Michel nodded. He had moved out of home before he really started living on his own, but even then it had been such a long time since he had been living under the same roof with them. He may not have been able to afford a full meal for every day of the week, but it was worth it to be independent.
The more he heard about her parents, the less he was impressed by them. Not that he started out very impressed. Though, by her father's logic, he must've made an awful painter for a reason. He didn't like being quiet. That was probably a portion of the reason he gave into small talk. However, he did find her mother's logic strange. He knew only so much about Mabelle, but he knew enough to know that she had much more personality than most women. And were he more honest with himself, she wasn't so plain.
Not to mention that it seemed odd to him to worry about only marriage, as natural as it seemed for a wealthy family. Marriage just wasn't on his table of priorities and he always found the idea as something very strange to worry so much about. With so much else going on in the world, who had the time? He perhaps understood it as a business obligation under certain circumstances, but that didn't mean he thought of it as anything less than pointless. It was a waste of time for him. Michel wouldn't address the hypocrisy in saying something like that was a waste of time when he apparently had enough time for on-a-whim painting lessons.
On that note, the easel adjustment did make things a lot better. He had already started repainting some of the outlines. Poorly still, but it was good enough. Unfortunately, he still didn't appear very comfortable. Grandfather? He wasn't sure why it bothered him that there was a possibility of her having a living relative, but it did.
"He's probably dead," he stated flatly with a frown, not seeing the need to brush over what really could've been. Well, maybe. His last grandparent had passed in his teen years, but he knew that the life expectancy of a richer person was likely to be much longer. And she was definitely younger than him. Exactly how much younger she was never really came to mind as an important piece of information, but he was a bit curious. He stopped what he was doing for a moment to look back at her. "How old are you anyway?"