Private Finished accidental meetings

Hal huffed as he made his way out of a busy crowd in the open grounds. He was getting used to crowds but not this way. For some reason, there was a very large crowd just concentrated on the open ground. A bake sale maybe? Normally clubs would have done that in separate locations-- certainly not all in one place. It could be just him but was a little hard to breathe.

The psychic moved away from the crowd, keeping his distance and avoiding collision with other students as more blended in and out of the sea of faces. Oftentimes, he wondered why he could never get used to crowds they way he should. Eventually he was going to have to stand up in front of a crowd of highly esteemed people yet here he was... failing completely to properly move around a crowd of fellow students. Mercy on his soul.

A sigh passed his lips before he turned around and in that short moment he dropped his guard, he felt him bump into someone. He first heard a clatter of possibly a file folders before he could see anything, and immediately, he jumped back, shooting apologies in an instant. "Ah shit-- I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there! Are you okay?"

Only when Hal heard a voice reply to him did he find the courage to look at who had run into. A girl with silver hair -- it caught him off-guard for a moment, losing his voice while she seemed to look woefully to her books. It took him a moment before he realized he spaced out; then a pang of guilt urged him to move in first and dive into to the crowd to fetch her books. A few were kind enough to move away but he'd risked getting his hand stepped on when he reached for the last book.

Hal turned back to her, dusting off the dirt caught in the books he'd saved from a stampede, "Well, it could be both our fault. I was... distracted. Not an expert at crowds, you see," he laughed, but it sounded pathetic in his ears. He mentally scolded himself for it. Gathering a little more confidence, he offered the books back to her, Sorry about your books, I don't think they're too damaged though?."

Seeing the smile eased the growing anxiety at the pit of his stomach. She wasn't mad, and Hal couldn't be any more relieved at that moment that he retured with a rather shy one of his own. Hal didn't miss when she'd stopped in her words for a moment and the way she withdrew her hand back just as she reached it out to him. His eyes followed her gaze instinctively, leading it to the growing crowd. Mm, apparently neither of them worked well with crowds?

"Hal Dionne, pleasure is mine," he replied. Obviously, a handshake wouldn't be happening so he settled with smiling a little more. The glow from the gloves caught his eyes, now that it was in full view in front of him; though curious he decided not to ask first. Add to the fact that it wasn't only him that got curious, it was probably better they move away from where there were too many eyes. "I think we should move somewhere less populated," he mused aloud, nodding his head towards a spot on the grounds that didn't seem visited by passing students.

It was a moment later he realized that sounded odd, especially the fact he wasn't really that character who approached random people for conversation. Well, he was there already so figured he might as well go for it. "So, um, new to the school?"

Hal hummed at her response. "The... clubs in school attracts crowds I guess. Happens every so often; not always but often enough. Except, well, can't ever get used to it." He sighed, but he didn't appear upset about it in any way. If anything he sounded more tired but the slight curve in his mouth said otherwise. "It'll probably disperse soon but... can't really say when."

Caspian threw a glance his way as she made her way towards the trees, taking the nod as an invitation to follow after. That and she smiled, surely, she'd meant it for him to follow. Hal went to catch up, just falling into step after her when she made her way to a bare part of the trees. Not feeling to comfortable with the lack of words, he spoke up again. "Sudden crowds aside, how's the school so far?"

For a moment, Hal could have said she seemed pretty content but the way she looked around didn't feel right. It was almost as if he'd noticed she focused her gaze on something when she spoke an unfamiliar name. His first reaction would have been to ask who that could be, and also turn around to follow her line of vision but before he could even get the chance too, she spoke over him. He didn't ask any more -- he quicked his pace as she asked.

Climbing trees was not an issue for him, but he hadn't climbed a tree in this form for a very long while. Still, the look of alarm on her face told him not to waste a time and grab hold onto her arm. Channeling the muscle memory from his astral form, he managed to pull himself up, with some amount of difficulty.

Hal tried to look where they came from once they were settled up the tree, managing to catch a few figures headed their way. "Who... who're we hiding from?" he asked quietly, making sure not to raise his voice for anyone else but the two of them to hear.