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Two hours.

Robert had stood outside his own door, looking left and right, for two hours. He'd seen several hunters come and go, chatted up with a few even - but he'd waited for two hours in hopes he'd see her. He had no idea what room belonged to Eva, and she wasn't a Life Hunter - so the only way he could think of to find her was just.. to wait.

And hope.

And sure enough, not even that many doors down, Eva emerged from her dorm room. Whether she saw the man leaning casually on his door or not was irrelevant - when she noticed him, he would look like he'd just been casually hanging out outside his door at the moment she'd left.

And it was meant to look that way.

"Howdy, neighbor." Robert cleared his throat and called out to Evie, never once letting the casual lack of interest break. "Didn't realize you were so close by. Small world."

Robert stumbled slightly when Eva pulled him away, surprised at the action. When he finally paused, he looked at the end of the hall they were suddenly standing in, and then down at the girl who'd pulled him to it.

"Well, yeah, I do." He murmured in confusion. But I didn't wanna do it out in public. I was going to say we should go inside, but uhhh, something tells me you didn't want me anywhere near your dorm." That was the only thing he could think her actions had meant. "Any idea where we could find some privacy?"

Robert was not as sure of the idea as Eva seemed to be. He was still stuck on his original plan, if only because Robert's head didn't really work at the speed of light. He also wasn't aware of Reine's proximity - though whether that would have affected his answer was a mystery.

"We could go back to my place." He offered, gesturing back at the dorms. "It ain't messy. I don't even know what you could have that could make a room messy, but I ain't gonna question you. So, wanna go back to my dorm?"

"Probably." He laughed, just a hint of the old Robert in that endearing guffaw. He took her back to his room, unlocked the door, and stepped inside. Then he held the door open, gesturing grandly for her to entire with a flourished bow.

"My lady, please make yourself at home."

Stop it, Robert. Stop it right now, he told himself. This was all kind of funny but still kind of stupid. He really did have to talk to her about something, but apparently that did not mean he wasn't going to lay the act on thick regardless.

Robert sat down on his bed once the door was closed, and gestured for her to take the seat at his desk. "All right, I'll try to make this as short as possible. I know you and that other kid have been hanging out with my Rober- ... with Reine lately. I know how she is, once she's gotten her hooks into someone - "

He held his hand out, pausing, as if trying to restrain himself from speaking ill of the girl who'd almost completely made him the man he was, before continuing.

"I know she's gonna listen to you. That's why I need your help, and I'm willing to work with you here. You see, I love Reine very much. She's my best friend, and she's the sister of the woman I'm in love with. The woman I'm gonna marry. Now, I think you can see why I don't want the two of us at each others necks all the time, right?"

Robert's eyes looked genuinely sad, and very tired. "So is there any way you can help me?"

"What I have in mind?"

Robert looked up at her, his expression now lost in vague, almost dumb confusion.

"Well I didn't have anything in mind. I just wanted Reine to stop acting like I s**t on her face and be my friend again. She's overdramatic, over-reactive, and everytime I try to tell her that I care about her she flips her s**t like I'm burning her with fire."

Robert pulled on his hair in frustration. "I feel like I don't even know her anymore. I mean, sure, she used to act like this - but not to me!"

His exasperated tone died off, and his last words were nothing but a broken whisper. "Not to me.."

"Yeah." He murmured softly. "That sounds more than all right. You hardly know me, I'm not expecting you to go out of your way. I just.. I want a chance. I ********.. I just want a chance. For me, and for Petra." Were those tears in his eyes?

Yes, yes they were.

"I don't know what she thinks right now, but what I do know is that she's still mad at me for what I did before we all came here. She needs to understand I'm not the same guy I was back then. She needs to understand that I love her sister more than anything."

He paused, and his eyes sharpened fiercely. "More than anyone."

"Yeah." Robert winced, reminded of his attempt to 'talk' to Reine. "Didn't work out so well."

He didn't seem like he was going to tell Eva anything. In fact, he looked like he was going silent, and started to fidget slightly at the awkwardness of it.

Finally..

"I was in love with Roberta my entire life." Robert muttered under his breath, as his head hit the wall behind him. "And she just kept leaving me. Over, and over.. finally, I had to give up on her. I dated Petra, I loved her so much.. but you gotta understand. When someone has spent years getting under your skin.."

His eyes closed, and his face pinched. "It's hard to stop wanting what you can't have. Especially when she tells you that she wanted you, too."

His eyes snapped open and focused on Eva. "I wanna be clear though. That guy, he's gone. He died when Cael took me out of our old world, and into this new one. I'm not in love with Reine anymore." His hand sliced firmly in the air as he said it. "It's always Petra. She's been there for me through thick and thin, and I'm gonna marry that woman. But that don't mean I don't want Reine in my life. And NOT as some screechy, angry harpie who wants to kill me or hide from me anytime she sees me."

He took a breath, after all that talking, and his eyes looked down at Eva, pleading. "So you think you can help me?"