UNPAINT ME

"Is it bad? At least they didn't get my good side." Verso grinned, again with the deflecting jokes. To her follow up question, he shrugged. "Someone else's occasion that was getting too rowdy in a quiet bar. Interrupted my conversation with friends one too many times." And he laid the details to rest. Verso had been indulging in bars more often than usual. It helped to keep his mind swimming in something other than his own thoughts. He sought out peace, but his mind brought him only war. To silence it for an evening was a blessing.

Even at this time and in his state, Verso still finds ways to make the situation light and to crack his jokes. Clea clicks her tongue, his joke rewarded with a gentle prod of a finger against his bloodied nose—just to see if he broke it, or might 'sober up' as some gentlemen mentioned pain as quite the healer. "Paris might fall before you get a bad side."

She listens to his words though, somewhat expecting the cause to be disagreement, and finding rowdiness to be close enough. Her answer to his tale is an eyeroll. She's noticed his absences after a short while. If he finds peace out there, then all the better. Clea and Alicia both could remain cooped up and busy in their endeavours indefinitely. Verso... not quite, at least in comparison. "At least make sure you don't get hurt, hm? Maman might not be as open about your wanderings if you return home with wounds and blood."

In truth, neither would Clea. But he doesn't need that honest admittance. Instead, she lowers her hand to his bicep and tugs gently. They can clean the blood at least. Maybe ice the nose. Better he looks cleaned up than rugged like this—and blood only looks good in a Canvas, really.

Verso usually was rather careful whilst he was out. At times, he didn't want to be recognised by his family name, and drawing attention upon himself may bring that possibility forward. But the disrespect of the other group clearly grew too much. No doubt he took out his frustrations on an unrelated party, but he wasn't about to admit as much. "It's not as if I did it on purpose, Clea." He rolled his eyes but didn't protest as she took him by the arm and tugged him further down the hallway. He followed willingly.

Shouted Ephraal, looking scandalized.

"When I cast spells from afar, the least I expect is to NOT receive your dirty blood and guts, you dregs! Look at that! It splattered all over from there! My boots are red! RED! It's going to be a pain to clean that up! Fucking fewtril vermin!"

The tiefling leaned over his boots to try to wipe the most of it, grumbling under his teeth. When he got up, he rummaged through the goblin's corpses, looking for anything of value. Of course, he didn't find much, not even a few gold pieces to pocket. That goblins were not exctint yet was an amazement to Ephraal. He assumed they had high reproductivity to make up for it, like sea turtles, or seahorses, or ocean sunfishes...

He paused. SEA turtles. SEAhorses. OCEAN sunfishes.... Maybe tje goblins were meant to live in water after all...

He got up from his grim work, empty handed, and decided to keep his thoughts for himself. Or to only share them if they were all highly inebriated.

"The work is done over here. Let's keep pushing!"

Gale continued his spells but largely stayed back, as a rather fragile Wizard should do. Soon enough even the new comers were taken down and Verso could relax a little - more concerned with moving the bodies out of other stragglers' eye sight to not raise the alarm so soon.

"Paintress, I've always cursed your name for what you did to me, but now I despise you more than ever for making me live through the same lifespan as this mouth-breathing imbecile." Verso growled quietly between his teeth as the last of the Goblins were shoved to the side.

Gustave sighed, almost wishing he hadn't said anything else, though he wanted to chalk it up to the mild pain still pulsing in his abdomen making him somewhat irritable. Verso had been a huge help to them (so far). If he was any bit of monster Renoir was, why bother saving Maelle? Saving him?

“𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞.”

"The fact that you were able to save any of us-" a very, very small number thusfar; "-is a miracle in itself." Gustave's eyes moved to Maelle, his expression complicated as he looked at her, grief and relief all mixed in together. "And I owe you a great deal for keeping Maelle safe..." It's unspoken that he blames himself for not being able to keep her safe himself, he wasn't the head of the Expedition at all, but keeping Maelle safe was the one thing he was supposed to do.

But now he was nonplussed. This could go badly if Verso didn't play his cards right. But it didn't mean he had to reveal his entire deck...

Verso nodded at Gustave's initial comment, as if to silently say 'you're welcome'. He didn't want to sink more time into that if he could help it. It would mean explaining the mansion, how it works, and why Verso didn't go straight back to Maelle after leaving her with Renoir The Curator.

But the next topic he couldn't avoid. He inhaled nasally and let the breath slip from his lips in a sigh. It could easily be interpreted as someone who was bereaved by something. It wasn't entirely untrue either.

"Renoir." He muttered, standing up straighter and folding his arms. "The 'white haired man'. His name is Renoir." He let that information sink in for a second, glancing between them all but largely his sight settled on the flames in the middle. Fire had always made him nervous, though he was never sure why.

For a moment, he could only muster a disgruntled grunt in reply. Maybe once he saw it for himself it would make sense, but the concept of stray chroma sounded odd. Intriguing, but odd. For now he had no real reason to distrust Verso outside of paranoia. He saved his life, saved Maelle's life, and was prepared to help them when they were at a loss of how to continue the expedition. With an exhausted sigh, Gustave ran his hands over his hands and through his hair.

The body language was obvious. A stubborn man at a dead end, and trusting a stranger who suddenly found a new path away from that dead end went against everything in his being. Verso tried to get a better read on Gustave's face, he needed to know if he was going to be a liability or a hindrance. Only time will tell.

An eyebrow arched slightly at his hesitation, wondering what more there was to add to the conversation. She had trained in combat and elemental magic since her teenage years and was more than capable of holding her own. Still, she understood that practice and experience were not always the same thing.

Perhaps, that was his reason for hesitating?

As Verso spoke, it became clear that it was something else entirely. She had been so focused on the logical aspect of the question that she had forgotten the emotional side that his sentiment taken her by surprise. Chocolate brown eyes flutters in surprise, almost dumb-founded, before realization sets in and her heart flutters.

"Verso," She murmurs softly, unraveling her arms from themselves and reaches for his hands in a soft grasp. "Unfortunately, there isn't much I can do to quell your fears as danger lurks around every corner on the Continent."

"You know that I don't like seeing you get hurt either. Yes, you can survive a devastating blow or somehow end up swallowed by a nervon—which I still have several questions about—but that doesn't stop me from worrying about you."

His lips parted to express his understanding - he knew more than anyone how dangerous it was out here. He had seen thousands of Expeditioners die in his time. But losing them didn't fill him with dread like it did now. He was saddened by some of them, they weren't all strangers after all. But it felt different this time... He hadn't felt this way since Julie. Even then, there was a strange intensity to it. As if he wanted to live a lifetime in such the short time they had left.

But before he could respond, she continued, and his jaw went lax for a different reason. "Really?" He asked softly. "It's been a while since anyone worried about me... Monoco knows I can handle it so he just waits patiently... Perhaps banter a little or laugh at me." He shrugged, clearly he was used to it. It was just their connection. "But to worry about me? Huh... It's been a long while." He couldn't help but smile though, even if he didn't deserve it. Verso glanced down at their hands, as if suddenly too shy to look her in the eyes. His thumbs running up and down the back of her hands affectionately.

"No, you really wouldn't." Verso chuckled. "I don't think I'd want you to either, it's easier to keep an eye on you when you're with me. Plus, I like fighting beside you." He took a deep breath and forced himself to look at her - really look at her. No more avoiding her gaze. "I meant it when I said I will help you all find a way to keep the Canvas going. To make it safe for everyone. I thought there was no way, but if there is...? I want to fight for it. To fight for you."