[ At that indication of proximity, Claude perks up, encroaching weariness forgotten. While he hasn't got an eye particularly trained for caves, or this cave, his eyes are good and there is that pool. ]
Ah, our disappointing just-a-cave. I can't wait.
[ Neither, it seems, can Felix, who just about takes off. If Claude didn't know better, he might misread that phantom expression for mischief or, dare he be so absurd, fun. And he might just choose not to know better. An expression like mischief and words as much invitation as challenge, together more than the sum of their parts. Together, it approximates a sense of camaraderie.
Just a sense, fleeting and foolish. Felix isn't the type, his childhood attachments singular exceptions, and Claude hasn't the experience to recognize the feeling.
But he smiles at Felix's back, eyes strange in it, before he shrugs more from habit than to communicate and follows.
Much as he'd have liked to take a moment to bask in the view, that picturesque opening and its glittering base, there's logic to Felix's rush. Rest too long here, so near to their destination, and they would lose momentum. Better to have a proper rest there.
Still, that speed's a real pain when Claude's overpacked to the extent he has. He is catching up, but at risk of being winded when they arrive. Not his best look, to be sure. It's beginning to creep into his voice, conversational though his tone. ]
You know, at this juncture, you can't really leave me behind.
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Ah, our disappointing just-a-cave. I can't wait.
[ Neither, it seems, can Felix, who just about takes off. If Claude didn't know better, he might misread that phantom expression for mischief or, dare he be so absurd, fun. And he might just choose not to know better. An expression like mischief and words as much invitation as challenge, together more than the sum of their parts. Together, it approximates a sense of camaraderie.
Just a sense, fleeting and foolish. Felix isn't the type, his childhood attachments singular exceptions, and Claude hasn't the experience to recognize the feeling.
But he smiles at Felix's back, eyes strange in it, before he shrugs more from habit than to communicate and follows.
Much as he'd have liked to take a moment to bask in the view, that picturesque opening and its glittering base, there's logic to Felix's rush. Rest too long here, so near to their destination, and they would lose momentum. Better to have a proper rest there.
Still, that speed's a real pain when Claude's overpacked to the extent he has. He is catching up, but at risk of being winded when they arrive. Not his best look, to be sure. It's beginning to creep into his voice, conversational though his tone. ]
You know, at this juncture, you can't really leave me behind.
[ After all, the cave's right there. ]