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Post by Adrian Veidt on Jan 3, 2020 19:17:10 GMT -5
“I wish I could come with you,” Adrian admitted, “but I will be needed here. This is only the start, after all.”
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Post by Jon Osterman on Jan 3, 2020 19:18:56 GMT -5
"I don't think you would take to it as well as you think," Jon said. "You need this planet. These people. I confess I don't, and I don't want them, either. Except you. I have only stayed for you."
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Jan 3, 2020 19:22:41 GMT -5
Adrian turned to look at him at last, frowning slightly.
“You can’t mean that.”
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Post by Jon Osterman on Jan 3, 2020 19:25:35 GMT -5
"I can lie," Jon said, even more gently, "but I prefer not to. I would have left before now, if you had not asked me to stay. To do this."
He touched Adrian on the shoulder.
"I can give you the pieces of a new world, but you have to make it. After New Years, I won't be returning."
This was, as it happened, a lie, but those things this far in the future, Jon found easier not to pay very close attention to. And he told this lie for Adrian's benefit. There were things he did not need to know.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Jan 3, 2020 19:27:00 GMT -5
“To do this,” Adrian repeated. “All right, that... makes more sense than I- never mind.”
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Post by Jon Osterman on Jan 3, 2020 19:28:23 GMT -5
"Yes?"
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Jan 3, 2020 19:29:29 GMT -5
“I didn’t flatter myself that it was for the pleasure of my company,” Adrian said, with a bleak smile.
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Post by Jon Osterman on Jan 3, 2020 19:30:23 GMT -5
This affected Jon more than he thought it would, given that he had known that was coming as well. It did not, however, show.
"Ah," he said.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Jan 3, 2020 19:33:31 GMT -5
“The phrasing only took me by surprise, that’s all,” said Adrian, who didn’t sound surprised at all. “I’m sorry.”
He pushed his hair back and lay back down, staring at the elaborate ceiling moulding around the chandelier.
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Post by Jon Osterman on Jan 3, 2020 19:38:03 GMT -5
The thought of kissing him crossed his mind, and he did not do it in part because he knew already he would not. It helped to make him certain of his actions.
"The recollections from this planet that bring me the greatest contentment are the time I have spent with you," he said after a moment of contemplation. "You have always interested me."
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Jan 3, 2020 19:44:31 GMT -5
“That’s a terrible amount of responsibility to give me,” said Adrian, both amused and appalled. “I hope it doesn’t stay that way.”
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Post by Jon Osterman on Jan 3, 2020 19:46:09 GMT -5
"You've taken on worse responsibilities," said Jon, not untruthfully.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Jan 4, 2020 0:42:34 GMT -5
“You’re trying to flatter me,” said Adrian, not really accusatory. “I assumed you’d ascended past that kind of impulse.”
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Post by Jon Osterman on Jan 4, 2020 1:14:42 GMT -5
"I am trying to alleviate my guilt," said Jon after a moment, and then: "I thought I had moved past that one as well."
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Jan 4, 2020 1:30:26 GMT -5
“There’s nothing to feel guilty for, save perhaps the reminder that you’re also looking at me twenty years ago right now.”
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