[ Abel had seen more faces than he could remember in the past few hours. Winced grins and outstretched hands that he shook as if someone was operating him like a marionette. Person after person telling him their names, making small talk about the life that they had before the island. Well-dressed women with rich accents and put together young men with suit shirts and tailored jackets. On occasion, there were trickles of blood streaming from someone's temple, or a split lip, but no injury was obviously lethal to the naked eye. ]
[ Everyone was new. Someone to be learned and then forgotten in the blink of an eye. People from all over the United Kingdom and other countries with menacing power on a global scale. A few yankees here and there, a Frenchman, it almost felt like one of the meetings his father used to drag him to with clients of significant status. Everyone was new except for one familiar head of caramel curls and strikingly bottle green eyes. ]
[ Adam nods at Abel once as a form of acknowledgment. He was a close connection to Abel's father, he delivered on every promise and had million dollar connections. They had only met once or twice in passing, but it seemed to be enough for Adam to weave through the group with a young woman - who by the looks of it, was his sister - trailing at his side. ]
"Yarrow. You look a bit worse for the wear. These past few years haven't been treating you well, have they? How has pursing a life of passion been for you? I almost visited you the other day to see how you've been doing. The firm is awfully quiet without you there." [ He says it like it should be a joke between two old friends, but his eyes pierce through Abel with something far deeper than humour. ]
-⚕︎
[Abel had recognized Adam in passing, he’s not sure he’d ever personally talked to him outside of meetings he was required to attend when he still practiced law. It’s possible Cain had mentioned Adam before, but the likelihood of Abel remembering what his brother said was exceedingly slim, it had been a couple years since he left the firm and dropped out of law school, and even longer since he’d talked to his brother. The only trace of his former life being the bachelors degree hanging on his bedroom wall much to his roommate Henry’s confusion.
Abel would be lying if he said he slept every night, that he didn’t have decisions that rattled against the inside of his brain. But leaving the firm was not one of those decisions for Abel. That was one of the few decisions he was confident was right.]
“It’s been years since I’ve seen you, it’s Romilly right? You don’t look much different.”
“It’s been rather humbling if I'm being honest. It’s gotten better as of lately though, my boss pays me slightly more if I sing just because it means he doesn’t have to book an act for the night.”
“I’m sure my father’s firm is handling just fine with Cain at the helm, don’t think I contributed enough to be missed. You’d be surprised how many of the patrons I recognize from there though.”
- ☼
( @the-infinite-performance )
