A quiet winter trip turns into something tenderly human. Lune and Verso share warmth, laughter, and the kind of closeness that makes even a snowstorm feel like home.
Take out from my story "Expedition 32" (Chapter 9)
One-Shot on Ao3
Long Story on Ao3
Kisses in the Cold
Lune stretched happily, savoring the warm dampness between herself and Verso. She turned so she could hold him fully and kissed his neck, breathing in his scent. When he caressed her face, she took his hand and massaged it, making him close his eyes with a contented hum. She drew one of his fingers between her lips.
“Mm, salty.”
“What did you expect?”
Grinning, he pulled her close to kiss her neck in return and breathe in her fragrance. She sighed deeply. They caressed, massaged, and kissed until another wave of ecstasy rose between them.
“That must have been the fourth time tonight, wasn’t it?” Lune asked with a smile.
“I don’t know—could’ve been the fifth.” Verso gently brushed a loose strand of hair from her face.
Dizzy with happiness, Lune collapsed onto him, laughing. “If we keep this up, we’ll soon grow together.” She kissed the little cleft at the tip of his nose.
“Mhm… I wouldn’t mind.” Verso couldn’t stop smiling either. He pulled Lune tightly against him and bit softly at her neck.
“Oooh—so you’re a vampire as well?”
“Yes… but I only want you: your body, your warmth, your scent, the taste of your skin. Only you—for the rest of my world.”
“Hmmm.” Lune gave him a teasing smile. “Then dress warmly, old man, because I have plenty more in store for you.”
Verso laughed and tickled her neck, which led to a playful mix of kisses, tickles, and pillow-fighting until, their stomachs growling, they finally decided to get up.
At the end of the week, Lune and Verso performed their first concert, and it was plain to see how much closer they had grown. It ended with a love song they had written together and thunderous applause.
On the way back, they walked arm in arm through the mild night toward Lune’s apartment.
“By the way—I still owe the clothes-Grandis some money… for the coat I wore in Old Lumiere.”
“Oh, it looked magnificent—as if it had been made for you.” Verso pulled her close and kissed her cheek.
Lune kissed him back, smiling. “I could go over there on my own, but…”
“Next week I have three days off.” He winked at her.
They took the ferry to the Gestral shore, since from there it was a longer yet beautiful path to Monoco’s cave. The air was clear, the sky an icy blue. It was noticeably cooler here than in Lumiere and grew colder with every step toward the snowy lands. Lune wore her coat again—dark red, like Verso’s favorite wine—and looked stunning in it.
They walked hand in hand. Sometimes their fingers pressed tightly together; sometimes only the tips brushed. At times they embraced, then drifted apart again, their fingertips still linked.
When they passed the hill where Verso had found Julie’s diary, he swallowed and his expression darkened. He knew he would never be able to pass there lightly. But Lune’s love and cheer made it easier for him to turn away and follow her.
When they entered the cave, Lune looked around with the same delighted wonder as the first time: the glittering ice, a grotesque framework of railway carriages arching overhead. Since she could float, she only felt the chill of the ground in passing and hardly noticed how slippery it was.
At any moment she expected Monoco—the eccentric, furred Gestral—to leap out at them as he had before. Instead, the good-natured Grandis were at their usual places: talking, working, sitting by fires or tending market stalls.
The clothes-Grandis was easy to spot, his elaborate red hat visible across the entire cavern. Lune went straight to him, paid the remainder of her debt, and added a generous tip on top.
“Many thanks, my lady,” he said with a deep bow. “I can only say, the coat suits you perfectly! Would you perhaps care to look at a pretty dress as well?”
“No,” she laughed. “But good Verso might need a fur coat. He looks… a little underdressed for a snow cave.”
The clothes-Grandis looked Verso up and down—stylish hair, handsome face, excellent figure, but indeed only simple trousers and a loose shirt. “Well, that would indeed be appropriate,” he muttered, scratching the fur beneath his hat. “Unfortunately, I only carry women’s clothing. Unless you’d be interested in that?”
Verso laughed. “Don’t worry, mate. I’ve always been tough enough.”
“Do you feel like a little trip?” Verso squeezed Lune’s hand, his eyes sparkling. “I’d love to show you where I used to go skiing… It’s just around the corner, and I’m sure you can rent skis there. I could teach you.”
“Are you crazy?” But Lune laughed more than she scolded. “Verso, mon amour, your lips are blue and your hands are freezing—you don’t want to catch your death.”
Verso pulled her into his arms and kissed her. His kiss struck her like a frost spell.
“How could I possibly freeze at the side of such a hot woman?” he whispered in her ear.
Lune shook her head. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea, but… I’m curious.”
There really were skis to rent. Lune laughed when, during her first attempts, the skis kept sliding apart and she landed rather ungracefully on her backside. Each time, Verso helped her up and encouraged her to keep going until she managed a short glide while holding his hand.
He proudly showed off his own skills—little tricks, quick descents. But Lune noticed that he was growing colder and colder. By evening he was coughing lightly.
She wrapped her arms around him. “Come—let’s go to the inn in Old Lumiere.”
He only nodded and followed her. He was shivering, his eyes half-closing, and once he even sneezed on the way.
In the city it was warmer, yet Verso could not stop shivering.
They found a room at the inn, and Lune gave him her warm coat on top of the thin blanket. She crouched down beside him and stroked his face. His nose, most of all, was still ice-cold.
“Wait, I’ll get you some soup and tea.”
He only nodded.
When Verso woke the next morning, his head ached as if he had drunk an entire barrel of wine the night before. His arms and legs hurt as well, and he was shivering. An unpleasant tickle in his nose made him sit up. “Ahh-choo!” He sneezed hard into his shirt and sniffled. He grabbed at his throat, which hurt even more when he swallowed, and let out a hiss of pain.
Lune had woken beside him and sat up. “Oh dear, mon amour!” She brushed his hair back from his forehead. “Do you know what a cold is?”
Verso nodded.
“Have you ever had one?”
He shook his head.
“Well then, congratulations!” Lune couldn’t hold back a giggle as she continued to stroke his face tenderly. “This must be the first in your hundred years.”
“Ninety-seven!” he wanted to protest, but all that came out was a rasp before he had to sneeze again.
“Come here, sweetheart.” Lune guided his head into her lap, stroked him, and handed him her handkerchief. “I’ll get you some tea and see if I can buy you warmer clothes, d’accord?”
She laid him gently back onto the pillow and left the room faster than he could object. For a moment he lay motionless, then—despite the rawness in his throat—a faint smile slipped across his face.
This is making me ill the way his eyes go to the hand and then up all wide and blue like a little boy, like he just does not know what to do here. I don’t care how much the animators for the facial movements are paid, it isn’t enough. I’m so used to console games doing that faux-realistic style that feels so stiff, where every character’s face looks plastic and you can’t relate to them even if the writing is perfect during an emotional scene. This game just has so much life in every movement, it looks like a painting come to life— not just another formulaic marketing scheme, but real art with real emotion. “Family is complicated.” Oh Verso my boy. My baby.
Too sad that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is over for now - the interest is fading.
I still love it very much; and I'm glad I could finish my fanfic before the interest had faded.
Greetings to all fans 💕
something you don't learn until you get really far into the making and tinkering life is that there's no such thing as "glue" really. there are so many kinds of substances that stick other substances together and they are all very different and if you just go look at the adhesives aisle in the hardware store the packaging never actually tells you anything useful. it's like "this is SUPER T-REX POWER GLUE" and the fine print says "good for use on wood metal and plastic". okay. but WHICH PLASTICS MY GOOD BITCH,
because SURPRISE, there's no such thing as "plastic" either. every kind of wood is basically the same on a chemical level, but the only thing every plastic has in common is "some of its molecules are long" and that is NOT a quality that determines how things stick together.
I just ordered some stuff I hope will permanently stick a circuit board to a steel sheet and withstand temperatures up to 150 degrees. by the way circuit boards are made of epoxy-bound woven glass cloth which is cool as hell but what the fuck do you glue that with? can any of the 12 kinds of adhesives I currently own do that? no of course not. if I want to stick two pieces of acrylic together so hard they become watertight to a depth of 3000 metres I have some shit that does that, but it does literally nothing else.
anyway. once you start learning how many kinds of sticking things together there are, the people at 3M start to seem like witches and I don't know if they're the kind we can trust with that level of arcane knowledge
Can I introduce you to one of the most useful sites from the early web? It’s thistothat.com and it tells you what kind of adhesives work to stick different types of substances together. It looks like it was designed in 1999 with some ads slapped over the top, because it was designed in 1999…. But like most things from the early web, it does what’s on the label: tells you how to stick this to that.
Arcane knowledge my ass, the internet used to be useful about shit.
#NevronTakeover
Day 3 - Axons
The first time, when Clea and Verso brought Alicia into the canvas. And somewhere beyond the frame, Renoir already sees their essences as axons.
(Dessendre-Family-Picture by Sandfall; reworked vision)
Epilogue – The Dessendre Family
A few days later, they stood once more before the canvas – Aline, Renoir, Clea, and Maëlle.
It was now kept in Verso’s room – between his piano and the little train set.
“Let’s have a look.”
Although Maëlle could no longer speak because of her burns, everyone in her family understood what she meant.
“To see if he’s still asleep. And if they’re still alive.”
In the in-between world they entered carefully, Maëlle was young and whole again.
They saw the sleeping boy – his face already a little more at peace.
“That’s remarkable.”
Aline stepped closer to the membrane, seeing the life within – and how much the city had changed.
“How is that possible?”
“You created the people, Maman. I brought them back to life.”
“All of us left traces in the painting … I was afraid it would consume you.
Now I understand – we all want to preserve it.
But we should agree on one thing: no new Verso.”
Renoir looked around.
“No new Verso,” Aline said calmly, with quiet certainty.
“He needs our love, our memory – and his rest.”
They left the canvas, then the room, still talking as they went.
“There are no Nevrons left on the main continent. Not between Old and New Lumière either.
Just imagine – there are three cities now.”
“My people were always brave, inventive, and resourceful.
But that it was you who managed to bring them back like this …”
“I’ve always told you that you underestimate our youngest, Aline.”
“The Gestral beaches are popular.”
“I can imagine that.”
“Many try to face the trials, but only a few manage to pass them.”
“Did you ever pass them?”
“Only the first one,” Maëlle laughed.
“And everyone loves the Gestral village – especially for the curious things sold there.
You wouldn’t believe how many I’ve seen wearing those ridiculous costumes!”
“Esquie’s cave is the children’s favorite playground. I created a copy of Esquie to live there.”
“Is François still around?”
“Of course! And he’d be delighted to see you.”
As they left the house to walk into the city, Aline passed Verso’s grave for the first time without crying.
A out of bounds capture I took right after the fight with Renoir (and just before the fight between Verso and Alicia) You can see Aline actually got up to her feet reaching out to them.
