((OOC: I don't imagine it will WORK, but Clea would offer so if we want to erase him and he comes back, go for it. Whatever makes sense.)) ---
Freezing. I should speak to the hotel's proprietor.
[ She might actually go do so. Anything not to admit she feels unmoored, adrift. The emotion is thoroughly unpleasant and lately it seems to come in waves, crashing into her and threatening to pull her out into a sea of nihilism. It pulls her away from herself during the small actions: Why butter her bread? Verso is gone.
And the man in front of her is not Verso. He speaks like Verso and to a degree looks like Verso, but he is not Verso. He is a pale copy assembled from Maman's memories. He is her interpretation, but her interpretation misses so many things. Anyone's would. Aline's misses the side of Verso that he didn't show to his parents: His worries about not being what they wanted, how he practiced his lies, how he'd come to Clea for advice about disappointing them. Their arguments about Alicia and inviting her to join them.
The core is not whole.
Hers would not be either. Doubtless there are parts of Verso that Alicia or his lovers saw that she never had. It's disrespectful to who he actually had been to pretend this man is Verso.
Alicia is not here, and if Verso is correct and Aline and Renoir have concluded their tiff, there are people to watch her. She looks away from the copy of her brother for a moment, hiding a look of slight distress, before she turns back with a placid face.]
I suppose it was my own foolishness to expect to be offered a goodbye.
[Of course they erased it when she was out in a meeting with the manor reconstructionists. Esquie, Francois, and the Gestrals are gone. They died alone while she had been looking at bricks.
There is no surprise. They'd all been willing to desecrate and erase one of her private memories with Verso. Their opinion (or lack thereof) about her feelings had been made quite clear: She was replaceable.
Hmm.]
Or perhaps you were erased. Maman used a soul to create you. Perhaps we are both dead, in which case it is fortunate Aline and Renoir have left the Canvas and can care for Alicia. And that they are less fond of me than Verso so they will not desecrate my Canvases.
[ The very idea makes her feel violently ill. Clea shifts her weight from one foot to the other, back and forth, eyes set on the man in front of her. She's clearly thinking. This may be hell - or something entirely beyond her understanding - but she can feel him. Or rather, his Chroma. Hanging in the air in a way that Should Not Be and which would be fascinating if it weren't for the circumstances. What is he tethered to? Ambient Chroma can't do that. Is it her brother's soul?
Regardless, she feels it. ]
Would you prefer I Gommage you?
[ There is no other Painter here to fight her; she could do so. Clea's jaw clenches and her back straightens, hands coming to rest in front of her in a seemingly neutral fashion but, to those who know her, it's body language that screams discomfort.
This is not Verso. It will still be Verso's eyes looking at her as she unmakes him, Verso's voice saying 'thank you' as he disappears. 'Thank you for making me not have to live with you.' Verso's soul that wants to leave because of how they've acted. She can't blame him, and her emotions are not relevant.
o7!
---
Freezing. I should speak to the hotel's proprietor.
[ She might actually go do so. Anything not to admit she feels unmoored, adrift. The emotion is thoroughly unpleasant and lately it seems to come in waves, crashing into her and threatening to pull her out into a sea of nihilism. It pulls her away from herself during the small actions: Why butter her bread? Verso is gone.
And the man in front of her is not Verso. He speaks like Verso and to a degree looks like Verso, but he is not Verso. He is a pale copy assembled from Maman's memories. He is her interpretation, but her interpretation misses so many things. Anyone's would. Aline's misses the side of Verso that he didn't show to his parents: His worries about not being what they wanted, how he practiced his lies, how he'd come to Clea for advice about disappointing them. Their arguments about Alicia and inviting her to join them.
The core is not whole.
Hers would not be either. Doubtless there are parts of Verso that Alicia or his lovers saw that she never had. It's disrespectful to who he actually had been to pretend this man is Verso.
Alicia is not here, and if Verso is correct and Aline and Renoir have concluded their tiff, there are people to watch her. She looks away from the copy of her brother for a moment, hiding a look of slight distress, before she turns back with a placid face.]
I suppose it was my own foolishness to expect to be offered a goodbye.
[Of course they erased it when she was out in a meeting with the manor reconstructionists. Esquie, Francois, and the Gestrals are gone. They died alone while she had been looking at bricks.
There is no surprise. They'd all been willing to desecrate and erase one of her private memories with Verso. Their opinion (or lack thereof) about her feelings had been made quite clear: She was replaceable.
Hmm.]
Or perhaps you were erased. Maman used a soul to create you. Perhaps we are both dead, in which case it is fortunate Aline and Renoir have left the Canvas and can care for Alicia. And that they are less fond of me than Verso so they will not desecrate my Canvases.
[ The very idea makes her feel violently ill. Clea shifts her weight from one foot to the other, back and forth, eyes set on the man in front of her. She's clearly thinking. This may be hell - or something entirely beyond her understanding - but she can feel him. Or rather, his Chroma. Hanging in the air in a way that Should Not Be and which would be fascinating if it weren't for the circumstances. What is he tethered to? Ambient Chroma can't do that. Is it her brother's soul?
Regardless, she feels it. ]
Would you prefer I Gommage you?
[ There is no other Painter here to fight her; she could do so. Clea's jaw clenches and her back straightens, hands coming to rest in front of her in a seemingly neutral fashion but, to those who know her, it's body language that screams discomfort.
This is not Verso. It will still be Verso's eyes looking at her as she unmakes him, Verso's voice saying 'thank you' as he disappears. 'Thank you for making me not have to live with you.' Verso's soul that wants to leave because of how they've acted. She can't blame him, and her emotions are not relevant.
It being hard is no reason not to offer.]