Erin tilts her head, takes a sip of her coffee, and finally picks at her food. The motions are mechanical, but by God the girl is actually eating. Fuel for the fire.
"...Someone else in your family," she murmurs, "or is this news I'm about to not like personally?"
She braces her fragile heart for the hit. She can take it.
"Two for the price of one, I think. But I might be jumping to conclusions, and I really don't want you to leap, if I am."
What he's mulling now is the fact that Erin is here with him. She's the one who keeps using the chess metaphor, talking about taking players off the board, but he's not sure that's the right metaphor. Chess pieces need to be destroyed, to be rendered ineffective.
"...I won't go off without your say-so. On the name my other gave me."
Alarm bells are ringing in Erin's head. There's only so many people she's close to on this ship for a value of close. Sadly for their friendship she has no idea who all is in Johnny's family so that list doesn't narrow anything down for her...
...But her very small circle of friends sure does.
"When we were investigating the cabin, after Cesar was killed, Crabb and I were working together. She was the one who found Rich's clothes. She hesitated to tell me. That night, she wasn't talking like herself, quite. The words she chose, more than the accent. The phrases. 'Whilst', you'd never hear that word in Honoria Crabb's mouth, not in a million years. And she has you sitting here, guarding me. While she's off on her own, investigating. Alone, without any oversight."
He puts his hands down on the table. He still hasn't taken a bite of his meal.
"And you verified her with a kiss--the first one you'd given her, how do you know for sure how the real deal would react to that? Or that anyone else in the world wouldn't react the same way?"
Erin gapes. "Because - she - we talked, about Cragen, about...how her trust had been abused. How she tried to let someone in..."
(The facts are fitting. Tactically...)
"During that conversation I showed her that I can disguise myself too," Erin plows on, her voice strained. "How would she not have been... shocked? Revolted, for me to touch her like that? I know I tanked anything there could be between us when I put that on the table. How not?"
An anguished expression wracks Erin. The haze around her gutters, fizzles, piles on the floor like sludge.
She clutches her hair and screams, a helpless and pathetic sound that goes on far longer than human lungs be should sustain it.
In the aftermath her voice is leaden as a dirge.
"Distracting me makes sense," she mourns. "But. She has her best chance to kill me. Asleep in my destroyed cabin. No cabin mate. No one else who can access my room. It would have been the perfect chance, with you distracted and...few people who would care. She let me live. Why? Why..."
"This is pure speculation, but you trust my reads, so I'm going to give it anyway."
After he pauses to grab a whole waffle in his hand and take a bite, and the rest of this is delivered gesturing with said waffle.
"Because this is wholly uncoordinated. This isn't an attack. This is ghosts ending up in bodies, somehow, and whoever's in Crabb's is more subtle, trying to keep their head low and not get caught. They let you live because you weren't a piece to take off the board, but a whole person they didn't need to murder for the hell of it."
There's a long silence from Erin. Eventually she starts eating again, until the check-in text makes her phone give off an alert.
She freezes.
"...I need to hear that out her mouth," Erin manages. "Or I'll lose what's left of my sanity. Back me up. Keep me from...she must have thought I'd gone berserk..."
"Don't make it a confrontation--don't make them, whoever they are, feel like a cornered animal. I think that's likely to not end well for anyone. This one's canny and trying to fly under the radar. Self-preservation instinct strong. Perhaps...invite her to join us for brunch?"
"...Yeah. I understand the idea even if I'd prefer a cabin. This... doesn't call for force. She gave me comfort, and that's not nothing. One moment."
Erin takes out her phone and dictates a text to Crabb.
Strategy meeting with Johnny. Buffet. Coffee available. Sugar unlikely to survive my presence. Keep it cool. No need to draw more attention to the investigation. Would have appreciated knowing who Rich was before I proposed violence like a fool.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2022-10-14 07:16 pm (UTC)"...Someone else in your family," she murmurs, "or is this news I'm about to not like personally?"
She braces her fragile heart for the hit. She can take it.
(Not any more)
|Fuck off and die.|
no subject
Date: 2022-10-14 07:22 pm (UTC)What he's mulling now is the fact that Erin is here with him. She's the one who keeps using the chess metaphor, talking about taking players off the board, but he's not sure that's the right metaphor. Chess pieces need to be destroyed, to be rendered ineffective.
Not merely distracted.
no subject
Date: 2022-10-14 07:26 pm (UTC)Alarm bells are ringing in Erin's head. There's only so many people she's close to on this ship for a value of close. Sadly for their friendship she has no idea who all is in Johnny's family so that list doesn't narrow anything down for her...
...But her very small circle of friends sure does.
"Just walk me through it, Johnny."
no subject
Date: 2022-10-14 07:32 pm (UTC)He puts his hands down on the table. He still hasn't taken a bite of his meal.
"And you verified her with a kiss--the first one you'd given her, how do you know for sure how the real deal would react to that? Or that anyone else in the world wouldn't react the same way?"
no subject
Date: 2022-10-14 07:39 pm (UTC)(The facts are fitting. Tactically...)
"During that conversation I showed her that I can disguise myself too," Erin plows on, her voice strained. "How would she not have been... shocked? Revolted, for me to touch her like that? I know I tanked anything there could be between us when I put that on the table. How not?"
no subject
Date: 2022-10-14 07:43 pm (UTC)"Is that an emotional denial, or actual certainty that I'm wrong, Erin?"
no subject
Date: 2022-10-14 08:00 pm (UTC)She clutches her hair and screams, a helpless and pathetic sound that goes on far longer than human lungs be should sustain it.
In the aftermath her voice is leaden as a dirge.
"Distracting me makes sense," she mourns. "But. She has her best chance to kill me. Asleep in my destroyed cabin. No cabin mate. No one else who can access my room. It would have been the perfect chance, with you distracted and...few people who would care. She let me live. Why? Why..."
no subject
Date: 2022-10-14 08:05 pm (UTC)After he pauses to grab a whole waffle in his hand and take a bite, and the rest of this is delivered gesturing with said waffle.
"Because this is wholly uncoordinated. This isn't an attack. This is ghosts ending up in bodies, somehow, and whoever's in Crabb's is more subtle, trying to keep their head low and not get caught. They let you live because you weren't a piece to take off the board, but a whole person they didn't need to murder for the hell of it."
no subject
Date: 2022-10-14 09:42 pm (UTC)She freezes.
"...I need to hear that out her mouth," Erin manages. "Or I'll lose what's left of my sanity. Back me up. Keep me from...she must have thought I'd gone berserk..."
no subject
Date: 2022-10-14 09:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-10-14 11:33 pm (UTC)Erin takes out her phone and dictates a text to Crabb.
Strategy meeting with Johnny. Buffet. Coffee available. Sugar unlikely to survive my presence. Keep it cool. No need to draw more attention to the investigation. Would have appreciated knowing who Rich was before I proposed violence like a fool.
Keep safe. Please hurry.