[ Never mind that the duke part is past tense for him now, or that he doesn't truly know if Dimitri the adult had a coronation and wore a crown. There was no time to ask at Gronder, not when everything went to hell so quickly as that awful reunion he'd tried to joke it off as so to not pull out his hair instead. The past is what it is; nothing about it can be changed now.
Which is why that next question gives him pause yet again, and Claude's careful to look forward as they walk the last bit of distance to where the inn waits. That question shouldn't hurt as much as it does, that plaintive wish to know something so simple. It only solidifies his decision to keep things contained in the relative present to protect Dimitri from as much of it as he can while he can. How he'd treat a younger sibling, if he had one beyond the Deer he'd defended just as much, or perhaps how once he'd wished his siblings would treat him. When he does turn to look at Dimitri while holding the inn door open for him, it's with a real enough smile. ]
I've always considered you a friend, Dimitri. There's nothing that could change that.
[ It's not a lie. He'd tried his best to reason with Dimitri to get the Kingdom's forces to turn around after the shock of discovering the other was still alive. Better to gesture the prince towards sitting down at an empty table in one corner of the tavern than to focus on that. Claude goes to the bar at the front to retrieve mugs, a teapot full of hot water, tea leaves, and some bread and cheese onto a tray while dropping some coins into hands of the staff member on duty. All of it he brings with him back to that table; this, at least, a familiar tradition from Fodlan as he drops the tea in to steep before sitting down across from the other. ]
Now, I've yet to find chamomile tea around here as of yet so I'm sorry to disappoint there. This is pretty close so hopefully you'll still like it.
no subject
[ Never mind that the duke part is past tense for him now, or that he doesn't truly know if Dimitri the adult had a coronation and wore a crown. There was no time to ask at Gronder, not when everything went to hell so quickly as that awful reunion he'd tried to joke it off as so to not pull out his hair instead. The past is what it is; nothing about it can be changed now.
Which is why that next question gives him pause yet again, and Claude's careful to look forward as they walk the last bit of distance to where the inn waits. That question shouldn't hurt as much as it does, that plaintive wish to know something so simple. It only solidifies his decision to keep things contained in the relative present to protect Dimitri from as much of it as he can while he can. How he'd treat a younger sibling, if he had one beyond the Deer he'd defended just as much, or perhaps how once he'd wished his siblings would treat him. When he does turn to look at Dimitri while holding the inn door open for him, it's with a real enough smile. ]
I've always considered you a friend, Dimitri. There's nothing that could change that.
[ It's not a lie. He'd tried his best to reason with Dimitri to get the Kingdom's forces to turn around after the shock of discovering the other was still alive. Better to gesture the prince towards sitting down at an empty table in one corner of the tavern than to focus on that. Claude goes to the bar at the front to retrieve mugs, a teapot full of hot water, tea leaves, and some bread and cheese onto a tray while dropping some coins into hands of the staff member on duty. All of it he brings with him back to that table; this, at least, a familiar tradition from Fodlan as he drops the tea in to steep before sitting down across from the other. ]
Now, I've yet to find chamomile tea around here as of yet so I'm sorry to disappoint there. This is pretty close so hopefully you'll still like it.