Sister, Sister [Arlette, Eliane]

Of anyone to visit, Arlette certainly wasn't happy to be visiting this particular cretin. She'd never exactly hidden her disdain for her counterpart, the Left to her Right, and that wasn't going to change just because of some apparent change of heart. She was thankful that she'd recovered well enough to be able to walk on her own without assistance, because she didn't feel like listening to Eliane make fun of her for those debilitating injuries.

Stepping into the cell, the heels of her boots clicking against the floor, Arlette's gaze could only ever be called "disapproving" as she narrowly avoided outright glaring at the woman she was reluctantly inclined to call her twin. When she spoke, there was faint venom behind the words. She ought to have been more polite, probably. By all accounts, Eliane had done a lot. Arlette, though, didn't quite believe it.

"Let's cut to it. Tell me why you came here. Don't waste my time."

She probably would, though, and that expectation was obvious in Arlette's irritated expression as she refused to sit down. It would have been too casual, and besides, she had no interest in any chance that she'd have trouble getting back up.

"When have I ever wasted your time?"

Eliane's smile was the same as it ever was. Relaxed, almost mellow in spite of the circumstances. Why shouldn't it be? Acting so grim and dour wasn't going to change her circumstances. Besides, she was happy to see Arlette. Well, 'happy' was a relative term for Eliane, but this was what she'd wanted. Letting out a little melodramatic sigh, she rested her chin on her hands and continued to speak.

"I came here to help you. To help Antonetta and Wolfina. You know, our sisters? The ones you left behind when you came here. You're lucky I know you so well, otherwise I'd think you did it because you didn't care. You just knew they'd make things harder, right?"

She didn't really think Arlette would dignify all her needling with a response, though. It was rare that she did. But this needling was a little different, because this time, she meant it, and that personal touch, that intensity, had carried through in her tone. Perhaps more noticeably, though, it had come through in her gaze.

"You're living nicely here. I'm glad. Now let's get the little ones the same thing, and I'll do whatever you'd like. Want me to wear a leash? Be a human test dummy for whatever you're probably developing here for the Vandenreich? I know you're working for them now, so you wouldn't pick something that's just for you."

There was a decided tension on Arlette's side of the table as she listened to Eliane's endless needling. The sense that, if they were back in the Duvalier Group's headquarters, she already would have started beating her counterpart. But that wasn't practical here, it would just cause problems, so she simply listened. She didn't interject, if only because she knew that's what Eliane probably wanted, and when it was all finished, she replied in her usual terse tone.

"I don't have that authority. You know that already, though. You know Eisfluch, this is still his show, so this is all just what you want me to convey to him, not what you want to tell me. I said not to waste my time, all of this could have been sent on a letter."

Leaning forward, Arlette's gaze matched the intensity of her sister's, albeit in a more straightforward manner. That, though, wasn't unusual for her. If anything, she found it almost refreshing to have gotten something even slightly serious out of Eliane for once in either of their lives.

"Just tell me what you want. Call it a thank you for getting Antonetta to give herself up, and for handling Wolfina."

She knew that something as simple as listening was hardly a fair trade for the effort Eliane had put forward, but that didn't actually matter to Arlette. Eliane had caused enough problems for the both of them over the years. Solving one for once didn't get her a medal.

Tutting at Arlette's ever-harsh demeanor, Eliane rolled her eyes as she leaned back, her smile not changing and yet seeming a little bit more hollow as she studied her twin. The only thing the two of them had in common was their face, really. Everything else, from the ground up, was like oil and water. She knew that was by design, obviously.

She knew, better than anyone, that she'd been made to be this way.

"What I want? I want to wake up in a nice bed, look out over a city, and have a cup of coffee. I want to give my sisters a call good morning, and ask how they're doing. I want to go to work, get something nice to eat for lunch, and visit a friend on the way home. I want to talk about all the annoying little things that aren't really worth talking about."

Eliane laughed quietly to herself, unable to fully accept the truth of what she was saying. Not because it was completely untrue, however. No, rather, she laughed because she knew what made it a lie.

"Well. I don't want those things. I think it would be better if I did, though. Those are normal things for someone to want, so I want you, and Antonetta, and Wolfina to have it. We're pretty much the same anyway, right? If you guys have it, it'll be like I do, too."

The only thing that brought her any joy was the suffering of other people. The one time Eliane felt true, genuine satisfaction in life was when people were in pain because of her. She'd made a life out of that, and she knew she'd done it to her sisters, too. They probably wouldn't ever forgive her, but that was fine. Really, they shouldn't.

It'd been so selfish of her, hadn't it? To try and have happy memories of her sisters.

"Shut up."

Over the years, Arlette had let Eliane irritate her plenty of times. It tended to be faster and easier than actually trying to deal with her any other way, and it wasn't like it became an actual problem. When it had become one, she'd just killed her. It's not like it had ever mattered, when Eliane had always treated her life like a toy anyway. Now, however, she wasn't letting herself be irritated. She was just mad.

"It's not going to be that easy for any of us. It never will be, because we weren't made to be like that. Did you forget how my head works, getting so caught up in yours? I'd never be satisfied living such a wasteful life every day."

The second she said that, she could see her sister's lips turn faintly upward in a smirk, and she wanted to beat her sister to death like she had countless times before. But no, she was better than that. More professional. More practical.

"You think I'm just going to turn you into some dog on a leash while I reap the rewards? I'm not Claudia. Neither are you. Neither are they. You want to live a life like that, how about you earn it, instead of acting like we should do all the work while you sit there acting pathetic."

Well, maybe just more practical.

"You're too nice, Arlette. Fine, I'll come up with something else, then, since you're so opposed to that one."

If she were capable of being so honest, Eliane would have told Arlette that it meant the world to her to be told that. She wasn't, of course. It just wasn't in her nature to be forthcoming about her feelings, to share something like that when she could keep it vague and dangle it overhead like some fascinating mystery.

"Then I want to work for you. Or Mr. Eisfluch, if he's not willing to let you handle that. You three might not ever want me around, but maybe you will. I'll just work until that happens."

The room, after that, was quiet. Eliane's ever-present smile, already hollow, now seemed outright strained as she looked into her sister's eyes. There was silence in the room, and all she heard was the sound of her own heartbeat, having picked up ever so slightly as she'd clenched her hand so tightly the nails dug deep into her palm. She was bleeding, and not to a completely innocuous degree.

She liked to think one day she could tell the truth more easily.

"I'll look into it."

There wasn't anything else to say. Arlette wasn't the kind of person who was ever inclined to enjoy pleasant little small talk, and she was even less inclined toward it when with this woman of all people. The two of them were opposites in every sense of the word, made in a way that they'd never see eye to eye. As she went to leave, however, Arlette paused. Her natural inclination was to just go, but her natural inclination was just one more symptom of how she'd been made. She knew she was capable of being more than that.

They all were.

Biting her lip, and holding back a grimace, Arlette glanced back at the face of the sister she'd murdered countless times. She knew she ought to stop thinking of their relationship that way, but it came naturally. She spoke after another second, her voice more tense.

"I'll see you then."

She'd already made her decision. She hated everything about Eliane, yes, but that was what she'd been made to do. It was what Eliane had been made to do, too. Even now, they were just following along with what Claudia'd made them for, and Arlette had resolved to live her own life. She didn't know what that life looked like, but she knew she wanted it to be far from what had been planned for her. This was just one more part of that.