Abigail didn’t quite feel like it was her place to say anything, so she let Brooks do the talking in the wake of this...person. She kept quiet in the wake of the (perhaps unintentional) insults flung at her and Brooks, her heart sinking as she seemed to sense her boss’ patience wearing thin. This was going to be a literal train wreck of a conversation, and the girl knew that at some point she’d have to salvage some form of agreement from the wreckage. Abigail started looking for this solution early.

Brooks remained as calm as possible, leaning back into the ride as he watched Vin approach. His scowl altered to that of an inquisitive one at the man's comment regarding the pick-up truck, refusing to crack a smile. “It get’s the job done.” he replied sternly.

“I know how you feel, man…” Abigail replied sympathetically to Vin’s complaints about bad sleep and bad food. It couldn’t have been more heartfelt or genuine as she pinched the bridge of her nose and sank a little in the chair, turning her gaze to peer up at him. Unfortunately, at that moment Vin had chosen to look straight into her eyes, and Abigail resigned herself to this fact by trying incredibly hard not to look away under Vin’s stare.

No matter how good her acting skills were, or how flawless her lies could become, Abigail’s facades and personas had only one weakness - her eyes. Every part of her was crumpled up in the lazy, tired, bored, annoyed teenager act she was pulling off with surprising accuracy except for those deep blue eyes. They seemed out of place on the young girl because they were cold and sharp and intense as it seemed to burrow past Vin’s half-arsed lying and searched for what he was trying to hide, noting the protective stance, the quick excuses to keep the woman behind him safe despite the lack of imminent danger, the evasive way he tried to twist the conversation...those eyes said ‘You can’t fool me. I can see through your tricks.’ Just when it might’ve been brushed off as a coincidence, Abigail’s lips pulled back into an amused grin. Not only was she completely dismissive of Vin’s act, but she had the gall to find it funny.

“I, too, enjoy sightseeing at abandoned mineshafts with trucks full of guns,” noted Abigail politely. Her tone was lighthearted and conversational, and it would’ve sounded much more genuine than Vin’s little act if it wasn’t for the fact Abigail was clearly being a sarcastic bitch. 

Brooks, noticing Vin’s gaze shift onto Abigail, interrupted: “You wanna’ tell us what the hell’s really going on here, or am I gonna’ have to assume the worst and that you’re about to gun us down?” he snarls, eyes locked onto Vin’s as he expects his next move to be a sudden one. The hairs on his arms stood up as he felt tension running through his body, his foot twitching once more on the gas pedal, and heartbeat rising in both fear and anger for what’s about to come next. Outwardly he appears as calm and contemplative as before.

Whilst Brooks became increasingly annoyed, Abigail just seemed to find the whole situation funnier and funnier; no doubt because she was getting a real kick out of their attempts to hoodwink her. Just at the last second, her eyes darkened, her stare became inscrutable. She shuffled around to peer at Eli who gaped at their truck for a half second with surprise and used the distraction to ‘accidentally’ lean on the gearstick and shove it into reverse, nudging Brooks with her elbow as she did so. It was part of her silent language; her way of saying ‘I’m getting ready for when this all goes to shit.’

Eli’s attempts to mask his accent were admirable, but only added to the suspicion. Why would someone who should’ve been showing his ‘guests’ around the mineshaft not sound like he was from the south? Abigail added two and two together - a group of people surrounding this specific mineshaft (which was actually a safehouse) armed with guns? Clearly, it was a trap. On the other hand...the only genuine thing Abigail had seen so far was the look of concern and fear on that woman’s face as Vin approached to try and fool them, and the way ‘Cornwall Cornelius’ was guiding the girls away. If they were sent to kill Abi and Brooks, why were they acting so funny? Why didn’t they shoot? Abigail’s gaze flicked to her boss and she sent him a confused look, wondering if he was seeing what she saw.

Noticing Abigail's gaze on him, he briefly averted his eyes from Vin, peering at the newly arrived Eli. His scowl deepened as he noticed part of the group being hassled into the mine, before snapping his gaze back at Vin, expecting and hoping for an answer sooner than later. Even with the tension currently surrounding the three in and around the car, he left his snub-nosed resting on his lap, as to not provoke Vin any further.

Abigail’s mouth opened as a flash of clarity crossed her features, and she suddenly lunged out and held an arm in front of Brooks. “Wait, wait wait wait wait!” she cried, grinning like a loon. “You’re...you’re NOT here to shoot us!” she announced cheerily, pointing over at Eli. “And we’re not here to shoot you! This has all been…” Abigail tightened her grip on the pistol, “...a simple misunderstanding. I hope you don’t mind if we stay in the truck because, uh, we trust you as much as you trust us.” Abigail released one of her disarming smiles, leaning out of her own window. “But the question still stands - why the hell are you in the mineshaft? Clearly you’re not here to inspect it, nor are you here to ambush us.” She raised up her free hand warningly. “And don’t try to spin this conversation around again, we’re not revealing shit until we know you’re not a threat. It’s the least you can do, since you outnumber us and have guns.”