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Post by Adrian Veidt on Dec 18, 2010 8:08:09 GMT -5
There were already a small group of people waiting just inside the open airlock for the approaching man, girl and cat by the time Adrian lead Bubastis and Adrien out of the plane.
Adrian stepped into the airlock and began taking off the heavy outer layers he'd put on over his clothes for the short crossing through the polar snow as soon as the other two were themselves inside.
"Welcome back, Mr. Veidt, sir-"
He turned around to look at the man who'd said this with wide, accusatory eyes.
The man stepped back in alarm.
"Sir, I meant no-" "Don't mention my father's name tonight. That's an order."
He looked at the rest of his vaguely alarmed staff.
"That goes for the rest of you as well," he murmured.
The staff exchanged looks and mumbled apologies. Adrian straightened his shoulders.
"Now then. Is everything in order?" "Yes, sir. Dinner is nearly prepared, and we received the champagne you had sent down earlier this week, the televisions are in full operation-" "Good, good. Tranh, I would like to request your personal assistance..."
Leaving Adrien alone with the staff, he disappeared down a hallway, headed toward his room.
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Dec 18, 2010 19:48:09 GMT -5
Adrien was cold, and Karnak was stifling and frightening, moreso than it had been when he had last arrived, for then he had not been spirited away in the dead of night, and had stayed with with Micaela, wearing, as usual, brighty accented varsity clothes, listening to her talk about the mysteries of ancient Egypt in a voice meant to amuse, trying not to giggle. But Micaela had vanished under mysterious, awful circumstances, and now Adrien wandered Karnak's halls hearing the amplified echoes of his footsteps as though listening to others from another time, and statues behind glass cases, warriors from huge mosaics, seemed to watch him indifferently and judge him.
A bit fatigued from hunger and the flight, a bit scared, Adrien wrapped his fur-lined coat around himself and cried into its sleeves, like a dog whose picked up from his master's behaviorisms that something is desperately wrong, even though it doesn't know what.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Dec 18, 2010 20:39:13 GMT -5
The new suit had been made to specifications even more exacting than the ones that had been in place for the construction of the ones he'd worn in active duty years ago.
"Do you want the mask, sir?" "No, not tonight, I shouldn't think. Do me a favor and round everyone up in the vivarium, will you?" "Yes, sir."
Adrian was left alone for a moment, adjusting his shoulderplate.
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Dec 18, 2010 20:50:48 GMT -5
Adrien, eyes a little puffy, though he looked like he was wearing eyeliner because of the mascara that had rubbed off as he'd cried, peered in cautiously, finally making his way to Adrian's room. He looked dazzling in the suit; it suited Karnak, like the two were made for each other; but dazzling meant both beautiful and terrible, because suddenly he was remote to him, he wasn't Adrian any longer, he wasn't dressed up for reasons Adrien understood and it wasn't something Adrien could turn into a private game that took place in a world where Adrien had any registered meaning. When he first looked into the room, he felt a little as though he didn't exist.
"Adrian?"
Loving rich men was supposed to entail mansions and such, places which, for all their large remoteness, still had plush bedrooms where a mistress could install herself. Karnak was a place for dead kings, not lttle red-eyed queens clutching fur coats around their shoulders. There was noplace he fit in, no place to hide, and yet he couldn't stand out, either. He might as well have not existed there at all, and he was terrified.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Dec 18, 2010 21:18:16 GMT -5
Adrian looked at Adrien, with the circlet in his hands.
"Adrien-"
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Dec 18, 2010 21:33:37 GMT -5
"Why are you wearing that?"
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Dec 18, 2010 21:46:57 GMT -5
He came a little closer.
"Adrien, I need you to go to your room for now, all right?
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Dec 18, 2010 21:50:57 GMT -5
He shrank back in fear, almost as though hypnotized out of recognizing Adrian.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Dec 18, 2010 22:16:04 GMT -5
"Everything's under control. I just need you to go lie down-"
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Dec 18, 2010 22:19:26 GMT -5
"You're going out, aren't you?" he said dimly, as though far away. "You think something's going to happen, and you're going to try and stop - I won't let you!" he said, throwing his arms around him and clinging. "Please, what if you leave me here and you die, then I'll slowly die here, alone, never knowing what happened to you!"
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Dec 18, 2010 22:23:54 GMT -5
"I'm not leaving-"
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Dec 18, 2010 22:26:54 GMT -5
"Then why?"
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Dec 18, 2010 22:30:24 GMT -5
"I'm dealing with a very serious situation-"
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Dec 18, 2010 22:58:25 GMT -5
"Don't die and leave me alone -" He started to cry.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Dec 18, 2010 22:59:50 GMT -5
"I'm not going to, I promise-"
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