21 y.o/illustrator - I draw what I like

When I happened upon the former supermodel and heir to the Agreste fortune, he was sitting in the park, writing in a notebook with his lips pursed in concentration. Upon noticing me staring, he smiled and greeted me, and despite my awkward opening, we struck up a conversation. 

Unlike his father, Adrien was friendly and sociable, and when he asked me about my profession, I took a gamble and asked if he’d like to do an interview– not about his relation to his father, but about him. To my surprise, he agreed, and dumped out the contents of his bag on the picnic table.

The ‘what’s in my bag’ trend has gripped fans of celebrity since its origins in the pages of magazines. It feels personal, almost voyeuristic– that’s the appeal. To the public, it feels like you can glean so much more from the contents of an idol’s everyday bag than a celeb endorsement or a sponsored interview. Looking at someone’s possessions gives you a more real picture of them in your head– Adrien’s pill case (3) was his ‘second favorite color’, and he explained why he took each pill and what it was for, and crammed next to it, a half used tub of Vaseline (5), a pack of gum with discarded wrappers stuck inside (4), and a metal tube of medicinal smelling hand cream (6) in the bag of a boy widely considered perfect, made him more real, more touchable. 

Despite how plain he considered himself as he spoke to me, Adrien’s taste in on the go snacks (2) and literature (8 and 9) suggested a more intellectual side to the model. “The Last Unicorn is my favorite book,” he said, turning over the worn paperback copy, the back of the book completely torn off with age, “the way the words are written makes me want to pick up a pen, you know? I like fairy tales a lot. And this one resonates a bit more than the usual ones, because it’s kinda sad. I like it.  And um, this book..” he then picked up a book that was half book and half stick tab annotation, “I really like learning new languages. It’s cool to me how things change in translation because of grammar or like, the culture around the language. I know Chinese, French, English, and Japanese so far, but my friend is in Brazil right now and I decided to learn Portuguese in case I visit him.” 

When I looked through Adrien’s possessions, most of them had a story about a friend to go along with them. “My friend Nino got me these for… I can’t remember if it was an occasion or just because he wanted to.” Adrien said, fondly admiring a pair of headphones (1). “He told me that I should care about the audio quality of my music, because at the time I was using just the old corded Apple earbuds and I listen to a lot of jazz music, so it didn’t sound as good. It was really nice of him.” Likewise, going through Adrien’s pencil case, he snorted to himself. “Most of these are stolen from my friends,” he admitted. “I don’t try to take them, they just end up in my pencil case somehow.” 

For as social as he appeared to be, I was surprised that Adrien didn’t own a smartphone, instead opting for a sliding dumbphone that eschewed even a QWERTY keyboard. “For my whole life, I’ve had days where I was in too much pain to do much of anything. It’s just how my body is, you know. And I used to be pretty isolated, so I got in the habit of watching the news or going on the computer all day because I was so bored and it hurt to play video games or do physical stuff. But that’s kinda unhealthy, you know. People say a lot of stuff about me and people I care about, and after the Alliance went haywire, I decided I didn't want to deal with that level of reliance on tech. Now, if you want to talk to me, you call me or send me a text.” He laughed as he explained it. “My friends hate it, because I don’t see the stuff they send me anymore, but I never got the jokes to begin with!” 

To entertain himself without constant internet access, Adrien has a 6th gen IPod loaded with Ella Fitzgerald and Cab Calloway (11), a Gameboy in his favorite color (12) that he plays Harvest Moon on, and his journal (7). “I use these up like crazy so I don’t decorate them.” Adrien said, caressing the leather cover. “I don’t write about my personal life much, but it’s very stream of consciousness. Only I really understand anything in here.”