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always yours
It starts with Felix, because of course it does.
To be a little more fair, it starts with a rigged up sleigh purchased secondhand and a tarp that definitely wasn't. Underneath the cover of the tarp, stretched over the sleigh so that not a single snowflake can make its way inside, Sylvain is nestled away with tons of blankets over his jacket. Felix ducks underneath the tarp, leaving Dimitri to adjust it again outside, and presses against his side. It's clear that he doesn't know what to say in moments like this, besides sliding their hands together. It's not a small thing, in Sylvain's opinion. All he has to do is just... focus on that, for the rest of the trip to Ecruteak.
That's what he thinks up until Dimitri shoves his head under the tarp. "We had an idea!" Dimitri says, by which he means himself and the small Rattata he deposits up onto Felix's lap. Gremlin beams up at them, his eyes almost as shiny as his Everstone collar, and clumsily offers up Dimitri's Pokegear. "I will trust you to keep both of them company, Gremlin!" And with that, he slides out again, redoing the tarp like he was supposed to.
Gremlin makes himself quite cozy between the two of them, and Sylvain can't help but chuckle a little bit. It may be intruding upon the private time he's getting to spend with Felix... But he can't mind it too much when the little Rattata bounces his head up against his fingers when he scratches behind his ears. "Hey there, little guy," Sylvain says, and tries to smile. He's not sure if it's a really great one, but at least there's Felix's hand there to squeeze down on his. That helps. "So what was this idea of yours?"
There's a delighted chitter, and Gremlin smacks down at the Gear until he has it up and running. Sylvain still doesn't entirely understand how a rat can be this smart, but, well, him smacking his little hands down on the Gear sure seems to work out one way or another. Felix makes a face when he sees where on the screen Gremlin is navigating. "Ugh, he's pulling up those weird games," Felix grumbles.
Sylvain quirks up an eyebrow. "What kind of weird games?" he asks.
"Stupid games that try to look like dumb hallways that you just wander around in until something suddenly jumps out at you-" Felix begins to complain, only to pause. That would be because Gremlin puts one little rat hand onto the back of Felix's much larger human one. The look on the Rattata's face is almost sympathetic, a vibe which certainly matches the way he so gently pats Felix's hand as though he's trying to reassure the man.
Even before he looks up, Sylvain can already tell Felix's eyes are practically going red.
Just like that, Felix snatches up both Gear and rat in one swift movement, and snaps out, "I'm not scared of it, and I'll prove that to you right now!"
"Felix, the rat isn't looking down on you?"
"He's pitying me, that's worse!"
Well, there's no helping it. When Felix feels he's been challenged, there's really no other way to stop him. Gremlin happily pulls up one of those 'video games' for them, and Sylvain gets a pretty quick grasp on just what it's about. The story doesn't seem too complicated, with some strange tall old lady sending them off through portals to the different 'levels', which all have themes... or at least, that's what Sylvain has picked up from osmosis as he's adjusted to his new life in Johto. It's the gameplay that's a little more interesting: collecting pretty shiny crystals through the narrow hallways of some claustrophobic hotel, pursued by monstrously deformed and mechanical Aipoms the size of people.
The whole thing is assisted by a small map held up in one corner of the screen, detailing where the various crystals are located along with the full layout of the hotel. Or maybe it's more difficult, considering that one has to look down at it at the same time that they're running throughout the hotel and trying to keep an eye and ear out for the location of the Aipoms. Of course, the more of the crystals one gathers, the more worked up the monkeys seem to get, and there seem to be more of them...
It's a tense game, one that makes Felix swear and drop or fumble or toss the Gear on occasion. During one of those moments, when Gremlin scurries down to grab the Gear again determinedly, Grant's softly laughing voice filters through the tarp. "Is, uh, is everything alright in there?"
"We're fine!" Sylvain and Felix say together, although in two very different ways. Grant doesn't say anything else, but Sylvain can almost imagine him smiling in amusement as they continue their trek through the snow.
Eventually, Felix gets a handle enough on the game that he stops flinging the Gear. He still jolts, still swears, but he gets into the focus that the game requires. It's kind of a beautiful sight to see, honestly. There's a brilliant intensity to Felix's eyes whenever he starts to focus on something, and Sylvain gets absorbed in that as much as watching with bated breath to see if he can make it through this time.
It's Felix. Of course he makes it, letting out a breath when he rushes through the portal back to the start of the game with the chorus of murderous Aipoms cutting off. "What a pain," he informs Gremlin with a scowl. "Anyway, it feels like the sleigh is slowing down. I'm going to check on what they're doing for lunch." And that, of course, is around the time the sleigh comes to a proper stop.
When Felix slips out from underneath the tarp again, Sylvain sinks back onto the seat with a slow rattle of a breath. Gremlin and Dimitri might have been right, that the game was a good way to distract him from the weather. Maybe Felix himself also had an impact, considering how much he had ensnared Sylvain's attention. But now that it's just him, in the tarp, listening to the snow land upon it and all too aware of how cold things are without Felix's hand in his...
A squeak erupts by his side, and there's Gremlin, abandoning the Pokegear so that he can clamber up onto Sylvain's lap. His little hands start to lightly pat at Sylvain's jaw, and he smiles. "Hey. I'm doing fine, I promise," he tells the Rattata. "Don't you trust this smile?"
It's not one of his best. Gremlin continues to pat at his face, until there's the sound of chatter, and the tarp is disturbed once again. "Hey there," Grant says, smiling slightly as he steps onto the small amount of room that the sleigh gives. He's a pretty big guy; only Dedue is bigger and even that is in a different way. In his hands are a pair of bowls, the thick smell already wafting upwards pleasantly. There's not a lot of room, which means the smell fills the space almost instantaneously, along with the pleasant heat of the bowl once it's in Sylvain's hands. "Dedue and Ashe made this; I can see why Dimitri kept praising them. It smells delicious enough that I almost don't need to taste it."
Sylvain grins. "Now you know how everyone else at our academy felt when it was their turn on cooking duty." Taking the little spoon that's a part of his meal, Sylvain takes a nice heaping spoonful and sighs through his nose when he feels the heat sink comfortably down into him. There's something reassuring about the food that Ashe and Dedue make, whether together or on their own. It makes him feel like he's at home, in a way, or maybe what he wishes home could be like for himself. "How's the time looking?" On the way to Ecruteak, he means.
"Pretty good." Turning to look at someone out past the tarp sleigh, Grant accepts something - a bowl of his own - before he shuffles underneath the tarp himself. "I hope you don't mind if I join you."
Honestly, Sylvain can't help but feel ashamed, a burden, pathetic to make his boyfriends feel such a need to check in on him constantly like this. No wonder this is taking forever. Still... While he's glad for Felix, will die alongside him one day, he has wanted to see Grant, too. There's something comforting about having him there, and he has a sweet smile, too. A sweet everything. It's why it's so easy to be interested in him. So he smiles, and shrugs, and says, "Knock yourself out."
This has the added benefit of satisfying Gremlin, who drags the Gear over to himself once again while Grant takes a seat. For a moment, Sylvain and Grant just eat, talking inbetween bites. There's no shortage of topics to get their attention, after all. There are all sorts of new Pokemon that have been showing up on the road up to Ecruteak, and a few trainers that have popped up for Felix and Chip to battle against. Everyone made sure to get smores, for the trip.
Once they start scraping the bottom of their bowls, Gremlin squeaks triumphantly, and holds up the Gear as best as his little rat hands can manage. He's pulled up an entirely different game from what he made Felix play, something with a little bird Pokemon and the title of Spearo. Insistently, he starts to shove it into their hands, until Grant finally accepts it with the soft laugh of someone who's often had to deal with a kid shoving all sorts of things into his hand. "Okay, okay, I got it. You want us to try and play this, huh?"
Sylvain leans over with some mild curiosity. This looks a lot different compared to the nightmare horror that was the Aipom game. It has a much more cutesy style, depicting an energetic and spunky looking, well, Spearow. "What's that one about, then? I hope it's not running away from Aipom."
"Don't think so, let's start it up and... Oh, wow, these graphics are kind of old compared to other stuff, huh?" Sylvain honestly can't tell, although he guesses he can definitely see the difference of Spearo and the Aipom game. That had been a lot smoother, even with the dark aesthetic. Spearo has a lot more bright colors, but also seems a bit more... blocky, somehow. The textures are different.
It's a cute little game about running around, collecting berries, and unfreezing frozen fellow Flying type Pokemon. All the while, Spearo snarks about various things, and wiggles back and forth when waiting for something. It's... cute. It gets Grant talking, too, about how his world also has video games like this, and how this style reminds him of what he used to play as a kid. Honestly, it's interesting to consider, what kind of world Grant is from... But, for Sylvain, the most important thing is that he's there with all of them.
Eventually, there's a couple of claps outside of the tarp, and this time it's Claude who ducks inside with a grin. "Alright, time for you to stop hogging the nice and comfy warm sanctuary of the sleigh, Grant. I think Chip might start vibrating out of their skin if you don't show up, anyway." That has Grant smile a little bit, and he hands the Gear over to Sylvain as he steps out. He hasn't left his seat for even a second before Claude practically dives in. No blanket is safe from Claude von Riegan.
Sylvain snorts. "Stealing Dimitri's turn ahead of him, huh?" he asks Claude with a wide smile, adjusting his arms so that the other man can wiggle into the blankets and up against his side.
"Can you believe that they suggested that I wait until tomorrow to ride on this haven of warmth?" Claude asks, mock scandalized. It would land better if not for his wide grin. "So what's this? Something Grant likes?"
"More like something a certain little Rattata decided to shove into our hands. It was apparently close enough to some stuff he liked as a kid..." Sylvain chuckles. "Although maybe not exactly your thing."
"What is that supposed to mean? I like cute things. All of my Pokemon are cute."
"First of all-" Letting Gremlin steal back the Gear, Sylvain raises one finger out from the depths of the blankets. "Claude, while I adore you deeply, and would kiss you many times under the mistletoe, you do have a sentient pile of actual garbage as one of your Pokemon."
"How dare you. Kibitz is a sweet girl."
"She may be sweet, but her scent isn't," Sylvain points out, grin twitching at the corner of his mouth even as the sleigh jolts back into action again. "Secondly, that wasn't exactly what one would call... thought provoking. It was just a really fun and cute game, but you'd probably get bored of it five seconds in." A triumphant squeak has Sylvain glance down at the Gear again. While they've been talking, Gremlin has pulled up yet another video game in place of the one he had before. "And it looks like the rat agrees with me. Are you really going to argue with such a cute rat, Claude?"
"Using Gremlin against me should be a sin," Claude announces solemnly, before he curiously accepts the Gear as it's handed to him by the Rattata. "Professor Lairon, huh?"
Cute cartoony birds running around collecting berries and freeing other, bigger birds might not be Claude's thing. However, Professor Lairon is something else entirely in that it's a mystery that needs to be solved. Sylvain can't help but admit that he often tries to play maybe a little more stupid than he needs to. No one needs to be placing any grant expectations onto him, after all. But, well... With its cute cartoony style mixing in much more thought provoking problems to solve, a lovely score behind all of it, Sylvain can't help but get caught up in the game too. Him and Claude spend Goddess knows how long playing through the game, talking about the different characters and pondering motivations, puzzles, drama. It's... fun.
It's so fun that he doesn't realize until his eyes start to strain just how dark it's gotten, the light of the Gear the only thing keeping their little sleigh illuminated, and he blinks, leaning back. "Oh, wow," he says mildly, wondering if the dull ache behind his eyes will ease up if he just doesn't look at the game anymore. "Hey, we've stopped moving, haven't we?"
Right as he finishes that sentence, the tarp is tugged upwards, and he's suddenly engulfed in blue. A laugh bursts out of him, one that gets cut short as he's suddenly wrapped up and hauled up onto a familiar broad shoulder. "We're resting for the night!" Dimitri announces, voice close but muffled, somewhere besides Sylvain's ear. It's hard to make out exactly what's going on when his whole face is stuffed right up against the thick and blue material of Dimitri's cloak. However, even despite that... Sylvain can tell he's in some sort of wild princess carry and shoulder-slung hybrid position. It must look ridiculous.
Sylvain starts to laugh again, all the way up until the cloak is tugged off of him, and his eyes adjust to a soft warm glow that's much easier to look at than a bright screen. It's Dimitri's tent, the extra huge one he got all the way back in Ecruteak so that his Pokemon could stay with him too. Right there in the middle, Dean sits with his stump legs folded up as best they can be. Chip already has a small stick raised up to the blazing beard of flame that rests along the Emboar's face, which he patiently tolerates while Claude tosses marshmallows up into his mouth with impressive accuracy.
Felix is there too, already tucked partially into their larger shared sleeping bag, and he holds his hands out to Sylvain to welcome him downwards. Behind him, Sylvain thinks he can hear Grant zip shut the tent flap. "Chip, we haven't even had dinner yet. You gotta put the bag away, bud."
Frankly, Sylvain hardly hears them. He just accepts Felix's hand, and snugs into the sleeping bag with him. Past Dean, he thinks he can see Chip make a face, but they very generously bite back what is no doubt a very impress 'ew'. "So what's for dinner?" he asks quietly, smiling a little bit. Being alongside Felix feels like being home. He loves everyone else too, of course, but, well. Felix is just like that.
"Dedue and Ashe are on it," he says, nodding over to where the pair have managed to squeeze themselves into a little corner of the tent. No warm smells are wafting out of anywhere yet, but he can see how they're patiently preparing different cuts of foot. There's pieces of meat that the two of them have torn apart into more manageable chunks, gathered up in a little pile. One a cutting board Dimitri happily bought in Azalea, Dedue's knife cuts through rapidfire better than any royal chef. Ashe sits across from him, smiling and stirring something in a mixing bowl. Sylvain has no idea what it is, but he can guess what they're up to, just by this set up alone.
He can also guess that it's going to be delicious, judging by the way Claude keeps looking over with bright eyes. "Try not to jump them before they can get the meat cooked, Claude," Sylvain teases, and finds that it comes to him easier than he would have thought. Everything just... feels lighter. He can't explain it.
"In his defense, I think all of us are getting pretty hungry watching them work," Grant says with a smile, bag of marshmallows successfully confiscated from hungry child hands. Sylvain sometimes thinks it's a testament to Chip's love towards Grant that keeps the worst of their little gremlin tendencies from just hoarding the marshmallows away. (Gremlin as in the creepy pain in the ass monsters. Not Gremlin the Rattata, who has cuddled up on Dimitri's lap to slowly bathe in the heat that Dean gives off.)
Sylvain just smiles. He can't lie there, honestly, and he definitely can't lie when Ashe brings a small pan over to help cook through the sauce he's put together. The smell begins to fill the tent easily and, for the first time in ages, Sylvain remembers what it's like to really feel hungry again instead of just vaguely remember he should eat. Or maybe the snow and travel just felt like ages.
In comparison, the food cooks relatively quickly. This is especially true when Dedue hands them all skewers, allowing them to cook their food through on Dean's beard. It makes the most ridiculous sight, honestly: this enormous and fierce looking boar with a beard of literal fire, serenely nibbling on cuts of bell pepper while the rest of them hold up skewers full of meat and veggies to roast. Off to the side, Dimitri quietly explains to Chip what to look for to make sure the meat is all the way cooked, and even tries his very best to convince him that the vegetables taste good like this with the sauce. He'd probably have better luck if Felix didn't chew off the meat from his own skewer and toss the vegetables inbetween up into Dean's mouth.
It's... It's nice. Sylvain smiles, even as he slides off a piece of meat from his skewer to hand feed Felix and Chip doesn't hold back from loudly going "EW" this time. This isn't the blizzard of his childhood. He can see that clearly with all of them crammed into Dimitri's tent like this: Dimitri brushing his shoulder against Dedue's while he sings the other man's praises, Ashe explaining what vegetables go best with skewers and why to Grant, Claude in apparent bliss from the mild spice of the sauce. Inda crawls onto his lap at some point, and nibbles on some roasted zucchini that Sylvain gives her. All of them have their smaller Pokemon out, in one way or another.
It's comfortable. It's nothing like he ever had back in Gautier, whether as a child, or otherwise.
Eventually, they run out of things to put on their skewers. With full stomachs, they all settle down in their sleeping bags, squished together around Dean's hulking form as he too curls up in the exact center of the tent. Distantly, Sylvain thinks he can still hear the sound of snow faintly falling onto the tent from outside...
But it's nothing like Felix squished against his body, head over Sylvain's heart, and Dimitri at his back, able to hear everyone else breathe in sleep.
To be a little more fair, it starts with a rigged up sleigh purchased secondhand and a tarp that definitely wasn't. Underneath the cover of the tarp, stretched over the sleigh so that not a single snowflake can make its way inside, Sylvain is nestled away with tons of blankets over his jacket. Felix ducks underneath the tarp, leaving Dimitri to adjust it again outside, and presses against his side. It's clear that he doesn't know what to say in moments like this, besides sliding their hands together. It's not a small thing, in Sylvain's opinion. All he has to do is just... focus on that, for the rest of the trip to Ecruteak.
That's what he thinks up until Dimitri shoves his head under the tarp. "We had an idea!" Dimitri says, by which he means himself and the small Rattata he deposits up onto Felix's lap. Gremlin beams up at them, his eyes almost as shiny as his Everstone collar, and clumsily offers up Dimitri's Pokegear. "I will trust you to keep both of them company, Gremlin!" And with that, he slides out again, redoing the tarp like he was supposed to.
Gremlin makes himself quite cozy between the two of them, and Sylvain can't help but chuckle a little bit. It may be intruding upon the private time he's getting to spend with Felix... But he can't mind it too much when the little Rattata bounces his head up against his fingers when he scratches behind his ears. "Hey there, little guy," Sylvain says, and tries to smile. He's not sure if it's a really great one, but at least there's Felix's hand there to squeeze down on his. That helps. "So what was this idea of yours?"
There's a delighted chitter, and Gremlin smacks down at the Gear until he has it up and running. Sylvain still doesn't entirely understand how a rat can be this smart, but, well, him smacking his little hands down on the Gear sure seems to work out one way or another. Felix makes a face when he sees where on the screen Gremlin is navigating. "Ugh, he's pulling up those weird games," Felix grumbles.
Sylvain quirks up an eyebrow. "What kind of weird games?" he asks.
"Stupid games that try to look like dumb hallways that you just wander around in until something suddenly jumps out at you-" Felix begins to complain, only to pause. That would be because Gremlin puts one little rat hand onto the back of Felix's much larger human one. The look on the Rattata's face is almost sympathetic, a vibe which certainly matches the way he so gently pats Felix's hand as though he's trying to reassure the man.
Even before he looks up, Sylvain can already tell Felix's eyes are practically going red.
Just like that, Felix snatches up both Gear and rat in one swift movement, and snaps out, "I'm not scared of it, and I'll prove that to you right now!"
"Felix, the rat isn't looking down on you?"
"He's pitying me, that's worse!"
Well, there's no helping it. When Felix feels he's been challenged, there's really no other way to stop him. Gremlin happily pulls up one of those 'video games' for them, and Sylvain gets a pretty quick grasp on just what it's about. The story doesn't seem too complicated, with some strange tall old lady sending them off through portals to the different 'levels', which all have themes... or at least, that's what Sylvain has picked up from osmosis as he's adjusted to his new life in Johto. It's the gameplay that's a little more interesting: collecting pretty shiny crystals through the narrow hallways of some claustrophobic hotel, pursued by monstrously deformed and mechanical Aipoms the size of people.
The whole thing is assisted by a small map held up in one corner of the screen, detailing where the various crystals are located along with the full layout of the hotel. Or maybe it's more difficult, considering that one has to look down at it at the same time that they're running throughout the hotel and trying to keep an eye and ear out for the location of the Aipoms. Of course, the more of the crystals one gathers, the more worked up the monkeys seem to get, and there seem to be more of them...
It's a tense game, one that makes Felix swear and drop or fumble or toss the Gear on occasion. During one of those moments, when Gremlin scurries down to grab the Gear again determinedly, Grant's softly laughing voice filters through the tarp. "Is, uh, is everything alright in there?"
"We're fine!" Sylvain and Felix say together, although in two very different ways. Grant doesn't say anything else, but Sylvain can almost imagine him smiling in amusement as they continue their trek through the snow.
Eventually, Felix gets a handle enough on the game that he stops flinging the Gear. He still jolts, still swears, but he gets into the focus that the game requires. It's kind of a beautiful sight to see, honestly. There's a brilliant intensity to Felix's eyes whenever he starts to focus on something, and Sylvain gets absorbed in that as much as watching with bated breath to see if he can make it through this time.
It's Felix. Of course he makes it, letting out a breath when he rushes through the portal back to the start of the game with the chorus of murderous Aipoms cutting off. "What a pain," he informs Gremlin with a scowl. "Anyway, it feels like the sleigh is slowing down. I'm going to check on what they're doing for lunch." And that, of course, is around the time the sleigh comes to a proper stop.
When Felix slips out from underneath the tarp again, Sylvain sinks back onto the seat with a slow rattle of a breath. Gremlin and Dimitri might have been right, that the game was a good way to distract him from the weather. Maybe Felix himself also had an impact, considering how much he had ensnared Sylvain's attention. But now that it's just him, in the tarp, listening to the snow land upon it and all too aware of how cold things are without Felix's hand in his...
A squeak erupts by his side, and there's Gremlin, abandoning the Pokegear so that he can clamber up onto Sylvain's lap. His little hands start to lightly pat at Sylvain's jaw, and he smiles. "Hey. I'm doing fine, I promise," he tells the Rattata. "Don't you trust this smile?"
It's not one of his best. Gremlin continues to pat at his face, until there's the sound of chatter, and the tarp is disturbed once again. "Hey there," Grant says, smiling slightly as he steps onto the small amount of room that the sleigh gives. He's a pretty big guy; only Dedue is bigger and even that is in a different way. In his hands are a pair of bowls, the thick smell already wafting upwards pleasantly. There's not a lot of room, which means the smell fills the space almost instantaneously, along with the pleasant heat of the bowl once it's in Sylvain's hands. "Dedue and Ashe made this; I can see why Dimitri kept praising them. It smells delicious enough that I almost don't need to taste it."
Sylvain grins. "Now you know how everyone else at our academy felt when it was their turn on cooking duty." Taking the little spoon that's a part of his meal, Sylvain takes a nice heaping spoonful and sighs through his nose when he feels the heat sink comfortably down into him. There's something reassuring about the food that Ashe and Dedue make, whether together or on their own. It makes him feel like he's at home, in a way, or maybe what he wishes home could be like for himself. "How's the time looking?" On the way to Ecruteak, he means.
"Pretty good." Turning to look at someone out past the tarp sleigh, Grant accepts something - a bowl of his own - before he shuffles underneath the tarp himself. "I hope you don't mind if I join you."
Honestly, Sylvain can't help but feel ashamed, a burden, pathetic to make his boyfriends feel such a need to check in on him constantly like this. No wonder this is taking forever. Still... While he's glad for Felix, will die alongside him one day, he has wanted to see Grant, too. There's something comforting about having him there, and he has a sweet smile, too. A sweet everything. It's why it's so easy to be interested in him. So he smiles, and shrugs, and says, "Knock yourself out."
This has the added benefit of satisfying Gremlin, who drags the Gear over to himself once again while Grant takes a seat. For a moment, Sylvain and Grant just eat, talking inbetween bites. There's no shortage of topics to get their attention, after all. There are all sorts of new Pokemon that have been showing up on the road up to Ecruteak, and a few trainers that have popped up for Felix and Chip to battle against. Everyone made sure to get smores, for the trip.
Once they start scraping the bottom of their bowls, Gremlin squeaks triumphantly, and holds up the Gear as best as his little rat hands can manage. He's pulled up an entirely different game from what he made Felix play, something with a little bird Pokemon and the title of Spearo. Insistently, he starts to shove it into their hands, until Grant finally accepts it with the soft laugh of someone who's often had to deal with a kid shoving all sorts of things into his hand. "Okay, okay, I got it. You want us to try and play this, huh?"
Sylvain leans over with some mild curiosity. This looks a lot different compared to the nightmare horror that was the Aipom game. It has a much more cutesy style, depicting an energetic and spunky looking, well, Spearow. "What's that one about, then? I hope it's not running away from Aipom."
"Don't think so, let's start it up and... Oh, wow, these graphics are kind of old compared to other stuff, huh?" Sylvain honestly can't tell, although he guesses he can definitely see the difference of Spearo and the Aipom game. That had been a lot smoother, even with the dark aesthetic. Spearo has a lot more bright colors, but also seems a bit more... blocky, somehow. The textures are different.
It's a cute little game about running around, collecting berries, and unfreezing frozen fellow Flying type Pokemon. All the while, Spearo snarks about various things, and wiggles back and forth when waiting for something. It's... cute. It gets Grant talking, too, about how his world also has video games like this, and how this style reminds him of what he used to play as a kid. Honestly, it's interesting to consider, what kind of world Grant is from... But, for Sylvain, the most important thing is that he's there with all of them.
Eventually, there's a couple of claps outside of the tarp, and this time it's Claude who ducks inside with a grin. "Alright, time for you to stop hogging the nice and comfy warm sanctuary of the sleigh, Grant. I think Chip might start vibrating out of their skin if you don't show up, anyway." That has Grant smile a little bit, and he hands the Gear over to Sylvain as he steps out. He hasn't left his seat for even a second before Claude practically dives in. No blanket is safe from Claude von Riegan.
Sylvain snorts. "Stealing Dimitri's turn ahead of him, huh?" he asks Claude with a wide smile, adjusting his arms so that the other man can wiggle into the blankets and up against his side.
"Can you believe that they suggested that I wait until tomorrow to ride on this haven of warmth?" Claude asks, mock scandalized. It would land better if not for his wide grin. "So what's this? Something Grant likes?"
"More like something a certain little Rattata decided to shove into our hands. It was apparently close enough to some stuff he liked as a kid..." Sylvain chuckles. "Although maybe not exactly your thing."
"What is that supposed to mean? I like cute things. All of my Pokemon are cute."
"First of all-" Letting Gremlin steal back the Gear, Sylvain raises one finger out from the depths of the blankets. "Claude, while I adore you deeply, and would kiss you many times under the mistletoe, you do have a sentient pile of actual garbage as one of your Pokemon."
"How dare you. Kibitz is a sweet girl."
"She may be sweet, but her scent isn't," Sylvain points out, grin twitching at the corner of his mouth even as the sleigh jolts back into action again. "Secondly, that wasn't exactly what one would call... thought provoking. It was just a really fun and cute game, but you'd probably get bored of it five seconds in." A triumphant squeak has Sylvain glance down at the Gear again. While they've been talking, Gremlin has pulled up yet another video game in place of the one he had before. "And it looks like the rat agrees with me. Are you really going to argue with such a cute rat, Claude?"
"Using Gremlin against me should be a sin," Claude announces solemnly, before he curiously accepts the Gear as it's handed to him by the Rattata. "Professor Lairon, huh?"
Cute cartoony birds running around collecting berries and freeing other, bigger birds might not be Claude's thing. However, Professor Lairon is something else entirely in that it's a mystery that needs to be solved. Sylvain can't help but admit that he often tries to play maybe a little more stupid than he needs to. No one needs to be placing any grant expectations onto him, after all. But, well... With its cute cartoony style mixing in much more thought provoking problems to solve, a lovely score behind all of it, Sylvain can't help but get caught up in the game too. Him and Claude spend Goddess knows how long playing through the game, talking about the different characters and pondering motivations, puzzles, drama. It's... fun.
It's so fun that he doesn't realize until his eyes start to strain just how dark it's gotten, the light of the Gear the only thing keeping their little sleigh illuminated, and he blinks, leaning back. "Oh, wow," he says mildly, wondering if the dull ache behind his eyes will ease up if he just doesn't look at the game anymore. "Hey, we've stopped moving, haven't we?"
Right as he finishes that sentence, the tarp is tugged upwards, and he's suddenly engulfed in blue. A laugh bursts out of him, one that gets cut short as he's suddenly wrapped up and hauled up onto a familiar broad shoulder. "We're resting for the night!" Dimitri announces, voice close but muffled, somewhere besides Sylvain's ear. It's hard to make out exactly what's going on when his whole face is stuffed right up against the thick and blue material of Dimitri's cloak. However, even despite that... Sylvain can tell he's in some sort of wild princess carry and shoulder-slung hybrid position. It must look ridiculous.
Sylvain starts to laugh again, all the way up until the cloak is tugged off of him, and his eyes adjust to a soft warm glow that's much easier to look at than a bright screen. It's Dimitri's tent, the extra huge one he got all the way back in Ecruteak so that his Pokemon could stay with him too. Right there in the middle, Dean sits with his stump legs folded up as best they can be. Chip already has a small stick raised up to the blazing beard of flame that rests along the Emboar's face, which he patiently tolerates while Claude tosses marshmallows up into his mouth with impressive accuracy.
Felix is there too, already tucked partially into their larger shared sleeping bag, and he holds his hands out to Sylvain to welcome him downwards. Behind him, Sylvain thinks he can hear Grant zip shut the tent flap. "Chip, we haven't even had dinner yet. You gotta put the bag away, bud."
Frankly, Sylvain hardly hears them. He just accepts Felix's hand, and snugs into the sleeping bag with him. Past Dean, he thinks he can see Chip make a face, but they very generously bite back what is no doubt a very impress 'ew'. "So what's for dinner?" he asks quietly, smiling a little bit. Being alongside Felix feels like being home. He loves everyone else too, of course, but, well. Felix is just like that.
"Dedue and Ashe are on it," he says, nodding over to where the pair have managed to squeeze themselves into a little corner of the tent. No warm smells are wafting out of anywhere yet, but he can see how they're patiently preparing different cuts of foot. There's pieces of meat that the two of them have torn apart into more manageable chunks, gathered up in a little pile. One a cutting board Dimitri happily bought in Azalea, Dedue's knife cuts through rapidfire better than any royal chef. Ashe sits across from him, smiling and stirring something in a mixing bowl. Sylvain has no idea what it is, but he can guess what they're up to, just by this set up alone.
He can also guess that it's going to be delicious, judging by the way Claude keeps looking over with bright eyes. "Try not to jump them before they can get the meat cooked, Claude," Sylvain teases, and finds that it comes to him easier than he would have thought. Everything just... feels lighter. He can't explain it.
"In his defense, I think all of us are getting pretty hungry watching them work," Grant says with a smile, bag of marshmallows successfully confiscated from hungry child hands. Sylvain sometimes thinks it's a testament to Chip's love towards Grant that keeps the worst of their little gremlin tendencies from just hoarding the marshmallows away. (Gremlin as in the creepy pain in the ass monsters. Not Gremlin the Rattata, who has cuddled up on Dimitri's lap to slowly bathe in the heat that Dean gives off.)
Sylvain just smiles. He can't lie there, honestly, and he definitely can't lie when Ashe brings a small pan over to help cook through the sauce he's put together. The smell begins to fill the tent easily and, for the first time in ages, Sylvain remembers what it's like to really feel hungry again instead of just vaguely remember he should eat. Or maybe the snow and travel just felt like ages.
In comparison, the food cooks relatively quickly. This is especially true when Dedue hands them all skewers, allowing them to cook their food through on Dean's beard. It makes the most ridiculous sight, honestly: this enormous and fierce looking boar with a beard of literal fire, serenely nibbling on cuts of bell pepper while the rest of them hold up skewers full of meat and veggies to roast. Off to the side, Dimitri quietly explains to Chip what to look for to make sure the meat is all the way cooked, and even tries his very best to convince him that the vegetables taste good like this with the sauce. He'd probably have better luck if Felix didn't chew off the meat from his own skewer and toss the vegetables inbetween up into Dean's mouth.
It's... It's nice. Sylvain smiles, even as he slides off a piece of meat from his skewer to hand feed Felix and Chip doesn't hold back from loudly going "EW" this time. This isn't the blizzard of his childhood. He can see that clearly with all of them crammed into Dimitri's tent like this: Dimitri brushing his shoulder against Dedue's while he sings the other man's praises, Ashe explaining what vegetables go best with skewers and why to Grant, Claude in apparent bliss from the mild spice of the sauce. Inda crawls onto his lap at some point, and nibbles on some roasted zucchini that Sylvain gives her. All of them have their smaller Pokemon out, in one way or another.
It's comfortable. It's nothing like he ever had back in Gautier, whether as a child, or otherwise.
Eventually, they run out of things to put on their skewers. With full stomachs, they all settle down in their sleeping bags, squished together around Dean's hulking form as he too curls up in the exact center of the tent. Distantly, Sylvain thinks he can still hear the sound of snow faintly falling onto the tent from outside...
But it's nothing like Felix squished against his body, head over Sylvain's heart, and Dimitri at his back, able to hear everyone else breathe in sleep.