I'm back on bedrest regrettably. But if you don't want to get hassled by ten different people coming back to the mansion I can meet you somewhere. I mean it. My legs work just fine.
Anders already changed my bandages, don't worry. I'm not looking to make you do labour today, all right?
[ sweet richie...!! yves will eventually show up, looking like depression's favorite chew toy. he's more rumpled than usual, and he truly looks so unfathomably sad. his eyes are red, even though he's wiped away all his tears tracks by now.
when he speaks, his voice is soft and a little hoarse ]
[Well. Richie is still looking like pure shit, but at least he has nice nails now. The polish not the falsies.]
Heya, Yves. [He does smile, grimly, from where he's sat down, checking that blotchy face for fresh tracks. Guess he missed most of the water works, but that's never off the table in a time like this.
I'm good, I promise. We might be short a hospital but we do have a cadre of medics who know their way around a wound, with magic and medicine or without.
[ still cute, huh... yves just smiles sadly, his gaze drifting to a little bundle of spider lilies growing in the garden. white and pink, compared to the red and black surrounding his halo ]
... it was me, Hugo, and Adolphe for so long. I trusted them with everything. Adolphe knew everything about me. And he still loved me.
[ and there's a little sense of amazement there, because yves is someone who does not expect love from anyone. ]
I... lost him for the first time, four years ago. So it's not a new wound... it's a reopened one. Even still... it aches.
[For all his clownish tendencies, he does listen with a solemn ear. It's hardly a monologue but the weight of the words has the heft of it. It tugs at his heart, hard. Makes him keep a grip on that shoulder, lest Yves dissipate from the face of the earth. He kind of looked like he wanted to.]
Sure, of course it does. It's not even that old of a wound, is it? [Four years is a very small time. Much too small to pull yourself together whole, for a person who meant the world to you.] You could lose someone twenty years ago and still miss them bad enough to burst out crying. When you least expect it, too.
And he was worth missing, wasn't he? I may not have known him half so well as you, but he seemed like a good guy. Funny one, too. In his own little way. [He raises his brows and clucks his tongue.] Maybe less "burly" than advertised, but damn, if that was the only strike against him, I guess he was real hot shit.
[Perhaps not a turn of phrase that translates. He hopes the delivery does the defining for him, he's no good at editing on the fly. Richie's a rambler, quantity over quality. The best he can do is hope a few words hit the wall and stick.
[ yves smiles—and it's truly this sad, despairing thing but it has its own little inklings of fondness. of reminiscing. the person that he adored so dearly, and is always going to be worth missing. four years later, forty years later, if yves ever manages to get that much time. (he doesn't know if he wants that much time.) ]
... he died protecting the orphanage he grew up at from the Royal Guard. His mother, the children, his home. I arrived too late to help him. I... do think that's the day everything started going wrong. And all the years that came after were a nightmare.
[ and it scares him, a little, to think that's about to start again here. the years after that trickled, where yves lost almost everyone he could call a friend one by one. ]
Adolphe's the best, and sometimes I think he was part of what held my world together. I'll... keep going, even if he isn't here but it'll be hard. I know people here didn't know him that well but... he says he doesn't like people that much, but he'll never let you down when you need him.
He's patient, kind, and genuine in a way that I could never match. He always knew the right thing to say, and the way to say it to make it really feel like everything's going to be okay.
And... sometimes I feel like I need to hear that, here. I miss it already. Miss him already.
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I'm back on bedrest regrettably. But if you don't want to get hassled by ten different people coming back to the mansion I can meet you somewhere. I mean it. My legs work just fine.
Anders already changed my bandages, don't worry. I'm not looking to make you do labour today, all right?
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yeah there's probably so many people at the mansion and so many people looking for him. if richie is sure then... ]
If the garden is okay.
I'll head back now.
[ from wherever he was ]
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but luckily richie is not a narc, he sets out immediately. also dodging worrying souls, don't mind the invalid on the move.]
It's perfect. Catch you by the flowers.
[Waits in some patch with relative privacy.]
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when he speaks, his voice is soft and a little hoarse ]
... hi, Monsieur Richie.
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Heya, Yves. [He does smile, grimly, from where he's sat down, checking that blotchy face for fresh tracks. Guess he missed most of the water works, but that's never off the table in a time like this.
Richie extends his hand to him.]
C'mon. Sit a minute.
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yves will go ahead and take that hand at least, always obliging to what people want from him. he's doing his best to keep it together ]
Okay... Are you feeling alright?
[ with his ARM ]
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Well I can't feel all-left, can I?
[zing.
Making sure they're sitting down first.]
I'm good, I promise. We might be short a hospital but we do have a cadre of medics who know their way around a wound, with magic and medicine or without.
You look a damn mess though. No offense.
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.... yeah, I probably do.
[ no offense taken. he knows he looks Rough. ]
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[He'll grin, give his shoulder a little shake.]
It'd be weirder if you weren't a little rough around the edges. He was your buddy. One of your best, wasn't he?
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... it was me, Hugo, and Adolphe for so long. I trusted them with everything. Adolphe knew everything about me. And he still loved me.
[ and there's a little sense of amazement there, because yves is someone who does not expect love from anyone. ]
I... lost him for the first time, four years ago. So it's not a new wound... it's a reopened one. Even still... it aches.
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Sure, of course it does. It's not even that old of a wound, is it? [Four years is a very small time. Much too small to pull yourself together whole, for a person who meant the world to you.] You could lose someone twenty years ago and still miss them bad enough to burst out crying. When you least expect it, too.
And he was worth missing, wasn't he? I may not have known him half so well as you, but he seemed like a good guy. Funny one, too. In his own little way. [He raises his brows and clucks his tongue.] Maybe less "burly" than advertised, but damn, if that was the only strike against him, I guess he was real hot shit.
[Perhaps not a turn of phrase that translates. He hopes the delivery does the defining for him, he's no good at editing on the fly. Richie's a rambler, quantity over quality. The best he can do is hope a few words hit the wall and stick.
There's a beat. Then, tentatively:]
...May I ask what happened before?
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... he died protecting the orphanage he grew up at from the Royal Guard. His mother, the children, his home. I arrived too late to help him. I... do think that's the day everything started going wrong. And all the years that came after were a nightmare.
[ and it scares him, a little, to think that's about to start again here. the years after that trickled, where yves lost almost everyone he could call a friend one by one. ]
Adolphe's the best, and sometimes I think he was part of what held my world together. I'll... keep going, even if he isn't here but it'll be hard. I know people here didn't know him that well but... he says he doesn't like people that much, but he'll never let you down when you need him.
He's patient, kind, and genuine in a way that I could never match. He always knew the right thing to say, and the way to say it to make it really feel like everything's going to be okay.
And... sometimes I feel like I need to hear that, here. I miss it already. Miss him already.