First of all, thank you for writing this story and sharing it! Second of all, I had like 300 words where I said absolutely nothing typed out before I realized it was nothing and deleted that. What I should have been saying here was: oof ouch my feelings. "He who guards truth with lies" is such a buck wild moniker to bestow upon your dead child, and I think you're spot on with how Visages reflects Renoir's attempt to posthumously understand his son.
These scenes do such a good job of imagining what Verso might have been like as a child, and I'd be lying if the presentation of a kid falling into a mediating role in the family didn't hit a little close to home for myself. It's a reasonable interpretation based on what we know about Verso. Is lying about the Gommages to spare the Lumièrians the truth about their existences just an extreme extension of lying about the vase breaking to spare punishment for the family dog? Does the idea of bisecting himself to entertain the Expeditioners come from the same place as joylessly pretending to enjoy painting to please his family?
Also this passage gutted me: "Apparently he is long past the days when his son would ever share his sadness with him. Or his joy. Or his anger, or his fears. Renoir's chest tightens." So thanks for that.
Parenting is one of the most impossible things I can imagine, and one of the reasons it seems impossible to me is because it would be unfathomably devastating if I somehow failed badly enough that my child felt they couldn't be honest with me about their emotions. Massive L for the Dessendre parents here, rip. I know it's way more complicated than one moment, and having been a child who wasn't always honest with their parents about their feelings, like, I get it. But. Oof. I really sympathize with Renoir here.
Finally, special shout out to the theory/implication that Maelle being an unplanned birth to her parents in Lumière was a reflection of Alicia being an unplanned birth to Aline and Renoir. I could personally go either way on that theory but it certainly would make sense considering how old Aline and Renoir appear to be and, based on that, how old they might have been when Alicia was born. I /will/ say just for the sake of articulating the thought, Renoir does talk about how he and Aline Painted and explored a bunch of Canvas worlds together and "pushed the very boundaries of creation" (which is not at all an ominous statement thank you Renoir), and then we know time passes in the real world while it's passing in Canvas worlds (and an interview with Sandfall revealed they internally have a ratio in mind for time outside vs inside the Canvas though they aren't sharing which makes sense to me) so Aline and Renoir /could/ be younger than they /appear/ but that doesn't necessarily contradict the "Alicia was unplanned" theory since you can have an unplanned child as old or as young as possible. It's just a little aside.
Anyways, I read this fic at like uncomfortably close to midnight and when I finished I absolutely had to pass out, but I thought to myself "I simply must write out a big long comment tomorrow when I'm more conscious". So I did. Thank you again! I'm gonna go chew on the Dessendre family some more!
Comment on He Who Guards Truth With Lies
TwocanToucans Fri 30 May 2025 05:48PM UTC
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