[ He's said a little too much. That's -- fine. Knowing that Verso was at the beach isn't too incriminating for anything. He'd been there to keep an eye on Maelle and Gustave both, but lying his way out of that is easy enough. If anything, it might be a bit more worrying if Gustave starts to put together that he has no real memory of how he got from the beach to the fields.

But that's fine. He'll deal with it if it comes.

Verso sighs, leaning into him a little more. At least partially because he's a genuine comfort, and -- another part in hope to distract him at least a little from chasing this thread too far. He hates it already, how the lies have to lead into more lies. Small and harmless as these are by comparison. Gustave has given him nothing but his heart, and this is how he repays him. ]

His name is Renoir.

[ He doesn't want to mention the Expedition just yet, only because that in itself would invite more questions than he wants to deal with, right now. Tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow. Verso takes Gustave's hand in his own, slowly lacing their fingers together, squeezing. ]

The Gommage doesn't affect him, either. I try to keep track of him, because -- [ Verso shakes his head, his gaze shifting away. Because he kills every damn Expeditioner in his path. ] By the time I reached the beach, there was no one to save.

[ A blatant lie. But one he'll keep. No good can come out of Gustave revisiting those memories -- or even worse, if he connects that to Maelle. ]