dramaticals | ic inbox

Explain yourself. Now.

[..oh, he knew this would happen.]

I'd prefer to talk with you in person about this. Come to my cell?

I'm not going alone somewhere with someone like you. If you want to talk, it's either over this or in the cafeteria where there are a lot of people.

Fine, the cafeteria it is. I'll meet you there in that case.

[he wasn't in the mood to argue with her, especially after what happened. but he did want to explain to her why he did what he did, so this would do.]

[ The end of the last conversation they'd had was the only reason that Weiss even wanted to talk to him. Any other time, she would have definitely ignored him as best as she could and only criticized him if she ever oculdn't escape being in a room with him.

But that last part.. she was so confused. There was no way she could get away with not seeing him at all.

Still, she doesn't respond to him now, instead hanging up and just heading to the cafeteria. ]

[adam simply did the same. he hung up the communicator and was well on his way to the cafeteria. his walk was quick, determined, and he had already thought up what he would say to her.

so adam came to the cafeteria, looking around for her, until he eventually settled for just leaning against the wall of the place. he now had his arms crossed over his chest as he looked around for her, his mask discarded.]

[ When Weiss entered the cafeteria, she beeline-stomped toward him, fists in balls. If he'd never seen her look horribly cross, it was an experience he could put in his diary tonight.

Still, she stopped out of arm's reach of him, making sure there was enough space that she could get away if she needed to. Once she was there, she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. ]

Well?

[the man huffed at her impatience. he glanced over at her, not moving from his spot against the wall. she did look terribly angry, and she had every right to be. however, he still knew what he did was right.]

...Before I begin, let me at least apologize. To put you in a situation like that to begin with, it wasn't what I had ever wanted. So, I'm sorry for what happened.

[he sighed slightly before starting his explanation.]

Now, what I did was the best possible thing I could do. You have to understand that, Weiss. What I did was for both of us. For one, your father was in the audience and watching you fight a member of the White Fang. Maybe a former member now, I'm most likely kicked out. Either way, he saw you defeat me.... surely you know what that means?

[in canse she doesn't-] You said if you lost you wouldn't have some place to return to. Now, the fact that you won... that you beat me, it means that your father didn't see you as being worthless. You still have a home waiting for you with that in mind, and perhaps he'll help get you out now. I.... wanted to get you angry enough to attack me, so what I said was all simply a show.

I knew from the beginning it was you that had to defeat me. If we had crossed paths and I had gone ahead and won, what then? You wouldn't have trusted me ever again, you would have just seen me as a killer, and you would have figured I wanted you dead from the start. No, none of that was true, so you skewering me was always part of the plan... to show you that I never wanted to cause you harm.

[he glanced off to the side now...] ...I wish we never had to fight in the first place, but we did. And this was the best possible course of action. Again, I'm sorry. You've never killed anyone before, you shouldn't have had to see that much blood, not ever.

[ Weiss listens quietly, her stature changing slightly the longer he talks. She still hasn't forgiven him, but it's not for the fight. They would've had to fight no matter what, he was right about that, and she would've at least tried even if he wasn't a member of the White Fang.

That wasn't her biggest problem with this whole situation. Weiss's arms uncrossed slowly, only about part way at first before she moved them to her side and looked Adam dead in the eye. Then, Weiss seemed to forget her reason for distancing them, instead moving closer to point a finger right at his face with all the disdain she could muster while still talking to someone she had respected. This entire situation, the entire confusion about it.. it wasn't the fight, or her stabbing Adam and getting tainted as he seemed to believe. It was that all of it sounded like lies to her. ]

You lied to me. You knew who I was and you've already very clearly said that the only reason you wouldn't be a member now would be if they kicked you out. The only thing the White Fang ever wants with me is to use me. Just because you sacrificed yourself in an event where we wouldn't even stay dead, you want me to believe that you lying and not telling me anything about yourself is a reason to trust you?

[ She was livid, clearly, and winding herself up more the more she spoke. Weiss took a step back though, turning around and walking a bit further away to try to calm herself down but she ended up turning back to him with a hurt look. ]

For all I know you've just been plotting to find another use for me right underneath my nose! You probably have; all you people ever do is try to kill my family and the people who work for our company. I've lived my entire life in fear of the White Fang taking someone I know and never seeing them again. Then it happened to me because some of your members made me think that I could have a friend and I was so stupid to believe that because I wanted to stop feeling so--!

[ Weiss shook her head. She wasn't going to tell Adam how alone she felt. How cold and distant and isolated, so much so that she'd allowed herself to be taken advantage of because she just wanted to stop feeling so alone. It seemed like every time she tried to break past that barrier that she felt between her and so many people, she just ended up alone again. ]

Someone who's trustworthy wouldn't need an elaborate plan to prove that they could be trusted. Do you realize how deluded that sounds?

[ After all was said and done, it was going to be easier to just go back to being alone, wasn't it? If she'd just done that in the first place, it wouldn't hurt so much right now. Weiss wouldn't be so angry at him if she hadn't wanted to trust him. If she hadn't cared about him and felt as though she'd been betrayed again.

Weiss lowered her eyes and her tone seemed to be laced with ice. She turned her back to him again, her fists balled at her side. ]

I don't have a home to return to, and I don't have you.

[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.]

What are you talking about?

[ 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. ]

[...what?

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.

[ 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. ]

Has anyone ever told you that you're just a bit peculiar?

I've heard that a couple times. Why do you say that?

"Please carry on"?

Oh.

You were not the targets I was looking for. That's all.

Be that the case you didn't have to say anything.

[oh he's right about that.]

I did. I didn't want either of you to think I wanted to engage in any sort of contact. I had other plans.

Wei--

[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.]

[ The day after their little.. encounter in the cafeteria, Weiss had time to cool off. She had time to think. She didn't feel good, at all, about any of this. She still felt incredibly lost. There was no way she was going to get over everything in her world being turned upside down that quickly. There was still the possibility that he was lying, that somehow this was all just a sick ploy to get her to side against her own family but..

For one thing, given her position in prison it wasn't a strategic move at all. From a logical standpoint, she could dismiss the possibility of the White Fang trying to pull at her strings. The other reason was because she wanted to believe that Adam wasn't lying to her. She wanted to believe in the possibility that maybe, just maybe he was telling the truth and he actually care about her as more than a tool.

It was hard to trust people after the last time she did, she ended up in this prison. It was hard to trust anyone now that she thought even her family might have been lying to her. Maybe she just didn't want to be alone again and Adam was the one she liked enough to try to befriend. So after a poor night, lacking in much sleep, Weiss called him up again. ]

Adam?

[well, that was a voice he wasn't expecting to hear anytime soon.

he debated not even answering her, honestly. he was still angry about everything, feeling like a complete idiot for even trusting her in the first place. she stared at him like he was some kind of monster, like he was a beast that would rip her apart. he wasn't, he had his ideals and that was it, he just knew how to get them all done.

when he finally did answer, he huffed. it was clear from his tone that he wasn't in the mood for more of her bullshit. he didn't want to fight her anymore.]

What? I stayed away from you, just like you told me to.

[a jab towards her, he knew, but he couldn't help it. after a sigh he ran a gloved hand through his red hair.]

...What is it? I'll listen.

[ The upset in Adam's voice made it very clear that he was just as upset with her as she had been in general. ]

I told you to stay away because I needed space. If everything you believed in turned out to be a lie, you'd be in a bad mood too.

[ She was a little defensive, clearly, but after a couple of seconds she continued. ]

I'm... sorry.

[ That was hard for her to say. She still wasn't sure about anything, but she knew that she didn't want to abandon Adam because of her pride. The rest.. the rest she could figure out as she went along. But it's better to put out the fire before the bridge burns completely. Fixing it could come after. ]

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