[ OPEN / CATCH-ALL ]

[feintofhart]

Who: Claude von Riegan and YOU?
Where: Around Aldrip; can be found in the fields outside of town, the apothecary, flying zafeera, being a busybody in the marketplace, basically anywhere!
What: Catch-all for July! I have a plotting comment up here for further planning, especially for the glitches -- since they're all so different, I'll be putting up custom top-levels for whoever wants them! <3 Also open to using this space for general shenaniganry!
Warnings: Likely discussions surrounding war, death, and other JRPG war game dealings.

Comments

[nilhilistic]

O-Oh. I'm sorry.

[ as if rafal cares. he has no idea what the politics are in another world. it's all the same everywhere. kingdoms vying for power. politicking, manipulating, pretending. every person thinks they're above it all, better than the rest, with high hopes. big dreams. even the kindest kings chomp at the borders.

whatever. this is a game he's won and he's not truly playing, merely . . . easing the way for this strangeness. in another life, he would have enjoyed this more. peeled back the secrets. but he doesn't need to and rafal isn't here to fuck claude up.

"nil" merely gives an apologetic smile. ]

I don't really know all the details. I only know a little from the conversations we've had together. T-That's all.

[feintofhart]

That's why I'm questioning you about this, [ Khalid says bluntly. ] Because I'm trying to sort out what I told you, and why. If that wasn't just an excellent impersonation of me.

[ It's not. He knows it's not. He saw the videos, the similarities even the best actor couldn't replicate; the way he shrugs and gestures with his hands, his long, loping sentences, the cheesy grins, dead behind the eyes. It's him.

It's him, if he was born and raised in Fodlan. Maybe this other him was better off. ]

And what is our relationship, then? I sincerely doubt I have anyone calling me their lord when removed from the palace. I wouldn't stand for it. I'd want to be called...

[ He glances down at the communicator, frowns. Even his own mother doesn't call him Claude. Khalid, Khalid, Khalid, only Claude on paper, whispered to him in quiet evenings when she's particularly homesick, a small, private thing that he holds in his heart.

It feels almost invasive that everyone here knows. ]

...by my name.

[nilhilistic]

My sister and I have always been deferential to our Emblems. It's etiquette.

[ after all, he is a dragon. what are kings and nobles to that? nothing but dust. this reaction is rather unusual though and rafal files it away again. ]

Of course you are not that, you are the real person. But there's no reason not to be polite, is there?

[ a soft beat as "nil" asks. ]

What would you like to be called then?

[feintofhart]

[ He stares moodily down at the device, then hands it back. His other self clearly went by a different name here. Perhaps he should follow suit.

But then a part of him rebels at it, the idea of hiding who he is, his proud Almyran blood, to distance himself any more from a people who have never accepted him in the first place, and for what? To fit into some cursed place they were brought, where people have no knowledge of his world, of his kin? For what purpose did his other self decide to betray his countrymen?

He lifts his chin. ]

By my name. Khalid. No title is necessary, no deference needed for... whatever this Emblem business is all about. [ He shakes his head. ] I will assume the title when I've earned it. Which I will, no doubt, but I don't stand on needless etiquette.

[nilhilistic]

[ fascinating. "nil" offers a light bow of acknowledgement. ]

As you wish.

What will you do now?