tfln overflow / open post

[superniceone]

(open / overflow)

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[recreatable]

"It's a talent." Verso doesn't immediately look away, which is an improvement. He smiles faintly back, not nearly as hopeful, but— he's holding Gustave's gaze, which should really count for something. He cants his head toward Maelle, then raises his eyebrow questioningly (and a little smugly, since he so successfully managed to get out of that conversation).

[superniceone]

Gustave's little shrug is enough to get Maelle's attention; she glances at him, then tracks his gaze quickly enough back to Verso. "Hey," she calls over, "I said you'd be his date to the victory party. Don't let us down."

She looks a little smug herself when her interjection makes Gustave look like he wants to die. Someday Gustave will be baffled that he never saw the resemblance.

[recreatable]

Victory party. Verso's smile falters as he imagines Maelle planning a party she'll never have. It's fine. She can throw one in the real world, with real family and real friends. The smile makes its way firmly back into his face.

"I'm afraid you'll have to fight Monoco for that privilege," he calls back.

[superniceone]

Gustave thinks he see that smile falter, his throat a little tight, but he doesn't point it out. Instead, he just gently touches Maelle's back. "Any time," he replies just loud enough to be heard, but he gently redirects her back to her conversation with Esquie then.

[recreatable]

That's the last Verso talks to Gustave that night; he retires to his bedroll not long after, although he tosses and turns for a long while after, as expected. It's not only about Gustave, although he features in some of Verso's worries as both a main character and background player; it's about everything. Dread, anticipation. Just a few more days to make it through.

The next day, as they make their way across the water to Sirene, he remains as aggressively normal as the days prior, although there's anxiety in the way he wrings his hands as they step back onto land.

"Does that aim of yours still feel off?" he asks Gustave, eyeing his metal arm.

[superniceone]

Gustave does his best to rally himself if only for Maelle's sake. She's hopeful; he's going to do his best to find his own hope, too.

"No," he answers, flexing his metal arm as if to reassure him. "All good here. Are you alright?"

[recreatable]

No, not really. There's a nonzero chance he's going to have to bury the team tonight. What'll be left of them, anyway. That's probably not the right thing to say to motivate Gustave, so he shrugs noncommittally.

"Just looking forward to the sketch you make of this one."

[superniceone]

Maybe it's cowardly, but it's easier to face his own potential doom with the knowledge that Verso will protect Maelle when he's gone. "It's alright. You can take it easy. I'll watch your back this time."

He's not trying to flirt - he just wishes he could do something to ease the anxiety in his hands.

[recreatable]

Gesturing to himself, Verso says, "Immortal, remember?"

No back-watching necessary. Whatever happens, he'll still be here come tomorrow morning, even if he's the only one.

"But I appreciate the heroic sentiment." It's certainly a sweet thought, even if he'd prefer Gustave not watch his back, actually.

[superniceone]

"Well, you know me. I'm all about sentiments." Gustave isn't sure there's anyone in the party unaware of their strange recent dynamic, but Gustave maintains a polite distance from him even if he does drop his voice just slightly. "It's going to be alright, Verso. I've got a good feeling about today."

[recreatable]

"Well, if you've got a good feeling about it," he teases gently. It doesn't do much to ease his mind, but the sentiment is, again, sweet. He raises his hands, then, placating. "I'm all right. I only wanted to look troubled so you'd comfort me."

[superniceone]

Gustave smiles a little crookedly at that, wishing not for the first time that there was something that he could actually do to help. It's something he's felt a lot lately. "It's okay to admit that you're worried, you know," he murmurs. "We won't think any less of you."

He'd like to reach out, to squeeze Verso's raised hand, but he recognizes that's the sort of thing that would bring him comfort - not Verso - and so he doesn't. "Come on, then - we've got a lot of ground to cover."

[recreatable]

And they do cover a lot of ground, past the dancers and over the levitating podiums, all the way to the source of the song herself. If seeing Verso's Axon was strange, it's all the more troubling to come face-to-face with Sirene. She isn't Maman, yet she shares her essence; being near her makes Verso desperately miss the real version of her, the version he can't both love and have. Despite it spelling their victory, he hates to see her dissolve into petals.

They return to camp, and Maelle has another one of her waking nightmares; she handles them better these days, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't wish he could embrace her and tell her that he won't let anything happen to her. Instead, he just places a hand on her shoulder before letting the others take the lead on her comfort.

The Curator provides Maelle with a weapon to pierce the barrier after that, and it feels— almost solemn. More real than it's ever felt before. He wouldn't know what it feels like to stare mortality in the face, but maybe this is it. He keeps mostly to himself for the rest of the night, ruminating; Maelle is the center of attention for obvious reasons, so his distance isn't particularly notable. As the night comes to a close, though, he settles down by Gustave and his precious journal.

"Hey," he says. No excuse to talk to him this time.

[superniceone]

It's a little strange, the way they all act like they don't notice there's something special about Maelle. She'd been the one person actively rescued from the beach, had brought the Curator along with her; had these Visions, now, too, that made it clear there was something going on.

But Gustave has no idea how to go ahead with approaching that topic; it's easier, he thinks, if he just tries to instead focus on the things he can affect.

"Hey," he echoes, finishing his sentence before he snaps the journal shut and looks at Verso. "How are you doing?"

[recreatable]

"It's Maelle you should be asking that," he says, glancing back at her. She doesn't seem rattled, at least not the way she had at the beginning, but he knows Alicia. She's just trying to be brave. "But I'm sure you already did multiple times." Gustave is the only person in the world who spends as much time worrying about her as Verso does, after all.

Anyway, he sidesteps the question entirely. You are not welcome to his twisted mind, keep out.

"What about you?"

[superniceone]

"You really remind me of her sometimes," Gustave says, glancing fondly Maelle's way. "Back when she first came to me and Emma... always pretending to be unrattled. Always evading the question when we tried to get her to open up."

He looks back to Verso after a moment, reaching over to gently grab and squeeze his thigh, just above his knee. It's a gesture of brief affection. "Maybe that's why I like you so much. But I'm good. Thank you for asking."

[recreatable]

It's wrong, probably, that he's happy to be compared to Maelle, even in this small, somewhat unflattering way. The equivocation is hereditary, he doesn't say, although it probably is. The consequence of growing up in a family where no one was ever quite sane; Maelle didn't stand a chance.

"So much," he repeats. "Well, now you're just encouraging me not to be forthcoming."

[superniceone]

Gustave fixes him with an amused little look, and doesn't say what he thinks about that: that they're both very much aware that Gustave already likes him enough that it's a problem.

"I won her over eventually," he answers instead. "But you didn't dismember yourself even a little bit to talk to me tonight, so... I guess that's not nothing."

[recreatable]

"There's still time," he says, although he was hoping not to cut any limbs off, if he's being honest. It's pretty damn unpleasant.

A moment of silence stretches out, mostly of the companionable sort rather than the awkward sort. In truth, he's just thinking. He feels a bit like he did the day before a big recital: anxious, excited, worried that he's going to play all the wrong notes.

"You really love her," he finally says.

[superniceone]

It would be easy to be offended, but instead he's just a little surprised and momentarily bemused. "This is a recent revelation?" Brief earlier touch aside, Gustave is maintaining a polite distance, though his body language is relaxed, friendly.

[recreatable]

Verso shakes his head. "It's not that, I just—" Always assumed he loved her more, loved her better. There's no one in the world who could know Alicia and not love her, in his biased opinion, but loving someone to the depth Verso loves her is rare.

"You'd do anything for her, wouldn't you?" he asks, uncharacteristically serious and not at all ominous.

[superniceone]

Gustave isn't entirely certain where this is going, and he turns to face Verso a little more, eyes searching for a clue in his face. He'd thought that much was obvious from the start: as far as Gustave was aware, Verso's introduction to them had been stepping in when Gustave, near death, had chosen to remain standing been Renoir and Maelle instead of leaping to safety without her.

"I would die and kill for her," he says, gentle but matter of fact. "Why?"

[recreatable]

Dying is one thing; killing is another. One person? Two? Innocent people? Instead of asking that, he asks, "Would you choose her over the mission?"

[superniceone]

Gustave stares at him, his expression carefully impassive. "Don't ask me that unless you have a reason to." It could have been a warning, but it's clearly a plea.

[recreatable]

Well, there's his answer. He's not sure what he expected. Did he want Gustave to hold his hand and tell him that he's doing the right thing, that Gustave would do the same if only he knew? That was never going to happen.

"Sorry," he says. "Idle thought. Forget I asked."