"Well, there's always hope for new love," he said cheerfully, finishing his juice. "I met my Ellie in my 40s, and we didn't start dating until five years after I met her."
Francis shrugged hopelessly. "I don't know... I have no problem with short relationships, but another long one? I don't really trust easily anymore."
"Short relationships can't sustain someone," he said. "At least, I've never met anyone who can be satisfied for too long with that." He stretched, scratching his shaved chin. "It's okay to take time with someone, you know? If it's meant to be, it'll happen. Whoever she is, she'll wait for you to find that trust."
"I suppose you're right," he said quietly, standing up. "I'm going to go back to my room. It was nice talking to you."
Poppy was walking back towards her room, flipping through an old book she had found in the observatory. She glanced up at him and smiled. "Hey," she said, seeming genuinely glad to see him. "How did that go?"
She laughed, closing the book. "Oh yeah," she said. "Should have warned you about that. Sorry. He likes to dig deep."
He shook his head, a bit distressed. "It's alright. He did manage to get a decent amount of information, though."
"I'm fine. I just wasn't expecting to have to talk about certain things." He waved it off, turning his head away.
She sighed and crossed her arms. "I'm sorry. The first conversation I had with him had me talking about my childhood in the first 10 minutes."
"It must be magic," he joked, exhaling sharply. "I'm going to my room. I don't feel well." His hand reached up and scratched his temple nervously.
"Alright," she said, shooting him a concerned look. "You should take a nap. You're probably still tired."
He nodded, passing her to go into his room. Once he was in, he shut the door and went to bed for a bit.
Poppy returned to her room, staring out the window as they flew along the clouds. (Do you want to do some sort of time skip?)
(Sure! Although, I'm not sure Poppy actually would follow through with her idea to follow him to his room. I think that seems a little too creepy for her. , lol. So Francis would have to leave his room or something. Is that alright?)
