[ Tears appear in her eyes and he nearly reaches for her and starts to before remembering. Claude lets his hand fall back into his lap with fingers curling uselessly against his palm. They're real ones; this much he knows from all that time studying her reactions. From when his eyes would wander in her direction so often it'd been surprising to him when he'd finally noticed it happening and all those things he'd taken the time to learn about her fell into place to make sense.
All of it pointed to the person he fell in love with, still is in love with in a quiet admission to himself, with those reasons from before being such a small portion of everything as he'd said. The list feels near endless and with new ones still added now that they're here. Neither of them are exactly who they were at home, but none of those feelings had ever lessened for him.
Something about her response aches all over again beyond that choked back tone betraying her in conjunction with the tears. It wasn't meant to be yet another card in the ones he endlessly stacks to build plans like houses forever on the verge of tipping over. This is something far more important. Hilda probably didn't mean it that way - something he knows, logically - and yet it hangs between them anyway as another reminder of everything they've been through.
It feels like yet another misstep on the path he's stumbling on towards honesty. The temptation to give into tiredness and accept it is there when he's managed hurt her even without meaning to, and what he'd seen as a truth now feels more like assuming there's one stair left on a staircase only to hit nothing but air. A price he'll have to pay by learning whenever that happens since Hilda holds the control on what will happen, and for as much as he wants, he'll wait for her wishes as they're more important than his. ]
It's just the truth.
[ Resigned is what he is when that feels like enough words alone though it only lasts for as long as it takes to speak them. Talking can only go so far, and perhaps today they've reached the limit of that after silence for so long between them both. Actions need to fill in the cracks, too. Some rifts and wounds can't be healed in an afternoon alone much as he wants them to be for her sake more than his. It'd be enough, Claude thinks not for the first time, if she could be happy and at peace even if it means he's not part of that. Maybe he should consider that what she'd been about to say could be that instead of what sentimentality needs and wants it to be.
He pushes himself up with an inaudible sigh to first kneel and brush off the dust from the roof, then to stand and hold out a hand to her while the wyvern considers biting him again. That - all of it - is a risk he's willing to take as he offers her a smile that's still genuine. ]
We should get this little one back to the loft rather than staying out here before it gets any warmer. Are you coming with me?
[ Asking around the question wasn't enough before, so it's time for something more direct meant for a yes or a no even if it comes with stipulations since he won't assume that even if it is a yes that she'll stay. ]
no subject
All of it pointed to the person he fell in love with, still is in love with in a quiet admission to himself, with those reasons from before being such a small portion of everything as he'd said. The list feels near endless and with new ones still added now that they're here. Neither of them are exactly who they were at home, but none of those feelings had ever lessened for him.
Something about her response aches all over again beyond that choked back tone betraying her in conjunction with the tears. It wasn't meant to be yet another card in the ones he endlessly stacks to build plans like houses forever on the verge of tipping over. This is something far more important. Hilda probably didn't mean it that way - something he knows, logically - and yet it hangs between them anyway as another reminder of everything they've been through.
It feels like yet another misstep on the path he's stumbling on towards honesty. The temptation to give into tiredness and accept it is there when he's managed hurt her even without meaning to, and what he'd seen as a truth now feels more like assuming there's one stair left on a staircase only to hit nothing but air. A price he'll have to pay by learning whenever that happens since Hilda holds the control on what will happen, and for as much as he wants, he'll wait for her wishes as they're more important than his. ]
It's just the truth.
[ Resigned is what he is when that feels like enough words alone though it only lasts for as long as it takes to speak them. Talking can only go so far, and perhaps today they've reached the limit of that after silence for so long between them both. Actions need to fill in the cracks, too. Some rifts and wounds can't be healed in an afternoon alone much as he wants them to be for her sake more than his. It'd be enough, Claude thinks not for the first time, if she could be happy and at peace even if it means he's not part of that. Maybe he should consider that what she'd been about to say could be that instead of what sentimentality needs and wants it to be.
He pushes himself up with an inaudible sigh to first kneel and brush off the dust from the roof, then to stand and hold out a hand to her while the wyvern considers biting him again. That - all of it - is a risk he's willing to take as he offers her a smile that's still genuine. ]
We should get this little one back to the loft rather than staying out here before it gets any warmer. Are you coming with me?
[ Asking around the question wasn't enough before, so it's time for something more direct meant for a yes or a no even if it comes with stipulations since he won't assume that even if it is a yes that she'll stay. ]