Celebrity

[touchedinthehead]

Aldaras lets the university have hold of the necklace again so they can finish learning everything about it. He'll start molding it when the Dean's learned all of its quirks - trying it now could accidentally make some aspect of it worse. Besides, it takes time, it's not like he can manage any progress in the time that it'll take for the Dean to identify anyway. Best to know where he's going when he starts going there.

News spreads pretty quickly about the knife's new location at the bottom of the ocean. Aldaras and Sintre become celebrities, along with being rich. Sintre is nigh-impossible to find in his hermithood. Aldaras - is not. The necklace is his. The mission to go encase the knife in concrete was organized by him. He's now deemed to be an important person, and as bewildering as that is, he works to roll with it.

He ends up invited to a party. It's the type of party with lots of important, famous people attending. He can bring one guest with him.

Right, he knows who he wants to bring, but first he has to ask her. Time to go find Annie.

Comments

[touchedinthehead]

He snickers, thanks her for her help with a kiss, and goes to retrieve tea.

A few minutes later, he returns with tea and is looking much more lucid.

"Is that my shirt?" he asks, amused. Annie seems to be wearing it.

[keep_busy]

"Well, I only have the one outfit here and it's not in the best shape. You have lots of shirts here."

[touchedinthehead]

"Fair! It looks better on you, anyway."

He sits next to her, snuggling as much as is safe with hot tea in hand.

"I like the bait and trap idea," praises Aldaras.

[keep_busy]

"Good. Hopefully the department will have an idea of what exactly to say the thing does and how to catch the thief if the bait works..."

[touchedinthehead]

"Yeah. If not - I throw it at my sister, 'catching thieves' seems to be her style. At least the combative portions of it."

[keep_busy]

"And she's conveniently already necklaced."

[touchedinthehead]

"Mhm! Though. I think the mind reader would notice if every single person around the bait was necklaced."

[keep_busy]

"I mean, there's a perfectly good reason for that - the artifact is appealing and has to be guarded by necklaced people. We just need to make it look like it isn't guarded very well - having a non-necklaced dupe loitering around too would be weird."

[touchedinthehead]

"Fair. Okay. I'm just worried that if it doesn't seem like it's worth the risk to get to it, we'll lose the chance to grab them."

[keep_busy]

"What we could do is have it announced that the artifact does thus and such a thing, and will be transferred to an undisclosed location, and then tell some un-necklaced people when and where it's being moved."

[touchedinthehead]

"I extra, special love you."

[keep_busy]

"I love you too."

[touchedinthehead]

He grins and kisses her.

"I'll call the university after breakfast and a shower? Or should we actually visit, it might be smart to actually visit instead."

[keep_busy]

"Yeah, let's go in person." Pause. "Want company in the shower?"

[touchedinthehead]

"I would love company in the shower." Pause. "... On the caveat that I would also like to take care of the mindreader in a timely fashion. So just one round of sex before we go set a trap for them."

[keep_busy]

"As you wish, my dear."

[touchedinthehead]

"Later, we can have more," he promises.

[keep_busy]

"I will hold you to that."

[touchedinthehead]

"Good!"

Breakfast and a (rather delightfully long) shower are had, and then they're off to the university.

[keep_busy]

It turns out that the Dean has determined (while the necklace and its higher-priority investigation have been unavailable to him) that the chalice actually enables its touched to make controllable visual illusions within a one-foot radius of themselves. But they haven't disseminated this information. They agree to cooperate with setting the trap - they release the chalice's real side effect, and a lie about its primary effect saying that it enables telekinesis. It is announced that it will be stored somewhere besides the university, and it is leaked to a few un-necklaced people when it will be loaded onto a car and driven away.

[cut_and_dried]

Zevaia's found (after a bit of trouble, considering they didn't know which hotel she was in) and asked to help. She agrees. She's kind enough to not make much comment of Aldaras and Annie's - whatever they have. Permanent creepy love necklace voodoo relationship. But they're cute and happy together, so - she's letting it slide.

[keep_busy]

The day arrives.

A thief makes an attempt on the cup and is caught by a cunning arrangement of traps and carried away. The thimble and the tapestry are both retrieved after he's been in custody a few days. He confesses to the existence of no accomplices; there are no more high-profile thefts to put the lie to his (written) statements, but there is lingering wariness of mute people in the public consciousness.

But necklaced people have nothing to worry about.

Annie has opinions on how to celebrate.

[touchedinthehead]

Aldaras does, too.

(He gets his sister her own tiny apartment, of her very own. The one he shared with her? Going to be in use. For reasons.)