ohmyarceus | NOVEMBER - DECEMBER TEST DRIVE MEME

[In an alternate timeline where Dimitri hasn't already left for Violet city, he's... honestly being used in a way he prefers most: simple manual labor. The inn he, Grant, and Chip are all staying at is never lacking tasks to do, and Dimitri finds a... sort of contentment just doing them.]

[That might actually be the sleep deprivation? But listen.]

[...Listen.]

[It's not as though he has any other goal, does he? He's... dead now. Dimitri can't think of any other explanation. So until he can find out just why he's here...]

[Yet as he makes his way through the town, a familiar burn of red hair catches his attention, and Dimitri turns his head instinctively. Even from this distance - that hair, that dark armor- ]

[He drops the massive amount of groceries he was carrying, and the small red and black pig at his feet perks up in alarm, making small squeals as it tries to gather the bags back up.]

[The squealing is enough to startle Sylvain out of his task, the branch in his hand snapping in two as he whips around. He reaches, on instinct, for a lance that isn't there. The fact that he finds empty air doesn't have time to settle uncomfortably in his gut -- the appearance of the man in the distance is enough to overcome everything else.

He hasn't seen Dimitri in years. What happened in their last days of Garreg Mach, it's all been blotted out by the blood that spilled afterward. But surely, surely he hasn't forgotten this much. There's similarities there, the color of his hair mostly. But surely his friend, his king wouldn't let himself stoop this low.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he hears Felix growl something. He shakes his head as he pushes himself to his feet, Feebas forgotten in the meantime. He knows, or perhaps simply clings to the idea, that what he believes simply cannot be true. But he has to know.

That need draws him closer to the other man.]

[Dimitri has absolutely changed a lot, in the five years since that day when Imperial forces marched on their school, slaughtered innocent people. He's changed a lot, in the five years since the false regent in the capital has said he was convicted and put to death for allegedly murdering.]

[Longer hair, cut jaggedly in awkward lengths from a dagger. One side of his face obscured with an eyepatch, a consequence of battle waged on his own. And the shadows under his eyes, many sleepless nights passed...]

[Also he's wearing a leather jacket and a tee over jeans, so, you know, that's new.]

[As Sylvain approaches him, a tired grief falls over Dimitri's face that weighs down his shoulders.]

...So you as well... I should have known... But I couldn't have expected the first after me...

[The closer Sylvain gets, the less he can deny what he's seeing. The eye color is the same, right down to the shadows Dimitri had been developing in months leading up to that fateful battle. Of course, the Dimitri he knew wasn't missing an eye, but.

That Dimitri wasn't supposed to be alive, either.

And there's n denying that it's his king, either. He could pick out a dozen or so inconsistencies, but he knows that voice. He'd listened to it for decades, witnessed it grow and develop with manhood just as they all had.]

Dimitri -- [He doesn't think he's said the name in months. It catches odd in his throat. Everything about this feels wrong, right down to the awful ache building within his chest.

He forces a smile to his face, lopsided and likely ineffective.]

Did you give the wrong girl a knife again?

[And how like Sylvain - so glib, so casual, or at least trying his best to be even when everything was going so wrong. When everything had gone wrong.]

[Dimitri can't remember it. He wonders if that's a blessing - not remembering his death.]

[For the first time, his death feels solid, real, and something tangles itself up in its throat. He can't meet Sylvain's gaze, staring down at his breastplate.]

I'm sorry.... I'm sorry. Felix and Ingrid.... will be upset.

[They care about Sylvain so much, after all.]

Upset? How could they be upset?

[Nothing Dimitri is saying is making any sense. He steps a little closer, perhaps violating some of his companion's personal space. The closer he gets, the more he can convince himself this is real. If he can just study the rise and fall of Dimitri's chest, or feel any kind of warmth from his body, he'll know that their worst fears hadn't been realized.]

We thought you were dead, Dimitri. They'll be -- Well, Ingrid at least -- will be overjoyed.

[So he doesn't know. He hasn't realized. It is up to Dimitri to place this news before his old friend, that boy he and Felix and Ingrid all used to chase after because Sylvain was the oldest one...]

[Perhaps this is a part of his punishment, Dimitri realizes. As a leader... He's the only one who can break this news. So he takes a quiet breath, one that audibly shudders.]

...I am dead.

This place is that of the dead... Sylvain.

[Dimitri's statement almost gets to him. There's a moment of doubt, a moment where he wracks his brains wondering when it happened. They'd been on the road to Garreg Mach -- the three remaining souls of their friend group as children. There was no way that Ingrid would have let someone get the drop on them, or Felix --

Felix.

Whatever doubt had begun to coil in Sylvain's chest releases its hold on him. He can't help but grin at Dimitri, maybe just a little too wide for the moment. He shakes his head, the almost frantic motion disheveling more red hair.]

There's no way I'm dead. [He says it with all of the confidence in the world.] If I were -- Felix would be here. We made a promise, and if I broke it he'd find me and kill me again.

[He crosses his arms over his chest, looking almost defiant in the face of Dimitri's revelation.]

...It is not something easily come to terms with.

[Frustrating, yes, but... Dimitri can't really summon up the anger to lash out at Sylvain for this stubbornness. It's been hard for him to summon up any passions ever since he died, honestly. How did his father, or Glenn, or any of the others manage it so much...?]

[...It doesn't really matter. Dimitri slowly has his gaze drift off, while his Tepig fusses by his side.]

[Sylvain is... entirely unsure of what to make of any of this. The change in Dimitri's demeanor, while not unexpected given his history, still settles uncomfortably in his stomach. He supposes it's better that, than warring over the concept of his potential death.

If he hadn't been here a span of days already, Sylvain might have thought it a dream. He isn't unconvinced that it isn't a hallucination -- sleep hadn't come easy while alone on the road after all. But it would take a hell of a lot of work for his tired mind to conjure something like this up.]

I'm not dead. [He isn't sure if Dimitri is still listening. He isn't even sure if he's talking to Dimitri, really.

He allows his gaze to drop, settling on the pig at Dimitri's side. It's ample enough distraction. Kneeling down, he holds out a hand to the creature.]

New pets are pretty common around here, huh?

[He will come around to this eventually. Or maybe he won't? Dimitri isn't actually certain about that, considering the other people that he's seen in this place.... And it takes a second for his mind to jerk back to the present as he glances down to Dean.]

[Dean, at least, has no problem with placing one little hoof in Sylvain's hand, and making a friendly sounding grunt.]

They are... important. A youth I am traveling with... calls them Paliens.

[This is not the correct name, or at least not the name the locals call them. Dimitri has decided he doesn't care about that."

Paliens, huh? [The name sounds funny on his tongue, and certainly isn't one he's heard around town. Still, it's got a nice charm to it, and it's definitely funny to hear Dimitri say.

He reaches out, shaking the trotter of the little "palien." He can hear Felix in the back of his mind again, grumbling things about boars and other nonsense. He can imagine that Felix would be living for this sight.]

Does he have a name? Or should I just call him Prince Piglet?

...The child I was traveling with said I should name him.

[Should Dimitri be traveling with a child? Honestly, it's highly debatable... Even in Dimitri's eyes. Still, finally, he slowly crouches down. The relief is visible on the little pig.]

Dean.

Dean. [Sylvain repeats it, and pays the information about the child little mind. It's not Sylvain's place to make judgements, not when he hasn't seen Dimitri in the better part of five years. Not when he hasn't known whether or not he was alive or dead.]

Think your friend will help me name mine?

They will gladly like you. As a child... They have an admiration for knights.

[And, frankly, even for all his bad habits like flirting and leaving heartbroken girls in the dirt... Dimitri still finds Sylvain a better example than him in that area.]

...Do you forgive me?

[Knights. The word sticks funny in his ribs. He'd never thought of himself as much of a knight. In his younger days, there'd been talk -- but never time. He hadn't even graduated properly, unless the beginning of a war counted as a graduation.

But he pushes it down for the time being.]

What am I forgiving you for?

Everything.

[Where can he even start? Dimitri doesn't know. There's just.... so much. He tries to breathe, tries to remember that is a thing he can do.]

[At his feet, the Tepig looks up in concern, and nudges his snout into one of Dimitri's hands. It helps keep him focused, at least, and he blinks, staring downwards.]

...I could not wreak the vengeance that I had promised them, Sylvain.

I am not fit to be forgiven. And I do not know what else I can do... Perhaps it is better if I am trapped like this, and no one else need hear me anymore...

[Wow. This conversation sure is packed with a hefty amount of things he doesn't want to deal with. Given the option, he might have rather chucked the whole thing into the water and gotten out of dodge with the Fish. At least, despite being entirely useless in the woods, it didn't drag up emotional conversations that Sylvain only understood half of.]

Hey, Dimitri. [His voice surprises even himself. So, too, does the hand that reaches out and clasps the former prince on the shoulder. Sylvain offers a smile, but it's not nearly wide or sunny as usual. It's unsteady, which makes it far more genuine than any smile he's managed since getting here.]

I'm the resident disappointment, remember? As long as you are with me, you don't have to worry about anyone looking down their nose at you.

[Some time ago, Sylvain might have reached up and ruffled Dimitri's hair. Now, he doesn't think that rat's nest needs any help.]

[The first time he'd been touched after dying, it had been because Chip had grabbed his hand when he'd just arrived, and the child had excitedly pulled him along. Such contact didn't last long - Chip needed to grab something from their bag, and the contact had ended. Dimitri... hadn't even realized he was dead, then.]

[His companions touch him, sometimes... but it's different to be touched by animals, by creatures that represent his soul.]

[...When was the last time he was simply touched? No intent to harm, to kill?]

[Dimitri can't say anything. All he can do is stare, tears starting to silently fall down the curve of his face.]

[Sylvain -- honestly has no idea what's happening. It isn't that he's unused to being cried on, he'd been the shoulder to cry on for Felix until he grew too big and Glenn was buried in the ground. He'd been there for all of his friends in those younger year; It was his duty as the eldest of the bunch.

But they've grown up and grown apart. Ingrid scolds him, Dimitri tries to guild him, and Felix lashes out with his tongue at any given moment. He can't remember the last time he saw either of them cry.

Never mind the fact that this is Dimitri. This is a man who, up until just a few minutes prior, he thought had been killed. Maybe he'd had his suspicions, his hopes, but those had been fleeting.

And now this is Dimitri crying, for reasons that Sylvain simply cannot comprehend. Given the distance, and everything in between, he can't say he's sure what to do.]

Hey -- Hey, big guy, come on. You don't need to cry. I know I was miserable to deal with, but it couldn't have been that bad.

[Humor. He falls to humor and deflection to cope. He wasn't ready for any of this.]

Am I crying...? I had forgotten...

[He'd cried when he was younger. He'd wailed, and called, and reached out for every single person who had stepped before him. From king, to shield, to servant, passed from hand to hand. For what?]

[Back then, he hadn't wanted to leave their sides. Back then, in the aftermath, for a funeral more for a nation than for himself, he had still wanted to be by their sides.]

[Yet he can't be. He is here, wherever this portion of the afterlife is, and by his side instead is...]

[Dean is making more soft distressed noises, and Dimitri lets the small pig clamber up into his arms, against his stomach, his chest. He looks up from it, to Sylvain.]

....You stayed.

[He's still crying.]

Dimitri, what are you talking about? [There has been a substantial amount of confusion over the last... well, he's lost track of time. Sylvain doesn't know most of what Dimitri is talking about, and neither of them seem to be anywhere near the same page. Nevertheless, there are things that he's sure have never changed.

If they had, he wouldn't have taken up arms to continue fighting to hold the remaining Kingdom land. Whether Dimitri was but a memory like he believed, or still out there breathing like he hoped, the man was still his friend.

So that's why he can't comprehend the idea that he might have left. Not right now, when it's clear that Dimitri isn't okay. He might not know how to help, but that doesn't mean that he'll turn his back on him.]

Of course I did. [There's that smile again, the soft thing that he keeps tucked away for special occasions. He's shown it to Dimitri twice now.] I might be an asshole, but I'm not that much of an asshole.

[It's strange... Had Sylvain's smile always been so different? There had been the smiles he'd seen as a child, when he and Felix got over whatever petty argument they'd have, and gone back to their other two friends.... And he'd certainly seen more than his fair share when they went to school together. When school had seemed to matter.]

[This isn't like either of those.... Although maybe it's closer to the first than anything else.]

..More than I deserve...

[But they can discuss that later. Some vague semblance of order finally strikes Dimitri, and he holds the Tepig closer to his chest again.]

...I was working for the inn owner. To pay for our stay...

NOVEMBER - DECEMBER TEST DRIVE MEME

B - /turns this car right TF around for this shitshow

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