PASTEL is humming to herself, her body swaying in a slight rocking movement. She is examining antiques. Her arms are stained light pink and blue. 

SIENNA: There you are, Pastel. What are you doing out here? 

PASTEL: Hmm, I am thinking what treasures would look best by the lounge in the library, and what would make me happiest. 

SIENNA: You’re exposed out here. What if someone sees you? I have to protect you from him. 

PASTEL: No, he won’t come here. And why do you think he would hurt me? 

SIENNA: Just because he hasn’t been here recently, doesn’t mean you can count on that always being true. One day he will show up. So I must defend you, even now. I am your defender. 

PASTEL: It didn’t hurt last time. It helped me unfold. I am not scared of him, you are. It is nice to show myself to the world, to be able to travel around. And do my important things, like collecting nice rocks, and finding snails. And to eat nice food, and be with the sunlight. 

SIENNA: You’re too young, you don’t understand. You don’t see your own value, and how many people might like to consume that value. Without regard for you. They’d hurt your spirit. I have seen things in the world that you have not. You give yourself up too easily.

PASTEL: Why do you view life with such a darkly transactional gaze? My value is that I am very good at knowing what I want to order, and what art appeals to me emotionally, and the games I can play, how much fun I can have, the rivers I can wade in, and all the fish I can catch… 

The way you defend me is malevolent. I didn’t like when you kept me locked up. It hurt. It was painful. Then no one could see me. I couldn’t have fun. I couldn’t grow. You didn’t let me grow. You paused me. So now I’m here forever, like this. Making my small demands, smiling at you, singing. 

SIENNA: Don’t paint me as the villain. You’re misremembering things. Yes, I kept you enclosed sometimes. But sometimes, you also run away from me, and I can’t find you. Sometimes I would like it if you were with me. I would like to take care of you, to hold you, but I call for you and you’re not there. Sometimes, you don’t show your face for weeks or months. 

PASTEL: Well, sometimes I am hiding… 

SIENNA: So you admit to your fear. 

PASTEL: I don’t want to talk about that… 

SIENNA: Last time I found you huddled under the table in the fellowship hall, crying softly, and you wouldn’t talk to me. 

PASTEL: But then you were very nice to me and made me some tea, and I perked up again, didn’t I? 

SIENNA: I want you to be strong. That’s all. You haven’t done this as many times as I have. I know how this story goes. I don’t want to have to collect up pieces of you from along a riverbank. 

PASTEL: I am strong in my own way. You know, he will never really see me, he will only see you. So I don’t have to be strong in the way you demand. My strength is in my weakness. 

SIENNA: He sees you. Don’t lie to yourself. 

PASTEL: I know your secret, Sienna. You are quite easy to ply, to manipulate. And so you think you would like to be more pigmented to counter that. Red, or blue. Fresh blood, or sea-deep. Darker, brighter, truer, harsher, more visceral, more brutal. You don’t like how washed out I am. You’d like to be Vermilion, or Ultramarine, or you’d at least like them to accept you in their ranks. You profoundly crave their approval. You find them beautiful. 

You think they are going to eat me, but they are not. They are going to eat you. And you think you can avoid that by hiding me away, and by acting like them. Well, maybe you can’t avoid it, and that’s okay. You need to distinguish your own thoughts and desires from everyone else’s, no matter the consequences. You can’t assimilate with them, not completely. You can stand with them, but you need your own contrast. 

SIENNA: (I need them in order to understand myself at all… I can barely see you, Pastel, unless I can contrast you against them.)

PASTEL: Now, enough of all these complicated things. Hmm, I think we both could appreciate this Fortuna figurine. She is so kind, and funny. 

Would you please like to come play with me, Sienna? I really want to play. Together with you.