"Jeb, what does Gonne call you?"
Hofnarr had a tendency to speak strangely on their lunch breaks, Jebediah would easily admit that, and yet somehow she always found ways to be stranger than he imagined.
His brow furrows in an odd mix of intrigue and confusion. "Beg pardon?"
"Dr. Gonne." she says it so matter-of-factly, as if she's certain that's the perplexing part.
"Yes, I've gathered that." he rolls his eyes, "What do you mean, "what does she call me"? My name?"
"Exactly!"
..This is absurdly stupid.
Jebediah exhales through his nose, trying to calculate how to put the two of them on the same page. Sometimes he wonders if Hofnarr has even read the rest of the book they're in, despite her brilliance in the lab.
Thankfully, she does the explaining for him, albeit after he's already hit a few walls doing the mental legwork. "She's professional, right? Dr. Christoff, is that what she says?" Jebediah makes an affirming noise, and that seems to satisfy her. Himself, not so much.
"And.. why is this pertinent information to you?" Hofnarr opens her mouth to respond and promptly closes it.
She thinks back to earlier in the day when she'd visited Gonne's office, bringing them some pre-packaged snacks and a water bottle (anything to keep them from consuming nothing but a cup of coffee, on a good day). Gonne never spoke much unless they were asked about work, and even then responses were left scarce at times. Their aloof nature notwithstanding, Hofnarr did try to be friendly to them and offer invitations to stop holing up in their lab. They would never accept those offers, but it's the thought that counts.
As Hofnarr talked, Gonne didn't really respond, per usual, tinkering with one of their machines and not even pretending they're listening. "Jeb and I are going out to lunch now if you'd like to come with us," was one of the things she'd said amidst longer rambles about how some fresh air and daylight would be good for Gonne and so on. She'd continued speaking for a good while beyond that point, too, in spite of how Gonne felt about those concepts.
Suddenly, while she was mid-sentence, Gonne whipped around and responded for once, in the most peculiar way possible. "Wait, who is Jeb?" Hofnarr paused speaking at that, blinking at them incredulously. "Is that-- Dr. Christoff, yes?"
"Uh.. yes."
"Ohhh," Gonne nodded and turned their attention right back to their work. "Well, have fun with that, Dr. Hofnarr!"
Hofnarr, having been still utterly flummoxed by that question, had forgotten anything she was even trying to say. "Yeah.. right.. you too, Dr. Gonne."
Following that she'd gone out for said lunch with Jebediah, who is still looking at her expectantly waiting on a response. "I was just.." she stammers under the weight of his gaze, "Just curious. She talks kind of funny sometimes."
Jebediah is silent for what feels like hours, before eventually he makes another small affirmative sound. "She is.. definitely bizarre."
"You don't know the half of it.."