Adrien Hart

“Hi..” Qhuinn returned, biting her lip a little as she tried to tame her no doubt wild appearance. The day had been breezy and surprisingly not so muggy for a Louisiana afternoon, so she had taken full advantage of it and was sure it showed. She laughed a little when he held up the note with her name on it, stepping forward for take it.

“Thanks. Should I read it now, or do you just want to tell me what it says?” she smiled. “I’m Qhuinn, from the Halloween party. Remember?” She remembered him very well, but guys who looked like he did were hard to forget.

Adrien would have though the long silence deafening between them had it not been for their closeness to the nurse’s station and the beeping of machines and monitors. As she took the note, he realized the error in his ways, knowing his cheeks may have flushed red with embarrassment, if they were still able to feel blood rushing to them.

“I’m not sure what the whole world is like anymore, but this town is kind of sleepy. Actually it’s a little cute. Like a setting for a tv show about a picturesque town in the south. Except now it’s a small town in the south with a large supernatural population that not many know about.” She mused, still feeling a bit of buzz from her feat of being able to go out into the town. “Maybe if I get better at it, you could come one time? During the night of course.” She told Adrien, wanting him to get better as well. She recognized some similar emotions she felt at being at this place with her new life. She caught his smile, and mirrored it, smiling warmly up at him. “Thanks, that means a lot. But… I don’t know how much of a normal human life I can have. My whole family was killed by werewolves and I somehow survived. I don’t think I’ll ever be normal again.”

“A sleepy town.” Adrien liked the sound of that and hoped that he’d get to a point very soon where he too would feel comfortable with going out on the town. In the mean time he was too worried he’d accidentally hurt a human, so he stayed here. Besides, he wasn’t in the mood to leave and be babysat by some security guard as that was the rule set in place for him by Colton. “That would be nice,.” Adrien mused a small smile, knowing that it wouldn’t be possible for quite some time as far as he was concerned. As she spoke of her family, he immediately was reminded of his sister. “I know that feeling.” Adrien mused. He’d spoken of his sister with Natalie before, so he knew she’d understand what he meant by that. However, he wasn’t ready to tell her, let alone anyone about his hunting days. Where Natalie may have understood, he knew the other supernaturals may not, even solely due to the fact that he may have hurt or killed one of their loved ones. He didn’t need that weighing on him too. “Normal is just a setting on the dryer anyways.” Adrien smirked a little, knowing he was referencing a movie, but that fact making him feel slightly more human for a moment.

Life at the house had seemed to settle into a routine for Qhuinn. Nothing terribly exciting but that was okay..she had had enough excitement in the last few months to last her a while. She was still no closer to controlling her wolf or her powers, her nightmares had shown no signs of stopping, but ever the survivor, she continued to cope as best as she could. 

The one thing did she did miss was friends. Qhuinn had always been a social person, but now found it hard to be around people for long at a time. Hell…she found it hard to be in the house for long periods of time, and had taken to going for long walks close to the bayou when she wasn’t needed. She was just coming back from one of those walks, going to check in at the nurse’s office, when she heard a familiar voice.

“Adrien?” she called softly, tucking her windblown hair behind her ear.

The nurse he’d made eye contact with was about to speak, but instead, Adrien heard his name and turned to see the werewolf he’d met around Halloween time, what was her name?. “Hi.” He said softly, giving his attention to her rather than the nurse he’d first called to. Adrien held the note up with 'Qhuinn’ scrawled across the folded paper.

Natalie nodded and walked over to the desk and turned the little light on, just to brighten the room a little since it was so dark. “I did.” She told him with a wide grin. The gift meant so much more because it showed progress. “The nurses want me to be able to go out again, to be in public.” She explained. “One accompanied me. So I wasn’t alone, which was good.” She still felt scared all the time. Taking the journal, she read over the passage. It was odd reading about herself, but there was something gentle… Something real about the passage. When she finished she was quiet for a second before handing it back to him. Her voice was quiet. “Thank you… Thank you for that. For saying those things.” Her eyes shined.

Originally posted by faye-chamberlain

“What’s the outside world like nowadays?” Adrien’s smile faded. Not smiling just felt more natural. Adrien hadn’t seen the outside world. He wasn’t ready. He was happy for her though, happy that she was going to be so close to normalcy as a human. She deserved that. “I meant every word.” Adrien let his smile return for only a moment. “You deserve to feel safe, and live the most human life you can.”

Natalie nodded and walked into his room. “Even to artificial light? Or just the sunlight?” Natalie asked as she passed into his room and looked over the belongings in his room. It really said a lot about his character and personality. She tore her eyes away from his arms to watch his reaction to the gift. When he finally opened it up, she was unable to stop her wide, innocent and proud grin. “I got it myself. In town. I went into town.” She told him with a wide grin, feeling excited and proud. True, she had a nurse babysitting her, but she still went out in public. “You don’t have to say anything. I’m just glad you like it.” She watched him move to his desk and she took the journal. “Of course. I’d love to read your writing.” She started scanning the page.

Originally posted by phoebejaytonkin

“No.” Adrien looked about the room. “If it’s too dark, you can turn a light on over there.” He pointed towards his desk where a lamp sat. “You left?” Adrien realized how proud she was, and that this simple gift meant even more than he’d originally realized. His smile grew a little more. He kept flipping pages until he finally found the entry he’d been searching for. It was from the night he’d first encountered Natalie, and he thought maybe reading it would suffice as a return gift to her. He was probably wrong, but he needed to try.

Today for the first time in a long time I was pleasantly surprised. For today I encountered a human here at Drummond’s End. Her name is Natalie. After sharing a mutual distaste for the werewolf species, I found her very easy to be around. Some people are just so difficult to spend time with, but she wasn’t like that.

It came as a surprise to me that a human would be here, not as a staff member. Here for protection. And as much as I hate myself now and what I’ve become, I can’t bear to think that someone like her would have to live in fear. But she is brave. I personally feel as though I’m taking a secret vow of my own to see to it that she feels protected. It can be hard to trust beings here, but I hope she can grow to trust me.

Adrien turned away after giving her the journal to read. He knew that some people felt weird about being ‘documented’, and he wasn’t sure how she’d take it.

Natalie watched him, she could almost see the wheels turning in his head, but she didn’t know where they were going or if it was a good or bad thing. The present weighed heavy in her hands and she wondered if it has been a mistake. But no. It was the season for giving. She sighed out in relief when he let her in, moving past him into the darkened room. “Are you sensitive to light?” She asked, only knowing one other vampire, but she was old. Natalie’s eyes stayed on his arms though, she couldn’t look away. “Merry Christmas.” She smiled softly and handed him the wrapped parcel.

Originally posted by phoebejanetonkindaily

“You could say that.” Adrien waited until she walked past him to close the door. He took the gift from her, a pang of guilt hitting his chest when he realized he had nothing for her in return. Adrien slowly unwrapped the gift, aware that her eyes were still locked on his scars. He held up the small stack of journals and two new fountain pens, one that had even been engraved with his name. Adrien was slightly in shock at the heartfelt gift he held in his hands. “I don’t know what to say.” He looked to her with a small smile forming on his lips. “Thank you.” Adrien moved to his desk setting the journals on his desk and shuffling through some papers until he found something he was looking for. “I want you to read something.” Adrien flipped through pages, and watched to gauge her reaction, waiting to hand her the notebook.

Natalie waited, stepping from foot to foot. Should she have put on shoes? She hasn’t gone outside today and she had mostly been in her room. The nurses never minded when she walked around barefoot as long as she stayed out of the cafeteria and the places where patients were being treated. And Adrien was far away from that so she should be fine. As the door opened, she stared at his arms, her mouth falling a tiny o of shock. The brunette had never seen his arms before and she never imagined the scars on them. Her own dress and sweater were long and loose and covered all of her scars. However he didn’t seem too happy to see her, and she deflated a bit, frowning. “I uh… Came to see you. And give you a Christmas present.”

Originally posted by faye-chamberlain

Clearing his throat, Adrien looked past Natalie somewhat suspiciously. Had she come on her own accord? Was Colton using someone else to get him? Adrien noticed her eyes going to his arms, but there was no point in hiding them from her now. As she spoke, his brow returned to it’s furrowed state. “A present?” He hadn’t expected a gift from anyone, especially since he hadn’t given any. 

It wasn’t the first gift he’d gotten. In fact he’d found the cupcakes that the werewolf Qhuinn had left for him, and he was surprised then too. Adrien would be rude to turn Natalie away now, But after hiding away for so much time besides visits to the blood bank he hadn’t spent much time in the presence of humans. His control had been getting better, but he hoped it wouldn’t falter again in her presence. If there were any species he still valued it was humans. “Come in.” Adrien stepped aside motioning for her to enter into his room. It was clean, and organized with the exception of the papers strewn across his desk and some taped or pinned to the wall.

Natalie hadn’t seen Adrien for a while. Not since before the holidays had started. She hadn’t even seen him for New Years Eve, which she figured she would have since it was a night time holiday. Still, she knew she had hidden away since this was the first time she didn’t have friends or family to spend the holidays with. Everything was different now and it weighed heavy on her. She was sure Adrien felt the same way and that was why she hadn’t seen him around for a bit. After all, they were feeling similar loses with what put them in this place. 

Grabbing the gift she had gotten for him, she made her way down to the basement. She had actually managed to get dressed in real clothes today, finding a loser dress and throwing a loose sweater over it, though she padded around barefoot. One of the nurses had told Natalie which room was his, and she found it to be close to Muireann’s, though she noticed that her room was a lot closer to the doctors and nurses than Adrien’s was. Probably because he wasn’t a patient. The brunette knocked on the door and hoped he was in and waited for him to answer. 

As he moved to the door, he knew it was Shelley on the other side. The scent was different. This scent was human. He stopped for a moment before opening the door, trying to place the familiarity of the scent. When he was unable to, Adrien pulled the door open. His brow furrowed slightly when he saw Natalie on the other side. “Hello?” He uttered, his voice gruff. “What’re you doing here?”