do not enter [Her name falls from his lips, the acknowledgement that he sees her, and for the briefest of moments, Alicia is content. The indignation that flared up with her tiny frame dissipates almost immediately, the furious hurt that had flashed in her eye gone after a long, slow blink. For one perfect moment, she's with her older brother again and maybe everything is just a little bit better.
Until it isn't.
Because Verso is Verso, and for how adept he is at lying, he's terrible at knowing when to shut the fuck up.
Alicia sees the torment there in his face plain as day before the apology ever crosses his lips. It's in the way Verso's brows pinch together, in the painful twist of his mouth, in how his eyes go wide and sad and guilty, like a dog that's being scolded for the mess he's made. Of course Alicia knows exactly what a look like that means, but it's the way that he's looking at her as he apologizes - as if he's haunted by the ghost of her, as if she's already long dead - that clicks that last piece of the puzzle into place.
Her letter... Maman...
The noise she makes comes out strangled and sharp as Alicia stumbles backwards, suddenly unable to catch her breath.]
no subject
do not enter
[Her name falls from his lips, the acknowledgement that he sees her, and for the briefest of moments, Alicia is content. The indignation that flared up with her tiny frame dissipates almost immediately, the furious hurt that had flashed in her eye gone after a long, slow blink. For one perfect moment, she's with her older brother again and maybe everything is just a little bit better.
Until it isn't.
Because Verso is Verso, and for how adept he is at lying, he's terrible at knowing when to shut the fuck up.
Alicia sees the torment there in his face plain as day before the apology ever crosses his lips. It's in the way Verso's brows pinch together, in the painful twist of his mouth, in how his eyes go wide and sad and guilty, like a dog that's being scolded for the mess he's made. Of course Alicia knows exactly what a look like that means, but it's the way that he's looking at her as he apologizes - as if he's haunted by the ghost of her, as if she's already long dead - that clicks that last piece of the puzzle into place.
Her letter... Maman...
The noise she makes comes out strangled and sharp as Alicia stumbles backwards, suddenly unable to catch her breath.]