Level 1
Maelle: Thanks. It really was a beautiful place.
Verso: Glad you liked it. I’ve buried friends there too. You were right. About condolences. We offer them, because we don’t know what else to say. But there’s no comfort there.
Maelle: No.
Verso: All we can do is carry them with us.
Maelle: I guess. Sorry. It’s just— We’re…
Verso: Drowning in our own sadness? Hey. Why did you join the Expedition? I mean, with the Gommage— I understand the rest of the team’s decision, but you’re half their age.
Maelle: Out here seemed better than in there. At the time.
Verso: It’s natural, wanting to escape a life you don’t want.
Maelle: Escape. Yeah. That’s what I wanted. But Gustave and the others… They really want to change things.
Verso: Changing your life also counts. Can’t always shoulder the world’s problems, you know? That’ll drain you fast.
Maelle: Gustave would probably say, if more of us cared, then it would lighten the load for everyone.
Verso: He sounds like a good guy.
Maelle: Wait. I kept Gustave’s. So you can have mine. You’ll need one if you want to be an official member of our merry crew.
Verso: I gotta say, I didn’t take you for an “official” kind of person.
Maelle: Welcome to the Disaster Expedition.
Verso: Thank you.
Level 2
Verso joins Maelle, who is throwing rocks by the lake.
Verso: Throwing rocks again?
Maelle: Mhm. You should try.
Verso: Esquire would be horrified that we’re throwing stones into the lake.
Maelle: OR… he’d be super happy because we’re sending them soaring on fun little adventures!
Verso: So, they’re like little rock expeditioners?
Maelle: Exactly?
Verso: Would that make you Lumière then?
Maelle: Hmmm, yeah, I guess so. I’m launching them on their journey, and watching them from afar. Stone after stone after stone. Knowing… they’ll never come back.
Verso: And knowing… you’ll never stop.
Maelle: You get it.
Verso: Yeah, I enjoy depressing poetry too.
Maelle: That doesn’t surprise me.
Verso: Is that what you’re writing in your notebook, all the time? Depressing poetry?
Maelle: It’s not all depressing.
Verso: …
Maelle: Why, what do you write about? You don’t seem like a sunshine and rainbows type.
Verso: Mostly poetic insults to use on Monoco. I’m currently comparing him to the backside of an owl.
Maelle: …
Verso: Actually, writing is cathartic for me. It helps… getting the thoughts out of my head and onto the paper… Giving shape to my feelings.
Maelle: Can I see?
Verso: Do I get to read yours?
Maelle: Ehhh, mine’s kind of personal.
Verso: Well, so is mine.
Maelle: Yeah, but I bet you secretly want people to read it.
Verso: … Okay, fine, I’ll let you read mine IF I get to read yours.
Maelle: Mmmmmmmm. Ok, deal!
Verso: Be kind though.
Maelle: Yeah, I can’t promise that.
Maelle and Verso feel closer to each other. They spent some time together. Maelle proves to be extremely critical of Verso’s writing. They go back to the others after Maelle is done teasing Verso.
Level 3
Verso joins Maelle, who is alone by the lake.
Verso: What was it like for you, growing up in Lumière?
Maelle: Aside from being a sad and lonely orphan, it was great.
Verso: …
Maelle: Although… technically everyone in Lumière is an orphan.
Verso: How old were you, when your parents passed away?
Maelle: I, uh… Around three, I guess? Yeah… I was an… unwelcome surprise. They never wanted kids. And they definitely didn’t want one right before their Gommage.
Verso: Mmm, yeah. Your arrival must have caused quite a bit of concern.
Maelle: Panic’s probably a better word. Then they died. And I bounced around from family to family. I can’t even remember all of them. I was… kind of a weird kid, I guess.
Verso: So was I.
Maelle: Oh yeah?
Verso: Yeah, I was obsessed with my piano and my paint set.
Maelle: I was a bit more severe than that. I used to have lots of nightmares and talk to myself. Kept running away from home all the time.
Verso: Nah, if that’s weird then we’re all weird. Actually, I kind of think everyone’s a weird kid in someone’s eyes.
Maelle: Well, I was a weird kid in everyone’s eyes.
Verso: Even Gustave’s?
Maelle: Kind of? It’s why he and his sister took me in. Nobody else wanted me. But I guess Gustave and Emma used to be weird kids too. So they liked me.
Verso: See. Everyone’s weird.
Maelle: …
Verso: What’s something you liked about Lumière?
Maelle: Wandering around the buildings. Nobody wanted me or any of the fancy apprenticeships. So I got stuck as a runner for the warehouses. But that turned out to be kinda nice. I got to go everywhere in the city. I probably know the place better than anyone.
Verso: Yah? What was your favourite place?
Maelle: The Hanging Gardens. Me and Gustave used to go up there a lot. Do you miss Lumière?
Verso: Yeah, I do. Not just the place, but… everything about that time. The festivals, the gardens, dancing the night away on the harbour… Before— all this. But that home is gone. Not just the place, but also the people.
Maelle: You have us now.
Verso: Yeah. And you’ve got me.
Maelle: …
Verso: So. You want to dance the night away?
Maelle: Maybe ask Sciel.
Maelle starts to open up to Verso. She feels more comfortable with him. As does Verso with Maelle. Maelle and Verso spend some time reminiscing about the past. Then head back to the others.
Level 4
Verso: In Lumière, did your parents choose your name?
Maelle: Yeah, I guess. Why?
Verso: “Maelle” means “chief” and “prince.” Or, I guess “princess.”
Maelle: What are you talking about?
Verso: The meaning behind your name.
Maelle: Oh. What made you think of that.
Verso: You said you were an unwelcome surprise. But, I think, even though your birth was unexpected, it was still celebrated. Your name shows how your parents felt about you. What kind of life they dreamed for you.
Maelle: Hm. “Chief.” Guess they had bigger dreams for me than I ever did.
Verso: Why? What did you dream of?
Maelle: I didn’t
Verso: You must have wanted something for the future.
Maelle: No. All I wanted back then was to leave Lumière. And see some of the world before I gommaged.
Verso: Well, you’ve certainly done that. What do you dream of now?
Maelle: I don’t know… still figuring that out. What about you though? What do you want?
Verso: What do I want… I guess I’m still figuring that out too.
Maelle: Well, what did you used to want?
Verso: Music.
Maelle: Yeah?
Verso: Yeah. Before the Fracture, I studied piano at the Conservatory. I loved it. I really miss performing at the concert hall. When the lights dim and the room is hushed and the first notes echo through the chamber. I can just… lose myself and feel the music through my fingers. Every time I play, it feels like my heart’s about to break from the beauty of the notes.
Maelle: That’s lovely.
Verso: I miss that a lot.
Maelle: Maybe when this is over, we can fix up the opera house and you can perform for us.
Verso: It would be my pleasure.
Maelle: I want my first concert to be yours. And don’t worry, I’ll make sure the room is packed. I’ll put up posters everywhere in town.
Verso: No pressure, huh? Alright, guess I’d better start practising.
Maelle makes Verso pinky swear. Laughing, Verso agrees. Maelle and Verso discuss the first song Verso should play…Their discussion inspires Maelle. before heading back to the others.
Level 5
Verso notices Maelle looking sad and approaches her carefully.
Maelle: …
Verso: You ok?
Maelle: Yeah…
Verso: What’s wrong?
Maelle: Nothing, just… thinking about Gustave. And Lucien… and… everyone.
Verso: …
Maelle: Everytime I think I’ve managed to contain it… a wave comes out of nowhere and drags me away.
Verso: I know…
Maelle: How do you do it? After all these years?
Verso: They say time heals all wounds…
Maelle: Does it?
Verso: But I guess death heals all wounds too.
Maelle: …
Verso: Bad joke, sorry. Death is not necessarily final.
Maelle: What does that mean?
Verso: Gustave lives on in other ways, right? Through your memories, through his influence on our life, and everyone else’s. Through the Lumina Converter and his research.
Maelle: Yeah, that’s true, but… that’s not very comforting when I’m missing him.
Verso: Try talking to him.
Maelle: …
Verso: I’m serious. It helps. Or at least… It helps me. I imagine what they would say. How they would react to things. It helps me keep them alive in my mind.
Maelle: I’ll try that…
Maelle is sceptical about Verso’s advice. She’s not in the mood to talk, but also does not wish to be alone. Verso understands. He sits with her in silence. Maelle appreciates the silence they share. They then head back to the others.
Level 6
Maelle asks Verso if they could talk by the lake. They walk there together.
Verso: …
Maelle: I found the letter.
Verso: What?
Maelle: From Alicia.
Verso: …
Maelle: I need to see her. I want to talk to her. And understand…
Verso: Understand what?
Maelle: Why Maman…
Verso: What, kept her scars? No. Don’t go messing with her head, she doesn’t need that, and she doesn’t owe you any answers.
Maelle: She’s the one who kept coming to me. I think she wants to see me.
Verso: Just leave her be. please.
Maelle: Verso. You’re not doing her any favours. You already destroyed her world. Maybe I can help her. She doesn’t owe me, but… maybe I owe her.
Verso: …
Maelle: And let’s not talk about what YOU owe her. Don’t you wanna see her too?
Verso: Yeah, of course. She doesn’t want to see me though. Not after everything.
Maelle: Then she can throw us out and we’ll leave her alone.
Verso: …
Maelle: Is that a yes?
Verso: …
Maelle: Great, where is she?
Verso: If I had to guess… There is a place she loves, at the top of the mountain near the Monolith. With the third Axon.
Maelle: Oh. That Axon… I guess we’re climbing.
Verso promised to take Maelle to his sister. She is most likely in a giant on the island of the last Axon, near the Monolith.
At camp, Verso refuses to talk to anyone. He stands alone by the lake. After a while, Maelle decides to go and talk to him.
Verso: …
Maelle: …
Verso: …
Maelle: I’m sorry.
Verso: …
Maelle: It’s what she wanted. I owed her that much. We owed her that much.
Verso: …
Maelle: I honoured her wishes. That’s something neither you nor Renoir ever did. And not Maman either.
Verso: … I didn’t get to say goodbye. You didn’t wait. You didn’t give me a chance to persuade her.
Maelle: She knew what she wanted. You wouldn’t have been able to sway her.
Verso: She’s not you. You don’t know that. I know her better than you do. But you didn’t even give me the chance to try. You just erased her.
Maelle: Verso…
Verso: You’ve lost two brothers. You know what it’s like to lose your sibling and never get the chance to say goodbye.
Maelle: …
Verso: You Painters. You just do what you want, you don’t care how it affects the rest of us.
Maelle: I do care. I know you’re hurting, but the person who made that decision wasn’t me. It was her. It would have been wrong to deny her just so you could try and talk her out of her decision.
Verso: She’s the last of my family. I have no one left now.
Maelle: You have me. You have us.
Verso: Maelle. I wasn’t ready.
Maelle: I don’t understand. You were ready when you set Papa free. You expected that he would erase the Canvas and everyone in it. Isn’t that the same thing?
Verso: It’s different. It’s different. Why did she do that?
Maelle: You know why.
Verso: …
Maelle: But you’re right. I should have thought of you. I should have given you a chance to say goodbye. I’m truly sorry, Verso.
Verso: … At least she’s free now.
Despite his frustration, Verso understands Maelle’s words. He appreciates that Maelle is honest with him and Maelle empathises deeply with Verso. Maelle and Verso feel closer to each other. They sit in silence a little longer. This time, Maelle conforte Verso. They head back to the others.
Level 7
Verso approaches Maelle, who’s staring at the Monolith by herself.
Verso: …
Maelle: … The Monolith looks strange without Maman or her number there.
Verso: It feels less oppressive.
Maelle: I guess. I wonder what Maman’s doing now. She must be so upset.
Verso: Yeah.
Maelle: Clea won’t be happy either. They’re probably driving each other crazy right now. Although, I doubt Clea’s been home much. Knowing her, she’s probably hunting down the Writers responsible for the… for the fire.
Verso: Sounds like Clea.
Maelle: Yeah… I barely saw her when I was home. She took Verso’s death very personally. Well, we all did.
Verso: I’ve met her three times.
Maelle: You have?
Verso: The first time was right after the Fracture, with Expedition Zero. She stopped us at the Barrier.
Maelle: She told you everything, then?
Verso: Yeah. Then tried to kill us when we wouldn’t go home.
Maelle: Clea.
Verso: She found me years later and tried to recruit me. Then she found me again, 16 years ago…
Maelle: …
Verso: Told me to keep an eye on you. I think she felt you were safer here, away from her war.
Maelle: Wait, so you’ve been watching me this whole time?
Verso: From afar, I’d slip back to Lumière occasionally.
Maelle: So you knew where I was, and you left me there too.
Verso: I couldn’t exactly take you with me. But I tried to look out for you. And once you left Lumière, I stayed close. I cleared all the really dangerous Nevrons out of your path and I pulled you away on the beach–
Maelle: But you also let Renoir kill the rest of the Expedition. You didn’t help them.
Verso: There were too many of them to save.
Maelle: I need to ask you something…
Verso: What?
Maelle: You wouldn’t lie to me, right?
Verso: I think we’re well past that.
Maelle: On the cliff… Gustave…
Verso: What is that?
Maelle: Did you let Renoir kill Gustave? Could you have saved him?
Verso: Yes.
Maelle: …
Verso: I’m sorry.
Maelle: Why?
Verso: I was afraid if you found out about the Canvas and he was there… you would refuse to help me send Maman home.
Maelle: So you let him die.
Verso: I did.
Maelle: …
Verso: I should have told you everything sooner. But… I couldn’t take any chances.
Maelle: …Thanks. For telling me the truth.
Verso: …
Maelle: … Yeah, it looks bland without a number.
Verso: You’re a Paintress. Paint something.
Maelle: How about “Papa, YOU go home.”
Verso: Catchy.
Maelle: Come on, let’s do it!
Maelle and Verso’s bond is now unbreakable, forged in truth. They head to the Monolith, and Maelle repaints it, sending a message to her father. This adventure helped Maelle better understand her Painter side. They return to camp, to the rest of the Expedition.