Hadriel IC Contact.

[einselective]

[If you think a time-traveller wants to deal with voicemail you would be very much mistaken; her mailbox is intentionally full at all times with dummy messages. But you can reach her directly if she's answering the phone at that point in time...]

Comments

[Action, sometime in the afternoon on the 2nd]

[lifetothefullest]

[Stupid full mailbox.

Honestly, he should've expected it. Being difficult to reach would suit Marian, although now that Lance knows where the lab is--and that she's probably there--he'll just go talk to her in person.

So he shows up in the afternoon, when he's managed to convince himself to get up and leave the house, and he might look somewhat like a zombie at the moment. That's actually why he's there to talk to her, although he remembers she seems a little jumpy and so tries not to startle her when he steps into the lab.]

Marian?

[Action]

[einselective]

[Afternoon is a good time: after checking that everything was fine back at the Colloseum in the morning, Marian came back to the lab to work on a few other things... purely theoretical at this point, but as a last resort... so when she hears her name called, she stops scrawling math across the lab's whiteboard and turns her head, pen in hand and once again seeming mildly startled.

But it's just Lance, and that fades quickly. No pleasantries, just a blunt:]

What?

[Action]

[lifetothefullest]

[He's used to bluntness, so it doesn't bother him. He does shift awkwardly on his feet a moment though, before actually responding.]

Although it won't be an issue tonight, I wanted to give you advance notice that I won't be available to watch the equipment tomorrow night.

[A pause.]

Unless you can't find anyone else, anyway.

[He knows she has other volunteers but he doesn't want to leave her with no one if they're not an option for whatever reason.]

[Action]

[einselective]

There are a few other supposedly reliable individuals that don't mind staying through the night. I can contact them and let you know.

[Action]

[lifetothefullest]

Okay, awesome. Thanks.

[He's too tired to manage more intelligent words; he used his allotment for the day already five seconds ago while talking to her.]

I guess I'll um, let you get back to... Whatever that is.

[The math, he means.]

[Action]

[einselective]

[Marian is sure he has no idea what she's doing -- but that doesn't prevent her from shifting sideways to put herself between Lance and the board, obscuring it slightly. Normally her works is littered with bra-ket notation and matrices, but not today -- instead it's more conventional trigonometry, with actual numbers in places.]

Right. [She squints at him a little.] Whatever it is must be important, I suppose.

[Action]

[lifetothefullest]

[Normally her stepping in front of the board would just make him more curious, especially since he actually understands trigonometry well enough, but he's too tired to care. He's also too tired to lie convincingly, which is something that even on his best days he's not that great at.]

Yeah.

[Nailed it.]

But I mean, it's not important enough that I can't be there if you don't find someone else.

[But please find someone else.]

[Action]

[einselective]

I'm sure I will.

[She repeats, bringing out her phone, and starting to send out a couple messages right away, although still standing in front of the board, only bothering to glance up a couple times. That's Lance's invitation to leave.]

[Action]

[lifetothefullest]

[Great, awesome, he will take the opportunity as provided and bail. He feels a little guilty about the whole thing, but it's better this than being completely useless and something happening to the equipment because of that.]