"Well, you seem to know her better than anyone else, could you ask her? She doesn't socialize with anyone, and then all of a sudden you two seem to be hanging around each other just before midnight." He definitely put emphasis on midnight and stared straight at Thea.

"There's a few other things, of course, but assisting us with this will solve any other crimes she may have committed. You won't be held as an accomplice or anything, could even get a reward for anything major you could find out."

Of course he emphasized midnight. Just... of course.

She's a bit more suspicious than she was before, now, and it might be obvious.

"I don't know. I can probably ask her about it, but I'm not sure she'll answer. Anyway, if she's involved in any crimes, I don't want to be a part of it."

He's all smiles. "Of course you shouldn't be involved with any crimes. All I'm asking for you to do is to ask her. She should be at school today, you could talk to her at lunch and come right back if that's all you want to do."

She could...

"Uh, yeah, okay? I'm not sure she'll tell me anything, though."

"That's quite alright. Asking is all I want you to do. There may be other things you could have helped with that aren't as direct, but it would be more involved and you said you didn't want to be."

"Okay," she says, not seeming like she wants to commit to anything else.

She tilts her head and asks, "Was that all? ... How do I find you later?"

He writes his number down on a sticky note and passes it to Thea.

"I'll also be here for potentially the rest of the day. That is all, unless you want to bring something up?"

"Mm, nope? I don't think so."

She's pretty sure that's sincere, actually. Even though he seems like he does know about the Midnight Hour, she doesn't want to be associated with that, really.

Nor does she necessarily want to be associated with Cynthia. Thea has a thing about rules.

"Alright then. You can sit in here until the bell goes, should only be a minute or two." He's correct.

Cynthia is indeed at school and in the cafeteria for relevancy.

And off Thea goes to the cafeteria, because it's now lunch.

She could just blank her friends and go confront Cynthia immediately, but she doesn't actually want to, so at first she doesn't go over to speak to Cynthia. Eventually, though, she does decide to go over to Cynthia.

"So," she says, standing beside her and therefore looming over her a bit. "Do you want to know what just happened?"

Cynthia is just... Eating. Not paying attention until Thea actually talks to her.

What just happened? Uh...
>She came from her friends.
>Looks angry. Probably is.
>Immediate attention required.
>Standing closer than usual...

"They dared you to ask me out?" No clues here.

She laughs flatly and takes a seat.

"Mmnope. I found out that someone has been breaking into buildings to look at people's records. And presumably also committing various other crimes."

"Oh. Usually people talking to me in the latter half of lunch have a dare or something." Munch munch. "Dunno your friends' names, can you point?"

She raises an eyebrow and asks, "Why exactly?"

"Because I'm not popular? I don't know anybody." Munch munch.

Cynthia has no idea Thea means her.

Thea sighs. Pointing to the named individuals, she says, "Siobhan, Jean, Chris, Sophie and Jessica."

Shaking her head, she continues, "Anyway. Why? And why did you break into the school for my records?"

"You just said you just found out someone was committing crimes and you just came from there. So, which one?"

Second question answer not forthcoming.

...

She squints, leans in, and says quite clearly, "The someone is you."

>Leaning in way too close
>Not sitting with her friends
>Sudden seriousness
>Emphasis on 'someone'
>Confrontation of Cynthia doing things for Thea
>LEANING IN WAY TOO CLOSE

Cynthia flings herself backward after a moment, crashing onto the floor amidst a bunch of chairs and quite loudly exclaims "Aren't we suppose to DATE FIRST?! I mean, I'm still eating! It'd be even worse than having like, no practice or anything!"

Thea gets up and asks, "What the fuck?"

Can you really be that obtuse?

She shakes her head and walks off, scowling angrily.

The responses of the people around them vary from approximately Thea's to confusion and slight bemusement.

Thea's friends notice the event and start murmuring about what to do, but then notice Thea moving away from the situation and decide that it's probably not for them to do anything. Chris – one of Thea's friends – seems to want to follow her, but decides to give her some space after seeing her expression.

... What? Uh... What did I do? Mighta been looking at her records, but... Then she... What?

Yes, Cynthia is that obtuse. She atleast finds no real problem with that issue. Cynthia tries to stand back up, then crumples back down. OW ow leg. Ow. Stupid leg.

She grabs her backpack, tosses the bits of her lunch remaining, then hobbles off to try and find Thea after a few minutes.

She might find her eventually, but only if she's good at locating people. Thea isn't really in the mood to be found, and there isn't much of the lunch break left.

Cynthia may be good at hearing Shadows... But finding a person in a noisy building full of people she is not.

Cynthia atleast is persistent. She knows Thea's next class (and locker number, so the direction she'll likely come from) and will try to catch her after lunch ends. With hands folded in prayer and mouthing 'sorry' as she tries to approach.

Thea can indeed be caught if you wait outside her next lesson for her to appear.

Doesn't mean she's in a good mood.

She walks to her class, sees Cynthia, and asks rather scathingly, "What?"