[a shady pub]

[sweet_caroline]

Caroline stalks into the dingy pub with plenty of time to spare before she's supposed to be there to meet Eddie. In fact, she's managed to get here before him. How nice. She grumpily takes a seat in a back corner and waits. Since she found the wad of cash in her bag last night, the jumble of emotions has mostly coalesced into anger. And she's only getting madder the more time that passes. She's honestly not even sure why she's bothering to show up for this meeting, except to give the damn money back. She's fairly certain it was Eddie and not Jonathan, but if she's wrong he can at least pass it along for her. Or do whatever the hell he wants with it, frankly. Caroline doesn't care.

Comments

[confound]

Eddie is in very fine spirits this morning, unsurprisingly. Not only were the events of the previous day very... well, eventful, but he's still evaded both the Bat and the GCPD. Everything does seem to be going rather remarkably well for him lately. It's a nice change.

His pub of choice is... neither impressive or popular. It makes for a very convenient spot to talk things over, usually (or rather, always) business - it's maybe not someplace he'd have instantly used for this. They can't meet in parks forever, though, and this gives some amount of privacy.

Eddie spots her almost as soon as he wanders in. He grins cheerfully, and that only falters a little bit when he sees just how grumpy she looks. Maybe the trip here was rough? He doesn't dwell on it much. He just ambles on over to her table, takes a seat and chirps, "Good afternoon, Miss."

[sweet_caroline]

Caroline almost forgets to be mad when Eddie comes strolling in. Almost. But his general good cheer is enough to keep her from just yelling immediately, which is honestly probably for the best. Yelling at a Rogue isn't likely to end well. "Afternoon," she says. She manages to keep her anger under control enough to just sound highly annoyed. What's worse is she's beginning to quietly feel ill thanks to the swirl of unpleasant emotions current and remembered. Great.

[confound]

Eddie settles back in his chair. That grin falters again at her tone, though he's more curious than anything else. She might be more cross than he'd guessed - at what, though, he really has no clue. That Eddie's plan to deal with this is bluster through with what he's planned and hopes it maybe helps a little shouldn't be all that surprising. It's Eddie. It's what he does.

"I brought you something." He might look entirely too pleased with himself about it. That's not lessened any when he fishes a cellphone out of his jacket pocket and sets it on the table in front of her. It looks normal enough, but it's something he has spent a goodish amount of time on. More than he should probably admit.

[sweet_caroline]

Caroline isn't really sure what to say right now. She knew she was meeting Eddie for a phone, but she just... It's all gnawing at her unpleasantly. She very nearly says something like "haven't you done enough," but she manages not to. She stares down at the phone instead, intrigued in spite of herself. It takes more effort than she'd like to admit to unclench her hands enough to bring one out of her lap to reach towards the cellphone.

"I don't have to answer a riddle to answer the phone, do I?" Caroline tries to make a joke, but it just falls flat. It sounds more like an accusation than banter, honestly. Damn.

[confound]

Eddie arches a brow at that question. It might be him after all, but what or why is... quite beyond him at the moment. Strange. "No. Well... nothing beyond the usual lock screen, if you want to use that." He pauses for a moment and resists the urge to fidget awkwardly. It's more of a struggle than he'd like to admit to. "It's as secure as I can conceivably make it, though. No worrying about anyone, er, listening in."

[sweet_caroline]

Caroline isn't sure whether to think it's sweet Eddie went to all that effort or that he was just tinkering because he could. In any case, she plays with the phone a little. It's obviously a much more modern cellphone than the last one she had. She glances up at Eddie, down at the phone, and then back up at him. Might as well get this over with. Like pulling a tooth.

"Did you drop something in my room yesterday?" she asks flatly. Caroline isn't looking forward to this at all.

[confound]

"Did I...?" Eddie fidgets a little finally, furrowing his brows. Had he dropped something? She sounds fairly far from pleased at whatever it is, but he's fairly sure he hadn't misplaced anything. He has a fairly accurate idea of what's in his pocket at all times (it helps when one might be arrested at any given minute) and he didn't notice anything missing when he got home. "I don't... think so. Why?"

[sweet_caroline]

Caroline just stares at him. Really. Well, maybe she's wrong and it was Jonathan. "You sure?" She reaches down into her purse and pulls out the envelope she shoved the money into. She drops it on the table between them. "This wasn't your doing then?" She's annoyed at the tremor in her voice. She wants to just be furious about this, but she's slowly being overwhelmed by bad memories and a growing queasiness.

[confound]

Eddie frowns down at the envelope, very tentatively reaching and sliding it over to him. It's thick, filled with what he can already tell is a decent amount of money. It doesn't take a genius to figure out where it came from, but he still flicks it open and glances inside. It doesn't soften his frown anymore than her voice does. "That was my doing, yes."

He folds the flap of the envelope back down with undue care, pausing only briefly before pushing it back to roughly the center of the table. Had he erred in that gesture? Maybe. Probably. He genuinely doesn't understand, and while he's never particularly fond of that feeling, right now that's an especially uncomfortable thing.

At least he knows now it's him she's so mad at.

[sweet_caroline]

Caroline scowls at him. "What the fuck, Eddie? Why?" She wants to know and yet she doesn't. She pulls her hands back off the table and into her lap. Now that he can't see, she clenches her hands into fists, her nails digging into the palms of her hands.

[confound]

Eddie's mind is reeling. Angry doesn't seem to quite cover this - furious might be a better descriptor for her. This isn't a reaction he'd even considered when he'd done it. "Because... I can?" His lips go very thin. "Because I have more money than I really will ever need, and maybe it would help you out."

He can't come up with any better of an answer than that.

[sweet_caroline]

Caroline glares down at the envelope in disgust. "I don't need help," she snaps. She takes a deep, shaky breath and looks away. "You can't just--" She cuts herself off before she can say something embarrassing. She already feels bad enough.

[confound]

Eddie can't really frown more than he already is, at this point. It's not possible or he actually would be, so he fidgets with his hands instead, belatedly realizing he hasn't actually pulled them back from near the envelope yet. "You can't just what, exactly?" He asks, because he's Eddie. He has to ask. It's who he is.

[sweet_caroline]

"You can't just--" Caroline breaks off and crosses her arms in front of her, hunching over as if to block a physical blow. "Just..." She can't. Not that she wanted to talk about it in the first place, but she actually can't make herself say anything else. She just shakes her head and stares down at the table. Caroline's still mad, but mostly at herself now.

[confound]

Eddie supposes this isn't the worst possible outcome yet (she has neither thrown the money at him or told him to get lost) but it is getting up there. He's not sure what it is that's so awful about what he's done, and it's immediately obvious that he's not likely going to. Caroline looks like she's bracing for something awful. And Eddie, well... Eddie really just wants to be anywhere and maybe anyone else right now. He's fairly sure that however awful he's feeling, she's got it worse, and his presence is most decidedly not helping her any.

"Consider the question dropped," He replies, quickly removing the envelope from the table between them. He stows it away inside his jacket. What he'll do with it, he doesn't know; he'll figure that out later. Right now, he just tries to sound less dejected and confused than he actually is, though that mostly just ends in him being a little clipped in tone. "I am very sorry, Miss."

He just doesn't know why what he did was so wrong. Or, for that matter, if he should hang around the pub any further now. His instinct is to bow out and end whatever this... miserable encounter counts as before it gets worse for either of them, especially her. It's also entirely likely leaving would do about as much - acting on a snap decision got him into this mess in the first place, so he stays where he is, for the moment.

[sweet_caroline]

Caroline's glad he's not going to push it, but something about Eddie's tone seems off. Brow furrowed, she looks up and... oh. He looks almost as miserable as she feels right now. Well that's just great. While she supposes this could all be an act on his part, it's really more likely that he actually was trying to do something nice. And she just... wow. Yeah. Nice one.

"I..." What could she even say at this point? She should probably just leave. Caroline sighs and scoots her chair back. "I'm just... gonna go."

[jcrane]

Jonathan wasn't technically invited along to this meetup, but he's fairly certain neither of them will complain. And if they do, well. He's actually not sure what he'd do in that case. He arrives at the aggressively nondescript and shady pub a little later than he'd intended. Edward and Caroline are both already there in a back corner. It doesn't take him long to realize that any stealth on his part is completely unneeded. They're thoroughly involved in some sort of disagreement. Crane hangs back to observe.

He has no way of knowing what happened in Caroline's past to make her react so strongly to Edward's awkward attempt at being helpful, but Jonathan doesn't think he's likely to find out today. Not with how upset she immediately gets. And then she just sort of... deflates. He's just debating whether he should intervene or maybe even leave when Caroline moves to get up. Jonathan's at the table before he's registered that he's moving. "Don't."

Caroline startles badly and looks up at him, and that's about when it actually hits him that he's at the table with one hand on the back of her chair and leaning over her. She looks even more upset up close. "But..." She trails off and just kind of stares up at him.

Jonathan isn't sure what to do with himself now. Well. Sitting down is probably a good start. He sinks into the vacant chair next to Caroline without actually removing his hand from the back of her chair. She just keeps staring and looking like she'd like the floor to open up and swallow her. While he has no idea what caused this, Jonathan is very familiar with that feeling. He freezes for a moment, and that's when Caroline speaks again. "Wow, I'm an idiot," she says, looking down at her hands. "I should just--"

"Hush." Jonathan reaches up and starts stroking Caroline's hair. She looks startled again. Well, it's not as though he's known for being comforting. She opens her mouth to say something, but Crane doesn't give her the chance. "Do I look like a man who puts up with idiots?" he asks dryly. That actually gets a laugh out of her and she relaxes a little. Good.

[confound]

Given the circumstances, Eddie really shouldn't be beating himself up too badly that someone managed to get the drop on them. They're fairly thoroughly distracted after all. But when Crane suddenly appears to stop Caroline from leaving, it's all he can do to grit his teeth and not jump out of his skin. That's it, he realizes while he watches Crane loom. He's at his saturation point, he can take no more.

Crane has Caroline covered, at least. Eddie honestly doesn't ponder Jonathan's actual arrival much, beyond that while Crane's settling into the vacant chair and apparently calming Caroline, Eddie's straightening his jacket and getting out of his. He can't even think of a particularly good way to bow out, he just wants to be gone, gone, gone. This sort of feeling is one best dealt with in solitude, preferably with some amount of liquor.

[sweet_caroline]

Jonathan's sudden arrival startles Caroline pretty thoroughly, but she's also glad to see him. And then he's petting her hair and trying to calm her down, which is... not really what one would expect from the Scarecrow. She's just relaxing a little when she sees Eddie getting up out of his chair.

"Eddie, don't leave," she says, reaching across the table for him. She's a little too slow to actually be able to grab his arm or at least his sleeve. She glances over at Jonathan.

"Where are you going, Edward?" Crane asks, still stroking Caroline's hair.

[confound]

"Retiring home for the afternoon," Is Eddie's slightly terse answer, if only because I've done enough for one day is a tad too dramatic even for him.

Caroline reaching for him, though... that gives him a moment's hesitation, and he really wishes it didn't. He just wants to go be quietly miserable alone somewhere for a while.

[sweet_caroline]

"Please don't," Caroline says, frowning up at Eddie. "I just..." She knows she overreacted, but randomly finding money in your bag is definitely weird. She leans forward in her chair a little and actually manages to grab Eddie's hand this time.

"Is that really necessary, Edward?" Jonathan asks quietly. He's giving an Eddie a look like he's caught something Caroline missed. Which isn't much of a surprise, all things considered.

[confound]

Eddie hesitates when she actually manages to grab his hand, though he doesn't pull away. He just stares down at her fingers around his and frowns. It's a moment where he knows he should stay. It's what most normalish, functional adults would do if they wanted to, say, not wreck potential relationships. Eddie however is nowhere near normal and occasionally not terribly well-functioning; all he wants to do is go feel awful somewhere far, far away so he can sulk by himself, hopefully before he has some kind of minor fit.

He misses neither Crane's question or the look that accompanies it, even if he's not really sure how to respond to him. "I suppose not," He sighs, finally, after a very long moment.

It takes quite a lot of effort to fight the urge to bolt out of there as swiftly as possible. He manages somehow, and settles back down in his chair, if a little reluctantly. He doesn't even really know why. He's got absolutely nothing to say, at the moment, but he can't quite bring himself to pry his hand out of Caroline's.

[sweet_caroline]

Caroline's relieved when Eddie sits back down, and maybe gladder than she ought to be that he doesn't pull his hand away. But now what? She'd like to try and undo some of the damage she's done today, but she has no idea how to go about that. She looks down at the table and sighs.

Jonathan's hand in her hair is soothing enough that Caroline's brain actually starts working again after a moment. "I um, when I just- just found it in my bag like that with no warning, I... it..." She doesn't know how to finish this sentence. She really can't talk about it yet.

[confound]

It's a rare day when the Riddler lets a question go unanswered. And this... well. Maybe this isn't entirely the case today, but it comes very close to it. However curious he is, he knows an unhealed wound when he sees one, and he's not really sure he even has to fortitude to broach that sort of thing. He still wants to go crawl under his desk and die a lot.

"Bad memories?" It's less of an outright question and more of a confirmation. If she tells him sometime, she tells him. Later he might be slightly amazed she even wanted him to stay here, but right now he's spending most of his brainpower trying to both not bolt and not think about this because the latter will lead to the former. And he feels even more awkward than usual when he actually does move, especially since it's to pick up Caroline's hand and kiss it very softly. What is he doing.

He doesn't even know, really.

[sweet_caroline]

Caroline smiles weakly. "I guess that's kind of an understatement." And then anything else she might have been about to say just kind of sputters out of her brain when Eddie decides that kissing her hand is a thing that should happen. Normally she would have some sort of remark to make, but Caroline is honestly pretty overwhelmed right now. And quickly discovering that sweet gestures have more of an effect than they really should when she's already upset. Between this and Jonathan's hand in her hair, she could almost cry. And she's really not a crier.

...Actually, Eddie still doesn't look much better off than her. Jonathan is the only one who seems to have it together right now, and he's the one who materialized out of nowhere to pet her hair and convince her not to awkward away. Yeah. "Can we just rule today a mulligan or something?" Caroline asks after a moment. Normally she'd figure one or both of them were probably done with her after this, but well. They're both still at the table. And she can't really imagine keeping a couple of supervillains somewhere they don't want to be. Hell, Arkham certainly can't.

Jonathan snorts. "I think that can be arranged."

[confound]

Eddie can't help but fidget a little still, though that awkward fidgeting is slightly complicated by the fact his hand is still around Caroline's. With mostly just ends with him fidgeting with her fingers and frowning vaguely. What.

He's quietly grateful when Caroline finally says something, and even moreso at what she says. "Yes, I - er," He starts only to end up tripping over his words. "That works for me."

It's then that he finally disentangles his hand from Caroline's and stands again. Things... are momentarily less awful than they were a moment ago, but he's still had his fill of this outing. This might be one of his more painfully awkward exits but there's not avoiding that, is there? "I think... I'm going to call it a day. I'll see you both around."

Now, he just wants to go climb under his desk with a bottle of wine.

[jcrane]

Caroline murmurs something vaguely agreeing as Eddie excuses himself. Fortunately, she looks much less like she's about to have some sort of breakdown in public, though she is clearly still unhappy. Crane knows Edward well enough to know that he's just gone off to lick his wounds in private. Caroline shifts in her seat to look up at Jonathan. "Um..." She trails off and fidgets.

Jonathan is suddenly very unsure what to do with himself. It occurs to him that this is the first time Edward has actually left the two of them to their own devices, and Crane... doesn't actually know much about Caroline. "Maybe I should go too," she says finally.

"That's--" Jonathan stops himself before he actually says 'that's not necessary.' He flounders awkwardly for a moment. "I was thinking of going to a bookstore nearby. You're, ah, welcome to join me." He winces internally at that. Smooth, Jonathan.

Caroline brightens a little at that, somewhat inexplicably. "That sounds great."

Crane has to cough slightly to makes sure he doesn't blurt out a 'really?'. Instead he says, "Shall we go then?" and motions vaguely towards the door. Pubs of any sort aren't exactly places Jonathan frequents voluntarily.

"Yeah, let's go." Caroline pauses long enough to put her new phone in her purse, and then they're on their way out and to the bookstore.