Groovy Tunes, Wednesday

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

Eleanor was in a mood today. Anxious, nervous, unsettled. She tried locating some music that might be soothing, but it only made the clawing feeling worse.

She decided, instead, to embrace it, and found music that mimicked the odd shivers inside of her.

Groovy Tunes was open. And loud.

(major SP while I work. OCD-free)

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[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

Joker dropped by her work with a flower for her, because hey, why not? "Hey, beautiful," he greeted her. "How's things?" He got a good look at her face and turned a little more worried. "...You all right?"

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

"I'm fine," Eleanor said, more sharply than she had anticipated ... and then she smiled, genuinely, at the flower. "That's for me?"

That earned him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"A little out of sorts, that's all."

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

"Well, now, if I told you I'd just decided to start carrying a flower around wherever I went, wouldn't you feel silly?" Joker answered her with a grin. "I just thought I'd come brighten your day. Everything's better with me around, after all. ...I didn't realize you needed it this badly, though."

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

"It's not so bad," Eleanor said with a quick shudder. "I'm just not feeling myself. You know those days when it's all settling weirdly in your stomach, and nothing seems quite real? I seem to be having one. It'll pass."

By about midnight, yes.

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

"Oh, do I EVER," Joker told her. "The trick is not to buy any dextro food by mistake. You want some ice water, maybe?"

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

"That might help," she nodded. "Thank you. I tried finding very ... calming music, but that only made it worse. So I went instead for loud and chaotic. Which doesn't so much seem to be helping as it does agreeing with me."

She darted her eyes over to him again. "I fear I'm not pleasant company in this state."

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

Joker headed towards the back of the store, and looked around for, say, a water fountain and a cup. "Is that your way of saying you'd rather be alone right now?" he asked her. "I mean, I totally get that, but maybe I can hang out and cheer you up, right?" He paused for a moment, to soak in the tunes. "Music's not bad," he admitted.

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

"Not in the least," Eleanor said. "Merely pre-emptively apologizing for my conduct. One weekend I was abominably rude every time I opened my mouth, and I had to pre-emptively apologize then, too. If anyone can cheer me, I'm certain that you can."

She darted her eyes up to the speakers. "They might have music from your time here," she added. "If you feel like introducing me to some."

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

"Nah, some other time," Joker told her. "Stick with what's working for you. Music's a pretty personal thing, and now's not the time to mess with it." He came back with a cup of water that, although not ice cold, was at least somewhat cool. "So, shall I start by telling you all about how beautifully your eyes sparkle? Talk about other worlds? Tell you how my day went? The world, as they say, is your oyster."

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

"My eyes don't sparkle," she insisted, taking the cup gratefully. "And I'm not such a fan of oysters."

She frowned as she realized that he'd just run to fetch her water; surely she should be doing physical tasks herself? But he didn't object, so she wouldn't say anything. Maybe it was demeaning to worry more about his condition than he already did.

"How was your day?" she asked. "And what other worlds were you offering to tell me about?"

His own, presumably. Maybe he'd traveled to many, in his time.

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

"Your eyes do, in fact, sparkle," Joker countered. "You might call it just lights reflecting off their wet surface, but I call it heavenly." He gave her a grin. "My day was pretty good, all told. Spent most of it in my room reclaiming my place on top the galactic leaderboards, and some of it in class. And now, the highlight of my day: I get to spend some time with you. How was your day? And what worlds do you want to hear about? I've only been to a few, but those few are pretty special. I could tell you about my dad's new home -- they've got weird, alien forests growing right up to the edge of perfectly normal cornfields. Oh! Or I could tell you about the moon. Armstrong City's one of my favorite places to go on vacation."