S1038A
I - and the Sinners - could not find any appropriate retort to what Jeanne said.
Even after hearing an honest account of everything they had gone through, and everything they had felt...
... this "alienating world" they spoke of felt strange to me, in turn.
When people see "red," that's the name they give it.
But how do they know their "red" and my "red" are one and the same?
They don't. No one does, ma puce.
People think we all use the same words to mean the same things, and that the way we perceive things is the same across all of humanity... but it's all a collective delusion.
Not here, though. Not in the Grand Magasin Sisyphe. When the customers see red, it's the same red my eyes have seen and processed.
It's like a synchronized waltz - the customers dancing along to my moves, not a beat off from mine.
Right foot.
Left foot.
Right foot again!
Shadowing my every move, your every move!
Look at me, Meursault.
<...!>
The space we were in warped, turning into a stage unfolding all around us...
... then, all the lights in the room that illuminated us died.
Beams of limelight focused away from us, and illuminated a couple - Jeanne and Meursault.
You don't have to worry about that "role" those strangers from the Fount have nailed into you.
You know, ma puce. They may be called strangers, but they really aren't strangers at all.
The guilt that creates those emotional drops is born from - No, every one of those emotional fluctuations requires the recognition of Good and Evil.
There are only two strangers on this stage... You and I.
When "I", through long contemplation and rumination, create my own value system...
and when that system can draw a clear line between Good and Evil...
When "I" become keenly aware of the emotional fluctuations from that dividing line...
Ma puce, you know what I like, and what I hate.
If "I" am someone who has a full understanding of what I agree with, and what I deny...
If "I" fully understand what makes me happy, and what pains me...
You know what makes me happy, and what pains me.
Only then can "I" truly be "me."
That's why...
... I don't want you to leave.
Why can't we just lie down here and bask in the sunshine, together?
... We cannot.
The Sinners and the manager have... a purpose outside.
But you don't.
What else do you need? Louder music? More elaborate set design?
... I have never considered myself to be in need of anything.
That's because you haven't danced a real dance yet, ma puce.
Come closer... let me show you the steps.