xp_logs | Nathan and Jennie, Thursday morning

Nathan runs into Jennie between classes. It's a brief conversation, but they manage to reconnect with only a little rarr.

He wasn't looking forward to grading these quizzes, Nathan thought, frowning as he stepped out of his classroom, leafing through them. The door closed itself behind him. "I rushed that last grammar module," he muttered to himself, his frown deepening. "Dammit." The question was how to fix it. Did he toss out the quizzes? That was kind of awkward...

Looking up for a moment, he blinked, stopping as he saw Jennie come out of one of the classrooms down the hall, books tucked under one arm. "Jennie?" he called as she turned to head in the opposite direction.

Jennie started, and turned toward the familiar voice. "Mr. Dayspring?" She hadn't seen him since the summer. Well, this was going slightly awkward. She pressed her notebook to her chest, and approached him cautiously. She'd made an effort at normalcy today, jeans, New Order t-shirt, blue cardigan, but she still looked too thin and pale.

"Hi." She looked... not like the girl who'd left for vacation this summer. Nathan smiled a bit hesitantly, stuffing the quizzes into their folder. "I haven't seen you since you got back. How are you?"

"Fine," she said, non-comittally, shrugging slightly. "You know." For some reason she felt the desperate urge to flee. She may be going to class again, it didn't mean interpersonal interaction was suddenly easy.

Nathan didn't move towards her. Although he was keeping his mind scrupulously where it belonged, there was enough tension in her body language to suggest that keeping his distance would be a good idea. "I was hoping you'd be in my Russian class," he offered, with another, more crooked smile. "Then again, with how abysmally I seem to be teaching grammar, you're probably better off not."

"Yeah," Jennie said, "Sorry about that. I opted instead for Dance. Figured I want the easy A." Dance had been weird too, everyone had asked her where Marius was. She and Marius had talked about their schedules in the spring. Not suprisingly, he wasn't in any of the classes they had decided to take together.

"It's all right. Maybe I'll have something you'd like to take in the spring... I haven't decided what I'm teaching yet." Nathan hesitated. "Everything going well with your new suitemates?" he asked finally. "I know it must have been a bit of a shock to come back to all these new people..."

She only just bit back the slightly hysterical laughter. "Yeah, they're fun. Angel's a trip, Sooraya seems really sweet, Laurie's just the same, and Pen...Yvette seems like she's doing okay." Oh, hell.

"Jennie..." The look in Nathan's eyes was more sad than anything else as he gazed down at her. "That's a good thing, right? Something you can be happy to see?"

"Sure, it's a good thing," Jennie said a little acidly. "Why would it not be a good thing? We're here, we're safe, everything's all hug and puppies, right?"

"No. But it's something." He did not say 'better than the alternative'. Two and a half years had driven a certain amount of tact into his thick skull.

Jennie sighed, what did he want? "Look, if you're gonna lecture me about something, or give me a pep talk, can it wait? I've already got a lecture about powers class tomorrow, so I'm a little booked."

"I like to think I'm less preachy than I used to be. Although I sometimes backslide." Nathan sighed, tucking his books and folders under one arm. "I've also learned not to push like I used to. But if you need someone who wasn't involved in any of this to talk to..." He hesitated again, and although he was tempted, did not add anything about knowing what it was like to not have your actions and reactions under your own control. It was too soon, and that sort of thing often got taken as patronizing even when you didn't intend it to be. "Standing offer," he said instead, more softly, remembering her in Greece.

The girl made an impatient gesture, "No, I'm just snappy. I've had all the support I can stomach," she clutched her books to her chest and adopted a wide-eyed expression, voice going to a nasal sing-song, "You know, whatever happened, you can tell me, right? I'm here for you. It's all okay." Jennie slumped back into her original posture. "And then they get all offended when I don't want to fucking talk about it. It's none of their fucking buisness."

"They care about you," Nathan said simply. "They're worried."

"Talking about a problem doesn't help it, sometimes. I don't want people to know what happened." People were pretty damn forgiving, but she didn't want them to be forgiving towards her. She didn't need their forgiveness. "I'll deal with it on my own terms. I am dealing with it, responsibly even. No running off on my own."

Well, it didn't take telepathy to know who she was aiming that at. "I can certainly respect that," Nathan said quietly. "Especially the lack of running away." He sighed, squaring his shoulders and smiling slightly down at her. "So, no expressions of sympathy or poking at you to see how you're dealing. But I'm here for entirely unrelated purposes, too. If you want."

"Thanks," she sighed. "Sorry. I'm a little more rarr than normal."

"Never apologize for the rarr." The smile turned crooked. "The rarr is actually better than the alternative." He glanced at his watch and swore under his breath. "Crap. Phone call to Prague to make... time zones are not my friend."

"You better get to that, then," Jennie said, pointing, "I'm going to go to World History and be lost." There was another drawback to no longer being friends with Marius. His notes always caught what she missed. "Have fun with the international community."

He gave her his best 'I may be a crazy man, but I dare you to say it' smile. "Don't I always?" he asked, turning away. "Take care, Jennie," he said more quietly as he headed down the hall.