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]

"Do you want to be in an entirely different building from the mindreader?"

[keep_busy]

"For preference, yes. I know the safe radius, there's just a part of my brain that's always afraid they'll chase me and I can't really run."

[touchedinthehead]

"You can be in an entirely different building," he says, soothingly.

[keep_busy]

"Your apartment's closer than my house, I could park there," she suggests.

[touchedinthehead]

"Sure. And I know my own phone number and it'll take a bit to get a mindreader - somewhere anyway."

[keep_busy]

"Sure. Do you want to walk me there or do you have a spare key so I can trike over myself?"

[touchedinthehead]

Aldaras searches through his pockets, and produces a spare key. Annie-ward, it goes. If she wanted to steal from him, he's pretty sure she's got an easier method already. Considering the circumstances.

"No throwing parties while I'm gone," he deadpans.

[keep_busy]

"There go all my plans," she smirks, and she pockets the key and trikes off to his place.

[aestrix]

There it is, his place! The apartment is in the same condition it was before.

If she wants, she can probably snoop a bit.

[keep_busy]

She doesn't go snooping, just flops onto the nearest thing-to-sit-on to the phone and pulls out her book.

[aestrix]

And soon enough:

Ring, ring.

[keep_busy]

She picks up. "Salutations."

[touchedinthehead]

"Completely immune to mind-reading. Also, salutations."

[keep_busy]

"That," she says, "is a nice artifact effect."

[touchedinthehead]

"Yes, yes it is."

[keep_busy]

"Any other experiments that don't have to wait on the Dean waking up tomorrow? Should I go home?"

[touchedinthehead]

"We're also going to see if I can see through invisibility, but none of the others are really testable with such a defensive artifact."

[keep_busy]

"Do you want me to wait for the invisible person to show up, or will that take a while?"

[touchedinthehead]

"It'll probably take a while, they're less on-hand than the mindreader was. They're actually a bit freaked out about my immunity to the mindreader, too, it's kind of funny."

[keep_busy]

"I hope they aren't going to do anything unfortunate just because they can't keep mental tabs on you."

[touchedinthehead]

"No. I'm putting out an ad for volunteers that want to take care of the knife, they legally have no grounds to confiscate the necklace. And there's not much else they can do with me."

[keep_busy]

"Okay. I'll just go home then unless there's a reason for me to stick around. I'll leave my phone number by your phone for you in case you wake up in the middle of the night and have to tell me something."

[touchedinthehead]

"Sure. Thank you, Annie. You're a delight."

He sounds like he's got the affectionate, lovey look in his eyes again. Just from his voice.

[keep_busy]

"You're welcome. See you next time the Dean has news to dispense."

And she hangs up the phone and scribbles down her number - and goes and trikes home.

[touchedinthehead]

A few hours later, there's a call at her home phone.