[it was adam's turn to listen in silence. he watched her talk, he watched her body language, and it was clear that she was fuming, and hurt. he gripped at his sleeve, telling himself not to interrupt or to stop her from talking. he was angry too, every time he told her that she needed to just listen to him she didn't do it. just his luck, too, all the women he knew had their own agendas and refused to listen to him. just like his childhood friend had left him after hijacking that train, he was starting to doubt his own resolve and his own ideals. he had things that needed to get done, that he just had to do, and he didn't care who he hurt to do it.
...but he cared that he hurt weiss. that was odd, wasn't it? she was a member of the schnee company, she was the enemy that he had been fighting against for a while... but he knew she wasn't like her father. she wasn't associated with the things that he had done, but right now she wasn't helping her case any.
once she was done, adam sighed. he glanced back over to her, telling himself to calm down and not yell at her for being so deluded and spoiled. this wasn't just about her, he had decided to run from everything just to show her that he hadn't considered her one of them. he was many things, but he didn't like being called a liar when he wasn't one.]
I didn't lie to you. Not once.
[his tone was fierce, left no room for any doubt. he tried to keep telling himself to relax but it was so hard when he was talking to someone as stubborn as her.]
I planned on telling you what I was..... but this was exactly how I knew it would go over. Accusations, anger, and thinking I had betrayed you when I never did. I hadn't told you because I was waiting for the right time to, that was all. After getting back Second I was going to tell you everything, that's the honest truth. I was going to tell you how I was a White Fang member, how I've killed to get what I wanted.... but it just-...
[he let out a shaky exhale, a hand running through his hair now instead of gripping the sleeve of his jacket.]
We ended up meeting in the Battle Royale. And that just.... what else was I to do? Killing you would have meant you would have seen me as just a monster, as the beast you've already claimed me to be. I wanted you to win over me so your father could see and you would be let off the hook. Don't you see, Weiss? You won't believe my words so my actions are the only thing left that you possibly could believe. Having you win over me was my way of showing you that.... that I never wanted to use you for any personal gain, that I wanted you to see I don't care about the associations between us!
[he noticed he had been raising his voice, and that was even gaining a couple looks in the cafeteria.]
You're acting like the deluded one here. Think about it, Weiss, just think for a second about it. When have I ever done something that wasn't in your best interest? I warned you to be careful when I knew things would turn dangerous, I wanted you to win over me so you could gain the trust of your father again and show him what side you're on, I have never betrayed you!
[adam pushed off the wall, stepping closer to her now. he knew what he was, that he was just a monster that would do whatever it took to complete a mission. he just... didn't know how he could ever get her to see past all that. when he spoke again he was closer to her and his voice was low.]
....I care about you, and the fact that you can't see that is the most upsetting thing of all.
[ Weiss closed her eyes while he spoke, her brow furrowing and shutting them even tighter as she grew more aggravated by his words. He kept trying to insist on this like it was no big deal that he was a member of the White Fang. She might not be like her father but she certainly respects him and the company.
She seemed to soften just a bit as he said that he cared about her, but.. in the back of her mind, she knew one thing for certain: him caring about her now wouldn't change what he's done. It wouldn't make him regret his actions, it wouldn't bring anyone back, and it wouldn't mean that if he ever got out of here he wouldn't go right back to doing it.
Her expression softened as she looked back at him, her eyes revealing so much more hurt than her body language had, but she looked like she was considering. Her tone, however, kept that same frozen timbre. ]
If you're telling the truth, then tell me which members of my family you've killed, kidnapped, what you've stolen, and anything else you've done to my family and why I should ever overlook that.
[at that.... adam stopped. he froze up entirely, staring down at her with an unreadable expression. at first there had been more fire in his eyes, much more anger within him, but after she said that he couldn't keep it up anymore. he kept on thinking about what the schnee company had done to his own family, to the white fang, and what those like-minded people had done to him. he had been chased, taunted, and nearly killed several times by them.
he had been a child, but still they had insisted on killing his kind. poor, supposedly uneducated, homeless and abandoned... surely no one would care about someone like that if they tortured them, right? he had sworn to fight for the right cause.... but right now he knew what he had done to get there wasn't in her best interest. and that's what he had been fighting for this whole time in prison.
adam swallowed hard, his eyes softening as well.]
....I can get that to you. Everything I've ever done while being in the White Fang, I can give that to you. [he might just have to write it all down, it's been years.]
And... whatever grudges we both have, you towards the White Fang, me towards the Schnee company... when you didn't know who I was, we had gotten along just fine when not dealing with those associations. Hadn't we...?
I can never forgive your company... because I could also tell you a long list of the people they've killed to get where they're at today. Kidnapping, forced labor, blackmail, I know all about it. But if I'm willing to at least.... not include you in that category, then can't you do the same with me?
I just.... hate the idea of us not talking due to what side we're on. [it all sounded so wrong... but adam didn't want to lose her friendship.]
[ Weiss was, rather unfortunately, painfully unaware of the actuality of her company's situation. She didn't advocate it, that was for sure, and her father.. well, it was likely that he hadn't told her or planned on giving her the truth until she was old enough to know not to go telling people about it. After all, Weiss had a very strong sense of justice. Perhaps a little too strong, a little too set in its ways until she had someone show her otherwise. ]
Those are just made up things that the media comes up with. They've never found any proof because there isn't any. It's just wild, slanderous accusations! And even if somehow some of it might have been true-- which it isn't-- I'm not my family's company and I haven't done any of what you're trying to accuse it of. What you've done is what puts you in that category. So yes, I want to know. Then we'll see just what I can move past.
[ Blaming Adam is a lot easier than blaming her father for everything she's been through. ]
was that really why she was blaming him so badly for everything, acting like she was in the total clear? it was because she didn't know a thing about her father's company....?
adam was speechless. he was slack-jawed, staring down at her like she had just grown another head. he slowly shook his head, thinking that she was unbelievable.]
What... your father has done... [adam was starting to regain his composure again, and with that he frowned, glaring at her.] ...has put my family into forced labor and threatened them with their very lives. And don't you dare stand there and say that... that's just some media accusation when--
[adam didn't really care that they were in the cafeteria. he had grabbed his shirt from behind his jacket and lifted it, showing off his stomach to her. all over his body, even from the small amount of skin he was showing her, there were scars. long gashes that looked horrid and unsightly. he lowered his shirt after he was certain she had a good glance.]
When I've been there. In a forced labor camp when I was ten years old, Weiss.
[he huffed, looking away from her. that was a memory he would rather not bring up... back when he was beaten around so badly, he just barely got out of that.] But you're right... you're not one of those people. I can tell. It's clear that you didn't even know about any of that.
[ Weiss's mind was reeling. She was trying to come up with some reason, some excuse for him to be lying. No matter what her family had done, she wanted to be able to stand by them and keep her head up proud as a Schnee. But this.. this was too hard to swallow. The evidence was right in front of her, on someone who she'd come to like-- someone she'd wanted to believe in. What was she supposed to do? ]
This is crazy, Adam, my father wouldn't--
[ She couldn't even finish the sentence though. Her father just sponsored a game that she was forced to participate in in which they had to all kill each other or die trying. The moods he was in and how he treated Weiss when he had a bad day at work.. If he could do that with her involved, then with other people, it might be possible. But was Adam telling the truth? Even with all of the evidence in front of her, Weiss wasn't read to accept it.
There was a tightness in Weiss's chest that she didn't know how to face. She felt nauseous. Her entire world had started to crumble apart since she trusted those first members of the White Fang who'd claimed to be her friends and it just got worse and worse from there, and now Adam was claiming to care about her, that she was different from her family and she didn't want to be different. She wanted to be accepted by her family, more than anything. She'd spent her entire life trying to live up to their expectations, and now she was finding out that she was supposed to be the heiress to this. How could she take pride in this?
It was hard not to face her entire aim in life shattered, the only people she thought she could trust and loved be ripped away from her bit by bit in a way she hadn't expected. Weiss knew that it made sense, in some ways, but she never, ever wanted it to be true. ]
Stay away from me.
[ It wasn't that she didn't believe him, that she didn't feel for him. She was sorry that it had happened to him, but she didn't know what to do. Sometimes in a fight you have to run and regroup yourself while you still can, and that.. that was what she was going to have to do. Weiss took a step back from him. It wasn't rejection apparently on her face as she stared at those scars, but it was hard to tell what it was. If he'd asked her and she were to answer him honestly, she wouldn't know.
Even the most stubborn of souls can be shaken when they've lost sight of everything they thought they stood for. Adam was the cause of it right now, and while in most cases she would've argued.. it was hard to argue with a reality right in front of her face. She just.. she had to go. Weiss took another step back, then turned and made for the exit. ]
[and that was it, she was gone. he had seen it in her eyes, the way her body language had changed upon seeing his scars. she was... confused? hurt? whatever she was, it just meant that she was further away from him, again. she didn't want anything to do with him...?
this was yet another case of someone leaving him. it had happened before, it was happening again, and adam had to swallow hard just to keep himself composed. he wanted to run after her, but he knew not to. he didn't do it with blake, he wasn't going to do it with weiss.
the man backed up, his body hitting the wall he had been leaning against moments before. a hand went up to his face, covering his eyes as he tried to sort this all out in his head. so.... that was it then? adam felt... horrible about these circumstances. betrayal was one of the biggest feelings, he had set everything out for her and said she was different but.... was she really?
whatever. he would stay away from her in that case.]
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...but he cared that he hurt weiss. that was odd, wasn't it? she was a member of the schnee company, she was the enemy that he had been fighting against for a while... but he knew she wasn't like her father. she wasn't associated with the things that he had done, but right now she wasn't helping her case any.
once she was done, adam sighed. he glanced back over to her, telling himself to calm down and not yell at her for being so deluded and spoiled. this wasn't just about her, he had decided to run from everything just to show her that he hadn't considered her one of them. he was many things, but he didn't like being called a liar when he wasn't one.]
I didn't lie to you. Not once.
[his tone was fierce, left no room for any doubt. he tried to keep telling himself to relax but it was so hard when he was talking to someone as stubborn as her.]
I planned on telling you what I was..... but this was exactly how I knew it would go over. Accusations, anger, and thinking I had betrayed you when I never did. I hadn't told you because I was waiting for the right time to, that was all. After getting back Second I was going to tell you everything, that's the honest truth. I was going to tell you how I was a White Fang member, how I've killed to get what I wanted.... but it just-...
[he let out a shaky exhale, a hand running through his hair now instead of gripping the sleeve of his jacket.]
We ended up meeting in the Battle Royale. And that just.... what else was I to do? Killing you would have meant you would have seen me as just a monster, as the beast you've already claimed me to be. I wanted you to win over me so your father could see and you would be let off the hook. Don't you see, Weiss? You won't believe my words so my actions are the only thing left that you possibly could believe. Having you win over me was my way of showing you that.... that I never wanted to use you for any personal gain, that I wanted you to see I don't care about the associations between us!
[he noticed he had been raising his voice, and that was even gaining a couple looks in the cafeteria.]
You're acting like the deluded one here. Think about it, Weiss, just think for a second about it. When have I ever done something that wasn't in your best interest? I warned you to be careful when I knew things would turn dangerous, I wanted you to win over me so you could gain the trust of your father again and show him what side you're on, I have never betrayed you!
[adam pushed off the wall, stepping closer to her now. he knew what he was, that he was just a monster that would do whatever it took to complete a mission. he just... didn't know how he could ever get her to see past all that. when he spoke again he was closer to her and his voice was low.]
....I care about you, and the fact that you can't see that is the most upsetting thing of all.
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She seemed to soften just a bit as he said that he cared about her, but.. in the back of her mind, she knew one thing for certain: him caring about her now wouldn't change what he's done. It wouldn't make him regret his actions, it wouldn't bring anyone back, and it wouldn't mean that if he ever got out of here he wouldn't go right back to doing it.
Her expression softened as she looked back at him, her eyes revealing so much more hurt than her body language had, but she looked like she was considering. Her tone, however, kept that same frozen timbre. ]
If you're telling the truth, then tell me which members of my family you've killed, kidnapped, what you've stolen, and anything else you've done to my family and why I should ever overlook that.
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he had been a child, but still they had insisted on killing his kind. poor, supposedly uneducated, homeless and abandoned... surely no one would care about someone like that if they tortured them, right? he had sworn to fight for the right cause.... but right now he knew what he had done to get there wasn't in her best interest. and that's what he had been fighting for this whole time in prison.
adam swallowed hard, his eyes softening as well.]
....I can get that to you. Everything I've ever done while being in the White Fang, I can give that to you. [he might just have to write it all down, it's been years.]
And... whatever grudges we both have, you towards the White Fang, me towards the Schnee company... when you didn't know who I was, we had gotten along just fine when not dealing with those associations. Hadn't we...?
I can never forgive your company... because I could also tell you a long list of the people they've killed to get where they're at today. Kidnapping, forced labor, blackmail, I know all about it. But if I'm willing to at least.... not include you in that category, then can't you do the same with me?
I just.... hate the idea of us not talking due to what side we're on. [it all sounded so wrong... but adam didn't want to lose her friendship.]
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[ Weiss was, rather unfortunately, painfully unaware of the actuality of her company's situation. She didn't advocate it, that was for sure, and her father.. well, it was likely that he hadn't told her or planned on giving her the truth until she was old enough to know not to go telling people about it. After all, Weiss had a very strong sense of justice. Perhaps a little too strong, a little too set in its ways until she had someone show her otherwise. ]
Those are just made up things that the media comes up with. They've never found any proof because there isn't any. It's just wild, slanderous accusations! And even if somehow some of it might have been true-- which it isn't-- I'm not my family's company and I haven't done any of what you're trying to accuse it of. What you've done is what puts you in that category. So yes, I want to know. Then we'll see just what I can move past.
[ Blaming Adam is a lot easier than blaming her father for everything she's been through. ]
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what on earth was she talking about?
was that really why she was blaming him so badly for everything, acting like she was in the total clear? it was because she didn't know a thing about her father's company....?
adam was speechless. he was slack-jawed, staring down at her like she had just grown another head. he slowly shook his head, thinking that she was unbelievable.]
What... your father has done... [adam was starting to regain his composure again, and with that he frowned, glaring at her.] ...has put my family into forced labor and threatened them with their very lives. And don't you dare stand there and say that... that's just some media accusation when--
[adam didn't really care that they were in the cafeteria. he had grabbed his shirt from behind his jacket and lifted it, showing off his stomach to her. all over his body, even from the small amount of skin he was showing her, there were scars. long gashes that looked horrid and unsightly. he lowered his shirt after he was certain she had a good glance.]
When I've been there. In a forced labor camp when I was ten years old, Weiss.
[he huffed, looking away from her. that was a memory he would rather not bring up... back when he was beaten around so badly, he just barely got out of that.] But you're right... you're not one of those people. I can tell. It's clear that you didn't even know about any of that.
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This is crazy, Adam, my father wouldn't--
[ She couldn't even finish the sentence though. Her father just sponsored a game that she was forced to participate in in which they had to all kill each other or die trying. The moods he was in and how he treated Weiss when he had a bad day at work.. If he could do that with her involved, then with other people, it might be possible. But was Adam telling the truth? Even with all of the evidence in front of her, Weiss wasn't read to accept it.
There was a tightness in Weiss's chest that she didn't know how to face. She felt nauseous. Her entire world had started to crumble apart since she trusted those first members of the White Fang who'd claimed to be her friends and it just got worse and worse from there, and now Adam was claiming to care about her, that she was different from her family and she didn't want to be different. She wanted to be accepted by her family, more than anything. She'd spent her entire life trying to live up to their expectations, and now she was finding out that she was supposed to be the heiress to this. How could she take pride in this?
It was hard not to face her entire aim in life shattered, the only people she thought she could trust and loved be ripped away from her bit by bit in a way she hadn't expected. Weiss knew that it made sense, in some ways, but she never, ever wanted it to be true. ]
Stay away from me.
[ It wasn't that she didn't believe him, that she didn't feel for him. She was sorry that it had happened to him, but she didn't know what to do. Sometimes in a fight you have to run and regroup yourself while you still can, and that.. that was what she was going to have to do. Weiss took a step back from him. It wasn't rejection apparently on her face as she stared at those scars, but it was hard to tell what it was. If he'd asked her and she were to answer him honestly, she wouldn't know.
Even the most stubborn of souls can be shaken when they've lost sight of everything they thought they stood for. Adam was the cause of it right now, and while in most cases she would've argued.. it was hard to argue with a reality right in front of her face. She just.. she had to go. Weiss took another step back, then turned and made for the exit. ]
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[and that was it, she was gone. he had seen it in her eyes, the way her body language had changed upon seeing his scars. she was... confused? hurt? whatever she was, it just meant that she was further away from him, again. she didn't want anything to do with him...?
this was yet another case of someone leaving him. it had happened before, it was happening again, and adam had to swallow hard just to keep himself composed. he wanted to run after her, but he knew not to. he didn't do it with blake, he wasn't going to do it with weiss.
the man backed up, his body hitting the wall he had been leaning against moments before. a hand went up to his face, covering his eyes as he tried to sort this all out in his head. so.... that was it then? adam felt... horrible about these circumstances. betrayal was one of the biggest feelings, he had set everything out for her and said she was different but.... was she really?
whatever. he would stay away from her in that case.]