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[ A small croak of a voice from underneath the counter: ] How do you even say that with a straight face?!

(he does not particularly get the bewilderment and embarrassment from a man who fucked him on a counter, even if it weren't HIM HIM... manjiro just was not expecting it. the slowblink ensues, while he watches the man... hide? what for? manjiro has already seen it. it's not like hiding is going to do anything now.)

Saying it. How are you embarrassed, I just paid you a compliment, and I'm picky as hell. You should be saying 'thank you, and I'm using it a lot, great feedback', and then be telling me about your rich ass life and stuff.

Because! That's not --

[ He sputters, then peeks above the counter again, bright green eyes blinking bewildered beneath a mop of unruly dark hair. He doesn't even know where to begin. He's never considered himself a prude, but some combination of the upfront words and the fact that he knows damn well that they were involved in some capacity in their strange shared past...

He's never run into a previous conquest before, one might say. He clears his throat. ]

That... facet of my other life is probably the most different part of that other me, [ he says delicately. ] That sort of thing is uncommon where I'm actually from. You surprised me!

What is uncommon, fucking? It if were that uncommon, you wouldn't have been born.

(poor claude... POOR CLAUDE... but now he is doing it on purpose, simply because he looks sorta cute. the memories are better established in his brain, but see, the affection is at little bit in there. projection, whatever, but he is laughing a little.)

I see, I see. This you has no game. A shame.

That's not what I mean, and you know it! [ Claude says petulantly, like a child caught out on a particularly foolhardy lie. But he's not lying, is the thing -- it may be different with the commoners, but he's seen what a splash that Sylvain's various indiscretions have made in society. Quite unlike his own - of which he has several more complicated hang-ups - it's gone as far as to challenge the man's credibility even in areas in which he's quite capable. ]

The place I'm from is really quite prudish, you know. Talking about that sort of thing would damage my credibility!

Hehehe, sorry, you looked cute hiding, couldn't stop myself.

(from making him die inside, that is. but oh, this poor guy. now that manjiro knows, he's never living it down.)

Well, you're not home. Do you wanna continue being prudish?

I wouldn't call myself prudish, exactly. Just not used to hearing it so, uh... baldly. It's not really my business what other people get up to.

[ Which carries the heavy - and accurate - implication: Claude is not the one doing it. He's still a little flushed, embarrassed. ]

I assume where you're from is a little more -- liberated.

(okay, you can come out now, claude. he'll take it a little easier, even coming as far as approaching the counter to offer a hand for the other to stand a little bit.

also, what a shame, claude.)

Probably. Sounds like anywhere is, with your whole attitude towards it - although, you gotta remember, I'm a bit different than most. Delinquent rights - do what I want, how I want it. We don't super fit with what our country wants from us. Tell you what, though. Tell me bout your place and you, and I'll teach you some history.

(the boy is legacy. if someone knows a lot about history of gangs, that'd be him.)

So this version of you is a delinquent too, huh? I'll keep your perspective in mind.

[ He does come out from behind the counter. He lives with soldiers, so he's heard his share of blue things in his time, of course -- but not with him as the focus. He finds that it makes him bashful in a way he's unaccustomed to, when it's not a young woman batting her lashes and gushing about his beautiful eyes, no doubt trying to make a Duchess out of herself, or one of the women from home vying to be one of the young Prince's wives, or even a prize concubine. ]

But sure, I can tell you about my home. Like I said, I went to school with a bunch of little ladies and lordlings, in a place much different from this one. We have no electricity where I'm from, no phones. If we want our homes warmed, we have to light the fires ourselves, and if we want to preserve our food, we have to can and pickle it, replace the ice in our iceboxes every day, dry our herbs and vegetables from the rafters.

[ He nods up at the herbs hanging from the ceiling here, a little taste of home. ]

Fodlan's run by blood ties. Our seal to rule is tied to our Crests. So, needless to say, nobles are as careful as can be about where they sow their wild oats, so to speak.

[ There's something in his voice there -- something that suggests he's not at all on-board with how they do things. And he speaks only of Fodlan, of course, not his true home. Just his new one, the home he's come to fight for, the home he seeks to change. ]

(honestly, he thought this place before was bad, but listening to these things makes he feel like he won the lottery with the state of technology in this place - and he's not even so far into the future to whine about it. he can understand now, though - to be with claude would be to want the title he has, it seems.

funnily enough, manjiro would never want that. he belongs elsewhere, royalty in his own right.

but it explains a lot about it.)

Huh, I didn't even know. Promise I'm not after the Crest. I'd hate that, from the sounds of it.

Oh, I know you're not. You've got the wrong bits for that, [ Claude says with a saucy wink, evidently more comfortable with innuendo when it's not about his own. ] But you're a guy who's used to some measure of freedom, aren't you? You'd absolutely despise it. It's -- well, I have no reason to keep up appearances here. It's not a good system, and it does little good for anyone, noble and commoner alike.

[ He leans against the counter, head twisting and tipping back to regard Manjiro. ]

I'm a Duke, you see. And leader of my country, surrounded by war. I don't have time for much else besides keeping my people's heads above water. [ A smile tugs at the corner of his mouth, humourless. ] And anyone who approaches me with such... designs is well aware of my position, and what they could stand to gain from it.

[ The closest he had to having an actual experience is when he had been on his way to Fodlan from Almyra, still nothing more than an anonymous face amongst anonymous faces, a kiss shared with some stablehand in some inn he'd stayed in, delirious with the prospect of actual freedom.

He hadn't known, back then, that he was marching back into another prison, this time of his own making. ]

Little do they know that being a Duke's wife would be just awful. [ He lets out a bark of laughter. ] They'd never get any peace!

So you're okay to talk about my dick but not yours? I see how it is.

(bro. please. but he's saying it with a laugh. taking in everything claude is saying does take it back a little bit to what he knows to be true to himself. another little reminder that - they don't really know each other. the manjiro sano claude came to care for couldn't care less about mostly anyone - himself included.)

Sounds like you don't get much peace either. I'm no duke, but I am a President. It's not that different, with the keeping my people's heads above water thing, and also the stupid interest. Thankfully, because this is not nearly as... Elegant as your life. Anyone gets too close to me and I don't feel like it, I'm well within my rights to kick their teeth out and make them swallow them. Guess you can't do that.

Don't be like that. I didn't go into any details.

[ He smiles back at Manjiro, some of his previous awkwardness wearing off as they discuss things he's more comfortable with, the things he's actually passionate about; sometimes, he finds it hard to truly be in the moment here when so much of his heart still lingers back home. ]

So. You're the President of your... gang, is it? [ Some may think he's a bit young for that, and even to Claude, he's awfully youthful for such a responsibility -- but it's not so strange to him either. Plenty of people are forced into that position, whether by fate or by choice. ]

I have to say, I'm a little envious. If I could kick out a couple of those guys' teeth, I would. Maybe just one or two. Enough that they'd look comical in all of their portraits. How did you wind up as President, anyway? Was it passed down to you, or did you create the whole damn thing?

Not fair, man.

(this is... nice. it's different, sure, it should be, but nevertheless, while manjiro isn't as closed off a person as the one claude has met, he's so much at ease.)

Yeah, but, heh, you'd have to have great kick control, gotta give it to you, but can you even kick, bro?

(he seems too nerdy for it.)

Well, I did promise you the history of it. Well, the longest story ever short, Japan was in a war, and we had what is called 'kamikaze pilots'. They're suicide pilots, and when the war was over, they had trouble reajusting and ended up as biker gangs for adrenaline fixes. The young people saw that, and a lot of us marginalized people ended creating the culture of bosozoku a few decades back. My late brother was a bosozoku legend, and I followed him to rallies, wars, everything, even as a kid, so I'm legacy. I created my gang so we could protect each other, because after my brother became a civilian, shit started getting out of hand, much more so when he passed.

Edited 2024-05-17 18:32 (UTC)

I'm an archer. If I'm doing my job right, my enemies don't get close enough for me to have to go hand-to-hand. I've got other people for that.

[ And he's got a sword for that, too. He doesn't do much when it comes to martial arts, but with Raphael around, he hasn't seen much of a point; everyone training in gauntlets had to go through Raph first, and Claude got his ass whooped every single time.

He quiets, though, listening raptly as Manjiro tells him about his own world, a world where technology reigns supreme. The more Claude hears about warfare in other worlds, the more he begins to think he doesn't want to bring this sort of technology back home after all. It all leads to more brutality, more violence, more death than he can wrap his head around from a time where the peak of warfare is people rushing at each other, lance in hand. ]

So you were born into the culture, huh? That makes sense. There's gotta be a lot of ways to get into it, but that's one way to make sure you uphold.... what sounds like one hell of a culture. Nothing like the bandits back home. [ There's no honour among them, no culture, no rules, no laws. Perhaps that's just Claude's perspective as an outsider speaking, but he's busted enough of those skirmishes to see how the bandits have no allegiance to each other. ]

Us marginalized people you said, though. Howso?

That's a very cute way of saying 'no'. I'll teach you, if you want to. That's what the dojo's for, I can't let all that stuff collect dust.

(although, poor claude. he'd have to work hard!!! manjiro is tough, just as tough as his grandfather is - to everyone else, that is. manjiro has always had insane aptitude for fighting, though everything else? that was practice, failing, redoing.

though, honestly, some of us are not graduating for sure.)

Well, truth be told, it's kind of dying. The ones who are still around are not... Doing it right. There's a code to it, some dignity, and they're spreading our name through the mud. My mission back home is to put it all back in place, but instead, I'm here.

(he doesn't like to think about home, not as how he left it.)

Most of us don't really have money, or parents, or money and parents, or a good relationship with either of those things. You gotta pass entrance exams left and right, cram school, a bunch of stuff that we either aren't fit to do or just can't do it. My VP lives in a brothel, my mediator is basically a mom of two, I ain't got no parents or much supervision, so on. The future ain't particularly bright for us.

[ Claude shakes his head in protest, a laugh on his lips; he can fight, really, he can! But he'll be the first to admit his hand-to-hand has gotten a bit shoddy. He could use a little more practice, and maybe he will go down to the dojo one of these days.

Even if it'll be a blow to his pride to get his ass kicked. It's fine. Manjiro's already bruised his pride enough, what with the talks of prudishness and -- everything else. But there are more interesting things to discuss, and he listens with rapt attention as Manjiro lays out his circumstances, as different to Claude's own privileged upbringing as they can be.

Claude didn't just grow up rich. He grew up ridiculously, extravangantly, mind-blowingly rich. The Palaces back home had been as large as a town, and had accommodated just about as many people, hundreds of staffers who he outranked from birth, the only sex-workers being the concubines of his father, his brothers, who had an entire Palace of their very own. To be a concubine was an enviable position back home, insurance that you would be kept for the rest of your days, housed and fed and showered with riches.

Far, far from the sort of brothels that Manjiro's talking about. ]

So it's economic marginalization, for the most part, [ Claude says, nodding. He had wondered. He's met a few others who claimed they were from the same place as Manjiro, but they had different features from the kid in front of him -- darker hair, for one. ]

So without any opportunities that were going to be given to, you took your destiny into your own hands. That makes sense. [ He should probably disapprove of this sort of thing on principle alone. He finds that prospect to be a difficult one. ]

And... most of you are kids, huh?

[ With the emphasis on parents and school, he can't imagine many of them are full-fledged adults. ]

Do the officials give you much trouble?

(it's a little gloomy, back home. they don't fit in, be it in economic means, or simply because they just can't be a part of that hegemonic work culture that takes their country by storm. none of them could survive in an office, those long work hours, expectations, and the salary-man life that is so envied is something all of them couldn't achieve, and neither would they.

that said, criminality is a thing. be in the streets too long, go into a territory you shouldn't go, mess with the wrong person, wrong time. that's what toman has always been about - protecting all of them with an iron fist, to allow the people manjiro loves to have some future, whatever future they'd like. mitsuya can be a fashion designer, the twins can open a restaurant, so forth. as for himself, who the fuck knows. he can't imagine any other life other than this one.)

Yeah, bosozoku tend to be around my age, early 20s at most. We started the gang I preside when we were 11.

... And, yeah. They usually get around when there are gang wars, and they try to crack down on us, too. Usually, what we do? The Tokyo Manji is around 100 people right now, we got to 400 at some point - so when we all ride the bikes, it's in formation. There's a line of people who stay in the back to fuck traffic so the police can't get to the uppermen.

[ Claude is talking to another person right now. This is more than a hypothetical for Manjiro; this is his whole life. But a part of him is observing this from his position of relative privilege too, his knowledge of uprisings, unrest among the commoners, the things that need to be changed if...

Well, if they don't want an army of furious young people taking over their cities after suffering through undue amounts of economic disparity. It's not something he can focus on now, but he files it away in the back of his mind, on his rapidly mounting to-do list. That things could be so bad in Manjiro's home for so long, enough for there to be organized gangs of young people without a future...

It makes Claude think that perhaps war is even simpler. ]

So your lot is organized with, ideally, a code of honour in place for you to protect each other. With ties that go way, way back. [ A small army of people who are in their early twenties at most. ]

You'll have to tell me if my questions are insensitive - [ the sort of thing someone says before being insensitive; Claude has learned to at least disclaim it, especially when he knows damn well he's talking about Manjiro's brother in an off-hand way ] - but I imagine a reason that most of you are so young is because it's a dangerous way of life. Is it rare to survive beyond it, or do people tend to leave at a certain age?

(it's actually a pleasure. the way he sees it, idealized, honorable, isn't one too many people share nowadays. it's got a bad rep, and manjiro gets it, it's not supposed to be a good thing, it is criminality regardless of how he put it or spins it, but he doesn't deny that part. they are criminals, several friends have been in prison, himself could definitely be behind bars for all the times he tried to take the fall for his comrades.

still. there's an art, a reason, an honor.)

Basically - and, no worries. You're not being insensitive, you just don't know. Even people from my own nation in this place don't really know how our lives really are like.

(... he does get why claude is asking, though.)

Deaths do happen, yeah, but it wasn't Shinichiro's case. He was a civilian by that time, and people tend to leave at a certain age and give way to the next generation of that gang, but they never really leave. My brother's gang, the Black Dragons, is at the 10th or 11th generation - and even when he had already left it, all delinquents used to flock around our place, or his store. You're looked up to, regardless of what you end up doing.

Let's just say I'm aware of my position here, [ Claude says dryly, but not without humour. Being here has been a humbling affair in more ways than one. Yes, he'd had to consider the plight of the commoner back home - especially after hearing Cyril's dreadful story - but he hasn't had to live it before now. And even here, he was given a leg up; a place to stay, food to eat, a community to fall back on.

And here he is, Duke von Riegan, trying to talk to someone enmeshed in a community so impoverished that they chose to strike out against the laws of the land because of it. He's fully aware that the reality is probably less romantic than what Manjiro is painting, but he feels no need to question it either. You can learn a lot about someone, about something, if you let people tell you what they think something could be, not just what something is. It's helping him understand Manjiro better too. What's really important to him, at the end of the day. ]

So he retired. [ That's fascinating. A group meant for youths, kept that way actively and intentionally. He wonders how Shinichiro died. He chooses not to ask. ]

Sounds like he was some leader. What kind of store did he run?

(which brings the question - there's not just the position issue, but the fact that they're from entirely different worlds. he has to wonder if in claude's world, the streets are darker where the eye doesn't tend to look, if the struggles of fitting in are as sharp and harmful - if to live by their own rules, they have to go against way too much.

then again, he also has to wonder if claude has ever seen it. it's something he'll ask about soon, what kind of life did claude really live? did he ever take a glimpse beyond the gold? does this make him wonder anything else?)

He was the leader. Everyone, friend or foe, looked up to him. He had a bike shop, it's part of the bosozoku culture.

... You're going to be one, too, one day, right, or you're one? I mean, no idea how the hierarchy works. What do you want to do with your title, Claude? What do you want your legacy to be?

Hah, you don't dance around the subject, do you? [ Claude's eyes dance with guarded amusement. His goals as a leader are the one thing that he can't afford to be transparent about. The more people know about him, the less he'll be able to achieve what he sets his mind to. He knows that his dreams are things that others would call improbable, impossible, nothing more than the fancies of a little boy and now a full-fledged leader.

They may be right. But he still intends to try. ]

I'm the leader of the Leicester Alliance, yes, though it's largely ruled by roundtable. [ It's more challenging than being the sole leader in the same way that Edelgard or Dimitri had afforded to them by their birth, the only feasible heir to their respective positions. There's a court filled with angry old men who hate him, dogging his every step, blocking his every move. ]

Right now? What I want from my legacy is peace. Our lands have been at war for years, and it's a war I intend to stop -- intended to stop, before I was brought here.

[ It is not the truth of his greater dreams. But short-term, it's all that consumes him. He cannot end the discrimination between the two halves of his soul if everyone in Fodlan is either dead or have bowed in deference to Edelgard's rule. ]

The Leicester Alliance is the youngest of the nations of Fodlan, and arguably the weakest, but I don't intend to allow us to be crushed underneath the Empire's thumb. [ He glances out at the peaceful street outside of his Apothecary, so different from the world he'd once known. ] There are troops to rally, an army to overcome, what ought to be our greatest ally in shambles and in dire need of assistance. When we win, there will need to be a rebuilding effort for the villages razed to the ground, for all of the crops gone scorched-earth.

[ Claude rubs his forehead. When he thinks about all of the people going unhoused and hungry, it makes his heart ache, but it makes his head ache too, trying to think up logistics as to how to house them all. ]

Getting everyone safe and fed takes precedence. Everything else I might want to do has to come after.

Why would I dance around anything? Sounds stupid not to ask what I want to know.

(but if claude doesn't tell him, there's no worries there. it's his damn legacy, after all. this is a conversation. of course, it would bring perspective and newly understanding about the man in front of him - war does things to people, responsibility over it even more so.)

So you're going on a last journey for freedom. I like the 'when', I'll tell you that. Sounds simple, but it definitely ain't.

... But you know? You're great. I think you'll get it done. Just ain't gon be easy, from what you're telling me.

If you fight a war thinking you're bound for failure, you've already lost. The troops need to see that the person leading them believes in them for them to believe in you too. I think you know a thing or two about that.

[ At Manjiro's vote of confidence, though, he gives him a little grin. Manjiro doesn't know him well enough to say all that. He doesn't know him very much at all, he thinks, but nobody does. Not in this world, not in his own, not in the next. It's by design.

But it doesn't feel so bad to hear it anyway. ]

But... thanks. I appreciate that. It may take years to come, but we will be victorious in the end. I just wish I could be there instead of here. No crime I could be deemed guilty of is worth jeopardizing a whole nation over. And not to go bragging about my own successes -- but if we're going to win, they need me there, front and centre.

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invinciblemikey - 2024-06-17 19:50 (UTC) - Expand