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[cache_coeur]

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”Allô, mon amie! Je ne suis pas disponible pour le moment, mais laissez-moi un message et je vous rapellerai dès que possible! À bientôt!”

CODING

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[cache_coeur]

She opens her eyes just a crack, looking at the wild tangle of Maelle’s ponytail.

“So this feels easy to you, then?” Sciel asks, a little cheeky. “It takes time to learn how to sit with discomfort.”

And it’s still not easy then, either. Even with caution, she feels the past few weeks weighing on her, and it’s becoming difficult to keep up with.

[maellum]

"I hear that happens in older people."

Not old, but older! And perhaps she's being purposely obtuse, sighing again and squeezing her eyes shut against the urge to yawn. This is not easy. This is torture. She's uncomfortable and tired and worried and the quiet just makes her feel more wound up.

[cache_coeur]

Her eyes open a little bit more, with that sigh. Maelle being stressed and tense is common, but the energy radiating off her is different. The potential upcoming conversation with Gustave, maybe?

“Is there something you’d rather talk about, instead of doing this,” she asks.

[maellum]

Does she want to talk? Maelle opens her eyes, looking over to Sciel once more. She feels too exposed, and so she rolls onto her back, hands clasped over her stomach.

"I don't know. Maybe? It's probably nothing," she mutters. Again, the urge to check her messages feels like an itch she needs to scratch. She's sure the moment she confesses what's bothering her right now, Verso will send her a stupid text.

[cache_coeur]

“Doesn’t sound like nothing,” she says, shifting up a little and propping herself against the pillows. “What happened?”

[maellum]

Maelle has to tip her head back a little to glance at Sciel, and does so before returning her gaze to the ceiling with a shrug.

"Nothing, really. Verso's just been quiet." A different sort of quiet, and it feels off. But a lot of things have felt off, lately. "Like I said, it's... you know, probably nothing."

[cache_coeur]

“I’ve been having trouble getting in touch, too,” she says, looking down at the top of Maelle’s head. “I thought we’d all have a talk about that tonight, too, when Gustave comes to pick you up.”

[maellum]

"At least it's not just me," Maelle says with yet another sigh. She's been wondering if she did something wrong. Had she been wrong to hug him before the movie? Was she too excited to spend time with him? Had that made him uncomfortable? There's some relief, but now it means Verso is quiet on two fronts.

"Maybe we'll be lucky and he's actually been messaging Gustave all along."

Unlikely.

[cache_coeur]

“I’m not sure if that would relieve me or make me anxious enough to list my body parts for hours,” Sciel says, a self-aware laugh hidden on her breath. She reaches down to run her fingers over Maelle’s ponytail, twirling a lock gently around her fingers. “I think… Verso is just being Verso. Like Monoco has said… he’s prone to running off.”

[maellum]

"Well, now I see why some of my previous foster families returned me to the orphanage after I ran off one too many times," Maelle says dryly, rolling her eyes, but it's not a joke at all.

[cache_coeur]

Sciel sits upright, slowly, enough to be able to comfortably peer down at her.

“Oh, Maelle,” she says, softer. “This doesn’t sound like ‘nothing’ at all.”

[maellum]

"It's just--it's irritating. Like," she shrugs, pointedly not looking at Sciel, as if the disappointment wasn't visible in her eyes without direct eye contact, "Like... I remember what you said, before. About him and family. I like spending time with him and I think he likes spending time with me. Isn't that enough?"

Enough to stay around, enough to be consistent. Enough to move on from some of the past.

[cache_coeur]

Sciel watches her eyes flick away, the stubborn avoidance rippling through her body. She exhales, feeling sadness pulse through her, maybe in a way it needs to.

“In a kinder world, it would be,” Sciel replies. “But it isn’t fair for you to be made to feel that way.”

[maellum]

"I can't name anything that is fair."

It's not just their world. It's here, too. It's something in them, maybe, that invites unfairness.

[cache_coeur]

Sciel has several, but it feels unlikely that Maelle will want to hear positive thoughts right now –– she’d be within her rights to. Sometimes there’s no way to make something better, and all the good things in the world won’t change that this lonely girl sometimes clings to people who aren’t ready to love her as fully as she needs.

Sciel strokes Maelle’s bangs back.

“And he knows that. And it doesn’t stop him from complicating things anyway, sometimes.”

[maellum]

The touch is nice. Gustave has done the same thing, when she's upset for one reason or another.

"Yeah."

A beat, and she shakes her head, sighing.

"Guess I'll just... try to ignore the silence."

[cache_coeur]

“Yes,” she says, hand resting on the top of Maelle’s head. “And when he’s back, you can tear him a new one, if you feel like it. Maybe that’ll feel fair?”

[maellum]

The weight of her hand feels more calming than trying to go over each body part in her mind.

"I don't want to be the one to find out if he can still be cut in two," Maelle says miserably despite how absurd that string of words is. "I just wish... all of this had gone better. Gustave, Verso. He doesn't really have any reason to stick out how--how awkward it is. I'd probably run off somewhere too, if I were him."

[cache_coeur]

“I wish, too,” she says. “But the cards were dealt for this a long time ago. All we can really hope for is that Verso’s better angels win out –– that he wants to be here with all of us, and has cast his lot with Lumière knowing it’s worth the awkwardness. I think it’s a solid bet.”

[maellum]

Maelle doesn't think so. She feels a tear roll from the corner of her eye, down to her ear, and hastily wipes the tear track away.

"He should do whatever he wants," she says, and maybe that means he starts over. "He's been with so many Expeditions. We ended up like all the rest, in the end, so it makes sense he'd move on."

[cache_coeur]

Oh. Oh, oh, oh, Maelle. Even if she had missed the tear, she certainly doesn’t miss the gesture.

“Sit up,” she says, gently. “Come here.”

[maellum]

Sometimes she thinks she should feel something more about the Gommage. What she saw, what she felt, her vision fading into nothing but petals. Yet that still doesn't quite feel like it happened to her. It's been okay because she's had Gustave, and Sciel, and Verso--now Lune, too, but Verso's absence hurts in a way it shouldn't. It hurts too much.

Not wishing to argue, and maybe hoping for some comfort, she sits up. She can't bring herself to look at Sciel before sagging towards her.

[cache_coeur]

Sciel opens her arms, accepting Maelle into them with a deep breath in. There have been so many hugs lately, some good and some sad, and Sciel is glad that even when she runs short on soothing things to say, she still has arms and a steady core. She holds Maelle tight.

“I’m glad you came to visit tonight,” she says, into Maelle’s hair. “We can be sad together, hmm?”

[maellum]

She sniffles and presses her face to Sciel's shoulder. She knows she genuinely cares for Verso, too. She wanted everyone to get along and be happy together just as much as Maelle did.

She doesn't feel she can be sad about something so silly regarding Verso with Gustave. Oh, he'd comfort her, hold her, let her be sack of unhappiness just like this--but it would hurt his feelings.

"Yeah. Get it out before Gustave gets here."

[cache_coeur]

Gustave had held her to cry just a week ago, huddled in her kitchen. Now it’s her turn to pay it forward, and she holds Maelle in her arms and gently leans back against the headboard so Maelle can press into her all she wants.

“He’d understand, but this is better just between us, I think,” she murmurs. “And better to not stroke Verso’s ego with some big, public manhunt! He’ll come back when he’s ready.”