Sorry sorry sorry!!! DSL wasn't working last night!

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Anne didn't sprint through the streets this morning. The day had dawned with the skies more hazy than last week, but that was fine. The light from the suns was slightly muted, giving the world an older feel to it than 150 years of history warranted. Instead of passing people by as she quickly made her way to the office, she looked at them, wonderingly. Would this person try to kill her, if she knew that she was a plant? What would this man do, with his hands in his pockets and a frown on his brow? Would he find it inspiring that there were more types of people on this planet than he had thought, or would he feel threatened?

She scowled a bit and shook her head to banish those thoughts. It didn't matter what his reaction would be. What mattered was that there were things beyond his ken that were being kept from him because of fear. Her fear, and the fear of the people that she worked for, both of them were in the wrong. They both tried to pretend that since so few people knew of the problem, that there wasn't one.

She lifted her head to the sky and let the blue calm her. Today was not going to be a good day, but it had gotten off to a good start. Aside from the great way to wake up, she had been awarded a lovely breakfast as soon as she had gotten out of the bathroom. She burped quietly as she turned into the square facing the plant, then grinned.

Time for a confrontation, finally. No more dancing around the problem, no more lying about what she was, what she could be. No more pretending, no more need to stand by helplessly when others could use her special talents. The consequences of the truth might be high, but she was tired of the lies, tired to death. Just the thought of finally being free of them was heartening.

And then, well… she was sure there was going to be an argument, at least. It shamed her to admit it, but there was a part of her that delighted in the thought of fighting, that knew that she was capable enough to deal with what was going to be thrown her way. The thought of what was coming excited her, made her cheeks flush with more than the exertion of the walk.

She entered the plant and walked over to the door guard. "Hey, Josh, um… do you mind opening the door for me? I sort of left my badge on my jacket. Which is still sitting on the back of my chair in my office."

He sighed. "You know I'm not supposed to do that."

"Aw," she whined. "You know I work here; it's not like I'm trying to get in to sabotage anything."

He made a quick shooing motion towards the door. "Fine, in. But remember your badge. Next time, I swear, I'm going to make you get a new one!"

She danced to the door, laughing. "Thanks!" With a wave she slipped through the door and into the confines of the plant. She was careful to note which people paled a bit when they happened to glance her way, the quick double-takes and quicker glances away and tried to not grin when her mental tally of who was arrayed against the free plants was confirmed. There were only two people who surprised her; one woman she had expected to be a part of their group, and a man she hadn't even thought would be of any use to them.

She saw Effie as she got to the lab. It was interesting to see her go from animated and happy to pale and angry as soon as the woman noted her presence. She tersely broke off the conversation she had been having and stalked to another corner of the room.

Mentally Anne shrugged. She had known that Effie was going to have problems. The cold shoulder routine didn't bother her too much. Really.

She turned to make her way to her office, and was stopped by her boss.

"I had heard on Friday that you weren't going to be in for a while. Yet, here you are, and on time for once. Is everything ok?"

Anne shrugged. "That's still being worked out. But nothing is gained by not having me here, so I thought I'd come by and see what I can do."

"Did you get any time in on that problem over the weekend? I mean, I'm sure it was stressful, family problems and all that, wasn't it? But we need that problem fixed, needed it fixed by Friday."

"Me and a friend of mine looked at it last night and came up with something we think will work. I'm going to input the changes this morning and make sure that everything still operates around the board, but I'm confident that we have a fix."

"Difficulty to retrofit?"

"Average. Nothing tricky, but there's a bit more that needed to be moved around than usual."

Her boss sighed. "I'm sure you did your best."

Anne shrugged, her attention diverted from he conversation when she caught sight of Effie walking towards them, a full mug of hot coffee in her hand. She pushed lightly past the boss, and held the mug out.

"Here," she snarled, then spat in the cup before relinquishing it.

Anne looked the shorter woman straight in the eyes, said thanks, then took a large drink.

The pale face flushed a bit before she turned and flounced away, back held straight as she negotiated her way around the desks.

"What did you do to her, and why in the world did you drink that?" asked her boss. Anne could see the confusion on her face as soon as she was able to turn her eyes away from her friend's retreating form.

"Long story, and because nothing defuses a dramatic moment quiet like calm acceptance."

"You don't have to drink that," her boss pointed out as Anne took another sip.

"No, this is alright. We've already swapped spit, and luckily she's too much of a lady to be very nasty in her dramas. Excuse me; I need to go get that data input."

"Um, sure." Her boss shook her head as she passed, then collected herself. "Quickly! We have people waiting on it!"

Anne waved with her free hand, then entered her office.