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[maellum]

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[cache_coeur]

[Her brows pinch the slightest bit, gently concerned.]

Well, I’m not letting him off the hook that easily. We’ve been through too much to let an ugly fight scare him off.

[maellum]

Maybe that's it, though. Maybe we've just... been through too much.

[Between Gustave feeling out of step and Verso complicating that now in a new way, Maelle feels defeated.]

I don't know why he came with Gustave here or why Gustave even brought him.

[cache_coeur]

[Sciel eases up off Maelle, but only to crawl up enough to flop down beside her, sprawled on her side on top of the covers. Humour slips into her voice.]

This isn’t grains of sand tipping a scale, we only have to give in when we decide to.

[And a bit more seriously:]

They might be at odds with each other, but they have us in common. Gustave couldn’t come back empty handed, and Verso wouldn’t let Gustave knock out somewhere alone. I wish they hadn’t brawled, but… their choice.

[maellum]

[Maelle watches Sciel settle down beside her. As always, she seems so sure.]

Verso gets this one pass. Regardless of who started it, if he does anything like that again, I'll...

[She trails off. Do what? Put his immortality to the test? Maelle sighs.]

[cache_coeur]

Stay out of the crossfire and wait for Lune to sort them out? That’s what I have planned.

[Much as she loves a good spar with either, she’s not interested in refereeing theirs.]

[maellum]

If they want an innocent teenager caught in the crossfire, the guilt will eat at least one of them up.

[Maelle is always happy to remind people she's all but sixteen every now and then.]

[cache_coeur]

[Sciel laughs under her breath, and reaches out to squeeze Maelle’s shoulder. It’s not funny, but…]

They both better faint from it.

[maellum]

Hm. Might be easier for the rest of us.

[Another sigh, and Maelle still feels like someone is squeezing her heart in her chest.]

I don't want to hurt Gustave again.

[cache_coeur]

[She nods. That’s on her heart and mind, too.]

By defending Verso, mm?

[maellum]

Yeah. It feels like... wanting Verso's company, or just... talking about him, hurts him. Even if he says it's okay. I know it's not.

[The easy thing would be to ignore Verso. Somehow. But she can't even entertain the idea without it feeling like a knife in her chest.]

[cache_coeur]

[Sciel runs her hand along Maelle’s arm, firm through the blankets.]

It’s going to be uncomfortable for him for a little while, and he may never like it, but he brought Verso back here himself. How we make a team with both Gustave and Verso is up to all of us, and we’ll make sure Gustave’s feelings are tended to, too.

[maellum]

I think he's always uncomfortable now. In some way. Because of what happened, because of Verso...

It was easier when he wasn't here.

[It's the awful truth.]

I missed him, but... I don't know.

[cache_coeur]

Easier, but unresolved, non?

[She could live with not knowing the answers to every question that’s come up since Verso first strolled into camp, but tension over that could bleed a friendship out, over time. Better to address it, and…]

I think Gustave needs answers that only Verso can give.

[maellum]

Answers to what? I know he's upset about Old Lumière, but I don't think Verso would have let anything happen to me.

[She was on her own, but probably not alone.]

[cache_coeur]

No, but he didn’t “let” anything happen to Noco, either.

[He’d do whatever was in his power to do, but that’s just it: the world is full of things Verso can’t control, and they had fought Renoir, there. They’d walked away, and they’d learned a little more, and the rest is loss.]

Lune and I got to talk to him about why he lead us all there without warning, even if we didn’t have the whole story. It was tense for a little, but we stuck with him. Gustave should be allowed the same opportunity to judge Verso’s character for himself, shouldn’t he?

[maellum]

He's already judged him. I don't think he'll change his mind. Not when all he can think about is that Verso was there when he wasn't, and he put me in danger. Even if nothing happened.

[Let her despair, Sciel.]

[cache_coeur]

I can see a world where he can understand where Verso is coming from, even if forgiveness isn’t an option. That’s a resolution that won’t haunt him, or make us wary about having them in the same room. I think that would be good for all of us, even if they’ll never be bosom friends.

[maellum]

That is very optimistic, Sciel.

[Maelle can't see it under the shadow of how terribly their encounters have been.]

[cache_coeur]

Are you surprised?

[But it is, in a way, still ambitious; she sighs and sidles into Maelle’s space, intent on cuddling her.]

Besides, I like you far too much to not imagine a happier time for you than this.

[maellum]

[Maelle lifts up a blanket, an invitation to really get in there. It's a little chilly in the apartment, or maybe it just feels colder after last night.]

That's what I want. A happier time for all of us. It feels impossible.

[cache_coeur]

[It is colder, especially for folks like them, unused to the plunging weather. Sciel slides in next to her, an arm around Maelle’s shoulders.]

Tricky but not impossible, I promise. And even if it gets tense between us old people, we’ll always want what’s best for you, hmm?

[maellum]

The old people would know what's best, in theory.

[Yet another sigh, but this one releases some tension, coaxed out by Sciel's warmth and the weight of her arm.]

I'm tired of being upset. Actually exhausted.

[cache_coeur]

Oh, I know. Crying is almost nice when it can be indulgent, but too much of it and it starts to feel like more of a prison than actual relief.

[She feels that shift in Maelle’s body, and she gives her a little squeeze, settling in comfortably.]

What are we wrong about, you think?

[maellum]

... me, I guess? Like I don't know how to judge people. That I don't have my own opinions.

[Because of Verso. Because of how quickly she warmed to him. Because of the strong emotions that grip her.]

[cache_coeur]

[Old enough to choose to die out on the Continent, too young to really escape an overruling by people twice her age. Sciel pets her hair, gentle.]

We can be very patronizing, I think. I’m sorry to have helped it along, but I would like to hear your judgements and opinions whenever you’d like to share them. One Verso enthusiast to another?