Re: first class - baths
"Oh, no," Jack exclaimed. "I wouldn't want you to pretend." That would be even worse than her not being scared, because if she pretended then he'd never have the chance to fix his approach, to get it right the next time around. That was very, very important; he had to be the best, and he couldn't do that if everyone pretended to be scared and let him go on thinking he was the stuff of nightmares. "I don't think I'm making you feel guilty. Is that what you think I think? Of course it isn't your fault, unless you try to scare yourself and aren't. I'm just disappointment in myself." All said in one breath, and he heaved a great and heavy sigh. Had she not mentioned the mysterious Mister J again, he might have even broke out into a lament. "Who is Mister J?" he asked, with a curious tilt of his head.
Her question made him pause, steps slowing, and he was unaware of the disobedience in his lack of movement. "Everyone," he settled on finally. "Everyone expects me to be scary. I'm supposed to be, you see. It's who I am. I'm--" But he stopped there, on the verge of declaring himself the Pumpkin King. Even when it felt right, it felt wrong too, and a small part of him felt silly saying it, like he was playing dress-up but he was too old for it and didn't want anybody to know. So he left his sentence unfinished, and he started moving again when she nudged his shoulder. Yes, of course, he had to play the game properly.
It hadn't occurred to him to lie about not being able to die. He was, in fact, entirely oblivious to the dilemma that left her in, and he'd just begun to hum to himself when she gave her order. "Talk more?" The skeleton man looked over his shoulder at her, and he smiled when she said he was cramping her style despite not knowing what she meant; in fact, he smiled because of it, because she said such funny things, this girl. While he didn't think he could hurt any more than he could die, he decided he could pretend. He could put on a show. He was good at that, wasn't he?
"Yes," he declared, a little too cheerfully for someone announcing that he could hurt. But he wasn't just someone, and most things he did didn't make much sense anyway.