[closed] March Catch All

[nastyboy]

Who: Team Femblemtroika (Grant, Chip, Dimitri, Sylvain, Claude, Felix, Jinx, Razor, Ashe, Annette, Lysithea - with people going in and out as they please)
What: Please let this group just fall asleep in Olivine for a while with nothing exploding, they beg you
When: March
Where: The Olivine City general area
Rating: T

Comments

[cyan_maid]

[Aw, Claude's a good bean.]

It's really not taking advantage if I want to come and help, now is it? And besides, I feel like "staying with a person while they are unconscious for a week and making sure things don't go completely wrong" is a big thing to do, especially when you're just starting to be friends. And...well, to be honest, I'd rather be helping someone else right now, than staying home and kind of, erm, possibly stagnating. [Jane looks a bit sheepish, admitting that.] If I let my mind linger on everything, I'm going to burn myself out.

[vrdantwind]

Dirk thought it was creepy we did that. [Claude huffs a little; he's still grumpy about it.] I thought it'd be a lot worse to just leave you.

[If Claude weren't sick, he might consider keeping this quiet - he doesn't want to cause friction between Dirk and Jane, even minor friction, especially when Dirk's come down so hard on his remarks about how, if Claude cares at all about Jane, he shouldn't ever tell her this or that about Dirk. This doesn't count - even while sick, Claude knows this is nothing close to what Dirk was being so dire about - but all the warnings and implications that Claude can only show affection for Jane by not disabusing her of whatever her more positive ideas of Dirk are make it tempting to just...not talk about Dirk to her at all.

But right now he's sick and it's easy to be petty about something minor. Actually...has he complained to Jane about this before? He doesn't remember.]

At least you appreciated it. [He really is glad for that. It would have been depressing if they'd hung around worrying about her, and she'd felt like they were creeps for doing so once she woke up.

At her comments, he frowns a little at her.] Are you okay...? You were really upset when you woke up...and it seemed kinda personal to ask about, but...

[cyan_maid]

I did get the sense that he was prickly about the whole thing.

[Prickly is a gross understatement. But it's easier to say that rather than go into the minutiae that is Dirk Strider, especially when he's made it perfectly clear that she'll never know or understand the man he is now. She can recognize their friendship is a bad fit, but...wouldn't he be worse off if he truly had no one?]

Oh...well. I've had some time to think, and...I don't know, honestly? I don't know if I'm okay right now. But I can get up every day and do what I need to do to take care of myself and my Pokemon, and I figure that if I can do so, then I'm doing what's important. And if I can do what's important now, I can make strides to figuring out how I feel about the whole mess. Besides, coming over to help is kind of a good thing. Now I don't have the time to dwell on it all so much.

[vrdantwind]

He seems prickly about a lot of things.

[He nods slightly at Jane's words.] Focus on enjoying the present, instead of worrying about the past or the future. That's what I've been telling the others. But...I'm worried you're not enjoying the present, so much as distracting yourself with it...

[Claude's not as articulate (or as long-winded) as usual, but this is still fairly impressive cogitation from a sick man.]

[cyan_maid]

It's an understatement, but...he's also very private, so. It's really not my place to get very deeply into it. [Also geez she still can't parse it all. Maybe it's because her brain just won't accept some of it?]

...Well...I don't mind just getting by in the present for a little while. There are days like that in life, right? Not everything can be sunshine and rainbows.

[vrdantwind]

I've been talking to him a little...trying to understand him better. He doesn't make it easy, does he? [Claude is aware, even sick, that he shouldn't say much of anything about Dirk to Jane(mostly because Dirk seems to want to keep Jane in the dark about a lot of things), and he doesn't intend to. But he's pretty sure it's safe to acknowledge to her that he and Dirk have been chatting. That's pretty innocuous, right?] He talks in circles made of thesauruses.

[This is not the suavest or even most understandable witty remark Claude's ever made, but honestly, it might get a laugh from Jane anyway. If it does, then it's still a win.]

And I guess you're right. You deserve sunshine and rainbows, though. You're a good person...and I don't know much about it, but I know enough to know you've been through a lot you didn't deserve. So...if we can help you back, like when we're not all sick and useless, let us know, okay?

[cyan_maid]

No, he likes to be very...metaphorical, to the point of obfuscation. That, at least, hasn't changed.

[She pauses at the offer, cheeks a little pink as she thinks about it. It's. It can be hard for her to ask for help, a lot of the time. And she likes to help. She likes to feel helpful, and get out and talk to people, and be normal. In Jane's mind, she doesn't really need anything in return because she's already getting something out of it. But if they insist...]

...Well...shucks, when you put it like that, how can I turn you down?

[vrdantwind]

You're not supposed to turn me down. [Claude grins. Even sick, he seems to retain some of his people skills.] This is important.

I don't know how we could help, but we all want to.

[cyan_maid]

[Pfftahahah, okay, that gets her to chuckle a bit.]

Ah, well, fair enough! If you're all willing to help, then I suppose I'm outnumbered, huh?

[But where even to begin? Can she even think to start today? You're all gonna be feeling crummy.]

[vrdantwind]

I don't even need to ask. I know the others would want to. Just...maybe when we can all think straight. My head's not cooperating with me right now...

[cyan_maid]

Oh, absolutely not today. You should all be resting up as much as possible until you're feeling better.