A's the Ailment, B Makes it Better (Jane, Casual)

[VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN]

Jane was one of Victor's favorite people. She was nice, and pretty, and she made much more sense than most girls. They'd met at a charity event he'd been forced to attend once, about a year ago, and they'd made friends with one another when Victor had to stand in the corner to stop panicking for a few minutes while Jane talked to him about art to calm him down.

She didn't treat him like he was stupid, that was the best part. Most people did, these days. He still hated it, but he'd practically, sadly, gotten used to it by now. Jane was thankfully different. And perhaps, just a bit, she reminded him of Elizabeth.

He liked to talk to Jane about intelligent things, like the economy and science, sometimes. But usually they just talked about people, who was interesting and who wasn't. She'd brought him to the stores once or twice, when James couldn't; until recently, he'd absolutely refused to go alone. He liked to think that was major progress.

They were having one of their regular outings, today. Victor sat at the window of the coffee shop, waiting eagerly for her to show up. She wasn't late, he was just very early. Jane might not exactly have a "proper" job, as he'd heard it put once, but at least she had a much more definitive one than Victor's; which was, in fact, doing nothing. They were going to have lunch, and then walk around the park because they liked taking walks; the outdoors was nice, even if it was crisp out. There was already a nearly lush hew everywhere - spring was almost here.

He'd even made himself look presentable for her. He'd showered and worn clean clothes - a flannel button down and jeans, and his good coat, the black one that he usually wore a checkered scarf with during the colder months of the year. He'd always liked that scarf; William, his younger brother, had given it to him one Christmas before he'd been to uni.

[JANE EYRE]

One of the things that Jane liked best about hosting charity events was meeting so many wonderful and different people. At one of her first events, a year ago, she had been mingling like a good hostess and found a man removed from the rest of the people, obviously on the verge of a panic attack. Jane knew what that was like so she made her way too him and started talking to him, her voice low and soothing, just trying to make sure that he had something to connect to while he was on the verge of a breakdown.

Ever since, Jane and Victor had been good friends.

Victor wasn't like most people, but that didn't mean he wasn't interesting to be around. Jane found him to be great company; he always was saying something that was interesting and Jane loved it. They often would go someplace where they would just talk and enjoy the area, like the park or a store. Jane took Victor shopping a few times and that was almost always a fun experience. She knew that some people would say that she was being too nice or that Victor "wasn't normal" but Jane honestly didn't care.

It was time for one of their regular "dates", Jane finished teaching a class on cubism and hailed a taxi to get to their usual coffee shop. Jane knew that her outfit that had been really nice and cute in the morning was dusted with pastel dust and charcoal, but there wasn't much she could do about it. Jane just made sure that her hands were nice and clean before she got out of the taxi and headed into the little shop.

She spotted Victor, looking a tad cleaner than usual, and made her way to him. "Hello, Victor," Jane greeted breezily, kissing his cheek in greeting before settling in the chair across from him. "How are you this fine day?"

[VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN]

When Jane showed, the first thing she did after greeting him was kiss him on the cheek. Jane did things like that often, and she was one of the few people he didn't mind did that. He hardly ever returned the physical gestures, but he appreciated them. Hi smiled at her when she sat accross from him.

She was wearing a pretty button down dress, navy blue with white polka dots; Victor's favorite colors was blue, and navy was by far the most sophisticated shade. He liked that it was dusted with the mediums of art she had to have been teaching with before hand; they made her look like a teacher, or a well rounded person.

"How are you this fine day?" she asked him.

"Very well, Jane, thank you," he said politely, and he was being truthful. Today was a very good day, improved by Jane's own appearance. "How are you? Were you just doing your art projects?" He knew the answer, but today he felt the need for social niceties and he was interested in what they had been doing.

[JANE EYRE]

Jane made herself comfortable on the quaint little cafe chair, and sat her bag between her feet so she wouldn't forget it when she left. A waitress was over almost immediately to take her order and Jane just recited her usual drink. A latte wasn't that interesting, but the flavor of the day scone she always got always proved to be. According to the kind young woman, the flavor was strawberry and basil, and Jane couldn't wait to try it.

"How are you? Were you just doing your art projects?"

"Ah, I wish it was my own project. I was teaching cubism to a group of teenagers." Jane ran a hand down her front, trying to dust off the colors that spotted her nice dress. She only succeeded in creating a small pastel cloud and smearing it so that instead of random patches, Jane had a long stripe of mashed colors breaking up her polka dots. Her poor dress; yet another causality in her chasing of art.

A latte and scone were brought to the table before Jane couldn't finish her fidgeting and she thanked the waitress, not only for the food but also for the speed at which it was made and delivered. Taking a sip, Jane had to wipe the foam from her upper lip before speaking again. "So, Victor, what's our plan for today? Do you need to go shopping again or is it a day of leisure for us?"

[VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN]

"Ah, I wish it was my own project. I was teaching cubism to a group of teenagers."

"How fun," Victor smiled. He was in a good enough state of mind to try using sarcasm. He usually failed, but he thought it was alright today.

Jane ordered a latte and a strawberry and basil scone. "The same," said Victor, because he always got the same. It was his way of attempting to try new things. They came quite quickly - they were good, though he would've liked the scone to be a bit more sugary.

Victor smiled as Jane rubbed away a foam mustache. "So, Victor, what's our plan for today? Do you need to go shopping again or is it a day of leisure for us?"

"No, no shopping today, actually,"[/b] Victor said. "I went by myself this week."[/b] He was quite proud of himself. He had forgotten to get a few things, but James had been proud of him too. "I thought maybe we could go walk around the park or something. If you want to."

[JANE EYRE]

"No, no shopping today, actually. I went by myself this week."

"That's great Victor!" Jane knew that he had trouble doing that sort of thing on his own sometimes so it was always great when Victor did it by himself. It was always a big step forward for him and Jane was proud of him for it. Success was measured in little steps, after all. Victor was a brilliant man and sometimes he got trapped in his own mind so whenever he was able to make it out of his mind, it was always a good thing.

"I thought maybe we could go walk around the park or something. If you want to."

Jane smiled and nodded. "That sounds lovely, Victor. I do enjoy the park." Jane picked at her scone, trying not to get crumbs everywhere, and hummed contentedly. A lot of people probably found just walking through the park to be too boring a way to spend an afternoon, but Jane liked it. She had always liked going for walks because she firmly believed that the mind would only be stimulated when the body was. Going for walks was a great way to keep the body energized and moving so that the mind would do the same.

She remembered back to Thornfield where she'd take walks nearly every day around the estate and through the garden. It was a nice little path she'd take.

[VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN]

He was proud, especially when Jane complimented him. Perhaps going shopping on one's own wasn't a huge accomplishment in general - there were always people alone in stores - but Victor recognized that it was for him, and that was all that really mattered. What use did he have with the lives of other people, anyways? Not much. So no need to compare them.

"That sounds lovely, Victor. I do enjoy the park," Jane said when he suggested it.

"Oh, good," Victor said, glad. He didn't want to do something if the other people weren't enjoying it. Then it felt strangely wrong, and ruined his own fun. He hated when people didn't enjoy something he did. "We can go when we're done?" He was finishing his own biscuit off already, and drinking the end of his tea, but he'd always been a rather fast eater; his father had always told him it was rude, but he couldn't help it. If you were eating something good, why wait?

He looked out the window, "It's nice out today, isn't it." The air was a little brisk still from the tail ends of winter, but the air was getting warmer, and hew could be seen on bushes already.

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