If one knew Baldur, they could ascertain from his sudden silence that something was wrong. There was a slight frown on his face as he seemed to withdraw from the conversation considerably. He hadn't heard the whole comment to Cher from Penny, but he got the part that mattered for him,<span class="fixed-color" style="color:hotpink">"...brighter than a fifth grader I am not too interested."</span><br/><br/>It turned out that she had managed to hit on one of Baldur's few and biggest insecurities. One wouldn't think there would be many things if any that someone like Baldur could be insecure about. A slight frown took over his expression as he looked at Katie with what could only be described as a sigh manifest into a facial expression. Although Baldur was no genius, he was not oblivious to when a girl was not interested in him and the reasoning for it was disheartening. It was part of the reason why Baldur tended not to hang out with the 'nerds'; it had less to do with them just being nerds and more to do with the fact that every time he had tried in high school, someone inevitably mocked him for not being as intelligent as them. He never quite understood why there was such a fascination with putting him down about something he couldn't control; Baldur would never have dreamed of antagonizing them about not being as muscular or popular. Baldur's grades had always tended toward high C's to B's and subject matter like fitness and nutrition, he knew exceptionally well; it was afterall what he was majoring in college.<br/><br/>But Baldur couldn't quote you a line from Shakespeare or give you a thorough assessment of Noam Chomsky or gleefully cite Steven Pinker to back up an argument. The ADHD behemoth wasn't a rocket scientist and those with the capacity to do those things never shied away from reminding him. It didn't seem like Penny had intentionally tried to put him down, so he didn't say anything -- but he was abruptly reminded that he would forever be an outsider in an environment like this. Setting the game down on the table, he quietly headed over to the keg to get his first drink in him.