Toulouse couldn’t possibly understand Adam’s painful past, especially with so little information about it as he’d given her, but she could understand the expression he wore as soon as she asked about his past. It was something she could understand, though, the neglect felt when your parent or guardian didn’t have enough time to pay attention to you. Though she was the oldest of her triplet siblings, her over-extended mother often relied heavily on her to keep her siblings in line, but the time she had to spend with her daughter was short and usually interrupted. She’d been the favorite of her father, but after her parents’ divorce, she’d struggled to find a replacement for him in her life. So, to say the least, being largely ignored was something she was familiar with.
Unconsciously, she leaned forward slightly, inviting him to continue if he wished, showing him that he had her complete attention. It was a motion she’d picked up from her mother, the school counsellor. “That had to have been really difficult. I mean, to be like, ten, and dumped with a bunch of sixteen or seventeen year olds here.” She frowned slightly, wondering how anyone could have done that to their grandson.
Her own grandmother was a human, but she’d raised a mutant daughter and three mutant grandchildren as if it were the most normal thing in the world. It was she that had enrolled her grandchildren in the academy one by one as they manifested their mutations, and it had been she that never lost faith that Toulouse was as special as her siblings, despite her late start.
“I was fifteen when I sort of… blew up… in art class.” She shared quietly, taking a bite of her rapidly melting ice cream. “My siblings found out earlier… and I just kind of figured I took after my dad–human, y’know. And so this is sort of new to me still. I can’t imagine finding out something like that so early.”
It looked like this conversation was going to dwell deep in the touchy feely topics. For now that she got family and his duration here, everything was so serious. The mood was dampened from what was supposed to be a make up for unsightly tempers into a therapy session of sorts. At least with this, Adam was saying something. Not very detailed and lacked of information because he was uncomfortable with that in general so don’t expect him to spill much, he was giving responses back. Answers about his past, something that usually stays locked away in the isolated castle called his heart, in ways that were okay for now – it was definite progress than anything before. It wasn’t like his options could go much though as he took another scoop of his ice cream. It was either not say anything or say something to avoid answering the questions just to make things awkward or at least say something to what she asked in a way that was comfortable to him at the most even though it didn’t give her a clear picture. It would have made no sense to follow her this far without engaging in conversation in necessary required ways while they were eating frozen creamy treats. If anything, Adam could opt out the moment lines were crossed. Just not say anything for back up move whenever he couldn’t answer, that would get it across to Toulouse as she leaned in closer towards him. Her lips frowned slightly. His guarded blue hue darted at her in noticing for her actions — a little habit he can’t shake due to the predatory instincts embedded in him. The young man picked that she would listen to him while she was getting to know him slowly. Her response to his answer was spoken with a sense of sympathy to each word. That wouldn’t be what was needed to know everything — oh no. One had to fully earn their place in his heart to see the boy both inside and out over time. Not a simple thing at all, the boy soon returned his own string of sentences back to her. For it wasn’t that bad to say something...now.
“Eh. It’s not like I was better out with others there though. Better if I was contained somewhere, caged somewhere given the circumstances. And it wouldn’t have been that bad with the age group since Year One kids are basically twelve or thirteen years old…”
However, these next part was going to a tough one. Due with the topic, she couldn’t help but to mention with little detail too where and when she found out her ability and how her siblings found out earlier before she couldn’t imagine finding out very young. And really -- she couldn’t. It was the most horrible way to discover that you're a mutant, especially it makes you a werewolf. On a frigid night with the full moon high in the sky, a little blonde boy having his body and mind twisted into a massive wolf monstrosity with feral behavior, the groans of pain as he dragged himself to the frozen and dominant rose garden, falling to his knees into the pure white snow as he was feeling nothing but agony all by himself--- oh, the memory of that December played in his head so vividly. It was something he was definitely uneasy with sharing but suppose since she did to him, he could do the same at least. Just in vague ways too because it was going to deny her knowing that his power ( -- or curse) is lycanthropy. For having less people know that he's basically a monster, the better as he quietly shared back at her in that gruff, unwelcoming voice of his.
“ I – had nobody. I had no idea if my parents were or not. I couldn’t really ask my grandfather about them. It’s not like he could understand me and what I was going through. So, it was certainly a rude awakening nevertheless. I found out on a cold winter night, Christmas eve and it just wasn’t pretty at all. Not the present I was looking for. "
“So if I told you what my 'ability' is, you probably won’t look at me the same. For your sake and mine, it’s better that you don’t know.”