[TLV] IC Inbox

[palissant]

[No response can be gained via comms. He isn't interested in making himself available that way.

If you want him, come find him.]

Comments

[generosite]

[ As requested, she does mainly leave him alone. She notices the places he tends to but goes about her business. And when she does choose to reach out she says nothing. She just leaves a handwritten note at his elbow in the library and leaves again. The paper smells of rosemary.

She writes in a curious looping language with many intricate dots and accents, but it is translated clearly enough by the Barge's magic, ]

An obscure meadow lures me,
her fast, close-fitting lawns
revolve in me, sleep on my balcony.
They rule her beaches, her indefinite
alabaster dome re-creates itself.
On the waters of a mirror,
the voice cut short crossing a hundred paths,
my memory prepares surprise:
fallow dew in the sky, dew, sudden flash.
Without hearing I'm called:
I slowly enter the meadow,
proudly consumed in a new labyrinth.
Illustrious remains:
a hundred heads, bugles, a thousand shows
baring their sky, their silent sunflower.
Strange the surprise in that sky
where unwilling footfalls turn
and voices swell in its pregnant center.
An obscure meadow goes by.
Between the two, wind or thin paper,
the wind, the wounded wind of this death,
this magic death, one and dismissed.
A bird, another bird, no longer trembles.

--José Lezama Lima

after pairings go up

[perfectly_average]

[A note is slide under his cabin door.]

Hello,

My name is Jamil Ashengrotto. I'd like to speak with you when you have a moment.

I will be in the library for most of the day, today, and then I will be at the Lounge door after scheduled dinner hours.

[palissant]

[It's probably unfortunately for Jamil that Verso doesn't use his cabin either, and so completely misses the note.

He does, however, use the library fairly often and so the other man will be able to find him there easily enough, even if their meeting isn't exactly anticipated.]

[perfectly_average]

[He manages to gather that, eventually, and... honestly? It gets a tiny smile out of him. Honestly, he should have at least guessed at the possibility, given he barely ever spent time in his own cabin, as an inmate.

But he does manage reconsider his approach, well enough, by the time he tracks his charge to the place he also spends time. He waits until the man doesn't seem to be busy with reading, and then he takes a deep breath and approaches the stranger. He makes a point of keeping his tone polite, but genuine.]

I'm sorry to bother you, suddenly... My name's Jamil. Are you Verso?

[palissant]

[There is a certain level of suspicion connected to someone approaching him already knowing his name. Maelle, he's sure, is being fairly free with it along with his description, so he initially assumes that this is something to do with her.

He sets down the book he had picked up to read next, leaning back a little in his chair.]

Yes, I'm Verso.

Random Deliveries Catchall, Optional Interactions!

[perfectly_average]

Until Breach

[perfectly_average]

Jamil already makes enough coffee and tea to last at least a week at a time, so it's not that much of a change in routine for him to turn that into enough for at least one more person. He also tosses some fruit into a large bowl, with a mixture of water and lemon juice, to prevent it from turning brown.

Every day, he will place sealed containers of a little fruit, tea, and/or coffee next to Verso. There's a note on each, that says what they are and... that's all there is to it. He doesn't stick around, doesn't expect it to be consumed, but also doesn't break the routine.

And the containers are not meant to be washed, so they won't be counted as a loss if just tossed into the trash; with magic, even cardboard-like paper can become temporarily sturdy enough that it's great for preserving warmth, cold, liquid, etc.

Besides, he works as part of custodial; he'll be able to find anything that's left untouched, and just toss it before it starts to smell.

[palissant]

The containers are never acknowledged and never touched.

Verso himself will become more difficult to access as the persistence continues, spending most of his time shut in his cabin or in the Speakeasy and not showing up in the library or any other public spaces at all where something can just be set down at his elbow.

Anything left directly outside his cabin is going to get quite deliberately kicked down the hallway. Very hard. Yes, it's a childish reaction.

He feels very much like he's being stalked by someone he can't do anything to get rid of.

[perfectly_average]

Verso, please, he offered the "get out of knowing location" free card and everything!

But, hey... Goading him into kicking things down a hallway is helping him feel more than a dead-eyed "I don't care", maybe? Maybe it's the tiniest baby step towards progress, only time can tell. But Jamil does remember it getting horribly worse, multiple times, before it got better. Sinking into the hate, the self-destruction, the... external destruction, in this place.

He gets it.

Only Verso can truly motivate Verso, but remaining passive... isn't an option he sees, at all.

So, closer to the end of the time before Breach, he does leave a note on his cabin.

At least drink water and eat a full meal.
Please.

[superniceone]

It's late morning when Gustave arrives at the door to Verso's cabin. He's doing his best to ride that line between 'early enough to catch him before he goes somewhere' and 'late enough that he's not definitely waking him up,' but he has no idea if he's succeeded.

Both the way he raps his knuckles on the door and calls out is tentative. "I'm looking for Verso? This is Gustave. Uh. From— Lumière? I'm Maelle's brother."

[palissant]

As it happens, Verso really has no set schedule on the Barge. He could be mistaken for someone who simply gets up when he wants to and does what he wants, but it's more that he really doesn't care one way or the other. Right now, he's just spending some time listlessly staring at the ceiling.

He's ready to ignore the knock, or tell whoever it is to go away, but instead finds himself all too abruptly sitting bolt upright on the bed with what feels like his entire insides doing a very uncomfortable flip.

Merde.

So... he can ignore it, right? He could, but he's going to have to deal with it eventually. He'd swear this was just another way that this hellish place is conspiring to close in around him.

It takes a minute, but the door does open. Verso might have had something clever on his lips, he might have taken a moment to think of something smart to say. What he ends up uttering, though, without opening the door far enough to give the impression of welcome, is a slightly awkward-sounding;

"Hey."

[superniceone]

"Hey," Gustave echoes, and— well. He'd prepared a lot of things to say, and now that he finds himself actually at Verso's door, he isn't sure how to start. There was a lot Maelle couldn't tell me, and I was hoping you could fill in the blanks is one, or maybe How did she end up that way? Instead, he just stalls out slightly; he can see very little of Verso, actually, and is mostly just struck by the fact that his eyes are as blue as Maelle's.

"Sorry," he says after an awkward beat, "I'm still— I just got here yesterday. I hope she's, uh, mentioned me?" Surely they'd filled Verso in on who he was, right??

[heyboss]

Good evening. Maelle asked me to contact you. She is awake now, but she was killed.

She'd like to see you. She is in my office, room 17 on level 6.

a while after pairings are announced for oct

[tomoveonward]

[If he uses the library often, it'll be easy enough for him to find his new inmate, after asking around a little.

So have what by all means looks like a scrawny teenager coming up to meet him.]

Hello?

[palissant]

[He's more aware this time, just waiting to be randomly approached by a stranger.

Syaoran will find himself being cooly evaluated by a pair of pale, pale blue eyes looking at him from an infinitely tired expression.]

Yes?

[tomoveonward]

Ah, I'm sorry to bother you like this. But I believe you've been paired with me as an inmate. [Meaning he's a whole Warden himself, yep.]

[superniceone]

[it's almost an afterthought that has gustave swing by verso's cabin on his way to the enclosure, and he raps his knuckles briskly against the door.]

Hey. Gonna go look at trains, if you feel like some company.

[palissant]

[There's a silent pause... then a thud, a quiet curse, and Verso sticks his head out of the door.]

What?

[superniceone]

In the enclosure. [he's shooting him a baffled look.] You drop something?

post pairings

[dogwizard]

[Antryg is fascinated by 'modern' communication methods, but the Barge isn't that big and there's something to be said for meeting in person. So he goes looking for his new temporary inmate on foot, first.]

Hello, Verso? I'm Antryg Windrose.

[palissant]

[He knows how this works by now. Being randomly approached by a complete stranger around mid-month, having them introduce themselves already knowing his name, as if it matters.]

I don't care.

[Antryg gets his attention for all of five seconds before it goes back to the book in his lap.]

[dogwizard]

A lot of people say that [He says, unmoved.

But he's not going to press someone for conversation they don't want. Instead, he sits down cross-legged, pulling out a sketchpad and starting to draw.]

[Audio] - Post pairing announcement

[mercurialize]

Hey... mind if we talk?

[palissant]

[He won't get a reply for a while, because Verso doesn't make a habit of looking for messages unless he's posted something of his own.

But, eventually...]

Depends.

[mercurialize]

[He wasn't expecting anything so any reply is a pleasant surprise.]

Yeah, I had a feeling.

[A shrug you can't see.]

Name your terms, then.