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

[kindestgarden]

"My cooking has never been compared to charcoal before."

[touchedinthehead]

"See, there you are, we'll get along just fine."

[kindestgarden]

"Certainly more convenient than the alte- Annie! Did you hear what I shouted?"

[keep_busy]

"Yeah, can't see invisible people, I'm informed," Annie confirms.

[touchedinthehead]

"Oh, good."

[keep_busy]

"You were okay in the interval?" She appears to have claimed the phone from her mother.

[touchedinthehead]

"Yup, perfectly fine."

[keep_busy]

"Cool. Anything else?"

[touchedinthehead]

"Nothing that comes to mind! Thank you."

[keep_busy]

"You're welcome - oh, um. If my mother hadn't been home when you'd called would it have been a disaster?"

[touchedinthehead]

"Not a disaster, but I would have probably found a few creative ways to make sure that you would get the message eventually."

And then wait for her to call back while he was writhing in guilt because he didn't get up and try to find her house and tell her himself. Details.

[keep_busy]

"Maybe in the future you should call me before you learn things? And make sure I'll be around to hear them after you have learned them."

[touchedinthehead]

"Yeah, I - really should have. Sorry."

[keep_busy]

"I'm not the one who would've suffered for it. Please don't hurt yourself."

[touchedinthehead]

"I'll try. I'd rather not - constantly interrupt your life, though."

[keep_busy]

"Well - yeah, and I appreciate that, it would be pretty inconvenient if I couldn't take showers unless Rinty was by the phone, but I do not want to torture you to avoid experiencing an extra phone call."

[touchedinthehead]

"Realistically it will probably happen at some point in time, eventually. You - understand that you're not responsible for the artifact induced guilt, right? You're not torturing me, if I choose to go through it instead of doing the most efficient thing to tell you whatever the information or secret is, that's on me."

[keep_busy]

"I know I'm not torturing you, but - I don't want you to be tortured. I would like there to be very few obstacles between you and avoiding torture."

[touchedinthehead]

"Thanks. It's all right, though, I'm pretty good at managing it."

[keep_busy]

"Are you doing that stoicism thing?"

[touchedinthehead]

"... A little?"

[keep_busy]

"Please don't overdo that. Torture: bad. I do not approve of it."

[touchedinthehead]

"Thanks, but - I think I have a bit more of a cavalier attitude about it than you do? I knew what I was getting into when I signed up. I don't want to constantly interrupt the lives of those around me."

[keep_busy]

"It's not constant if you call me twice instead of once to make sure I'm not in the shower."

[touchedinthehead]

"I know. This particular example isn't - the right one, you're absolutely right, I should have called first."