In the hall after Practical Philosophy class, Monday

[fly_so_serious]

Joker... was pretty sure Eleanor had been avoiding him yesterday. When she took off after class without even saying "hi", he was definitely sure of it.

He headed after her, as quickly as he could manage. "Hey, wait up a sec, Babe! Can we talk?"

[For the girl.]

Comments

[nobloodymessiah]

Eleanor slowed, instinctively, then cursed herself for it. Had she not, she might have been able to speed up, instead, and pretend she hadn't heard him at all.

If she wanted to flee, she could teleport, but that would be obvious. She had to talk to him sooner or later; she had been hoping it might be later, but perhaps it was better to have the conversation now than to keep dreading it.

Celia had advised keeping her composure, and so it was with all the dignity that she could muster that she turned around, slowly, as she waited for Joker to catch up.

".... Hello."

She was a regal, elegant Queen. She was the equal to any circumstance before her. She was absolutely not thinking about his room. In the least.

[fly_so_serious]

Once she stopped, he slowed down a little, too, so that he wouldn't look like an idiot while he caught up.

"Hey. You, uh... You all right? Everything okay?"

Hopefully, she was just embarrassed, and not angry with him or something. She didn't seem okay when she'd left, the other day, and it had been more than a little weird.

[nobloodymessiah]

"I'm fine," Eleanor said. She was a Queen. She had a cloak around her shoulders. She was cold, icy reserve. "I apologize for any ... inconvenience."

That was one way of putting it.

She swallowed past a lump in her throat before adding, "... The jewel came off. You were right."

[fly_so_serious]

"Well, hey, that's good, right? No more jewel craziness?" Joker gave her a reassuring smile. "So... You don't have anything to apologize for, okay? Nothing bad happened. No harm, no foul. I'm just sorry I didn't catch on earlier."