#To be clear the “Someone kill her now please” is a purely hyperbolic expression of embarrassment.

[autumnalwalker]

Heads Up Seven Up Tag

Thank you for the tag, @kahvilahuhut.

Passing the tag to @blind-the-winds, @ceph-the-ghost-writer, @talesofsorrowandofruin, @a-crows-corner, @meerawrites, @aestatismors, @cljordan-imperium, and an open tag for anyone else who wants it.

From the next Empty Names main chapter (with one extra line since this took me so long to reply to):

“What did you learn?” Ashan asks. 

“Nothing.  Not yet,” she hastily amends at the sight of an elegantly arched eyebrow.  “Data’s all been collected, yeah.  But it’s still processing.”  She gestures to the loading bar that’s appeared on the screen. “Going to be a bit for the computer to translate it all into something human readable.”

“Is that normal for using a computer, or is this supposed tattoo on the back of my neck truly so complex?”

“A little of both?  But mostly it’s because I scanned a whole bunch of extra data while I was at it.  Once it’s done we’ll have a full physical and metaphysical baseline for you that we can use for comparison if you ever get sick, injured, or cursed or something.  Should make the healing process easier, having a save state to restore your body back to.  Could probably even duplicate the enchantments on your robe if it ever gets lost or damaged.”

A flicker of… some emotion… crosses Ashan’s face.  Impressed?  Bemused?  Annoyed?  Offended?  Did she say something wrong?  Is talking about replacing a wizard’s robes some kind of taboo?  Or is she reading too much into it?  Once again Lacuna silently curses herself for being so incompetent at reading people.  It doesn’t help that whatever the expression was came and went so quickly, like a tiny ripple subsumed by a great lake.  Except the Great Lakes are large enough that they probably have all sorts of waves and currents so probably not a good analogy for Ashan’s -

“Do I have something on my face?”

Oh goddess she did it again; zoned out while facing in someone’s direction so it looks like she’s staring.  She spins her chair back around to keep the creeping redness in her face toward the computer monitors and away from Ashan.

“No.  Nothing on your face.  Well, other than makeup, obviously.  And that’s fine.  Perfect even.  I was just thinking hard.  About a thing.”   Did she just call his makeup perfect to his face?  Someone kill her now, please.