Diamond Bright

Despite the influx of new students, Effy too was finding it disturbingly quiet with chunk of people she had known disappearing off to their futures. Her perfectly planned timetables did have some gaps labeled 'friends' and it was in one of those, she brought herself up a couple of floors.

"Not taking off as well, are you?" she asked. Where she'd normally do some subtle doorway loitering... this was Emma, and she suspected it wouldn't have quite the same sneaky effect.

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"No, I've got a job and they're letting me TA again and mold impressionable young minds," Emma replied, tossing a bunch of clothes into the 'donate' pile. "This is spring cleaning, and an excuse to go shopping."

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"What's the point of clearing out if you can't fill up the gaps you made?" Effy commented, a little smirk tugging at her lips.

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"Exactly," Emma confirmed, pulling out a scanty, spangly top and considering it before putting it back in her closet. "I'm feeling a desperate need to spoil myself with pretty things, so why not make more space? I'm half-convinced that shopping could solve the problems of the world."

Well, not really, but it helped Emma repress her problems.

"So where have you been? I haven't sensed you slipping about the dorms lately. I thought you ran off and abandoned me to the freshmen."

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"I... went back to England for a bit," she answered. "A bit longer there than I'd figured." A week here, more like a month in Bristol.

"Apparently being a mental-case isn't too healthy." If she was going to admit to something, might as well stick to the bluntest self-deprecating words she could find.

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"I still have large blank-spots in my memory from the last time I went off the deep-end," Emma said, equally bluntly. "Whenever it happens, it appears to be unhealthy for everyone involved."

"But are you feeling better?"

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Effy's nod was only a little hesitant. "Yeah. Way better," she confirmed. "Supposed to be going all straight edge, though." Which was less fun. "No being a bad influence."

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"That sucks," she replied. "But I'm rather sure you can conjure up plenty of trouble and be a bad influence regardless."

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"On who? Everyone's sodded off home as far as I can tell." It felt that way, at least.

"Don't think you need my bad influences." There was new people, but-- ugh, getting to know new people. She'd always been shit at that. Old antisocial habits were tough to break.

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Strangely enough, her phone rang. Jack was sure Emma was fine -- but after the last month, he wasn't willing to go too long without checking in on what was going on in Fandom. He was starting to formulate an idea that might help with that, but it wasn't one he could act on without making a few calls. The one to Emma was first.

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A distinctive ringtone caught her attention, and Emma bumped her sound down a bit to answer the phone. "I didn't do it," she said as she flipped it open. "You can't prove a thing."

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There was a pause, and a skeptical tilt to Jack's voice as he answered.

"Interesting. Then how do you explain the fact your fingerprints were on the teakettle?"

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"From a prior engagement, of course," she replied. "Those could have been there for ages."

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"Now what are you doing, frequenting the Home for Unwed Mothers?" Jack asked, trying not to laugh. "Is there anything I should know?"

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"Nothing that's any of your business, Mister Priest," Emma retorted cheerfully. "Perhaps I was doing charity work, or merely exploring."

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"Not much to explore there," Jack said, equally cheerful. "But what else have you been up to, when you aren't ministering to the less fortunate among us and finding all sorts of trouble?"

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