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[ring_for_giles]

Good evening, this is Giles speaking

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[ring_for_giles]

I shall be there presently.

[ Only a minute or two later, there's a knock at Erin's door. ]

[crushed_pearls]

Erin's in...

'A state' might normally be an unfair description, but Giles is intimately familiar with the Fairest. Her dyed hair whips in a hurricane gale that isn't present, lines mark her face. Erin's blindfold is faintly askew.

Her clothes are covered in soil?

"Be welcomed under my hospitality," Erin croaks. She steps aside from the door to welcome Giles inside.

[ring_for_giles]

Concerning — especially given Erin's message — but Giles doesn't comment on the state she's in, just steps inside as he's bid.

"Good afternoon, what is it you require of me?"

[crushed_pearls]

The barest whisper: "Tell me if you see this too."

Erin approaches her own closet. She raises her hand as if to knock. Opens her mouth. Can't force the words out.

Deep breath in.

(Maybe we're just crazy...)

"Yo, ho," Erin begins, the music in her voice picking up where her will alone proves insufficient. "All together, hoist the colors high..."

Knock.

"Heave, ho, thieves and beggars..."

Knock.

"Never shall we die..."

Erin opens the closet door. Beyond it is a Thorn-lined path, at the end of which are a pair of ruined spritelock cannon, guarding the patched wreck of a pirate galley that rests on its side. Tripwires line the path, some rotted through, others taut. A tiger pit stands open, its spikes coated in drying blood.

Erin shakes where she stands.

[ring_for_giles]

It's not hard to guess what's coming given the song she sings, but Giles still isn't prepared for what lies behind the door when Erin opens it. Not that any sign of that shows, of course.

"I do indeed. I take it you've only just gained access?"

He's tempted to step over the threshold, to see what he can find within the Hollow, but given how much power Erin holds in the Hedge it strikes him as more dangerous than it's worth if he's not explicitly invited in.

[crushed_pearls]

"God damn it," Erin chokes out. Her voice raises, yelling suddenly: "YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED BACK THERE YOU WORTHLESS WRECK! I'LL -"

The rage runs dry as fast as it came. She rests her head against the door frame.

"...Yes. There were instructions, in the mail. It's. It's the fucking Hoard. My old home. It. Needs checking over."

[ring_for_giles]

"I will of course assist in any way I can."

Giles debates not saying anything more, he doesn't need clarification, the pirate ship is not exactly subtle, but...

"I presume by 'old home' you mean it belonged to your previous persona?"

[crushed_pearls]

"Yeah. Where we all put up our boots. Kept...our things. I can't imagine it all showed up, that would be awfully convenient. But. I did get a shipment of goblin fruit jam in the care package. Three jars are yours if you help take inventory. I'll. Disable the traps."

Erin doesn't wait for an answer, can't; if she hesitates any longer she'll lose her nerve. She steps in and starts working on the tripwires.

[ring_for_giles]

Erin doesn't need to wait for the answer, because it comes not verbally but as a twist of the Wyrd as her words are bound to a Pledge. It's not that Giles doesn't trust her, it's just that, well, he doesn't trust her. Not here, in the halls of her misdeeds anyway. So he'd like ensure he gets something tangible out of the risk, but he's not going to argue if she un-binds it in turn, and neither will it stop him from helping.

He'll follow from a few feet behind, so as not to get in the way while Erin deals with the traps.

[crushed_pearls]

"...I had plans for this place, before I got here." Erin won't look at Giles, keeps working. "The gold to the New Avalon Freehold, books of magic to Colors and her crew. Pillage all the fruit they could carry and then burn it to the fucking ground. Now...well. Maybe the tech boys have a use for gold."

[ring_for_giles]

"I am certain there is still utility to be found in what lies here if that is what you wish."

Giles isn't going to press for more information, despite his curiosity, but he has a feeling Erin will provide more of her own accord, just to fill the silence while she works.

[crushed_pearls]

It's a good line of thought, and classic negotiation tactics. Erin would appreciate it more if she wasn't riding the edge of a mental breakdown.

"Can't imagine the goblin garden made it, fucking. That would be too convenient. Maybe the books, the armory..."

Erin waves Giles down the path. "No traps inside. We weren't precisely afraid of being robbed."