[ Back to flippancy regarding Waffle's name where he doesn't think about it as the old impulse arises again and before he can second guess himself on that either. It feels too normal, something he's missed in a way he couldn't begin to articulate even as Hilda sniffs in mock offense and he has to restrain himself from a grin. If he was hoping any of this would lessen the mixture of aching and hoping despite his best efforts to suppress it - it certainly doesn't.
But it's easier to grin slightly in a way that's not quite up to his usual standard because that's something he can figure out later even if it's also coming with the increasing wish that when they leave this rooftop, that they won't part ways. That maybe Hilda will come back to the loft, even if it's under the guise of getting the wyvern settled in and nothing further since Claude's aware of asking for too much after this long. At the same time: there's nothing to be gained by not asking at this point even if the answer he's expecting is a no. It's not like far worse hasn't been said between them at this point.
Before he can ask considering he's still thinking it over, Hilda speaks again about the name. The pause isn't characteristic to her and though his gaze had been on the wyvern - somewhat out of fear for all of their fingers and also just because - Claude lifts it back to her assuming there's a name she truly has in mind and hadn't wanted to say earlier. But it's nothing like that; it's something far beyond what he could've guessed.
In the silence after she speaks, Claude forgets about the bustle of the street below, or the warm summer sun above them, or even the wyvern's potential for adding new punctures. Though he starts to say - something, the words die away and instead leave him with lips parted as if still about to speak even though the silence is needed for processing that. It's not what he'd expected to hear and it's also not something offered lightly, he knows. Maybe that's why it feels like he can't look away while they look at each other without saying anything.
Shock isn't what he's feeling - it's affection when he knows the gesture for what it is. Any warmth he feels now can't be attributed to the weather as a small smile plays about his mouth while reaching to run a couple fingertips over the wyvern's forehead again and ignoring the grumble following and during the action. ]
I'd like that. But only if you'll help me choose what it should be after I think of some options that'd fit.
[ Because it should be both of them deciding, Claude thinks as the wyvern offers a playful snap towards his hand, eyes tracking his movements like this is playtime now as he looks up with a slight grin more tentative than it might be at any other time but feels fitting given the topic. ]
Promise I won't put in the Almyran words for buildings, weapons, or anything else in there to throw you off. Well - I probably won't.
no subject
[ Back to flippancy regarding Waffle's name where he doesn't think about it as the old impulse arises again and before he can second guess himself on that either. It feels too normal, something he's missed in a way he couldn't begin to articulate even as Hilda sniffs in mock offense and he has to restrain himself from a grin. If he was hoping any of this would lessen the mixture of aching and hoping despite his best efforts to suppress it - it certainly doesn't.
But it's easier to grin slightly in a way that's not quite up to his usual standard because that's something he can figure out later even if it's also coming with the increasing wish that when they leave this rooftop, that they won't part ways. That maybe Hilda will come back to the loft, even if it's under the guise of getting the wyvern settled in and nothing further since Claude's aware of asking for too much after this long. At the same time: there's nothing to be gained by not asking at this point even if the answer he's expecting is a no. It's not like far worse hasn't been said between them at this point.
Before he can ask considering he's still thinking it over, Hilda speaks again about the name. The pause isn't characteristic to her and though his gaze had been on the wyvern - somewhat out of fear for all of their fingers and also just because - Claude lifts it back to her assuming there's a name she truly has in mind and hadn't wanted to say earlier. But it's nothing like that; it's something far beyond what he could've guessed.
In the silence after she speaks, Claude forgets about the bustle of the street below, or the warm summer sun above them, or even the wyvern's potential for adding new punctures. Though he starts to say - something, the words die away and instead leave him with lips parted as if still about to speak even though the silence is needed for processing that. It's not what he'd expected to hear and it's also not something offered lightly, he knows. Maybe that's why it feels like he can't look away while they look at each other without saying anything.
Shock isn't what he's feeling - it's affection when he knows the gesture for what it is. Any warmth he feels now can't be attributed to the weather as a small smile plays about his mouth while reaching to run a couple fingertips over the wyvern's forehead again and ignoring the grumble following and during the action. ]
I'd like that. But only if you'll help me choose what it should be after I think of some options that'd fit.
[ Because it should be both of them deciding, Claude thinks as the wyvern offers a playful snap towards his hand, eyes tracking his movements like this is playtime now as he looks up with a slight grin more tentative than it might be at any other time but feels fitting given the topic. ]
Promise I won't put in the Almyran words for buildings, weapons, or anything else in there to throw you off. Well - I probably won't.