#1 Crush

[Magnum 0pus]

Oh right, she didn't even know where his room was. Now Claude felt silly, and Lucie almost instantly noticed and knew this, "Hahahaha!" She laughed and cackled at her little brother's moment of well intentioned denseness, "D'accord, eh bien... suis-moi, alors!" ("Right, well... follow me, then!") Claude brushed past Sylvie, leading the way to the mystical place that was his room. Meanwhile, Lou continued to munch and nibble on the stick of celery without a thought on her mind besides munch munch munching. A hand was extended out towards the critter from Lucie as she began to pet and gently scratch the head of her bunny pet. Suddenly, an idea popped up in her mind.

"Attends une minute!" ("Wait a minute!") Lucie called out while still petting Lou, "Sylvie, maintenant que Lou est en train de manger…" ("Sylvie, now that Lou is eating...") With casualness in her movements, the bunny was gently spun around by Lucie's enormous hand. Lou's fluffy body sliding as she was spun around, completely unperturbed by the suddenness of her body being forcefully moved, "Tu peux la caresser maintenant ! Je suis sûr qu’elle ne dira rien, puisqu’elle mange du céleri!" ("You can pet her now! I'm sure she won't mind since she is eating celery!") Now was the time for the two seperate beings to make peace, not war as Lou continued to mindlessly stare ahead while eating the celery in front of her as she now faced Sylvie and Claude directly.

What was the plan?

That's up for Sylvie to decide.

[LYourLocalAutist]

The rambunctious and hearty laugh produced by Claude's older sister, served well to put Sylvie's embarrassment at ease, and she even found herself giggling as well. It was that kind of grandiosely warm and exuberant attitude which put people at ease with its amiability, that same personality beat possessed by Claude himself, part of what Sylvie found herself drawn to. The red in her cheeks subsided and a proper smile returned to her face as the giggles died down and she'd finished drawing what entertainment she did from the appearance of the face of shame on Claude's own. Well-intentioned denseness indeed.

She stepped out of the way and extended her hand out in a little mock "go ahead, Sir" alongside a short bow to make way for the guy who, presumably, knew where his own room was. She was about to begin following, getting her excitement back up to see his room for the first time, but she was stopped in her tracks by one more call for attention from Lucie. Spinning right around on her socks with the grace only a as of like 5 months cheerleader could possess, she regarded the kitchen, the woman and the bun with a curiosity tinged with a slight impatience. An impatience cut right out by the offer presented by the woman: A safe and opportune position that had recently opened which Sylvie could exploit for bunny cuddles of the proper variety. Sylvie felt herself put in some manner of bind— she could turn right back around and finally get a moment with just her and Claude (eeeeeeeeeeee) or she could put that off for bunny pats. She looked towards Claude, and then back towards Lucie and Lou, the latter of the two still going nomnomnom (eeeeeeeeeeee) on a bit of celery. A conundrum of utmost difficulty. Surely, the great philosophers of old themselves would collapse into tears when presented with it. But Sylvie wasn't an old man from a few thousand years ago. She was better. Her brow furrowing in determination, she quickly formulated a plan and put it into motion.

stepstepstepstepstepstepstepstepstepstepstep

Skidding to a stop right by the creature, Sylvie immediately bent down to begin gushing all over it. Pat nuzzle rub stroke kissy kiss coo d'aww and oh my god et cetera and forever. Entirely worth it. Once she'd gotten her heart's fill of affection, she just as quickly made a 180 degree turn right back around, the smile on her face visibly wider and the pep in her step multiplying upon itself by some exponent, fuelled by bunny cuddles unabated by the unconstrained and monstrous violence (paw attack) that had taken place just earlier.

stepstepstepstepstepstepstepstepstepstepstep

In the span of just a few seconds, she'd gotten all she needed to do done. Her face was bright with a small pride and a large joy at the experience of having gone awawa over a bunny in just short enough a timespan that it didn't feel wasted, even though the time limit here was practically non-existant and she could've just gone up later. Even so, she let herself feel that little pride. Made her feel a little more jovial, a little more peppy and bouncy. She craned her neck to look up at that man and flashed her smile bright like the sun, stating plainly:

"Prêt!"

[Magnum 0pus]

"Très bien, allons-y!" ("Alright, let's get to it!") Claude said as he got back to leading Sylvie up to his room. The plate with his sandwich was in his hand as he planned to eat it in his room, which was something he liked doing whenever Lucie made sandwiches.

Passing by the living room, Rockwell jogged up to the pair and walked alongside Claude and Sylvie, following them up to the young man’s room. When they reached the stairs, the dog nuzzled his nose up to the girl's hand, giving it a few licks, "Il t’aime vraiment bien." ("He really likes you.") He told her as he looked over his shoulder at the pooch with a smile meant for the both of them.

They all got to his room rather quickly, but Claude had made sure to match his pace to Sylvie so she wouldn't fall behind, "Les dames d'abord." ("Ladies first.") His gentlemanly charm flashed out once more as he slowly opened the door to his room and stood aside so that his friend could walk in first.

Seeing a room filled with so many things someone like Claude enjoyed doing would've proved to be very overwhelming as there was just so much going on in his room: from the comics; to the video games and consoles; to the latex mask workshop and the latex masks; to the skateboard; to the baseball bat and mitt next to his bed. There was quite a lot to take in.

Rockwell wasted no time in rushing inside and jumping on the bed where he hopped around before rolling over and lying down on his back with his slobbering tongue out.

[LYourLocalAutist]

A small hum in her throat and her hands casually clasped around her back, Sylvie immediately got to stepping in time and tandem with the larger man's rhythm and direction. The excitement at this simple action, just going up to the room of the man she liked lowkey (Oh it was nooot lowkey), remained ever-present. And as she got to the stairs along with him, turning her head in small surprise to acknowledge the excited and affectionate gestures of the big puppy (), she could only feel ever happier as she got to giving the big widdle guy his pats and nuzzles, marvelling at the difference in texture from her own Liz at home. Looking back up in reaction to the voice and seeing Claude's smile made her consider if there was such a thing as too much joy in this life, perhaps a problem along the lines of too much sugar being a problem she actively needed to look out for now that she was on the cheer team (curses).

After that short and blissful period of scene transition, Sylvie found herself letting out one more giggle as she passed by Claude alongside Rockwell (in complete defiance of chivalrous norms (demonstrating a complete disrespect for the methods of polite society (bastard))) into the former's room, at last. She took a deep breath in, intending to prepare herself emotionally, but instead was promptly hit by what could only properly be described as a culture shock for the senses.

There was so much. Granted, it was all stuff that Sylvie recognized on account of her actually listening every time Claude talked to her, but seeing it all condensed into such a small space felt a bit like a disservice to the way he'd been describing his hobbies. Further than that, Sylvie noted as she took a few steps into the room with widening eyes, were the smells. All the hobbies seemed to have their unique opinions on what they wanted the room the smell like, and their compromise seemed to amount to some incoherent pile-up. Rubber on top of leather on top of biblio-something-she'd-read-it-in-a-google-search, not to mention the latent sweat from the sporting equipment (ooh la la). A hodgepodge melting pot which, all in all... turned out to not be that bad of a room to be in. Despite the implicit mess, it projected that same energy Claude did, that comfort and homelyness she enjoyed being around so. She'd have no shortage of things to talk about, at least.

Her first instinct was shaped by Rockwell's immediate one, to make for the bed. As opposed to the creature, she demurely hopped up and sat on the edge, extending one hand out to casually grant belly scritches to the thing, gently swinging her legs in a pendulum motion before giving the room one last once-over as her eyes returned to that man. She opened her mouth and began with a thing that did surprise her, somewhat, especially seeing the entire workshop dedicated to those masks he loved talking about.

"Tu garde tout ton équipement juste ici?"

[Magnum 0pus]

He just watched by doorframe as his friend and pet entered his room. It was a sight that made Claude chuckle as he gazed upon the two individuals reach his bed and rest on it in their own ways; Sylvie simply sitting by the edge of the bed out of politeness and Rockwell just lying on his back dead center of the mattress as if it was his bed. Oh whatever, Claude didn't mind at all as he made his way over his bed, "Mhm!" He responded simply as he set the plate down on the blanket before picking up the sandwich with his right hand and bringing it up to his face, taking a bite out of it, "C’est la batte de baseball et le gant de réception que j’utilise depuis que j’ai commencé à aimer le baseball." ("That's the baseball bat and catching mitt which I have used since I first took a liking to baseball.") Even though he took a bite out of such a scrumptious sandwich, the young Frenchman was still completely understandable to a degree. With his other hand, which wasn't holding the sandwich, he pointed at the smaller wooden bat and leather mitt, both of which showed signs of wear and tear over the years, "Quoi qu’il arrive, ils me rappellent toujours ce qui a donné naissance à l’une de mes plus grandes passions dans la vie." ("No matter what, they always serve as reminders of what started off one of my biggest passions in life.")

The way Claude spoke about the two prized possessions would've made him even more of a heartthrob to Sylvie just by sounding so heartfelt–it was completely unintentional, which is simply a part of the tall baseball player's charm, "Enfin bon..." ("Anyway...") He swallowed the piece of the sandwich he ate as he sat down next to his shorter friend, the mattress slightly dipping under the weight of his body, before he leaned back and completely laid down on the soft surface. His left hand reached down and pulled the paper plate up so that he could place his sandwich back on it–not before taking another bite, of course.

Crunch!

Claude happily crunched and munched on the delicious sandwich his sister Lucie made him, always making sure to enjoy her cooking no matter what. "Tu es fan de jeux vidéo?" ("Are you a fan of video games?") It was a random question from out of nowhere, but it was definitely a much more tamer topic for Claude to have asked Sylvie about...

There are a lot of things he can talk about, but they were best saved for later.

[LYourLocalAutist]

Sylvie placidly took to listening as Claude began a tangent. She'd noticed this to be something of a pattern between them, whenever they talked: a sort of song and dance of taking turns going on little tangents concerning a passion of theirs, where one would yap to their heart's content and the other seemed just as happy to listen. Sylvie was, at least; she couldn't sure about Claude, but today was too nice a day to even give an inch to those nasty thoughts. Why would he of all people be that way? She set those insecurities in the bin as she took in all the warmth and nostalgia of the man before him talking about his passion, her legs still occupying themselves by manner of swinging and her hands by manner of Rockwell scritchies. She took in his sincerity and passion like a deep breath, and let herself relax further, nodding along. She was smiling when he started talking and smiled when he stopped. And before she knew it-

bomf

The man's weight had plopped onto the bed right beside her, surprising her for a moment as she was made to bounce up slightly, prompting another giggle. She lied down in tandem with him, shuffling nice and snuggly into her friend's bed, a process somehow facilitated helpfully by her size. She took a moment to revel in the warmth and closeness of the scenario, trying not to get too excited. Thankfully, Claude came in with a nice, tame topic she could go on about to calm herself down.

Video games! This was something new, and, luckily, something she had stuff to say about! Awkward silence averted!

"Eh ben, j'ai un Switch à la maison, mais, euh... je joue vraiment que des choses comme "Animal Crossing" et "Stardew Valley". Je n'aime pas trops ces jeux d'action super intense..."

But she could definitely try if he was offering. Really, the only reason she was largely a casual games girlie was because of the reason she got into games in the first place. That relaxation and safety... the little escapism into an idyllic, happy life, utterly unburdened and free of stress... much easier and nicer to capture when watering flowers and talking to the kind neighbours than, say, shooting a Nazi with a chainsaw gun or whatever happened in Dark Souls.

[Magnum 0pus]

What a pair of comfortable sounding games. Honestly, it is very fitting for a girlie such as Sylvie to play. While he did actually have those games on his own switch, Claude felt like something that was a bit less casual but still considered casual would make for a fun new experience for her, "Je sais exactement à quel jeu on peut jouer…" ("I know exactly what game we can play...") Claude slowly got off the bed and stood up, making his way over to the shelf laden with consoles and video games old and new, "Tu te débrouilles avec les zombies, Sylvie?" ("Are you any good with zombies, Sylvie?") The question was seemingly from out of nowhere, but if Sylvie knew enough about video games as a whole, she might have realized why he asked her that question as he had crouched down in front of the shelf in search of the game he had in mind for them to play.

Was it a game that would be fun for anyone no matter the circumstances. It depends, but hey, they were both here to hang out and have fun.

"Je l’ai trouvé!" ("Found it!") He exclaimed as he grabbed and took out a case with a familiar piece of cover art on the front. Call of Duty: Black Ops II. A game of the long running first person shooter franchise that is famous worldwide, "Je considère ça comme un jeu tranquille si on y joue en difficulté facile. Le mode zombies est toujours amusant à jouer quand on veut juste se détendre et se relaxer." ("This is something I consider to be casual if we play it on easy difficulty. The zombies mode is always fun to play when you just want to kick back and chill.") Claude tossed the disc case on the bed before he got up and began to plug in the Xbox 360 to his TV, "À moins que tu veuilles essayer de jouer aux zombies en difficulté normale, alors oui, on peut faire ça!" ("Unless you want to try playing zombies on normal difficulty, then sure, we can do that!") With a soft click, the console was plugged in and both the television and said console were turned on with a press of their respective power buttons, "Ça pourrait te surprendre, mais j’ai Animal Crossing et Stardew Valley sur ma Switch aussi — et Lucie aussi ! Peut-être qu’à l’avenir, on pourrait tous visiter nos îles dans Animal Crossing, ça te tente?" ("It might come as a surprise, but I actually do have Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley on my switch as well; Lucie does as well! Maybe in the future we could all visit each other's islands in Animal Crossing, does that sound like a plan?") He turned back and looked at Sylvie with a smirk as he waited to hear if she was on board with that plan or not. Meanwhile, he was busy grabbing two 360 controllers to play the game once the console completely booted up.

Claude turned on one controller first and picked the first account on it, which just had the username LimpCase79. After that, he was on the oh so familiar Xbox 360 home screen, "Attends une seconde avant de brancher la manette, d’accord? Je te dirai quand la connecter." ("Give it a second before you connect the controller, alright? I will tell you when to connect it.") He told her as he booted up the game itself, selecting the small icon of the Black Ops II guy sitting the shadows.

With that, the game started up and the fun was about to begin.

[LYourLocalAutist]

Shuffling slightly in search of a somehow even more comfortable position on the bed and wrapping a little lock of soft light blonde around her finger for maximum fidgeting capacity (it AND the bow), Sylvie let her eye trail on Claude's position as he sat up and declared some esoteric knowledge of a PERFECT game. As he moved off the couch, throwing off her elevation and by extension her positioning (dang it), she crossed her legs, relaxing further, curious. Her head tilted lightly in both that and great anticipation as Claude shuffled through what could probably be considered a practical treasure trove of play, definitely more experienced in taste and variety game-wise than she could ever hope to (want to) achieve. It was coming up, and Sylvie was— wait, zombies?

"Eh bennnn..."

No proper answer. Sylvie considered both what she knew and what she thought about zombies. Everyone knew what a zombie was. Oo aa eat brain oh no bite gonna transform gotta shoot gotta survive et cetera. An apparently perfect formula that hadn't stopped banking for around, like, a century by now. Sylvie didn't see the appeal. Little disgusting, little bland, in things like movies and TV shows at least. There had to be only so many things you could do with zombies before you start running out of steam, and she felt proven slightly right the first time she'd ever heard the term "mutant" be used by one of her more gaming-inclined friends. Last of all, it felt like about the least relaxing and cheerful kind of video game you could play with someone you were hanging out with, unless you were a special kind of person. The kind who prominently existed on "Reddit" and handed out water bottles during cheer practice. And also six-foot-one-billion studs, apparently. You learn something new every day.

Despite it all, here she was, finding out for the first time there were zombies in those Call of Duty games too. And if undead-slaughter was what it took to bond with that man, then by god, she would lock it right in. She quickly and efficiently stretched her muscles and sat up straight to observe the set-up, trying to get herself hyped up about playing a kind of game she'd never even considered playing for a second before. Hmmm, it could always do someone well to try something new, regardless of preconceived notions... that's how your worldview expands. But in any case...

"Tu vas devoir m'apprendre à tout faire, d'acc?"

Learning that Claude also played AC and SV on his own switch definitely served to perk her up further. Her eyes widened, and she sat up straighter at the mention, a bit like a dog noticing a ball that'd just been pulled out. Oh, man, she'd definitely have to get his friend code before the day was out. Questions popped in and out of her revitalised and excited mind, the excitement warming her body in tandem. What kind of island would he have? Would she like his? Did this guy have everything she liked in a guy? It seemed so to Sylvie at this point. His smirk only served to make her feel a bit warmer inside, and she smiled right back, nodding rapidly, bangs doing cute little up-down shakes. Once she'd caught herself, she stopped her head from moving and just kept the smile, with a little extra red in her cheeks.

"Cela me ferait très plaisir."

Unfortunately, all that would have to come later. For now, it was time to indulge in the entirely esoteric art of shooting at zombies on the Xbox. She looked at her own controller, which was big and slightly unwieldy in her hands compared to the joycons she was so used to, and based on context clues, she assumed which button was "connect. Just maaaaybe the big X in the middle. She was excited and curious about what this experience would bring, sure, but in this realm of gaming, she realised there was one thing to keep in mind if she wanted to at least try and enjoy the game along with Claude's presence.

"J'vais suivre ton exemple."

[Magnum 0pus]

Both controllers were connected. Fantastic. They were one step closer to having some chill, zombie killing fun. Now, of course, Claude, being a guy who enjoyed playing video games a lot, has already gotten the Easter egg cuts cutscenes for most of the maps on Black Ops II zombies, but he knew that immediately going for the Easter egg on a map with Sylvie, someone who's never played these types of games, would be too much of a hassle for everyone involved... so, it was in best interest if he picked a map that he considered to be more 'casual friendly'.

Nuketown.

Quickly changing the map to Nuketown, Claude turned around and walked back to his bed, sitting himself down at the foot of it and right next to Sylvie, "À mon avis, cette carte est assez petite et simple à jouer. Elle est parfaite pour entrer dans le jeu en douceur, tranquillement." ("This map is small enough and simple to play, in my opinion. It's great to really just ease yourself into the game nice and slowly.") Positive affirmations and encouragement does wonders in a lot of situations, and this was no different as Claude gave Sylvie a gentle pat on the back, "J’espère que tu es prête, parce que c’est parti!" ("Hope you're ready because here we go!") After telling her that, he started up the match once he pressed the green A button on his controller. The loading screen appeared with ominous music playing in the background for a few seconds before the match finished loading and they were both finally playing on the map, "Je suis sûr que tu sais déjà comment te déplacer et regarder autour de toi dans les jeux vidéo, mais pour tirer avec ton arme, tu dois appuyer sur la gâchette droite, celle-ci." ("I'm sure you already know how to move and look around in video games, however, to shoot your gun, you need to tap the right trigger, which is this one.") He reached his right hand over to her controller and pointed at the right trigger where her middle finger was, making slight physical contact as his finger brushed up against hers, "Pour viser, tu appuies et maintiens la gâchette gauche juste ici. Si tu veux attaquer au corps à corps — pardon, si tu veux poignarder un zombie avec ton couteau — tu appuies sur le stick droit." ("To aim down sights, you tap and hold the left trigger right here. If you want to melee–sorry, if you want to stab a zombie with your knife, you press down on the right thumbstick.") Claude didn't know if Sylvie would've known what melee meant, but just to be safe, he made sure to just explain to her in another way.

Claude didn't want to make her feel pressured or anything like that, so he waited to see if she understood all that, and while he did, he turned back to the screen and began to play, firing his gun at one of the zombies at the barricades which it tried to break into before he finished it off by knifing it.

[LYourLocalAutist]

Legs swinging, pomf pomf pomf against the side of the bed, shoulders relaxed, trying not to give into the instinct to lean against the big man. Like, he was right there. However, she still had a game to focus on, however uninterested she was in it. As the two players loaded in and Sylvie nodded along to each and every one of Claude's instructions, she couldn't help but continue to feel that little flash of cognitive dissonance at the situation. Big hot jock had small cute cheerleader in his room, and he... was making her play call of duty zombies. Sylvie of all people understood how one shouldn't judge another by appearances, and she could recognize that this was actually something of a sweet moment with him excited to share one of his hobbies with her directly, but, like, come on. Surely he could spare a bit more than a finger-brush :) blushies and a back pat :) blushies. The issue was, Sylvie was a bit too new to this feeling to ask. So, she would have to proceed with the only way forward which had appeared to her: call of duty black ops whatever zombies.

...She nodded when he joked about assuming she knew how to move and look around even though she'd never actually played a first person shooter in her life, so that plan was off to a good start.

Sylvie, however, had some capacity for logic (reportedly), and quickly managed to find out. Alright, she thought. Legs up, crisscross applesauce, just budging a little over into Claude's space. Inadvertently, for once. She just sat like that when she focused. Uhh, aim, pointy plus sign goes onto enemy body- BAM! A moderately well-rendered pile of gore and groaning fell down to the floor. Hm. BAM! BAM! Few more. Easy like that. After a few more shots and moving around and a bit more shuffling of the position of her hands on the controller, a realisation came to her: this game might well be perfect. fOR the situation, that was, not in terms of like, gameplay and whatever. It was that sort of mindless repetition you could get used to quickly, that you could half-focus on while still enjoying the constant confirmation of successful tasks (zombie-murder) all while... having a chat! With a hypothetical other person! Or in Sylvie's case, an actual one. Now, all she needed to do was find a subject. This was actually quite as easily done as said, in fact. Once she'd figured out the esoteric strategy of "you can move backwards while shooting the guys" and freed up even more brainpower, at least. She took subjects as they came, and settled on one she was genuinely curious about:

"Comment fais-tu pour maintenir si tant de passe-temps différents?"

Like, seriously. Baseballs and gamings and boxings and writings and comics and horror hiking movies juicing skating latex masks??? Sylvie enjoyed switch, fashion, mmm soft plushies and going to cheer. And sometimes, with her study schedule, she felt like she could barely keep up with those. She wanted to know how Claude managed. Study him like some historical parchment with some ancient esoteric secret. For all she knew, he was some kind of immortal.

[Magnum 0pus]

How does he juggle so many hobbies? What a good question to start a conversation with her crush. If she were in a game show that centered around that very specific thing with judges, all of them would have given her a perfect 10.

Anyway, back to the question...

Claude already had the answer to it, surprisingly enough, turning around to look at her, "C’est simple, vraiment; je fais juste ce que j’ai envie de faire selon les jours. Hier, j’ai passé ma journée à lire des bandes dessinées et à fabriquer un nouveau masque, et aujourd’hui, je vais la passer à jouer aux jeux vidéo avec toi!" ("It's simple, really; I just do whatever I feel like doing on separate days. Yesterday, I spent my day reading comic books and making a new mask, and today, I'll spend it playing video games with you!") After killing a few zombies and rebuilding the barricades, Claude turned back and went over to buy a gun from the wall when he got enough points, the Olympia, a double-barreled shotgun, "Vérifie souvent tes points, car tu peux les utiliser pour acheter des armes sur les contours en craie sur les murs." ("Check your points often since you can use them to buy weapons from those chalk outlines on walls.") That was another useful piece of advice that was necessary to increase your chances of surviving longer in the zombie-infested game mode.

"Mais oui, en fait, ça se résume à décider si j’ai envie de faire une chose ou une autre, et cette stratégie marche super bien! Comme ça, je ne me lasse jamais d’un seul passe-temps à force de trop le faire!" ("But yeah, it really just boils down to whether or not I want to do one thing or another, and the strategy works well! It makes sure I never get bored of one single hobby if I do it too much!") How surprising. He really had things figured out. More zombies began to fall dead at the hands of the pair, Claude made sure to get enough points to unlock the different blocked off areas of the map, "Si tu ne l’as pas encore remarqué, cette machine bleu clair qui a un look rétro et où il est écrit "Pack-a-Punch", c’est un super petit mécanisme qui te permet d’améliorer tes armes plus tard dans la partie, quand on atteint des manches plus élevées. Certaines armes s’achètent aux contours en craie que j’ai mentionnés tout à l’heure, mais la plupart viennent de la "boîte mystère" qu’on peut trouver quelque part sur la carte—la voilà! Viens me rejoindre, je vais te montrer comment elle fonctionne!" ("If you haven't already noticed it, that light blue machine that looks very vintage and has "Pack a Punch" on it is this nice little mechanic that allows you to upgrade the weapons you have later on in game as we reach higher rounds. Some weapons are obtained from the chalk outlines I mentioned earlier, while most are obtained by the "mystery box" that you can find somewhere on the map–here it is! Come to me so I can show you how it works!") Claude shot a few zombies out of the way, decreasing the number of them some more as they were now deep into round three, "Ah oui, j’allais oublier—c’est important de laisser un seul zombie en vie si tu veux faire certaines choses avant que le prochain round ne commence. Le mieux, c’est de lui tirer dans les jambes pour en faire un rampeur; il sera plus lent, ce qui te laissera le temps de t’organiser et de faire ce que tu as à faire!" ("Oh right, almost forgot–it's important that, if you want to get some things done first before the next round, you always make sure to leave a single zombie alive, preferably by shooting it's legs off and making it a "crawler"; which is slower and gives you time to get certain things done!") Claude knew he basically repeated a part of what he said, which he chuckled at as he took care of a few more zombies.

While he did that, he glanced over at Rockwell, who was still laying on his bed with his belly up, the sound of his deep snoring made Claude smile as he watched him wiggle around a bit in his sleep, "Et toi alors? Quoi de neuf dans le monde de Sylvie?" ("And what about you? What's new in the world of Sylvie?") His eyebrow was raised as he asked her that, a smirk on his face as he was curious to hear what she's done lately.

[LYourLocalAutist]

...It couldn't be that simple.

Seriously? "I just do what I want when I want and things work out :3"? Sylvie's head half-snapped towards him and her gameplay halted for a moment, in a sort of dumbfoundedness. Mouth slacked open lightly, the works, really. What kind of answer is "Oh, I just do it"? Jarring one, that's what. It was that he seemed so confident and casual in the statement that got to her, and remained with her even as she snapped back to attention at Claude's orders and exposition about wall-guns. Was it really that simple? Sylvie's brow creased lightly in thought as he went on about his methods, trying to find some reasoning or routine or technique that would explain everything—but wait as she did while fiddling her thumbs to the end of blasting zombies, none did.

And maybe that was the point?

One of the best ways Sylvie could think to describe Claude was "implacably carefree". There was just nothing that stressed the man. Patience of a saint with a few times the kindness. He took things as they came and kept himself untroubled by the rolling waves of life. Sylvie realised she tended to let herself get caught up in them more than anything. She'd let herself be swept up by them for years, staying miserable as a result; and even as her life was now, she couldn't find it in herself to let the stress of the need to micromanage her own life go.

"...Je vois."

Maybe Sylvie could stand to act a little more carefree.

And as she found herself leaning forward, intently taking in each and every tidbit of unseriously seriously sound advice concerning the dumb gorey zombie game from the man she played it with, she found it a little easier to do so. She began to nod along more earnestly, chuckling as the wackier mechanics were explained, ooing and ahhing at the cool and intense moments. She got more excited at the gameplay as time went on, letting the world outside herself, Claude and the screen pass her by. Even the intensity and worry she'd consciously heaped on her own mind concerning the nature of her visit, being so near her crush, all melted away as she made the willed decision to stop willing herself to exhaustion. For now, at least. Her smile broadened and her laughs sounded out clear, natural, genuine. It was safe here. Near Claude, it always was.

And then, short snap back to reality as she was made to consider Claude's question, this time. But it wasn't as if her cheery mood had vanished. Her pleasant little smile still stuck as her bright and wide eyes momentarily turned up to him, and she went on a short and cheerful tangent.

"Pas grand chose, vraiment... Je suppose que j'ai été vraiment heureuse de faire partie de l'équipe des meneuses ces derniers temps. Toutes les filles sont vraiment sympas, et puis j'aime pouvoir te voir plus souvent."

It was true! Cheer squad was really the big thing in Sylvie's life at the moment. All those old friends (one (1) old friend (Clarissa)), all those new friends, return to sociality, practical liberation from bullying, oh my. It was all so rich, Sylvie thought. Just the thought of how much of an upturn her life had experienced just in these past few months made her feel so giddy. She'd do anything to maintain it. Had to. Oh, and she got to meet Claude and see him around more and it made her so happy and... oh, right, she'd already said that out loud to him.

Hm.

She felt like she should be exploding or something by now, but instead it was just another added warmth to her current feeling, an extra little blush if anything.

Wasn't there a disney song about this state of mind? She'd have to look it up later.