I... don't think that my instinct was wrong, at the end. I think... of the two people who were the most suspicious when it came to Zhongli, I think it must have been Claude, for that very reason.
I think...him or Jacopo. [ frowning. ] Because I could not find anything, but...
...I kept thinking of our bruises. All of the places where people had the marks like mine and Basilio's were at least on the same island, right? Even places with no evidence. It would make sense that someone would go around if they were trying to cover an injury - find all the places where people were. But...
Why would they come to this island if they didn't already know people were here?
Jacopo was the one I was lookin' at, yeah. Granted, I barely know him, but... he still seemed to be actin' sort of off compared to how he usually comes off at these things. At least it looked that way from where I was standing.
[ frowns ]
We sure nobody mentioned they were plannin' to stay at the garden to someone else?
I thought so too. [ with jacopo - he was definitely off today. ] But... I don't know him well enough, either.
[ he reaches up after a second and rubs his temples, frowning harder. ]
We aren't, and... even if we were, I don't know that anyone would admit it. It just feels... off. And now, I'm not sure if there's any way to confirm it, either.
there's a thoughtful pause. ] This is much more speculation, but...
... Claude and I play a lot of chess - I have always found him to be a wonderful match, because he is very clever. And... in our discussions after the first week, we talked about what we might do on a Thursday, if we found ourselves targeted - and we both agreed that traps would likely to be our advantage. I'm a bit more of a lover than a fighter - [ there's a little lightness there, a faint hint of something a little more normal, but it fades after that quip ] - and I could not ever beat anyone in a fight, so it would make more sense for me to set a trap.
For Claude...while he is a capable fighter, as far as I could tell from our adventure together, he prefers long distance. Zhongli does not. I don't actually think he could win, if he did not play dirty.
[ how do i icly say pocket sand just feels like claude fire emblem ] And I do think he would make the connection, to think to fight dirty.
[ can you imagine if thank you... delicious has to take on a whole new meaning ]
...Yeah, I've played with him too. S'pose you've got a point.
[ not one he likes very much, but. ]
Though by that same token, we don't know Jacopo well enough to know he isn't that same type. Or others, for that matter. Worth keepin' an eye on both of 'em, probably.
Mm. Agreed. I think we will have a rough week ahead of us... one laden with even more suspicion than usual.
[ and that's so unfortunate, in the context of everything they always go through. taair's quiet for a moment, looking out among the flowers. he's roughly the same - claude is a dear friend, who went through that terrible adventure with him all those weeks ago, and the idea of him being afflicted is deeply, deeply concerning. despite it all, they will have to persevere. the worst moments will come. but... ]
... We should play sometime. [ a bit of a nonsequitir, voice softening as he turns his head to actually look at fidelio, resting his cheek on his own knees. ] Chess. I didn't know that you played.
I mean, I don't, much. Count Louis introduced me, and I played against him on occasion, but there weren't many others on board the Charadrius who were big strategy fans.
[ mostly just big brute force fans... as tense as things had been with will's group at the time, it had been kind of fun playing board games with that ex-knight on board their runner for a change. and starchess with claude has been fun too. ]
Then, I think we will find each other formidable opponents, indeed!
[ taair likes using his brain, and he loves, loves loves getting to interact with people - so chess is a special kind of joy, in this place. it's fun to be able to flex the things he read it about in books, instead of the extremely rare match he could ask his tutors to give him as opposed to pushing pieces across the board to his bird.
the mention of the name earlier does stir something, though. ]
Was it that moment that I saw in your memories where you knew it was no longer worth following him? Or.. did you have any inkling, before?
[ there's curiosity here, but it's a little quieter than usual - no less genuine, still. having seen louis through both fidelio and basilio's eyes, and having heard of him in strange, alternate timelines... he's starting to get a better picture, but it's the opinions of the two brothers in this matter that he cares the most for. ]
...Nah, I'd been strugglin' with it pretty bad for a few weeks before that. Bas came to that conclusion first. Always been smarter than me when it came to that sort of thing, just follows his heart and what he thinks is right. I didn't want to even think about it. For a lot of reasons.
[ but by god did he ever end up thinking about it. ]
Felt ungrateful to abandon him after how much he'd done for us over all the years, for one. And I didn't want to have to reckon with how much of the blood on our hands might've been spilled for the wrong reasons.
[ ... ]
And the part I don't think Bas ever realised the whole time he was tryin' to convince me... I was bloody terrified of what'd happen to him if we tried to leave. We were Louis's right hand men for a long time; it was never gonna be as easy as just going our separate ways. Even just talkin' about it, if the wrong person ever overheard, we'd probably have been good as dead.
[ it's a lot what he was expecting, and a little of what he's not, in a way. having heard the way a different fidelio spoke of louis, comparing it to his memories, to this moment now - it puts together a more complete image.
an image of a life as a paripus, oppressed by society, a life of someone who had been taken in by not just common human decency but a source of strength, too. how many common people walked with the darklight because they offered them a chance to begin again? how many people in iria, in the union, in the papal states, gave up on the systems in place because of the way they crushed the common man under the wheels of progress, with no sense of dignity or empathy? to see it resonate across time and space... of course it does.
and then there's fidelio and basilio themselves. both big hearted. both clever, in their own right, one a thinker with his head, one with his heart. two young men who were loyal to the person who was good to them, who turned out to be all he seemed and nothing like it at once. it's a complex, layered situation, and he falls quiet too, looking down at the flower fields they're sitting in. ]
... Terrifying, indeed. [ taair says, softly, after a long, reflective pause. how awful, too - talking about it reminds him of the story of a little dream, and how similar that ache felt, how many secretive, hushed conversations there could have been about something as small as a diner and a place like home. ]
Every person within a movement is just that - a person. With their life stories, their families, their complexities. And... those who seek power like that Count so easily lose sight of that. Or... never had in their sights, at all.
[ he takes a deep breath, lets the weight out of it, bit by bit. ]
Though the circumstances of being so are awful, I'm glad that you're both out from that situation.
[ ... ]
Will the two of you return home, when this is over?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
w3, saturday
Hardly feels like we figured out a damn thing, even if we got it right.
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truly just sitting in the dirt somewhere ]
Yes... yes indeed. It felt like we were struggling the entire time, didn't it...?
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Still don't know how the hell some of those places even ended up comin' into it.
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[ ... ]
I... don't think that my instinct was wrong, at the end. I think... of the two people who were the most suspicious when it came to Zhongli, I think it must have been Claude, for that very reason.
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I think...him or Jacopo. [ frowning. ] Because I could not find anything, but...
...I kept thinking of our bruises. All of the places where people had the marks like mine and Basilio's were at least on the same island, right? Even places with no evidence. It would make sense that someone would go around if they were trying to cover an injury - find all the places where people were. But...
Why would they come to this island if they didn't already know people were here?
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[ frowns ]
We sure nobody mentioned they were plannin' to stay at the garden to someone else?
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[ he reaches up after a second and rubs his temples, frowning harder. ]
We aren't, and... even if we were, I don't know that anyone would admit it. It just feels... off. And now, I'm not sure if there's any way to confirm it, either.
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[ why was it the worst possible sin we could have let remain on the loose ]
What else was pointing to him that you noticed?
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there's a thoughtful pause. ] This is much more speculation, but...
... Claude and I play a lot of chess - I have always found him to be a wonderful match, because he is very clever. And... in our discussions after the first week, we talked about what we might do on a Thursday, if we found ourselves targeted - and we both agreed that traps would likely to be our advantage. I'm a bit more of a lover than a fighter - [ there's a little lightness there, a faint hint of something a little more normal, but it fades after that quip ] - and I could not ever beat anyone in a fight, so it would make more sense for me to set a trap.
For Claude...while he is a capable fighter, as far as I could tell from our adventure together, he prefers long distance. Zhongli does not. I don't actually think he could win, if he did not play dirty.
[ how do i icly say pocket sand just feels like claude fire emblem ] And I do think he would make the connection, to think to fight dirty.
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...Yeah, I've played with him too. S'pose you've got a point.
[ not one he likes very much, but. ]
Though by that same token, we don't know Jacopo well enough to know he isn't that same type. Or others, for that matter. Worth keepin' an eye on both of 'em, probably.
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Mm. Agreed. I think we will have a rough week ahead of us... one laden with even more suspicion than usual.
[ and that's so unfortunate, in the context of everything they always go through. taair's quiet for a moment, looking out among the flowers. he's roughly the same - claude is a dear friend, who went through that terrible adventure with him all those weeks ago, and the idea of him being afflicted is deeply, deeply concerning. despite it all, they will have to persevere. the worst moments will come. but... ]
... We should play sometime. [ a bit of a nonsequitir, voice softening as he turns his head to actually look at fidelio, resting his cheek on his own knees. ] Chess. I didn't know that you played.
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[ mostly just big brute force fans... as tense as things had been with will's group at the time, it had been kind of fun playing board games with that ex-knight on board their runner for a change. and starchess with claude has been fun too. ]
But yeah. That'd be nice.
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Fidelio, my friend, I lived alone in a palace with no one to speak to - you have much more experience than me.
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but. yeah. wouldn't be the same as playing with a friend anyway, even if that had been the case. ]
...Yeah, fair point.
[ grins. ]
All right, we can work on our games together, then.
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I promise, I will give you no quarter.
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[ he learned from louis, after all. only the strongest player survives. ]
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[ taair likes using his brain, and he loves, loves loves getting to interact with people - so chess is a special kind of joy, in this place. it's fun to be able to flex the things he read it about in books, instead of the extremely rare match he could ask his tutors to give him as opposed to pushing pieces across the board to his bird.
the mention of the name earlier does stir something, though. ]
... Can I ask you something? About Count Louis.
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Sure.
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[ there's curiosity here, but it's a little quieter than usual - no less genuine, still. having seen louis through both fidelio and basilio's eyes, and having heard of him in strange, alternate timelines... he's starting to get a better picture, but it's the opinions of the two brothers in this matter that he cares the most for. ]
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...Nah, I'd been strugglin' with it pretty bad for a few weeks before that. Bas came to that conclusion first. Always been smarter than me when it came to that sort of thing, just follows his heart and what he thinks is right. I didn't want to even think about it. For a lot of reasons.
[ but by god did he ever end up thinking about it. ]
Felt ungrateful to abandon him after how much he'd done for us over all the years, for one. And I didn't want to have to reckon with how much of the blood on our hands might've been spilled for the wrong reasons.
[ ... ]
And the part I don't think Bas ever realised the whole time he was tryin' to convince me... I was bloody terrified of what'd happen to him if we tried to leave. We were Louis's right hand men for a long time; it was never gonna be as easy as just going our separate ways. Even just talkin' about it, if the wrong person ever overheard, we'd probably have been good as dead.
no subject
an image of a life as a paripus, oppressed by society, a life of someone who had been taken in by not just common human decency but a source of strength, too. how many common people walked with the darklight because they offered them a chance to begin again? how many people in iria, in the union, in the papal states, gave up on the systems in place because of the way they crushed the common man under the wheels of progress, with no sense of dignity or empathy? to see it resonate across time and space... of course it does.
and then there's fidelio and basilio themselves. both big hearted. both clever, in their own right, one a thinker with his head, one with his heart. two young men who were loyal to the person who was good to them, who turned out to be all he seemed and nothing like it at once. it's a complex, layered situation, and he falls quiet too, looking down at the flower fields they're sitting in. ]
... Terrifying, indeed. [ taair says, softly, after a long, reflective pause. how awful, too - talking about it reminds him of the story of a little dream, and how similar that ache felt, how many secretive, hushed conversations there could have been about something as small as a diner and a place like home. ]
Every person within a movement is just that - a person. With their life stories, their families, their complexities. And... those who seek power like that Count so easily lose sight of that. Or... never had in their sights, at all.
[ he takes a deep breath, lets the weight out of it, bit by bit. ]
Though the circumstances of being so are awful, I'm glad that you're both out from that situation.
[ ... ]
Will the two of you return home, when this is over?
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[ he has complicated feelings about that too, really, but he's already promised to go back if they can. ]
I'm making sure Bas goes back either way, though. Still gotta take Louis down.