RUINOUS SKIES.

[gautiheir]

CRIMSON AND PINK ARE STREWN across the city itself in some places, draped with decorations to match the occasion itself. plushes line some places in the stalls along the boardwalk, accompanied with the wafting scent of sweets and chocolates galore 一 really, this day was non-existent in his world, but from what he managed to learn of it, it wasn’t all so bad. well, even if he may have used it to his advantage back home were it so, back in those distant days of the academy.

and here would have been no true exception were he not out with someone in particular. dull red eyes are swift to look at the blonde walking beside him, only to point toward one of the booths displaying a multitude of games. ❝ Would you look at that. Maybe it’s a sign telling me I should win a prize as a memento for our little day out? ❞ the smile and wink he offers jean is only natural to accompany it, all before realizing exactly how that might come off.

especially with him having been the one to ask her along一

❝ But I’m totally being serious here. There’s no way I could let someone do something as boring as work on a day like this. Everyone deserves to have a good time on special days like this, if you ask me. ❞

@gunnhildre 

[galvanoblasts]

⠀⠀⠀⠀❛ Right ? Hell, at least hop a few clubs— they were pretty much made for dancing around your problems. ❜

[gautiheir]

❝ You get it. Not that there's any problems, not when someone as gorgeous as you is right there. ❞

[heclingmuzik]

"I....don't think that's how it works. What if something reminds you of ya know...The things? THEN you end up a crying mess in front of your date." How embarrassing. "Imagine that being your first date. Damn."

[gautiheir]

❝ Totally impossible. There's no way I could cry when I have a beauty smiling in front of me! Trust me, it's really that simple. ❞ it's not. ❝ But if you're so concerned... maybe you could be the pretty face I get to make smile? ❞

[gautiheir]

❝ Why get professional help when you can take it easy, go on a nice date with a cutie, and leave it at that? ❞

[gautiheir]

   GO THROUGH A NIGHTTIME ROUTINE AND I’LL TELL YOU WHAT KIND OF VILLAIN YOU ARE.

   UNWILLINGLY EVIL.

you were forced. your resolve was broken slowly but surely, and now you're unsure of whether you'll ever get it back. for some reason, you believe that your current position is your fault. it isn't. it's the fault of those who did it to you. and yet you soldier on, facing forwards even as you slowly lose your will to continue. when you die, you're calm. unafraid for the first time in a while. this is the one thing they can't take from you.

[gautiheir]

fellstcr​:

@gautiheir replied to your post “@gautiheir​       professor judging u  noises…”:

hey this is between me and them (unless you’d like a lesson in love yourself professor then??)

​        do you want a lesson in learning to not project ur self worth issues  onto unsuspecting women  s  y  l  v  a  i  n  .

hey whoa whoa whoa a simple no could’ve sufficed, professor, it’s ok! it’s not that deep i promise... i’ll behave! please don’t tell ingrid either um

[animasend-archive]

"Directions to that what–? " this is what someone calls being hit on, right? if so, there's only one way to combat this.

" Tch, if course you're in the right place, no mage worth her salt would look anything less than perfect. "

[gautiheir]

SO SHE WAS CONFIDENT THEN. well, at least that's what she shows, unless she were simply doing what he does best. that hardly puts a halt to his smile as she speaks, however.

❝ Beautiful and self-aware... you know, I'm kinda into it. ❞ was that true or not? who really knows with sylvain entirely. ❝ What do you say to dinner, then. A nice meal where we can discuss the finer details of not only the embodiment of perfection but also love... ? ❞

[gautiheir]

you ever switch over classes simply because the professor is a girl? well... *leans on lamppost with a wink* *proceeds to slip and fall*

[snowsleeves]

⠀⠀⠀⠀❛ That seems like an odd metric. Unless it's a statue, would they not constantly be on the move ? And what if the person giving directions' definition of beauty is— ❜

⠀⠀⠀⠀IF there were a countdown directly over her head, it very clearly had reached zero mid-sentence. It seems to have only just occurred to her that he was speaking to her — or, more accurately, that he was referring to her. Several beats of silence ensue as she looks to her left, then her right. Behind her for good measure.

⠀⠀⠀⠀❛ Actually, it just occurred to me... Do you mean me ? ❜

[gautiheir]

WAITING, WAITING... BEFORE IT HITS. and just like that, he has a line ready to return right back upon her realization. ❝ Whoa. Gorgeous and humble? I think I've already fallen in love. ❞ spoken velvety smooth, all with a wink and a dashing smile to accompany it.

❝ I can't see anyone else I would be meaning here. And trust me, I think their definition of beauty hits just right. ❞

[gautiheir]

❝ Hey there, cutie. I was looking for directions earlier on where I could find the most gorgeous person on the island. And would you look at that? I found the right place. ❞

[gautiheir]

don't mind me, but goddamn that's a killer url you snagged there. you have an epic day now

okay but this made me smile seeing this weeps thank you anon... just know it came to me in a delirium dream as i was realizing that it was inevitable for me to take him up one day

[gautiheir]

fellstcr​:

⚔️ // ‘  he’s  dead  ,  professor.  ’

       byleth  blinked.

                                                  DEAD.  dimitri’s  dead. 

         the  words  echoed  in  her  mind  on  repeat.  (dead.)  though  they  were  more  gibberish  than  common  speech.  (dimitri  was  dead.)  byleth’s  brow  furrowed.  her  features  finally  contorted  into  a  deep  and  lined  frown  that  clouded  her  face.then  ,  abruptly  ,  she  shook  her  head. 

              “he’s  not.”  she  said  simply.  RESOLUTELY.  for  she  had  seen  him  not  so  long  ago.  had  spoken  with  him  ,  as  much  as  she  could.                “he’s  not.”she  repeated.  firmly.perhaps  a  bit  desperately  ,  for  she  knew  well  enough  he  lived  only  a  few  doors  down  from  her.   KNEW  he  was  very  much  alive.  that  his  heart  still  beat  though  he  said  -  painfully  so  -  that  he  wished  it  did  not.  reassured  herself  ,  despite  her  lackluster  memory  ,  that  he  was  ,  in  fact  ,  HERE.  still  here.  on  this  island.  (   trapped   …  and  changed  ,  yes.  but  he  still  stood  alongside  her.  alive.   )

but  she  knew  this  song  and  dance  ,  the  thought  lit  within  her  ,  tired  and  slow.  bringing  the  dawning  realization  she  did  NOT  wish  to  entertain  blooming  to  the  surface.  byleth  lifted  her  hand  to  her  forehead  and  tightened  her  jaw.  it  did  not  stop  the  dull   ache  that  beat  against  her  temples.

           “…   who  did  i  choose?” 

           just  as  abruptly  ,  byleth’s  next  words  came.  a  QUERY  that  carried  with  it  a  weight  he  could  not  fathom.  but  his  reaction  to  her  appearance  …  his  certainty  of  their  friend’s  fate.  she  knew  this  pattern.  dreaded  it.   “when  i  joined  garreg   mach,  who  did i-?  which  house?”  she  elaborated  without  explanation.  then  with  an  URGENCY  ,  another  faint  TWINGE  of  desperation.  “…it’s  important.”

                                                  he’s not.

determination laces her statement, almost as if she vies for a desperation to disbelieve his claims. and much like times where words could be a salve, these were merely salt to a festering wound, pressing deep until it stings.

only it was never meant as a way to contest him. she had seen the mourning in his eyes, how the flames of bitterness pranced in his gaze, no matter how much he wishes none to see such terrible side of him. no, he can see well that perhaps, for byleth, it is also a hope she clings to; that the words he speaks have no validity to be faced. ah, if it were only so simple as that, he would have been the first to discredit himself. there was no chance to argue back, however...

❝ What? What’s this have to do with any of this? ❞

her question isn’t anything he fully expects. who did i choose, the way it’s spoken tangled with an ominous air, one the him he is now can’t quite seem to grasp. ❝ And shouldn’t you recall that yourself? I know it’s been five years, but I don’t think I ge一 ❞ and then it almost makes sense, the way his words find themselves cut off. everything feels adrift, no matter how much his eyes peruse her features, seeking answers she has yet to part with quite yet. desperation drips from her tone, mirroring the way her gaze follows suit.

❝ Black Eagles. That’s the house you went with. ❞

[gautiheir]

fellstcr​:

⚔️ //  he  spoke  with  such  VITRIOL  and  -  young  and  childish  heart  ,  in  spirit  so  fragile  and  new  to  the  big  and  wide  world  —  she  could  not  fathom  how  his  anger  might  be  directed  ELSEWHERE.  she  was  falling  (  falling  ,   falling  )  with  no  one  to  catch  her   down  below.  sinking  ,  chest  growing  HEAVY  as  she  stood  still  as  STONE  in  the  silver  snow.  (  fighting  -  the  urge  to  cover  her  ears  /  for  if  she  COULD  NOT  HEAR  /  if  she  did  not  hear  /  then  perhaps  the  fire  in  him  would  extinguish  itself  as  though  it  never  were.  )

        instinct  drew  on  the  familiar  web  of  time   ,  as  it  had  with  edelgard.  and  lady   rhea.  and  shez.  its  hold  ,  a  soft  ,   all-enveloping  embrace  in  the  turmoil  of  the  present.  its  call  a  beckoning  cry  to  the  flickering  ,  wavering  flame  in  her.  byleth  tensed  and  pressed  her  lips  thin  ,  the   only  indication  besides  pallid  skin  and  widened  eyes  that   stoic  ,  STALWART  professor  was  not  so  stoic.  nor  nearly  so  stalwart.

          CLASS  REUNION.   (  her  promise.  she  wanted  —  byleth  had  wanted   so  desperately  to   keep  it.  )

         GRONDER  FIELD. (  she  noted  how  his  eyes  sparked  fire.  the  tension  in  his  shoulders.  how  tightly  his  fists  knotted.  )

               ‘  Maybe His Highness wouldn’t be…’

         and  the  world  slowed  ,  finally  ,  to  a  crawling  halt.  though  her  grasp  on  the  strings  of  time  had  not  slackened  nor  moved.  brow  furrowed  ,  ever  so  slightly.  she  didn’t—  (  -  burdens  that  weighed   -  )  they  hadn’t—?  ( -  no  longer  his   to   - . .  .)  he  was  …

                       ‘  the  empire   made  sure  of   it  that  day.  ‘

          “…  what  …”  her  voice  came  faint  and  hollow.  she  could  hear  it  buzzing  in  her  ears  from  far  away.  did  it  tremble  as  she  felt  her  whole  body  shudder?  or  was   it  dead  and  flat  like  the  thing  in  her  chest  that  did  not  beat?  (  she  didn’t  know.  she  didn’t  know.  )  byleth  cleared  her  throat.  “…  sylvain  ,  i  don’t  understand…”

         dimitri  – …  (   was  here  .  safe  .   relatively  anyways.  just  a  few  doors  down.  ) 

                  “what  do  you  mean?”

EACH WORD IS LIKE A FUEL, stoking the swirling ashes in his chest, these anguished flames never quite subsiding until another spark flickers it all back to life. only, where was he to direct it all when the enemy no longer lays their weapons before him? no war ravishes this land (or so it seems) as it does back in fodlan. his enemies exist only internally now; manifesting as some deep-seated grief he cannot quite seem to reconcile. and he knows best of all, further down, this was merely another excuse to fetter his faults upon 一 something meant to pin the contempt of their situation, so that he would not feel the weight of each consequence placed upon the scales of judgement in the people or any on high.

               it was all too easy blaming the one who never came to help them.

and yet still, it feels it is all he can do, some hopeless means to keep himself from sinking further, in the wake of all this loss. something bitter on the tongue that can can make one choke in distaste were they not careful.

only now the expression she bears begins to reveal itself beneath a crumbling, abundant stoicism. where his heated gaze seared into flesh but moments ago, she is now met with something less intense; the remnants of a blazing inferno that meets only an expansive ocean 一 she truly didn’t know. eyebrows furrow in this realization, lips creasing into the slightest frown, before he speaks yet again. ❝ You really have no clue of what I’m talking about, do you? ❞ was it pity that lines his now dousing gaze? or perhaps it was more an envy, not unlike those distant, almost forgotten, feelings when they spoke of the price her crest brings.

he doesn’t understand how these discrepancies, something to surely think over at another time, but he finds he doesn’t need to when faced with the woman trembling (the snowfall could not chill her as much as his words likely had until this moment, could it?) before him. he was smart enough to perceive this was more than some scheme to deceive him.

❝ He's dead, Professor. ❞

sylvain speaks it plain, his heart pricked with pain, as if it were the one the empire soldiers surrounded that fateful day until it was bled dry一

❝ And if they aren’t already burning in Hell by the time I get back, I’ll be certain to claim the heads of all responsible as an offering to his grave... ❞

[gautiheir]

wow, what an awful hard time i’m going through right now. downright terrible. so, if any lovely ladies happen to want to comfort someone in need, who am i to refuse...

[gautiheir]

fellstcr​:

⚔️ //  she  reeled  back  in  a  movement  so  slight  ,  so  small  it  was  nearly  imperceptible.  breath  caught.   WORDS  caught  ,  and  she  floundered  in  place  ,  only   to  steel  herself  of  the  ache  that  cut  her  very  soul  in  two.

           (  something  in  her  cracked.  )

                                   (  the  spark  in  her  —  it  withered.  )

            “i-i…“  her  cheeks  flushed  crimson  in  the  cold.  byleth  swallowed  thick  and  curled  her  fingers  into  fists  ,  nails  digging  into  skin  like  talons.  “i’m  sorry.  i  was …  transported  here.”  for  what  else  could  he  speak  of  other   than  the  war  she  had  LEFT  BEHIND?  the  weeping  of  her  homeland  as  she  succumbed  to  her  slumber  still  reverberated  within  the  ancient-most  parts  of  byleth’s  being  ;  it  now  ECHOED  in  the  rage  that  laced  sylvain’s   voice  with  thorns  and  venom. 

          she  hadn’t  meant  to  sleep  so  long.  she  hadn’t  meant  to  be  transported   here.  she  didn’t  even  know  HOW  she  had  been  transported  to  this  realm.  (  like  so  many  things  ,  she  did  not  know.  )

               she  squared  her  shoulders.  blinked.  (  lo  ,  the  enlightened  one.  she  who  had  no  right  to  buckle  nor  even  bend  beneath  the  cross  she  carried.  )                her  voice  was  even  when  next  she  spoke.   “… what  happened   back  home?”

BYLETH REELS BACK, LIKE SOME distant flower which shies away from a searing flame. ire continues to lick gently at his ribs, his beating heart reminiscent of a smoldering coal, lining each exhale with a silent breath of sorrow and regrets. and another is taken, allowing only the fury he quietly harbors to be all that warms him amidst this cold, bitter night.

and then she tells him she’s sorry, as if something so simple could make everything disappear. ❝ If apologies could make it right, so many things could go back to how they used to be before everything. ❞ and he would be the one willing to sing those hymns to the goddess, himself, if it meant they could return that much sooner. but he knows such lofty dreams could never become reality 一 nothing can resurrect the dead from their bloodied graves. and when she asks what happened, all he can do is feel a disdain gnaw at his chest. fingers dig into his palms, a scrutiny laced in his eyes as he scours the contours of her face to discern any trace of falsity... only to be met with none. ah, does she really think he would believe she has no inkling of what has come to pass? very well. then he will be the one to tell her, that she no longer has any excuses to act as if she does not know.

so his own shoulders mirror her own, stern as nails relieve the tension from beneath his gloves. ❝ It’s been five years since the Empire declared all out war after you went missing. And that class reunion... well, it’s one I won’t soon forget, ❞ he starts, his voice tempered as it always is. always so pristine, concealing the true emotions that have now been scraped back into his core to those lesser knowing of his true self. ❝ Gronder Field. You remember that place, right, Professor? Only this time, it was an all out bloodbath. ❞ the place strewn with fate, quenching itself with the blood of so many after their brutal clash.

sylvain stops himself, figuring she must be able to keep up on his meaning.

❝ If you’d been there一 ❞  perhaps if i had been stronger.  ❝ Had you shown up to stop them from一 ❞  had i been able to keep my promise.  ❝ Maybe His Highness wouldn’t be... ❞

❝ ... the burdens that weighed upon his shoulders those long years are no longer his to bear. The Empire made sure of it that day. ❞

[gautiheir]

fellstcr​:

⚔️ //   “…  sylvain  …”  the  name  of  her  student  slipped  from  her  lips  like  a  fragile  thing.  she  wavered  ,  UNCERTAINTY  flooding  through  every  vein  in  her.  would  he  remember?  was  she  FRIEND?  or  was  she  FOE?  (  what  agony  to  have  to  consider  such  a  thing.  )

       slowly  ,  at  first  ,  byleth  drew  near.  then  faster.  faster.  click  ,  click  ,  click of  heels  on  pavement  ,  of  feet  through  the  snow.  and  then  she  stilled  ,  JUST  far  enough  —  just  close  enough  —  to  leave  / to  see  /  to  wonder.

         “—  you’re- …”   here.  real.    “—  you’re  taller  ,  too.”

@gautiheir  /  (  blue  lion  :D !!! )

WHEN HE HEARS HER VOICE, that oh so familiar voice, it feels almost as if time comes to a screeching halt. how many has his lance slain (how many has he failed to protect?) that those of the fallen should be the ones to try and haunt him? and yet it’s none of them who comes chasing at his heel. not this time. this voice is far too alive, the way it sounds. that same face, those beautiful eyes staring up at him so innocently 一 does she even understand the weight which they should carry, meeting his gaze like this after so long?

                                                                      ❝ Why一 ❞

only one word leaves his mouth, brown eyes piercing into her very existence, voice nigh mystified. until that swell of anger rises in his chest like a wild flame set alight. anger, he knows well, that temper of his meant to be kept locked aside for none to see flaring like the sun as the grief sinks its teeth into him again all at once. why was she here before him now, of all times. he knows better than anyone that blaming others for his faults would get him nowhere, and yet he can only wonder if she’d somehow been there, could it have changed?

so then why一

❝ You... why are you deciding to only show up now? After all this time?! ❞

[gautiheir]

hi. i’m sylvain jose gautier. i enjoy long walks on the beach (perfect for our current predicament!), arts and theater, and getting to know you, only you, through a like on this post... which is CAPPED AT THREE for right now. but for real, if you’d like a small starter with sylvain, just slap up a like and i’ll get to it when i can!!