breaking and entering {adrian}

What a peculiar little place. There were a multitude of “peculiar” places here actually, but this one had some especially curious touches added to it. However, it was the emptiness of it that really had drawn Adrian over toward it. How did a place with such a unique paint job lose attention? Oh, right, because it was rather hideous – or perhaps he just had very different tastes compared to every other person in this absurd world he’d awoken in. He never did feel quite right in it and seeing something like this made him feel even more out of place. But there he was, approaching the cottage to have a look around it. If he was looking for answers then he might as well look wherever he could for clues.

Upon further investigation Adrian did not find much. He had quietly entered only to find that the cottage was just as lonely (and oddly colored) on the inside as it was on the outside. He had still kept his footfalls as silent as he could though as he peeked around inside. Unfortunately, he guessed that all he would be finding was dust and a whole lot of nothing. That was until he someone called a “hello.”

Adrian stopped in his tracks, his posture immediately straightening out. He stayed perfectly still to try and listen for anything else, but nothing came. He thought about finding a back way to slip away but instead found his curiosity was much stronger than his fear of being caught. As he made his way back over to the entry of the cottage he held himself with confidence, not wanting to seem like an intruder. When he saw the woman taking down notes, he stopped to eye her suspiciously.

“Are you looking for the owner?” he asked her. Then his eyes traveled toward her notebook. “Or are you just taking notes on the decorating?”

His first reaction was a look of dislike, his eyes momentarily looking over the hideous choice in color. Then he looked back over toward the blonde and arched his brows. He shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes certain that his reaction to the suggestion would have pegged him for an intruder rather than the owner or maybe a guest. But, really, Adrian had no idea who owned the place. Had he known them then he probably wouldn’t have come inside since he could only assume that their personality would be as eccentric as their home was. Adrian decided he would not be taking the credit for the colors on the walls.

“Unfortunately, I’m just a guest. The owner of this place and I have very different –” he trailed off to glance around again “– taste.”

Adrian gave the young woman a very curious look then. She was doing research on the place? She was trying to learn about the history? He didn’t want to admit straight out that he was now actually quite intrigued by what she might have had to say. He hadn’t met with anyone who was interested in actually figuring anything out about this Wonderland. It seemed like so many had just resigned to just exist in it. This woman might actually know something.

“Curiosity,” he answered her. He took a few steps closer in her direction. “You’re doing research. You’re doing it for your own sake or do you work for someone? I haven’t met many people in Wonderland who have any interest in digging into the past.” He paused and gave her an almost teasing smile. “So, what have you learned from this cottage? It seems like a valuable piece of the mystery.”