I was watching some playthroughs of Phantom of the mist (bc I miss the event) and now I can't stop thinking about how long Adela has been neglecting herself to the point that she truly desires just one thing, she summarizes everything into one quite ambiguous wish, which is having a peaceful life.
It's something we see during her interrogation and we already know how Mad Shears was created by rumors that spreaded constantly after cutting people's worries and then moving out, it's something even the files acknowledge, but what was stuck on my mind for a while was, how subtle she actually is to bring the topic of small wishes or thoughts about things she actually wants through her lines, just to finish the sentence with "Well, it was just a joke", or she simply smiles and tries to make it look like it's not a big deal. And she does it so many times. Like, I swear to god, I want to give her more than a million hugs and kisses and it would never be enough to express how much it hurts me to see her doing everything always for the rest while keeping herself close but actually feeling very far away.
quality sucks because it's a screenshot but hey, we later understand better that she doesn't only find us/Chief as someone interesting, but such company it's one that she didn't know she would end getting attached to.
Sloane Street works in a pretty interesting way as something similar to us, it's a place she's fond of, the relationships she slowly builded, even if it was not so long ago, it's something that she actually really cares about, which makes her depart something more and more tragic the more you know or try to understand her.
Adela herself acknowledges that she doubts her own decisions many times too, but she's so used to run away cutting any kind of worry that she doesn't truly judges it, why so? if that would bring more and more hair that would end suffocating her again? Running away has been the best option for too long since the day she lost her first home, and it's also been a while since she found something close to what she hoped to have after that.
In fact, after Chief recovers their memories, it seems like she stops hiding and instead she just goes ahead with everything that's on her mind. She really took her time while expecting Chief to find the truth and judge her, it's something even Chief tries to ask themselves later, about why she didn't really attack after "winning" the fight during the first night, that leads Chief to think it's because Adela really doesn't wants to hurt anyone, and it's true.
We even see it later, but her worries doesn't trigger until she realizes the damage that has been done to the people she grew fond of, under all it's her wish of staying there despite everything, because her time on Sloane Street really was the closest thing to the life she always hoped for. Something that is not so hidden in Adela it's that despite her multiple attempts of trying to forget anything, she always wanted something, or someone, that would actually make her stay, it's not something she says, but it's implied in her actions, that's Adela's hope, very deep down it's a part of her wish for a peaceful life. And it makes sense with her final words during her interrogation, she didn't really thought about it until then.
100% compliance voice line goes along too
I didn't include it but I also thought about the scene where she acknowledged that she likes Chief, the narrative goes like "But she didn't seemed to mean something meaningful", I don't think that's true, her actions speak more than her words, and Adela it's pretty good at managing things like that, but I also like to see it as a way of her to be more precise with how she feels, she's finally opening up in her own way, and the last performance in serving team helps too.
In conclusion, I love the fact that she slowly learns more and more about talking and expressing the things she wants aside of her work and self proclaimed duty of taking care of others
