Bathes in Maple Syrup | Dancing Lobster | Moy Pomidor | Seneca's Beard | That Is So Fetch! Rajan's eyebrows remained knitted together for another moment. That hadn't answered his question at all. If anything, the fact that she'd ignored it entirely only confirmed his suspicions. There had definitely been something in that look. Judgment, maybe? He wasn't entirely sure what he'd done to earn it beyond chasing a piece of parchment across the grounds, which, now that he was thinking about it, probably hadn't been his most dignified moment.
He glanced back toward his makeshift study spot, where the rest of his belongings remained scattered beneath the tree. From this distance, it looked considerably less organized than he'd convinced himself it had been ten minutes ago.
"Sometimes," he answered, turning the crumpled parchment over in his hands. "When the library gets too crowded. Or too quiet." The latter sounded contradictory even to him, but there was a particular sort of silence in the library that made every turn of a page sound like an interruption. Out here, at least, there was enough background noise that he didn't notice every little sound.
"Though I'm beginning to reconsider it." His gaze landed on the parchment before shifting pointedly toward the rest of his belongings beneath the tree. Another breeze stirred the grass, and the sheet beneath the rock gave a rustle. For several seconds, he watched the parchment suspiciously, briefly debating whether he needed to run back before it decided to follow its companion's behaviour.
His attention eventually returned to the girl, taking in the fact that she looked considerably more prepared to be outside than he did. Hair pulled back and out of her face, no books or parchment anywhere in sight, and apparently far more coordinated considering the way she'd managed to pluck his notes straight out of the air.
"Were you running?" The question escaped before he could stop himself, and Rajan immediately realized how obvious it sounded. His eyes flicked away. "I mean, obviously you were running." Groundbreaking observation, Patil.
He rubbed the back of his neck, then nodded toward the path behind her. "Do you do that out here often?"
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