I'll be certain to threaten you often. For your comfort.
[ Of course. That's who she is, isn't it? Especially for him. Maman... he tries so much to be his own person, but he can't, can he? None of them can.
They exist as a mirage to bring Aline succor, and part of that mirage, that fantasy, is that everything can return to how it had once been, and that none of them could hold grudges against one another. That they all would be perfectly content no matter the circumstance. Verso should have attacked her when she'd come to him the second time. Refused to listen. Or run. Those would all have been normal reactions to the end of 'Expedition Zero'. If that had been real.
And yet he did not, because he does not have his own soul, and the soul inside of him loves and cares for her. Because he knows the truth of the things she tells him, and because Verso's soul still loves them. What he should feel for her is hatred. For the mistakes she's made, for the fact that the situation had degraded as it had. For the fact that she couldn't stop it, for the fact that she's the one alive and whole.
The soul of a child in the body of a man. How torturous that must be. What a conflict between heart and mind that must engender.
Hearing the words is a relief and Clea releases a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, closing her eyes and exhaling. Allowing herself to relax, even if only for seconds, her shoulders drooping.
Only for a moment, however. Then she draws in a breath and squares her shoulders back, posture returning to its usual impenetrable perfection. ]
Should I take Alicia?
[ She wants his opinion. He has seen her the most recently. Would it be more harmful for Alicia to be left with Aline and Renoir, who might abandon her, or to be stuck with only Clea for comfort? Who is a poor option indeed.
no subject
[ Of course. That's who she is, isn't it? Especially for him. Maman... he tries so much to be his own person, but he can't, can he? None of them can.
They exist as a mirage to bring Aline succor, and part of that mirage, that fantasy, is that everything can return to how it had once been, and that none of them could hold grudges against one another. That they all would be perfectly content no matter the circumstance. Verso should have attacked her when she'd come to him the second time. Refused to listen. Or run. Those would all have been normal reactions to the end of 'Expedition Zero'. If that had been real.
And yet he did not, because he does not have his own soul, and the soul inside of him loves and cares for her. Because he knows the truth of the things she tells him, and because Verso's soul still loves them. What he should feel for her is hatred. For the mistakes she's made, for the fact that the situation had degraded as it had. For the fact that she couldn't stop it, for the fact that she's the one alive and whole.
The soul of a child in the body of a man. How torturous that must be. What a conflict between heart and mind that must engender.
Hearing the words is a relief and Clea releases a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, closing her eyes and exhaling. Allowing herself to relax, even if only for seconds, her shoulders drooping.
Only for a moment, however. Then she draws in a breath and squares her shoulders back, posture returning to its usual impenetrable perfection. ]
Should I take Alicia?
[ She wants his opinion. He has seen her the most recently. Would it be more harmful for Alicia to be left with Aline and Renoir, who might abandon her, or to be stuck with only Clea for comfort? Who is a poor option indeed.
What would harm her less? ]