[France goes very still at that last part. It's a strange kind of stillness, so absolute that Cooper might realize that France has stopped breathing altogether. He remains frozen like this for a long moment, his eyes still on Cooper but obviously no longer seeing just him. It's the kind of expression you see in paintings sometimes or particularly lifelike statues: something captured, chiseled in and then left behind.]
[For a moment, he looks inhuman.]
[But then France breathes in, and he blinks a couple of times like he's waking up, reigning his thoughts and himself back in. It's not a complete process: there's still an oddness about his eyes, and, while he's paying attention to Cooper, he still seems to be seeing something else at the same time.]
I understand.
[His voice is soft, thin, like it's coming from a long way off. He doesn't specify what exactly he understands or which side it accords understanding. It's a combination of both.]
[Video, private]
[For a moment, he looks inhuman.]
[But then France breathes in, and he blinks a couple of times like he's waking up, reigning his thoughts and himself back in. It's not a complete process: there's still an oddness about his eyes, and, while he's paying attention to Cooper, he still seems to be seeing something else at the same time.]
I understand.
[His voice is soft, thin, like it's coming from a long way off. He doesn't specify what exactly he understands or which side it accords understanding. It's a combination of both.]
[France swallows.]
Can you do anything to stop him?