unless--

(What's that? He could just let go and give up? Never.)

He waits until Dimitri gets both feet planted on the ground and then lashes out with a foot in a last-ditch attempt to kick one of those feet out from under him. There is every possibility that this will a) not work at all or b) result in Dimitri falling directly on top of Felix. Is he doing it anyway? Absolutely.]

[Dimitri suspects that something is going to go wrong when Felix starts being a little bit too still and quiet for a little bit too long. Felix may be a quiet type, on account of words being too much effort when he could be focusing on swords instead, but he doesn't just... do nothing.]

[However, knowing that Something will happen doesn't really give him an idea of what that Something is. Dimitri grunts at the sudden hit to his leg, trying to keep his footing. However, snow is not particularly kind in that regards...]

[And Dimitri does indeed pitch forward back into the snow.]

[rip, felix hugo fraldarius]

[At least Dimitri tries to push himself upright and make sure he hasn't crushed Felix...]

[...Only to smash some more snow in his friend's face the second he's certain that said friend isn't dead or terribly injured.]

[Felix anticipated this. He didn't anticipate Dimitri being quite this heavy even without his armor, though, and he grunts painfully when most of the prince's weight comes crashing down on top of him, losing his grip on Dimitri's shoulders in the process. He groans, though he's had much worse. ...he'll definitely have bruises, but it's all worth it for victory.]

Uuugh. Ha. You see? I told you. I wi--

[And then it's his turn to eat a faceful of snow. He gasps at the sudden cold and splutters.]

Bah! You think this negates my victory? Think again. [He wipes snow out of his eyes and off his face with gloved hands before reaching his hands out to either side blindly, grabbing handfuls of snow, and attempting to pelt Dimitri with them at point-blank range.]

And who says it is a victory, besides yourself?

[There's not a lot else he can really say before snow is flung into his face again, and Dimitri barks out a laugh- he thinks it's a laugh. They used to laugh like this so much as children, didn't they?]

[He can probably bury Felix under snow much better than his child self could, however, so Dimitri tries to accomplish exactly that.]

You're still on the ground, aren't you? [Sort of. He hasn't stood up, anyway.

Felix moves to sit up and reach for more snow, just in time to get knocked flat again by a huge armful of it. Whatever thing he's yelling, if it's even words at all, is muffled by the veritable blanket of snow Dimitri has dumped on top of him--and he knows there's more to come. He scrambles out from under some of it only to indeed face more, and although it's just snow, at this point he's completely lost all leverage against the prince's still-formidable strength. It's too easy for Dimitri to hold him down and thwart his struggles long enough to pile on even more snow.

Eventually, he's forced to admit defeat. He just lies there and catches his breath in his snow cocoon for a minute, unaware of the wide smile on his face, until he starts getting too cold. He finally claws his way back to a sitting position, bursting up out of the snow looking like a drowned cat. The glare he gives Dimitri is sort of ruined by the way he's laughing quietly.]

Fine, fine, I yield, if only to avoid making you even more smug than you already are. But if you hadn't changed the game, I definitely would have won.

[When Felix finally flails his way out of the snow and relents, Dimitri rocks back on his heels with a small laugh.]

Did you not change the rules first when you tackled me?

[But he's smiling, rosy cheeked and bright eyed and light in a way that he doesn't think he's felt since.... since before the Tragedy, maybe. Since he was a child.]

[A part of him wants to feel guilty about this, that it's him feeling this way, that he hasn't done anything to deserve it - and maybe he will feel guilty, later. But for now...]

[He gets up to his feet, and holds his hand out to Felix.]

You changed the rules first when you flattened me with that colossal snow boulder.

[Okay, Felix, that's an exaggeration.

But he's smiling too, despite his loss and bedraggled state. Seeing Dimitri like this...it sort of makes him want another hug. Not that he plans to say so. Ever. Still, it's been a long time since Felix felt like this, fear and frustration forgotten, no nagging urge to leave or lash out. Since he's seen Dimitri smile like that. His smile is...Felix doesn't have a word for it. But he can't stop looking at the prince's face, even as he considers trying to pull a Sylvain with the offered hand. Instead, he just takes it and uses it as leverage to stand.]

It was still a ball of snow. It was not my fault that you could not handle it.

[But he doesn't mean it, not really. After all, didn't Felix pelt him with so many snowballs before? If contact was a measure of winning...]

[...Well. Maybe it doesn't matter. Not when Felix is smiling back at him, those amber eyes as bright as he remembers them, the chill between their hands quickly fading into something warmer. Dimtiri can't help himself; he tugs Felix in for another tight hug.]

[Felix scoffs.] That was not a snowball. It was a snow crime.

[He doesn't resist the hug, though for a split second he panics thinking he might have voiced his thoughts--but no, this is just Dimitri being Dimitri, and Felix is more than fine with that. He might have been more embarrassed about the excess mushiness if he hadn't just finished getting literally buried in a pile of snow, and Dimitri is nothing if not warm, despite also being covered in snow.

So Felix hugs him back just as tightly, burying a face pink from cold and affection alike in Dimitri's chest. He tells himself he's just humoring the prince, but that doesn't explain the stupid smile that won't leave his face.

Mid-hug, he shivers.] Now I'm freezing. It's all your fault.

[He does not actually sound annoyed in the least.]

Ah-

[Dimitri really is apologetic for that, and he pulls away from Felix for a moment.]

I... am sorry.

[He wasn't thinking about that - about how cold it is, the snow all around them. All he could think about was Felix, about being able to touch him, about - being with him and sins... forgiven.]

[About even the person who first called him out as a monster willing to wrap his arms around him, and let the connection stay.]

[But he doesn't want to hurt Felix - even if any cold caught from this whole thing would be a minor nuisance at best. He doesn't want Felix to hate him again, when he's already taken so much. So Dimitri looks out to the rest of the town.]

While I was getting something, and doing a small bit of work around town, I was told that there was a place with hot water that would be nice? We could go there, and let our clothes dry.

[A little voice inside Felix's head that sounds suspiciously like Sylvain makes some kind of joke about cuddling for warmth, and he remembers the night when Sylvain gave him his jacket, and that train of thought sort of wends its way to thinking about Dimitri draping his giant cape and mantle over Felix's shoulders, and this is a weird time to be thinking about that so he stops immediately.]

Hot water? Doesn't every place in this world have hot water? But why not. Let's go.

I was told that it was a different kind of experience...

[Still, Dimitri is happy to lead the way through town, with their Pokemon trailing behind still underneath the comfort of the umbrella. It really was made quite sturdily, considering the snow it's been accumulating all this time... but at least it has Dean to be responsible and lightly shake or steam under it.]

[The nice thing about Azalea Town is that, well, it's only a town. It reminds Dimitri of the places he's more familiar with, back in their Fodlan. Not in the technology, or the architecture, or, well, the sleepy and very fat pink otters that litter the streets even now, lounging on people's porches...]

[But the simplicity? The quiet? The way smoke and heat gently streams out from chimneys?]

[He can remember when he'd been fascinated by such a feeling, when he was younger... and then, when he had been on his own, the quiet had been...]

[If Felix is paying attention, he might notice Dimitri start to - space out, for lack of better term. Dean seems to pick up on it, hurrying a little more through the snow with rats clinging to or chasing after him. Gotta catch up with trainer to make sure he doesn't dissociate into the woods again.]

[The cats stick with the rats under the umbrella--even Varley got sick of the illusion of apathy and ducked under it at some point--as Felix wrestles down the urge to grab Dimitri's hand. That's incredibly stupid. Just some leftover childhood nostalgia, obviously.

Felix doesn't mind the quiet, but he doesn't feel like he quite belongs in it, either. The idea that none of these people (or Slowpokes) have ever known war or violence unsettles him, and his hand itches for the hilt of his real sword, but now that he can spar properly with Dimitri again, it can wait. For now.

When he glances over at Dimitri to make some comment, he recognizes that look in the prince's eye and frowns.]

Hey. Snap out of it. You're the only one who knows where we're going, remember?

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