As Dumas spoke up, Chesh could not help but record the confession, his hologram not moving an inch to betray the deed. It obviously hurt the big guy to say it, and it would be a terrible cruelty to make him say it again. Chesh was very sure to not let any pity or hurt enter his eyes or the eyes of the hologram, but it was a terribly sad story, augmented by the fact that Dumas had already begun to crack before Shadow Mari felt the final breaking blow. He asked Cheshire to tell Mari for him, and Chesh immediately knew that he would never be able to speak the same volumes that Dumas was expressing here with his every movement. Mari had to see this.<br/><br/>Just as Chesh was going to move to knock on Mari's door, DEE called out, as if he knew what Chesh was going to do. Then he suggested what to most would seem unthinkable, but to a computer would seem as logical as any argument.<br/><br/>"Poor sweet DEE," Chesh replied, "if only it were that simple. First off, you'd have to erase parts of Mari and Shadow Mari's memories to avoid Dumas accidentally remembering again, then their the fact that similar procedures have always left some sort of emotional residue, an echo of pain and loss." Then Cheshire looked at Dumas and added, "besides that, how could you explain that to yourself? Have me or DEE tell you a good lie to cover up why you really had a few memories removed? Have no one tell you and you'll just have to wonder why you had a memory removed, but not others that still plague you? Remove all of then and start off a new man with no past, no memories to hurt nor comfort him?"<br/><br/>Cheshire's eyes took on a weary quality then, a sort of tired worldliness that was completely foreign to all those who knew him in his current life.<br/><br/>"I won't make a choice for you," he said, "but you have never seemed like the kind of man who would drink to forget, who would slowly kill himself just to dull the pain. Please don't destroy who you are now. Don't drink this drought."<br/><br/>Then the moment passed and his face relaxed into a simply concerned but decidedly neutral expression. "But," Cheshire concluded, "it's your choice, and I can't make it for you Dumas. That's one lie I cannot swallow, is telling you I know what to do."<br/><br/><br/>Sent from Castle Shadow-hold using Tapatalk