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 Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2015 1:10 pm
Obviously Lori couldn't give any details about the mission but he did nod.
"He has two weeks. If he's not finished then they may get an extension or they may swap out, it all depends. I don't think they'll be that long. Missions are--" he paused, chuckled. "Not everyone's as easy as you were."
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Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2015 1:17 pm
Two weeks. What if it did take that long? Maia gave a nod. She wished all entities were as easy to find as she'd been, or at least the one they were after; Toby would be home already. "Well," she said. "You'll have to come over more often."
"I think he likes me, Lori. I kissed his cheek and he didn't care. He used to hate holding hands, even."
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Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2015 1:28 pm
It certainly sounded like he liked her, but it was still totally unsurprising that he hadn't made any romantic move. Lori would be worried about selkie love himself! Of course male selkies had that added seduction. He might just be doomed.
"Hm. What does Dari think?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2015 1:39 pm
"Dari seems to think he likes me," Maia said. "But I'm not sure he's completely unbiased. He says he'll help me. He has, he tells me things. I wish I could be sure whether my feelings are real."
Neither Lori or Dari seemed able to tell.
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Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2015 1:47 pm
Lori sighed and shook his head. "I'm not sure. If Toby was gone a very long time, maybe. Maybe. That's our best guess. Like I said, there was an incident in the past and distance seemed to solve it. 'Seemed to.' So much is just assumptions and unknown. It's a big downfall of the job. "It'd be hard for me to say if he likes you too. I'm not with him all the time." Plus he was mostly professional at work, which meant flirting only casually.
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Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2015 1:56 pm
Maia thought she might go mad if Toby was away a very long time. "So you haven't really had much experience with it?" she asked. He spoke of one incident, but it had to be a thing. Dari wouldn't have brought it up if it was just the one time. "Maybe you could find a selkie and research further?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2015 2:00 pm
"Well that'd be sort of cruel, wouldn't it? Forcing a selkie into love, maybe a lonely person too, and then pull them away from each other for weeks or months? We try to do as little damage as we can to people as a whole. We study things that occur naturally."
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Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2015 2:04 pm
Maia sighed. "No, I meant observing. People fall in love on beaches all the time, and some of those people are bound to be selkies. Granted, they've probably learned to blend in better than I did. You could observe me," She offered, as an after thought. "I'd really rather not be torn from Toby for months, though."
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Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2015 2:13 pm
"We have people observing. We do. We have hands and eyes everywhere," Lori reassured her, "but it's hard to know anything for certain. Selkie love can become real love, and it can not. It's a complicated thing. There's plenty of cases, but we've only had the one involving an employee to study most closely."
Rosie began playing tug-of-war with a pug.
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2015 1:41 am
Maia was astonished. Really? Selkie love could become real love? So it wasn't a sure thing, that she'd end up leaving Toby. "I can guess the employee," she said, after a moment. Toby had spoken about dealing with a number of selkies. A clan of them, some individuals. Dari had said he personally knew three or four, when she'd first met them. She was certain, with so many selkies, and with Toby's loneliness, at least one had picked up on it.
She veered her attention to Rosie. "Sometimes, I think it'd be easier to be anything but what I am. I wouldn't have to worry about selkie love. I'd know it was real." She shook her head. "But then I wouldn't have met Toby."
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2015 11:59 am
Lori nodded. Sure, it wasn't hard to guess. Maybe he had told her already.
"Everyone feels that way sometimes. Everyone has their burdens, though. People too. We talked a bit about race and class and such. Then there's people with all kinds of horrible illnesses. Nobody totally wants to be what they are." He smiled then and shook his head. "It's dumb luck you met Toby. He and Dari hadn't had a case in a while so he begged to go field with the aquatic team. There was a boat of agents and techs out there the whole time."
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2015 12:28 pm
"I wish people didn't have to deal with any of that," She said. Colds were bad enough. To suffer worse things, things that could kill you, that was horrible.
Toby had asked to come on a mission? Huh. Well. It wasn't like selkies were particularly dangerous. "I was lucky then," She said. Toby and Dari had quickly become important factors in her life.
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2015 12:40 pm
Lori wondered if any other agent might have become such an important figure in Maia's life. Maybe, maybe not. Toby and Dari were a special kind of pair. Most agents would have just left Maia to her own wiles once they'd reached headquarters, and he'd bet Toby had been at least a little more gentle than some others.
"Mm-hm. You were."
It was the next day when Maia's cell phone rang. Private name, private number.
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2015 12:50 pm
Maia fumbled for her phone on the first ring and answered immediately. Toby had warned her that it'd show up as private number or a long string of numbers. "Hello?" It was either Toby or Dari, and she wanted to hear that they were alright.
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2015 12:55 pm
"Hey, you!" It was Toby. His voice was a bit quieter than usual, likely for their sleeping situation and respect for others. "How've you been?"
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