[001] 'Cause you won't rewrite history to commemorate the likes of me

[goldenherd]

WHO: Claude von Riegan
WHERE: The no-good very bad arrival labyrinth, a random side-street
WHEN: July 2nd, or like, whenever really
WHAT: Claude aggressively masks his way through a nervous breakdown
WARNINGS: Violence, discussion of character death and feelings of guilt/trauma surrounding that, racism/xenophobia, jaywalking

1. The Labyrinth

Claude's not really expecting to wake up. He's not a religious man, and even if he were, the faith he grew up with had a lot more to say about returning peacefully to the land than any notions of a conscious, waking afterlife like some sects of the Church of Seiros seemed to believe. And he is dead, he's sure of it. The last thing he remembers is kneeling next to his mortally injured wyvern while Teach stood over him with the Sword of the Creator in hand, raised up like an executioner's axe. That's not the kind of thing a person walks away from.

He shudders, lying in the grass and admittedly a little scared to open his eyes. Raising a shaking hand, he presses it to his shoulder and finds it uninjured, despite distinctly remembering one of Bernadetta's arrows finding its mark there. Huh. Come to think of it, he isn't in any pain at all right now - aside from the fact that he seems to be lying on top of his quiver, which is really more uncomfortable than actually painful. Sucking in a sharp breath through his teeth, he sits up and, bracing himself, opens his eyes to see... a castle?

No, not just any castle. A monastery. Garreg Mach Monastery, in full bloom of spring, as it had been when he'd first set foot there some six years ago. The patch of grass he's found himself in is the lawn outside the classrooms, still decorated with the livery of the Kingdom, the Empire, and the Alliance. He frowns. Hadn't Edelgard started using this place as a base of operations? Had they simply knocked him unconscious and brought him here to be healed, for some reason? He guesses they could be assuming he had some valuable information to give them, on what might be left of the Alliance's resistance, or... elsewhere, but why dump him outside, with no supervision in sight? And, more confusingly, why leave Failnaught lying right next to him?

Frowning, he picks up the heavy, intricate bow, expecting it to judder unsettlingly to life in his hands, but it doesn't. There's none of the lightness and thrum of energy he's accustomed to feeling when he touches it, no subtle red glow or flexing of its spines. He's only just starting to contemplate why that is when he sees a flash of bright pink hair out of the corner of his eye, disappearing into the old Golden Deer classroom.

"Hilda?" He calls out without thinking about it. But no, that can't be her. He saw her fall, helpless to do anything from up in the sky on wyvernback. Whoever it is, though, is the only person he's seen so far, so he gets to his feet and follows after, only to find -

All of them. They're all here. Lorenz, Leonie, Raphael, Ignatz, Marianne, Hilda, Lysithea, standing with their backs to the door but unmistakably themselves. Claude swallows hard, trying to keep a level head. This could be some kind of trick. It has to be. Half of them are dead, and the others are scattered to the winds. There's no reason for them all to be here.

He wants to say something witty. Greet them like it's nothing, like he isn't tearing himself apart wanting it to be real but not trusting it to be. Lorenz speaks, though, before he can come up with anything.

"Disgraceful," he says, still facing away. "I knew you were unfit to lead all along, but this? It's utterly shameful."

Oh. Well. That's to be expected. Claude swallows hard. "Yeah? But tell me how you really feel, Lorenz," he says, but there's no bite to it, no playfulness. Just exhaustion.

"This is no time for jokes, Claude," says Ignatz, reproachful and sad. "If that's even your real name?"

"You lied to us," Lysithea adds before he can cut in, scornfully. "You've been lying to all of us since the day we met."

"We would've followed you anywhere." Raphael's broad shoulders sag, but neither he nor any of the rest of them look at him, all facing the front of the class. "Some of us followed you to the end. And you lied about everything."

"You guys, I -" Claude chokes, unsure of what to say. A part of him knows by now that this isn't real - can't be real, but it's not enough to keep him from feeling every accusation like a knife to the heart. Especially not when Hilda speaks up, her voice colder than he's ever heard it before.

"If I'd known you were one of them -" and the word drips with a visceral disgust as she says it. Them. Lower than the lowest of vermin. "I would've never listened to you." The others murmur their assent, some more hesitant than others but all in agreement.

"You shouldn't have listened to me," Claude admits, quietly. "Maybe you would've lived, if you hadn't. I'm sorry." It feels hollow, saying that. But it's all he can offer.

2. A Random Street

By the time he makes it out of the labyrinth, night has fallen over the city, making it that much more overwhelming to step into suddenly. Claude has never seen this much glass in his life, much less buildings this tall or lights so bright, and he gawks up at the glittering windows against the black sky while trying to make sense of it all. Thankfully the street he's on is a fairly quiet one, because in the process of trying to estimate how tall some of these buildings are he wanders off the sidewalk and into the street.

"What is this place?" he asks himself, squinting up at a distant point of light like a very slow, blinking shooting star as it crosses the sky. He's just craning his neck to watch it as it disappears behind a building when something very fast, very shiny, and very large zips past him, swerving to avoid hitting him and making a loud, terrible noise as it does so. A man leans out the window on the left side and shouts at him.

"Watch where you're going!"

"It's everybody's road!" Claude shouts back, though by then the thing's already disappeared around the corner. He sighs, shaking his head, and wanders over to a nearby stoop, sitting down on the steps and pulling the little glass rectangle and accompanying booklet that he found out of his pocket, propping Failnaught up on the wall next to him. Might as well try to figure this thing out while he's got nothing else to do. The booklet says that to activate the thing - a "phone," apparently, you just have to press your thumb to the surface. Which he does, to... absolutely no effect.

"Huh," he says, brows furrowing slightly.

(It doesn't occur to him yet that his thick leather gloves might be getting in the way.)

Comments

1

[areyuuserious]

[Every time Yuu enters one of these labyrinths, they get real concerned for the person being brought here in it.

That doesn't change with this one, as they maneuver through this Garreg Mach labyrinth's halls. Yuu hears the voices, frowning as they listen to what's being said, before they call out.]

Hey! Excuse me!

[goldenherd]

[ That's a voice he doesn't recognize, and it effectively snaps him out of the self-recriminating loop he'd been about to get stuck in. Hesitating, he takes one last look at his friends (if he can still call them that) all standing in a row, before turning away and peering out the classroom door, Failnaught in one hand and the other drifting towards the three arrows left in his quiver. ]

Who's there? [ And how much of that did they hear, he wonders. He doesn't like this. Hopefully it won't come to blows, but who knows what's going on here? ]

[areyuuserious]

[Yuu steps into view, hands held up in a hopefully placating gesture. One hand's holding what looks like a ball of yarn, unwinding in the direction they came from.

They're probably a sight to see, with a style of dress unlike any Claude's seen, and clearly unarmed.

(There is a small, shadowy dragon the size of a housecat that's draped itself around Yuu's shoulders, but it doesn't seem terribly inclined to move.)]

Hi there. [Yuu faintly wonders if they should've retrieved their hunting knife, but it's too late for that now.] I'm, uh, not interested in a fight or anything if that helps? My name's Yuu.

2

[lapislamine]

Mercedes works long hours at a clinic....and since people get hurt at all hours of the day, sometimes that means getting off late at night and seeing mysterious strangers wander about the streets. Unusual clothing, oddly familiar bow, moving like he hasn't a clue what anything is.

It's the first time Mercedes has seen an otherworlder so freshly arrived.

And then there's very nearly an accident, and on instinct she runs to the stranger-- "Are you alright?! You were nearly run over!"

[goldenherd]

Claude just smiles, waving a hand.

"Oh, it's not the first time I've ever - wait." And he cuts himself off in the middle of trying to wave off this stranger's concern as he realizes this is absolutely not a stranger at all. It may have been years since he's heard a thing about what she's been up to and longer still since he's actually seen her, but Claude has a sharp memory for names and faces and voices. "Mercedes? You're here, too?"

[lapislamine]

Her brow furrows. His face is....familiar. Strikingly familiar, even though she's sure he's never seen him before. A few different thoughts come to her, most of which seem mutually exclusive, and that's no help at all.

"...How do you know my name?"

2

[begaydocrimes]

A little cat person watches Claude nearly get hit, and then try to use a phone with gloved hands.

"You should totally go find the guy who yelled at you and jump on his car."

[goldenherd]

Claude gives a short but genuinely amused laugh at the suggestion, still keeping one eye on the end of the street the thing disappeared down in case it comes back.

"Is that what it's called? A car?" And then he turns to look at the source of the voice and oh boy that's not what he's expecting at all. He blinks - once, twice - trying to make sure his eyes aren't deceiving him, then realizes he's probably being very rude. "Uh, sorry. Didn't mean to stare. Anyway, are there a lot of those car things around here?"

It'd certainly explain the constant rumble of unfamiliar noise he's been hearing since he stepped out of the labyrinth. Claude's been to plenty of big cities before, but none of them were quite this loud, especially at night.

[begaydocrimes]

"Yep! It's a car! Lots of people drive them. Except me. I don't have a license and you need one of those before you can drive. Not that that would stop me, but I'd probably crash it since I don't know how to drive."

She notices the staring, and shrugs it off.

"It's cool, you're not the first to stare. And yeah! It's how people mostly get around? I'mmmm guessing you come from a place that doesn't have 'em."

2

[laminae]

Fern likes to wander around the city at night. It's a vast difference from the grassy hills of Ooo, and he thinks it's pretty all lit up. Getting to see a human city that hasn't been ruined by the apocalypse is something he never thought he'd experience, so he wants to make the most of it.

Watching some guy nearly get hit by a car wasn't on his plans for that evening, but it's all good. He looks like he needs some help, and more importantly, that bow is really cool.

So there's one (1) grass kid wandering over, looking curious. "Dang dude, that bow is sick!"

[goldenherd]

By this point Claude's sort of braced himself for some of the weirder denizens of this city, so this time he actually manages to refrain from gawking at the green boy who wanders over to him after the initial once-over he gives everybody. Still, that's definitely something he's going to want to ask about later.

"Yeah? Thanks, it's a family heirloom." To put it one way. "You can take a closer look, if you want. Just be careful not to touch it - it's been acting weird since I got here and I'm not sure what it'll do if anyone who isn't me tries to hold it."

Given that it seems to have lost all of its power and won't even respond to him, it's very probably that nothing would happen, but he doesn't really want to take the chance that it's just gone dormant and is waiting to lash out or something.

[laminae]

The lack of gawking is appreciated. Thankfully, there hasn't been very much of that, since the majority of residents in the city don't see his actual grassy nature.

He refrains from touching the bow, but makes a beeline over to it to give it a closer look since he's allowed to, letting out a low whistle. He's impressed, and he really wants to see this thing in action sometime.

"Really? Whatcha mean by weird?" He asks curiously.

1

[bxbxbxbx]

[Out of a somewhat-uncharacteristic bit of curiosity and against her better judgment, Katida has decided to spend at least some portion of her weekend investigating the labyrinth. As much as she'd really prefer to avoid any and all of the less-than-normal stuff that has turned up ever since Libra appeared on her phone near the end of March, she's started to actually accept that that won't be happening anytime soon and has figured that if it's nigh-unavoidable, she should at least start to really familiarize herself with some things beyond what she's had to deal with for herself.

And to start that off, she's decided to wander around here.

Her parents and cousin—none of them any part of this place's stranger happenings, and thus all incapable of seeing it all for themselves—all know it's unusual for her to really want to go out for any reason, but she managed to get them to accept a claim that she was going to hang out with someone. She didn't really specify who, though, so they're probably assuming that she's off to visit Jun.

She's slowly walking down one of the halls when she hears voices from somewhere up ahead, though her drawing near enough to hear is late enough into the entire incident that she really only catches the very end of it, beginning with Hilda's remark. Something about those few words is uncomfortably familiar, and Kat's walking slows to a complete stop when she begins to realize why: the girl who she is in those memories and some of the dreams she's had, she now recalls that there was something about that girl that made most people treat her like she was something less than human and better off either out of sight or dead.

She feels like all of that has something to do with the pink, red-eyed dragon head that sits atop her own head like a hat.

Feeling uncomfortable with proceeding any further for a handful of reasons—not the least of which is the idea that she's just heard something she probably shouldn't have—she turns around and starts to go back the way she came. While she's actively trying not to make noise, her efforts aren't perfect, so chances are that her movements will be heard, even if just barely.]

[goldenherd]

[ Unfortunately for any chance she might've had of sneaking off without being noticed, Claude's sharp ears are on high alert, suspicious as he is of this whole situation. With his friends - if that's what they are, if he can still call them that - all still and quiet, there's nothing stopping him from hearing the faint rustling of movement outside. ]

Is someone there?

[ Maybe it's not wise to call out like this. Maybe he should try to sneak up on who or whatever's out there in turn. But he's tired, and it's been a long day, and even his capacity for subterfuge is sort of depleted. He turns around, heading back to the classroom door and peering out at the grounds and the unfamiliar someone in the process of trying to leave. ]

Hey, wait!

[bxbxbxbx]

[Kat wants to keep going and just get out of here now, but not knowing what will happen if the person now calling after her decides to actually stop her leaves her hesitant to push whatever little luck she might have.

She stops and waits for one moment before turning around once more, giving Claude the sight of a white-haired, pink-eyed teenage girl with an equally-pink dragonlike thing on the top of her head, wearing modern clothes that are doubtlessly foreign to him, and a hooded cloak with cat ears on it, except she can't have the hood itself on because the dragon head is in the way.]

I'm not supposed to be here. [Nobody and nothing had prevented her from entering the labyrinth, but the past several moments made it feel pretty obvious to her that this was not a place that she should be in.]

2

[droptheious]

Varian's only been in this strange new world for about two months, and there's a lot he doesn't understand yet, but oh boy has he put his all into trying to understand the exciting new technology this world has to offer. The phones are fascinating to him- they really can do just about everything!!!

But coming from a time that definitely didn't have them, and having to live through the learning curve to understand the damn things, he can pick out someone in distress when he's walking past. So Claude gets a teenager with a monkey tail wandering over, raising a hand in greeting.

"Um...hey. Are you...new?" that's one way of saying fell into a portal into this world, right? "You, uh, look like you might be a little stuck."

[goldenherd]

At this point the tail barely gets a second glance from him. It's weird, sure, but he's starting to feel like he can take a certain level of strange in stride by now. Which is impressive, given -

"Yeah. Just got here less than an hour ago, if I had to guess." Not counting the awful nightmare labyrinth he had to go through to get to the city, but he'll just hold that in reserve for now. Thinking about that and everything that happened in there is a problem for future Claude. "I'm just trying to figure out how to work this thing. It came with instructions, but I can't get past step one. It's a little maddening."

He holds up the booklet with its helpful diagrams and taps on the screen as specified to demonstrate, still wearing his riding gloves. Predictably, nothing happens.

2

[poisontippedcure]

If there's one benefit to being a Miqo'te, it's the ability to see slightly better in the dark. The lights are still blinding, though, and so as Rose weaves her way through the city street, she tries to keep her eyes to the ground. So much so to the ground that she nearly bumps into someone sitting on a stoop.

She's about to say something in protest, but it doesn't take her long to figure out exactly what's going on here.

"So, I take it you're new here?"

[goldenherd]

This isn't the first cat-woman Claude's encountered today, and neither is she the most cat out of the pair of them, so thankfully he's able to keep from staring at her ears or anything as he looks up. He smiles, amiably, and raises a hand in greeting.

"Just about as new as they come," he says. "Sorry if I got in your way just now. I'm still getting my bearings here. You wouldn't happen to have a second to answer a few questions, would you?"

2

[speaksanimal]

Should Claude look around, he'll spot a young boy who saw what happened. Rushing over to him, he couldn't help but be worried. He was aware there were people from different worlds that lived here. It was only natural that this strange man would be curious and nervous about everything.

Tugging on his coat, he looked up at him before mumbling. "Um, is everything okay? You're new here, aren't you?"

[goldenherd]

Oh, there's a kid here. Claude glances down at him, looking a little startled to see him out this late, before deciding he can worry about that in a moment and giving him a warm smile.

"Oh, don't worry about me. Everything's fine," he lies, because maybe telling a - what, five? - year old about the existential crisis he's having would be a little much. Anyway, having someone show such genuine concern for him is enough to snap him out of his self-pity at least in the moment.

"I just got here less than an hour ago, though. Good guess! What about you, though? Are you doing okay out here? Do you have anyone with you?"

2

[whiteshroud]

[Jun is just doing what's a perfectly normal behavior for night time, standing on the rooftop of the nearby 7-Eleven in a white shrouded uniform. Perfectly normal behavior. He had been on his phone when he heard the commotion in the street below. It catches his curiosity enough that he leans over the edge to have a look, where Claude's unusual attire catches his eye. He can't help but stare, which might give Claude the feeling he's being watched.

Huh. What's this weirdo doing out here? ]

[goldenherd]

[ Over the course of his life, Claude's developed a pretty keen sense for when he's being watched. He pauses in his reading the manual over for what feels like the fiftieth time, eyes flicking up to scan the sidewalk while he keeps his head bowed so as not to tip whoever's got their eyes on him off that he's noticed. For a moment he doesn't catch sight of anyone, but then he sees the flash of white on the roof.

Huh. Some kind of weird monk? Whoever they are, they're not being especially subtle, so Claude doesn't feel too bad about responding in kind. ]

Are you planning on staring at me from up there all night? I know, I'm fascinating, but I have it on good authority my looks are the least interesting thing about me.

2

[tyrantrevelio]

[Out for a walk in the evening, Killia is at once startled by the ruckus of the swerving vehicle out of the blue, yet controlled enough not to immediately leap into action. Waiting until the scene clears and this man sits down, he keeps his eyes appraised of the situation...

Boy, that's an unusual outfit he's wearing. Such vibrant yellow and gold, and definitely something out of style these days. He straight up looked like a fish out of water, to say nothing of the odd looking bow he was carrying with him too. Suspicious, to say the least, and probably yet another wayward person from another world. Part of him told him to just move on and let him figure things out on his own. But he could never help himself.

And so a man with unusually pointed ears and yellow eyes approaches, and stops at the edge of the stoop. At first glance he looks quite intense, with a gaze that might be piercing.]

Hey. You all right? Saw what happened with the car.

[Despite the look, his voice is quite calm, and his concern sounds genuine enough.]

[goldenherd]

[ Fortunately, Claude's used to dealing with a decent number of perfectly nice people with... intense resting facial expressions, though admittedly one of them did kind of just kill him unexpectedly after he'd surrendered, but. That's something to worry about later. At the very least, it's probably not relevant here. ]

Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Not the first close encounter with someone moving at irresponsible speed I've had, and it probably won't be the last either. You said that was called a 'car,' right?

[ He glances after it, though it's long since turned the corner and disappeared. ]

Are there a lot of those things around? I guess I'd better start keeping a closer eye out.