Literally yeah after this point there is no more ‘for those who come after.’ There are no more people coming after now. It’s over, truly all over. You ended it.
I’m just saying, Renoir talks a big game about wanting to get Aline out of the canvas, but he as The Curator shows Maelle how to gommage Painted!Renoir, despite him seemingly being just as immortal as Verso and more powerful
He does that while Verso is Standing Right There.
And Verso’s entire thing is that he wants to die. Literally he would help them to end him. And if he gets gommaged, Aline’s not going to want to be there anymore.
But apparently it doesn’t even occur to Renoir to do this, maybe because he can’t bring himself to do that. To end the life of a loved one, to end his last connection to ever see them again, while staring directly into their eyes. The only comfort a belief that you’re doing this for the right reasons. It’s unbearable.
The Moutain Goats' entire discography lives in the second between wanting to say "I'm going to kill myself" and pausing to think "I should stop saying that"
The scene before the final fight with painted!Renoir fucks me up every time for multiple reasons (I feel that "I'm tired" in my bones, Ben Starr had no business going that hard on the suicidal desperation thing), but one of the things I never consciously processed before is the "I refuse to lose my son" — "That son was a stranger". Because. What do you mean Verso is so stuck in the "I'm a meaningless copy" mindset that his knee-jerk reaction to these words of HIS OWN FATHER is to talk about the "real" Verso. What do you mean it doesn't even occur to him that this Renoir, the painted Renoir, the Renoir who was painted to be his father and who has been his father for decades — that Renoir is talking about him. That Renoir is not talking about the "original". That Renoir loves him. That sometimes people care about HIM. That it's possible to refuse to lose HIM, not the already-lost one. Verso 😭
(thank you to @asaara-writes and @liulyam for helping with the translations!)
Renoir was already a painter before meeting Aline and had a habit of staying in canvases for too long due to his creative passion, described explicitly as a tendency towards self-destruction.
Aline came from a more noble family than Renoir.
Alicia was the main victim of the writer's plot and Verso died in the fire while trying to rescue her.
Aline is consumed by guilt for failing to protect her children and Alicia's state after the fire haunts her mind for her inability to help her youngest.
Before the fire, Aline is described as dreamy, charming, passionate, and a little stubborn. She exudes a natural aura of leadership and confidence, interspersed with deep sadness and a cold determination.
Aline painted Verso first, and then Renoir. Lumière was created to give the Painted family a sense of normality and to give Verso a "beautiful and healthy living environment."
There is a cardinal rule for Painters in the real world where creating a copy of a real person, especially without their knowledge or consent, is considered an ethical violation.
The Fracture caused massive earthquakes and hurricanes which tore the world apart. Part of the city was swept up by the storm before being thrown into the middle of the ocean.
Search and Rescue Expeditions were quickly formed in order to bring back survivors left in Old Lumiere but none returned besides the Painted family.
Sophie and Gustave were engaged before they broke up because of their differing views on raising children in Lumière.
Lune is sometimes plagued with imposter syndrome which makes her seem cold and distant despite the depth of her passions.
Gustave is explicitly stated to suffer from PTSD after the ambush.
The Ancient Sanctuary is a cemetery where Gestrals are placed to rest while they wait to be reborn in the Sacred River.
Verso painted the Sacred River because he felt that Immortality was too boring and death was too permanent, and so the reincarnation process of Gestrals leaves only most of their memories intact so that they may still feel excited for new beginnings.
The Painting Workshops (Clea's Atelier as it's known in the game files) were created after the fracture by Clea when she came back to create the nevrons.
The Stone Faced Cliffs was originally populated before the Fracture. The Paintress cult plotline we see is because a few survivors saw her as a deity and worshipped her with carved alters. "Their molten wax bodies now mingle with the candles lit in her name."
The battles of Forgotten Battlefield were fought between humans and nevrons. The marble fortresses, trenches, catapults, and cannons we see were made by the scholars, engineer, and defense forces of the large expeditions participating in the battle. The Nevrons ultimately overcame the courage of the Expeditioners and lead to colossal losses.
Aline created the train network of Lumiere because she was inspired by young Verso's love of trains.
Painted Verso didn't make the canvas yet the canvas loves him. It was made for him. The Gestrals love him and Esquie loves him. Verso may not have a super power to stop time or summon a lion, but he can backpack around the continent for decades and make allies wherever he goes. Maybe the continent is just a little bit gentler to him. His encanto, in a way. Underneath all the Nevrons and gommage petals and Painter massacres is a world singing We love you, we love you, you can be Verso with us.
His family lives closed away in a manor or up on the Reacher, but he lives in a hut with the magical creatures. Humans children Expeditioners come to his Never Never Land and steal his breath and then melt away like snowflakes, but he stays the same. He's Peter Pan but not. Grown yet never aging.
Or he's Christopher Robin--forever wandering the Seven Acre Woods, talking to the same animal friends for a century and nothing changes but everything gets worse.
What do you do when the world was made for someone almost exactly like you, but not you? The world wraps its arms around you, accepting you anyway, but you're not a child. You're a grownup and this world is too small somehow but also too painful. It's dying when you are not. But you can't think about that because you're worried about adult things like family and duty and sacrifice and secrets.
I find it beautiful that Verso was created to fill an emotional gulf for Aline, but he was such a true mirror to "Verso" that he ends up filling that emotional gulf for the painting.
Verso may not realize it (or even care) but he falls backwards into being a true representation of the art and artist. In the end he is so real that Verso Dessendre's only piece of soul art holds out its hand to him.
Your big sister doesn't recognize you. Your mother's eldest daughter Painted her over. She attacks you if you go near her. You miss her. She doesn't know to miss you.
Your little sister can't speak and hides her face and you love her. She is beautiful behind the mask your mother forces her to wear. She hides her face in your father's chest.
Your little sister is hell-bent on killing your father because he killed her brother, but he didn't kill you. She doesn't know you. She knew you before you were created. You know her. You have never met her. You would die for her. You have died for her. She would die for you. You have to stop her from dying for you.
You’re her big brother but your little sister is dead. She’s your little sister but her big brother is dead. She killed your little sister. She is your little sister and she killed herself but she also killed a stranger. She didn’t let you say goodbye. You get to yell at her for not letting you say goodbye to her. This is a privilege. She apologizes. It doesn't change anything. She killed herself and you wish you could kill yourself. You’re jealous your little sister got to die. You’re jealous your little sister gets to live. She killed herself and she won't kill you.
You're her big brother and she dies in your arms even though she's not your little sister and you died before her anyway. Her death is slower than your little sister's, so you get to speak to her. You get to tell her everything will be okay. You never got to tell your little sister everthing will be okay before she died. You weren't able to hold your little sister when she died. You held and rocked your little sister when she died.
Your parents had two daughters and one son. Two daughters and one son died in that canvas but their eldest daughter didn't. She wasn't there when you or your sisters died. You're her little brother. She doesn't grieve for you. She grieves for her little brother. Both your little sisters are dead, but your big sister doesn't grieve for them. She has her little sister within arm's reach.
There are seven Dessendre siblings. Three of them are you. One is dead. Two are alive. There are three Dessendre siblings. There were only ever three Dessendre siblings.
after i read the verso and julie journals i could not get that scene out of my head (along with that one concept art, i have been scrounging for all the information about the incident)
Cancer has always been the most problematic astrological signs in terms of consumer merch. First off, there’s no context in which “cancer” doesn’t immediately have a different connotation than everyone else’s. If someone wears a necklace with “Gemini” on it, it’s immediately obvious what they’re trying to say: they were born in late May or early June, about 13 years ago. We know immediately what personal information they are trying to give away here. But “cancer” on a necklace will always make you worry. Is the person pro-cancer? Against it? Do they have cancer? Are they cancer? Is this edgy, or a new fundraiser. No connotation is desirable.
Next comes the symbol. There are children who prance into Claire’s and come out with little trinkets with alchemical symbols. The symbol for Cancer is 69. It is presented on its side, to represent a pair of tits with nipples. That’s fine but it’s just more difficult since astrology as an identity is the rightful province of small children.
Next we have the reigning planet. You will notice at once the awkward fact that Cancer’s planet is not so much a planet as it is, in fact, the moon.
Finally, the animal. And crabs are a great animal. Everyone is happy to see them. Just not in any remotely sexy context and not on most areas of the body.
So let’s see what these merchandisers have done here. Will it be a Crab-adorned razor to chase down those little pubic crabs with the threat of imminent deforestation? Will you scrape your underarms ritually, caressing the lymph nodes with something labeled CANCER? Given the target market is presumably underage, will there really be an attempt to manufacture desire for a grooming tool marked 69? Are we pretending the moon is a planet today? Are we just going to write CANCER on pastes and smear them on our bodies? What sympathetic magics are we calling down here? All of these are excellent, fragrant, juicy vibes, I can’t wait to see what they’ll choose.
Oh. Okay, Right, so the razor itself is just a razor. The same as everyone else’s. The astrology part comes in the soap. Individual! It’s like they know you.
Look! Lather your groin with a big bottle of cancer. Look, it’s clearly marked! Leave it in the shower of your first dorm room! Nobody else will use it! Potential lovers will surely be amazed! Buy cancer today.
turnnoffyourmind
baratheonpilled
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romaincrisis
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