[closed] February Catch All

[nastyboy]

Who: Team Femblemtroika (Grant, Chip, Dimitri, Sylvain, Claude, Felix, Dedue, Ashe) with occasional Guest Stars Jinx, Razor, Karako, and others
When: All of February
Where: Mostly Ecruteak, and the roads surrounding it, probably
What: Watch this polycule take over all of Johto!

Comments

[bestswordmaster]

Felix blinks at him, then blinks at him again.

"...Excuse me?"

[vrdantwind]

Claude blinks. "...wait, had you not heard about that yet?"

[bestswordmaster]

"What the hell makes you think I would have heard that we can't die?" He narrows his eyes. "If this is some kind of joke, it's not funny."

[vrdantwind]

"As far as I know, it's not a joke, and I've heard it confirmed from more than one source." Claude shrugs. "Steven was the first to mention it to me - apparently, when those of us who came here from other worlds go through something that kills us, we abruptly wake up unharmed at the nearest pokémon center as though nothing had happened. So I guess maybe it's not accurate to say we can't die, so much as if we do, we're instantly resurrected? But apparently it's happened and been confirmed here, and it seems like the strangest thing in the world to lie about. Definitely the strangest thing for multiple people to lie about, in such a specific way."

[bestswordmaster]

"That...that makes no sense!" Even Felix himself isn't sure why he's fuming about this. Other than - "The dead can't be resurrected. People die and they don't come back."

A strange thought hits him, then, and his rant ends prematurely and abruptly as he glances away. "But you believe it, so I believe it. But...doesn't that strike you as the kind of thing that happens in dreams?"

[vrdantwind]

Oh. Shit. For a second, Claude feels like an idiot for not seeing this reaction coming, but that's just the amount of time for him to react. He steps forward, hands moving to lightly grip Felix's arms, voice going soft. "Oh, sunshine. Of course that'd feel like a perverse idea." He doesn't say 'after what you've been through', but it doesn't really need to be said. People who've lost so deeply, so personally, to death the way that Felix has - the way Dimitri has, for that matter; Claude's going to have to approach this subject carefully with him too - would find death being some easily reversible, impermanent thing here to be almost a sick mockery of what it's really like. What it's like elsewhere. "And I admit, I don't know how it works. Maybe it's not even that people die, exactly, so much as they're prevented from dying. All I know is that, apparently, those of us from other worlds are at even less risk of dying here than you might think. And that's ultimately a good thing, right?"

He pauses, then adds, "But you're right in that it doesn't feel like it could be real. I'm not going to stand here and pretend like it makes sense. In a weird way, that's part of the reason I believe it - it's as crazy as everything else about being here is. But also, I've heard it from multiple sources, and several of them are ones I don't think have any reason to lie to me. Or at all, really."

[bestswordmaster]

A kneejerk reaction of disgust boils up from somewhere in Felix's chest, the familiar furious defiance that makes his hackles rise, makes him want to shove away what part of him perceives as pity in the sudden surge of emotions going through him like a storm. He shoves it back down, swallowing and training his eyes on some spot over Claude's shoulder. He rests his hands on the other man's waist in an attempt at showing somehow that he's not angry. Not with Claude, anyway.

"It's perverse either way. But..." He nods. "If we're all at less risk, then...yes. That's good." His gaze shifts back up to Claude's face and he frowns. "But that doesn't mean I want to watch you fall and break your neck, you reckless buffoon. So just..." He huffs a breath out through his nose. "Just warn me next time."

[vrdantwind]

Claude laughs softly. "You sound like you're scolding Sylvain," he says with a smile. "Listen, I know I like doing risky things sometimes, but I promise I wouldn't do anything that was likely to kill me. Especially not in front of someone I love. Have some faith in my skill as a rider, okay?" He leans in to peck the tip of Felix's nose. "But I can promise not to spring that kind of thing on you again without warning, at least. Not that I think I have any other flying tricks you haven't already seen besides that one."

[bestswordmaster]

"Well, you're both reckless buffoons," Felix grumbles. His face scrunches up and he leans back a little at this cutesy...thing Claude is doing.

"Hmph. Yet. I'm sure you'll come up with some soon enough. But good." He pulls his hands back and turns to start walking again. "I recorded it. So we can show it to Dimitri and the others."