[come_sailaway inbox]

[prince_of_beasts]

A synthesized woman's voice picks up the call.

"Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system. Two - Zero - Two - Nine - One - Eight - Two - One - Three - Two -- is not available now. At the tone, please record your message. When you've finished recording, you may hang up or press the # key for more options."

Dimitri hasn't figured out how to customize the thing yet.

Comments

[pineapplesalmon]

"You're allowed to be upset." César says gently. "Our pain isn't mutually exclusive. I have husbands. I'll be okay. Dimitri... please. You don't have to mask the truth from me. I know what that's like, and I refuse to be a part in forcing it onto someone else."

Dimitri's rapidly losing control of his emotions, but that part is fine. The part that worries César is that he's fighting against them hard enough to create a crisis.

"It'll help me to help you." Because he senses Dimitri is the self-sacrificing type (takes one to know one).

[prince_of_beasts]

It'll help me to help you is Dimitri's line, dammit. Which means he can't argue with it.

He stares, wide-eyed and motionless, while his sense of control and better nature wrestle with everything else. His breathing quickens, visible only in the rise and fall of his chest.

[pineapplesalmon]

César pauses for a moment, then nods and quickly goes to the bathroom to grab a clean towel. He returns. A quick flick of the wrist and the towel unfolds.

"You have supreme strength. Focus on ripping this towel as slowly as you can. Try to make it slower and slower. See if it's possible. Keep your focus on that and recenter yourself." It's an utterly ridiculous task, and one that Dimitri has never done before.

[prince_of_beasts]

"Wh. What?" Dimitri hugs the towel to his chest, affronted and a little protective. "No! I do enough damage by accident, I'm not going to ruin something on purpose."

Well ... at least he's unfrozen?

[pineapplesalmon]

César chokes on a laugh. It shouldn't be funny, and it's only funny for a split-second. But he needed that.

"Well, that works, too." César breathes. "... honestly, I cut up the towels rather regularly to make rags for things since we can get more." A complete sidetrack, but.

[prince_of_beasts]

The sidetrack's not unwelcome. "That's sensible. I know they're replaced, but. I just don't ... I'd rather not."

Dimitri's careful about folding the towel into quarters before setting it on his lap. He can't get the corners to line up -- Dedue can, Mercedes can, Sylvain of all people, but Dimitri's never had the knack.

" ... this is -- the first time someone close to me has vanished," he says, muted. "On the ship. I spoke to Undine and Stede once or twice -- that's as close as I've been to anyone else we've lost. So it's ... it's a shock."

[pineapplesalmon]

César nods to Dimitri's preferences, completely understanding. The young man's too tired of breaking things.

"It is." César agrees quietly, his gaze turning back to his ring as he fidgets with it. "It's the same for me. He's the dearest person to my heart that we've lost."

[prince_of_beasts]

"It never gets easier."

"It shouldn't."

"You can only hope you'll never have to feel it again."

"And you never learn."

[pineapplesalmon]

"... Life is about loss, to some extent. Even if we get off this ship, people will die of old age eventually. But life wouldn't be precious if it could never end. We'd never have children. I'd be an only child." César hates going philosophical, but it's part of what helps him continue on. "But it still hurts in the end."