About a minute later, her phone chimed.

Anytime before Friday works. the first message read.

Give me a time, date, and place... we'll be there. the next one said, before there was a pause.

...assuming that WE is the correct term. the third one added.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Levi was nervous about whether his friend would be able to be included or not.

Levi raised an eyebrow when he saw the message, before looking at his roommate.

"Hey." he said.

"The Reapers Hanger in a couple of hours." he told her.

"That good for you? To meet this woman and discuss moving?" he asked her.

"Sure..." she replied.

That works. Levi then sent Kiah.

See you later. Levi responded, before looking at his roommate.

"Looks like we have a date." he said, before his face went pink for a splt-second. He then shook his head a little, and sighed.

"You know what I mean." he muttered.

"I suppose we need to get ready." he continued.

"Finish up eating, and prepare."

"...." Levi was silent, and just looked away slightly.

"Uh, right." he said.

"I should shower." he reasoned.

"As for how to get there, I don't really care." he then said. "If you think we can get away with your bike, let's do it, but if there's a chance of drinking tonight, a cab may be better." he reasoned.

"You know, just so you can have a drink, and not leave your bike stranded."

"...once." Levi replied, looking around.

"But it was about a mile away." he said.

"Some guys tried to accost me, but when they saw I was crazy, they left me alone, scared of me." he told her, a hint of sadness and despondence when he said the word 'crazy'.

"Not sure about THIS area, though." he then admitted.

He then searched for Kiah, narrowing his eyes until he could see who he thought was her.

"I think I see her over there." he told her, gesturing to the woman in question.

'...wow.' Levi thought, upon seeing her.

'Talk about night and day.' he thought further.

"Was just about to check my phone." he told her with a small laugh.

"Anyway, Dr. Remmington, this is my roommate, Alyssa." he then introduced his roommate.

"Ally, this is Dr. Remmington."

Levi looked around as they went inside, and whistled softly.

"Woah." he said.

"This place is nice." he commented.

"Vintage glasses as decorations, alcohol-related Americana about... and it looks pretty posh, too, without being pretentious." he said further.

"Food smells good, too." he added, sniffing the air.

"Anyway, let's find a place to sit." he then suggested.

Levi noticed that Kiah was looking a bit confused, but put it aside, focusing on what she was saying.

He then looked at Ally, before looking back at the folder, taking it, and looking inside.

As he looked at it, his eyes widened slightly.

"Ally, look." he said, gesturing to one of the institutes listed.

"We've always talked about this one, but we never had the funds." he told her, before looking at Kiah.

"...is there some way to get financial help for this?" he asked. "Or do you know of a place that WILL help us?" he then asked further.

Kiah, of course, knew that Sharp would be able to get the schools to help them out. It was part of their affiliations, but the compensation depended on grades, obviously.

Levi's expression was that of immense relief, until the end.

To which it changed to extreme confusion.

"....huh?" he asked.

"Wait... what?" he asked her. "What did you say?" he asked further.

"Conduit...?" he muttered.

"Like... something water or electricity flows through?"

Levi seemed to be stunned at hearing all this.

"Wait..." he said.

"So... it's real?" he asked.

"Things like necromancers and magic and all that are... are real?" he asked her.

"I've read some books that mention them and such, and... well... I think some of them sometimes referred to magic as... 'mana'... I think..." he went on.

"But it's all... actually REAL?"