[ Oh! That's interesting, and sweet of her. Gustave straightens a little, pleased, letting the familiar sound of his own language roll over him. ]
It's good for her, I think. And— some things seems to be a little easier here for her than they were in Lumière.
[ Maelle might say it's because so many of the people here were probably considered 'the weird kid' back in their own worlds, but Gustave thinks it's more than that. She's coming into her own, growing more comfortable with herself. ]
Having you and Sciel and Lune around is good for her, too. And these other friends she's making...
As much as I like spending the time with her, I'm happy she's got new friends to go see, too, especially ones that are trying to help her come a little more out of her shell.
(Oh, he enjoyed it! She smiles, letting her hands go below her chin in appreciation. She didn't study shit, this is cheating, but this was done for the French as a token of her friendship. She's pleased he seems happy about it.)
I mean, I think not having to think of kids, or having your life literally timed, or population and responsibility for a sixteen-year-old is a whole thing, right?
Yeah. I don't know who she's hanging with, but I feel the same about Scott. He's not as shy as her, but he is around, well, really difficult adults all the time. Mutants are all crazy. I already have this older sister relationship with him, so, you know, it's different.
Edited (LAST ONE I PROMISE) Date: 2025-10-18 09:12 pm (UTC)
[ The bots come by and leave a basket of fries for them, but Gustave doesn't reach for them yet, just spins his glass between his palms for a thoughtful moment. ]
You know, I'm not sure how much that stuff weighed on Maelle. She was always a little... different. The Gommage affected her, of course — it affected us all — but that wasn't why she went with us on the Expedition.
[ He'd tried to stop her, to argue that she had so many more years left, but it had all been in vain. ]
Lumière was a hard place for her to grow up. In some ways, Etraya might be a lot better for her.
(She does, with a fork, as not to grease her fingers. This is interesting — she does spend a significant amount of time with the Expeditioners, hearing everyone's point of view is fascinating.)
I'm assuming you telling her 'no' didn't really do anything to dissuade her? Kid's stubborn when she wants to be.
From what you tell me, yeah. There are shit parts, and there are good parts. I might hate this fucking place, but in some aspects, I can't complain.
I'm counting it as Maelle, one point, Gustave, zero points on the matter.
(She would be, too, so she can't even be on her side — even if she died herself doing things for her people. A little hypocritical, 'only I can do insane things', but alas.)
Well, non-bullshit version, I don't trust the place, don't trust the masterminds, can't mind freak the masterminds, there's no money, nothing interesting to do between missions, I can't travel, and people can come in and out of here.
On a more it's-a-me-problem note, it's quiet. Where I live? I can hear millions. Here, we're very few, and there are bots, which I can't hear. It makes me so grumpy, like I'm under water or something.
[ He does reach for a fry now, eating it while Sophie talks. It's a whole new perspective for him, and not one he fully understands, but he listens intently all the same. ]
Really? If I could hear all those people all the time, I think I might enjoy a little quiet.
It feels... Uncanny. I've never not heard it, so hearing all those people is absolutely normal to me. That's why if you guys think in my direction, I can usually hear it, because even if I'm not paying attention to anything, that stands out.
(Does that make any sense whatsoever? Her normal is not normal, even for mutant-standards.)
Maelle thinks telepathy is probably the most useful thing, I'm trying to tell her what other kind of powers I've seen. I can't even fly, which is really sad.
[ There's a small frown of concentration tugging at his brows as he listens, but it clears at her explanation. Gustave nods, going back to his drink. ]
I think I get it. Kind of like... Lumière was always lit up, even through the nights, and when we got to the Continent, it was strange for everything to be so quiet and dark.
[ He huffs a laugh as he sips at his drink, making a small moue. ]
I'm sure she does think it would be useful, knowing what everyone thinks without them having to say anything. But flight seems pretty good, too.
(That is a correct assumption, and she'll still take a glimpse of the continent after they're done with the hangout. Hopefully Gustave opens up a little about it, she wants to hear his side for once.)
Yeah, but have you considered teleportation? Probability manipulation? Magnetic field manipulation? Being able to talk to computers? Or change the weather? Or literally changing someone's entire molecular structure, so you can heal them, change their physiology, so on, so on? God, Elixir. He used to be here, and every time my nail breaks, I curse Aurora a little bit. I lost my do-over mutant.
(And there's a pout from her as she crosses her arms in front of her chest.)
I'm the only psionic in this place that can't fly. Unfair.
[ Gustave's expression shifts, flattening just a little at the mention of some of those powers. Renoir couldn't actually teleport — he thinks — but the man certainly was fast enough to seem as though he could. ]
We fought a few Nevrons with some of those powers, but no one in Lumière has anything like any of them... unless you count utilizing pictos. Lune can't control the weather, but she can make precision strikes with ice or lightning, or shake the ground like an earthquake.
[ Or set their foe on fire. That had always been especially helpful. ]
Can just about anyone do that kind of stuff, or is it a select few?
(So, basically, that's magic. It's definitely magic. Illyana teaches some of it in NYX, maybe he should sit in one of her lessons. He'd definitely find some stuff fascinating, not even Sophie gets the whole thing.)
Different people have different affinities, I guess, the way you might for math or science or language, but... yeah, pretty much. Some people in Lumière didn't like pictos, though. Thought they were too dangerous to equip directly onto our bodies.
[ He shrugs, holding up his metallic left hand. The golden lines of pictos engravings catch the dim light in here, glowing gently. ]
But they're just a tool to be used. And they're far from the only tool that's dangerous in the wrong hands.
... Yes, what you are describing is magic. Okay, yeah, I can work with that. So, you lost your arm because of that? Is that what happened there?
(Absolutely zero tact, but look, she prefers to be straight-forward about her questioning. It's not rocket science, and if he pushes her away for it, then she'll know where not to push.)
Wrong hands? Are you telling me there is hella crime in Lumière? Don't you have a lot of other stuff to worry about?
Not magic, [ he reiterates, but without any bite, and bypasses answering the question about his arm in favor of the more important information here. ]
Not anymore than flicking a switch here and turning the lights on is. They're just another tool, a way of using energy... there's nothing mystical about it.
[ As for the rest, he laughs, sitting back a little in his chair. ]
No, I mean someone who isn't used to them or who's afraid of them could hurt themselves or others. The same way someone could accidentally hurt themselves or others with a, a hammer or a drill they didn't know how to use correctly.
(Sounds pretty magicky to her, sir. It doesn't go unnoticed by her that the arm wasn't in the explanation, but that just tells her it goes into the bin of stuff to not pry about. Which usually makes her really want to pry — but she's evolving.)
Right. You know, that's one of the reasons why we had that school. So we could learn how to control our powers and stuff so we don't explode a city or fry a brain or whatever. Do you have that for those who are interested? I'm assuming you'd be a fantastic teacher.
[ Not the same thing, he's sure, but the closest he can think of. ]
But it covered more than just pictos use. It was where we trained for the Expeditions, learned how to fight and how to set climbing and grappling holds, how to survive on the Continent... things like that.
Pictos aren't like the powers you and the mutants in your world seem to be born with. We can change them out any time we like, or remove them all if we want, so they're probably not quite as much of a danger as some of the things you've described.
There's a lot we didn't know until we got there, yeah.
[ He's toying with his drink now more than drinking it, distracted by the conversation. Some of those thoughts are tinged with shadow — they hadn't known about Renoir, and the whole team had paid for that ignorance — but the Continent remains a vast unsolved mystery to him, one full of potential he'll never see realized. ]
But we had old maps and some idea of a few landmarks. A lot of the people who went on those first Expeditions had been born before the Fracture, you know? The Continent was shattered and changed, but there were still parts they recognized that they could try to map out and plan around.
And my thing...
[ He shrugs, turning his hand on the table, metal fingers moving very slightly. ]
I fight with sword and pistol, so mostly pictos that would boost those. I'm not as proficient with elemental attacks as Lune is, but I supplement my technique with lightning.
(At least she's trying to give him privacy. Thoughts are a background noise in her head that unless something jumps out and she catches it, she wants to give him space. For someone who doesn't talk as much, that seems to be important.)
Oh, useful. Sciel told me about the Fracture and about the land. I guess that makes sense? It does sound... A little ominous, still. I don't think we really have anything similar for me to compare to.
(Or, at least from her side of things. Who the hell knows? Not her.)
Right, so you do have a little elemental thing going on. I didn't see Lune fight, we mostly just breathed from the fog, and someone benched me from monster hunting. You know, I'm pretty useless in a hand-to-hand fight. Even with the diamond thing.
A little, [ he agrees. Her pointed comment strikes true, and he gives her an apologetic look but shakes his head. ]
The thing Vincent turned into was twice my height and probably three times my weight or more, and as hostile as any Nevron I've ever come across. There were people there with powers I've never even seen that still got hit.
But even if you weren't in the fight itself, it doesn't mean you didn't help, Sophie.
(Gustave did have Quentin, so, yeah. As much as she hates to think of it, if he couldn't do it, Sophie would be toast. It wasn't a bad decision to bench the glitching, non-Omega-level telepath.)
Pfft. How, being mad that I wasn't? But honestly, telling me that wouldn't dissuade me at all. I'm, uh, impulsive. I guess.
[ No, she wasn't in the thick of the fight, and she probably would have been a liability if she had been, but he can't help but sympathize. He hates feeling useless, too. ]
But I know it doesn't feel good when you want to help and can't. So I am sorry to have contributed to that.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2025-10-18 09:05 pm (UTC)It's good for her, I think. And— some things seems to be a little easier here for her than they were in Lumière.
[ Maelle might say it's because so many of the people here were probably considered 'the weird kid' back in their own worlds, but Gustave thinks it's more than that. She's coming into her own, growing more comfortable with herself. ]
Having you and Sciel and Lune around is good for her, too. And these other friends she's making...
As much as I like spending the time with her, I'm happy she's got new friends to go see, too, especially ones that are trying to help her come a little more out of her shell.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-18 09:11 pm (UTC)I mean, I think not having to think of kids, or having your life literally timed, or population and responsibility for a sixteen-year-old is a whole thing, right?
Yeah. I don't know who she's hanging with, but I feel the same about Scott. He's not as shy as her, but he is around, well, really difficult adults all the time. Mutants are all crazy. I already have this older sister relationship with him, so, you know, it's different.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-19 09:14 pm (UTC)You know, I'm not sure how much that stuff weighed on Maelle. She was always a little... different. The Gommage affected her, of course — it affected us all — but that wasn't why she went with us on the Expedition.
[ He'd tried to stop her, to argue that she had so many more years left, but it had all been in vain. ]
Lumière was a hard place for her to grow up. In some ways, Etraya might be a lot better for her.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-19 09:22 pm (UTC)I'm assuming you telling her 'no' didn't really do anything to dissuade her? Kid's stubborn when she wants to be.
From what you tell me, yeah. There are shit parts, and there are good parts. I might hate this fucking place, but in some aspects, I can't complain.
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Date: 2025-10-19 09:37 pm (UTC)It was probably the biggest fight we'd ever had.
[ He almost never raised his voice to Maelle, but he'd been terrified at the thought of what could happen to her on the Continent.
The ice clinks in his drink as he turns it, giving Sophie a curious look. ]
Why do you hate it here?
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Date: 2025-10-19 09:52 pm (UTC)(She would be, too, so she can't even be on her side — even if she died herself doing things for her people. A little hypocritical, 'only I can do insane things', but alas.)
Well, non-bullshit version, I don't trust the place, don't trust the masterminds, can't mind freak the masterminds, there's no money, nothing interesting to do between missions, I can't travel, and people can come in and out of here.
On a more it's-a-me-problem note, it's quiet. Where I live? I can hear millions. Here, we're very few, and there are bots, which I can't hear. It makes me so grumpy, like I'm under water or something.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-19 10:03 pm (UTC)[ He does reach for a fry now, eating it while Sophie talks. It's a whole new perspective for him, and not one he fully understands, but he listens intently all the same. ]
Really? If I could hear all those people all the time, I think I might enjoy a little quiet.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-19 10:07 pm (UTC)(Does that make any sense whatsoever? Her normal is not normal, even for mutant-standards.)
Maelle thinks telepathy is probably the most useful thing, I'm trying to tell her what other kind of powers I've seen. I can't even fly, which is really sad.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-19 10:15 pm (UTC)I think I get it. Kind of like... Lumière was always lit up, even through the nights, and when we got to the Continent, it was strange for everything to be so quiet and dark.
[ He huffs a laugh as he sips at his drink, making a small moue. ]
I'm sure she does think it would be useful, knowing what everyone thinks without them having to say anything. But flight seems pretty good, too.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-19 10:30 pm (UTC)(That is a correct assumption, and she'll still take a glimpse of the continent after they're done with the hangout. Hopefully Gustave opens up a little about it, she wants to hear his side for once.)
Yeah, but have you considered teleportation? Probability manipulation? Magnetic field manipulation? Being able to talk to computers? Or change the weather? Or literally changing someone's entire molecular structure, so you can heal them, change their physiology, so on, so on? God, Elixir. He used to be here, and every time my nail breaks, I curse Aurora a little bit. I lost my do-over mutant.
(And there's a pout from her as she crosses her arms in front of her chest.)
I'm the only psionic in this place that can't fly. Unfair.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-19 11:22 pm (UTC)We fought a few Nevrons with some of those powers, but no one in Lumière has anything like any of them... unless you count utilizing pictos. Lune can't control the weather, but she can make precision strikes with ice or lightning, or shake the ground like an earthquake.
[ Or set their foe on fire. That had always been especially helpful. ]
no subject
Date: 2025-10-19 11:29 pm (UTC)(So, basically, that's magic. It's definitely magic. Illyana teaches some of it in NYX, maybe he should sit in one of her lessons. He'd definitely find some stuff fascinating, not even Sophie gets the whole thing.)
no subject
Date: 2025-10-19 11:43 pm (UTC)[ He shrugs, holding up his metallic left hand. The golden lines of pictos engravings catch the dim light in here, glowing gently. ]
But they're just a tool to be used. And they're far from the only tool that's dangerous in the wrong hands.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-20 10:41 am (UTC)(Absolutely zero tact, but look, she prefers to be straight-forward about her questioning. It's not rocket science, and if he pushes her away for it, then she'll know where not to push.)
Wrong hands? Are you telling me there is hella crime in Lumière? Don't you have a lot of other stuff to worry about?
no subject
Date: 2025-10-20 11:04 am (UTC)Not anymore than flicking a switch here and turning the lights on is. They're just another tool, a way of using energy... there's nothing mystical about it.
[ As for the rest, he laughs, sitting back a little in his chair. ]
No, I mean someone who isn't used to them or who's afraid of them could hurt themselves or others. The same way someone could accidentally hurt themselves or others with a, a hammer or a drill they didn't know how to use correctly.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-20 11:09 am (UTC)Right. You know, that's one of the reasons why we had that school. So we could learn how to control our powers and stuff so we don't explode a city or fry a brain or whatever. Do you have that for those who are interested? I'm assuming you'd be a fantastic teacher.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-20 11:14 am (UTC)[ Not the same thing, he's sure, but the closest he can think of. ]
But it covered more than just pictos use. It was where we trained for the Expeditions, learned how to fight and how to set climbing and grappling holds, how to survive on the Continent... things like that.
Pictos aren't like the powers you and the mutants in your world seem to be born with. We can change them out any time we like, or remove them all if we want, so they're probably not quite as much of a danger as some of the things you've described.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-20 11:26 am (UTC)(Or at least that's the idea she has. It sounds so ominous — The Continent. Where this Mean Paintress lives.)
Oh, right. So you can pick and choose, right? What's your thing?
no subject
Date: 2025-10-20 11:54 am (UTC)[ He's toying with his drink now more than drinking it, distracted by the conversation. Some of those thoughts are tinged with shadow — they hadn't known about Renoir, and the whole team had paid for that ignorance — but the Continent remains a vast unsolved mystery to him, one full of potential he'll never see realized. ]
But we had old maps and some idea of a few landmarks. A lot of the people who went on those first Expeditions had been born before the Fracture, you know? The Continent was shattered and changed, but there were still parts they recognized that they could try to map out and plan around.
And my thing...
[ He shrugs, turning his hand on the table, metal fingers moving very slightly. ]
I fight with sword and pistol, so mostly pictos that would boost those. I'm not as proficient with elemental attacks as Lune is, but I supplement my technique with lightning.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-20 12:02 pm (UTC)Oh, useful. Sciel told me about the Fracture and about the land. I guess that makes sense? It does sound... A little ominous, still. I don't think we really have anything similar for me to compare to.
(Or, at least from her side of things. Who the hell knows? Not her.)
Right, so you do have a little elemental thing going on. I didn't see Lune fight, we mostly just breathed from the fog, and someone benched me from monster hunting. You know, I'm pretty useless in a hand-to-hand fight. Even with the diamond thing.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-20 01:07 pm (UTC)The thing Vincent turned into was twice my height and probably three times my weight or more, and as hostile as any Nevron I've ever come across. There were people there with powers I've never even seen that still got hit.
But even if you weren't in the fight itself, it doesn't mean you didn't help, Sophie.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-20 01:46 pm (UTC)(Gustave did have Quentin, so, yeah. As much as she hates to think of it, if he couldn't do it, Sophie would be toast. It wasn't a bad decision to bench the glitching, non-Omega-level telepath.)
Pfft. How, being mad that I wasn't? But honestly, telling me that wouldn't dissuade me at all. I'm, uh, impulsive. I guess.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-20 05:47 pm (UTC)[ No, she wasn't in the thick of the fight, and she probably would have been a liability if she had been, but he can't help but sympathize. He hates feeling useless, too. ]
But I know it doesn't feel good when you want to help and can't. So I am sorry to have contributed to that.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-20 08:03 pm (UTC)(Or so she hopes. Look, she isn't perfect, and her coping skills are at the expense of others sometimes, as it had been with Gorgug.)
Yeah, it's... Fine. Would probably have been worse and you'd be probably mad at yourself, mhm?
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Date: 2025-10-20 09:45 pm (UTC)[ One more thing to add to the list, he almost jokes, but thinks better of it at the last second. ]
How're you feeling now?
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