etrayalogs | tomorrow is here

When she walks in, he does have his back to the door. He's abusing the Pictos space he has to move pieces he's found to his apartment. At least to give the impression that it's lived in, anyway. Like an indoor plant that he keeps moving from one side of the wall to the other.

But he stops as soon as he hears her voice. His head turns slightly before he turns around to greet her. "I'll try to keep that in mind. Only thing I really worry about anyone stealing is the piano, if I'm honest." A casual reply back even as he flexes his fingers at his side.

"And how are you liking your new space? Did you actually get any rocks to add to it?" Verso gives her a little smile as he makes a gesture for her to enter, for her to take her seat. It's funny that he offers her the same place to sit as Gustave did days ago.

He really should invest in a few more chairs -- is what he thinks as he takes his usual seat at his piano. Maybe that would've been more appropriate than a plant.

"I don't think the piano would fit out that door," she replies, nodding to the closed door behind her. Really, only her, Sciel, or Gustave could pull it off, and unless Sciel feels like playing a joke on Verso, he's safe.

When he motions for her to sit, she does so, trying not to look as anxious as she feels.

"Rocks and rubble are surprisingly difficult to find on store shelves, actually. It just looks less depressing now. Your place is... coming along," she settles on, looking around. A work in progress. "Did I interrupt what you were doing?"

"You know -- you're right." He tilts his head to glance toward the door in question. "Which means if it goes missing, I'll know who to ask first." His index finger flicks out to wag slightly in her direction before he tilts his hand back to shake it a little to gesture outside to the hallway.

Verso doesn't sit the same as he did with Gustave. Instead, he leans forward and resting his arms on his knees. His hands between his legs as he interlaces his fingers, rubbing his thumb over the other.

"Guess this place really is lacking, but glad it's looking less depressing." His eyebrows lift and he nods along. "No, not interrupting anything. I'm just bad at decorating."

He tips his head towards her. "Before, when I had my shack, it was just one room --" He leans back to make a box with his hands. "-- a very small room, and so I didn't have to worry too much about it."

A question lingers on his tongue but he decides to let her control the conversation.

Edited 2025-07-17 04:15 (UTC)

Just like that, he makes her laugh. A short sound, but unmistakable, even if she does quickly squash it with her teeth sinking into her lower lip. Sitting upright, spine straight, her boots just barely skim the floor as she swings her feet once, trying to get comfortable despite how weird this feels.

She doesn't like that things only got weird once Gustave was in the picture. Or so it feels. Weirder than how it was before, she guesses.

"Sounds like you miss the shack, maybe?" Maelle questions.

Immediately, he's smiling at hearing her laugh. The tension in his shoulders loosens even as she squashes the sound. He softens how he looks at her; careful not to push her any more than she wants to go.

The air between them is different; he recognizes his own part in making it that way and tries to be a comforting presence instead. Apologizing at this point would be awkward and wouldn't completely truthful. He's sorry to hurt her, but not sorry to reject her offer; yet those things are too tied together that it's a worthless apology in his eyes.

"A little. Maybe I'll try to get one here."

"You're allowed to live down the hall. Not somewhere in a shack," she says, smile rueful because Verso will do as Verso pleases. What she says means little. That's okay.

What's not okay is this. Talking about missing a shack that probably reeked and did little to protect him from the elements.

She misses him, but the words don't quite form correctly. Maelle lifts a shoulder.

"I got used having you around."

The corner of his smile widens as he leans forward a little more. "Understood." A little promise in not so many words that he doesn't intend to move from where he is. He leans back to his previous position.

He feels a pain run through his chest next.

"I know." A painful swallow. Yes, he knows even if she doesn't. "But I think this works just as well. And -- I could even show you how to contact me." He lightly taps his ear to indicate the earpiece that they have.

"I got shown how to work so, you can always find a way to reach me."

That would give her peace of mind, especially with the mission coming up. She watches him with a frown, wondering if he feels the heaviness in the room or if she's just imagining it. She wonders if he'd tell the truth if she asked.

"... I'm not sorry for what I said. I won't say it again, but I still mean it."

Verso wants to argue that point; he can feel the desire to correct her crawling up his throat. But he knows that he's hurt her, too. It will always kill him a little to see her upset, to see her struggling. He thought that before and thinks that now.

"Thank you." At least, she won't say it again, and maybe those feelings will fade.

A slight pause as he thinks of how he should apologize. As awkward as he felt it was, he realizes that it should be said all the same.

"You were right, though. I wasn't filling Gustave's spot. That wasn't right of me to say, and I didn't mean it like that, either." He did, but not like that, anyway. Certainly, it came out wrong, but she shouldn't have to take that sort of thing from me.

Edited 2025-07-17 11:59 (UTC)

"You're just... Verso," Maelle says, quietly. She's not sure she buys that he didn't mean what he said in that way, but let's it be. To her, Verso feels like family. To her, he was not even close to a replacement for Gustave, in any way, shape, or form. These are good things. She has to remember that things are twisted for him. Complicated.

"I know it's... difficult. Renoir, and Gustave... all of us, being here, after we thought we won."

But even that ride home on Esquie didn't feel good. It should have.

"I am." It's a brief pause before he smiles a little wider.

The corner of his smile drift down. It becomes a little more lopsided as his eyes flicker to the ground before back to her face.

"Yeah. I thought you'd be able to go home." A sincere statement laced with regret. He has no control over what's happened, but that much he wanted. "Emotions are running understandably high and might for a bit, but we'll all figure it out. I believe in us."

Running his tongue against his teeth, he nods almost absentmindedly. Again, his eyes dart down before he comes up with what he is going to say. "And I don't know if this will ever feel like right, but I hope you're starting to feel safe."

"Lumiere never felt like home to me. Not in the way it does for Gustave and Sciel," she reminds him. She mourns more for Emma, for the apprentices. For the people she knows Gustave loves and wanted to save. Her home, she realized all too late, was Gustave.

"I can be okay here. Can you be okay here?" There's just a tiny bit of teasing in her tone. She might not feel it in her heart, but she can fake it. It's not a lie. Just... a way to ease into something more comfortable, more familiar.

"Yeah." A quiet reply that he isn't quite sure is agreeing with what she's saying or just offering a response to what she said. He gives another little nod as he continues to agree about how it doesn't feel like home.

His chin dips down against his chest briefly before he lifts it back up -- another wry smile that slowly shifts to a warmer one.

He breathes a little laugh out of his nose before smiling more earnestly. "Well, it isn't a shack, but I think I'll be able to live all right." He holds hand up and flicks his finger in a half circle in front of him. "I know I already promised just earlier no shack. But truly, I'll be okay so long as you all are."

For someone who doesn't wish to call the Expedition family, he sure does stress the importance of them being okay. Maelle supposes the Disaster Expedition will be what it is, a family of sorts, and simply opt out of using the word around Verso. Maelle gets up and goes to plop herself down on the piano bench beside him.

"I got you something. Close your eyes and hold out your hands."

She had been hopeful they would be okay, too.

Verso adjusts how he sits as soon as she comes to plop down next to him. He sits a little straight, turning himself toward Maelle. His head does the little tilt to the side at her request.

"Did you?" A slight pause. "All right."

Closing his eyes, he holds his hand out. Of course, not sure how big a thing that she got him -- his fingers keep involuntarily try to adjust to whatever the gift might be, twitching and spreading, curling slightly in toward one another.

This is better. Something unrelated to home or the Expedition or Renoir or anything painful. Maelle smiles at his obedience, though she does need to test him. Byild the suspense.

"Eyes closed all the way? How many fingers am I holding up?"

She's holding up two.

"Twelve."

He wiggles his fingers as his hand moves closer to where she is.

Maelle laughs and lightly swats his hands. Very funny, Verso.

"Anyway," she says, putting her Pictos to use and producing her gift, "I saw this and thought of you."

In his hands she places a light, felt, palm-sized decorative bird. It is very cute. What about it made her think of Verso? She'll never tell.

Verso lightly swings his hand to the side like the swat hurt.

But it is back to about where it was before, still held up to accept the gift. His eyebrows come together when he feels what is placed in his hand. He squeezes the object, turning it about in his hand, before asking:

"Can I open my eyes?" It's said as he leans towards Maelle.

Maelle thinks about making him guess, but he'll never get it in a hundred years. She's not that salty about their previous conversation. This is a peace offering, after all.

"Go on. Take a look."

Opening his eyes, he did catch that it is a stuffed animal of sorts, but is still surprised at what is staring back at him.

"Well, I would've not have guessed this." He lightly pokes the beak. "Thank you. I'll treasure it. I may even keep it always in my Pictos space so it's always around."

Verso gives the bird another affectionate poke.

It's ugly-cute, and that means it's cute in Maelle's books. Would a grown man choose this to put in his home? Unlikely. All the more reason for Verso to have it.

"Oh, no, no. It's meant to live here with you. Look at its little spectacles. They're love hearts. An adventurer wouldn't wear those."

"Ah, you're absolutely correct."

Verso pauses to look around where he could put the bird. Shifting, he turns around to carefully rests the bird on the surface of the piano. He has to adjust the legs a little to make sure that it won't just fall over.

"What you think? A place of honor if ever there was one here."

Maelle grins. She thought it could go in a corner somewhere, but if he wants to put it on open display, so be it.

"I think that's perfect... as long as you don't mind an audience at all times when you play."

"I certainly don't."

He leans towards her, lightly bumping her shoulder with his.

"I fear I thrive on it." His mouth widens into a teasing smile. A little laugh breathes itself through his nose and he lets out a little sigh. It breaks up some of the stuffy feeling in his chest, anyway. That feeling will come back on its own, but that's not her fault.

"Hey--" A pause. "--you weren't able to be part of all the excitement with casino. But I was able to acquire quite a few prizes from there. Want one?"

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