(I'm not sure which comment to reply to, so here goes! Oh and
@Butterscotchbitesfinger isn't Tara wearing her Protector costume?)
Alina, too, hurried upstairs to finish getting read. Her room was surprisingly neat, when one considered the apparent chaos of the workroom. Her bed was a single, an elegant old thing in French style. In fact, the whole room could have belonged to a Parisienne. She quickly sat down by the old vanity and pulled a brush through her hair.
"How is it that even a plait won't keep it neat?" she groaned to herself, as it dragged through knots. She quickly plaited it again in a fishtail to keep it out of the way, and then hurried down without another glance at her appearance. She was going to walk to HQ, it wasn't as if she had a car.
(Or maybe Tara would be really nice, give her a 'teleport' lift, fall ill again when she gets there and let Calder do his stuff?)
Calder had already arrived and was staring rather morosely out of one window as others began traipsing in.