Thankfully she’d recovered enough to return her attention to him as he offered an explanation. It was an explanation she knew she should balk at, though in her mind she’d exhibited the right amount of offensiveness at his last question. Perhaps she should have been more angry; if his intrusion wasn’t grounds for expulsion from the premises, his question certainly was. Still, Adrienne couldn’t help but sympathize. It stood to reason that when experiencing a lack of physical touch for so long that coaxing reactions from people in the extreme might be a way to compensate for it.

Her hand slipped to rest over her heart. It was quite touching, if a little odd, that he was so committed to making sure those in the land of the living didn’t miss out on experiencing life, that he risked his own public image to see that happen. For he was in the unfortunate position of getting to experience life but only just. Surely that had to be some unique torture in and of itself. And what did public image mean to someone who had lived decades? “I must say, Monsieur Wye while your methods are unconventional and perhaps quite risky, I can’t help but follow your logic on the matter.” She attempted to give him a half-smile. “I don’t think I’ve ever thought of integrating oneself into the land of the living quite in that way before.”

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