slow progress

[keep_busy]

Eventually Annie goes home for the day. Her mother lives a long but doable walk from campus, but Annie makes the trip by tricycle for speed and safety, or bus when the ice is too bad to allow riding. This is a trike day.

She tells her mother as straightforwardly as she can what has happened.

Her mother wants to meet the boy, but accepts that this should probably wait until the situation with Zevaia changes one way or another.

A few hours after Annie gets home, she gets a call from the Dean's office. There are results in; she can go hear them at the office. Apparently they're not supposed to release them over the phone for some obscure reason of policy.

Coat goes back on Annie, Annie goes back on trike, trike goes back on campus.

Comments

[touchedinthehead]

Aldaras sighs. "I can understand that. Sorry."

[keep_busy]

She sighs.

"Is there anything else I should know?"

[touchedinthehead]

"... I'm an idiot occasionally?"

[keep_busy]

"I figured that one out without help."

[touchedinthehead]

"Yeah," he sighs.

[keep_busy]

"I'm inclined to ask you if you want a hug but I'm concerned that what with the necklace being operative this will cause you to self-harm so you look sad and huggable again in the future."

[touchedinthehead]

Aldaras stares at her.

"What in the world would possess me to do that?!"

[keep_busy]

"An hour ago I didn't imagine anything would possess you to go to the Dean's office for important necklace information when I was in class and then decline to interrupt me," she points out.

[touchedinthehead]

"That's - because I decided that suffering from guilt for an hour was better than spending one more minute in my room trying not to freak out about - things. Not me deciding to emotionally manipulate you for my own selfish desires."

[keep_busy]

"Do you want a hug?"

[touchedinthehead]

"If you want to genuinely give me one out of more than just responsibility," he eventually decides.

[keep_busy]

"I don't think 'you look all sad and huggable' is a responsibility thing," she says, and she holds out her arms.

[touchedinthehead]

He hugs her, gently. There is a teensy bit of clinging, involved, but he is still quite gentle.

"Sorry for accidentally dragging you into this mess," sighs Aldaras.

[keep_busy]

Hug. Pat pat.

"I'll be fine."

[touchedinthehead]

"I'm sorry, regardless."

[keep_busy]

Pat pat.

She lets him go and hauls herself to her feet, faltering a little but catching herself on the wall.

[touchedinthehead]

He looks up at her, worried about the faltering.

"Are you all right?"

[keep_busy]

"Yes? Do I not look it?"

[touchedinthehead]

"- You stumbled a bit there."

[keep_busy]

"Oh. I'm really, really klutzy. That's all."

[touchedinthehead]

Aldaras nods, trying to disguise - vague worry.

"Okay," he says, standing. "Well. Now that this - wonderful drama is completed..."

[keep_busy]

"I don't think there's anything else, is there? I'm just going to go home and do homework. I'll answer the phone if you need me. Call if you need me, okay?"

[touchedinthehead]

"I will." He hesitates, and then says carefully, "... I'm sort of wondering about your reaction to the new information about the necklace. If you don't want to tell me, though, that is entirely fine."

[keep_busy]

"I'd need to think about it more to go into much detail about how I feel about it - but it's better news than its opposite would be because it means I can evaluate a specific possible - necklace-target - instead of gambling."

[touchedinthehead]

"Fair," he agrees. Aldaras hesitates again, and then fixes her with a very serious, sort of intense look. "If you're worried - even with this information I will never try to force or manipulate you into touching the necklace. Actually, quite frankly I think I'd rather die." Pause. "I don't want to die. If you're wondering."