When using explicit variables gaps, the parser greedily captures some VFL stuff between them when using regular - gap.
.block{
@v |-^[inner-gap-top]-(.avatar)-(.html)-(.source)-^[inner-gap-bottom]-| gap(v-gap);
}
yields some ccss like:
.avatar[bottom] + (.html)~(.source)-^[inner-gap-bottom] == ::this[bottom]