writings-and-reblogs

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hii, for the headcanon thing, what's your take on the mark/roger friendship? how do they show their affection for the other? how do they operate life at the loft day-to-day?

cheers!♡

AHHH! I was nottt expecting a rent ask this is so exciting. So i think that Mark and Roger have this relationship that maybe they’re not the best at always sharing how much they really love each other, but some days these to are full on cuddling on the couch with the excuse that it’s to keep themselves warm. Take this as a friendship or a relationship bc i just realized how that sounds.

Marks #1 phrase is “Don’t forget your AZT” he says it in the beginning of the show and it happens every. single. day. Roger WILL act annoyed but that man has ADHD (i’m reflecting again) and he WILL forget if not reminded.

I’m obsessed with someone’s head cannon that eventually (post-cannon) Mark is diagnosed with depression and put on some meds for that and Roger gets his revenge by, everyone Mark mentions his AZT, Roger’s like “but did you take your…” 

Overall, whether you see these two as brothers or in an actual relationship, they’re always gonna do their best to support each other. They get in fights bc that shit happens but they really do love each other.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS ASK!!

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You should try it in heels!

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Roger: It's very unhealthy to bottle up all your negative feelings.

Mark: I know. That's why I bottle up the positive ones too.

Roger:

Mark: So they cancel out.

Roger:

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Sometimes your blorbo is a cameraman from a musical with an absolutely microscopic fandom

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The filmmaker cannot see

Click for better quality | my ask box is open for requests

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OG workshop Mark was like so comically over-the-top mentally ill compared to the later released version like. Who gave this man antidepressants. Make mark cohen emo and dramatic again 2025 it’s iconic

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I don’t think that in Maelle’s ending that she is puppeteering everyone. No. But I don’t think any of Versos movements are his own. I don’t think his hand shook like that because he was hesitant. I think his hand shook like that and he walked like that because he is fighting every second to get control of his body again.

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This is what I imagine happens every time they argue-

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Renoir wouldn't even look at Verso in the end.

I think the most obvious reason is that he truly doesn't believe this Verso is real. That he doesn't deserve any of his time or compassion because he is a figment and no matter how many lifetimes he's lived, or people he's loved, he is unworthy. A poor imitation of the real thing, a used up tool that should have been cast aside long ago.

Or maybe after everything, over a century of life in the canvas, 67 years of suffering, Renoir feels utterly betrayed that Verso has once again taken Aline's side. That even though Verso has lived this torture of being a manipulated memory of a person, at the cost of his family's lives, he would choose this fate for eternity. Is it shame and disgust Renoir feels towards him?

Or maybe it's because he can't risk losing his resolve. Maybe deep down there's a fear that if he even glances at this creature who lives and breathes as his son, he'll fall into the same fantasy plaguing Aline and Maelle. And he's come too far to take that chance.

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[Spoilers for Clair Obscure Expedition 33] Like wildfire: the cruelty of grief

I didn't think I'd go back to Tumblr but I guess I just need to vent about COE33 because otherwise I'm going to explode :') Massive spoilers under the cut, and also I posted this on Reddit but wanted to find more people to discuss with on Tumblr I'm sorry.

Grief can make us do unthinkably cruel and selfish things to the people we love, and the game depicted this in how Aline treated both painted and real Renoir. When we hurt, sometimes we want others, especially those closest to us, to hurt too. I guess grief is like wildfire with us at the centre that consumes everything around us, including those who love us and are trying to reach out to and help us. 

(This is in no way a defence or deflection of either Aline or any of the Renoir, much less an attempt to minimise the abject horror of their actions to innocent lives caught in the middle of their trauma and grief response.) 

I rewatched the cut scenes before and after Renoir’s Act II boss fight and this line from Renoir made me pause and gasped out loud: 

"The pain of losing you. She made me inherit it. Punishment, perhaps, for not being there when it mattered." 

My understanding is that Aline had painted the Dessendres with memories of the fire, but with the huge difference that in this fire, only Alicia was a victim and Verso survived. Since the painted Dessendres only came to realise the truth of their existence after the Fracture during Expedition Zero thanks to Clea, this line from Renoir implies that Aline only imbued him with this “real” memory and pain of Verso’s death after that realisation, most likely when he finally found her and confronted her about her actions. 

At this point, Aline most likely was incredibly angry with (real) Renoir for his violent attempt to wrench her out of her happy fantasy. Lashing out at painted Renoir and hurting him by giving him the memory of real Verso’s death was much easier than hurting real Renoir. 

Even if she had blamed real Renoir for perhaps not being at the mansion during the fire (bargaining/anger), painted Renoir was innocent of this (not that I think anyone can be blamed for not being at the right place at the right time). Aline made painted Renoir, a sentient living being, carry this pain out of her irrational anger at her own husband. 

The final memory we saw at the Monolith before painted Renoir step out and initiated the boss fight was of the couple holding on to each other. In my first play through, I thought this was a memory of happier times. Now I’m inclined to think this was a memory of the aftermath of the fire, with Renoir comforting a grieving Aline. It wasn’t enough for her. The fact that he could be here trying to stop her meant he just didn’t understand, he wasn’t hurting as much as her, so she had to hurt him to make him understand. 

I think there’s also a more malicious and darker intent (whether conscious or not) behind Aline’s bequeathing of the memory of the fire to painted Renoir. Alicia/Malle mentioned to Verso in Act III that her mother painted an “unflattering” picture of her father, but despite possible differences in the painted and real Renoirs (more thoughts on that below), I think it is obvious that both Renoirs are solely driven and motivated by their need to protect their families. Tragically, Painted Renoir might not have needed the extra motivation to protect Aline and her world, but making him go through losing Verso (in addition to probably having found out about what happened to his Clea) would have massively tipped the scale towards a single-minded obsessive need to be on Aline’s side: 

Renoir: "I refuse to lose my son." 

Verso: "That son was a stranger" 

Renoir: "But you're not!" (Dramatic piano notes) 

And also painted Renoir’s last words to the Curator / real Renoir before the latter erased him, equally a proud defiant statement and a final insisting pleading: 

“I love them too.” 

It’s a display of Aline’s incredible power as a god to this world and how easily she can manipulate and therefore erase agency and free will of this world’s people, even after her initial painting of them into existence. She literally weaponised trauma for painted Renoir. (I think it has strong implications for Maelle’s ending as well but I don’t want to get into that here.) 

I thought this whole cut scene and dialogue is just incredibly well done by the writers—on first play through I was moved (and also the acting and animation were a big part why) even though I was also equally confused (but intrigued). It was only after the reveal in Act III that I could see the layers imbued in the cut scene and how so few lines made me feel sympathy for both Renoirs. I’m in awe of the economy but immense payoff of the writing, and how confident the writers are of not just the story and characters, but also of us the viewers/players to trudge along and piece everything together afterwards. 

(Anyway I’m also incredibly fascinated by the difference between painted and real Renoirs. Yes, painted Renoir has a darker design than the real Renoir because Clair Obscur amirite, but also it hints as to what other differences did Aline imbue in him. Alicia said real Renoir is warmer, but real Renoir hasn’t had to live through almost seventy years of loss and killing and the threat of losing his family even more and also all the drama with his son. Painted Renoir is, no point beating about the bush, incredibly dapper and suave. He’s Pierce Brosnan as James Bond by way of Belle Epoque. His grooming is immaculate. He gave off a commanding presence from the very first time we saw him. We can immediately tell that yes, this was an action man, a military man, the kind of man to lead the first Expedition. Real Renoir felt … much smaller the moment we saw him, frail even. His hair and beard are messier. There is no visual clue or hint of this man ever having been in a physical or violent fight before. At first I thought, yeah this is a grieving and lost man who hasn’t had time to take care of himself, but he looks pretty much the same way in the family portrait. 

Is painted Renoir a projection of who Aline wishes Renoir was more like in the aftermath of the fire? Did she feel he just didn’t do enough to protect his family, even though ironically he’s running himself down willing to erase an entire world of living beings to save his wife and daughter from being lost in their own grief and trauma? How did real Renoir feel seeing this projection of how his wife felt let down by him? 

Urgh the character design and art direction of this game just kills me. And of course, Andy Serkis's performance as both Renoirs is just the cherry on top.)

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Verso can we talk about this or

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You have to let go

~

Follow here for speedpaints and other stuff!

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Verso 🌘

Clair Obscur has me inspired lately. More to come!

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Verso can we talk about this or

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It's about grief. It's about letting go. It's about fighting on. It's about family. It's about the existential horror of mimes.

It's about escapism. It's about surviving despite it all. It's about the wonder of the world even in darkness. It's about mimes beating the shit out of you.

It's about love. It's about heartbreak. It's about who the fuck put all those mimes here

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He‘s friend shaped

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樂園、傘、岔路、人間

Paradise, Shelter, Path, Mortal