palissant | [TLV] IC Inbox

You're viewing

palissant's journal
Create a Dreamwidth Account Learn More

Reload page in style: site light

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

If you want him, come find him.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only | Expand All

From:

superniceone

[it's not the sort of dashboard that gustave has ever seen outside of an old reference manual, but he's good with machines; despite his occasional general aura of uncertain anxiety, he's able to follow the instructions with deft ease.

and when the whistle blows, he laughs aloud; it's juvenile, but the delight is sincere.]

It's a genuine replica, then. Just like the real thing. [for a given value of real, of course.]

From:

palissant

Of course. I wouldn't want something that didn't work.

[Gustave please, what do you take him for.]

Release the brakes. [He indicates two brass levers.] The top one, right to left. Then you'll open the throttle.

[The throttle is a long lever hanging from the cab roof. Verso points it out.]

Give it a yank towards you then push it back in, we don't want to set off too fast.

From:

superniceone

[gustave lapses into silence to follow instruction, clearly committing it all to memory.]

I— do you have any idea where this is theoretically going to take us?

From:

palissant

[He thinks for a moment.]

If we take the right-hand turn when we reach the fork outside of the station, it should take us to Old Lumiére. To the left, over some open ground a quarry, then the coast.

From:

superniceone

[seeing old lumière firsthand is— well, basically a dream for him. but it's not firsthand, not really, so he'll tamp down his own opinion about the matter.]

If I'm driving, then you're navigating. Which way?

From:

palissant

[He knows Gustave wants to see Lumiére in its prime. Before its heart was ripped out and before it was destroyed utterly by Simon's rampage. Yet, still, he... thinks about it.

He thinks about it because he's not sure if his own heart can take it.

But... he sighs quietly, and faintly smiles.]

... Go right.

From:

superniceone

[gustave doesn't know verso well enough yet to know the shape of his baggage — but he's aware of the pause, can hear the little sigh, and he makes an executive decision to steer the train left.]

Sorry. Took too long, had to make an executive decision.

From:

palissant

[A soft grunt. He lightly cuffs the back of Gustave's head.]

Hope you brought your swim gear.

From:

superniceone

Not a chance. I'll burn to a crisp. [it's wry, irreverent. he doubts sunburn is an actual concern here, but he's also less than jazzed about visiting the coast. he's not had great luck near the water on the continent.]

From:

palissant

You look like the kind of person who would have all their freckles join up in the sun.

[Just saying.]

From:

superniceone

[gustave turns in his seat to squint at him.]

I genuinely have no idea if that's a compliment or an insult.

From:

palissant

[Grin.]

A completely harmless observation.

Edited Date: 2026-01-01 03:01 am (UTC)

From:

superniceone

Doubt we'll get much sun on the Barge. It'll have to remain a mystery. [he's... never really paid enough attention to his own reflection to know if that's a thing or not :')]

From:

palissant

Tragic.

[Verso is not one of those people. He tans.]

Getting up to speed, pull the Johnson bar back, but not all the way.

From:

superniceone

[look, gustave is just here to fill the scrawny nerd quota.

but he follows the instructions before flicking his eyes back to the window.] You've got a knack for instruction.

From:

palissant

I'm really old.

[So, you know, experience.]

You get used to giving instructions to people who don't know the things you know. Especially when it comes to trains.

From:

superniceone

Right, right. Easy to forget. You don't look a day over sixty, for the record.

[gustave won't admit this under pain of death

but he's definitely gonna come back to drive more trains]

From:

palissant

Oh, yeah, it's the white hair isn't it.

[He gives his hair a brief flick.]

I could tell you a secret.

From:

superniceone

[and, when he's sure he doesn't need to immediately tend to the controls again, he twists in his seat to look at verso with his eyebrows up.]

Go ahead, then, you've got me curious.

From:

palissant

[Leaning by the window, Verso thiiiiiinks about it.]

I dye my hair. It's entirely white.

From:

superniceone

[gustave stares at him for a moment, deciding not to ask the first question that comes to mind: does he dye his beard too??]

So the streak—

[he sort of waves at his own hair, as if to indicate verso's.] This is— fashion?