open post.

[cniht]

OPTIONS.
1. Random scenario generator: Whatever your heart/rng's heart fancies.
2. Anything from here - ty, garregmachmod. ♥
3. Otherworldly: Let's get pretentious with it.
4. Wildcard! Do the thing freestyle, or I will. Alternatively, you can just throw a prompt at me.

Comments

[cniht]

[ Her pride is still smarting from his inelegant dodge, but - Ingrid doesn't let that get in the way of listening to him. He deserves as much, as her oldest friend.

So, when he answers in full, she sighs heavily. It's a sound he's used to. He isn't wrong to want any of this, but it's a large burden to put on her when she's already expected to return to Galatea within the coming weeks. Sreng is so much farther north. Going would delay her return home by weeks, if not months.

The strange thing? A large part of her wants to go. Larger, certainly, than the part of her that wants to return to Galatea. How well does he know her - and how cruel is it of him - to manipulate that fact to his disadvantage? She's never hesitated to tell him about her frustrations with her father, their land, and her unwanted streams of father-sanctioned suitors.

Going to a potentially hostile territory to de-escalate tensions frightens her far less than passing by Galatea on the way, and risking her father hearing about it. She's ran out of indulgences to beg and has switched to forgiveness, but even that well will dry up eventually. ]

As it happens, I agree with you, [ Ingrid says, finally. ]

We're not done discussing this, but... [ Her voice catches, stops, just briefly. ] If I do agree to go, there are two conditions. [ Wait. ] No, three.

[ Ingrid isn't looking at him as she says any of this. ]

[gautiheir]

[ Huh. Well, he hadn't been expecting conditions per se, but there's no real surprise there - he realizes it's a big thing to ask of any of them right now, and Ingrid has never been one to indulge him without making him earn it. ]

That's fair enough. Fire away.

[cniht]

One. [ She holds up a finger to indicate. It has a distinct school marm vibe. ] You will conduct yourself with propriety. If I see you so much as flirt with some young lady, I'm returning to the monastery.

[ Ingrid tells herself - it's because they don't have time, that he needs to have his head on straight if they take on such a complicated mission. It's convincing, if not enough.

A second finger. ]

Two. We'll be passing by Galatea if we take the highway. If we don't stop there at least over night, Father will take it personally.

[ Finally, the third condition, the third finger. Her expression shutters, just so, as she finishes. ]

Three. While we're there... don't leave me alone.

[gautiheir]

[ He expected as much with the first one, and that's easily laughed off anyway (whyever would I need to flirt with anyone we meet, when I'm traveling with the fairest flower in all of Fódlan's fields), but sometimes, Sylvain does have the restraint and the common sense to keep his goddamned mouth shut instead of inviting the slap.

Not often, but sometimes.

But he probably should've said it, because then he might at least have managed to distract himself from the next two conditions, which would probably be a better outcome for everyone involved.

Stay at Galatea, sure. A night there is no big deal.

And don't leave Ingrid alone. Yeah, that's fine -

- uh. ]

You, uh.

[ This is Sylvain at his unsuavest. ]

You, uhhh. Don't mean even...over...n...ig...

[ Someone, please. Derail this train of thought before the crash winds up any uglier than it already will be. ]

[cniht]

[ What Ingrid had meant: Don't leave me alone with my father, don't abandon me to the would-be suitors he'll no doubt have lying in wait, and most importantly - don't leave without me.

What Sylvain apparently heard: Let's go to bed together.

This is it. This is the moment of her defeat. ]

No, of course I don't mean the way you're thinking.

[ Pushing her plate away in frustration, she turns to look at him dead on. ]

Sylvain, your requests puts me in a very uncomfortable position. I can't pass by Galatea without deigning to stop, but that is the absolute last place I want to be right now. I'm asking you to have my back. And all you can think about is whether or not I'm inviting you into my bed?

[ As she speaks - well, monologues, really - her words get louder and louder. She's winding herself up into a fit of upset and he'll recognise the signs. She's been doing it ever since they were children, after all. If he doesn't defuse the situation immediately, he may not leave the dining area alive. ]

hi, i'm not dead. just doing stitchery like a maniac and also how about that dlc.

[gautiheir]

[ He blinks. Because believe it or not (and he realizes she's fully justified if the answer is "not"), his surprise is not entirely born of "can't stop thinking about sex."

(There's probably at least a little bit there. As hard as Ingrid makes it to think sexy thoughts about her, it's not like he's failed to notice that she's gorgeous. But.) ]

I thought having your back went without saying, not that you had to make it a condition. When was the last time I disappeared when it really mattered?

[ For all his (GREAT MANY) flaws, "not being there" hasn't been one of them. ]

Come on, I know you have better taste than that. I was wondering if maybe this was leading into, like, "pretend we've got a thing to get my father off my back," or - I don't know.

[ ...well, he knows she has better taste than him, but possibly part of him (a part he's rather in denial about the very existence of, because - it's Ingrid) would like to hope that maybe she doesn't. Which is stupid and he knows it.

But it's certainly enough to induce a blue screen of death in the part of his brain that deals with (or tries to avoid dealing with) Actually Having a Feeling. ]

I'm not dead either!! we're so impressively alive

[cniht]

That would only create more problems than it solves.

[ Ingrid's overactive imagination is already dreaming up two scenarios!
1. Her father, aware of Sylvain's reputation, is unimpressed by the charade and doesn't let Ingrid continue along to Sreng with him.
2. Her father, thrilled to see a lifelong friendship turn to companionship, goes full throttle - hinting at a wedding, crest-bearing grandchildren, laughingly dismissing Sylvain offering to sleep in a different room.

Regardless, she's not especially excited to live out either branch of that particular story. ]

He won't be surprised to see you. [ Her tone has calmed down, but it's clear from her voice that what she says next is an utterly exhausting prospect. ] But he also won't waste an opportunity to remind me of my duty to Galatea.