Threatening? [There’s some very mild mock-offence there, as she clasps an hand to the back of Maelle’s head and holds it to her shoulder like she’s a baby.] What if I just hugged you until I figured it out?
[Sciel does ease up on her then, because that is a particularly nervous question.]
I’ve done readings where people weren’t ready to hear that kind of insight into their lives or troubles, but never something like a broken leg or a death omen. It can’t tell you an exact circumstance, Maelle.
[She pauses, and maybe she should just let her curiosity remain in a little box somewhere. But she can't help it, and she doubts Sciel will tell Gustave. Probably.]
[She’s a little surprised, but then again, why should she be? She knows Verso has weighed heavily on Maelle’s mind, and she’d be lying if she said he hadn’t been on hers.
(Something about getting under someone to get over someone else, maybe?)
She nods, and she lets Maelle go entirely so she can pick up her deck.]
[Sciel follows, sitting down across from her. She sets the deck down on the table.]
Well… are we reading for Verso himself, or how he influences you? You can ask about his character, or how he sees you, or your separation… or anything, really.
[She nods. If the cards have something to say that hurts to hear, then it will be what it is. She shuffles the deck, the cards bending under the press of her thumbs and zipping together, once, and then again. She fans them out.]
[Might as well put the blame on her own shoulders if the cards don't have anything kind to say. Holding her breath, Maelle pulls a card--but passes it to Sciel rather than looking at it herself.]
The card is reversed. Of course it is. A knight on a black horse, both still, as the knight gazes down at the orb in his hands. The Knight of Pentacles. Sciel breathes out. Of course, of course.
She passes the card over.]
The Knight of Pentacles. This Knight is about commitment and reliability, but he’s reversed.
Verso is not following through with his promises, and you’re frustrated by his inconsistency. Sound about right?
[She keeps it there, short; there has to be space for questions, or at the very least a temperature-taking.]
For how he sees you… well, this card suggests he is watching you struggle with change. Your resistant prevents you from finding a way out, and so you cling to the familiar. There’s tension and misunderstandings between you, but the card asks him to not turn his head away from you –– someone who matters to him.
[She smiles, a little sadly.]
You know, I still believe what I told you before –– that Verso doesn’t know how to be with people. And I think, if he knew how, he would be here.
[Maelle pointedly keeps her eyes down. She listens, but she doesn't want to meet Sciel's gaze. Sometimes it's just too much. Change. Everything changes. She wonders if the change she's struggling with is Verso or Gustave.
It's always concerning one of them.]
Oof.
[Maelle breathes out. That's more difficult to stomach than her read about love.]
I'm thinking... I'm thinking that I do believe I matter to him. [In this moment, as long as her insecurities behave.] And maybe that's why he--like you said, he doesn't know how to be with people. And the people he has been with are all dead. Us included, now. It's easier to hide, sometimes. I get it.
[Hide the truth, hide his feelings. Isn't she doing that now, to spare Gustave some pain that will inevitably find him anyway?]
[In this very moment, she feels it would be hard to be charitable with him, face to face, but the frustration that kicked up in her conversation with Renoir hasn’t lasted. It was never going to.]
I’m glad you know you matter to him. And I think it is very kind of you to think of his feelings, when it would be easy to villainize him. But you can’t wait for him to come around and be a better friend to you, either.
[Verso may lie, but the more she thinks about it, the more she wants to give him the benefit of the doubt in at least one thing: he was genuinely happy to spend time with her.
Maelle lets out a breath, leaning back in her seat to look at Sciel. She shrugs a shoulder.]
Gustave. The Gommage. I think he doesn't know what to do with Gustave, which would align with what you've said about Verso not knowing how to be with people. And then... he led us on the path to killing his father and his mother and somehow that led to the Gommage coming for us all. I'd feel pretty terrible about that if I were him.
[How embarrassing to be wrong. How miserable to have even more deaths on your shoulders.]
He’s never been so tricky to pin down in conversation. It felt like he was either trying to get away from conversation, or springing from one thing to the next…
[They’ve all coped in their own ways, and she’s felt equally manic at times, even without whatever painful knowledge he’s hiding in his heart.]
And what about you? Do you have a wall of your own?
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You're smart. I don't think you'd take all that long...
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You’re right, I’m very smart. That is why you should take my advice very seriously.
[But she does ease off a tiny bit to ask:]
Do you want to read for anything else?
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[Said with a laugh as she realizes Sciel would be perfectly content holding her in Hug Jail for however long.]
... I don't know. It kinda feels like I shouldn't.
[Or, you know, she doesn't want an awful pull.]
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Oh? Why not?
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[It feels like a strange invitation.]
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I’ve done readings where people weren’t ready to hear that kind of insight into their lives or troubles, but never something like a broken leg or a death omen. It can’t tell you an exact circumstance, Maelle.
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[She pauses, and maybe she should just let her curiosity remain in a little box somewhere. But she can't help it, and she doubts Sciel will tell Gustave. Probably.]
Can you... do a reading about Verso?
[Totally unrelated.]
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(Something about getting under someone to get over someone else, maybe?)
She nods, and she lets Maelle go entirely so she can pick up her deck.]
Of course. Let’s go sit.
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Do I need to be specific?
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Well… are we reading for Verso himself, or how he influences you? You can ask about his character, or how he sees you, or your separation… or anything, really.
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[She thought they were close, but apparently not.]
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Do you want to be the one to pull it?
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[Might as well put the blame on her own shoulders if the cards don't have anything kind to say. Holding her breath, Maelle pulls a card--but passes it to Sciel rather than looking at it herself.]
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The card is reversed. Of course it is. A knight on a black horse, both still, as the knight gazes down at the orb in his hands. The Knight of Pentacles. Sciel breathes out. Of course, of course.
She passes the card over.]
The Knight of Pentacles. This Knight is about commitment and reliability, but he’s reversed.
Verso is not following through with his promises, and you’re frustrated by his inconsistency. Sound about right?
[She keeps it there, short; there has to be space for questions, or at the very least a temperature-taking.]
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It does, yeah. What else?
[There's a frown on her face. That's obvious.]
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For how he sees you… well, this card suggests he is watching you struggle with change. Your resistant prevents you from finding a way out, and so you cling to the familiar. There’s tension and misunderstandings between you, but the card asks him to not turn his head away from you –– someone who matters to him.
[She smiles, a little sadly.]
You know, I still believe what I told you before –– that Verso doesn’t know how to be with people. And I think, if he knew how, he would be here.
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It's always concerning one of them.]
Oof.
[Maelle breathes out. That's more difficult to stomach than her read about love.]
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What are you thinking, Maelle?
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[Hide the truth, hide his feelings. Isn't she doing that now, to spare Gustave some pain that will inevitably find him anyway?]
I wish we could talk about it.
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[In this very moment, she feels it would be hard to be charitable with him, face to face, but the frustration that kicked up in her conversation with Renoir hasn’t lasted. It was never going to.]
I’m glad you know you matter to him. And I think it is very kind of you to think of his feelings, when it would be easy to villainize him. But you can’t wait for him to come around and be a better friend to you, either.
[She sets the card down.]
What do you think caused the tension between you?
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Maelle lets out a breath, leaning back in her seat to look at Sciel. She shrugs a shoulder.]
Gustave. The Gommage. I think he doesn't know what to do with Gustave, which would align with what you've said about Verso not knowing how to be with people. And then... he led us on the path to killing his father and his mother and somehow that led to the Gommage coming for us all. I'd feel pretty terrible about that if I were him.
[How embarrassing to be wrong. How miserable to have even more deaths on your shoulders.]
It felt like there was a wall since we came here.
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[They’ve all coped in their own ways, and she’s felt equally manic at times, even without whatever painful knowledge he’s hiding in his heart.]
And what about you? Do you have a wall of your own?
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With him? Or in general?
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Either, if you want to talk about it.
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