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[deprime]

Gustave

demain

---

COURT

DUSK

DORM

tbd.

Message @demain

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un: verso | text

[lementeur]

[ Not long after this announcement, because if the fae are saying not to worry then he's going to do exactly the opposite of that. ]

I think it may be wise for you to take Lune and Maelle and get away from the castle. Somewhere buildings won't collapse on top of you if things worsen.

text — un: demain;

[deprime]

If you actually know either of them, then you know that it'd be easier for me to try to argue with the castle to hold itself together than to tell either of them to do anything. Not that I'm not prepared.

[lementeur]

What makes you think they'll want to argue? It would have to be more comfortable than bunking with strangers in a suspicious castle.

I know that they've missed you.

Just suggest it as a way for everyone to convene on what's been learned about this realm and its rulers so far. A way to reconnect and catch up.

[ It's called manipulation, Gustave, it's easy. ]

[deprime]

And why exactly are you offering me advice on this?

[lementeur]

Because the cracks here are spreading, and I don't trust anything the fae have to say. Telling us not to worry should very well make us worry. I know that they aren't going to be ranking our well-being as a priority when they're wrapped up in their own court politics.

I'm not very keen on finding any of you crushed under rubble should buildings start collapsing.

[deprime]

I've noticed. It was my job in Lumière to notice things like this, and I told you, I'm prepared.

Just because I have to ask, why aren't you trying to convince them if you're so, well, "not very keen" about this? I'm just trying to figure out your interest in all of this.

[lementeur]

I took them where they needed to go, and somehow most of us ended up here. They don't have much reason to follow my lead anymore. You're here now. You've known them longer.

But I still have an interest in keeping the people I care about away from unnecessary danger.

[deprime]

Maelle told me a little about what ended up happening. And yeah, I have. I know them, which is why I'm doing what I can but trusting them too. I'm not the leader. We're in this, whatever this is, together.

Right, yeah. That, I get. What I don't know is why you won't tell them that, but you're telling me.

[lementeur]

nearly forgetting about SPOILERS

Then it's worth the discussion, isn't it? Together.

[ What is this turning into. He didn't come here for therapy. ]

Why won't I tell them to get out of the castle, or that I want them safe? The former, I already explained as much. Leader or not, they look up to you. I saw what it did to them, losing you.

The latter, well, I already have told them. In my own way. They know. Maelle knows.

[deprime]

spoiler warning cont.

Fair enough.

[ Maybe you should have. ]

Where does that leave you in all this?

[lementeur]

cont.

Suppose I'm still figuring that out.

[ Maelle has more-or-less claimed him as part of her 'family' but that is entirely too loaded of a statement for Verso to make himself, and he doesn't think Gustave would be too excited about the idea, either. ]

But someone needs to make sure Renoir keeps his distance, now that we're all veritably trapped together. That's my responsibility, so you lot can have a little less to worry about.

[deprime]

cont.

Looks like we've got the time.

[ And then some. The mention of Renoir brings back all the questions he's been mulling over that he just hasn't figured out how to put into words. ]

I think I've got that handled. For now at least. It's a temporary solution, but I'm working with what we've got.

[ Which isn't much. ]

So consider that more time to figure the rest of it all out. The important parts.

[lementeur]

cont.

[ Sorry what? ]

Handled how? What, exactly, is a temporary solution?

un: chanson | text

[viennoiseries]

You're really here.

[How's that for a Hello, I'm sorry I thought you were a cursed hedge maze hallucination?]

[deprime]

I am, yeah. Here. Me.

[ Alive, somehow.

But he erases that part.

Honestly, he could keep going, digging that hole, but the benefit of these things is he can put the Leaf down instead of continuing to run his thoughts into the ground. So there's that. Instead, when he picks it back up after a second, he says: ]

Did you know they have a ship in the harbour that sails itself?

[viennoiseries]

[His response is both better and worse. It lets her off the hook in a way, and it doesn’t require her to get him moving again.]

I heard mentions about it, but I haven’t made it out to see it yet.
Can you imagine if our ships could have navigated themselves?

[deprime]

It's nice to watch. Calming. I thought about jumping on it and seeing what's going on in it, but I haven't yet. We could go together?

Yeah, the things we might have seen. Maybe there's more out there, past the Continent. Have you ever wondered what else might be there that we just didn't know about? I do sometimes.

[viennoiseries]

It's worth taking a look. Let's do it.

[They're well past protocol keeping them on a planned track, aren't they?]

There's a lot of things we never would have expected to see. Esquie would have flown us, if there had been a chance.

[deprime]

That's what I thought. I've watched it a couple times but I think getting on board will be interesting.

[ There's no part of him that knows what to expect but that's part of the fun. ]

Well now I'm curious. What's the most surprising thing you saw then?

[viennoiseries]

We'll have to start by seeing if there's anything to keep us from boarding. Go from there.

[Let her just. Think. About what she should write back about that.]

Well, grandis are also real. We made poems together.
Also, Esquie was full of wine.

[Was being key.]

[deprime]

Yeah. I haven't gotten closer than the shore. I've been tracking it's course. When it starts, when it stops.

[ Gustave is amused by the first part of that, slightly horrified by the second part. ]

I have too many questions to know where to start.

[viennoiseries]

If it's on a consistent schedule, that would be convenient.

It seems the grandis prefer combat with words. If that helps.

[Because surely the grandis are the part that raise the most questions. And not the Esquie wine.]

[deprime]

It's pretty consistent. Same path every day, always starting once the sun is low enough on the horizon.

Right. That's... not what I had questions about.

[ There's a slight pause. ]

Esquie was full of wine?

Was?

[viennoiseries]

We could start out at its nearest point. Or its slowest.



Oh, yes. We all had some after Sciel found out.
Except Maelle. Looks like she'll have the time to gain a taste for it.

[deprime]

From my observations, it's only slowest at the start of the night and the end. Closest though... It passes by that sandbar on the east at least 4 times a night.

[ Give him a minute. He's processing all of this. ]

Was.

[ Sorry, he's stuck on that part. ]

Lune, how did you all drink that much wine?