stonethrow | (no subject)

( something eases in gustave—he feels in his chest, that constricted mess unspooling. and then, he's laughing softly, verso's teasing managing to not afflict him this time. rather, it lands well. gustave reckons this is what company around people his age ought to be like this: easy and with some amount of teasing. he's missed that, and the people who would usually turn the taciturn engineer into a more relaxed human (catherine, lucien—) have not been around since, well, the accident.

he shakes his head slightly, though mirth remains on his face. )

Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say. I am sure it was quite the sign.

( where gustave is from, everyone's either a fighter or an inventor or a politician. it's a bit of a cursed trifecta, severely lacking in the arts, but it is born of necessity rather than an actual desire. luckily for gustave, he has the brains in order to fit and enjoy his role. )

Though I imagine your ability with the piano is nothing to scoff at, monsieur. I wouldn't be able to play a single melody, I'm sure.

[ Gustave hasn't even heard him play yet, and he's already complimenting his skill. Verso wonders if he's only going on the presence of the piano and his enrollment at the Conservatory, or if there's more to it. Maybe someone talked up his playing—? Not Maman or Papa; they'd sooner talk about what a gifted artist he is. He doubts Clea has spoken to Gustave at all save for maybe a few clipped exchanges. She's always busy with one thing or another—even Verso has hardly spoken to her since getting back. It must have been Maelle, then. She'd always loved listening to Verso play. When she was a little girl, she'd come into his room and lie in his bed, listening to his lullabies coming from the study until she fell asleep. ]

Ah, now I see why Maelle is so fond of you. Flatterer.

[ Verso grins into his mug, getting a hot chocolate moustache to match his existing one. He swipes the back of his hand over his mouth, self-conscious. ]

But I'm sure that isn't true. Anyone can learn piano with the right teacher, and you've already got a good base to start with—

[ He gestures toward Gustave's hands with his mug. ]

An engineer's fingers must be quite... [ Hm. Maybe he's making this weird. ] Dexterous.

[ He takes another sip. ]

( he's making this weird. )

The Dessendre name is not without its many accolades following it, you realize.

( so, it's not so much trying (or being) a flatterer so much as this being a statistical fact. gustave needs not listen to verso play the piano to know that he must be very good at it, and to be accepted by the conservatory? well, one can hardly guess wrong there.

he does raise his left hand, showing off the 'dexterity' of his metal fingers—somewhat painfully slow. )

Not the hand one would use to play the piano. Like you saw earlier, it locks up quite a bit from time to time.

( plus, he really has no interest in learning to play the piano lol... )

[ Why wouldn't he have any interest in learning the piano, the greatest thing ever??? C'mon, Gustave.

But luckily, his mention of the mechanical hand distracts Verso from trying to persuade him over to pianism (for now). He sets the mug down beside him, hands braced beside him on the counter so that he can lean forward a little and examine the joints. He's sure Gustave has already thought of every possible way that he could improve it, and that some musician who's only seen it for the first time today won't be able to offer any advice of substance, but still— ]

Is it the cold?

[ His eyes flick from Gustave's hand to his face, questioning. ]

I was thinking that we should stuff something in the gap under your window to stop the draft. Or you could borrow some of my gloves—my mother buys new ones every winter, and there aren't enough days in the year to wear them all.

I do happen to like the draft...

( it's like keeping the window open without needing to open it at all. besides, gustave, who fixed the leak in his adjoining bathroom wouldn't bother to fix something simpler such as the gap between window and sill? it's kind of verso to think of how to best manage gustave's comfortability.

he leans back, taking a sip of his hot cocoa, and sets it back down. )

It's quite alright, really. ( how to explain he's pretty weird ) It isn't negatively impacting my life.

( so much for piano playing )

Yeah, okay, [ he says, trying not to sound disappointed that Gustave doesn't want him to come help him with his draft problem. It wouldn't have put him out at all, and it would have been a good way to ingratiate himself.

He leans back, too, out of Gustave's personal bubble. ]

Well, there goes my plan to swoop in and fix everything to get on your good side.

[ His voice has the lilt of playfulness, although that's pretty much exactly what his plan actually was. ]

( like most of the dessendre family, gustave doesn't doubt that verso has a way with words. while most of his family can be serious and to the point, he seems more well-versed in injecting humor into his way of speech. )

You are under the wrong impression that things pertaining to my person require fixing.

( in equal (or similar) lilt of playfulness. )

I do not imagine there is reason for you to try and get on my good side. I'm quite impartial. The adult company has been nice, though.

( figures he doesn't get much of that around here. )

Well, I'm here for the next three weeks. You can seek me out for adult company any time you like.

[ —All right, he needs to sit on his metaphorical hands. He's never considered himself shy, not in the slightest—like a flower, he blooms under the warm rays of someone's attention—but he does fancy himself a gentleman, at least when he wants to be. Besides, he thinks Maelle (and perhaps the entire family) would be very irritated if he tried shamelessly flirting with her tutor one day into his holiday vacation.

He is very good-looking, though. Maybe... three days into his holiday vacation. ]

Mature conversation, I mean, [ he corrects. ] You know, mm, paying bills, eating Brussels sprouts, having knees that crack a little when you crouch.

[ Verso grins, lopsided. ]

Adult stuff.

( right. good(?) thing that gustave is mostly, entirely too oblivious to the fact that he has somehow gathered at verso's attentions. )

Eating Brussels sprouts? Barbaric behavior.

( he jests a bit in return.

because for all that verso tries to 'play it cool' while having insinuating slips of his actual intentions, gustave does cherish the idea that he will have a conversation partner in the next three weeks that is not a young girl who is barely double digits in age. )

I imagine you will be present for the holiday gala? I have been hearing a lot about it, but no one has been able to tell me what exactly it all entails...

( he's fishing a little! )

[ If he's fishing, then he's got Verso hook, line, and sinker. There's no hesitance at all to tell Gustave about the annual Dessendre holiday party, if that's what it takes to pique his interest. It's hardly some big secret; Verso's been going to these things since he was old enough not to embarrass his parents. ]

No one's told you? [ A shrug. ] Guess that makes sense. Maelle's only been a couple of times herself.

[ And she's so shy that she often ends up in the corner of the room with a book until he manages to coax her away. ]

Every year, my parents hold a big soiree for all of their Painters' Council friends. Black tie, hors d'oeuvres, expensive wine.

[ Smugly: ] Masterly entertainment. [ That's him! ]

( as verso takes the bait, gustave takes this opportunity to sit back and drink from his cup of hot cocoa. it's not so sweet a drink, not like how he remembers it, but he imagines this is due to it being high quality chocolate. a novel notion, ever since arriving in the dessendre home, that most everything is of such caliber.

he hums. )

That's you, I imagine.

( the 'masterly entertainment'. verso makes it hard not to notice how smug he feels about it. )

Is it a whole day affair? I figure I'll have to schedule Maelle's classes that day around it otherwise.

( he is not thinking himself invited, and he certainly does like being able to organize his days ahead of time. )

[ Gustave assumes he won't be invited, and Verso just assumes he plans to go. If he would think about it for a moment, he would come to the conclusion that it's unlikely any of the other adults in the house have extended an invitation—Maman and Papa seem cordial but distant, and Clea is... Clea—but of course he'll come. He lives here. It's not as if he plans to squirrel away and hide during the party, is it?

So, he laughs a little, raising an eyebrow. ]

You're planning on doing classes and a party in one day? [ Very dedicated! ] The gala's in the evening, but I doubt she'll mind if you take the day off.

( ah, gustave is quick to pick up in the error of verso's assumption. )

I'm planning on doing classes, and that is all. If I were to take the day off, it would be a great opportunity to visit a contact from the university in the city proper.

( he does have his own schedule and his own things to work toward, and looking forward to a party that he isn't invited to (and neither wants to attend) is not one of those things.

gustave doesn't want to sound rude, though. )

I'm sure your parents will express the plans for the day when we get closer to it.

[ Ah. Well, that's as explicit an 'I don't care about your family's stupid party' as one can get while remaining somewhat polite, he supposes. Puts an end to that conversational thread quite quickly. Uncharacteristically awkward and unsure what to say, he shrugs. ]

Yeah. Probably.

[ He taps his fingers against the rim of his mug briefly, a remembered tune. ]

Well, it's getting pretty late. Wouldn't want you to be tired for Maelle's classes tomorrow.

Edited 2025-12-29 20:03 (UTC)

( please, he comes from the boonies. and he also very clearly is able to read that he's said something wrong.

gustave tries to amend, in his ever lacking propriety in speaking clearly— )

It's barely half past nine. ( by that he means— ) I'm awful at parties. You really wouldn't want me there.

( he thinks )

Yeah?

[ If Verso's tone sounds dubious, it's because he is. Gustave is good-looking and perfectly charming in an unassuming, down-home sort of way. It's difficult to imagine him not killing it at any party he attended. Sure, he doesn't strike Verso as the type of person who regularly makes appearances at sophisticated upper-class galas, but— awful is quite a strong word. ]

What awful things do you do?

[ Deadpan, skeptical. ]

Get drunk on a full bottle of wine and an empty stomach? Loudly proposition the host's son who's thirty years your junior? Try to fit an entire tray of hors d'oeuvres in your purse to take home? [ ... ] All crimes committed by Madame Leblanc at last year's party.

[ So Gustave really can't be that bad. ]

( verso might have built for himself a very fictional and biased assumption of gustave, for all that he's known the man in less than twenty hours. for one, he does slightly better at one-on-one conversations, even if he has floundered quite a few times with verso so far. to expect him to be at a sophisticated upper-class gala and be anything but an awkward conversationalist with little to nothing of substance to add would be wistful thinking.

the question, he realizes, is rhetorical, so he doesn't open his mouth to attempt to answer it, especially as verso seems to answer it himself. )

...is Madame Leblanc invited this year?

( he wonders, mostly because he doesn't know how else to respond.

sparing a glance at verso, he wonders, leaning in, elbow onto the table. the gentle attempt to call it a night completely discarded. )

Are you not without prospects, monsieur? ( he feels comfortable enough to ask, though he shows some hesitation, at least, as he continues to formulate his question. ) I ... imagine your parents would expect you to settle. ( quickly— ) Though I know times are different, now.

[ Verso tilts his head, brow furrowed, expression surprised and amused. What a question! He leans in, too, locked into the conversation now that he's been accused of being without prospects.

Mock-offended: ] Are you casting aspersions on my bachelor lifestyle?

[ It's very cool that he's still single at his big age. Very rakish. ]

That's a strongly worded accusation.

( he's quick to refute, even if that's exactly what he was doing. gustave has no concept of how the people of higher standings go about conducting their business, but he always assumed there was certainty in the fact that they would marry another individual of renown, have a large family, and continue whatever legacy they have to uphold.

maybe verso just lives his life fast and loose? )

You asked me earlier if I had a wife. I can also ask a similar question in return.

I guess turnabout is fair play.

[ Although Verso's question had felt quite a bit less accusatory. He'd only wanted to learn a little bit more about Gustave, but it feels obvious that Gustave's question comes from a place of not fulfilling the role that he's expected to. Of course, Verso has always imagined that his life would eventually lead to a big house with a wife and three kids and two dogs, but the thought of actually achieving such a thing makes him feel a little restless. ]

I had a prospect once. It didn't work out.

[ She's the closest he ever got to that imaginary future, and even then, it was never so serious as to involve a ring.

Teasing: ] We've got so much in common.

( seemingly having resolved some amount of tension created by his (genuinely!) curious question, gustave is pleased to hear that change in verso's tone. though, maybe he should have expected the rather sad bookend to said 'prospect'.

he frowns a touch, despite the teasing. )

I'm not sure that's a commonality worth being proud of.

( lack of prospects, as it were, in this age, can be a bit of a social death sentence. gustave would like to think that he is still young, though. things could change. )

So now you dedicate yourself passionately to music, then?

My true love, yes.

[ Not to be weird about it, but he doubts there's man or woman alive who could give him the same pleasure as feeling the keys vibrate beneath his fingers as the final chord of a song rings out. ]

Besides, it's Clea who's responsible for continuing the Dessendre legacy.

[ She's the oldest and obviously the most talented artist. No prospects for her either, possibly due to a surfeit of attitude. One time, though, Verso saw Simon looking longingly across the street at her. ]

The second child is merely decorative.

( in gustave's very polite opinion, he doesn't think clea is very much excited about the idea of being 'responsible for continuing the dessendre legacy'. she doesn't seem the type, to gustave, given their minimal interactions... but that in itself might be a wrong assumption.

gustave ends up saying something a little more forward, though, )

I think you should be a little more generous with yourself.

( 'merely decorative'?? )

You're more than merely decorative.

Ah, but you do think I'm decorative—just not merely so.

[ 'You think I'm handsome???' Tee-hee. ]

—I didn't mean it like that.

[ Self-deprecating. Well, maybe he did, a little bit, but now that Gustave has pushed back on it he'd rather rewrite history. ]

Only that Clea is the real successor of the family. She's an incredible painter, as I'm sure you've seen.

Edited 2026-01-07 02:00 (UTC)

( gustave flusters a little at the statement, because he knows it didn't quite land how he meant, and verso's rebuke feels like tossing it back at him in some kind of way to either mock or reproach—

but quickly enough comes the amendment, 'i didn't mean it like that'. gustave is quick to fret if he finds that things that he says may offend others. he never means to, even if he very well thinks it, but confrontation is not entirely something that he is well-equipped to deal with. especially not with his sponsors. )

...right. I believe I have seen some of her work around the manor. Maelle tells me she prefers pottery, though?

( but gustave doesn't want to make it sound like he isn't vested in verso, seeing as they are the ones talking to each other, right now. it feels wrong to talk about the one dessendre that doesn't really interact with him. )

When are you planning to set the tracks for the train engine? I would like to — be involved, if you don't mind.