xp_logs | Immram: An Invitation

At a profoundly dull college function, Wanda gets an invitation to lunch from a visiting professor she's never met.

Despite the fact that, at heart, Wanda was very much an academic, certain things bored her to tears. The panel discussion and reception she was attending, for example, was one of those certain things. It wasn't difficult for her to be social, it was just difficult for her to dredge up any particular interest in the people around her this afternoon. She thought it was going to be a welcome distraction from the exhaustive stress of the island and her friends disappearing but she had been sorely mistaken.

Any drier and she'd almost be concerned about a fire hazard. But that would have required something exciting to spark it off and as she sipped her drink, she figured that this room was not going to be that source.

"Good evening." The voice started out behind her, but its owner came around into view soon enough and offered a hand, looking up at the taller woman appraisingly. "Wanda Maximoff, isn't it?"

Automatically, Wanda reached over and shook the other woman's hand. "It is. I seem to be at a disadvantage, however…?"

"Oh, of course." The stranger's hand was cool, with a firm grip rather than the hasty press-and-recoil of fingertips to palm that some women seemed to practice. This one didn't seem prepared to relinquish the handshake at all. "I'm Tara Trask. Professor of Women's Studies, ordinarily at Bryn Mawr. I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to join you here for a while."

"Bryn Mawr? I've heard of it, of course, though I have never had the pleasure of visiting." Wanda tilted her head in amusement and after another second, gently disengaged her hand from that of Trask's. "It is always good to see other visiting professors, though I have stuck around longer than most of them it seems. Are you here for the semester or for the full year?"

"Time is so subjective." There was a strange edge of amusement to the comment. "I expect the full year to fly. I'll have a normal teaching load starting in the fall semester, but I'm doing a special course this summer." Trask smiled suddenly. "I have some former students I would very much like to give the opportunity to meet you. Do you suppose we could meet for lunch? Tomorrow if it's convenient, or soon...."

Wanda blinked slowly at the change in conversation. Lunches and meetings with professors weren't an unusual occurrence but she couldn't put her finger on Trask. There was something interesting about her and that was enough to get Wanda to agree, even beyond professional courtesy. "I should thank you— I believe you've saved me from a boring afternoon. I would be happy to meet your students."

"Wonderful! Alibaba, perhaps?"

Well, at the very least she was going to have a good meal out of this. "Fantastic," she replied, offering her hand once more. "I look forward to tomorrow."

Trask shook hands again with a warm smile and intense gaze, but at least she let go after a reasonable duration this time. "So do I."