[closed] May Catch All

[nastyboy]

Who: Dimitri, Grant, Claude, Dedue, Eri, and Shrike
What: After lots of loss, Dimitri manages to sheepdog herd the people he cares about into getting back onto the road. First stop: hitting up the Kanto gyms
When: May
Where: Saffron, Vermillion, Cerulean

Comments

Claude Steers Dimitri From A Bad Life Choice

[nastyboy]

In all truths, gym battles are not things which take a great deal of time, in Dimitri's opinion. They are things that could be done in a day. Truthfully, if they liked, they could go through all of Kanto in a month, if they hurried things.

But traveling is not all about the destination, Dimitri has come to learn. The time lingered in cities, taking in the different places, savoring one another's company...

There is worth in that.

Worth that Dimitri doesn't think could be bought with all the money and riches in the world.

This is far from the first time that he and Claude have been in Saffron, of course. Still, Dimitri is glad for it. Glad to hold his hand as they browse through the many shops. He doesn't say it, but he is glancing at things he can save for Felix, and Sylvain, and others - people who may return one day, and who he'd like to surprise with gifts.

Yet what catches his gaze isn't something that he can gift. Rather, it is the reverse, and Claude may notice Dimitri slowing his long gait. "Oh!" he exclaims. "I should get my ears pierced."

If Claude follows his gaze, he will find him looking straight at a worryingly pink store offering ear piercings. A store dedicated, arguably, to young teenage girls.

Claude, as a man who regularly wears jewelry, probably has ended up acquainted one way or another with the reputation of this store.

Dimitri clearly has not been.

Someone needs to save him from himself. Again.

[vrdantwind]

As someone who regularly wears quality jewelry, this store has never before even pinged on Claude's radar. The unfamiliarity is the same sort a five-star chef might have with the culinary expertise of a self-styled local tailgate "grillmaster" who thinks burgers are best served when they resemble charcoal briquettes. Some things are beneath the notice of people with taste.

And yet...he doesn't need to know the reputation. He looks at the store. He looks at the first earrings he sees on display on the nearest rack, which look like something an incontinent Sableye might get yelled at for leaving on the new rug. He looks at the bored teenage girl with the nametag leaning on the counter, who looks about the same age as Hilda was during their first year at Garreg Mach but with none of the passion for work.

And every instinct he has ever honed over the years of his life throws up red flags like a seasick clown.

"Here?" Claude asks. Only a suggestion of setting up a snowcone stand in Ailell could be greeted with more disbelief.

[nastyboy]

Sometimes, Dimitri must marvel at the expressions his lovers are capable of. That quiet serenity which smooths Dedue's brow as his sweet hands work patiently at a bit of dough. How shining and joyous it is when Grant smiles, all unreserved to the very inch of himself.

The absolute bewilderment which pinches Claude's brow and makes his eyes go wide beneath it.

"Well, they are offering, and I should remember to do such things before I forget," Dimitri says mildly, because this is true, and also because he wants to see what other expressions Claude will make this afternoon. "I am sure that if they offer, they must be capable of it, yes?"

This is not necessarily true, but, well. Surely Johto has laws about this sort of thing, right? It has so many laws about other things.