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Post by Micaela on Sept 11, 2009 11:55:46 GMT -5
*The staff had steered out of her way upon seeing the splotches on her face and the murderous look in her eyes. Adrian and his vegetarianism could go fuck themselves, because she was making some goddamn chicken and mushroom risotto. Hitler was a fucking vegetarian; eating meat didn't make her a worse person. Chopping things was making her cry as the familiar motions soothed her anger--her mother was always too lazy to do the chopping and made her do it. Once it got to the point where it sat around simmering, she began work on a batch of brownies, the smell of which just made her cry harder.*
*She wasn't going to use this stupid power anymore. It had been convenient and cool for about five minutes. It could manipulate the weather; it could feed the hungry; it could work miracles, but it couldn't do the single most important thing: take her home. Furthermore, it put her in serious danger of blasphemy. Her current situation did not in any way contradict her belief in God or His divinity. Having godlike powers, she reminded herself every time she started sounding like she thought she was more important than anyone else, was not the same as being a god.*
*So it was that Micaela, high school senior from Ohio, ended up in a kitchen in a compound in Antarctica, the smell of baking chocolate and simmering chicken stock making it difficult to breathe through her sobs.*
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Sept 11, 2009 13:51:55 GMT -5
Adrien hadn't been able to stay at dinner for very long after that. His appetite had gone away - although his hunger hadn't, not really - and the strange, typical-of-Adrian-Veidt cuisine had looked too unkind to the taste palate of an unambitious Frenc boy. Furthermore, even though what Micaela had said at dinner had really bothered him, the more he reasoned through it the harder it was to come to the conclusion that she actually wanted to be alone right now; and Adrian, cold and curt and seeming to be in China for all he was sitting right beside him, was no comfort.
Finally, unable to look Adrian in the eye, he stood unsteadily and modestly and excused himself. They were done eating anyway, right?
Micaela wasn't in her room. Tranh told him, after a moment of hesitation, looking at his stricken face, that she'd gone to the kitchen soon enough, and he'd followed, tentatively.
He was not sure she would want to talk to him, but he knew what it was like to be alone at Karnak - he'd done nothing but put together jigsaw puzzles and pore over books with confusing words for the past two weeks and felt himself get frightened of the inhuman sound of the outside Antarctic weather - and he didn't want her to feel that way unless she herself absolutely wanted to.
The smell was the first thing he noticed when he entered. It was huge, like everything at Karnak, but sure enough he could tell what she was cooking the moment he crept in the door.
"Ummmm....Micaela?" he called, after composing himself.
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Post by Micaela on Sept 11, 2009 13:53:12 GMT -5
*Micaela launched herself at him, burying her face in his chest and sobbing and probably getting chocolate on his shirt.* "All I w-want t-t-to d-d-d-do is g-g-go home"
*She was the kind of person who normally sobbed into pillows and remained as quiet as possible, so though her body was wrenching and she hiccupped heavily, the sound was soft and with little vocalization.*
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Sept 11, 2009 13:59:39 GMT -5
Adrien staggered backwards and managed to not fall over. He was not used to being embraced. Unless it was with Veidt, in which case it didn't count because he didn't, you know, do it right. Um. If that was not blasphemous to say.
He was not very good at comforting, because he'd never really been given the opportunity to comfort anyone who wouldn't give him a cold stare, but he more than felt the inclination to.
"Oohhhh man - I am really, really sorry - and Adrian was - " being unkind, he didn't have to say. "It's - hard."
He knew he wasn't being that helpful. He'd missed his mother a lot, too, after leaving home, but that, at least, had been his own choice. He tried to imagine what it would have been like disappearing when he was 12 or something, wanting to be back with her. It wasn't nice to think of.
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Post by Micaela on Sept 11, 2009 14:08:23 GMT -5
"That d-doesn't hic g-give h-h-him hic the right t-to hic pretend my parents don't exist" *She wiped furiously at her eyes. The sobs were the kind that went so long and hard that the back of your throat ached and your face was hot and you couldn't control your diaphragm.*
"I m-miss them" *She said, looking up at him with a look of utter bereavement.* "S-sometimes he hic looks at me like I'm not even hic a person. Like I'm this hic little automaton that looks right and hic acts right and doesn't hic have hic feelings but I DO and I'm just a hic teenager and I miss my parents!" *She buried her face her her hands, the sobs making it impossible to speak again.*
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Sept 11, 2009 14:12:02 GMT -5
"I think he wants to replace them," said Adrien. "Nononono I don't mean that like - don't be mad at me - I'm not saying it's okay - I mean - "
It was hard, just out of habit, to say anything against Veidt, and that Micaela was doing so made him almost frightened. But worse than that was the fact that, yes, everyone had at some point, whether they were close to him or not, done something right and then been treated to a distant look of satisfaction that suggested, yes, yes, you do what you're supposed to.
It had, however, never occurred to him Micaela might have gotten it before. After all, he spent a lot of his time feeling faintly sad and jealous about how much more thought and time Adrian invested in their relationship.
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Post by Micaela on Sept 11, 2009 14:14:30 GMT -5
*She sniffled, wiped at her eyes and tried to give him a watery smile.*
"I hic made hic risotto and hic brownies, and I hate hic eating alone. Halfsies?"
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Sept 11, 2009 14:18:49 GMT -5
Adrien nodded and tendered a grin.
"...Yeah, that sounds like dinner."
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Post by Micaela on Sept 11, 2009 15:04:30 GMT -5
*She grinned outright, and put on oven mitts to take the brownies out. Two bowls were soon filled with chicken-and-mushroom-y goodness; the pan of brownies was cooling on the counter. She set one bowl in front of Adrien, handing him a fork.*
"Dig in!" *She sat down at the kitchen table and took a bite.* "Did I ever really tell you about my family?"
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Sept 11, 2009 15:07:22 GMT -5
Adrien shook his head. "No. We've never talked about families," he said quietly. The empty kitchen made their voices seem hollow.
This was a lot better than dinner with Adrian, he would freely admit. It tasted familiar. He was suddenly quite a bit more aware of how hungry he actually was, and how lonely. He hadn't given that a lot of thought, but it certainly was true. It was just that normally he never saw that as out of the ordinary. For some reason or other sitting here with Micaela made him realize it.
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Post by Micaela on Sept 11, 2009 15:13:46 GMT -5
"Well," *She said in between bites. Each was, of course, properly chewed and swallowed with perfect manners.* "I have my mom and dad, a sister, Annie, and a brother, Ryan. We're pretty boring, I guess, but that's normal. Annie is so talented--like, you listen to her sing and play music and you get chills, and Ryan's so smart he can't even express it, like there's so much intelligence behind there that he just can't put it in words."
*Another bite.* "My parents are--well, they raised us to be critical thinkers, and always mind our manners, and do our homework, which is a pretty fair deal I'd say." *She gestured with her hands and fork as she spoke. Talking about them made her feel a little better, because when she didn't talk about them it was like she was pretending they didn't exist.*
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Sept 11, 2009 15:17:15 GMT -5
"Oh."
Adrien always felt as though he had entered what was supposed to be a warm introductory class and which turned out to have a lot of very competitive third-year honors scholars in it instead when he was talking to Micaela.
"I just have a maman," he said very quietly after a moment, taking a bite. "I didn't know you had siblings."
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Post by Micaela on Sept 11, 2009 15:21:20 GMT -5
*She cringed a little.* "I didn't realize how much I loved any of them until I was stuck without them." *She took another few bites. Tears had welled up, but she was more in control of herself now.*
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Sept 11, 2009 15:24:17 GMT -5
"It's funny how that happens," said Adrien softly. "Um. Micaela."
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Post by Micaela on Sept 11, 2009 15:25:12 GMT -5
"Hm?"
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