Thinking about Lune and Sciel in A Life To Love and like, the ways they both accept the end of their very existence because they both love the world and do so in such different ways
Sciel is a touchy person, throughout previous scenes her comfort is often physical, a hand to the shoulder, a held hand, a hug, etcetera. She holdās Versoās hand as they fade from reality. One day death will welcome Sciel, and sheāll be ready, and that day has come. Earlier in the game she explains that sheāll be with the people she loves in death, whether an afterlife theyāre together or simply together in the nothingness of death. Sheās since learned there is no afterlife, only the end. This is hers. She will join Pierre, their daughter, her parents, Gustave, Lune, Verso, Monoco, Esquie, Sophie, and every other child of the Canvas in erasure.
Lune isnāt angry. Sheās not sad. Sheās not confused. No, those are too simple of words to describe what she feels. Lune was made to save the world. From the age of four taking copious amounts of notes on every facet of their world. Her parents left to save the world when she was barely 20. She stared at the ominous number looming over every aspect of her life from birth and knew they had failed when the Paintress stood. When one falls, we continue.
She watched her brother and sister fade into nothingness not long after. Rose petals are beautiful. But so was her sisters crooked smile, her brothers laugh. No day or night is an escape when they were named after the sun and stars. She worked even harder.
She mastered four separate elements and healing. Her very flesh is marked with Pictos to enhance her abilities, her skin engraved with gold and face marked with the magic of her world. She, alongside Gustave, developed an entirely new technology to better their chances of success. She meticulously digs through records to follow the path of Expedition 0, to map the landing spot. Almost everyone dies anyway. One of her oldest friends dies not long after. When one falls, not if.
She makes a new ally, who promises answers and solutions. They make it. She kills an Axon, one of the most powerful entities in their world. Sirene plays with wonder and Lune survives because of her own curiosity. They reach the Monolith and accomplish the impossible. Expedition 33 saves the world.
Her work isnāt over. She still has so much to learn. Gestrals are real, so are the Grandis. There are Nevrons that seem fully sentient. Whatās with the mimes? And now she has all the time in the world to find out. Sheāll live past thirty two. The children who run to greet them as they arrive on Esquie will live long lives. The 32ās Expeditioners she speaks too will live to be gray and wrinkledā
Then sheās alive, and the entire world as she knew it is different. Thereās an entire world sheāll never know, but Maelle promises to paint it for her. She promises to bring everyone back. Everyone theyāve ever loved. Her parents, her siblings, her friends, the other Expeditioners, Gustave.
Versoās a liar. Always has been. She finally trusts him. Sees him cry over his sisters. He helps Lune find her parents. They bond over their music, the passion they were told to ignore in favor of bigger ambitions. After this? Theyāll have all the time in the world to pour into frivolous things.
Renoir is defeated, and Verso runs in to a wonder of wonder. He and Maelle fight. He wins. āItās time to stop Painting.ā
She is going to be erased from existence. Completely and utterly gone. Everything she had ever worked for means absolutely nothing.
What her parents died for?
What thousands of Expeditioners died for?
It means nothing in the end. Not for Lune.
Itās not anger, sadness or confusion. This? This is acceptance. It is the quiet acknowledgement that everything her entire culture had been working towards resulted in nothing.
Lune loves the world in all of its intricacies. Every little thing about it fascinates her. The life in it is her favorite thing about it.