[Every day. Their duels were always fun. Another way to play, while both honing their skills for the expedition. It didn't save him, in the end, but nothing really could, could it? Maelle was no help.]
Hmm. Seeing as you don't have anything better to do [nor does she!], it might have to be daily.
[His silliness has always been a surefire way to get her out of a mood, and it's so effortless Maelle's own laughter surprises her.]
You don't have any apprentices yet. That's how I know.
[But it seems to be less of a dire thing here. The fae do things for pleasure and because they can and because there's no imminent doom. It's an adjustment, to be sure.]
I think you've earned a break.
[And, selfishly, she wants so much of his time she hopes he doesn't end up with apprentices. Not yet, at least. It's still hard to let him out of her sight.]
[ Seeing her brighten up, even just a little, makes him smile. If he can't do anything else, at least he can do that. And he's impressed by her point, nodding sagely. ]
Do you think the fae have children than need apprenticeships? [ Part of him wishes he'd thought to offer that as his end of the deal. Not... ]
A break, huh? So you can beat up an old man. Daily.
You can always ask. I don't know how interested they are in learning from us humans, though. They have magic.
[Which, you know, would have made a lot of problems in their world go away. Or at least be solved without the years of effort put into pictos and the Lumina Converter. Oh, well. Maelle is trying very hard not to be bitter about so many things.]
Depending on how you look at it, we do too, you know. [ Not that anyone's ever called it that by name, but, that's what it was, wasn't it? Magic? In some form. ] If they weren't, why bring us here in the first place? And if they don't want to learn, maybe they should.
[ Those problems, these problems, right at this exact moment, none of it actually matters. Gustave isn't solving anything other than trying to keep away the sadness that is clinging to Maelle and that's enough of a task to focus on. ]
[It all goes back to one thing, in the end. What does he want? This is his second chance.]
... what do we do here, Gustave?
[Renoir is a problem, but Verso told her not to worry. She trusts him. He may leave out important details, but he got them where they needed to be, ultimately. She has to trust him here, too.]
[She says quietly, firmly. The representation of the court, the realm. If not for this place, she wouldn't be speaking to Gustave right now. She pointedly doesn't look at him because simply remembering that fact is enough to make a lump form in her throat.]
[ Gustave puts his arm around her as he makes a show of trying to think of another target. ]
What don't we like? I'm sure there's something we can aim for. I was just, well, the castle is hard to miss. I just figured it would be an easy target. Unless you think you're up for a real challenge. We could aim for the boat?
[He doesn't draw attention to it, nor does she, but just that simple act of his arm over her shoulders calms her. She's missed this so much--she wonders if there will ever be a day that looking at him doesn't make her heart ache. Some day, maybe this will feel real.]
You like the boat.
[No aiming for things they like.]
Maybe you just show me how to skip stones. I've never understood how that works.
[ Is that confidence? Bravado? Just him trying to keep his mind off other things? Maybe it's all of the above, but really, his focus is on Maelle, and getting as many moments he can before he's out of time. ]
I can do that. We need completely different stones for that though. I'll show you how to pick those out, too. There's a... a technique to it. Picking the right one. Just as much as getting it to skip over the water.
[This, here, is what she missed most. His love for figuring things out. His love for teaching--for teaching her, and she keeps everything he's shown her over the years close to her heart. Her memories with him are her most prized possession.
She can't think that this is only temporary. That this is only extra scraps thrown to them. This has to be forever, in this strange, strange place.]
[ If Gustave had been able to wish for anything, it just would have been more time. More time for this, to share with the people he loved. To learn more about the things he never got the chance to figure out. To finish those old prototypes he had sitting back home in Lumière.
There's no getting back the time they lost, but there's time now and he's not going to waste a second of it. ]
Well, you see, [ and he's animatedly gesturing as he speaks, ] The best ones are always by the river. They—the water smooths out all the edges and they'll glide over the surface. It's aerodynamics. My record is twelve. For skipping them. It would have been thirteen but I was robbed. Waves.
[The correction makes her laugh. Her bond with Gustave was always different than her bond with Emma, but she did always enjoy hearing her share stories of Gustave's youth. Mostly because they were embarrassing. Weird kids, all of them.]
Let's go. We really do need the best stones if you're to beat your record.
[ Maybe it was because he was older, maybe it was just because it was just the way he was, but even though he'd been her parent since they lost theirs to the Gommage, he always tried to be gentle, kind. He was a weird kid turned into a weird adult, but that just meant he might have been better to help other weird kids like him and Emma, like Maelle. ]
Trust me. It makes all the difference. [ Slightly changing their course, Gustave started down the path that should take them to the river. ] You should know this path too. It's good to know where water is. You can usually follow it to keep yourself oriented in case you get lost.
[She gives him a look. She's not intending to leave his side very often, and not for very long if she does. It's difficult to let him out of her sight because she's so afraid that in the next moment she'll wake up from this dream and be without him again.]
[ Gustave gives her a look back, somewhere between parental and amused. It wasn't his intention to smother her while they were here, and it was his job to always make sure that she was prepared to face anything. That included being able to find her way around. ]
But it doesn't hurt to be prepared. Mark a few places we can all meet if something happens here.
[ Gustave smiles over at her. He's not really concerned about her luck, or his, which admittedly isn't that great either. They'll figure it out. ]
That's a good idea. Now we just have to figure out what. [ Something that's recognizable, but not too obvious. There are still people here that he doesn't want finding a trail to follow, deals and agreements aside. So that's the 33 out. ] Any ideas?
[She may still wear the Expedition 33 armband, but she doesn't think it feels right, carving that number into a tree. They're done. It's over. No more expeditions. No more Paintress.
Not here, at least.]
Maybe our initials? M and G. Or G and M, if you'd like to be first. Age before beauty.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
continued
no subject
cont.
no subject
continued
no subject
cont.
no subject
continued
no subject
cont.
no subject
continued
no subject
cont.
no subject
continued
no subject
cont.
no subject
continued
no subject
cont.
no subject
continued
no subject
cont.
no subject
continued
no subject
cont.
no subject
continued
no subject
cont.
no subject
continued
no subject
cont.
no subject
continued
no subject
cont.
no subject
continued
no subject
cont.
no subject
continued
spoiler warning in the subject line because this is going to collapse soon lol
set us free aaaaaaaa
(no subject)