[Lance does know what Adam means in general, and can guess--although doesn't know for sure--that many of the specific things that were different for Adam were the same things different for him. It's not as though there's a universal reaction to going through the experiences they have, but some are more common than others and considering the similarities in their personalities both during the event and from what he knows of Adam normally, it isn't difficult to come to the conclusion that the ways they were--and are--affected might be mostly the same.
On the motivation thing he can definitely understand and hadn't wanted to bring it up himself out of fear of it being taken the wrong way, but now that Adam has it seems alright to agree.]
I do, yes. I think our situations were different in a lot of ways by that point, but overall it's the same for me; in that version of things, I only had one degree at twenty-nine, and in reality I had four at twenty-one.
[He'd been out of danger much earlier in his life than he gets the impression Adam was, but it hadn't been quite possible for him to believe that was the case for a long time. Even when he'd finally begun to be convinced that his adoptive parents loved and wanted him, he'd still felt the desperate need to prove they hadn't made--and weren't making--a terrible mistake.
He'd been a difficult child and even worse preteen, and his parents had been much older than most and with health problems; dealing with him was surely a nightmare, and although he knows now that that's to be expected and very normal for a child who'd been through what he had, at the time he'd been certain it was only a matter of time before even people as kind as they were became tired of him. Excelling in school and leaving home early served the dual purpose of proving he was worth something, and also removing the need for his parents to deal with him being in their house and all the stress that went along with that.
So it wasn't exactly the same type of pressing motivation Adam had to escape his situation, but it was still a matter of survival to Lance, just in a different way. But not only was that reasoning gone in the event, but he'd chosen an academic way of approaching his field as opposed to the practical and very involved one he'd followed in real life.
There's a short delay before he continues with the rest of his message, because although he thinks he's reading the right information out of Adam's wording he doesn't want to assume, and this piece of things is pretty important.]
You don't have to answer, but I got the impression from what you said that your situation ended only recently. Is that correct?
[He doesn't typically ask these types of question through text, but he's not a therapist right now; he and Adam are on equal footing here on this, and so the rules are somewhat different. It's also easier for Lance to talk about this when it's just words on a screen, and thinks it might be for Adam too.]
[Text]
On the motivation thing he can definitely understand and hadn't wanted to bring it up himself out of fear of it being taken the wrong way, but now that Adam has it seems alright to agree.]
I do, yes. I think our situations were different in a lot of ways by that point, but overall it's the same for me; in that version of things, I only had one degree at twenty-nine, and in reality I had four at twenty-one.
[He'd been out of danger much earlier in his life than he gets the impression Adam was, but it hadn't been quite possible for him to believe that was the case for a long time. Even when he'd finally begun to be convinced that his adoptive parents loved and wanted him, he'd still felt the desperate need to prove they hadn't made--and weren't making--a terrible mistake.
He'd been a difficult child and even worse preteen, and his parents had been much older than most and with health problems; dealing with him was surely a nightmare, and although he knows now that that's to be expected and very normal for a child who'd been through what he had, at the time he'd been certain it was only a matter of time before even people as kind as they were became tired of him. Excelling in school and leaving home early served the dual purpose of proving he was worth something, and also removing the need for his parents to deal with him being in their house and all the stress that went along with that.
So it wasn't exactly the same type of pressing motivation Adam had to escape his situation, but it was still a matter of survival to Lance, just in a different way. But not only was that reasoning gone in the event, but he'd chosen an academic way of approaching his field as opposed to the practical and very involved one he'd followed in real life.
There's a short delay before he continues with the rest of his message, because although he thinks he's reading the right information out of Adam's wording he doesn't want to assume, and this piece of things is pretty important.]
You don't have to answer, but I got the impression from what you said that your situation ended only recently. Is that correct?
[He doesn't typically ask these types of question through text, but he's not a therapist right now; he and Adam are on equal footing here on this, and so the rules are somewhat different. It's also easier for Lance to talk about this when it's just words on a screen, and thinks it might be for Adam too.]