November/December catch-all

[laidtocrest]

WHO: Sylvain and some people
WHAT: me living up to some promises; him having a bad time
WHERE: various and sundry places
WHEN: at various and sundry times, probably mostly after dark due to 90% of this game being vampires at this point
WARNINGS: stupid, will update with actual warnings

Comments

[laidtocrest]

Plus...

[Is anyone paying attention to him?...a cute girl is, he reflexively shoots her a smile and a wink, and then leans back in to talk to Vash because honestly, at the moment he's not feeling up to getting his dick wet. It's a weird feeling, but he likes Vash.]

There's a difference between your person dying and someone else's person dying. Your person dying is a tragedy; someone else's person dying is just a part of some bigger story.

[Which makes Sylvain wonder: is this how Faerghus would remember him, remember Dimitri? A series of tragic and terrible deaths, Edelgard's ministers no doubt painting over things and making them palatable, clean - in a generation they'd be some hopelessly ignorant knights clinging to a past, and in five they're the footnote to some-

Now's not the time for this. Sylvain shakes his head, thoughts, gone.] Easy enough when you're not the person mourning.

[photosympathies]

Hm.

( A quiet little hum. Vash mourns everyone, whether he knows them personally or not, a by-product of feeling irrationally responsible for every living thing. One would assume it would lessen here, when the people's existence on the planet was not his fault, but no. It remains ingrained upon his ribs, written in fine lettering. )

I guess it's just one of those things I know I'll never get. ( But then, a flickering smile, an attempt to brighten the mood. ) Like taxes!

[laidtocrest]

Good. [He says it a bit loudly with a bit too much force, and someone gives him a look, probably - Sylvain doesn't shout it, but it's like some little bit of sentiment dredged up from the hole he's been throwing his feelings into so he can get by, day after day, not that he's fucking miserable but one of those countless things he can't deal with so he puts it aside until later, later, never now, always later. Sylvain can't help it. Because here he is, trying to accept that he's going to end up as a footnote, a cautionary tale, a sexy tragic knight who died for his misguided ways, him and all his friends, so Emperor fucking Edelgard's fucking bloodbath can be whitewashed into something noble and pure and not as dirty as the rest of them-

And Vash, someone who never would see his world, saying no. He'll never get it. He'll mourn, see people as people and not flatten them into a story.]

Don't ever try to get it, Vash. More people should be like you.

[He exhales, a breath he didn't realize he was holding- a shudder, and then.] Sorry.

[photosympathies]

No, you're okay.

( Quick to soothe, aware he's touched on a nerve somewhere. Behind his glasses Vash's eyes are soft, curious, a little older than his face. But he dredges up a smile either way, puts the knickknacks down, reaches out to press his gloved real hand on Sylvain's shoulder, squeezing lightly. )

Come on, let's get out of here. Maybe they'll be selling kaiju parts at the place with the slushies, we should check it out. Buy a couple just to be doubley sure they aren't contaminated. My treat!

[laidtocrest]

[He wants to rebuff Vash, blow him off somehow, play off his reaction as nothing more than just stress or a joke, but there's a squeeze of Vash's hand and the tension from Sylvain just...

It doesn't quite vanish, in the same way water doesn't quite vanish but the earth does soak up the rain.]

Yeah, at this rate they'll throw us out anyway. [And Sylvain puts down his stuff. There's other places, he can buy things for Dimitri at one of those. Anywhere but here.] Now you mention it, I am pretty hungry.

[It's for the benefit of everyone else. See? He's not being weird, he's just hangry, and if Vash is seeing through him that's fine.]

[photosympathies]

Slushies and ... fries? They do fries, right. Wait, what's your go-to comfort food? Or the one you grab on the go. Both are different, right? Me, I like donuts. But I also like chips. And jerky.

( Is he ushering Sylvain straight out of the shop? Maybe. It's fine, they're fine, they're having a totally normal time right now and they're all good. The bell jingles. Vash breathes in dusty air the minute they're out. )

[laidtocrest]

[He just listens and makes noises as Vash lists off food. Fries. A noise. Slushies. A slightly different noise, but a related noise. Donuts. A thoughtful noise? Chips and jerky are more of the same.

They're outside. The bell jingles, Sylvain breathes in dusty air-]

Let's get donuts. [He's going to become a donut man at this rate.]

[photosympathies]

( A little bark of agreeable laughter, Vash pressing his hand to Sylvain's shoulder again briefly comforting before he lets go. )

Donuts! Good choice. They had some fancy ones the last time I was here. I've noticed in the cities they get experimental. I think they were almost shiny. But it's my treat, so you get to pick your poison!

( A beat. )

Hopefully not actual poison.