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[superniceone]

(open / overflow)

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[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."

[superniceone]

"I would do anything for her, Verso." He doesn't know that it was, but it wasn't an idle question. "I would fuck the mission in a heartbeat. If that's what you were asking."

[recreatable]

A long silence follows that, less companionable and more loaded. He turns Gustave's words over in his mind, but all he says in response is, "Family, huh?" Can't live with them, can't live without them.

Then, as if he didn't just ask Gustave to confess an awful truth: "It's been a long day. We should turn in."

[superniceone]

"You're really just going to leave me with that?" Gustave doesn't break his stare at him, uncomfortable and intense. "What an ass."

[recreatable]

"I've been known to be infuriating." But he doesn't actually want to infuriate Gustave, even though he would rather Gustave share and get nothing in return. "Fine. I'd choose my sister, too. Just thinking about her, I guess."

[superniceone]

"Tell me about her." Gustave is intense, curious. "If that's okay.'

[recreatable]

Is it Maelle he should describe, or her facsimile? They're both his sisters. Different in some ways; the painted Alicia was created with resentment, doomed to suffer forever for committing what Maman considered a grave sin — surviving when Verso didn't. Maelle is a version of her he thought he'd never get to see again. Full of life, ready to take on anything.

He splits the difference. "She's sad," he says, because it describes the both of them. "But she tries to keep up a brave face." Just like Maelle, planning a victory party to keep everyone in high spirits. "The family feud is difficult on her."

[superniceone]

"She sounds like she takes a lot after you," Gustave confesses quietly, and to his own quiet humiliation, he's reaching for Verso's hand, hoping to catch it in his own. "You must have been close with her."

[recreatable]

Verso lets Gustave's fingers brush his. It's been a long time since anyone held his hand. He should discourage it, but the feeling of human touch provides some level of comfort and reassurance. Just for a moment, he tells himself.

"I was, once," he says, trying to sound light, like it's all in the past, and that he doesn't spend all day feeling as if he's miles away from both Maelle and Alicia. Like she's behind a locked door, at times both literally and metaphorically.

Then, with the sort of blasé tone that one can only have when discussing their siblings, he adds, "Our older sister would have you believe I taught her all of my worst qualities." And she'd be correct. "Everyone's a critic."

[superniceone]

"That's what older brothers are for, isn't it? Emma was immune to my nonsense, and she was absolutely furious with me when she realized Maelle wasn't."

When she'd volunteered herself for the expedition and no one had been able to dissuade her. Gustave hadn't loved that, either, but she was her own person, and he had to respect her choice.

"Verso," he continues a moment later, focusing again. "It's my turn to ask a strange question." Gustave squeezes Verso's hand in his, not releasing it.

[recreatable]

Well, that's a little ominous. Fair, certainly, after Verso just asked him something quite personal and revealing, but ominous all the same. Obviously, he has no way to handle this save for diving headfirst into irreverence again.

"All right, I'll be your date to the victory party. It'll break Monoco's heart, though."

[superniceone]

Gustave fixes him with a thin, strained little smile. The fact that he's struggling a bit with the next part is incredibly transparent, but he's been galvanized slightly by the specificity of Verso's question.

"Maelle. She's got some kind of connection with this place, doesn't she? The way the Curator treats her, the things she sees." He's not asking for an explanation; just confirmation.

[recreatable]

"I wouldn't know," he answers, frowning. A connection. Yes, it's clear that this place responds to Maelle, and her to it in turn. It would be smarter to lie outright and say 'no', tell Gustave that he's reading a little too far into things out of brotherly concern, but—

"She does seem to be... different," he lands on. "But I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

[superniceone]

"I think I'm allowed to be a little worried," Gustave says quietly, but he'll release Verso's hand then, leaning back to give some space. "Guess it's not fair to expect you to have the answer to everything."