As Mary finished, Montag reflected on all that she’d just said. For once, the monetary gain wasn’t at the forefront of his mind, the six thousand dollars coming across only as a bonus incentive. He drew in another tainted breath through his cigarette as he tried to piece together things in his head. The fact that someone would die by either his or Abigail’s hand, or even that one of them could die by chance was enough to think about already. 

And this “Pandora’s Box”, did that have something to do with New Haven? Was it New Haven itself? And what had the box released if it had been opened? As well as that, Marie Arnault being the daughter of someone beyond this world made things even more mind-boggling. But if she was really that important, it would make sense that the Fates would want her to stay alive. And on that note, who were the Fates? What were they? Obviously fate was a concept that he knew much of the basis of, and everyone had their ideas on it, but the way Mary put it almost made it sound as though these “Fates” were in control of it.

Eduard quickly pulled himself out of his mind and his thought process at that point though, realising he was falling into a rabbit hole of questions he couldn’t know the answer to just yet, and ones that Mary probably wouldn’t answer, at least for now. And, though much of his scepticism remained, what did he have to lose? Well, maybe he had a bit to lose, but this was an opportunity he wasn’t going to get again if it was real. It would be lost forever.

He turned to Mary, returning her smile ever so slightly for the first time, before going back to his normal straight-faced self.

[color=goldenrod]“I accept the assignment. Just give me a time and a place and I’ll make sure I’m there. I have a lot of questions for you at some point though.”[/color] He gave Mary a relaxed, but somewhat piercing, gaze before turning to Abigail, finishing his cigarette and extinguishing it in the ash tray as he waited to see what she’d say.