[ He should be ready to answer. There's no reason for him to not be, not as quickly as he tends to find a response to anything thrown his direction whether it was expected or a complete surprise. Recovering, thinking on his feet, volleying something right back - all skills Claude prides himself on, and all ones which fail him now.
Hilda's question is a simple one. In the words, at least, and in what's being asked, but it's the answer which is anything but.
It hadn't been his intention when planning this for it to be a date. Somehow that had escaped his notice when he'd brought up the idea of having a day to do whatever she might want to do once she'd healed. Hilda had agreed, and then as he tended to do, he'd run with the ideas from there. Deciding to add on one more or things he also knows she enjoys just to cap off the day is far too deliberate for it to be considered just an outing.
Sometimes, the only answer to wavering on something is to take the leap of faith and hope for the best. That's by far not Claude's favored way in dealing with anything he wants to know what with looking for every contingency and having a well-laid out plan for each one. On this, he simply doesn't have the time - and taking the time to do that would be far worse, he thinks as he takes a deep breath and then shakes his head slowly. ]
No, I don't mean that. I don't think calling this a date would be so far off after all, Hilda.
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[ He should be ready to answer. There's no reason for him to not be, not as quickly as he tends to find a response to anything thrown his direction whether it was expected or a complete surprise. Recovering, thinking on his feet, volleying something right back - all skills Claude prides himself on, and all ones which fail him now.
Hilda's question is a simple one. In the words, at least, and in what's being asked, but it's the answer which is anything but.
It hadn't been his intention when planning this for it to be a date. Somehow that had escaped his notice when he'd brought up the idea of having a day to do whatever she might want to do once she'd healed. Hilda had agreed, and then as he tended to do, he'd run with the ideas from there. Deciding to add on one more or things he also knows she enjoys just to cap off the day is far too deliberate for it to be considered just an outing.
Sometimes, the only answer to wavering on something is to take the leap of faith and hope for the best. That's by far not Claude's favored way in dealing with anything he wants to know what with looking for every contingency and having a well-laid out plan for each one. On this, he simply doesn't have the time - and taking the time to do that would be far worse, he thinks as he takes a deep breath and then shakes his head slowly. ]
No, I don't mean that. I don't think calling this a date would be so far off after all, Hilda.