pointofhonoria | come sail away inbox

"Okay." Erin fumbles her sheathed saber from her belt; when she's got it free she rolls over onto her side, cradling it close to her body like a stuffed animal.

"You're safe," she murmurs, her voice already fading. "Safe..."

Erin drifts off into an uneasy sleep. She talks, while she's out.

("I'm sorry I forgot you. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have forgotten.")

Crabb stays the whole hour. She stays the whole hour sitting there on the floor, sometimes with her head down against a raised knee, sometimes looking around the destruction, sometimes just watching Erin as she sleeps.

This is a mess. This is a whole, entire mess and she has to figure out how to deal with it.

She's sure of one thing, though. One thing that might help. So when the hour is up, she sighs and sits up straighter, voice firm and steady. "Erin. Hey."

Erin jolts awake. There's a knife in her hand inside of a shaved second, a standard-issue combat knife kept to a loving edge.

Her ears twitch. The knife vanishes.

"...'m sorry about that Crabb," she manages, before a huge yawn wins its mighty victory over her self-control. "Wasn't thinking straight. Even managed to forget I got told about another confirmed hostile, some kind of 'bard'. But. I've fought on worse, I'm. I'm ready to help."

To her credit, Crabb doesn't even jump at the sudden appearance of the knife. Perhaps she just figured that was a risk with waking Erin up, even if she told her how to do it.

"It's alright. This is a lot. César was literally murdered the other night and we've got some... suspicions, about who did that, that make me wonder about how it ties into the rest of this."

She hesitates, then sighs. "I've been thinking, whilst you slept. I'm almost certain Johnny doesn't need us marching up to him and pulling something to verify it's him. There's no way he's been replaced."

"I'm listening," Erin says. She gets her feet under her this time, standing like a teetering colossus; she really should not have slept in that armor, and when she stretches Crabb can hear the symphony of cracks that say her bones agree with that assessment. "Whatever you can tell me. I'll forward it to Ossie and SecUnit, since they're clean. I still don't have a battle plan but if you do...?"

Crabb drags herself back up to her feet, too, tilting her head to look up at Erin with her whole half a foot odd on her. "I've been in touch with him through this whole César affair. From barely minutes after they found the body. If these assailants are bad at pretending to be who they're pretending to be? Then Johnny can't be one of them. He was acting totally normal. Totally within the acceptable reaches of grief whilst helping solve your own fiancé's murder."

Erin claps her face with both hands to wake herself up further and makes a Noise. "...I suppose that does make sense. Who do we have on him, then? If he's clear, he's in danger."

That nap has done nothing to make her exit crisis mode, and as she comes back to herself Crabb can see the tension returning as she mentally prepares to fight.

Crabb presses her lips together. He has got Watson, but he's no match for another Changeling, is he? And Six is handling the Rich side of the situation.

This is what she's been considering, at it's core. How to handle Johnny, just as much as how to channel Erin's current state.

"I think you should go to him," she shrugs one shoulder, puts it forward like it's the simplest thought in the world. "You know I can handle myself, Erin. Johnny's a crack shot but he's not a fighter. I am, and I need to be out there with the freedom to move around without drawing attention. So as much as I'd love to have you at my back right now... I'd rather you went and made sure he was alright. Okay? Does that make sense?"

Erin bites her lip. The sense of Crabb's words wars with her open and bleeding heart, sitting there on her sleeve. She doesn't want to go.

But...

"...Johnny was the first person here to show me kindness," Erin whispers. "I should - you're right, I just - check in, will you? Just. A text, every hour or so? I. You're scrappy but you're not trained, we don't know what these hostiles are capable of. Please be safe."

"Please."

Crabb makes a low noise in her throat as she considers what she's saying, before she heaves a sigh and nods. Conceding. "I'll text. Just don't come charging after me if I'm a little late, alright? Only if I miss a couple check-ins."

It isn't ideal, but she can do that much. To keep Erin's mind at as much ease as it's going to get right now. "I'll be safe. Trust me."

"Alright. I'll go to him now and stick to him like glue. Thank you for...for coming, when I called. I."

Erin turns red and hurries towards the door. "We'lltalkaboutthekisslaterI'mstillverysorry."

And then Erin is gone, dictating a text into her phone in a voice that is louder than it probably needs to be.

As soon as Erin's out the door, Crabb covers her face with both hands and muffles a scream. Things really did just get a lot more complicated, but it's fine. She can work with this. She can absolutely work with this.

She takes the moment, then steps out of Erin's room to get back to work.

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