Chapter Text
Scar—----------
The farm is peaceful and quiet, with only the sound of birds chirping in the trees. Melody wanders over to the chess board where Andy and Claus are currently playing chess. She watches their game silently until they finish, watching them move the pieces back and forth. She doesn't really understand the game. When she thinks they're done, she speaks up. "Hi, Andy! Hi, Claus! I see you're playing chess."
Claus nods, smiling. "Hello, Melody. Yes, we were playing chess." Melody leans over the table, staring at the pieces. "How do you play? I don't get it. It looks like a bunch of nothing to me." Claus scoffs in response. "A bunch of nothing? It's a lot of everything! There are many rules and procedures!" Claus turns his head to Andy, and waves his hand dismissively at him. Andy gives him a strange look, and then walks away, heading off in the direction of where Felix is.
Melody sits down, and watches as Claus rearranges the board. Claus sits there explaining the rules to her until it seems the sun has started to go down. Melody at this point had her head laid on the table, bored out of her mind. "And you see, the Queen can-"
"Yeah, yeah, that's great..." Melody interrupts. "So, when do we actually play?" Claus rolls his eyes at her. "You can't play anything until you know the rules!"
Oka—-----------------
"What's the point of a game if it takes hours for you to get to play it?" Melody asks
Claus stares at her for a moment, looking offended on the behalf of the game. "Well– maybe you just don't have the intellect required for a game such as this!" Claus scowls
"Why do you always do that?" Melody suddenly asks, confusing Claus for a minute.
"Do what?" The clock tilts his head, bewildered by the sudden topic change.
Melody gives Claus a hard stare, "You know what! You're always talking like you're better than us and use unnecessary words! You always act rude! Why do you do that?"
"I–" Claus pauses. Does he do that? I mean, he's aware he's intelligent, but he wasn't aware that he was that cocky about it. "I don't act rude!" He spits back instead of answering Melody's question.
"Look, you don't wanna answer my question! You're scared to tell us!" Melody shouts.
Scar—----------------
Claus scoffs, his eyes narrowing. He takes this as an insult. "I'm not scared! What, do you think I'm weak? I'm not scared of anything!" Melody takes this personally, and raises a hand up quickly in retaliation. Claus' eyes widen slightly, his body flinching back involuntarily. Melody narrows her eyes, putting her hands on her hips. "Yeah, see that! You flinched! You're scared of stuff!"
Claus tsks, looking away. "I'm here to explain chess, not have you psychoanalyze me! If that's what you want to do, then you should just...go home!" Melody stands up, putting her hands on the table. "No! Stop avoiding my questions! Maybe you need to be psychoanalyzed!"
Claus crossed his arms. "Then, pray tell, why do I need a little psychoanalysis!" He says, tilting his head from side to side heatedly. Melody steps away from the table, walking back and forth as she lists off reasons. "Well first off all, you're always rude! You act like you're better than everyone! You don't let anyone else be right! Your explanations are long, and they usually run longer than whatever we're even doing! You say mean things and don't apologize for them!" She turns her head sharply at him, a frustrated look clear on her face. "Need I say more?"
Claus is shocked for a moment. He didn't expect such a well prepared explanation of his faults. And neither did he know he even had many of them. She really got to the point that he's rude as well. Perhaps...he may be a bit pretentious, but he thought it was charming! He sighs, looking down at the table shamefully. "No...you don't need to say more." It's his instinct to argue more, to debate- but when laid out so plainly from his friend, he seems...frankly, like a narcissistic jerk!
Oka—-----------
"You've said enough." Claus narrows his eyes, his defensiveness quickly overpowering his temporary guilt. "I think you should go."
For a moment, Melody looked stunned by Claus' cold dismissal. But, her shock quickly dissipated, leaving frustration in its wake. Claus paused, did he make a mistake.
"Fine! If you're too scared to face your problems, then come to me when you've matured enough! Have fun pretending to be this big adult when secretly you're an insecure child!" Melody hissed before swiftly turning and storming off, leaving Claus alone with his thoughts.
She was right. It hurt so bad that she was right. He was supposed to be the genius of the group. No one was supposed to outsmart him. And yet, Melody, the one he perceived as the group's idiotic toddler, had done just that. She called him out. She pointed out everything he tried to ignore. And God, did that hurt. It felt like organs had been pulled out and reorganized. His whole world had been turned upside down. He was the fool. He was the idiot. He was the child–
Wait. He can't cry. That'd just make him feel more childish. He had to do something to regain respect from Melody. He had to show that he wasn't this egotistical childish jerk that she thought he was. But the very thought of approaching her and apologizing directly made him lose breath.
His eyes darted around, as if searching for an answer. And that's when he found it. A red apple sitting in a bucket a few feet away. Now, Claus didn't know Melody's favorite fruit, but he's seen her eat an apple before! So she must at least tolerate them! This'll do. He'll just hand her this and she'll forgive him. Easy.
Scar—--------------------------
Claus waits until he sees Melody look away, and quickly darts to the bucket. He snatches the apple up, planning his route to Melody. Once the map to her is made in his brain, minimizing any possibilities to trip and fall, bump into anything, or hit something that makes him drop the apple, he starts to head on his route.
He takes the twists and turns down to Melody's clearing. As he approaches he hears music from Melody's lyre being played. He peaks his head around the corner, seeing Melody moving his fingers slowly over the strings, making a mournful tune. He stones his expression over, and walks over to her. He'd decided on his way here to not say anything introduction, in fear of perhaps being rude like Melody had said...
He sticks out his arm, holding the apple. "This is an apology." He says stiffly, waiting for Melody to take the apple. She pauses in playing her music when she hears footsteps, and looks at Claus. She can clearly see how glassy his eyes are, and though it looks like he's trying very hard to keep his expression schooled, his eyes are hiding nothing. He looks one blink away from sobbing. She looks at the slightly bruised apple, and takes it. He looks down at it, and when she looks back up Claus is already walking away. She sighs, crunching a bite from the apple. Well, that's better than he usually does.
Hearing the snap of the apple as Melody crunches into it as Claus walks away, he smiles slightly, considering it a success. Maybe he still feels like dirt...
But at least she sort of accepted the apology! Otherwise she wouldn't be eating the apple, right? No, no! He can't overthink in public! He needs to at least get to his house first. Upon looking up, Claus realizes it's very dark outside now. He's not scared of the dark, but it's always good to be wary of possible threats.