CLOSED ˖

[stonethrow]

Who: gustave et al
Where: panorama for the most part
When: arrival & month of june
What: tdm continuations & catch-all

Warnings: spoilers for clair obscur noted on subject lines

Comments

y e a h spoils all the way down

[foretells]

[ She hears it in his tone, the calm finality of it. For how long Sciel's known Gustave, he has always been a man of emotion, of heart. That's what she loves about him, what she's missed for this time. It had never been the same with him gone - not for them, not for Maelle. There's so much she wants to say and she finds this, too, is the weight of grief.

How often had she hoped to see Pierre again, only to shy away from such a thought, knowing she'd have to explain...everything to him?

Sciel comes to join him, kneeling down in front of him so she can reach out and touch his hands. Hers are roughened from so many years in the fields; his one the cool touch of metal. She looks up into his face with what could pass for a smile on anyone else, small at the edges. For her, it's just reflex. ]

No, it doesn't.

[ The words are damning, tight, painful. For all of her hope and elation now that he's here, breathing-- This is the truth. Gustave is lost to them, lost to her. One more she's had to let go of. ]

I'm sorry, Gustave. [ Her eyes are on his face. ] We were going to climb back up. That creature came back to fight us again and kept us from helping you.

[ They wouldn't have succeeded anyway, not with that man there. Not then. But the helplessness is what stings the most, even now. ]

[stonethrow]

( death is a certainty for them all. those in expedition 33 knew that they were throwing their last year or so of life away. the way that his sister had put it—a bloodless guillotine. should they not succeed in their expedition to stop the paintress, they would inevitably die in their gommage, if the nevrons hadn't gotten to them first.

gustave is much of a coward in the way that he refused to see death in the eye, but... things have changed for him. strength in places he used to abscond from. it scares him still, of course, not knowing what skipping the inevitable here means, but these are answers he doesn't yet have.

he takes sciel's hands as she offers them, turning them over in his own, holding firmly onto them. he offers her a soft smile, mirroring her own. death is a friend, sciel would always say, because she knows what it's like, coming close to it herself, by choice.

a light shake of his head follows. )

It wouldn't have made a difference. That man— ( at this, he draws away his human hand from hers, presses it towards where his heart is, on his chest. ) he made it clear what his goal was.

( to not give him a fighting chance. it aches, somewhat, the wound on his chest. he tries not to think too hard about it. he lets his hand drop, and moves, now, so that he can sit down on the floor with sciel. this way, the shadows hide the emotions on his face more. )

I just need to know that Maelle is safe.

[foretells]

Maelle is safe. I promise you that.

[ As safe as any of them can be, but that goes without saying. Maelle hasn't come out of this unscathed, not in body or in heart, but that...also would go without saying. She's lost Gustave, lost the person she loved most dearly in the world. There is no other heartache like losing your person, no other pain that can ever come close to touching such a deep wound.

Sciel reaches out, placing her hand on his again, over his heart. ]

Lune and I won't allow anything to happen to her. We've been in lockstep at her side.

[ Verso is the anomaly she'll have to tell Gustave about. And that's coming, too, because of every implication his presence belies. But Gustave's heart is her focus for the moment. ]

You should know, mon ami, that Maelle keeps writing in your journal. She takes it to the cliffside every night. She's carrying on what you started.

[stonethrow]

( part of the reason why gustave so readily agreed to give his life for maelle, instead of running, as he had promised he would? because he knew that she was in no better hands, with lune and sciel. )

I have no doubt about it.

( despite how things are, despite the grim reality of the world they have (momentarily?) left behind, there is certainty in the way gustave's expressions shifts and melds, until he's got nothing to offer sciel but one of his more sincere smiles.

he's always been the quiet one about his emotions and how he feels, preferring to churn over them than to have others worry about him.

sciel, however, cares for his wellbeing regardless of how well he guards himself from the rest. if he's being honest with himself, he wasn't as difficult to figure out as he had thought; catherine, lucien, they, too, were among those who could see through him. )

Legacy...

( a word that encapsulates all of him, from his successes to his discoveries, to the reason he fell out of step with sophie. )

Do you think Maelle will forgive me, if she is here? ( a rhetorical question, really. ) I'm alright, Sciel. We all knew the risks.

[foretells]

[ What a question to ask. Sciel does really smile this time, but it's an almost exasperated thing, and she even rolls her eyes. ]

Gustave, is that really what you think?

[ That Maelle wouldn't forgive him for breaking his word to her, and for trying to fight for her safety? What a ridiculous notion. She's watched Maelle grieve and close up, open again; she's watched her steadfast and dogged determination in wanting that man to pay for what he's done. And while she knows Gustave wouldn't want Maelle to endanger herself for him, for his legacy, for some kind of revenge...

Well, they all want to see a form of justice. And Renoir has been an obstacle to them since the moment they stepped on the beach. There is no other path.

Sciel moves so she can sit beside Gustave, shoulders bumping. ]

Y'know when Pierre died... [ She trails off. It's heavy on her chest. ] ...when he died, I was angry for a time. At him.

[ For leaving her. For getting involved in such an accident. For not being more careful. For all of the little, inane, useless things that he couldn't control, because those things took him from her. ]

I can't speak for Maelle. But I wasn't ever really mad at him, you know? I was hurting that we ran out of time before we were ready. Before the inevitable. [ The time when he would have gommaged, which is what they had planned for. ] Even if she is angry, and I bet she's not, it's... It's just love, Gustave.

[stonethrow]

( gustave does know of how angry sciel had been at pierre. when life was so precious, so short, in lumière, losing one's own in such a way before the gommage or an expedition seemed like an unnecessary waste. gustave had found himself witness to the despair of those around him, of sciel, always so bright and brave.

it really was a rhetorical question, and yet she gives him more than what he deserves to hear. )

Yeah. ( a smile, light, and then he's holding onto her hand. ) Yeah, you're right.

( it's just love.

how he felt when sophie was gommaged, empty and broken and angry—his love for her, having nowhere to go.

his breath is a little shaky, his hand a touch tight around hers.

now, here's a selfish notion, )

I'm glad you're here.