A Terrible Thing to Waste [Klein, Ehefra]

It was pretty ... amusing the kinds of restrictions that they were trying to put in place. Hnad over all your stuff and your data anything vandenreich related. As if parts of her hadn't just been built into some of the groundwork for lots of things.

Whatever. She handed over what they wanted, and she had been all ready and set. Ready to.... take the step she had been wanting to take for a while. NEEDED to take.

And well. Then things all went to hell. The collapse of the Gotei. Not that she ever expected she'd hear that happening. And then, Liltotto finally showed up. And in the hands of someone she didn't expect. How goddamn long she'd pulled her hair out over that girl going missing. And now she didn't have the authority to go seeing her. She still planned on sending Alastair the designs she'd made up for emergency protective seals. Hopefully he'd have the gall to actually use them.

But something else needed to be addressed too she supposed. And so she followed that familiar tingle of his spiritual energy. Thankfully she was well enough that she didn't need her damn cane anymore, but it was still slow going as she looked for that funky dude.

Her eyes locked onto him the moment he started speaking, and for just one moment, the tired, emotionally-worn out woman before him looked every bit as focused and intent upon him as she had the day that he'd been brought into her Steingruft. Eyes so often bright and pretty as the sky, in just the wrong light, seemed cold and harsh as bare shale.

"I'm surprised that you're still here. I heard that you brought our Sternritter back. Thanks for that." She reached up and lightly patted him on the shoulder, but kept her hand there. Searching his face for a moment as she let her head tilt a little to the side.

And then she smiled, breaking that cold expression. Tired a smile as it was. "Nice to see you when I'm not on duty. I figured you'd be around again, Liltotto is someone I know. Surprising as it might be, we're friends. So when I say 'Thank you'. I quite mean it." She noted, her voice softening and growing a bit more earnest as that seriousness faded away. And of all things, her expression actually brightened. Certainly, that smile wasn't even remotely similar to the one she'd given him back at the lab.

Suffice to say, being an Administrator meant a lot of responsibilities and vigilance. But well, she hardly had any of that now.