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thatonebirdwrites · 1 month ago

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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 -- moments between Nevron fights (excerpts of a larger work)

LUNE and MAELLE After Flying Waters ACT 1

A quiet settles over the camp. Gustave dangles his feet over the cliff as he writes in his journal for his apprentices, and Lune scrubs the pan from a quick dinner. Maelle kneels at her side to rinse the cups. The last of their tea, which means no more luxuries. Lune hadn’t expected the entire expedition to be wiped so quickly, so she’d carried bare minimum supplies. Scavenged a crate or two more then followed the fresh footprints of a human being to find Gustave.

She doesn’t dare mention how close she’d come to finding Gustave dead. “So,” Lune attempts conversation, but she feels rusty. It’s been a long time since she’s tried to reach out to others. “That manor. Who is this Curator? Why did he bring you there?”

Maelle leans back on her heels and a crinkle forms between her eyebrows. “I… I’m not sure.” Her fingers tighten around the cup. “I felt a kinship almost. Like I could hear his voice. And that room. It felt …” she shakes her head. “I likely imagined it.”

“Maelle.” Lune lightly touches her shoulder. “Don’t dismiss data. If that room evoked emotion, it could be crucial to our mission.”

Maelle dries the cup and tucks it into the pack. “It felt familiar. Like I’d been there prior.” She looks at Lune, her expression hopeful as if she has all the answers. “Did you feel anything?”

Lune tucks away the pan and dries off her hands. “I found it intriguing that it folded a much larger space into a small location. What pictos is needed for such a transformation must be immense. I could not sense any however, which felt odd. It was quiet. No Nevrons. Never seen architecture quite like that in Lumiere.”

Maelle stands and throws a rock into the pool. “Why was I saved though? So many died…”

Lune doesn’t have an answer. She suspects Gustave will know exactly what to say, but this is not Lune’s strength. Emotions and people do not enter into her calculations. They’re messy, confusing, and often overwhelming. She takes a deep breath, and tries for Maelle’s sake. “I’m sorry. Part of the decision to land there relied on my calculations. It should have been a relatively quiet stretch of beach.” She had no idea an older man existed on the continent. How could she? No one lived past the current number on the Paintress’s Monolith. The gommage made sure of that.

“He just killed them.” Maelle clenches her fist. “It’s his fault they died, Lune. Not yours.”

“Perhaps, but I still made that calculation.” Lune stands and dusts off her pants.

Maelle sighs. “I simply wish the Curator had saved more than just me.”

“A wish can sour us to the mission,” Lune says, her tone careful. “Deal in facts and figures. We cannot change what has already transpired. And so we continue.”

“Right.” Maelle gives her a tight smile. A sign that perhaps Lune’s words assisted her? She returns the smile in hopes it is sufficient for the younger girl's needs. “Will you show me your work?” She drops the pack by the fire and gestures to the logs they’d situated.

Lune hasn’t ever shown anyone her work. Not since her parents died on Expedition 41, but the way Maelle sits and looks at her expectantly, her full trust despite Lune’s anti-social behaviors, has her sitting down next to her and pulling up her matrix. She explains the art of transcribing data into the diamond-shaped energy matrix, the calculations made concerning pictos, and to her surprise, Maelle asks astute questions.

When Gustave returns to the fire, he smiles at the sight of Maelle and Lune bent over Lune’s work. Lune glances up with a nod to acknowledge his approach, but returns her focus to Maelle. “… layering pictos as you described has been confirmed in the section under calculus.”

“Oh, the theorem your parents devised. Didn't they confirm a limit to it?”

“Yes, three are stable. Four grow exponentially unstable and likely to end in combustion. However, I learned of a detail inherent within the chroma of Nevrons, where chroma can copy a pictos into a usable form—”

“Your work with Gustave,” Maelle interrupts. “Is that where the converter first came to be?”

“Yeah,” Gustave says. “Lune and I were working on her calculations, and it gave me the idea of the converter. If I could extract the chroma, Lune can refine.”

“And thus we create copies of the pictos to layer ours in ways my parents never dreamed.”

“But it takes time to learn the pictos in order to refine and copy it. I remember.” Maelle glances toward the cave at the far end of their camp, where the Curator lurks. “It’s good that the Curator can help upgrade our weapons and pictos. Speeds things up a bit, doesn’t it?”

“Yes. A surprising aid.” Lune nods, her smile crinkling the skin around her eyes. “You are a fast learner.”

“She always has been,” Gustave agrees. “Our Maelle, though whether she stays focused is quite the challenge. Always eager to run the courier to escape her lessons.”

That earns him a roll of her eyes. She pokes his side. "I do study at times."

"Oh?" He raises his hands in mock surrender. "When not endlessly needling me for a duel? Sometimes I wonder if you’re a gestral in disguise." He laughs when Maelle sticks her tongue out at him.

Lune can't help but smile at their affection. Even here, on the continent, in the midst of great danger and deadly Nevrons, the pair find a way to uplift their spirits. She can't help but feel grateful that Maelle survived to give Gustave the hope he needed to continue.

Lune sees movement in the cavern. She walks slowly, carefully past the mound of bodies, only to pause at the sight of Gustave. His eyes are closed, and he holds his summoned gun against his forehead, his hands shaking, and tears streak his face. Lune sits down next to him and struggles with what to say. She can’t let him die like this, but how to stop him?

She calculates the force from the pistol and comes to a conclusion. Sitting down next to him, she positions herself so the blast would hit her as well. She takes a deep breath and accepts this risk. “You do that we both die.”

He opens his eyes and for a brief moment he stares, the pistol wavering in his hand. Then the decision is made, and his weapon evaporates.

“Hey…” Relief floods her. As hoped he’d made the right decision. She leans forward to try to snag his gaze, but Gustave doesn’t respond. “Fucking hell, wake up, Gustave.” She moves to crouch in front of him, her tone acerbic.

“Lune,” he whispers, the shock still in his face, the way he looks around as if he sees nothing and yet everything. “The others.”

“I know. We’re the only ones left. You don’t get to die.” She stands and holds out her hand, but he doesn’t take it.

Instead he sucks in a tearful gasp. “It’s just a matter of time. We — we’re already dead. Look around.” His arm shakes as he gestures to the mound of bodies that surrounds them, that are wrapped up in sickly blood red tendrils that drip and splatter in the cavern. “Look.”

“This is not a foregone conclusion. When one falls, we continue.” It’s the only words she has, and she needs him. She knows he has the strength for this. She knows the shock of death. She’s lived it, and now she needs him to stand and face it too. The cavern shakes with the approach of a Nevron, and she thinks of how narrowly she escaped the last two. Together they stand a chance; alone they are easy pickings.

That moment had terrified her. How many other expeditions had fallen to such a fate when faced with such death? The mantra, ‘when one falls, we continue’ is what keeps her moving and fighting. It’s how they reached the Indigo tree finally, their rally point, only to watch yet another expeditioner die a violent death. Yet they marshaled their powers to defeat that deadly Nevron, through timed dodges and the synergy of her elemental powers to his sword and pistols.

It was after, higher in the Indigo tree, that they discovered a note about Maelle’s survival. The one that led them through floating waters, past water-based Nevrons, and into a strange, larger-on-inside manor. Maelle, unharmed, had been reading at a desk.

Now she watches Maelle and Gustave gently goad the other, alive and well.

Tomorrow comes, and with it the chance to meet gestrals, a legend in their hometown. She can’t wait to ask questions on if it is true that they can reincarnate or how their political system functions. It’s perhaps a small selfish need to know, but it is her own form of hope.

_____

LUNE And SCIEL At Gestral Village

Two of the challengers had been defeated. Lune breathes in and out, her powers sizzles through her, and the weapon floating above her hand. Since landing on the continent, she has refined her skills, crafted new ones to build up her stains, then used all four stains in a blast of elemental energy. As good as the gestrals are with fighting, they have little defense against her stain-fueled attacks.

The gestrals in the stands cheer, and wave their spindley arms in anticipation of their champion. Paintbrush-styled hair sprouts from their wooden heads, their masks carved with sigils, and it almost looks as if they paint the sky as they wave their bodies back and forth. She shakes her head to dispel the irrational thought.

By her calculations, she has enough energy for the final fight, but she will need to be strategic. To parry and dodge more often.

“And NOW. The one who single-handedly destroyed a Sakapatate,” the announcer says grandly in the gestrals language, “to EARN HER SPOT in the Hall of LEGENDS. The Stranger!”

A familiar figure runs and leaps from the stands. She lands with flourish and raises her hands to the cheers of the crowd. Cards manifest in her hands and she throws them into the air, working the crowd like a pro fighter.

“Wait…” Maelle says from behind Lune. “Isn’t that…?”

“Sciel?” Gustave says, stunned.

Lune stares, unable to speak. How is this so? Their expedition had fifteen members, and most had died in that deadly beach encounter. Lune barely escaped, her powers useless against such onslaught. The Nevrons assisting that old man deadly with hallucinatory powers that blighted several of her compatriots. She’d seen so many die, and hadn’t Sciel been lying among the bodies?

"Sciel..." Lune whispers. She struggles to box up the sour memories, to retain her focus on the present, but Sciel's appearance threatens to implode her careful control of her emotions.

Sciel turns and her eyes widen. “What — How — You guys… You’re alive!” She holds up her hands and rushes toward them.

Gustave meets her halfway and hugs her tightly.

“I thought I was the only one left.” She turns and smiles as Maelle shyly sidles forward. “I knew you were resourceful,” she says, gently to the teenager.

“How did you get here?” Lune asks, words finally breaking free from the shock of Sciel alive.

The announcer interrupts with a loud shout. “Hey humans! We’re here to see some fighting! If you don’t wanna fight, we’ll come down and fight ourselves?”

Sciel steps back and turns to take in the crowd, a sly smile upturning her lips. Her amber-hued skin almost glows in the torches of the arena. As beautiful as Lune remembers.

“They’re expecting a bit of a show.” Sciel moves to a proper dueling distance and turns to face Lune and the others. “Shall we?” With a flick of her wrist, her scythe blazes into being and a card appears in her other hand.

Lune smiles. Typical Sciel, always ready to leap into action. “So be it.” She can unleash her questions on Sciel after they dealt with the gestrals silly arena.

With a swirl of her hands, her Lunerim manifests, its four stain-holders empty and ready for use.

#clair obscur #clair obscur: expedition 33 #expedition 33 #Maelle #Lune #Gustave #coe33 #scielune #Obsessed with this game #I will always ship Lune and Sciel #Sciel has Korra energy and Lune has Asami energy #The story really feels like it's Maelle's story #but I wanted to write it from Lune's perspective since the game doesn't show the world from her perspective #So this is the start of their journey #I won't write any Nevron fights but I may write scenes of their discoveries delving into the secrets of their world #I calculated fifteen members of the Disaster Expedition due to five tables set out in their festival and three to a table #It's possible there might have been up to twenty members or as little as ten -- they game doesn't specifically say #and the body count hints that it's more than the eight named ones we meet directly #But then the body count of other expeditions is ridiculously high so ... ymmv

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batsplat · 9 months ago

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I don’t know if this is a crossover that makes sense but I saw that you like doctor who and MotoGP which are two things I enjoy a lot so if you had to a-sign Valentino, Marc, Casey, Jorge, and Dani as a doctor which doctor would each of them be (the one most like them) and would there be crossovers for who’s who.

ontologically fascinating ask in that the premise supposes all the aliens are essentially variations upon the same guy. and given I do indeed am a known doctor who enjoyer, I will absolutely have a crack at this. obviously some of the aliens will inevitably have more of a doctor-ish vibe than others, which made some of these trickier than others. but this kind of exercise is fun in that it forces you to think of like... the key, non-negotiable character traits you associate with each guy. so here goes

dani: struggled most with this one. I initially thought maybe third doctor - some kind of homage to the samurai styling and three's martial arts thing. idk I could picture dani dropkicking an alien. (literal, not motogp alien... although maybe?) though mainly this pick is about the UNIT team environment. you've got this loner vibe, right, paired with this sense of superiority over some of those you're working with: maybe you've been exiled to earth and have to spend time with a bunch of humans or maybe you have to share a garage with a teammate when you'd really rather not. it's about capturing the energy of early premier class dani who flirts with the line between being kinda shy and awkward versus being a bit of an arrogant prick. the contemptuous vibe the doctor brings to the table... he knows how good he is! boy wonder dani surrounded by people convinced he's going to be the next big thing. a lot of the time three just wants to be left alone to do his work... three's the most grounded doctor (no pun intended) and between the pragmatism and the haughtiness, there is an appeal to this pick

but a different alien is more suited to the third doctor in terms of actual personality, so... for dani, we'll keep the trappings of three, but maybe in terms of actual personality veer a tad closer to nine. very much a big-hearted incarnation of the doctor despite having been thoroughly beaten down by the universe. regret, frustration, a reckoning of sorts with his own ineffectuality... nine's arc of coming to terms with his failure to save others, versus dani's arc of coming to terms with not achieving what people expected him to. nine is a transitional doctor, one who's all about finding himself in the aftermath of loss + tragedy - it's a journey that's very much about finding some measure of peace. reckoning with how painful and unfair the world can be, finding meaning within it anyway. nine's also committed to his worldview, his sense of morality... he's rigid at times, inflexible - though he's sometimes successfully challenged to reassess his beliefs. embraces a little more nuance by the end of his tenure while still never wavering from certain core values... the world might reward cruelty, might be unfair, but nine can choose to fight anyway. commitment to the struggle, even if it's ultimately futile! I'm still not wholly convinced by how good a fit this is because nine's outwardly manic persona is key to his characterisation, but. well. maybe you'd go three's life circumstances with nine's soul (?) with one's gruff exterior. having to make a choice, I'd go nine

jorge: this one's a straight contest between two doctors for me. my first thought was six - you know, the one with the whacky clothes. on a meta level, there is something to how the doctor who showrunners really ramped up the quirkiness to the max with this version of the doctor without figuring out why that had worked with past incarnations. one of my fave things about jorge is that whole process he had to try to figure out his 'character', attempting to construct a persona in this deliberate, self-serious way with constant reference to valentino, reflecting upon everything he did to the point of omphaloskepsis. and six at the start of his tenure was also a bit of an... unfinished product, rough around the edges - just too abrasive a personality to work in this particular show. also one of the most outwardly arrogant incarnations! six is always A Lot, with this flamboyance and passion that just suits theatre-kid-at-heart jorge. and six does calm down, stops trying to be so edgy... idk, to me just a little reminiscent of jorge's evolution. stopped trying to come up with a 'character' that rivals valentino's - which does work rather nicely as a meta-textual parallel with that particular era of doctor who. six might have been stubborn, poorly socialised, sometimes a handful to deal with... but also someone who softened some of the rough edges. it's taken some time, but he's won a lot of fans over. eventually

all that being said, I'm leaning towards the other option here - and bring back three, a better fit for jorge than he is for dani. a lot of the stuff about the working environment applies here too, of course... like, you've got an alien who's being made to work a nine to five job surrounded by actual human beings; the interpersonal interactions tend to be a bit hit-and-miss. three's self-seriousness, his pompousness really work here... his tendency to pontificate, I see the vision for jorge. and - let's not forget - three's run was very much defined by his relationship with the master, who got to actually be a very regular antagonist in that era. that particular dynamic has taken some radically different forms over the years... but the third doctor, for all of his antagonism with the master, brought a certain 'only bitch in this house I respect' vibe to the table. jorge would get obsessed with his old academic rival who keeps showing up to bother him/commit mass murder. after the master's first appearance/mass murder spree, the doctor can barely contain his enthusiasm at the thought of fighting the master again soon. that's jorge, if he were a time travelling alien. going three

casey: right, casey's getting the old soul treatment. the first doctor fits that brief and is also the most irascible incarnation, back in the earliest days of the character when they just wrote him as kinda a dick for a while. do I think casey would abduct two school teachers just because they poked around where they wren't supposed to and pissed him off? well, yes. that sounds like a casey thing to do. the first doctor is stubborn, moody, frequently dismissive of those who aren't as brilliant as him. doesn't trust easily. blunt, pragmatic, sceptical of authority. a bit of a loner. and given he's the first incarnation, he's also the version going through the most culture shock!! not always easy, is it, when you're constantly surrounded by all these [humans/europeans] who baffle you. the first doctor did get to mature a bit, got to have some fun and lean into his natural inclination towards mischief... a piece of work whose heart is mostly in the right place, even if he doesn't always show it particularly well

another option for casey is twelve, another a pick that does kinda work on a meta level. twelve follows on from some massively popular incarnations, keeps dropping all-timer performances that don't always get the appreciation they deserve from the casual fan. the real ones know how goated he is. twelve starts out REALLY surly, not exactly the most outwardly empathetic doctor - let's just say his bedside manner could use a little bit of tweaking. at the same time, twelve's very preoccupied with questions of morality... he has a tendency to be incredibly harsh to those he doesn't feel live up to his standards - ones which at times feel a touch arbitrary, even hypocritical. also very harsh towards himself!! twelve goes in heavy on the self-loathing, pairing an ironclad confidence in his own abilities with plenty of doubts and insecurities. casey's all about confidence - both in the positive sense that he's got a lot of it and knows he can always rely on his obscene levels of talent, but also in the negative sense that he's constantly terrified of letting everyone else down and can have his self-belief shaken under the right circumstances. possibly setting off a streak of crashes. twelve's another quite rigid sort at the start of his tenure, very capable of lashing out at anything in range, though he does chill out a bit. and he's a very kind version of the doctor, principled, got a dry sense of humour... one of the more misunderstood incarnations and still somewhat underappreciated. this is already a good fit to me! but I'd also throw in a wild card tenth doctor in there, for that tendency to think he's always in the right and a reluctance to admit to certain shortcomings - he's just a little less reflective and honest with himself than twelve. a Proper Grudge Holder who went to the resent and remember class of conflict non-resolution. his rather remarkable capacity for self-delusion doesn't hurt with the parallels either. ten's admittedly a bit too happy-go-lucky for casey's whole deal... primarily I'd still say twelve

marc: went the other way from casey with this one and considered the doctors with younger appearances. five would be an interesting pick - an incarnation that really embraced having a young face, who felt like some of his previous incarnations had been trying way too hard to appear old and mature. there's a vibrancy and charm to five that suits marc I feel, cheerful and a tad naive (to the point of being somewhat childish) and wanting to really engage with the universe... he wants to live life to the fullest, wants to have fun out there, rejects cynicism. and for his troubles, five absolutely gets put through the wringer. this is a man acquainted with TRAUMA. full time companions really don't die very often in this show, but one of the defining fifth doctor stories features just that. as he continues getting blows dealt by the universe, he becomes more guarded, wearier, cautious of trusting others. but also... idk, five is a bit too spineless I reckon, lets himself pushed around too much, is too easy to manipulate and too docile in the face of authority - that's not marc

my actual pick is eleven (for meta-narrative points, he follows the incarnation who is seen by many as the archetypal doctor). marc's got this interesting career arc where - because of the age profiles of his competitors and the gap left by the injury years - he's gone from always being the baby to being the old man... with seemingly little time spent in between. eleven's very much all about being an old soul in a young body and is one of the incarnations that best manages to capture that energy - for all the outward exuberance, the mania, this is someone who has seen a lot and hurt a lot and carries that burden with him. eleven has a steeliness to him that works for marc, a cheerful facade that covers a real ruthlessness. a lot of emphasis during eleven's tenure is placed on how much the doctor lies, just constantly deceiving and playing his games and... well! marc! with eleven you do lean into the secrecy and mystique of it all - he's just quite a slippery guy where he does obviously care, where there's a select group of people he loves with all his heart, but he's also plenty capricious and arrogant and is willing to withhold vital information if he thinks he knows best. all about the contrast between the cheery exterior and darker, cunning interior. very marc. eleven

valentino: tough. tough! you can legitimately go at least 4-5 different directions here. a lot of the marc + eleven stuff applies here, though marc fits eleven's coldness a little better I reckon. you can copy and paste everything I said about ten in the casey section here too - they're all traits valentino and casey are aligned on, maybe go even more all in on ten's hubris for valentino. ten's outward demeanour does suit valentino better than casey, with the charm and the cheeriness and the manic energy and all that. and meta-narratively it doesn't hurt how crazy popular ten is, to the point where plenty of the more contrarian fans think he's overrated. he also just keeps coming back... refuses to fade into irrelevance! fans aren't allowed to forget about this bloke, however they feel about him. still, ten's not got quite enough of an edge, doesn't have the self-awareness he needs to lean into some of his nastier traits. another good shout is the second doctor, who kinda revolutionises the game by introducing the concept of regeneration into lore - and is also softer, gentler than his previous incarnation, a bit more capable of communicating with others and performing empathy and all that stuff. and is playful!! might pretend to be the fool to catch others off guard, but is constantly plotting and scheming and has a tendency to be more control of the situation than anyone thinks. it's that element of trickery and mischief that makes me like two as a pick... though, idk, I reckon he's a bit too nice to quite work

on the other end of the spectrum is seven, who was my initial impulse actually. seven is the manipulator, the doctor most willing to coldly maneuver enemies and allies alike to suit his purposes, very secretive... this is the real arsehole doctor. which, y'know, does suit valentino. plus, he's got this paternalistic energy, especially towards his companion ace - this is an era where the doctor/companion relationship is most oriented around the doctor being a teacher. where the seven pick falls apart for me is that there's a real contrast between his early playful personality and then his later manipulative, darker turn. these two sides of him feel in opposition to each other in a way that feels distinctly un-valentino, like with him it's all part of the same package y'know. seven is also a bit too cold and detached... valentino is more emotional, more passionate than that. and seven is a bit too obviously manipulative, that's the number one thing he's known for - you need someone more charismatic and popular than that I reckon. which brings us to four, the most popular incarnation of the character from the classic era who also got some of the highest quality writing, continues to be iconic however much time passes. four is this bohemian weirdo, eccentric but also charming... like the second doctor, he tries to catch others off guard, and he's big on joking around to do just that. he's also moody, at times mercurial, capricious... harsher than he initially seems, with quite a temper. he's also a bit too dispassionate to 100% fit valentino, but still the closest option - so four

in conclusion: loved answering this ask, really made me think lol. I did try to come up with a unique pick for each rather than honing in on the crossovers - though there's still a few doctors I've mentioned for multiple aliens. and also a few more I could probably make a case for, like seven and jorge or twelve and valentino or nine and casey... but you have to cut yourself off somewhere. this did made me realise the key similarity between the doctor as a character and the aliens as a group is the massive ego - partially justified by actual brilliance but still insufferable. I mean, there's also some crucial differences, like how the doctor is a selfless hero who goes around saving planets while the aliens are egocentric tax evasion-inclined athletes who mainly just care about winning motorcycle races. but apart from that, there's a decent amount of common ground yeah

#real talk marc brings a clara oswald energy to the table some viewers may find perturbing #“what would you do?” <same as you> “yes. yes of course you would. which let's be honest is what killed you”#“the friend inside the enemy. the enemy inside the friend. everyone's a bit of both. everyone's a hybrid” writes itself idk #the doctor calling clara an “egomaniac needy game-player” but clara thinking he was referring to himself. anyone? anyone? is this thing on #//#brr brr #batsplat responds #//at #//st #you can tell i'm not a proper nerd because i have no real opinion on eight. stay safe big finish truthers #he does also just seem a bit too. nice. for our purposes here #//brr brr

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