DMCL gift exchange part 2

[warmskies]

Dimitri starts to fold neatly into Claude's life, after that. Why wouldn't he? Claude has to admit that he's very likeable, the kind of person who lifts up boxes Marianne is trying to move out of the way, and who listens attentively to Ignatz's thoughts about the latest art exhibit down the street. He never leaves Claude's side when it comes to guarding him, unless Claude tells him that he he can, that he should. Every night, without fail, Dimitri does his best to cook something so that Claude can be welcomed home and allowed to relax.

It's kind of odd, honestly. Claude can't recall the last time he's been able to relax with someone like this, be pampered. He lives on his own for a reason, after all, in that it's better to be independent than rely on anyone either side of his family might want to shove onto him. But Dimitri has nothing to do with his family. Dimitri is his own person. If he has a connection to any other individual, then it's honestly just... Claude himself.

That's a new one.

"So what were you and Lysithea talking about while I was busy with Lorenz?" Claude asks, his phone now back firmly in his pocket where it deserves to be. The Lysithea in question is off again, laptop held closely to her chest while she talks to someone else through her phone. (Definitely a girl day today.) "It seemed like she got quite excited about the subject."

Dimitri smiles at him, hands loose at his side, ready to react to anything. Always so vigilant. "We were talking about how magic has become more of a passive force in the world than an active one," he tells Claude, holding open the door to his office for him. Claude suspects he would have done that even without being a bodyguard. "It's apparently quite a mystery in the world, why that change has occurred..."

"Ah yes, the great mystery of magic," Claude muses, chuckling. "I'd ask if you have any idea on it, but, well... You're not really a mage or anything, are you? It would have been revolutionary if you were..." As it is, even with some of the texts from back then managing to survive, the traditional kinds of magics have managed to slip through the modern era's fingertips. Why that is... Well, like he said. To have a mage would be revolutionary, especially to make up for the considerable amount of texts they did unfortunately lose.

Dimitri does that golden retriever droop again, and takes his usual seat along one end of Claude's desk. "I apologize for my lack of knowledge," he says, as though it's his fault.

Waving him off, Claude checks over the large file that Lorenz sent over on the matter of who just exactly is interfering with him. "Listen, you learned what you needed to in order to survive," he says simply, a little absent minded as he reads over the information he's been sent. "Not everyone could be a mage, from what I understand of the process. Anyway, I imagine that we'll get to an answer sooner or later. That's just the nature of humans. Some people have actually theorized that magic simply rolls throughout the world in stages."

"That is what Lysithea said as well," Dimitri muses, opening up the laptop Cladue got him the other day so that he can return to the typing program he diligently works on every day. "She said that the theory is that magic wanes in and out of this earth like the tides, or similar to how the moon has its phases. She said the greater mystery isn't what happened to magic, but rather where it's going. Once humans have figured out where magic goes - whether that's some sort of other plane or simply away from this planet, nearer to stars - then that will be the next great... frontier." He shrugs, tongue sticking out just a bit as he sets up his next bit of "homework". "Or so she says."

Hearing Lysithea get so excited about that kind of thing makes Claude grin, even as he focuses more on the work that he has in front of him. "It's her most passionate life's work. We're lucky that we were able to snag her for Golden Deer, honestly." If they didn't have Lysithea... Some of the things that he wants to accomplish with Project Verdant Wind just wouldn't be possible. "Anyway, it looks like next month is when we'll start preparing for that trip I mentioned a while ago, and actually going on that trip will happen the month later."

"I'll prepare for the way there, then." Dimitri nods, determined for whatever strange and foreign way of transportation he has to go through.

Honestly, it's sort of endearing, and it makes Claude want to drag him all around Fodlan on different methods of transportation, just to see his eye go wide in awe all over again. While Dimitri is still always so excited when they find any reason to use the subway system, Claude can tell that he's starting to adjust. The train might be a downgrade when they get to it.

"We should probably get you more clothes, then," Claude says, thinking about his latest paycheck. "The climate is a little different, obviously, even as we're shifting into spring... And anyway, you're honestly due for more. I say I've been paying you out of my own account, but it's really just me keeping track of money that I put aside with you in mind..." He's definitely breaking some sort of labor law there. But what else can he do? It's not as though Dimitri has any paperwork or forms filled out that proves he exists here in Fodlan, or anywhere else in the world... So Claude is kind of in a bind on how he can otherwise pay Dimitri besides with physical cash.

Which, granted, Dimitri seems to be perfectly fine with handling, and has some tucked away in his temporary room at Claude's place along with whatever he carries on his person. The problem is that he can't do that for how much money Claude is determined to rightfully pay him. So... Claude just has to keep track of it the old fashioned way, with a spreadsheet. It's an odd position, but oh well.

Dimitri glances down at himself, taking stock of the simple navy suit jacket he's wearing over a plain black shirt underneath. "Well... I suppose I do need to have more clothes," he says. "I am simply unsure of what would be considered.... appropriate, in this day and age. Fashionable?"

"Don't worry about it." Claude winks. "The shops around here will give you a pretty decent idea of what is trending... but honestly, so long as you like what you pick, and how it looks on you, that's all that matter. For example, I don't think I've ever seen Lorenz outside of leather, purple, or both, with the ever present rose theme. If something appeals to you, then it looks good more than something you'd hate."

"Then... I suppose we'll see what is available." Dimitri seems content to leave it at that, returning to his own work, and Claude goes back to his. Now, however, he has something else to look forward to at the end of his work day, besides just some delicious food.

Some of his friends certainly seem to pick up on it as he and Dimitri start to head out, with Lorenz pressing one finger delicately along the curve of his jaw. "Do the two of you have something planned for tonight?" he asks. "Dimitri seems quite excited."

Claude looks up at the blond and smiles a little. While Dimitri is doing his absolute best to seem calm, well - heart on his sleeve. He's definitely fidgeting a little bit, eager as can be. "Just a night out," he tells his coworkers casually, waiting for Hilda to pack up all her things so that they can all leave the office together. Hilda always brings a whole bunch of things to work, various little drinks and cosmetics for when something is taking a million years to load, or she has to wait on the phone line. "I thought I'd show Dimitri the mall we have here." He's pretty sure Dimitri knows what a mall is, after all his time watching the television, and going on the computer. It's not that hard a concept to grasp.

Of course, the idea of a mall has Lorenz sigh a little, and Claude can already tell what he's thinking. Out of all the places in Derdriu, why take Dimitri to such an uncivilized place such as a mall? Yet before he can say anything, Marianne speaks up. "If you guys are heading there... Do you think you could pick something up for me?" Her hands wind around each other. "If it's not in the way, of course..."

"There is no way that it would be in the way," Dimitri says immediately, without a second's hesitation. "What do you need?" Which is of course entirely like him.

Fortunately, Claude is on the right track there with him, and he smiles at Marianne. "Don't worry about it. Let me guess, it's something for one of your pets, right?"

Marianne can't help but look embarrassed, but she nods. "That's right... I had to take Tsong to the vet because of something he ate, and I've been so occupied with making sure he takes his medication that I forgot to get more treats for everything else..."

"Well, I'm pretty sure I'm familiar with what you like to get your cats... Then, we'll stop by the pet store in the mall on the way out." Grinning, he waves a jaunty hand at her. "I'll make double sure with you by sending a picture over, so you don't have to worry, alright, Marianne? Feel free to go running back home so that you can fight with your cat on swallowing medicine."

Igntaz chuckles a little, escorting Hilda as she finally hauls her own bag up. "We're all heading down the same elevator, so I think there's only so much any of us can rush."

"Says you," Claude declares as they all pile into the elevator. "I plan on running the moment the doors open~."

He says it just as a joke, of course. Yet before he knows it, there's a nice broad hand along his shoulder, and Dimitri tugs him close, right up against his side. "I think not," he murmurs. "I'm staying by your side, and not letting you run off even a few steps ahead."

Jeez. Just... Jeez. Claude can feel his cheeks start to burn more than he'd expect, and that only gets worse when he notices Hilda looking away with her hand muffling a laugh. Turning his head, he looks up at Dimitri. "It was just a joke," he says lightly. "Although now I'm half tempted to do it, just to see how you react."

"That teasing nature of yours really can be such a problem, I think."

"Yes, yes~."

It doesn't take very much time at all for them to separate from the rest of the Deer, and hop onto the subway. As they ride along the rails, Claude can't help but notice how Dimitri sticks even closer to him than usual. "Are you really that worried that something will happen?" he asks quietly, not minding how Dimitri stands watch while Claude sits and relaxes.

Dimitri doesn't even glance back over to him, still focused on everything and everyone else around them. "You were attacked the last time that we went out so casually like this," he answers. "I don't want that same sort of thing to happen again."

"Even though you were there to save me instantly before I could get so much as roughed up?"

"As a guard," Dimitri says solemnly, "I should be able to act before so much as a single hair is stirred from action."

That's right. Claude does his best to commit that to memory as he settles back in his seat, waiting for their car to slow. Dimitri is just acting like this because he has such a strong sense of duty, and feels that he owes a great deal to Claude from his time here - maybe even his life, he might say, if Claude were to ever really press on the matter. It's a professionalism he can appreciate, he really can. It's just... almost disappointing, to think of it that way-

Oh. Claude lets out a breath as him and Dimitri make their way off onto their stop, and through the small shopping area that populates this one. He sees what's happening here. Honestly, he supposes he should have seen it ages ago because of all the things they're doing - Dimitri cooking dinner for him, Dimitri holding him close, Dimitri smiling so earnestly at him. Claude isn't used to those kinds of things being given to him so freely, so regularly. It's been enough to slip past even his pretty solid guard..

Dimitri does it again when he reaches the top of the stairs that lead into the streets, offering a hand back to Claude with that sweet smile of his. What else can he do? All Claude can do is smile at him as well, and accept that offered hand. It's not as though Dimitri is purposefully hitting his heart like this. He's just being nice... and he can't possibly realize how much it's making Claude like him, more than he ever should in with their situations being what they are.

A part of him almost wishes he could bring up how Dimitri is going to return to his time period soon, inaccessible to him in any way but a distant memory. He can think it, of course, and Claude does his absolute best to think about that a whole lot as he guides Dimitri down the street... but giving a proper voice to something has such a deeper effect. Unfortunately, they're in public, and both of them agreed a long time ago not to mention anything suspicious, let alone blatant, about Dimitri's predicament where other people could easily overhear.

So Claude stuffs it in his chest, where he can stew over it later, and nudges Dimitri towards one large building in particular. Over its doors, it proudly displays the name Red Locket, and a steady stream of people slip in and out. "Here we are," he tells Dimitri, and steps through the door that is held open for him. One of these days, he'll probably be able to do it for Dimitri... maybe. "Try not to get overwhelmed."

"I am not a child," Dimitri scolds him, and all Claude can do is laugh, because he remembers as well as he's sure Dimitri does the way he stared in amazement at the underground. Now that it's been pointed out, in fact, he does his absolute best to not just spin around in place as they enter the mall properly, together. Claude knows there are plenty more impressive places throughout Fodlan, honestly - big open air malls that let one soak in the sunshine nearer to the border of Almyra, fantastically designed places that are often the subject of many an aesthetic blog...

But Derdriu's Red Locket Mall is plenty impressive in its own right, he's proud to say, with patterned tiles that remind him of his other homeland, and an eyecatching map of the place that does its job perfectly. While Dimitri pretends, badly, that he's not looking over to the smoothie shop that's right there near the entrance, Claude inspects the mall map.

It's been a while since he's dropped by this place, so he's honestly not as confident in where everything is as he might have been once upon a time... and he doesn't think he's ever actually been this confident. He might not have a disdain for the average mall as Lorenz does, but he also doesn't really go to any of them very often.

After a little bit of looking it over, however, everything starts to flood back to him, and Claude smiles. "Alright, I've got it," he tells Dimitri. "The pet store here that Marianne wanted us to drop by is here on the ground floor... Which does make sense, honestly. Some people arrive here in cars, and recharge them in the parking garage while they shop, so all that heavy stuff they might get at a pet store doesn't have as much of a distance to be moved. So I think what we should do is just start at the top, and then we can get whatever Marianne needs as we leave the place."

Coming over, Dimitri inspects the map. "There are quite a bit of floors in this place..."

"With this particular mall being right in the city instead of somewhere a little more open?" Claude shrugs, gesturing for Dimitri to follow along with him. "It has to make use of the space it has... and, like with every other building that's in Derdriu, that often means going up or going down. And going up is often a lot easier than going down." The dirt is where the subway makes its home, after all. Claude understands the need to have more space, and maybe anchor a building a little more in the case of the next storm... It's just not something that can happen without a million hoops to jump through and more time than is often really worth the effort.

The escalators are just ahead of them, offering a relaxed way up to enjoy the sights without waiting for the constant up-and-down of an elevator. They don't quite make it there before Dimitri reaches forward, lightly tapping at his back. "They have wyvern services here," he says, and Claude glances to the side. Sure enough, right in the area at the base of the escalators, there's a cheery open counter sort of place. The sign is rather adorable: a fat and shimmering cartoonish golden wyvern with wide eyes more befitting a dog than a lizard with wings, and the words Windside Wyverns. Not the best name, in Claude's opinion, but it seems to be doing well enough.

"This place relies a lot on public transportation, as I'm sure you noticed," Claude says, keeping his voice quiet as the two of them step onto the escalator. It's the kind of thing Dimitri doesn't seem confident about, and he keeps his hands to himself instead of on the railing, but he follows because Claude is there. Mentally, Claude kicks his stupid heart. Not now. Never, preferably, but at least not now. "So people are kind of limited in how much they can carry if they want to get back home... and they might get especially worried about being robbed."

Familiar with late night attacks on the vulnerable now, Dimitri frowns, and nods his head. "It seems that's always a concern... No matter the city."

"Yup. Even if the crime rate is lower in Derdriu, at least on that sort of scale, there are still people who worry about it, and I can't say there aren't people who do it. Additionally, it's just troublesome to carry a whole lot when you might live a good while away." He flicks his finger in the direction of Windside Wyverns, now down below them. "So services like that are pretty common, whether here, or even in other places that just have the fortune of being full of different shops. They'll basically deliver your shopping to your home, while you go there yourself through the subway, or in a cab... Whatever. It's basically just an extra bit of convenience."

Dimitri considers that, watching his feet carefully as the two of them step off at the top of the escalator. Probably a wise choice, honestly. He ties his shoes pretty neatly, but better for him to not have to deal with his shoelaces getting caught by accident. "It's amazing to me how much of things are convenience nowadays," he says, and tilts his head to the side when Claude chuckles into his hand. "What?"

"It just makes you sound like an old soul," he says, winking at him. It can be a good excuse; Dimitri isn't the only person who has thoughts like that. It's just that he's the only person who was dragged from the past.

The top of the mall is a pretty relaxed place, meant for enjoying the view out into the city and with a decent glimpse of the harbor as well where it shimmers against the sunset. A lot of food is there, needless to say, although a few shops have made their mark as well. Places where it's easy to window shop, that sort of thing. Claude doesn't pay them much mind at all, instead immediately dragging Dimitri over to a more stall-like set up that's right in the middle of the dining space. Dimitri glances over it immediately, no doubt to ascertain both threats and just what it is exactly. "Hotdogs...? You're getting food? I thought we were going clothes shopping?"

"Can't do that on an empty stomach." Claude grins at him. "Besides, these are the best because we can eat them while we walk around and see what kind of clothes snag your attention. Although we'll have to be careful depending on which stores we go to... They'll get pissed on us if we drop food onto nice clothing. Or, really, anything that they're selling. It's a dick move to mess up merchandise and give the employees more needless work."

Dimitri seems to be a little wary of it, but he still stays close with Claude as the two of them get in line, and he eyes the menu. "Then, should we get rather plain styled hotdogs...?"

"I'd rather get a Galdog, with all the fixings," Claude says, and grins as he points it out for Dimitri on the menu. "Well, maybe a little more than just all of those..."

That earns a squint from Dimitri as he quietly mouths the list of ingredients to himself. "...Claude. It already has onions, relish, a pickle, tomatoes, peppers... What else could you put onto it?" A pause, and he sighs. "Also, that all seems rather messy to eat..... Especially if we're <>walking."

"You'll love it," Claude says mildly as they step forward in the line. "Great texture, and there's nothing quite as appetizing to the stomach as the smell of all those ingredients together on a warm poppy seed bun... We should get two each."

"Do not get a stomach ache, Claude. We have a great deal of walking to do!"

All those complaints disappear when Dimitri gets his first bite of his hotdog, after Claude leans on him a little bit. He closes his eye, sighing through his nose - and it's a good sigh, one of contentment. "There really are some fantastic textures in all of this...It's not really boring at all."

"See, I was right." Claude winks. "That's why I got it for you."

Dimitri takes another bite of his hotdog, looking away with a pale blush that stands out on his paler skin. "You have gotten to know me very well," he admits. "Still, we should not walk and eat this. The view is very beautiful from up here, is it not? Let's eat at one of the tables."

Well, Dimitri might have a point here, so Claude follows him along, and they're fortunate enough to find an empty table for the two of them. "You really do never get tired of the sight over Derdriu, do you?" he asks, and forces his voice to not be too fond. "Whether it's in my office, or at my apartment, you always seem to like looking out towards the horizon, and over hundreds of people going about their day."

Chuckling, Dimitri takes a seat. "I can't help it," he admits, gaze going out the massive floor-to-ceiling windows which are before them. "Something about it... makes me feel as though I can look forward to everything carrying on as it is. No matter where or when one is at, there is still the sun setting so reliably... People still live their lives out as best they can. I used to be overwhelmed, coming to Derdriu, but, honestly... Seeing this horizon that has not changed all that much, people living like they always will, that soothes me. Not as much has changed as I thought it had." He looks away from the window, to Claude, and that one eye of his shines so bright and blue in the light of the setting sun. "Thank you, Claude."

That smile is going to kill him one day. Claude really swears it. He's going to be murdered, and that smile will get away scott free. It's at least easy to bury the way it makes him feel with another bite of his dog, letting the tastes of food offer a decent distraction.

"You're always thanking me," he says after a moment, and hopes it's not too obvious how his heart is fluttering. It really is a treacherous little thing. "But it could be a problem for me, you know, if you weren't treated well here... and I can't even say that you seeing the horizon from a tall building is even something that I've done. It's just a little side effect, and bound to happen in Derdriu."

"Regardless," Dimitri says, with that trademark stubbornness that has him dig in his heels. "Thank you. While perhaps it may have been something that could have been a problem for you, since this concerns-" And he trips up for a moment, before regaining his wording. "-our friend in church, that was only in terms of responsibility." And there's that smile again; Claude takes a larger bite of his hotdog. "Your kindness is something that is all you."

Claude shakes his head. "You really are too soft," he informs Dimitri. All that does is make him laugh softly.

"I would gladly be more soft than anything else," he informs him. "If I could be like that for the rest of my life, I could almost ask for nothing else."

"Oh, you should never say that," Claude chuckles. "There's a whole world with all sorts of things in it, after all, and you should never settle for less." He winks, taking a sip of his drink.

Something in the way that Dimitri hums hints he has other thoughts on that sort of thing, but he doesn't bring them up for now. Instead, he just enjoys the food Claude recommended, and the two of them talk about different things, different places Dimitri would like to see or that Claude wants to show him. It doesn't take long for them to finish their hotdogs, which leaves only their drinks left, and those are a little easier to sell Dimitri on when it comes to wandering about. So with their food done, they head to some of the shops along the top floor, the few that aren't places to eat at.

Granted, the first they wander into isn't exactly somewhere they can buy a lot of things for Dimitri.... probably. It's a very pastel kind of place, where teenagers and fairy kei stylists thrive. While it might not be Dimitri's style, that doesn't mean it's any less deserving of his fascination, and, well, hey. Claude is more than happy to wander through as well. It's incredibly different from the styles he prefers, with boldly colored patterns, but he can appreciate the fluff of certain skirts, and the sheer amount of accessories.

Dimitri seems to like it as well, smiling as he goes over the various headbands that are on a rack. "There's so much variety, even with how they're all similar things in similar colors," he tells Claude, holding up a headband with an enormous bow attached that has a plastic picture of some old cartoon character. It's not one of the really famous ones that even people outside of Fodlan know, so Claude isn't sure who it's supposed to be... But that's vintage for you. "These are very cute."

"Do you want one?" Claude grins, picking up another headband - pretty pastel unicorn horns all lined up amidst a mini bouquet of equally pale and soft flowers. "I bet you'd make quite an image."

"Oh, no." Dimitri shies back, embarrassed again. "I wouldn't make the items look good at all... These should be for someone much cuter."

Claude clicks his tongue, although he does put the headband back. It's definitely the kind of thing that would at least look better with a lot more items, and Claude knows they don't intend to spend most of their money here... It's almost unfortunately. "It doesn't matter if someone thinks they're cute on a particular kind of person, you know," he tells Dimitri as they move onto something holding what looks like a treasure trove of different necklaces. They clatter against one another when he twirls the rack around. "If you like it, you can just get it."

"Still..." Dimitri pauses, looking at some fantastically shaped bags which are hanging from the wall. "Claude, could I use some of my own money for this?"

This guy, honestly.... "It's all your own money anyway," Claude points out to him patiently, tucking his hand into his pocket so that he can thumb his own wallet. Just because he's using his own card doesn't mean anything, after all. "But I take it you want to use what you physically have on you, huh? It is a pretty cute bag..."

Taking one of those shaped like a star, a pretty bright pink, Dimitri smiles back at him. "That is what I thought as well. It's very endearing!"

That turns out to be the only thing that Dimitri has an interest in buying, although Claude manages to convince him into buying a large shirt with a pastel graphic on it that goes around the whole shirt. One shirt can't be too bad to buy... and Dimitri does have to have clothes he can just lounge in. Besides, Claude saw the way that he was looking at it over and over again.

Dimitri tucks the shirt into the star bag, because they may as well use it for its intended purpose of carrying things, and then they move onto the next place.... only to immediately skip it the moment Dimitri pokes his head in and realizes just what kind of store it is when he spots all the lingerie that's on display. Immediately, face blazing red, he almost forcibly moves Claude along. Claude lets him; he's trying to avoid laughing too hard and honestly can't stay on his feet.

At least Dimitri seems to respond a little better to the incredibly classy gothic store that they step into next, although Claude can't be entirely surprised about that one considering the black armor Dimitri appeared in. At least it will certainly make an impression, going for an all black look, although Claude convinces him not to get anything too obviously fancy. Instead, they go for a more minimalist approach, which Dimitri seems more than happy with, although he takes a moment to pause while they're browsing. "What are you doing?" Claude asks, endlessly curious.

With his face screwed up, Dimitri slowly pecks his fingers along the screen of his cell phone - one of the things that Claude also had him get. If he's going to be here for so long, after all, well, it would be strange if he didn't have a phone. "I am... checking on something," Dimitri says slowly as he peck-types, unable to do anything better. Poor guy. Well, Claude has a lifetime of typing at the speed of light with one hand, so he should probably be a little forgiving. He inspects some attractively done belts while Dimitri types, and looks up when the phone finally gets put away. "I found the answer," he reassures Claude, heading towards one section in particular.

"Oh, did you...? Ah!" Claude grins at the various shoes that are on display along the top of some low shelves. "Going for some boots, are you?"

Dimitri smiles a little. "I really like the way boots feel, honestly... Although I can tell that it's going to take a bit of time to break them in, so my feet may be a little sore. You don't have to worry - I'll ensure that they won't be in my way as I do my job."

"I know a few tricks for softening boots up, so no worries," Claude says, waving his hand at him. There are gloves he likes, so he decides to get a little something for himself. "But you would be the kind of guy who likes leather... although do you want to know a secret?"

"If you are so eager to tell me a secret for once, I can't decline, now, can I?" Dimitri smiles, taking two pairs of boots - one pair that really seem way too small for him, but Claude will let him try on whatever he likes. The design of the smaller pair seem to be rather different than the other ones, after all, so they can always ask the employees about the design in a larger size if this fails like Claude suspects it will... For the time being, he just leaves Dimitri to his shoe fitting and shopping, and gets some things for himself.

When Dimitri finally comes back to him, it's with an additional bag as well that's slung over his shoulder, and two shoe boxes balanced in his arms. He makes quite the sight, mostly blacks and blues while a cheery ping star bag is hanging from the crook of one arm. "You look adorable," he teases Dimitri, while being completely truthful at the same time. He hopes one covers up the other.

"Hush," Dimitri says mildly as the two of them head back to the escalators. "We have the rest of the stores to go visit, don't we?" And he's not wrong there. So Claude indulges Dimitri in dropping by every stop that catches his attention, and not all of them are clothing stores. Video games are particularly interesting to him, with Claude happily pointing out the different latest titles, and which companies have gotten shut down for illegal crunch practices discovered after game release. He's even more fascinated when Claude introduces him to games he can play on his phone.

With all their dallying around, it's no wonder that it takes a good long while for them to reach the ground floor again, and Claude takes a glance at his phone. "Oh boy... It looks like we've really taken a while," he says, and takes stock of the full bags him and Dimitri are now both carrying around. Honestly, Dimitri is carrying more than he would have expected... But maybe it's a good thing, even if Claude isn't entirely sure what they'll do with all that clothing when it's time for Dimitri to vanish like he's supposed to. "I think the wyvern place should still be open, so let's rush down to get Marianne's cat treats - actually, you go to the wyvern place and stand in line, and I'll go grab the treats, okay?"

"Are you sure you won't need any help?" Dimitri asks, concerned, although he's adjusting all his stuff to make a run for the shop. Around his shoulder, Claude can see that there's still people over there, no doubt in a similar predicament as the two of them.

Claude winks. "I'll be fine. Besides, with the way you've been shopping, you might end up getting some animals there, too. I don't think we can get that back to my apartment so easily." Ignoring Dimitri's flustered protests, Claude makes his way hastily through the mall ground floor.

It shouldn't take him long at all to get what Marianne needs, or get in contact with her to make sure he has the right brand of treats... There's not too much reason to rush, he supposes. There are plenty of cameras around, to keep an eye on things, and there are still plenty of people around even as a few shops are starting to close up. No one would touch him in this kind of situation.

And yet he still hurries as he dips into the pet supply store, thinking of the concerned way Dimitri had fussed over him, how he'd looked back after his retreating form across the mall floor. Just thinking about that has Claude rub at his face and shake his head, waiting for a text back from Marianne. This is getting ridiculous. He's starting to fall way too fast. And for what? Just a little bit of attention? That's ridiculous. Claude does his best to remind himself that it's ridiculous even as he runs back through the mall to where he left Dimitri.

Of course, as the saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and men... When he returns, Dimitri isn't holding onto any of the bags they got - not even the cute pastel pink one. Instead, he has a smoothie drink in each of his hands, and holds one out to Claude as soon as he's close enough. "Here," he tells him. "For your thirst - we have been moving about quite a great deal this evening."

"Did you already send our things off?" Claude asks, a little exasperated, mostly fond despite the words he'd been trying to repeat to himself only a few minutes prior. "I hope you managed to give some good directions to the apartment building, at least..."

Dimitri's smile is rather pleased, and eager for approval at the same time. "I remembered the address itself," he tells Claude, offering his now completely freed up arm for Claude to hold onto. "I have paid attention to the letters you have received, and that you put on the counter before you remember to take them to your room." Or, rather, they both know that it's just Claude dumping them onto the kitchen counter whenever he gets them in the morning, and Dimitri quietly asking if they're important, which prompts Claude to dump them into the ever growing pile in his room.

He really needs to go through them to sort what needs to go into the recycling... it's just hard to sort through all the stuff he knows isn't exactly important.

That particular little bit of shame aside, Claude chuckles before taking a sip of his smoothie. Bright and citrusy, the perfect thing to wake him up a little. Maybe he really was getting a bit exhausted... "You certainly do pay a lot of attention to things you've dedicated yourself to, huh?" he asks, paying attention himself to the way that Dimitri slows his much longer gait for him. "That does reassure me, at least..."

"And I gave them my phone number in case something goes wrong!" Dimitri says, almost like an excited little kid who wants to boast about his accomplishments to anyone who will listen. "But nothing will go wrong. So please rest assured, Claude..." Almost suddenly, his free arm wraps around Claude's back, and Claude nearly stumbles as he's pulled close.

Not that it would matter if he did stumble, honestly... With Dimitri's strong arm around him, he almost doesn't have to move his feet or legs at all. Dimitri is a steady pillar, keeping him upright perfectly as he moves them through the door.

It doesn't help that the outside is starting to get just a little chilly as they exit into the night, and Dimitri is just - so warm where he holds Claude against him. It takes a second for Claude's brain to restart, and he hides that moment of surprise with a light laugh. "Trust me, I'm assured," he tells Dimitri, wrapping his own arm around the blond's back for lack of any better idea of what to do with his hand. If he refrains, then it would just make him seem like he's, well, exactly as awkward as he feels. "Now what is this all about?"

"I want to keep you safe," Dimitri says seriously, his gaze not on Claude but all the people around them as they walk. He turns his head to especially glance into any streets or alleys they pass. "The last time it was dark... I reacted much too slowly. So the best way to stop something is to prevent it from happening in the first place.." His words trail off, and he glances down at Claude almost apologetically. "But I say that just thinking of me. Are you alright, Claude?"

Is he alright? Claude knows what Dimitri means, that he would easily let go of him if he said that he wasn't comfortable being held so close to him. It'd be a very simple thing to say. Yet it would also be a lie, because... he does like this. He likes how tall Dimitri is besides him, the sturdy build of his body that warms Claude so neatly, how safe he feels with that arm around him. When's the last time he felt truly safe? Even in his apartment, he's often looked through it for a sign of trespassing... At Golden Deer, anyone could listen to the words coming out of his mouth.

But Dimitri makes him feel safe, warm, at ease, just with a simple arm around his back. Rationally, he knows it can't really change anything... And yet rationality can't change how he feels.

It'd be easy to lie. Claude has done it dozens of times before. And yet he doesn't, not quite, as he shrugs and allows Dimitri's arm to stay right where it is. "Hey, I'll listen to the expert on these matters," he says, not making eye contact in favor of radiating a casual air with the way he sips from his smoothie. It may be a little chillier, and better for hot drinks, but what can he say? He still likes the taste. He still likes Dimitri's warm comfort. "I'll make sure to not trip on those big feet of yours."

"Claude!" Dimitri's face is a little more pink, and Claude can't tell if that's from regular embarrassment or the cold. "Honestly.... You tease far too much."

All Claude can do is laugh because, after all this time, Dimitri really should know better. He grins even more when next morning comes around, and Dimitri doesn't immediately go to his office alongside of him. Instead, this time it's Claude who waits along the hallway, watching as Dimitri takes his enormous bag of things and starts cheerfully handing out gifts to Claude's various friends. New faux-leather boots for Lorenz, that adorable star bag for Hilda, on and on... Everyone is in quite the good mood by the time Dimitri finishes, returning to Claude's side.

"My friends are all going to end up spoiled if you keep that up," Claude teases him with a little tilt of his head. "No wonder it took you forever to go through the mall. You were gift shopping. I guess I really can't keep my eye off of you when we go somewhere, now, can I?"

"Everyone has been generous to me," Dimitri insists, looking in his bag again. "I have to repay that debt. So, Claude..." Yeah. He was expecting this turn of events. Claude snorts out a laugh, and Dimitri's face goes pink. "Please close your eyes."

They're really doing this right there in the open, are they? Claude closes his eyes regardless, because he supposes there's no reason not to. Everyone else got their present right there in the open office, where everyone else could see. He's not any different. It is, in fact, very stupid to want to have anything different, Claude reminds himself. It's better if he's like everyone else, if he's just another Hilda or Lorenz getting a gift from the nice tall blond with shoulders like a brick wall. Wanting to be somewhere private is honestly stupid-

There's a brush against his ear, and Claude feels his breath catch, right there in the middle of his throat. It's Dimitri's fingers - Claude has become quite familiar with them not only from how many times Dimitri holds him close against his body but from when they've cooked with one another, fingers brushing against minced ingredients, guiding each other to the proper technique. They're there now, against the curve of Claude's ear, and he can feel the light pressure of something... metallic...

"Done," Dimitri says quietly, and Claude is already reaching for his phone before Dimitri can finish. "You can look now."

Just by the feel of it along his ear, Claude knows that it's one of those really elaborate and pretty ear cuffs... It's just, he isn't prepared for how intricate and beautiful it is until his camera flicks to life on his phone screen, and he feels his breath hop out of him again. It's in the shape of a dragon, shining a radiant gold as it follows the curve of his ear, and little emerald jewels peek out from its eyes. In his camera, he can see Dimitri shyly standing behind his shoulder, not making eye contact the direct way, but still meeting Claude's gaze through the phone.

"Does it suit your tastes?" Dimitri asks quietly. "I know you don't wear a lot of accessories... but I've noticed you like wearing earrings. So I thought..."

Off in the corner of his eye, Claude can tell that all of his friends are watching this with waaay too much attention than he feels he really needs right now - he thinks that might be embarrassment talking, which, wow, when's the last time he felt that? There's a burning at the back of his ears that he ignores, instead trying to focus on looking at himself in the camera, and not Dimitri. Dimitri, standing there, his eye shining hopefully, nervously. Claude runs a finger down along the comfortable metal that's at his ear. It really does fit very well.

"No wonder it took you forever in that one shop," Claude gets himself to say, moving out of the camera app and tucking his phone away. "Are you trying to steal my company away from me, Dimitri?" There, the teasing is a little easier for him to handle, especially when Dimitri gets so flustered, and Claude laughs. "I'm joking, don't worry. Now come on, we have work to do." And with that, he steps into his office, Dimitri following close behind.

Claude doesn't remove his ear cuff for the rest of the day.

He doesn't remove it at all.





"So, when will the two of you tie all of this together with marriage?"

Claude raises an eyebrow, glancing away from some work emails on his phone with one hand and the other hand holding up the latest part of his lunch, some zucchini corn fritters. "You know, when I said that you could ask me anything you had on your mind, Lorenz, I wasn't expecting you to nose about in my private life," he says mildly, biting down on his fritter with a satisfying crunch. "Jeez, do all of you really love Dimitri that much?"

"What a thing to say from the guy who's dating him!" Leonie chuckles, working on her own lunch, accompanied by some lovely ice coffee in a mason jar. It's a cute look, and Hilda steals sips out of it every time Leonie holds it over to her. "You'd think you'd want your friends to like him."

"I mean, it's one thing if you guys like him, which I'm all for," Claude says, waving around another fritter. "But marriage!"

Ignatz tilts his head a little bit forward, embarrassed. "I know it must seem nosy... Still, I hope you can understand why some of us are so curious, Claude. After all, none of us even knew you were dating or had an interest in anyone up until the day you arrived with Dimitri by your side."

"You're one of those guys who would send an invitation to all of us for what you'd describe as a totally average party," Hilda muses, nibbling on some chocolate cake she got from somewhere down the street. "And then, when we'd arrive in totally casual clothing, you'd spring on us that it's actually a surprise wedding." Claude makes a face, but that doesn't help the way Lorenz tries to muffle his laughter into his hand.

Worse, Claude knows he can't even deny it. Instead, he sighs dramatically. "I just want to enjoy a casual dating life, and yet here you are, acting like parents clamoring for grandchildren," he says mournfully.

"I call dibs on naming one of your grandchildren, if you've decided to speedrun ahead to that," Hilda says with a wink.

"What are you all talking about that has to do with running?" Dimitri asks, exiting the stairwell and out onto the bright air of the rooftop garden. Raphael is right besides him, both of them carrying the enormous lunchboxes that make up Raphael's meal. Well, Raphael and Dimitri's meal, considering that Raphael insisted on treating him. That was probably doomed to happen with how much Raph spoils them... "Is there going to be a marathon?"

As Claude faintly wonders where he heard about that, Leonie just waves the two over to sit down with them. "We were just wondering when Claude would have grandkids," she says, with a sparkle in her eye as she gives a sideways glance to Claude. He makes a face at her. "The future, and things like that."

Settling down, Dimitri stares at Claude for a moment, before letting out a slow breath. That's something impossible for Claude to ignore, so he leans in closer. "Hey now, what was that about?"

"I was thinking that if you were to have children," Dimitri says, "then they would become even bigger tricksters and such than you are now."

"Hey!" Yet even as Claude protests, laughter erupts around them, and he shakes his head with a grin. "I swear, did all of you get together before lunch and vote to bully me? This is terrible. Anyway, if we're all done on that..."

"No promises," Hilda murmurs into her next slice of cake, and bats her eyes innocently when Claude makes an exaggerated groan.

Still. He continues. "Anyway, I'll be heading off for my trip next week, so I just want to make sure that you'll all be fine without me." He waves another fritter around, for punctuation. "I've checked some things out ahead of time, and there will be internet on the train, along with at the hotels I have scheduled, so you know how to reach me."

"You're making it sound like you're a parent leaving his rowdy kids home alone for the weekend," Leonie says with a smile.

Hilda winks. "I refuse to make any promises about not having an outrageous party while you're gone."

"I get no respect here, can you believe it?" Claude says with a grin to Dimitri, before continuing on. "Anyway, Raphael, Lorenz, you plan on meeting us at the last location, right?"

With his mouth stuffed full from a whole thing of crab cakes, Raphael gives an enthusiastic thumbs up on his end, and Lorenz puffs out his chest with no small amount of pride. "Of course. By the time you reach the end, we shall have everything prepared perfectly. Simply take care to not dally for too long, alright?"

Claude's grin spreads across his face, and Lorenz already looks as though he's regretting everything he ever said maybe just a little bit. Fortunately for him, it's not as terrible as Claude could make it be, and he could make it really terrible. "Oh, don't worry. We might get a few souvenirs and check out the towns we stop in, but there's no need to really delay. We have a lot of work to do. Even I can respect that, Lorenz."

"I apologize, this is no doubt in regards to myself coming along on the trip," Dimitri says apologetically, working on his own crab cake pile much slower than Raphael. Then again, few people have the kind of zest for food that Raph does. "I swear that I will not cause any delay to something that is so important to the project you've all been putting your all into. You have my word."

Pretty speeches like that always manage to get to Lorenz, and it makes Hilda and Ignatz smile. Leonie only laughs, quietly. "Oh, none of us are worried about you, Dimitri. If anything, you've definitely helped alleviate a lot of our concerns already."

Dimitri blinks. "I have? I wasn't even aware that I was being so helpful..."

Out of everyone he could have expected to sell him out on this matter, Claude can't say Ignatz was on the top of the list, and yet it's him that speaks up, smiling slightly. "I'm not sure how much he told you, Dimitri, but Claude works very hard for Golden Deer and its projects to succeed - not only Project Verdant Wind. But... We've been worried for a while on how much he works."

"I had to drag him out of the office once!" Raphael mentions, laughing so loud and from the depths of his chest that Claude suspects people from the next buildings over can probably hear. "He was so caught up in whatever he was reading that he didn't notice me when I called his name!"

Claude would love to protest the telling of that story, he really would. There's just one little problem, and it's that everyone is forcibly carrying on the conversation without him. This time, it's Hilda who speaks up. "But ever since you came to Derdriu, Dimitri, he's been relaxing so much more! He takes days off, like a normal person, and he goes to have fun at places like the mall, and we don't see him uploading work to the company drive in the middle of the night...."

Really, now. They're exaggerating. Claude has done things besides work before! Even if he's admittedly ordered things online more than he's ever really gone out on foot, lately... Maybe for a while now... And he relaxes! It's just that, sometimes, he gets so wrapped up in looking up something for work, because it suddenly occurred to him while he was watching television, and, well...

Maybe he really has been working a whole lot. Welp.

Claude isn't entirely sure what he's going to say as he turns his head to look at Dimitri, mouth opening for - something. He'll figure it out on the fly. But instead, Dimitri beats him to speaking, which feels like a surprise. Usually it's Claude who's the quick talker... "If I could really help Claude this much... Then I couldn't be happier. I've been worried for a long time if I've been able to really help at all since I've arrived in Derdriu. Confirmation of that... is truly a relief."

"Well, even disregarding any personal matters," Lorenz says, delicately picking at his food, "you've done so well, Dimitri, that I can't imagine you have much to be concerned about."

"It's simply because my job as of currently is a bodyguard... but I often feel as though I'm not doing nearly enough."

Of course he'd think that. Claude chuckles, and finally shoves his way into the conversation. "I'm impressed you can say that, considering how diligently you perform your job every single day," he says. "You're always stepping through doors first to make sure that there's no one suspicious lingering around, and you hear things in order to react to them before I can even hit Step 1. You're always taking care of how I'm feeling, or looking... Which I think goes beyond being a bodyguard, honestly." He winks. "Then again, I definitely have a bias towards enjoying your company more than the average bodyguard, so I can't complain."

All the praise is making Dimitri's face go red, and he ducks his head shyly. "Thank you all for the compliments," he says, one of his hands curled up against his lap for apparent lack of any other idea. "Then, I will be certain to keep Claude protected and happy on this trip as well."

Once they've finished up their lunch break, and Claude has stolen them away back into his office, he looks back to Dimitri. Even though the weeks have been quiet, with Dimitri now so smoothly a part of his life that it's funny to think he's not supposed to be, he still appreciates how hard the blond works. Dimitri checks the door behind them before he goes to sit down at the desk, and he still looks up every time there's the sound of a wyvern or pegasus passing by.

Once, Claude thought it was just because he was eternally fascinated by the view outside of his window, and how things have changed for such common animals. Now, instead, he suspects it's more because Dimitri is watching out for threats even from outside... risky and eye catching as an attack through Claude's office window would be.

"Hey," he says lightly, and earns Dimitri's attention immediately as the other man walks across the room. "You've been worrying about how good of a bodyguard you are for a while now, haven't you?"

Dimitri slides his hand along the back of his neck, brushing past the hair he still prefers to wear loose more often than not. Claude has only rarely seen it pulled back in a ponytail. "I know that you would be more than happy if I were simply able to enjoy myself, and not draw undue attention to what has happened," he says quietly, taking his usual seat at Claude's desk that's practically been carved out for him now. Claude always keeps his stuff organized, now, so that there's room for him. "However, it makes me feel... anxious, if I am honest, to simply sit and do nothing, to not give my all to a cause or task. I don't want to take advantage of your kindness..."

Of course he's that kind of guy, although Claude can't say he doesn't understand his view. There are tons of people in the world who feel like they just need to do something, who want to make progress or helps others - or any other number of things. Besides, considering the time period that Dimitri is from? Of course he feels like this. Claude only smiles, plopping down into his seat again. "That's noble and all, as much as a great many people would love sitting and doing nothing... but you know, your presence has been really invaluable even when you're sitting and doing nothing."

"I find that quite hard to believe."

"Such a skeptic." Claude sighs dramatically before smiling. "But think about it. How many times have I been attacked since you started to take up this job?" Dimitri blinks at him, and Claude smiles even wider. "Not a single time, right? The job of a bodyguard isn't just to beat someone up if they try to attack their client. Rather, a bodyguard is even more important in the duty of preemptively stopping an attack before it begins. That can mean checking out a room or place before everyone goes in, or making sure there aren't traps or poisons around... And sometimes that means making people never try anything in the first place. In that aspect, you've been incredible."

Again, there's that embarrassed blush on Dimitri's face, and he tries to hide his smile by glancing down at his laptop. "Well... If my client has no complaints, then I suppose I truly am doing well." As he opens his laptop to do a bit more exploring on the internet - Claude thinks he's stumbled onto a pet site with colorful dragons on it that has taken up some of his spare time - Dimitri pauses to think of something. "At any rate... This will be my first time traveling in this period. I know how to travel back when Faerghus existed, but I'm not entirely certain if some of it still applies here..."

"Packing up is fortunately still packing up no matter the time period," Claude tells him, sending off a quick message to Lysithea to see how the phone meeting her and Marianne are stuck on is going. "I have some suitcases that you can borrow, so you can see how different it is compared to that box we had to borrow for your armor, or the old fashioned packs from your time. It's just a matter of prioritizing what to bring, and all of that. Hey, come here." Even if he does feel a little bad for pulling Dimitri away from his game and typing practice... Once Dimitri is at his side, Claude taps at his screen. "These are the prices for each additional piece of luggage you bring onto the train we'll be using to travel. You get a freebie to carry on with you, but everything else has a price."

"So I see that it goes by weight..."

"Yup. Too much weight would be bad for the train, after all." Claude taps Dimitri's chest with his fist. "So just keep that in mind with whatever you bring along the trip, and whatever you decide to bring back." Yet even glancing up at Dimitri, he can tell that something is on his mind, and Claude laughs a little. "So what were you thinking of bringing along that would get you so worried?"

Jolting a little in surprise at being called out so easily, Dimitri lets out a sheepish laugh. "So it was visible on my face again, that kind of thing... Well, I was just wondering - my armor is rather heavy, and it would cost quite a bit of funds to move it along with us. I was doing my best to recall how much money I have, so that I could pay for it myself instead of relying on your generosity."

Claude stares. It takes even his quick brain a moment to absorb Dimitri's words. "Wait, by armor... You mean that strong black plate armor you first showed up in?"

Claude can't forget its existence at all. Not only is it forever engraved into his brain thanks to how it looked on Dimitri's person when he dropped out of that portal, Dimitri does regular maintenance on it. Every now and then, the smell of oil wafts through the apartment as he makes sure it won't rust from disuse. No one can say that Dimitri is not responsible.

Finally, Claude figures out where the heck his voice has gone, and he speaks up. "Why would you want to bring your armor?" He leans back in his chair, swiveling it around just enough so that he can face Dimitri a bit better. "People will stare at you, and I can't really think of a reason to bring it along... Well, I mean, I suppose you could wear it, but I don't think that's necessarily something you need to do as a bodyguard. It would be a lot to put on, and draw just as much attention..."

Dimitri nods. "If there's anyone who would want an explanation, you're absolutely right in desiring it... But I will tell you that it's for no other reason than my own selfishness." He shakes his head. "Honestly, the simple reasoning is that... I would not feel comfortable if I went some place so far away, and I did not have my armor with me."

"Is it important to you...?"

Another nod, and Dimitri's gaze drifts off to the cityscape that's beyond the office window. This time, Claude is pretty sure it has nothing to do with keeping an eye on wyverns or pegasi. "That armor... It is a relic from my father, before he died. He wore it in many important battles when he was younger, and it saved his life many times, or so I was told. It's not the only thing I have left of him, but..."

"But it's the only thing you have left here in Derdriu," Claude finishes for him quiet, and Dimitri nods. Well... That makes sense, no, doesn't it. Claude can understand that feeling of being so separated from everything else, the isolation that weighs down on a person. For Dimitri, in not only an entirely different land but an entirely different time, what must it be like? What do you hold onto, in a situation like that? Apparently, the answer in Dimitri's case is an entire suit of armor. Looking back to his computer, Claude lets out a slow quiet breath. "Well, it's your money in the end, Dimitri. I can't tell you what to bring or not to bring."

From the corner of his eye, he can see Dimitri perk up. "Are you certain? I don't want to cause trouble for you."

"I'm not your parent," Claude tells him with a small smile. "I can only really give you advice on what to do, and trust that you'll make the right choice. And anyway..." His smile blossoms into a full blown grin, all teeth. "There's no way you'll cause trouble for me in this, because I'm definitely not helping you with paying for the armor to travel with us, or helping you carry it." Well, while he says that like it's any kind of threat, Claude knows that it's not that big of a deal. After all, Dimitri has already displayed the ability to just casually haul that box around like on the first day he showed up, and he had to go on the subway for them to trek around the city a bunch. If anyone can handle it, it's Dimitri.

There's a reason his smile is so confident and relieved. "I understand. Then, I will ensure that I have enough money for the trip on the train." He presses his hand against his chest and gives that small bow which always makes Claude's heart flutter a little stupidly. When he was a little kid, he was roughly familiar with butlers, and some fancy restaurants he's been to still show off that kind of thing... But it's so different when Dimitri does it. "That's all we need to prepare for, then - should I call the transportation company ahead of time to let them know that I have something particularly heavy to bring along?"

"That would probably be for the best. Here, I'll give you the phone number..." And that essentially settles the rest of their day, with Dimitri making calls to the train station for not only his own reasons, but to pass on a few questions and confirmations from Claude, as well.

They pass through the rest of the week in a similar manner - Claude making sure that Golden Deer will move along just fine without him there to backseat drive every day of the week, and Dimitri patiently handling some of the more domestic affairs. Claude has to admit... He thinks he might miss Dimitri taking on cooking duty every night, with them likely eating whatever the hotel can provide, or at restaurants that might catch their eye.

Just like that, a week is gone, and Dimitri sticks by his side as they send their things ahead of them. They can take the subway themselves. Once they arrive at the station that will lead them out of town, Dimitri stares, and Claude only smiles when he feels Dimitri lean in a little closer to him. Every since Dimitri started doing this bodyguard job, escorting Claude in public places, he's started to do this kind of thing whenever he as a question about the modern world that he can't express so freely... It's cute.

"I did not know that it would come exactly from the subway station - the train, I mean," Dimitri murmurs to him once they've gotten their ticket and are waiting on the platform. "When I looked this up on the internet, it did not look like a subway car..."

Claude leans back against him, and tries to play it off as nothing serious with his chuckle. "The ones you looked up were a lot more angular, and black, weren't they?" he says. "You were looking at old locomotive trains, Dimitri. You hopped from this era to another one not quite far enough back." He laughs again as Dimitri covers his face with one hand, embarrassed. At least, fortunately for him, it's not the kind of thing either of them have time to dwell on for long. Their train slides into the station and, soon enough, they've been settled in a private room while the train starts up again.

Of course, Claude can call it a private room, but it's honestly nothing that hugely fancy. It's just a little bit of space that offers them some leg room, along with a table so that they can eat from a small cart that passes through. While the train might look similar to the subway cars that travel underneath the city, this is new enough that Dimitri inspects every inch of it in abject fascination. Plopping his laptop carrying case down on a seat besides him, Claude grins widely. "These can become beds too, if you ever feel tired."

Just like he was hoping for, Dimitri's eye goes wide. "Beds?" he asks. "How luxurious!"

"Well, this train makes stops throughout a good chunk of Fodlan," Claude explains. "It's built for longer distances than some of the other trains that we might see along all of these tracks. In that case, depending on where someone is going, it might do them good to get a decent bit of shut eye while they're riding. In the regular passenger cars, you can recline the seat a little bit as well, if you want to nap... But that requires you keeping an eye out for when your stop is."

"The employees on this train will not tell you?"

Plugging in his laptop, Claude grins. "Not if you don't have a room like this. There are so many passengers that get on these trains every day that it would take a whole lot of effort to keep track of them and all. Generally speaking, there are ticket collectors who go through the cars, and the really good ones will keep in mind whose tickets said they were to get off at one stop... But that's not something promised when you get a ticket in the first place, and you have no idea if you have a good collector on the train or not when you first step on it. Rooms are the only guarantee you'll get."

Dimitri crosses his arms, finally taking a seat himself. After so many weeks of riding on the subway, he seems to have adjusted to life on a moving vehicle like this. "So businesses stay the same after all the years," he  muses. "More luxury for more money. I would hate to be a person who would fall asleep and end up going far past my destination..."

"Fortunately, the good news is that is the kind of thing which rarely happens." A quick text is sent to Lysithea, to let him know that the train has taken off from the station, and then Claude looks up to Dimitri. "Hey, you know this is pretty different from taking the subway in a pretty noticeable aspect, right?" He tilts his head to the window. As he watches Dimitri, he absorbs the sheer excitement that lights up his entire person as he takes in the scenery rushing by.

It's the little things in life that make it so worthwhile: Dimitri's reflection in the window as he watches the world go by, the comfortable and smooth ride of the train, the warm smells of Dimitri's baked mozzarella manicotti and Claude's black bean and corn burger. There's not really too much to do besides a tiny bit of work, some podcasts, and sitting over on Dimitri's side of the room while his time displaced bodyguard plays through his dragon adoption game. It's quite the interesting little system, honestly, able to mix and match colors and patterns depending on parents, with a little fighting game, and a functioning economy...

Claude spends a good couple of hours just guiding Dimitri through the economic aspect of it all so that he can get a whole bunch of fake internet currency to buy fake dragons with pretty colors that he likes. One of the prizes ends up being a pretty black dragon with a long tongue blepping out, and a fascinating blue effect that could be either crystal or water "peeking" out from the black scales. It's just a baby, so it's adorable.

"You really love that game, don't you?" Claude asks in amusement when they reach their stop. He gets to watch Dimitri haul up his box of armor like it weighs nothing - to the shock and surprise of the two employees who had been lifting it out from the storage cars. Dimitri just smiles at them before he returns to Claude side. There are suitcases on top of it too, but Dimitri doesn't much seem to mind that either. "I don't even know how you stumbled upon it..."

For a moment, Dimitri doesn't budge, and Claude rolls his eyes before wrapping his free arm around one of Dimitri's. Only then does Dimitri start to guide him through the train station, secure in the knowledge that he can see Claude and knows where he is. Claude can guide him to the places where cabs are, sure, but still... This can't be particularly comfortable for him.

At least it gets Dimitri to speak. "I was simply looking around on one of those... forum boards you spoke of? It was the one for the training program you had me doing. People seemed to like that site quite a lot... so I simply followed them to it."

Well, he supposes that makes sense. The site that Claude had him use initially was meant more for kids and teenagers working on their typing skills or speed, after all... So he guesses it's not too much of a shock that a virtual pet site would get brought up one way or the other.

"As long as you enjoy it, I suppose it's fine." Lightly, Claude nudges him a certain way, and Dimitri follows the unsaid order obediently. "You're not the kind of guy who spends your money recklessly on stuff for online games, I'm glad to have to learned." But then he glances up at Dimitri's face from the side, and has to bite back a wheeze of amusement.

It's a sulking kind of pout that's come to rest on his face, and Claude has an idea of what he wants to say before he says it. "Honestly, with some of the things they offer to the average individual... It has been tempting on some occasions."

Claude laughs all the way to the nearest car that will accept their luggage, which follows the car they choose for their actual bodies on the way to the hotel. For a business trip like this, and with Claude's background being what it is, well, it's a pretty fancy place. Unlike with the train room, he can't really say this is anything but fancy.

Yet funnily enough, as the two of them make their way through the lobby, Dimitri doesn't seem as impressed with it as he's been with... hell, just with plastic bottles, let alone everything else he's experienced since coming to live in Derdriu. He has a rather cool expression, handing their luggage over to people that can simply move them around on carts, and waits for Claude to check them in.

That vibe doesn't change all the way to their room, which is quite a luxurious little place all its own with the kind of beds that people don't seem like they actually sleep in. It's the kind of room where someone thought that gilding everything made it classier, instead of just ostentatious. Still, it's a secure room, high off of the ground, with curtains that Claude can ensure are shut tightly. No recording devices either.

Once he's done that, and Dimitri has done a sweep of the hotel room from top to bottom, Claude plops down on the edge of one bed. They might be sharing a bedroom, but he wouldn't force a single bed onto Dimitri. It's better for things to be this way. "So, is this place not how you'd like?" he asks casually, as though it's not a big deal.

Dimitri stops squinting at the fridge prices near what is an honest to god minibar - one that no doubt charges a stupid amount for bottled water - and looks over at him awkwardly. "Oh, no - was I coming off as someone who was displeased in any way?"

"Not quite." Claude flops backwards, arms folded behind his head. "Rather, you were just unimpressed, as far as I could tell. It's quite a change, considering how you rode even the train with such delight." Nudging his head just enough to look at Dimitri, Claude grins. "And that was the one that I thought you would be bored of, considering how many times you've traveled Derdriu's underground."

"Ah." Being called out so blatantly really is the best way to get Dimitri to talk. He coughs into one hand, and straightens up away from the fridge. That's probably for the better; Claude thinks he's heard word of this place "accidentally" charging people just for opening the fridge door. "Not, it's not that. This place is very incredible, and I can tell that a lot of work and care went into its construction. Decorations such as these-"

And he tilts his head towards some of the decorations, glittering in the hotel room light. "-are not something chosen or put together carelessly. I was simply thinking... that it was strange. While not all of it could be considered the same, precisely, there are so many trends that I thought I saw in the house of nobles, back in Faerghus, and even Leicester..."

A low hum rolls out of Claude's throat, and he keeps his eye on Dimitri as the other man settles down on the other bed. There are chairs they could use, sure, along with a table, but this is honestly far more comfortable, especially since they've gotten off of a train.

"Honestly, there's always a certain romanticism that's held towards the past... That was probably true for your time as well, right? With people thinking of old legends where everything was right or how it should be, or that it was somehow more glamorous. That remains true for this time as well... and it doesn't help that some people legitimately find certain styles or things just extremely pretty and a part of their culture."

"There is a certain something to it," Dimitri agrees. Claude notes that he doesn't call it beautiful or pretty himself. "Still, I suppose I was mildly surprised, but... it's still the same thing as usual." He breathes out, and stares at Claude for a moment in thought. "...Claude? I think there is something I would like to speak with you about."

If Dimitri is bringing it up like that... "Is it serious?"

There's a nod. "Yes. I believe it is quite serious."

Claude pushes himself up, and smiles over at him. "Then let's save it for after dinner and after we get cleaned up. That way, if it's something heavy or awkward, we have an excuse to go to sleep right afterwards. Or - let's go clean up first, have that discussion, and then dinner and sleep. There's no room for awkwardness if we can cover up all that silence by stuffing our faces."

A surprised laugh exits Dimitri before he can stop it, and there's a shine to his eye as he stares at Claude. "Your sense of humor is ever terrible," he says softly.

Claude winks. "It's one of my best qualities."

"That worries me about what other qualities you possess," Dimitri says simply, and the sudden clapback has Claude fall to the side in a wheezing fit of laughter, clutching his stomach. As tears sink down into the pretty sheets of this hotel, he blinks them away as best he can to the sight of Dimitri offering his hand with a smile he's very clearly trying to hold back. "Or perhaps what you think of them. You have so many wonderful ones, after all."

Still wiping at his eye with one hand, Claude uses the other to accept Dimitri's offer. "Flattery isn't going to take away from that bit of insult you so smoothly slid in my direction," he tells him with a laugh. "Anyway, there's actually a sauna situation here at this particular hotel. Why don't we use that place to freshen up? Dinner will follow it up perfectly."

Dimitri nods, although Claude can tell that his slightly vacant gaze says he's not entirely familiar with what exactly Claude is talking about. That's alright. Some things just have to be learned about through experience, and it's not that big of a deal.

Claude has him grab some clean clothes - he knows this kind of hotel will likely provide robes, but it's good to have something for themselves - and then the pair of them head out. As they go down through the elevator, Dimitri tilts his head to the side. "You know... At the rate we have traveled, we've no doubt ended up in the lands which used to be a part of Faerghus, haven't we?"

"Yup. It'll probably become even more obvious as we wander through the different towns that are throughout the area." The elevator grinds to a halt, and the two of them step off and into the lower level below ground, where a lot of the pampering sort of services take place. Something to keep it separate from the lobby area, and then the actual hotel rooms.

The gaudiness isn't quite as prevalent here, preferring a more "clean" look, and Claude feels pretty assured in continuing the conversation as he and Dimitri make their way to the counter waiting ahead. "It was a hard thing to do, Fodlan unifying, because so many people had been engraved their identity upon the land they were in."

A sigh rustles out from besides him, and Claude chuckles as Dimitri says, "People really do never change in the world. I knew this as a basic fact, and yet it still catches me off guard occasionally." Well, that's the joy of people being people, Claude supposes, as he shows the employee at the counter their room cards so that xie can confirm they're actually paying customers and not some randos who just wandered in. Even if the world changes and becomes so much stranger than it was a century ago, or even just a decade, well... People are still people, and learning from history will never lead someone astray in how people may react.

Once they've been cleared, and sent off with the appropriate fluffy white robes that Claude is kind of looking forward to wearing, Claude picks up as they make their way down the pretty hallways. They're filled with stylish glass panes that show off various other services in the spa: nail salons for people who use other people as their hands with nails that long, comfy waiting rooms for those who've booked massages, various other little amenities of similar style. There's even a sign which says a gym is just down a certain hallway, which Claude keeps in mind, although he doubts that he'll use it in their short stay.

They have a conversation to continue right now, anyway. "Anyway, like I was saying - when Fodlan was first unified, it was rather tricky to get them to concede to a unification in the first place. People are rather individualistic... and change can be frightening, no matter how mild." As they reach some rather spacious shower rooms, Claude smiles at Dimitri. "Although you seem to be handling the most sudden change of all rather calmly, and have ever since you first arrived. I wonder if that's because you know that you'll go home again soon?" Home being an entirely different time period.

Dimitri smiles back at him, in that soft polite way of his. "Is that how it seems? Even with how rather foolishly and childishly excited I've gotten over things that are so mundane?"

"Hey, isn't that better than a lot of the alternatives?" Claude winks, going over to a row of lockers and dropping his clean clothes down onto a nearby bench. Even all the fanciest spas in the world can't  really change up too much from the classic bench, although these ones at least look to be made out of some pretty nice wood. "Anyway, let's clean ourselves up a bit, and then I can show you the sauna."

Befitting such a fancy place, the showers are all given their own private little stalls so that people don't have to be too concerned on someone peeping in on them when they just want to just wash away the exertion and sweat of the day. No way for anyone to peep over the tops, or force open the doors unless there's an employee and it's for special emergencies.. Even if it's a little public, Claude doesn't feel too much shame at all.

Likewise, Dimitri seems to have even less issues considering the way that he finishes up without any complaint towards the set up. He even sinks into the fluffy softness of the towels that are offered for them free of charge at a shelf stuffed full of the things, sighing with his eyelashes fluttering.

"I know," Claude says, content. "I should honestly get the same ones for my apartment. There's nothing more satisfying than a nice shower, and then sinking into something warm and soft as you dry off. Right?"

"They're very comfortable," Dimitri agrees, rubbing his cheek against the wonderful fabric. As he does so, Claude dares to glance over at his face properly. This entire time, he's never dared to breach the subject of Dimitri's eyepatch, and what lead to it.

He knows it's, at the very least, pretty damn scarred. Most of the time, Dimitri's eyepatch does an admirable job in covering it all up, but eyepatches move. He sees little bits of scar tissue that will take a good long while to fully heal, if it ever does so at all... but he's never truly seen the extent. Even now, he's not sure of the depth, because Dimitri keeps his eyelid closed on the scarred half of his face.

A part of him really wants to know... everything. He wants to know the depth. He wants to know the story behind it. He wants to know how much it hurts, or if the magic that is so prevalent in Dimitri's time helped heal away some of the aches that would otherwise last the rest of his life.

Once upon a time, Claude might have actually dared to ask any of those questions, honestly. Maybe it was because he used to be the son of such an influential person, used to getting his way, or maybe just because he's always had more curiosity and a thirst of knowledge than he's had sense... But he might have dared to do it.

Time and friends who've dared to gently cuff him upside the head (thanks, Leonie) have helped him move past the most impulsive of his desires, however. So Claude doesn't do it. He doesn't say a word. All he does is lightly pat Dimitri's elbow, with towels tied around both their waists now. "Anyway, if you think that's comfortable, then you should take a look at the sauna."

What he thinks he's doing is giving Dimitri a friendly treat, something to help him enjoy the modern era even more, and maybe show that he won't mind whatever twist or turn the conversation takes them. What he apparently ends up doing is subjecting Dimitri to an actual for-real hell, because Dimitri barely manages to sit down on one of the benches inside the steamy room before he lets out a soft noise with just enough of an audible misery to it. "Oh. This is. Very hot."

Oh, right, right. Northern Fodlan is notorious for how cold it can get, and how high the snow can pile up when proper precautions aren't taken for places like the rails up there, or even just the average city street. And, well, add a person who's used to cold, into a place meant to reduce them to a pile of warm goo...

"Want out of here?" he asks Dimitri. "Because there's plenty of other places to go to." It's not as though the hotel is particularly cold or anything. No doubt in every single place, they take care to make sure that the temperature is the perfect amount of middling, in consideration of their paying guests. Places like this need to satisfy reoccurring customers almost as much as restaurants do.

And yet Dimitri shakes his head. "No... No, I can manage. This cannot be any worse than a hot spring, so I am certain I can conquer it." He sweeps his hair back, out of his face, and lightly pats his cheeks. "Still... This is rather quiet at this time of night. I thought for something so luxurious, there would be more people."

Claude can't deny he's right there. There rest of the sauna is empty, and he only saw a person just entering the private rooms for what he presumes is a massage. He stretches his arms out in front of him.

"Well, I imagine when it comes to the morning, or a little more in the afternoon, it becomes a lot more busy. People want to freshen up for the day ahead, or they want to relax after the day they've just had." He tilts his head back to grin at Dimitri. "We're inbetween those two periods, with how later the train arrived here and the time it took for us to get everything up into our room, including the armor, so... this much isn't that surprising. I bet there's a skeleton crew taking care of everything right now."

"Skeleton crew..." Dimitri shakes his head. "What a morbid phrase; I cannot get used to it." He huffs a little when Claude laughs at him, but doesn't stop him from laughing at all. Really, the fascination that had radiated off of him when he'd first heard the term, and then the disappointment that had soon followed... Claude doesn't think he'll ever get tired of that memory. "Regardless... Perhaps this really is a stroke of good fortune for me. If the chances are low that someone will walk in on our conversation... Maybe this is exactly where I should speak to you regarding the matter from before."

He's really prepared to talk about it in a sauna, of all places... Claude wonders if he'll be able to last through the whole time, considering the heat. "Is it something you feel confident enough when it comes to speaking in a place that isn't exactly private, or anything?"

"I am afraid that if I hold back on it any longer, then I will lose my nerve," Dimitri confesses, sweeping his hair back so that it's not hanging around and sticking to his face. "I think... it may be for the better if I am honest with you as soon as possible. That just happens to be here, in this sauna."

"If you say so," Claude agrees mildly, and can't help it that his gaze flicks down to Dimitri's chest as he says it. He knows it's a serious conversation, and he knows that he should at least be a little respectful in how he ogles up Dimitri, it's just... Dimitri so rarely strips down like this around him.

It's honestly kind of funny, because Claude had assumed that the guy from the past would be more relaxed about occasionally getting shirtless around friends and such. However, while Claude has occasionally stripped from the waist up on his way to his bedroom after a day of work, Dimitri has always held back so that he could make it to the spare room.

Once, Claude hadn't really noticed that little quirk. Nowadays, however, as he's grown more aware with his attraction to the other man, well... It's gotten to be a lot. It feels like he notices every little thing, every habit and change, and finds himself just... helplessly interested in it all.

If he's honest, it's kind of frustrating. All this time, he's been trying to smother his feelings towards Dimitri as much as possible... but, of course, it feels like they've only become stronger because of it. Which he feels is pretty much a huge cheat, honestly.

He lets out a slow breath, and refocuses. Alright. He needs to get a handle on himself again. "So, what is it that you want to talk about?" he asks Dimitri, looking at his face. At least Dimitri is looking straight ahead instead of at him - maybe to bring up his nerves, as he was talking about earlier.

"About that..." Steeling himself, Dimitri finally looks down to him, and his hand curls into a loose fist along one of his knees. "Claude, I have not been entirely honest with you. There are things which I have kept a secret, even though you have been considerably more honest with me."

Ha. As if Claude had said that of his own free will, instead of a lot of things sort of forcing his hand, with truth actually being the safer solution... He's sort of had to be honest. It's his time period, after all, and Dimitri is the one living with him, instead of the other way around. Keeping secrets would have just been a danger to them both... and even then, Claude has kept a lot of other secrets from Dimitri, since it's not vital for them living together, or Dimitri acting as his bodyguard.

So for Dimitri to have a couple of secrets of his own... "I think that's just expected," he says casually, leaning back with his palms flat against the bench. "You're in a strange place, with a strange guy-"

"You are not strange!"

Claude laughs at him. "You say despite gravely insulting me not that long ago!" he teases, and he likes to think that Dimitri's face goes a little more red because of embarrassment instead of the sauna, although the blond still manages to smile for a fleeting moment. "But like I was saying... That sort of thing isn't really a surprise, and it's not like a lot of secrets you have could probably harm me. Although..." He tilts his head to the side. "If you felt it was so important that you had to speak with me, then I guess that's not entirely true, is it...?"

Dimitri quietly clasps his hands together in front of him. "I do not think it would hurt you," he says quietly. "I would have bit off my own tongue, and spilled my innards upon the floor before hurting you-"

"So, I don't think we have to go that far."

"-and no secret of mine would be worth keeping if it caused you harm." Another deep breath. Claude is glad to see that Dimitri has mastered it, with how tense and anxious it seems like he can get sometimes. Even better, it seems to be a habit from his time, instead of picked up when he arrived here. "This is merely.... important in another way."

With that said, he adjusts himself on the bench, partially turning around so that he can face Claude more properly. That blue eye of his looks like it's so deep... Claude could get lost in it.

"Claude... I am the rightful king to the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus."

He blinks. "Oh," Claude says. "I knew that."

Whatever reaction he thought he'd get, Dimitri absolutely wasn't expecting that. He pauses, staring at Claude, before he looks to the side for a moment as his poor little brain stutters and glitches out trying to take in those words. Slowly, he looks back. "What?" Dimitri says, so confused it's pitiful.... and kind of adorable.

Claude's mouth spasms as he fights not to laugh, and he settles for a quick wink instead. "I mean, it wasn't that hard to figure out, you know? Dimitri has always been a pretty common name, especially up north in the lands which were Faerghus once was, but, well... There's a certain period of time where it was super popular for a while...

"Additionally, well, you did arrive in a fully outfitted armor made out of plate, and the kind that's been kept care, too. I'm no expert on the matter, but that's not something the average commoner from those ages would have. So that already gave you away as at least some form of noble.

"Additionally, despite popular belief in this time, I'm well aware that not all people from the past spoke in the exact same kind of fancy manner." Claude raises his eyebrows, still grinning. "The refined and careful way you speak told me that you definitely had an education, and the kind of life where your presentation and manner had an affect on various things.

"And finally, the last nail in the metaphorical coffin... When you were first putting away your armor into the box, way back when we first met, I got a good glimpse of the emblem that was on the back of your cloak. Everyone knows that the Kingdom of Faerghus used to have a blue lion as its symbol, and, well...." Claude trails off, laughing as Dimitri sinks his face into his hands.

"I was truly that obvious this entire time?" Dimitri groans, voice muffled.

Reaching over, Claude pats his back. That it's absolutely slick from all the sweat doesn't bother him; they are in a sauna. "I mean, to be fair, not a lot of people absorb random tidbits of knowledge like I do," he concedes. "But it is obvious if you know various basic facts about that period in time... and a lot of people do." When Dimitri finally peeks out from behind his hands, Claude smiles at him. "I'm sure I told you before, when we were first trying to get the facts set straight about what time periods we're both from... But the unification of Fodlan was a really big deal. Of course little facts about you in particular are going to be incredibly well known." 

Sighing, Dimitri drags his hands down his face. "I suppose you did mention that... Yet you never brought up anything about who I truly was, and you continued to simply treat me like any other person. It's not that I'm complaining about that," he adds hastily, jerking his head up as he looks at Claude. "Rather... I was rather relieved to be treated like another person, simply someone's equal who could help or work on things to make a relationship better.

"It was always a problem, back in my time... So many people rarely even used my actual name. Beyond that, there were people who would view me as some all encompassing savior who would solve all their problems... Or a terrible enemy that would destroy everything they cared about." Dimitri looks away, his smile just a little brittle. "There was no inbetween where I was permitted to be just a human."

"Well... I can say I understand that, at least, to some degree." Claude tilts his head back, staring at the ceiling. With his family, there's a similar expectation in play. They're all such well known figures in Almyra that people have all their own opinions... even without having met a single one of his family. He'd be a liar if he said it didn't feel... isolating. Long before he ever learned to craft a mask of his own, to keep himself safe and advance his goals, he'd been placed one by the overall public, by every single bit of news media or celebrity site.

It's being a person without being a person.

At his side, Dimitri's smile becomes just a little stronger, a little more warm. "Yes... It really has felt like you do understand. Still, you treated me as such a normal person, that, well..." He shakes his head, and looks to Claude again. "If you knew all this time, why did you not say anything? What made you treat me as just another person?"

"Oh, isn't it obvious?" Claude grins. "I didn't see a reason to."

"...What?"

Pushing himself up and stretching his arms up over his head, Claude winks at Dimitri over his shoulder. "You might have been the king of Faerghus at one point in time, but that's not the time I'm living. Why should I care if you're a king back then? And even if I did... I'm going to be the king of Almyra one day, you know. As far as I'm concerned, that puts us on equal level."

Face burning red as he's called out, all Dimitri can do is stare. "Oh," he says weakly.

Claude lightly taps at his shoulder, walking past him. "Yup," is all he says. "Anyway, let's get out of here. You look like you're going to boil alive."

Clad in their fluffy hotel robes, the two of them make their way back into the locker rooms. A couple more people have dropped in for whatever reason - Claude can recognize an employee going through to make sure everyone is fine and that no one has fainted from overexertion or staying too long in the sauna.

Claude makes sure that Dimitri has a moment to freshen himself with some cooler water, and get a nice drink to help refresh himself from all the sweat he poured out before. Of course, none of this makes any time for them to really... continue their conversation from before.

Only when they've finally slipped into their room does Claude looks back at Dimitri, plucking at the front of his shirt like that can help cool him down from the lingering sauna heat, even though they've traveled so far from it. "Hey... If you hadn't said anything about being king, everything would have gone on just like normal. What made you decide that it was something so important that you had to tell me about it?"

Having scoped out the room to make sure there's no people having somehow broke in, and Claude having done the same on the technological front, Dimitri pauses. Perhaps he'd forgotten that there might be more to this conversation, or his brain had overheated after their trip down to the spa. Either way, he needs another moment to clasp his hands in front of his stomach, one hand curling over the other fist. "...Could you sit down, Claude?"

This really must be serious. Claude goes over to the small little table and chairs that have been set up for them, twisting it around about by the back until it's facing the rest of the room more. "Alright," he says, sinking down. "What's got you so serious...?"

Stepping forward, Dimitri closes his eye. "I thought... it would perhaps be fine if I were to tell you nothing of the past which held me to it. As you say, there is nothing about it that holds much value in this current present. And yet, slowly, I've started to realize something. I've realized that, even if it does not have a solid and tangible effect... It was still something important, a part of me that I can't simply ignore. Because..." Another step forward, and Dimitri sinks down to one knee before Claude, as fine as any knight in any historical drama. "Because I've come to love you in the time that I have been here, Claude, and it would not be right to tell you as such without telling you something so valuable."

Oh.

Claude's brain stutters, in time with his heart. Oh. What? No, that can't be right. He had to misheard - or he's misunderstood, there has to be something with just, the, the culture differences between two vastly different time periods separated by centuries. Claude stares for a moment, trying to find a way that this isn't true. Yet no matter how much he looks down at Dimitri, he can't find anything else but just.... pure honest adoration in that one eyed gaze.

It feels as though he's stopped breathing. What he feels emotionally, however, fortunately has no bearing with what he feels physically, in the real world, and Claude lets out a slow and shaky breath. "I mean," he says, mind running on autopilot, mouth running with no one behind the steering wheel, "I guess I should feel honored or something, that I've gotten someone like you interested. But..." Reaching up, he sweeps his fingers through his hair. "Dimitri... Are you sure you want to tell this to me? I mean - you're not really meant to stay in this time period at all, and I'm not really sure how viable that would be in the first place."

"I truly did struggle with making a decision," Dimitri admits, not looking away from him. "I thought... it might not be fair to you, to take on a lover like myself, and then for me to disappear. I thought it would be... reckless, and cruel to your heart. Did I have the right to do something like that? I thought that I couldn't have... and so I kept quiet, hoping it was enough to merely stay by your side, and help you where my hands could reach. But then I realized... I was looking down on you, in that way."

Despite the conversation, Claude can't help his wry smile. "You're the only one who would describe it that way."

"It's true," Dimitri insists, leaning forward slightly. "When I made that decision... I was thinking of my feelings only as they applied to myself. I thought that it was my decision alone. But that was foolish, wasn't it? After all... If I have feelings for you... What if you reciprocate? What if you do not, and would prefer I change my behavior in some way? The feelings that I possess for you... are not the kind of feelings that are meant for one person. Love, no matter its exact form, never is. You should get a say in this love... and I would not begrudge you for any choice you make on the matter."

A part of Claude wants to test that decision immediately. He wants to ask if Dimitri would leave the room if Claude were uncomfortable, how he would prove this love of his, so many other questions and challenges - for what? As Claude stares down at him, at that earnest gaze which would give him the world if he only asked, Claude knows why he doesn't say it.

Dimitri would do it. Without question. Without hesitation. He has given something precious to Claude, with no expectation or demand that it be placed in a spot of glory upon the insides of Claude's heart.

It's a strange feeling - not being given Dimitri's heart, but the tender way it's been placed into his hands. And worse... Claude can feel his own heart ache just as tenderly. It takes a lot of control for him to breathe in, to get a handle on himself. "I don't think... it would be good for me to give the answer that you would hope for," Claude says, his words careful. Not want - what Dimitri wants is very clear. But... hope. "You're incredible, Dimitri, but... I can't do it." He won't let himself.

There's only a smile on Dimitri's lips. Soft. Accepting. "Then you need not do it," he says softly. "Is there anything else I can give you, Claude, in light of what I've just said?"

What Claude wants, he knows that Dimitri can't give him. It's not something that's in either of their hands. So all he can do is focus on simple reality. "Honestly, I think the best thing for both of us is to just keep acting as we have been," he says, and his smile this time is at least a little more practiced. A little more like "himself". What else can he do in such a situation but smile? "You don't have to change from how you've been before, Dimitri." And him... He'll try not to make this situation worse for the both of them, he supposes.

Fortunately, maybe the Saints are actually taking them into consideration - or they just have really good luck, because there's a knock on the door, and the small communication system by the door lights up as a polite voice declares itself as room service. Dimitri immediately rises, and Claude doesn't think he's wrong in that relief rolls off of Dimitri. "Then - I will get our dinners, and we can turn in for the night."

It's a good plan. Really, it's the only real solid plan that the two of them have, isn't it? Dimitri carefully checks the person outside under a guise of polite friendliness, and Claude double checks their food for any traces of poison or drugs. Together, they sit, and eat the pasta they both decided they'd try for tonight... and, eventually, they go to sleep.

Dimitri keeps his word, because of course he does. It's Dimitri. He makes sure that everything is cleaned up for the two of them, and politely excuses himself so that he can change into his pajamas in the bathroom. When he's done, he offers to let Claude do the same, or at least he starts to before realizing that Claude has changed into a tee shirt and sweatpants of his own. They turn in for the night. It's all very simple, very plain, very easy.

It should be easy. Claude wants it to be easy. Yet as the two of them lay there in the absolute darkness that comes from having the curtains drawn as shut as possible, all he wants to do is turn his head as if he can watch Dimitri just a couple of meters away, sleeping sound in his own bed. It's agony, just laying there in the dark, listening to the steady rhythm of their breathing start to sync up.

What would have happened if he'd said yes, Claude wonders... Would Dimitri have fussed and insisted that the two of them stay in their separate beds for now? Would he have assumed they'd both simply share one? Could Claude have convinced him into it? What would it have been like, to rest his head upon that broad chest and listen to the reassuring rhythm of Dimitri's heart?

He's always asked a lot of questions, to himself and the world at large. They've never ached quite like this.





The first mine they visit apparently used to be for coal, and it's a massive thing, a hole in the earth that's left a rather terrible scar. It's costly to buy, too, and Claude understands quite well when he finally gets to go through the place in person. Coal is something that requires quite a bit of heavy lifting to move around, after all, and that inevitably means tunnels that are honestly quite massive.

It would work pretty decently for Claude's purposes, he does have to admit... But as him and Dimitri make their way to one of the entrances, he takes in how much equipment was left behind to rust with vegetation growing around it. Moving all of that would take a whole lot of time, effort, and cash...

"I visited mines on occasion, back home," Dimitri says, mindful of the guide that is accompanying them through the tunnels - always someone good to have in case of accidents and the like. "Yet a mine like this... is far more impressive than I would have ever thought it to be."

Claude faintly wonders how he can speak so casually, considering the conversation they had only the other night. Then again, maybe Dimitri is wondering the same about him when he turns his head to look back at the blond with a smile on his face. "They were positive that they'd hit a big load, way back when this mine was at all relevant. It was kind of a historical thing, actually, because they had to convince Duscur that they wouldn't dig over onto that land... I don't think anything bad came out of that, however."

"Well, that is a relief, in more ways than one." Dimitri fumbles with his own flashlight, taking a look at the string of lightbulbs that go throughout the tunnel. "I suppose these would be one more thing you would need to replace..."

"Oh, definitely." Once upon a time, Claude would have indulged himself, and leaned against Dimitri's side or his back to inspect the bulbs. He doesn't this time. "For one thing, those are so old I suspect they'd explode if we made them work again. But honestly, they're just not connected to the right kind of system. This far up in northern lands... We'll have to think carefully, go through all the old articles on the weather around here and what scientists predict is in the future, to decide on the right kind of energy gathering system that will work out best here."

Thank god this is a business trip. Claude is more than happy to ramble on about the needs of Verdant Wind, and what exactly will have to go into the mine until it's in decent shape to be used for their purposes. That at least helps both of them avoid talking or thinking about the knowledge which hangs so ripe between them.

Dimitri is more than happy to listen as well; he always is. "If I were born in this place, I wonder if I would have become - a person who deals with this kind of technology," he says, fumbling to be subtle as they step out from the tunnels after a nice long inspection. "It's all so amazing... and it does such important work."

"You want to be an engineer or a technician?" Claude asks, grinning. It's not the first thing he would have thought of, honestly, not with how Dimitri already has some skills in leadership as a king, and is even better when it comes to physical matters. Maybe he really would have been a bodyguard if he'd been around in this time period, or maybe he would have been something else - a boxer, a MMA fighter, a P.E. teacher for kids. His gaze flicks towards their guide, but they've wandered off a little to answer their phone, so it should be fine to talk. "Well, if you really wanted to look into that, it would likely take a while... but I don't think that's a bad dream at all."

Dimitri's smile is soft, the kind of thing he wants to reach up and - nope, he'll just stop himself right there. "You always are so encouraging," Dimitri says softly. "I doubt I will be able to make any strides towards that at all, especially with how things are, but I am glad to hear your encouragement nonetheless, Claude."

Right... How things are. In other words, Dimitri couldn't even finish catching up with the basic education of this place, meshing it with what he's learned as royalty, before he'd likely be tugged back to his time period. It's another reminder of their very unique situation, and certainly not the first time that Claude has thought about it, or remembered its existence.. Yet the pang in his heart...

Their guide finishes up their phone call, and they all make it back to the city proper. Yet they finished quicker than Claude thought they would... The sun is still in the sky when they all leave their shared ride, and he folds his hands behind his head.

"Well, it would be a shame if we headed back to the hotel so quickly to do nothing but lounge around after packing our things for the train tomorrow," he tells Dimitri. "Why don't I show you around? I did tell you that there would be some interesting places to visit around here that have stuck around since ye olden days."

Dimitri snorts, which he then hastily tries to cover up by coughing into his hand. "Must you describe it that way?" Dimitri asks, smiling a little in a way he can't completely hide.

"Absolutely," Claude says casually, gesturing for Dimitri to follow him along. "I've heard that they actually have an arena around here where they do plays, sports, and historical re-enactments - all sorts of stuff. It's the pride of this place. Oh boy, I should tell you about some of the drama that has happened around it before... They've kept a lot of the base structure around, and taken sooooo much care with how they've modernized the place."

Not leaving his side for even a moment, Dimitri smiles a little more honestly with his hand swinging back down. "It really must be a treasured place, then, for them to deal with it so delicately."

"That's putting it lightly. I think if anyone insults this place and it's not crystal clear that they're joking, the locals around here jump them in alleys." Claude laughs. "One of the most recent dramas was a few years ago. There was this big name coach from out of town that they were considering for a baseball team, right? But he was trying to throw his weight around... Said that if they wanted him, then the city would have to either revamp the arena completely, or make a whole new place, complete with all sorts of stupid demands."

Dimitri holds out his hand, making him pause before they cross a street. A good idea, honestly, with how busy and bustling the place is... Although not nearly as much as Derdriu. That's probably a weird thing to be proud of. Once they're both on the opposite side of the street, Dimitri finally shakes his head. "That seems like putting a rather lot of value on one's own self..."

"Oh, hey, he was full of it." Claude snorts. "I think he was from out of the country? Which, I'm obviously not knocking, but there are some things you really have to figure out in regards to what people will outright slug you for so much as suggesting when you move somewhere. Sometimes, that means doing your research, like I did. Other times, that means having an entire city whirl on you to the point that you not only lose the job you were being scouted for, but are blacklisted from that city completely."

"...That is impressive, and more than a little frightening, especially all in the name of a single building."

Claude laughs. "That's the power of unity in a time where we can indulge peacefully," he says. "We turn on asshole coaches who disrespect a local landmark instead of turning on other countries. I personally think it's much better."

Certainly it's much more peaceful as the two of them make their way through the city, enjoying the air and people as they do so. Derdriu is a place entirely its own, with so much of it relating to the seafront. After being away from Almyra for so long, it's kind of funny to be in a completely landlocked kind of city again... Claude admires it as the two of them walk, picking up pretzels on the way.

"Thank you, by the way," Dimitri says suddenly, as they're waiting for a rush of traffic to pass them by.

Claude glances back up at him. "Thanks for what?"

Dimitri clears his throat, nervous again, before he pushes forward. "Thank you for... still treating me as you did before I confessed to you. While it would have been well within your right to react in whatever manner you so chose, I still worried about it. Being at your side is something precious, and I am relieved to find that you are still comfortable enough with me to allow it."

Chuckling, Claude nudges him across the street. They're getting closer now, he can tell. "Well... Regardless of my own personal feelings, it really has made me happy to introduce you to all sorts of new things, here in Fodlan. When I think about just... not doing it, because of things between us, I feel kind of bad. I like watching your face light up when you get to see something new, and you like, well, a whole lot of things. It'd be a waste to not do any of that now."

There it is. There's that soft, adoring smile that sucker punches him every single time. Claude should know better to encourage it, but he can't stop himself from wanting to see it shine.

"You truly are an incredible person, Claude," Dimitri murmurs, and, ugh, his heart is going to stop every time he acts like that. Before Claude can hastily come up with something to move the conversation away from him, or them, or anything to do with anything, he fortunately gets to a distraction all its own. Looking up to make sure they're not about to walk into another pedestrian or traffic, Dimitri perks up. "That's- It's the Charon Stadium!"

Eyes sparkling, Claude tilts his head up to look at the circular building towering over them. The city has really grown bigger in the time that the stadium was first built, so it's no longer the most massive place around... But somehow, with how much loving care has been put into its maintenance and any restoration efforts alongside modernizing its insides, it still manages to look rather majestic. Even now, plenty of people are going in and out of its doors, and there are security guards at the gates.

"Come on." He hurries with Dimitri across the road, and makes a beeline for the doors leading inside. "On the days that there aren't any huge events, like a big sports game, this place stays open to the general public as a sort of museum. I'm sure you'll love it." Stopping in front of a small ticket counter that's right inside the Charon Stadium, Claude doesn't waste any time in getting a pair of day passes.

"A museum..." Dimitri grins widely as he accepts his own pass, and a chuckle rolls out of him. "If only she could hear how it had changed now..."

So someone who was from the once famous and somewhat independent House of Charon, huh? Or maybe someone who had simply admired the land. It's really too soon to say with such little information. Claude starts to guide Dimitri along, with already a lot of screens showing off various events scheduled for the month, and when people can expect the Charon Stadium to be closed down as it prepares for a big event or match. Those are all perfectly fine, but they're not what Claude is interested in.

Rather, he goes over to one of the interactive maps, and starts tapping around the screen as different pop ups appear in response to different rooms he touches. "It looks like they have a lot of different things right now," he hums, gaze skimming over it all in curiosity. This might have been sold as something for Dimitri, but... He's actually really interested himself. "There's some artifacts from a nearby excavation site on display, but that might be a little awkward for you..." He doesn't say why. Dimitri merely nods. He gets it. "Hey, how about this artist exhibition that's gone on? There's a lot of big names here, and I don't think you've had a chance to really enjoy modern art. Well.... At least a small portion of modern art."

"I know modern art," Dimitri insists, although he's more than happy to follow Claude along as he picks a direction to go in. "I have seen a great deal of how art has changed over on the internet. I've even seen some ahneemay!"

Claude chokes on his own air supply, and isn't entirely certain on how he makes it to the first room with some fascinating abstract studies. "It's anime," he wheezes, and almost doubles over when Dimitri smacks him on the back to help his poor airways. Gulping down air again, Claude straightens up and swipes some mirthful tears from his eyes. "Hoo! But while that's most certainly art, and it's most certainly a product of our modern era, that's somewhat different from the modern art that fancy rich people like to buy and which certain art critics fawn over."

"Still the same..." Claude laughs again. At this point, those words are starting to become Dimitri's catchphrase.

It's fascinating, to see the range of art that has presented itself, different artists displaying themselves in different ways. The abstract art is striking in its use of color, but the next room after it details something a little more Impressionist, with a particular use of brushstrokes that makes Claude feel something down in the thick of him. Dimitri adores every single painting they come across, taking it all in with a quiet appreciation.

As they walk into the next room, it distantly occurs to Claude that this kind of thing... is rather like a date. It hadn't always been like a date, he's pretty sure, even if he'd teased his friends about it and been teased about it in turn. After all, back then, he'd known - or at least he thought he'd known - that they weren't really thinking those kinds of thoughts or having those kinds of feelings about one another. It had simply been a way to show Dimitri the rest of the modern world, and make him a little happy.

But this... Claude glances up at Dimitri from the corner of his eye, a subtle little maneuver. It's different, now.  Dimitri outright admitted to him that he loves him, and Claude - well it's not like he denied any feelings on his end. Just... that he couldn't give Dimitri anything. And now the two of them are enjoying a cute little afternoon out, walking side by side as they enjoy art and playfully talk about this and that... Shit. He was just trying to show Dimitri a good time, but this is really something of a date, isn't it...?

Dimitri doesn't seem to notice. Frankly, Claude isn't sure that 'dating' was really a thing back in the time of Faerghus, was it...? Then again, that might just be one of those fake ideas about the past, like how people are always so surprised that jeans have been around longer than just the turn of the century, or whatever.

So Claude doesn't feel any less reassured as Dimitri marvels at the detailing that has gone into one statue that's put on display smack dab in the middle of the room. "If the plaque had not told me that every single thing was carved from stone, I would have merely gone on with the impression that was rope draped across the statue..."

Right. Statues. "Some people really do know how to handle stone, I suppose," he says with a chuckle. "You know how to use the camera app on your phone now, right? If you want, you can grab a few pictures to show everyone back home. I'm sure Lorenz and Ignatz would have a ton to talk about with this sort of stuff. They'd love it."

"Is that permitted?" Because of course Dimitri fusses about every little thing. While that's a valid point to worry about in an art museum, that's only in the case of certain pieces, Claude is pretty sure, and there's never been any harm in taking a picture of a statue. Additionally, Claude can say all that quite confidently because he can nod over at a small sign saying that pictures are permitted, and leave it at that. Dimitri looks a little embarrassed - Claude is pretty sure it's just average generalized embarrassment now, although he thought that about all the times before too - but smiles. "Then... Please wait a moment, Claude."

Shrugging, Claude steps back with a smile. "Take all the time you need. I'll be fine, Dimitri." He has his eyes set on a small bench set to the side, himself, but he can get there after a moment.

Instead, he slowly wanders about on the outskirts of the gallery, taking in the various smaller statues that were created, and inevitably drifting closer to an open entryway that has been neatly barred off. Stretched across is a simple thick rope strung across itself that's at around waist height. Exhibit Closed: Please do not enter the sign hanging from it reads.

Well, not everything can be up all the time. Claude wonders if the Stadium forgot to hire another artist to show off, or if something interfered in their schedules, or any number of things that could have happened.

A light crash suddenly draws his attention - fortunately not the crash of stone or marble or pottery hitting the floor, but just the average and much more blunt crash of one person colliding with another. He looks back into the main gallery area. There's a couple of kids, preteens maybe, who are on the ground, and Dimitri has crouched down to fuss over them. It paints a pretty clear picture, honestly. But really, who let their kids run around in here?

Around the time that Claude's brain thinks that, he's suddenly pulled over the rope and into the dark, empty art gallery.

One hand slips over his mouth, muffling any yell he would make, and he can tell that there's another person already involved as he's dragged through the empty room and towards the side - another door is there. Claude's body tenses up, but then he forces himself to relax, has his body go limp as his gaze flicks through the empty room.

Pretty bold of them to do it right in public like this, right there in broad daylight, but maybe - well, he can think about a whole lot of things later. For now, he lets himself go limp even as his eyes remain bright and sharp. He's dragged past a door that's held open - two people directly involved so far, good to know.

With Claude's own reactions, and all of them now out of sight from a stray eye, the goon who has a hold on him relaxes his grip. Really, how unprofessional. Don't they know that's all Claude needs to suddenly rear back his head, and smash straight onto the prick's nose?

There's a sharp curse, and Claude finds his feet on the ground, although the arms are still around his body. He doesn't stop. He slams his boot down onto the foot beneath him. It doesn't make Prick 1 let go of him completely, but it loosens the grip, Claude's body pulls free, and he jackass kicks backwards to push prick further away. There's a thud - body hitting wall. Claude takes it, spins away from the pair of people, his back to whatever lies in the emptiness of whatever this hallway is.

It's the better option. In front of him, two assholes with ski masks shoved over their faces eye him up, one of them having recovered where they were shoved against the wall. Claude really hopes that they don't have a third party in the immediate area. For now, he acts like he assumes they don't, acts like the world is in the palm of his hand, and he smirks lazily.

"You know, I thought it had been a little too quiet lately... But oh boy! You guys really must be desperate. This kind of thing is disappointingly sloppy. Did I throw your schedule off? I must have-" One of them makes a move towards him, and he moves back, reaches out for the first thing that seems grabbable. It's just a clipboard, but he'll take it. That's enough to make them pause, at any rate, as they decide a course of action for someone they no doubt weren't expecting to be so troublesome. "I must have thrown your schedule off," Claude continues, like he didn't stop. "This doesn't seem exactly prepared, you know."

Everything out of his mouth is just useless chatter; Claude knows that. But the more he buys the time, the better it is for him, so that he can figure out a way to escape from this situation. Certainly it seems to be frustrating his would-be kidnappers... or are they just thugs?

Hell. Maybe he'll just ask. "So, what's the special occasion?" he asks casually. "I think you've realized by this point that I'm not just a pretty face, so sweeping me away like a deconstructed knight on shining armor really isn't going to work. Were you trying to steal my wallet? Threaten me? I'm in suspense over here."

So far as he can tell, he has two options. He can try to shove his way past the two goons, and through the door they shoved him in. It'll lead him to the public museum areas.

It's risky... He'll have to bank on getting his way past two people in a rather enclosed space. Claude is more than a lot of people bargain for, because this is absolutely not the first time he's had to keep his own skin safe, but he's not sure even he can do that, and in such a tight squeeze... But the reward is pretty high, considering he could make all sorts of noise that would get immediate attention.

One of the goons moves, and Claude jauntily waves the clipboard in the air, like it's really any kind of solid weapon. The alternative is hoping he gets lucky in running through the little back hall areas of the museum, but will that really work out for-

The door breaks down right off its fucking hinges, and into one of the goons.

Goon 1 goes down. Goon 2 barely has time to turn around before a hand is closing around their face, and smacking them into the wall, making their knees buckle. Dimitri tosses them to the ground without a single damn care, and presses his boot down on the door that's pinning the first goon to the floor. Immediately, his gaze sweeps around, looks for more threats... and, when he finds none, it settles back onto Claude again, all concern. "Claude! Are you alright?"

Claude lowers his clipboard and grins for a moment, gesturing for Dimitri to come closer to him. The second Dimitri takes so much as a step, Claude clears his voice and starts to yell. "HELP! Help! Someone, anyone, help, assault!"

Eye wide, Dimitri understands immediately what he's doing, and scurries over to latch onto him like he thinks he's going to get in trouble. Goon 2, who'd gotten their  face slammed into a wall, struggles to get up and almost visibly pales when there's the sound of other voices.

Their buddy underneath the floor doesn't seem to be in much better condition, hurrying to push the door off of himself. They don't really have a lot of options themselves, now, however - a delightful turn of events that Claude won't complain about.

Dimitri holds him even closer, and Claude can only imagine the look that's on his face as he stares down at the two. That's around the time the goons make an executive decision, scrambling to get up to their feet and practically lunging out of the empty space where a door once was. Claude can hear Stadium security run into them not too far outside, no doubt in the statue area where they all were before.

Claude listens to it like it's sweet music, before he looks up at Dimitri. "You're really living up to the bodyguard job," he tells him, grinning. "I wasn't sure if you would have realized where I went."

"You would never have abandoned me like that," Dimitri says sincerely, arm squeezing around him. Then, he helps guide Claude outwards, into the museum proper again.

They end up having to stick around the museum a good while longer, because of that. Of course they do - there are a ton of questions to answer. Claude tells them the basic facts of the matter, which coincidentally take away a lot of his suspicions and theories, like how it definitely has to do with Golden Deer.

Because of that, instead of the many other chargers that could be levied against them, they're nailed instead for attempted robbery and assault. Dimitri was clearly acting in self defense of an innocent person, so he gets nothing. With that, the two of them are carted off to a correction facility that will help assign them lawyers, along with any therapy that might be necessary for assault on another person.

Who knows? Claude muses the whole thing as him and Dimitri return to their hotel room, which is combed over with even more intensity than before. In the correctional facilities, they're given all the tools to help get them out of whatever abysmal situation would have had them trying to kidnap someone in the first place. Sure, sometimes people who do that kind of dirty job are just pure assholes who are looking for a reason to be bastards... but, more often than not, there are other factors in place that lead them to the situation.

Well it's not his problem; the state can handle that. The fact of the matter is that he doesn't have to deal with them, and he managed to get pictures of their faces so he can pass some more information down along to Lorenz.

Instead, he flops back with a sigh. "I was so looking forward to some more of the food from around here," he whines, while Dimitri gingerly puts down some delicious fake fried chicken down besides his head. "But it's fried food tonight... The train better not derail or anything tomorrow. I just want to eat some delicious food, and arrive in the next town safely."

"So that's all you're worried about after an assault like that..." Dimitri chuckles, sitting down on his own bed. For a moment, Claude sort of misses his presence right alongside him, and then he snaps out of it. Right. It would be kind of selfish to ask him for that, after he'd turned Dimitri away in the first place... As Claude pushes himself up, Dimitri begins to work on his own food. He even has a napkin spread out on his lap.... Cute. "But do you really think anyone will go after the train?"

Picking up a drumstick out of habit, even though the fake 'bone' is edible, Claude takes a bite thoughtfully. "Honestly... I doubt they would do something dramatic with a train. Judging by the kind of people and the kind of attacks that have been tossed at me so far, they've been pretty small time and frantic... If it were more professional and if it was really serious, then they'd have hired, like... a hitman, or something."

Across from him, Dimitri frowns. "...Do you want me to look for hitmen in the next cities?"

"When you say it like that, it makes you sound like you want to hire one yourself," Claude notes in amusement, trying not to get anything on the pretty sheets of the hotel bed. There's no reason to be shitty to whoever comes in to clean up after them once they live tomorrow morning. "Anyway, don't worry about it. I think this is the extent to which we can expect trouble: rash attacks by two bit goons. Honestly, it was my fault for wandering so near to a dark empty space like that... In a horror movie, I'd be the first to bite the bullet, ha!"

Dimitri frowns at him. "Being attacked would never be your fault," he says quietly, still so achingly sincere even for stuff that honestly doesn't matter. "It is the fault of those who make those decisions in the first place. Still... I'm glad." Another pause, and he peeks up shyly from beneath his bangs. "You didn't react badly when I held you closely... I was worried I was overstepping my bounds."

"You overstepping your bounds was meant to keep me safe, so I don't think it was overstepping at all," Claude chuckles. Still, Dimitri saying that... just reminds Claude all over again of how it had felt to be held so close to him. Ugh. He's going to be having dreams about that for ages, isn't he? "Anyway, it was fine. You don't have to worry. Although I will say... don't you have some dragons to check on?"

"Do not tease me, Claude...! I can do nothing with my fingers so filthy!"





Nothing happens on the train. Nothing happens in the town they go to, or in the town they travel to after that. Dimitri sticks by his side the entire time, barely allowing him to go to the bathroom on his own.

Claude would complain, except that's kind of exactly what he wants Dimitri to do. The first time they were jumped, it was because Dimitri was preoccupied. The second time, it was because Dimitri had been separate from him for even a second. If sticking by each other helps ensure that the rest of the journey ends safely...

Well, let's just say that it's by far one of the easiest choices that Claude has had to make, and he's more than glad to make it.

Whether it's because Dimitri doesn't allow even a single opening or simply because Claude's mystery enemy is running out of tricks, they manage to make it to the final city in perfectly fine piece. The hotel this time is a little less opulent, preferring a style that's a bit more modern and minimalistic.

Lorenz and Raphael are already there by the time they arrive, and Raphael is more than delighted to assist Dimitri with his armor box while Lorenz takes some of their luggage. "Was all this truly necessary?" the latter asks, giving a couple of lifts of one suitcase.

"You know it," Claude says with a wink. "Now let's get going, it looks like Raphael is going to lift Dimitri off of his feet in a hug soon if we don't get all our luggage put away." Because Raphael is definitely the kind of guy who would dump anything else he was holding to greet a friend... and considering he has Dimitri's box of armor hefted up onto his shoulder, well, that would be kind of a bad thing. "We can catch up in me and Dimitri's hotel room, anyway."

And in their cases.... There's a lot to catch up on. It doesn't take very long to check into the hotel, and definitely not very long to move all their stuff up to their hotel room with Dimitri and Raphael both helping carry everything. Soon enough, they're dumping everything down, and Claude is pointing out places for Lorenz to check as they make sure the room isn't bugged.

When they're finally all done, Lorenz tries not to outright flop into one of the armchairs, instead trying to make it a little more posh by crossing his arms and legs as he sits. "Honestly... What should have been a very simple business trip has become quite dangerous, it seems... If I had known this, then, from the start, I would have made sure that other people were with you when you first set off."

"I'm not sure what good that would have done." Claude settles down in one of the other armchairs. Even though they're in the relative safety of the hotel room, Dimitri still goes to stand guard right behind his chair. Such a reliable bodyguard. "And anyway, you don't have to beat yourself up that much." When Lorenz sulks, Claude grins. Ah yes, he managed to call him out a little. Good. "The last while has been pretty quiet. No doubt that was on purpose, because of how I had Dimitri with me so much. This last moment was just a mistake." He reaches back to rap his knuckles against Dimitri's stomach. "That's definitely not happening again anytime soon. I'll be lucky if I can take a shower all on my own."

"Claude," Lorenz says, although Claude didn't mean it in that way at all, for once. When he doesn't get an apology, or whatever is that he was hoping for, Lorenz sinks back with a sigh before he returns to the track that they're on. "Regardless... I've sent the pictures you took back to Lysithea, and I'm sure that she'll be able to hunt down just who is still targeting you after all this time. Still... This would be far easier if we could get any information from them."

From where he's situated from behind Claude, Dimitri finally speaks up. "While I wish to find out who is behind all of this as much as you, Lorenz, I fear that information is easier thought about than tracked down. Even whoever is behind this is using at least some measure of care, although their methods would not hint at such. When Claude and I managed to overhear the questions that were being asked of the ruffians who attacked him, I received the impression that they did not know much about their employer. They had been hired in a manner meant to obfuscate... no doubt to add such an obstacle in attempts to hunt them down."

Claude nods. "Yeah, I agree with Dimitri's assessment there. I think they were just some complete randos who got hired by a guy not showing their true face, who wasn't using their real name, and they probably got paid in cash. We'll need to be really lucky, and hunt down someone who can give us a little more information... Either someone with a better memory who paid attention to various little details or someone who managed to do a bit more homework on their employer so that they could be assured that they would be paid after all is said and done... And, either way, they'd have to be the kind of person who wouldn't mind selling out their employer."

Lorenz taps his fingers along his arms a few times, thinking. "If it's someone who's rushing so much with so little funds, I wonder... Well, regardless." Lorenz shakes his head. "We will simply have to hope that we become lucky, then. For the time being, you both must be absolutely famished from your journey to this point."

"We already ate on the train," Dimitri tries to say, but it's far too late. Lorenz is already pushing himself with a determined dusting off of his clothing, despite the fact that he has literally nothing on him that has to be dusted off in the first place. It's just one of his many charming and amusing little habits.

"I'll be sure to order the finest foods off the menu!" Lorenz announces. "It shall be my treat - so please do not worry yourselves in the slightest on how it shall be a burden on your wallets."

Claude sort of assumed that they would all be putting this on the company's dime, honestly... but hey. Who is he to stop Lorenz from lavishing attention on all of them, which is Lorenz's favorite thing to do besides preening, appreciating artwork, and being just snobby enough that it no longer ruins friendships? So even though Dimitri looks as though he's going to fuss some more, Claude stops him with a friendly elbow to the side, and winks.

Unlike the rest of them, Raphael hasn't really been taking part in this conversation, which isn't surprising. He'd be the first one to say that this sort of stuff goes over his head, and that he'll simply stick to his strengths - a phrase that is occasionally very literal.

But he looks up now as Lorenz gets all worked up, and he grins. "Hey, you don't have to get anything fancy on my account, Lorenz," he says. "I'll be happy if we just get some good food for everyone, and enough to fill my stomach."

"Nonsense." Lorenz smiles at him. "This is a rare opportunity to spoil you with the pure range of food. There is nothing wrong with simplicity, of course, but why not taste something outside of one's usual? No - I insist. We shall go all out for this."

Well, when he talks about it like that, it's rather hard to refuse, isn't it? Raphael only grins even more, and not a single one of them stops Lorenz from picking up the in-house phone to make their order. It's an enormous one. It takes so many minutes just to speak all the items into the phone. Claude is pretty sure that Lorenz orders every single thing on the menu.

While his enemy might have gotten some thugs into the back halls of a museum, there's apparently not as much luck in terms of drugging the food. There's not a single issue when it starts to arrive, and there proceeds to be a lack of issue through the rest of the night. Raphael and Dimitri manage to find a marathon of Guy Fieri shows on the television, which becomes the background noise to Claude and Lorenz's discussion on the mine they'll be visiting tomorrow.

Lorenz and Raphael, arguably, have their own room to stay in. They somehow do not end up there, with Raphael drifting off to sleep on what should be Dimitri's bed. When Lorenz tries to wake him up and get him on his feet, well... He gets latched onto instead. Claude just laughs and waves off Lorenz's worries. It'll be fine. They shouldn't disrupt Raphael when he looks like he's going to have a satisfied sleep.

....Of course, him saying that doesn't take away from something else entirely, and him and Dimitri clean up the rest of the room quietly until Lorenz's breath has evened out a little more. Dimitri speaks up first, after they've gotten room service to take away the various dirty dishes and slid a substantial tip along with them.

"I can sleep on the floor," he offers quietly, the two of them in a corner of the room furthest away from the bed. "Or perhaps the armchairs - they would not be the most uncomfortable thing I have ever slept in."

"That's a little much, I think," Claude says, his own voice just as soft in turn. "And, anyway...." He pauses, not sure about what he should say next. "I mean, so, Dimitri... When I've said we were boyfriends before, it sort of means people who are... romantically involved in one another. A step before trying to get married. So if you sleep on the floor..."

Dimitri blinks at him. "I know what boyfriends are, Claude," he says patiently.

...Oh. "Since when?" Claude asks, kind of reeling from this.

"You left me alone in your apartment with only the television. It did not take very long for that sort of thing to be brought up, and for me to understand what it meant in the context it was presented in."

Oh - Oh. Claude's shoulders start to shake, and he has to shove his fist into his smiling mouth. Of course he picked up on what it meant from television. "What a gross oversight on my part, then," he manages to wheeze out, struggling to hold himself back. Something occurs to him then, however, and he eyes up Dimitri once more. "Then that means... you knew exactly what you were saying that very first day when I took you to Golden Deer with  me, doesn't it?"

A precious little pink spreads across Dimitri's face, and he glances away in embarrassment. "I thought... it was not such a bad thing to be thought as," he murmurs. "And, well... It did allow me to stay close to you no matter what."

"So all those times you were close to me..." A part of Claude still wants to laugh, because of course he missed such an obvious little detail, all because Dimitri didn't respond to it at all.

Another part of him is his aching heart, because for Dimitri to have been wanting him for all this time...

He takes a breath, and calms whatever weird actions his heart is doing now. "Well, I guess that explains that. Still, you shouldn't have to shove yourself onto the floor because of me." This is really just testing fate, he knows it is, but... "Listen, this place offers pretty huge beds." Claude asked for rooms like that in consideration of how tall Dimitri is, after all. "We can probably both lay on it, and there should be enough room for things to not get awkward."

Dimitri looks back at him, staring at his face as though he can figure out the puzzle that Claude has tried to be for a really long time now. "Are you sure that's all right, Claude?" he asks.

That soft voice, so full of concern and affection, is going to kill him one day, and all the moreso because Claude knows that Dimitri will follow anything he says without a second thought. Honestly, he has no idea if it'll be alright, but... He smiles regardless. "We'll manage. Besides, you're my bodyguard, aren't you? I want you at your best, and that means not waking up sore because you slept in a weird position in a chair. C'mon. Let's change out of our travel clothes."

Some days, Claude really does wonder about his masochistic tendencies... Because despite what he says, his heart is still up in his throat when him and Dimitri finally settle in the same bed together. There's distance between them, of course. He gets to watch Dimitri very carefully arrange some of the many extra pillows they've got to act as a barrier between the two of them.

But still... When the lights are out and the blankets are tugged up over their bodies, Claude can't do anything but be painfully aware of how close Dimitri is. Even with pillows between them, he can still hear the soft breath so close to his own head...

How much effort would it really take, to get closer to him? To break past this simple line of pillows? It wouldn't be that hard, he's pretty sure... And how nice it would feel, to cuddle up against that warm body again.... He knows how it feels now, after all. He knows what it feels like to have Dimitri hold him tight, to give him some semblance of warmth and stability that he hasn't felt in a really long time now - maybe even before so many memories of his childhood. If he just broke past one little line of pillows...

Claude isn't entirely sure when he wakes up, only that it's to the sensation of sunlight shining down across his closed eyelids. He grumbles, turns his head to burrow into something softer and warmer - the pillow barrier between him and Dimitri? There's a quiet "Oh" sort of sound, and the world goes dark again, a pressure along his head. Pillow? Oh. Claude makes a soft sleepy noise. Right, he must have burrowed into the pillows between them. He can hear Lorenz sigh, even with the fluffy obstructions in the way. "He really is sleeping in rather selfishly... We do have a schedule to keep to, don't we?"

Listening to Raphael try to laugh, but quietly, is kind of amusing, because of just how much he can't quite do it. He's clearly trying his best. "He seems pretty happy, so I don't see a reason to wake him up! The way you're smiling means you agree, right, Lorenz?"

There's a sound which is reminiscent of a cat spitting a little bit. But then - "It's fine... I apologize for this, but you two can step out, and I'll be sure to let Claude know-"

Claude jerks up and, as he does so, various pillows tumble from his head, and are sent falling over him, in front of him... and onto Dimitri. His face heats up. It wasn't the pillow line he'd buried into; he'd buried under it, right up against Dimitri's arm.

"Morning, Claude!" Raphael says cheerfully, politely not paying much attention to the situation as it is. "Sorry, we musta woke you up! Don't mind us, 'tho, me and Lorenz were about to head back to our room."

Slowly, Claude looks around the room, and, okay, yep, Dimitri is also glancing away in some embarrassment. Lorenz shakes his head, exasperated in the same way he is when anyone at their company has shown any sort of PDA. The only reason Claude suspects that he doesn't say anything this time around is because this isn't the Golden Deer building, but a hotel room he was graciously allowed to stay in. "Well, there's no reason for either of us to linger," he says. "Do remember to clean up before we leave for the meeting, won't you, Claude?"

"Uh huh," Claude says, coughing into one fist and sitting upright on the other side of the bed. Dimitri is doing similar on his side. "We'll... see you in a bit." With that, Raphael and Lorenz finally leave their room. Claude lets loose a long breath, sweeping both of his hands up into his hair. "Oh jeez... Dimitri, I'm really sorry about that."

Dimitri coughs into his hand. "No... No, I should apologize. I did not remove you when I woke up, and realized how our positions had changed in the middle of the night. I should have, no matter if I thought I would wake you by mistake."

Yeah, Claude figured that was what had happened... It's an awkward position to be in. He drags his hands back, down his face. "Hoo... I never thought myself to be the clingy type," he mutters, to no one in particular, before he shakes his head. "Anyway - let's just chalk that up to a very embarrassing accident, and do what Lorenz advised. We really do have a lot to do, although it is mainly that tour of the mine. Do you mind if I take the shower first?" Maybe the heat of a shower will burn away his embarrassment. At least, that's what he can hope, right?

It's Dimitri, so of course he agrees, and it doesn't take very long at all for Claude to finish washing up. Yet there's a surprise when he steps out from the bathroom, and he blinks down at the various shiny black armor pieces which have been spread out carefully along the floor. "I mean, I know it's been a while since you've had a chance to oil them, but I didn't think you would choose now of all times, Dimitri..."

Dimitri looks up at him with a smile. "Oh, no. Rather, Raphael asked me what it was that I was carrying in the box, and, well... I thought I would show him, before we left for the trip to the mine. Besides, well... I won't lie, but it has felt right to pull it out again, instead of letting it languish away out of sight."

"When you talk about it like that, I almost wonder if I should let you wear it," Claude chuckles, putting his hands over his hips as he leans over the whole mess. "I mean, I bet we could get away with it and not many people would stare that much."

"Oh, people would absolutely stare and it would cause a fuss," Dimitri huffs, raising an eyebrow. "That's a ridiculous bet to take."

A grin begins to creep across Claude's face. "Oh, are you scared that you'll lose it? Come on. What do you want from me? I'm not afraid to put it on the table. What do you want?"

"I don't want anything."

"How about one of those enormous fancy cheese platters at the fancy grocery store?" Claude tries, and his grin might surpass the limits of his face when he sees Dimitri suddenly go still. "Ah ha. So he can be bought."

Dimitri's sulking expression at being so easily called out really is the cutest thing in the world, especially when he peers up from underneath his bangs like this. "...You cannot always bribe me like that. It is only food, and I do not need it."

"Yeah, you don't," Claude agrees mildly. "But you still really love it. So come on. If I lose, I'll get you a whole new cheese platter." He winks. "And if you lose... Well, is there anything I want from you.... Maybe I'll just eat that whole platter all by myself, and not let you have any."

If Claude kicked a dog, he doesn't think he could get such a look of offense to appear on Dimitri's face. "You are truly a sadist of the highest caliber," Dimitri says quietly. "No. If you win, then simply do what you like with my fictional dragons."

Ah, so they're returning to the virtual dragon site again. Claude chuckles. "So it sounds like you're agreeing to my terms," he says cheekily. "Fine then - if I win, then I get to do whatever I like on your fictional dragon account. I hope you're prepared for all of them to have my name."

And that is how they end up in the situation of Lorenz dead eyeing both of them as they step out into the hallway. "This is why I cannot leave you alone for a fraction of a second," he murmurs as Raphael laughs loudly and heaps compliments on Dimitri's armor. "How on earth did you get that? Why is it being worn? You're always doing things like this, I swear."

Once upon a time, Claude might have been careful in teasing Lorenz - so uptight, so confrontational, all of it. Now, however, he just laughs. "It's part of a bet."

"What on earth did he bet on that would lead to this?"

"Oh, no, you misunderstand. This is the bet." Claude winks. "We'll see just how noticeable he is when it comes to wearing something like this. So far, with Raphael pretty positive about it, and you reeling, I would say that we're currently at even. Anyway, we should get going, shouldn't we?"

Dimitri's armor is a rather mixed bag, when they finally go out - first via a rail system, and then waiting for a rented vehicle and driver to show up. Some people stare, occasionally taking pictures, especially on the subway. Others take a passing look, interested, but go with the "adult life is already so god damn weird" approach. A couple of times, they're stopped by people who want to take a picture, fascinated at the craftsmanship of such armor that's in fact real metal instead of something fake for, say, a stage or some such.

Riding in a car is a little awkward, but Dimitri at least has his cape, and that means that there's no need to worry about tearing a hole in the seat cushions. When they finally arrive at their destination, Dimitri stretches his arms in front of him. "Really... I've never done something quite like this before," he murmurs, flexing his fingers. "Why on earth did I allow you to convince me into this?"

"I'm just naturally charming," Claude says sweetly, and laughs when Dimitri gives him that deadpan look.

Despite the look he gave to Dimitri, Lorenz seems rather fascinated in the construction of the armor himself - he always did have an interest in classical armor and clothing, honestly. "It must be quite cumbersome to move around in that sort of thing," he says.

Dimitri smiles. "Oh, no, not at all. In fact, I feel rather agile like this. Allow me to give a demonstration." And with that, completely unprompted, he steps away from the three of them and just... does a backflip. He does a backflip, in full plate armor, while wearing an enormous heavy cloak. "See? It allows quite a range of movement!"

Raphael lets out a long whistle, while Lorenz and Claude just stare. "Nice!" the hunk says cheerfully, clapping one large hand onto Dimitri's shoulder. The sound of his palm smacking onto metal hits right down to the gut. "That musta taken a lot of work to practice! Good job!"

Instead of giving Lorenz a chance to question even more on just what exactly all of this is and why Dimitri knows this, Claude decides to take the initiative and winks at him. "See?" he says. "There's a reason why I chose him as my bodyguard, and it has nothing to do with nepotism~."

"I did not even ask," Lorenz says with a sigh. "At any rate, there is our escort for this trip. Let us focus on work, shall we?"

If focusing on work gets him out of having to discuss things he doesn't want to discuss, well then, by all means... Claude can't find a single thing to complain about. So they get their two blonds to focus, and they all descend down to where the guide is waiting for them. As they do so, Dimitri stays right close at Claude's back again, a perfect guard. Well, Claude will trust him to do his job that needs doing. Him, he'll focus on what he needs to do.

As they descend into the mines, some temporary lights set up for all of this that are running on solar batteries, Lorenz leans down to speak to him quietly. "The outside was in fairly good condition," he murmurs. "There's no sign of anything we need to haul away."

Claude hums quietly, looking up at the light fixtures they can make out up along the ceiling. "Taking these out will be a little tricky, but no doubt that they've kept the barebones wiring up in case they ever needed to get back down here... There was still that small building set outside. I didn't notice any broken windows so... They probably use it to store a generator, power control, things like that, and I have a feeling that it's probably more filled with dust and dead bugs than anything else. It should be easy to take down... although this is just guesswork and nothing substantial. We'll have to get a key to the building, take a look ourselves."

That, too, shouldn't be much of an issue, unless they've somehow managed to lose the key to the joint... And, if that's the case, Claude can't imagine it would be too hard to get an agreement for them to get a locksmith or something down here. The tunnels seem to be pretty decently clean as well, he's pleased to note. There's not as much clutter as he might have expected, and there seem to be plenty of tunnels that lead into larger areas. It all... honestly leaves him with a pretty good feeling about the place. This might be the one.

After a while of walking, their guide takes a moment to check her phone for some additional information - possibly an old text she sent to herself or whatever. Claude is more than happy to let her do it, especially when Lorenz pulls him to the side while they're still in view from Dimitri, and with their backs to the walls, and away from any of the tunnels. Hey - they can't be too careful.

Claude is expecting Lorenz to talk more about the mine's pros and cons. What Lorenz actually says, voice kept carefully low, is, "Is your relationship with Dimitri going well, Claude?"

For a second, his brain sort of stutters and glitches, and Claude blinks. "Pardon?" he asks.

"Now, I would never eavesdrop on you on purpose," Lorenz says, and there's a sort of unspoken not anymore in there. "However, while I was trying to fall asleep when Raphael kept us in your room, I did wander a bit more into consciousness for a brief moment." Claude feels his heart stop for a second before he calms it down. No, this is nothing, and he's reassured that it's nothing as Lorenz continues on. "I was not sure if it was a dream, but I could have swore you were expressing some concern to him, and that the two of you were opposed to sharing a bed. I had thought it strange, of course, that you had booked a room with two beds to start with, but I had not thought anything of it before we had been swept up into conversation... Yet is there an issue?"

Jeez.... Trust Lorenz to pick up on some minor details like that. It's one of the reasons why Claude is glad that he hired him, of course, but still... He could really do without it now, especially when he wasn't prepared for questioning like this. He's going to have to think on the fly for this one... "It's nothing dramatic like that," he reassures Lorenz gently. "With everything that's happening, it's just been a little stressful, and there's been no real chance for us to have our own space to decompress, you know? Once we finish this trip up and get back to Derdriu, things will ease up again."

It's all bullshit, of course. His and Dimitri's relationship hasn't really changed, in terms of how they're dealing with each other in enclosed spaces, while dealing with attacks on Claude. If anything has changed... Well, what's changed is what makes him feel maybe a small tinge of guilt in the back of his stomach for still using this dating excuse when he hasn't even been able to give Dimitri a proper answer - not the confession that he wants to give, but not the rejection he should, either.

At least it's bullshit that Lorenz seems to buy well enough, and he leans back with a soft sigh of relief. "I see... Well, I suppose I cannot blame either of you for being on edge with that in mind. When we return to Derdriu, I shall help orchestrate a bit of time for the both of you to spend without the other, and I am sure that will help a great deal. Raphael already seems to be rather fond of him, so I am certain that he would be more than glad to spend time with him and Ignatz if the three of them went to enjoy the city sights. As for you, well, there are even more options, even if we simply kept you safe at home."

Trust Lorenz to immediately start making plans for them when they're not even out of the mine yet. Claude grins. "Maybe I can rope you and Lysithea into doing another game of Risk. You were almost so close last time-"

Before he can tease Lorenz any more on how much he's lost at some of the boardgames they've all played together, there's a sudden - vibration, sensation, something that he feels down to his bones almost before his ears register the sound of something exploding. It echoes all throughout the mine, and every single one of their heads snaps up.

Their guide especially seems alarmed, and she starts rushing back the way they came. It's a good thing that they all had to put on hard hats before entering the mine... Because they're all certainly rushing back towards the entrance with no care for safety. 

Good thing they're either quick on their feet or bulky enough that it doesn't matter.

Unfortunately, no amount of running really changes what awaits them at the end of the tunnel. The exit they were all meant to reliably leave from after this tour was over is now... completely collapsed. Claude hastily comes to a stop, gaze flicking up towards the ceiling.

Fortunately, it seems stable enough... but there's no denying that the very entrance has collapsed in on itself. That isn't the sort of thing that should happen. The entrance had been made from solid rock, able to stay up pretty solidly on its own with just a little bit of support Just In Case. This sort of thing...

"Shit!" It's their guide, looking definitely panicked, but also definitely... a little enraged as she stares up at the pile of rock that's barely illuminated from the lights that weren't caught in the crash. It's the look of someone who isn't particularly surprised that this has happened at all.

Claude and Lorenz exchange A Look, but they don't have a chance to direct Raphael to do anything. Dimitri is already stepping up, a looming shadow behind the guide that makes her face pale somewhat when she turns around. The armor had started off as just a joke, but in a sealed off mine tunnel, with the light illuminating him from the back? He looks like something ethereal, dark.

"I believe," Dimitri says, that deep voice of his an undeniable threat, "that you may have something to do with this. Was the reason you were trying to check your phone for reasons other than helping us on this tour?"

Perhaps out of habit, out of instinct, their "guide" glances around, but she doesn't really have a lot of options. Not only is there only one way from the now collapsed entrance, but Dimitri and Raphael aren't easily the kind of guys you can get past in such an enclosed space... and Claude and Lorenz aren't just idiots who'd stand around doing nothing, either.

She realizes that fairly quickly, and decides to take the smarter option as she sighs and holds her hands up. "I was told that they were going to move a large container of some sort to block the entrance that way. It was only meant to force you into signing some contract or another, or threaten you out of pursuing - purchasing any mine, I suppose. The people who hired me didn't really go into detail."

Claude lets out a whistle of a breath. "Well, it's good to know that they're scumbags through and through, I suppose," he says. "I guess they must be desperate... And then they made their desperation the problem of a bunch of different people, most who had nothing to do with this."

Well, he can't say that everyone here has nothing to do with it. Maybe the individual responsible for this shitshow thought that so many different people might lead to discord in the ranks, for example, or that he'd feel pressured to agree to any terms in order to ensure everyone was alright... Although how they planned to do that with tons of rock in the way is anyone's guess.

They can think about it later. For now, there's no denying the actual threat there in front of him, and Claude turns his attention back to the many rocks now barring their exit. Besides him, Lorenz rubs at his face in concern. "We could try to see if our cell phones could make an outside connection... I know we're in the mines, technically, but we may be near enough to the entrance that it is possible. My only concern is that we will run out of air, and other such things, if we stay here like this..."

"We outta be fine, but we can head to the refuge if you want," Raphael says casually, as though he's not particularly concerned.

Every single one of them blinks, and looks up at him. "A what?" Lorenz asks, blinking a few times. "I'm sorry - you will have to be more clear, Raphael."

Beaming, Raphael points down the mine tunnel. "A, uh, whatcha call it... A mine refuge chamber. After a certain point, all of 'em are supposed to have something like that, y'know? In case of emergencies like this one. This place has been abandoned forever, I get that, but that just means that they won't have stuff like oxygen tanks, or water, or stored food - stuff like that. But they outta have a clear ventilation system that connects to the outside, even if there's no power for it, and they definitely should have a map. Doesn't this place have another entrance somewhere?"

Claude and Lorenz look at each other. "Ah, well," Lorenz says, blinking a few times as he gets his thoughts in order once again. "There was... However, allegedly, there was a small storm in the area which caused some of the larger rocks to tumble off of the mountain, and which essentially blocked that secondary exit out of the mines." Frowning, he crosses his arms and starts to tap along his jaw. "Although, considering that we have already been deceived as it is, to the point that we weren't even told about this mine refuge chamber... There's no guarantee that it's completely unusable."

"I was thinking the same thing," Claude agrees, grinning. "Alright, let's see if we can't get a signal regardless, and then make our way through the mine. It may take a while, but it's better to get there instead of standing too close to somewhere that could very well become unstable in the blink of an eye, right?"

In the end, it's Dimitri's phone, held up in the most awkward position practically near the ceiling by Raphael's own long reach, that manages to get a signal. Lorenz definitely doesn't make a particularly graceful image as he hangs from Raphael's arm so that he can speak into the phone, detailing where they are and what happened, what their plans on... But necessity, alas, often isn't very graceful at all. When they're done, well, there's really only one thing for them to do: they begin to make their way through the mine.

Honestly, Raphael's knowledge of mines is invaluable here, because he seems to have a solid idea of where to go while their light system can still guide their way. Equally invaluable are those same light systems, and Claude finds himself grateful that Leonie advised them to use solar battery powered in the first place. At the time, he had simply assumed that it would be good because setting up a whole generator could be bothersome...

But now, those same lights are things all of them can haul up into their arms, with Raphael using one as an enormous flashlight with another tucked underneath his arm and powered off. Lorenz helps haul one up awkwardly himself, and Dimitri holds two as well - all of them off, to save what power they can manage.

Claude "encourages" their not-guide to take one up too. Hey, why not? The more, the better, and her hands look like they could really be kept busy.

With Raphael's experience and a couple of old signs that were never taken down, they eventually do end up before a large door that doesn't match the vibe of the mine, on account of it being metal, and it being in a metal wall plastered with various safety and warning signs. The noise it makes when Raphael goes to turn the handle hints that it would really rather stay in place, rusting away... but nothing can stop Raphael when he decides to put those muscles of his to work.

A long whistle slides out of Claude's teeth as he peeks into the refuge. From the description Raphael had given on the way there, he had thought that it would be much tinier, but this... "Honestly, this doesn't seem like that bad of a space, all the dust aside. Plenty of chairs, warm colors... Hey, Dimitri, put the light over here. You were right, Raphael. There's a map."

As Dimitri puts down the two off lights he'd been carrying and brings in the one Raphael had, Lorenz comes over to join him. "And there is indeed a secondary exit," he murmurs, reaching up to tape a winding path that leads away from where they're located. It really is a fantastic map - clear and easy to read even after all this time abandoned. "Despite the length of time it will take to walk that way, so long as no tunnels have collapsed in the time this mine has been out of use, I think we ought to be fine. Frankly, with the condition this mine is in, I think those chances are rather slim."

"Still, a chance is a chance," Claude says, and glances towards the rest of the group. Dimitri has already herded their not-so-friendly guide off to a corner furthest away from the door. There is an emergency hatch, apparently, but, well... Claude is pretty sure that no one besides Raphael or maybe Dimitri could get it open, with some doing. He looks back to Lorenz and smiles. "Think you can keep all of this tucked away in your head so that we know how to get back here in case we have to turn the car around, Lorenz?"

For a moment, Lorenz stays quiet with his hand curled around his chin and his gaze raking over the map that is illuminated before them. Eventually, he smiles - secure and confident and in his best. "Why of course. I have had to memorize far more complicated things than simply a map, you know."

Heh. Claude supposes that he's ended up with the perfect team for this kind of situation, by complete happenstance. He turns back to where Dimitri is keeping a solemn gaze down on their captive, who looks like she's surrendered to this kind of fate. "Hey," he calls, and watches as both of them perk up - although in different ways, with the fake guide looking over to him, and Dimitri simply shifting his head to make it clear he's listening. "Miss Guide, I think we'll keep you in here for the time being."

She jolts, alarmed. "What - you're going to lock me in here!?"

"What do you take us for, the kind of people who hired you in the first place?" Claude starts to laugh, waving her off. "No, we won't close the door behind us. This is more making you promise something, and it's up to you if you want to keep that promise or not. I'll ask that you stay in here, and we'll be sure, if we don't come back first, to make sure you're rescued alongside the rest of us.

"However, I'd rather not waste all our time having to look at our backs to make sure that you won't do something else... and so it's a lot easier to pick up on another set of footsteps than to watch you all the time. Plus... There's an offer I want you to consider, while you have a room all to yourself with plenty of peace and quiet."

It's quite a sentence to finish off with, he knows. There's a lot of possibility in the word offer, and it could go either way for a person in her position. However, well... It's a position where she doesn't really have anything to lose, isn't it? He can see that thought cross her mind, even as she stares back at him. "What kind of offer?" she asks after a moment.

Good. So long as she's interested, he can work with that. "Your employers have been kind of bothering me for a while," Claude says mildly. "However, they've been incredibly rude. They haven't even sent so much as a greeting card before trying to ruin my life with all the, you know, attempted kidnapping. But just a little while ago, you let slip more than I've gotten to know this entire time... That's it's at least more than one person who's invested in me eating dirt.

"Now, maybe I'm wrong - you don't have to say one way or the other just yet. But what I think is that you did a bit more than some of their other grunts, in that you did a little bit of research on them before you took the job... And, well, if you were willing to share that research with us, for these employers who very rudely trapped you in a mine and probably weren't going to pay you the rest of your fee..."

She's scowling, not because she's pissed at him, but because she knows he's right, and so she's pissed at an entirely different individual, or two, or more. Frankly, Claude is pretty sure she's been holding back on how pissed she is, on account of much more pressing matters, so, honestly... It works in his favor to remind her of how pissed she should be. He smiles.

"Let's just say that Golden Deer can help you deal with them through the courts, and we can make sure that you don't get the absolute worst judgment that you might otherwise." Claude winks. "Just think on it. I think it's going to take us a while to get to this secondary exit, and longer still for the rescue team to remove all that rubble, or make their way around the mountain to retrieve you. C'mon, Dimitri."

Dimitri waits until they've walked a good five minutes away from the refuge before he leans closer to Claude, and speaks up quietly. "Do you think she'll accept?"

"I think she will," Claude answers softly, trusting Lorenz to be in the lead. "The easiest way to get screwed over is by treating the people you hire like dirt... or, you know, trying to bury them in dirt, literally. While I wasn't expecting our luck in this matter to be a monkey's paw kind of luck, well... I'll make it work to our advantage." Claude smiles at him. "I just feel a little bad that this wasn't the kind of thing that could really be guarded against - not unless I had some sort of elite team guarding me twenty four seven."

"You're the prince of another nation!" Lorenz says from ahead of them. "You should have an elite team guarding you!"

Dimitri frowns. "Do you not have a team because - of your siblings?" he asks awkwardly, not sure if this is something he can really address or not.

Ha. Well, Claude can certainly see what he'd think that, and want to ask for clarification. It's the kind of thing that wouldn't be out of place, in what he's told Dimitri. Still... For this kind of thing, he can at least smile. "No, they're all in the same boat. Consider it another thing we're all expected to do - taking care of ourselves. A couple of my siblings do indeed hire bodyguards to make sure they're safe all the time. Others prefer to simply have them keep an eye on the information side of things, or when it comes to food, and they do all sorts of combat training as a point of pride. It's that kind of thing."

"And what do you do, Claude?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He grins over his shoulder. "I have all of you."

The map really had detailed a rather enormous and complex tunnel system, which Claude rather likes because, you know, attempts on his life aside... It might be a place he can make good use of. Despite that, thanks to Lorenz's determination to succeed and how he's sharpened his own memory, it doesn't take them as long as it might have otherwise to arrive at their destination. It's pretty easy to recognize, with the use of more of the lights that they took along with them.

You know. On account of the giant fucking rocks that are right there in front of the entrance.

Once him and Dimitri put down both of their lights, on and filling the space up with light, Raphael steps forward and tilts his head back. "I think we outta be good, Claude," he says, and points up. "The supporting arch doesn't seem like it actually caught hit or anything, and the man-made stuff's managed to hold up pretty good as well. While it's blocked, I think it's just a matter of moving it. It's just..." He rubs the back of his neck. "Might be hard, even for me... and I'm not sure what else might be outside of this."

"Well, I can't say it's something that we weren't expecting..." Claude rubs at his chin, stepping forward as well. "It would take a lot of power that we just don't have... These rocks are definitely more than I was expecting. Sorry about this, guys. We'll have to turn back."

There's the clank of armor, and Dimitri is right there besides him. "So moving these rocks is all that's worrying you?" he asks, looking over the boulder that's in front of them, and some of the smaller but still humongous rocks that are around it in various ways. "This is all that's standing between us and having a way out, instead of waiting in the tunnels..."

"You're saying that about a chunk of rock that's bigger than you are, you know," Claude says, deceivingly light. "Do you have some sort idea on what we can do to leverage out of the way? Although I'm not sure how well we'd do there... All the equipment was moved, after all, and I don't think the chairs in the refuge are going to cut it as tools we can use.."

Dimitri smiles, just slightly. "You don't have to worry," he says. "I have a good idea on how to move it." He looks back. "Raphael, can you keep Claude and Lorenz safe? I'm going to be focusing on this matter for a moment... So please make sure to keep an eye on the state of the entrance, and get them out of the way if anything looks like it may start to go wrong."

"Hey, whoa, wait up-" Claude raises a hand, blinking in surprise. He didn't expect Dimitri to just leap right into it. "Aren't you going to tell us just what you have in mind...?"

A shake of Dimitri's head. "Just trust me," he says, and reaches over for Claude's hand. Even though he's wearing gauntlets, his touch is still so very gentle as he raises Claude's hand upwards, over his chest, his heart. "I won't get hurt, and I will get us out of here. It's simply something that I think would be easier for me to do on my own, than anything else."

Claude has learned to be careful about who he places his trust in, and for what reason. A lot of the time, it's not even a complete and total kind of trust. Mostly, he trusts in a person to do a certain thing, or behave a certain way - things like that, and for a particular and narrow route. It's almost not so much a trust as it is an expectation. Even his coworkers, his friends, of Golden Deer aren't people he's put his full trust in... although, honestly, he's started to give them more and more ever since he met all of them. Maybe it's simply a matter of time.

And for Dimitri... for Dimitri, how much trust will he put in his hands?

Claude takes a breath, and he smiles. "If you say it like that, then you have to really impress me, alright? It would be really embarrassing for anything less." And he steps back.

At least they don't have to worry about lacking any light, thanks to how they brought two of the lights that lined the halls with them. Dimitri is not lacking in the slightest as he looks over the situation again. From what Claude can tell, it's mainly checking out the various smaller rocks that have filled in all the gaps where the one main boulder couldn't.

Well, even if he calls them "smaller" rocks, that's all rather... in relation to the size of the main boulder itself, and not to any of them. From all the looking that Claude can do, he thinks that even the smallest among them has to be at least the size of Raphael's torso... and Raphael isn't a particularly small man.

Sure, if they had tools, they could probably work together, and maybe dislodge that sort of rock, and they could work together to get it out of the way. But as things are currently, they really don't have anything on hand to make it work, and doing it by hand would just waste a lot of energy that Claude doesn't think they can really afford to-

Dimitri suddenly just - pops his hand out, and there's the sound of crashing rock, and the sharp sound of air very rapidly filling up some suddenly prime real estate.

Claude blinks once, and then a few more times, not entirely sure if what he just saw was a trick of the light, or shadow, or any other number of things. Yet while shadow can mess with perception a great deal, well... He knows what he was looking at just a moment ago. And if there's anything that helps really hammer in what he was looking at... There's the brief ray of light that shimmers through before disturbed dirt and smaller rocks clatter down to fill the space.

Looking back at all of their wide eyed stares, Dimitri smiles. "I will get rid of the smaller rocks. Once that's done... Well, it will take some leverage, but I believe I should be able to get the boulder out of the way as well. There is only one way to see."

"Wait, no, please-" Lorenz holds up a hand, the other one delicately pressing up against his forehead as he squeezes his eyes shut. Claude can't blame him, considering what he just saw. "Dimitri, I understand this is incredibly important, but - did you force a rock through dirt and who knows what other debris, with only your bare hand?"

Past Lorenz, Dimitri meets Claude's gaze, and Claude lets out a slow breath from inbetween his teeth. Well... Even if Dimitri doesn't say anything, Claude can understand what he means to convey with his gaze alone. In such life or death situations like this, even if they have a rescue team on the way... Well, this isn't the time to really hold secrets. Claude wasn't expecting this kind of thing to happen with Dimitri, but, in hindsight, he can't say he's surprised either.

In Dimitri's time, the flow of magic had been different... including how it had ingrained itself into human beings. So for Dimitri to be able to display strength like that... Well, he always has been careful with how he's handled things around Claude's apartment. He guesses he knows why.

And he's right that it might be good to tell at least one other person... with the situation being what it is. So Claude nods, and Dimitri's attention turns back to Lorenz. "It's not something I can explain right away," he says quietly, voice still plenty loud enough in the emptiness of the tunnels. "When all of this is taken care of, then we can have a conversation, I swear."

"I..." Lorenz starts, and then stops himself, letting out a breath. "No, you are right. Please, carry on as you were, Dimitri. Still, I will have quite a bit to say, after all of this is said and done with."

"I expect nothing less," Dimitri says with a slight smile, before he turns back to the wall of rocks.

Honestly, if he can ignore everything else about the scenario, watching Dimitri go to work is kind of funny. It's like watching a kid just toss aside pillows, only Dimitri is often shoving or forcing rocks out from their place. Soon, much sooner than a normal human could ever experience within just a few minutes, Dimitri seems to have cleared out the vast majority of smaller rocks surrounding the major one... All that's slid down is mostly dirt, frankly.

"Are you breathing alright, Dimitri?" Claude asks, watching his bodyguard and friend carefully. Normally, this kind of thing... Well, let's just say this whole moment is unorthodox, to say the least.

"I'm fine," Dimitri assures him, even as he eyes up the main boulder blocking their way. The surrounding obstacles were only a small portion, considering things. Even with all of that out of the way, even Claude could tell that they wouldn't be able to squeeze through even if they could get rid of the dirt that's been left behind. If they want to get anywhere... They're going to have to move the boulder, even a little bit. It seems kind of ludicrous to move it at all... So of course Dimitri says, after a moment, "I will have to move this... but it's something beyond even me. I'll only be able to move it a little bit... and hopefully that will be enough for us to squeeze out."

"Alright!" Raphael says, so sudden and loud that Claude starts a little. "Then I'll help, and the both of us outta get it out of the way!"

Dimitri blinks a few times at him, caught off guard. "Ah, are you certain? I am not saying this to discourage you, necessarily, but it is extraordinarily heavy, Raphael."

Stepping forward, Raphael grins and knocks on his safety helmet a couple of times. "I'm sure! There's no point in getting all these muscles if I don't use them to help out, y'know! So let's go! Which way are we going to shove this big thing?"

A little bit of explaining later, and the two blonds braces themselves against the boulder blocking their way. Even like this, Claude knows he can see the rays of sunlight that filters through the gaps, the dirt that doesn't really want to stay in place. All that needs to happen is... pulling off some magic, Claude supposes. So he makes sure him and Lorenz stand back, nice and out of the way, as their two friends hiss in deep breaths between their teeth.

It's apparent, immediately, that there won't be any shatteringly impressive displays this time - not done so effortlessly, at any rate. Raphael and Dimitri push, and push, their backs braced against the boulder, and for a second, Claude thinks that it might be genuinely impossible even with someone who has magic coursing through them to move the thing. That he might just have made Dimitri and Raphael waste all their energy, when they could have waited quietly back in the refuge.

And then dirt begins to fall. First from the ceiling, clattering harmlessly against Dimitri and Raphael's hardhats. Then, from the side, tumbling down in a rush to the ground. The thin beams of sunlight start to get wider, clashing with the beams from their own electronic lights. Grunting, panting, snarling, and a brief pause for a moment... and soon, there's a tiny path available to them, right between the wall of the mine entrance and the boulder.

Well, it's tiny relative to Raphael as he's standing right next to it. When Claude steps forward, well, it'll be a little bit uncomfortable, but definitely easy for him to slip through. Raphael and Dimitri will have the most struggle, or be the most uncomfortable... "But it's doable," Claude says, relief rolling off of him in waves. "Lorenz, do you want to slip through first? You still have Dimitri's cell phone."

So it's Lorenz first, and then Claude, because Dimitri can't stand the idea of him staying in the tunnels a moment longer. Raphael takes a moment to turn off the lights they had positioned inside, and then he's through too. And then, finally, Dimitri-

He stumbles, stepping out from the gap, and Claude steps forward without even thinking about it, even though he's honestly the last person who should be trying to step forward and catch a guy wearing actual plate armor. "Whoa there, big guy," he says, palms spread out against that smooth metal. Despite all of Dimitri's exertion, it still feels so very cool. "Are you alright?"

"I think I can still feel dirt in my mouth," Dimitri says with a shaky smile, hands hovering along Claude and not daring to bridge the gap. Maybe he's scared that he'll hurt him somehow. "But... I am fine. I simply feel a little odd.... The consequences, I suppose, of doing such a task after I've truly been taking it far too easy over the months I have been with you."

Claude laughs. "Oh, so you say I've been spoiling you, is that it?" he asks, patting Dimitri's armor. "I'll have to keep that in mind for when we get back to Derdriu. I can put you to work a lot more, trust me."

There's a light throat clear from behind Claude, and he glances back to find Lorenz coughing into one fist. Raphael seems perfectly happy to stay out of the loop, hands folded behind his head as he beams brightly at the scene in front of him. If only Lorenz could be so easy. "Now that we're all free from a rather troubling situation.. I really would like to know just what on earth happened there. I understand that humans can do a great deal in times of stress, but something like that... And it was expected."

Right. This. Claude keeps his hand on Dimitri's chest, and partially turns back to Lorenz. Alright... So how much truth should he put out here, and how much falsehood? With this kind of thing... Would they even be believed? Lorenz did just witness Dimitri help move a giant boulder out of the way, with Raphael's help, but time travel is kind of a different thing all together.

Claude doesn't even get a chance to answer. Suddenly, Dimitri buckles forward with a gasp, and his attention snaps towards the man immediately. "Dimitri!" he says - but the world is strange again. Off. A step to the right, with everything out of alignment. Feeling his pounding heart having relocated into his throat, Claude looks up, and finds the beginnings of a very familiar symbol taking shape over their heads.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but we really can't leave this be any longer," a voice says, and Claude isn't surprised to see one of the saints standing to the side - well, more like floating to the side, their feet not quite touching the weed covered ground. It's hard, as usual, to decipher their expression... but he thinks there's just a faint tinge of apology and regret there.

Well, while he may not be surprised, Lorenz and Raphael can't be the same, obviously, and Lorenz jerks even as Raphael tries to guide him behind him with one huge fist raised. Claude hastily raises a hand up. "It's fine, it's-" Which one is this again? Ah. "It's the Saint of the Verdant Wind." How fitting that it's them who has appeared here, just like they did that first time when Dimitri was dropped into his lap. Here, in a place that might soon bear their name.

Lorenz stares. Raphael lowers his fist, takes a moment, and nods. "Oh, alright!" Very slowly, Lorenz turns his head to stare up at him.

Well, Claude will consider that handled for the time being, because he has something just mildly more important to take care of. He turns his attention back to Verdant Wind, to Byleth.

Suddenly, he's painfully aware of how Dimitri is against him, how stubbornly Dimitri is trying to stay on his own two feet. "I thought you said it would take up to a year for this to be solved," he said, although he pauses. Well, it was Azure Moon who said that. Is it fair for him to make the same demand of Verdant Wind...?

They don't seem to mind, nodding already as they answer. "That was how long it could take... But, just now, there was a surge of magic that allowed the connection between here and then. Even though it was only a minor thing... It still helped make a connection regardless, and that was what we needed in order to solve this dilemma. We held back, since we saw you were in trouble.... But we can't do that for much longer." So it's a simple emergency that had them appear in front of Lorenz and Raphael like this.

Behind him, Dimitri lightly lays his hand upon Claude's shoulder, and there's a pained smile on his face when Claude turns to look. Somehow... Claude doesn't think it has anything to do with being pulled back to his own time, not really. "I apologize... I will not be able to act as your bodyguard for much longer, even though you're in so much danger still. Can you please swear that you will stay safe from here on out...? I don't want you to wander near anymore dark empty rooms..."

"Look at you... A time like this, and your sense of humor is still absolutely terrible, huh," Claude murmurs. Dimitri is starting to float upwards now, he thinks - he can see it in the drifting strands of that beautiful gold hair, the ruffling of his fur cloak, how he's starting to rise higher and higher, bit by little bit.

Up towards that symbol in the air over their heads.

Even despite that, despite knowing this day would come sooner or later... Claude can't help but hold on, his hands braced against Dimitri's arms. "You don't have to worry about that. You saw that we might finally have a trump card now... so don't you start fussing about this future, alright?"

"Even so." Dimitri leans his head down - down more than he would usually need to if he were simply standing. He's a good few inches off the ground now. "On my end, I will do all that I am capable of in order to help forge the path for this beautiful future that you reside in... So please, stay safe. More than anything, I want you to stay safe."

More than anything... Huh? Claude doesn't let go. Refuses to let go. "Is that really all you would want?" he asks Dimitri, refusing to tear his gaze away from that single beautiful eye that's so blue that it reminds him of the sky that stretches over his home - all of it, from Almyra to here in Fodlan. "Because I have something... I realize that I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't give it to you."

Desperate, scared to hope and scared to not, Dimitri's gaze searches over Claude's face. "Anything you give me," he swears, deep as a grave, with all the inevitable promise of it, "I will treasure for the rest of my life, and the memory of it I will carry into the beyond."

"You don't even know what it is I'm giving you," Claude says, and he has to stand on his toes, now, just to keep holding onto Dimitri. "Let me correct that." And so, hauling himself up by those broad shoulders, Claude kisses him.

He kisses him like he's always wanted to kiss him, in a situation that a part of him deep down inside never wanted to pass, even as the reality is impossible to ignore when his feet leave the ground.

Breaking the kiss just a centimeter, Claude looks into that one deep blue eye and the impassable black of Dimitri's eyepatch. "Hey-" He swallows, because he really is an idiot despite how smart he claims to be, an idiot offering his heart out on a platter to the worst situation possible. "I love you, you know."

It's stupid. The worst possible time to say this.

Dimitri smiles, and it's like seeing the brilliant of a full moon, lighting the way to a home he sometimes feels he's lost in the dark.

"I love you as well, Claude von Riegan," Dimitri says, full of more reverence than he'd give all the saints and Goddess of Fodlan. "And I will never let those words slip away from my heart, not for as long as I live."

There's no point in clinging or anything. Claude knows that. Yet all he can do is reach up... and tug that hard hat off of Dimitri's head, smiling as best as he can, no wobbling, no bittersweet. "Probably shouldn't take this back with you to Faerghus," he says, to Dimitri's befuddled face. A couple of blinks, and then the other man, the king, is smiling wide enough to barely contain the laughter shining in his eye.

And then there's a brilliant shine of light, the emblem swallowing Dimitri up whole, and he's just... gone...

So is Verdant Wind, when Claude finally forces himself to look around to check up on that particular little oddity of his life. The only thing that has ever signaled Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd existed here in the present instead of centuries ago... is the extra hard hat that Claude holds in his hand, dangling limply from his fingers. The only bit of proof is the aching hole in his chest that longs for that bright smile once again, the solid warmth of Dimitri at his back, the smell of warm food cooked fresh for him in his apartment...

There's a footstep behind him, and Claude drags himself out of his own heart, taking in a deep breath. Right. He can't just get lost, here. He has some explaining to do. "So," he says, forcing his voice to be chipper and relaxed as he turns around. It sounds fake to his ears. He hopes it doesn't to Raphael and Lorenz's. "I'd like to say that explains everything about how Dimitri could do what he did, but I suspect I'll have to add in a little more detail than that."

Lorenz looks like he's having a pretty deep existential crisis - all bluescreen, head empty, et cetera. Raphael glances down at him just in case, because he's a pretty decent guy that way, before he steps forward, closer to Claude. "I mean, I figure I got the gist of it," Raphael says, frowning. "Anything else'll probably just go straight over my head."

"It really cannot be that simple, Raphel," Lorenz says, a little weakly. Poor guy. Claude ponders buying him a drink at the hotel, when they get back.

Raphael shrugs. "Sure it can," he says simply. "The saints were involved, and Dimitri was somewhere he shouldn'ta been, so he had to go back after a lil' while. All the details, that's just the sides and not the main dish, right?" Which, okay, Claude can't really say he's wrong there, although that's certainly a way to put it... Stepping closer, Raphael stops right there in front of him. "I think there's just one thing that's really important right now, Claude, and it's that you're far from happy."

Jeez. Leave it to Raphael to cut straight to the heart of the matter - in emotional terms as much as the core of an issue. Claude keeps trying to smile, because it's all he really knows how to do. "You know, most people wouldn't say that after having an actual divine saint appear in front of them, Raph."

"You don't usually surround yourself with most people, 'tho," Raphael says, grinning a little bit, and that actually makes Claude bark out a laugh, even though his heart has sunk somewhere in the vicinity of his stomach. Soon, the grin mellows out, and Raphael holds out his arms. "Anyway... What matters to me, above anything else, is how good you're doing... and I don't think you're doing real great. C'mere."

Well... At this point, Claude supposes there's no point in denying it... and, while it's selfish of him, honestly, he wants something to hold onto, with his heart feeling adrift as it is. So he steps forward, and he lets Raphael just yank him into a hug that feels as though it will push all his aimless parts back together.

That's one of many great things about Raphael, honestly. His hugs always feel so warm and solid, like the world will still manage to keep its shape after all is said and done.

Muscles like Raphael's almost seem like they should block out all sound in the rest of the world by default, but Claude still manages to pick up on the careful steps that move across the dirt and weeds. After a moment, a hesitant hand goes to lay upon his shoulder - well, you know, what parts of him are still able to be reached with Raphael having wrapped him up in the tightest hug known to man.

Lorenz's voice follows shortly after his touch. "I think... Raphael may actually be on the right track, despite my earlier misgivings. We can focus on... recovering from a great deal which has happened in a very short amount of time."

"Yeah." Claude takes in a deep breath, closing his eyes and just focusing on the way Raphael is holding him tight. "And we wouldn't really have the time for a proper conversation out here anyway, when we need to make it back around to the main entrance... We'll focus on the destruction of the entrance first, and working hard to get the head of who's behind all of this. And then, later on..." Another deep breath. In. Out. "We can talk about what just happened... and has been happening for months now." He smiles, a little dry, a little bitter, against Raphael's shirt. "We can use my room. I mean, why not, right?"

Why not, when it's now devoid of one more person, and so very empty?

Claude tries not to think about it, as they make their way back towards the mine entrance.





"Seriously, how long do you plan on pining while not telling us anything?"

"I have no idea what you mean," Claude says mildly, as he pulls back the paper a little more on his honey-sesame chicken salad wrap. Right now, it's at its most perfect temperature for eating, but it might not stay that way the longer they all continue to eat lunch up here in the Golden Deer's greenhouse.

Hilda huffs, giving her very best puppy dog eyes and accompanying pout. It could maybe land a little better, if she wasn't trying to eat seafood chowder. It's a little hard to come off as sulking with one's cheeks stuffed full of potato. "Come on now... You totally know what I mean."

Stabbing her poached salmon with some vindictiveness, no doubt getting a couple grains of rice while she's at it, Lysithea sighs. It's a little more frustrated than Hilda's own attempts to get him to spill. "Both of you need to stop playing cute," she scolds them. "Claude, you've been sulking for a year ever since Dimitri had to move back north." She narrows her eyes slowly. "Or at least that's what you've been saying, even though you've been acting as though you broke up with him."

"I didn't know my love life was that fascinating," Claude comments, taking a large bite of his wrap.

"It is when you return from a business trip where you were already subject to an attempted kidnapping twice, but suddenly devoid of your overprotective boyfriend, and you keep acting vague about just where he's gone besides north, for family reasons."

"It'd be ppppppppretty rude of me to talk about Dimitri's personal life while he's not here."

"And you've been wearing that ear cuff he got you almost nonstop, both to work and anytime we manage to see you doing anything outside of work."

Claude has to resist reaching up to touch the very ear cuff that Lysithea is mentioning, that pretty curling gold dragon with the same emerald eyes as him. Instead, he shovels more food into his mouth and just makes a very muffled hum. "I'm allowed to treasure things that my boyfriend got me. I'm not entirely sure how that's strange...?"

Lysithea's eyes shine in that stubborn way she so often gets, as though she's going to get an answer out of him, or shove him off the top of the Golden Deer building from sheer frustration.

Frankly, Claude would prefer the second option. He'd at least have a decent chance of hitting a wyvern, or a pegasus, on the way down. Preferably a wyvern; any pegasus would take the opportunity to bite an ear off, or any other body part that had the misfortune of getting too close. "What about the fact that whenever we ask Raphael about what happened, he just says that we need to ask you?" she says.

"It's not polite t'ask about that kind of thing," Raphael says staunchly, still digging into an enormous bucket of shake'n'bake potatoes. Apparently they have some sort of ranch seasoning on them. The smell is, honestly, tempting. "You gotta talk to Claude about that, Lysithea."

"I-!" Lysithea pauses, having put her fork down so that she can clench her fists fruitlessly in the air before she takes a slow and deep breath in and relaxes. There's no real point in getting angry at Raphael. Either one starts feeling guilty, or it goes completely over his head... You know, for friends, who don't really get to deal with Raphael being angry. Lysithea exhales again. "That's what I was trying to do, Raph."

Poor Lysithea, although Claude has to admit (privately, to himself) that she's right to be bewildered by Raphael's ever steady response to any line of questioning regarding Dimitri. Much like his fellow and currently missing blond, Raphael is also far more earnest than anything else. When he's usually asked a question, he doesn't particularly hesitate in giving an answer, whether that's the simple truth, or an often simpler "I don't know". For Raphael to stonewall such a simple question... Well, it's probably a dead giveaway in itself.

And it's not just Lysithea that Raphael has said this sort of thing to. Ignatz watches the exchange with a thoughtful frown, and his fork stirs idly through some sort of taco pasta creation. It smells amazing, from where Claude is sitting... but apparently it's the furthest thing from Ignatz's mind.

"It's not that we're all asking about this to be nosy, Claude," he says quietly, which manages to keep their other friends quiet themselves for a moment. "It's just... It's been a year now since Dimitri had to leave so suddenly. It's felt like you've been despondent, ever since then."

Despondent... is that it. Claude thinks of his apartment, where he still hasn't really dared to put back all of the things he'd initially moved out of it - things he'd moved a lot by himself, but with Dimitri's help when he hadn't gotten sick from his first shots in the modern world or from eating so many failed omelettes. After a whole year, his fridge is empty again, no longer filled with fresh fruits and meat so that Dimitri could cook for him. There's just the pre-made stuff, now. Things he can heat up, and that never really satisfy his mouth even if they manage well enough for his stomach.

A king doesn't need a smart phone in a time where the name "Faerghus" was still relevant, and the same could be said for a laptop... So he still has those as well, that he takes the time and effort to carry around with him everywhere... just in case. It wasn't really hard to get into Dimitri's account, either on his laptop, or that virtual dragon site. Claude keeps them fed; it wouldn't feel right to just abandon the account completely.

Honestly, this is all pretty pathetic, if he thinks about it, but Claude isn't really sure what else he can do. His options for grieving are almost a little limited, considering the absolutely bizarre circumstances that brought him and Dimitri together in the first place, and the bizarre circumstances that took Dimitri away from him.

All he can really do is just... sort of and very slowly get over it, even as he stumbles upon things in his apartment that remind him of Dimitri all the time: shoes a size larger at the entryway, a bottle of oil for armor tucked in a cupboard, fur that had stuck to the other side of a cushion from that cloak.

"It's fine," Claude tries to say reassuringly, because, seriously, not a lot of options, but Marianne finally speaks up.

"If there's anything we can do to help, Claude... We'd like to." She presses a hand to her chest, her own pasta box laid to be forgotten on her lap. "This is something that... all of us feel."

All of them, huh? Claude turns his head to grin at Lorenz, who just shoves some szechuan sauce covered eggplant into his mouth. "Why Lorenz, I used to think that you might try to stage a coup on me, but I didn't think it would take this shape."

Having been caught, all Lorenz can do is chew for time, before he finishes with a sigh. "I really did try to stop them," he insists, resting the heel of his palm along his brow. "I thought it was not in good taste to press so heavily. Still..." He pauses for a moment, trying to decide if he should really say anything or not. Claude would kinda rather he didn't, honestly, but he doesn't stop Lorenz when he keeps going. "You really... have appeared to be in a rather poor state, although I can imagine why."

For Lorenz, who was there, well, it should be rather obvious. After all... It really has been a year, now. In fact, it's soon going to be a year exactly since he'll have last seen Dimitri's face, basked in that radiant smile, felt those lips upon his own. Claude really is too smart for his own good; he's become more aware with every passing week how close the days are coming to that one day in particular. That reminder.

"Well, I can't really get angry at all of you for being worried," he says, because he appreciates it. He really does. This is the kind of place that... he's been searching for perhaps most of his life, now, ever since the competition between his siblings really became far too apparent for any of them to ignore. "But I promise, I'm fine." Claude waves his wrap around, putting on that same relaxed smile he so often does. The kind of smile he's often had to wear, because it's one of the better defenses he has. "If it's anything at all, then it's just a little bit of long distance blues. There's no need to fuss about it so much. Besides, we knew Dimitri could leave and everything would be fine. Thanks to that last ditch desperate effort of my dear enemy, we were able to get a witness and plenty of evidence to make sure there's no reason for me to need a bodyguard, right?"

"I think there are still more people who could give you trouble than that group," Ignatz says with a slight shake of his head. He's watching Claude carefully, no doubt to check if he's really as happy as he's trying to say he is.

Fortunately, Claude is capable of acting through this much, and he smiles at all of them. "Listen... That's always been true for a long time now, and I've always managed to deal with it well enough. None of those hypothetical other people have really taken any actions, and we managed to take out the most recent threat - that last meeting in court couldn't have gone more perfect. I'll be safe." In the pit of his chest, there's a faint pang. "I made a promise to Dimitri, after all."

Leonie spears a few things of coconut bacon from her vegan-style pieroggi. "You say that with such obvious love, you know," she comments. "But you're still absolutely miserable, now that he's not here in Derdriu. I'm surprised that you seemed to last for so long before he was able to make the trip here."

"Ha. I wonder that myself," Claude laughs, and yet it's the truth. How did he survive without that warmth besides him, keeping him going? Now, all he can do is hold that memory close in the various little things, like a room that's steadily smelling more like dust than Dimitri, and the account named tempestking over on that silly little virtual dragon site.

One day, he supposes he'll move on... and he'll stop hurting like this so much, thinking of Dimitri. Claude isn't sure if that makes him feel better, or not, thinking about that inevitability. Then again, he's not the only person to feel this way, even if the circumstances are most certainly unique to him and him alone. There's no way that kind of thing would ever happen so regularly, after all. Even if he honestly wishes he could have another chance-

The world

takes a step

to the left.

Around him, he sees his various friends pause, still sitting along the little brick walls which hold back the flowers of the greenhouse - Hilda frowning as she takes in something odd, Leonie stopping her fork in mid-air, Ignatz raising a hand to his head. From the corner of Claude's eye, he thinks he can see Lorenz's own eyes flash with recognition... but Claude doesn't wait for him to say anything. He's already looking up, towards the ceiling.

Towards the familiar symbol he's seen twice in his life now, etching itself against pure air.

Claude feels his heart stop, so very hopeful while trying to temper expectations. This sort of thing can't happen to the exact same two people, after all. There's just no way. So even if it's happening to him, for it to happen to Dimitri, for them to have a second chance-

A blur of blond, blue, and black falls from the symbol in the air, hitting the floor with a mingled thump and the clatter of metal on metal. Claude's heart smacks right into his ribcage.

Except then that blur is followed by a lot more of them, and Claude's heart does a sort of about-turn in confusion, despite the physical impossibility of such an action. There's a blur of brown and white, then black and ginger, blonde-teal, a particular and somber kind of navy blue - even Claude's brain can't quite take in everything fast enough, and, soon, there's a whole pile of just... people right there, in such a clusterfuck of a tangle that Claude is left blinking for a moment.

He's not the only one. After a beat of silence where it doesn't even sound like anyone is capable of breathing, Leonie speaks up. "I don't want to sound crude or anything," she says slowly, "but what the fuck."

From the pile of dazed bodies, one in particular suddenly pushes up in complete ignorance of all the others stacked on top of him, and some of the people who just fell through a hole in time go tumbling off with mingled shouts of surprise and protest. It's a particular body that Claude knows very well, with a brilliant blue eye that makes him think of home, and a smile that never fails to get his stupid little heart fluttering.

Helped by a guy even taller than him, Dimitri scrambles out from the heap of people, and kneels down in front of him with that wonderful kind of knighthood that's always made Claude feel special. "Claude," he says, breathless. "I know not the time, or how long we've been apart, but... May I still act as your bodyguard, and be by your side?"

There's honestly a lot to worry about here. Claude knows he should be the responsible person here, and get it all sorted out before anything else. Yet he can't stop the grin that spreads across his face so strongly that it almost hurts. "I can think of something far better for you to be," he says, and, with his lunch set aside, he leans down to press a more proper kiss to Dimitri's mouth.

His lips are a little chapped, when he kisses them, but that can't really be helped... and, honestly, Claude doesn't really care. All that matters is that they're Dimitri's lips, and Claude allows himself to sink down into that sensation in a way he couldn't truly allow himself when he kissed him the first time. Honestly, he'd love to just sit there and kiss him for hours... But they're kind of interrupted when an unfamiliar voice suddenly goes, "What the hell is going on!?"

Right. They're not exactly having a private moment, here. Claude breaks the kiss, and takes stock of the.... eight people that have slowly managed to untangle themselves from the pile that fell into existence there are the end of the little greenhouse pathway. Claude is kind of glad that him and everyone else decided to eat by sitting on the ledges along the flowers... and not in the slightly more open space near the saint shrines and the bench, where Dimitri and the others all fell.

The speaker from before is a young man shorter than Dimitri, but roughly around the same age... Claude thinks. Maybe a little older? With dark blue hair pulled back into a ponytail, contrasting to that harsh dawn glare. Dimitri pushes himself back up onto his feet properly, hands held out as though he's dealing with an angry pet. "Well, it's going to sound rather ridiculous, Felix, but..."

"Don't worry about it, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd," a childish and yet mature voice says, far behind the time-displaced group. There's a jolt from all of them, and Claude's own people too. Lunchtime has now been postponed; every single one of them gets to their feet, with Hilda standing on top of the garden ledges and Lysithea hauling herself up onto Raphael's shoulder. They all find a way to see over the heads of their sudden visitors, who've scooted onto the pathway instead of the area right in front of the shrines.

That would be because that is an area which is suddenly occupied.

Claude can recognize two of the figures right away, because it's rather hard to forget the faces of two actual saints since he's run into them. And the other two figures who are squeezed onto that tiny bench... Well, they're the same as their twins - Crimson Flower and Silver Snow. Claude isn't entirely sure which is which, although he likes to think he could make a decent guess.

Then, floating above them, a mass of green hair and so many braids of fabric that float about her instead of simply hanging properly from her body... A young girl, wearing a tiara and a look of exasperation. Claude is at least pretty sure that part isn't directed at them, even though she has her head turned in their direction.

Well aware of how she now has everyone's attention, the clearly divine entity heaves out a sigh. "I shall take full responsibility for the mistakes that these four have wrought," she says, pointing down at the saints in front of her. "Simply control your people, and I shall explain in a short moment."

Alright, well. Claude certainly isn't going to let a chance like this slip past him. Wrapping his arms around one of Dimitri's, Claude uses his not-entirely-fake-boyfriend as a way to shove through the crowd. It's honestly pretty easy, not only because Dimitri is a pretty solid guy, but because the rest of the group seems to react with a certain degree of respect and care to the blond. In only a second or two, Claude is at the front of the group, right before one of the more ultimate divine entities.

"Now, you don't have to waste your time with that," he says mildly, putting on his best smile. "Me and Dimitri here have already experienced more than enough of what's happened, haven't we? It seems like you have a pretty important conversation to have with the four saints here... We wouldn't want to take away from that too much. So why don't we help out with the bare bone basics?"

Twisting around in mid-air as though physics are simply a thing to be disregarded, the "girl" leans forward with her arms crossed and casts an evaluating eye on him. "So Claude von Riegan... You know, I had to keep an eye on you ever since the last time."

"What an honor," Claude says cheerfully, and wonders just how many people have had an eye kept on them from what he's pretty sure is one of the first gods of the world.

At least the commentary makes her smile a little, traces of amusement clinging to her expression. "I'm glad you understand that it is as such. Still, that means I know you. This isn't the kind of thing that you would do without trying to get something out of it. So." She moves one hand upwards and snaps her fingers. "What deal are you hoping to strike, Claude von Riegan?"

Ooooh, she really is a god.... or, you know, anyone who has gotten to know him for a decent amount of time. Claude puts on his most innocent "who, me?" expression as he spreads his hands out. "Why, I'm not hoping to strike any sort of deal! I was simply thinking, well... The last time that all of this happened, I was able to keep Dimitri relatively well cared for simply by using my own salary for things like clothes, and extra food. However, well, with an additional eight people, that's going to be a little tricky, especially considering they really don't have any documentation to show they actually 'exist' in this time period..."

Leaning back, hair drifting about like the sea that's just in view of the greenhouse, she raises an eyebrow. "From what I understand, however, you've just been given the vast majority of the sums from those who had tried to strike your success down," she says. Oh, so one of the oldest gods in existence is keeping an eye on business news. That's interesting to know. Good on her for being knowledgeable. "It appears to me that you suddenly have an overflow of funds with which you must use, if you wish to remain legal under the eyes of Fodlish law."

"I'm quite honored that you keep an eye on little things like that."

"Don't make such jokes at me." She flicks her fingers in Claude's direction. "Still... I understand the issue that you are having, even with money not being a concern. Then I shall do what I can, and make is so that there is something temporarily in place while we deal with this issue. It won't be as easy to deal with as before, after all..."

And with that, her look slowly drifts back to the four saints. They all look like adults, in contrast to her, and they regularly deal with things beyond mortal ken and all that.. but there's a sense of awkwardness that flows from all four of them as she stares pointedly.

Well! That sounds like a problem that the saints are going to have to deal with. For now, all Claude does is beam widely. "Much appreciated!" he says. "Then I'll leave you to it..." With that said, he turns away from actual divine beings, and looks over to see two very different groups staring at him and Dimitri with wide eyes or squinting stares of bewilderment.

The only person who seems to be taking this decently in stride enough would be Raphael, still digging through his enormous bag of potatoes patiently. Really, the only guy who could see actual saints, and still view finishing his lunch as a priority of equal importance...

"We shouldn't be rude," Dimitri says suddenly, crossing his arms and nodding. "Before anything else, we should at least introduce ourselves. Pardon us, Claude. My allies are still rather dazed from the experience."

In Dimitri's group, a guy with ginger hair folds his hands behind his head, and smiles in a way that Claude is rather familiar with, on account of making similar smiles himself. "I'd say that's kind of understating things, Your Highness," he drawls, and allows the blond girl at his side to drive her elbow into his side. "Your Majesty, sorry."

Out of all of them, the only person who could claim to be dealing with this at least a little better would be Lorenz, but even he jolts at the terminology that the redhead is using. "Pardon me," he says, eyes going wide, "but - Dimitri, you're a king? Wait, a time traveler who knew of Faerghus..." He presses his fingertips to his mouth, and Claude takes maybe a little more delight than he probably should watching the gears turn behind Lorenz's eyes. He knows Lorenz has figured it out when he goes just a little paler, and stares pointedly at- "Claude von Riegan."

Lorenz would never let such foul and crude words such as swears fall from his lips, but Claude swears he can almost hear the "fucking" in the middle of his name there.

"Wait, he's a king!?" Lysithea perks up from where she's sitting on one of Raphael's shoulders, which are broad enough to hold her up with absolute ease. "Claude, that was magic just then, wasn't it!? You have to tell me exactly how it happened-"

Claude would love to know why Lysithea thinks he knows how time travel magical accidents work. Fortunately, while he definitely doesn't know, there's someone else who definitely does, and she takes a break from silently saying something to the four saints so that she can glance back at all of them.

"The first time, it happened because an individual was got caught up in an explosion, since he refused to simply let it happen," she drawls, and Dimitri glances away in embarrassment. "This time, however, well... All you need to know for this immediate moment is that in an attempt to fix it, someone-" Crimson Flowers huffs, quietly. "-tried to go a little faster than recommended, and the tear opened up a little more again during a certain point in time." The god raises an eyebrow. "Now, I believe you all had introductions to do, lest you be thought of as rude."

In all the religious texts he's ever read for any religion, Claude can't say he's ever heard of a... Well, he's definitely read about some gods who'd do a lot of things to anyone who wasn't the proper amount of respectful, but he's pretty sure this god isn't one of them. Still, better safe than sorry, and he grins to his coworkers. "You heard her. Let's all line up, shall we?"

Left in a daze, his Deer shift back to one side of the little pathway, and Claude watches as Raphael makes sure to grab everyone's food - just in case, apparently. Well, he always is of the opinion that you never waste food... In the meanwhile, a man similar to Felix from before steps forward and smiles at Dimitri. "Of course... We shall, as always, follow your lead, Your Majesty."

Claude wouldn't say that Dimitri's team is exactly more calm than his Deer - he can see an excitement bubbling behind the eyes of a short girl with hair almost as brilliantly red as the relaxed guy from earlier - but they certainly seem more composed in the face of something outrageous. There's a military kind of precision to the way they line up, and give their names. In comparison, Claude's team is still polite, but not nearly as serious. Then again, a lot is happening all at once. He can't blame them for being more than a little confused.

Well, they can be confused all they want. Claude.... can't feel anything else but the excited and hopeful flutter in his chest, even though he knows that he shouldn't get too excited for this, either. It's going to be the same ending eventually, right? He knows that, and he knows how miserable he's been all these months in Dimitri's absence. He shouldn't expect too much. He really should do his best to not expect too much.

And yet.... He can't help but feel buoyed when Dimitri's cloaked arm brushes against his own, and one gauntled hand tentatively goes to touch his fingers. Claude glances up, looks into that comforting blue of Dimitri's own hopeful gaze, and he smiles.

They were supposed to have a year last time. If this incident is even more of a mess than it was before.. Maybe he'll finally be able to have all that time. Maybe he'll be able to have a little more.

"Okay, so Marianne, do you remember around a year ago, before I hired Dimitri on as my bodyguard, how you told me to take a break, and so I came up here...?"