Hal's eyes cut toward the aborted movement, blinking rapidly. He wouldn't have protested if she'd touched him, just stepped as neatly as possible out of the way. Having met met all sorts he preferred those who gave another's personal space the berth it deserved. If nothing else it was a distraction from the fresh disappointment of his failure to raise Tom; he could have tried Annie too, he supposed, but the likelihood of her ability to use such devices seemed ...small.

"Ah." Acknowledgement, transparently for the sake of politeness. Hope was not actually a strategy for continuing not to eat people, but it might work to tell himself that if one of his friends were to show, their disappointment would be crushing. (And m...ight result in staking!) "No discernible pattern to or timeline for that sort of thing?"

Of course not, Hal.