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"And what does it say about me if I'm having a hard time finding it weird?" she replied after a mouthful of what was likely more ketchup than potato. "Nah, but I bet it was a real surprise to hear that in person. Doesn't sound like very useful magic, though." Leila was already figuring the man in question might be another dreamer. It was the exact sort of weirdness that came packaged with them.

Not ten minutes into eating and her plates were already almost clean. It was amazing she hadn't given herself the hiccups. "I have, um. An information network from my last adventure, I think. Maybe they can help pull together some of the pieces you've uncovered. The census is probably a good place to check out next, too."

Pushing empty plates aside and leaning forward to rest an arm on the table, Leila gave a cheeky smile and said, "That's how collaboration works, kid. And in the real academic world people shouldn't care how old you are as long as you know your s**t and have something interesting to say about it. It sounds like you're becoming a local expert on this topic, so I'd rather treat you as such. By the way,"

With her arm on the table it became more obvious that she had more than a faux-jade bracelet on her wrist. There was also a very bizarre-looking insect which, seemingly recognizing it was about to be acknowledged, crawled its way up to the woman's pointed fingertip, waving its antennae in what almost could have been read as an amicable gesture if Zac didn't know any better.

"This is Friend. It's from a termite colony in the Otherworld that calls itself the Multitude of Eyes."

She proceeded to feed it a toothpick dipped in water.

"Yeah, it actually does. I took a small child to an enchanted forest clearing where I'm guessing someone in her family was waiting to reunite with her. She'd been under the care of the Multitude before that... don't ask me how."

She rattled that story off as quickly and cleanly as she did some of her lectures. That didn't make it any less utterly weird to recall, though.

"Anyway, I have some office hours to spend listening to students panic and try to weasel out of getting the crappy grades they deserve, but I hope the rest of your breakfast goes good. Don't worry, I'll get the check up front before I leave."

With that, she gathered her things somewhat hurriedly -- the talk had made her lose track of time -- and with a last note: "E-mail me if you want to consolidate notes. Ask Mercer for the one I actually check!" she chugged the rest of her orange juice and headed out.