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[hauntedking]

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[hauntedking]

Well, let me hear about you, first. How is your life, from day to day?

[wolfish]

Ah.

[ Day to day. He needs to think about that. ]

Typically, I fix meals... Head to Alenroux to train and forage, run errands in town if there are any. This last while, Byleth's been recovering so I've stayed in more. Not terribly exciting, yeah? But preferable to a gauntlet of death traps.

[hauntedking]

Oh, are you and Byleth living together?

[ He hadn't realized. ]

[wolfish]

Have been since I got here, actually. He didn't want me to feel pressured to harmonize...and I suspect he needed the company.

[ Byleth always had Jeralt and his mercenaries back home, to say nothing of the army they're now part of for the time being. Where Yuri's accustomed to being alone, the same likely couldn't be said of Byleth.

Or perhaps it was simply reassuring to have someone remember home the same way. Yuri never has directly asked. ]

[hauntedking]

Oh, that's nice of him. I hadn't realized.

[ He supposes it does make sense, though - they do remember things happening the same way... ]

How is he holding up?

[wolfish]

He suggested I cook in exchange, so that's what I do, among other things.

[ Byleth knew well enough to offer a trade. Wise move, really. ]

I'd say he's doing better than he was. Wouldn't leave him unattended otherwise, sick as he'd been after reviving. It's why I wondered how typical that experience might or might not be.

[hauntedking]

Ah, I see. I've spoken to him briefly... after what happened to him, he seems in surprisingly decent spirits.

[ Although they did talk about guilt. ]

[wolfish]

He's doing better... I hope you are, too.

[ It seems to him that most struggled more than he did.

Most of all, his failure to protect them is what lingers with him. ]

[hauntedking]

I'm managing, being honest. I can't truly complain. There are others who are dealing with worse at the moment...

[wolfish]

Well, I know how that is.

[ It doesn't stop him from worrying about Dimitri, but still. ]

If you do decide to complain at some point, I hope you know I wouldn't mind it.

[hauntedking]

Well, I know you wouldn't... but I still hate to burden your mind.

[ It is what it is. But he's a little hesitant, all the same. ]

[wolfish]

Dimitri... You'd have to make a concerted effort to burden me. I'm not convinced you're physically capable of it, for that matter.

[ Now, at last, he'll pick up his teacup and have a sip of his tea. Dimitri has only tried to ease his burdens. ]

[hauntedking]

...I'll try to remember that.

[ He smiles wryly. ]

Learning to lean on others is... not difficult. Strange.

[wolfish]

[ For a moment, he apparently weighs that thought. ]

For what it's worth, I know how that is.

[ Yuri may have people he leads, but he's always been independent. Anything he can do on his own, even if ill-advised, he'll try to do alone as a matter of instinct. ]

In a place like this, we just may have to adjust.

[hauntedking]

That's all I've been doing since I arrived, it feels like. But that's the reality of life - we must adjust as best we can and come out the other side a better person. Or at least that's the ideal...

[ He smiles thinly. So far life has been one long string of challenges. But... well. He's better. ]

[wolfish]

If nothing else, I like to think what we weather makes us stronger. What kind of strength depends, but even so.

[ He takes another sip of his tea. ]

I've not been here as long as you, and I didn't know you as you are before this place, but I think you've done that. Gotten stronger.

[hauntedking]

...I like to think so. Although it's not been an easy road for me. But I am better than I used to be.

[ He sounds thoughtful. ]

I don't know what you would have thought of me if you had met me when I was... so much more lost.

[wolfish]

I'd probably have tried to find a way to work with it.

[ It's frank, perhaps bracingly so, but it is the truth. ]

But I expect that would've been much more challenging.

[hauntedking]

That's one way of putting it, yes. I'm fortunate that the Byleth I knew was willing to keep trying...

[ He sighs, lost in thought. ]

And everyone else, too. They were willing to try and dig me out. Even when I wasn't willing to do it for myself.

[wolfish]

You mean back home?

[ In that five year war... ]

[hauntedking]

Yes. Back home. It was a trying time.

[wolfish]

I can imagine it was. And although I can't confirm it, if that other me knew you at the academy, chances are he kept tabs on you. My type's just not the best at getting close.

[ It's what he'd do, even if he left directly supporting Dimitri to those he better knew and trusted. He did, after all, have an intelligence network for such things.

He'd be stunned if some other him didn't. ]

But you've got me curious. What's this teacher-Byleth like?

[hauntedking]

...very taciturn, honestly. They didn't emote very much, but that seems typical. Very close to us in age, anyway. With a dry sense of humor. And we took guidance from them, although at times they certainly seemed to be making it up as they went!

[ They probably were, on reflection. ]

[wolfish]

...If the guy I know is similar, yeah, improvisation wouldn't be a surprise.

[ The thought prompts an amused huff. ]

I almost wish I'd gotten to see it myself.

[hauntedking]

It was... an experience. One that has obviously impacted me a great deal.