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Post by Adrien Baillon on Oct 22, 2009 10:36:26 GMT -5
"Do you have a lot of photos from when you were a child? I only have a few," said Adrien, who actually only had one, which he'd taken because it happened to have his mother in it. It was one of the few things he'd taken with him when leaving home.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Oct 22, 2009 11:06:47 GMT -5
"Someone probably has several somewhere, but I don't have much of an interest in keeping them myself," Adrian said dismissively. "It's not a period in my life I feel any special remembrance for."
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Oct 22, 2009 11:14:35 GMT -5
Adrien peered at him with a soft expression, but didn't say anything. Then, after a moment, he wrapped one around companionably around his shoulder and leaned in to kiss his cheek without a word.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Oct 22, 2009 11:40:46 GMT -5
He slid the photograph back into the folder, beside the only one of him with his parents that he'd bothered to keep. He was slightly older in this one, and plainly resembled his mother more than his father, who had the same coloring as Adrian but craggier features.
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Oct 22, 2009 11:42:47 GMT -5
"I've never heard you talk about your parents," Adrien whispered, mostly because his mouth was currently so close to Adrian's ear. "Do you miss them?"
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Oct 22, 2009 11:54:37 GMT -5
"Not particularly," he said, quickly turning the page.
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Oct 22, 2009 11:56:49 GMT -5
Adrien pulled back slightly to look at him. Either in shock or because he was no longer an inch away from nibbling on Adrian's earlobe, his voice was louder - and flatter - when he said, "Not particularly?"
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Oct 22, 2009 12:00:47 GMT -5
"The greatest favor they did me was making it plain that I was separate from the rest of the human race from the beginning," Adrian said, very matter-of-factly.
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Oct 22, 2009 12:02:09 GMT -5
Adrien took his hand unflinchingly.
"I don't think you're separate from the human race," he said quietly, looking fixedly into his eyes.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Oct 22, 2009 12:07:27 GMT -5
He should have known Adrien wouldn't get it.
"Adrien... Adrien, when I'm being short with you, you have to understand that I'm not trying to be," he explained, in a slow, vaguely patronizing voice.
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Oct 22, 2009 12:09:44 GMT -5
Adrien flushed and let go of him.
"It's okay if you don't want to look at pictures. I don't want you to do something just because you think it makes me happy," he said, carefully keeping his eyes down.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Oct 22, 2009 12:10:22 GMT -5
"No- no, that's not what I meant-"
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Oct 22, 2009 12:11:17 GMT -5
"Then what's making you short."
His eyes were still down and his voice was controlled. Adrien was spending an awful lot of time with Adrian and Micaela. He had to learn something about composure eventually. Whether or not it was a good thing to actually know, though, was anybody's guess.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Oct 22, 2009 12:22:01 GMT -5
He paused, trying to think of how to explain this.
"For all my life," he began, almost hesitantly, "I've been more or less standing on the outside of the human condition. From the time I was a child, I've never been able to feel much more than a sense of being an observer."
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Oct 22, 2009 12:23:21 GMT -5
Adrien looked up at him after a moment, barely a flicker of the eyes upwards.
"And is this... bad?"
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