Cherry is silent for a moment. She takes a step back and stares, or glares at John up and down through narrowed eyes.
It wouldn't be the first time she spent days in pursuit of a complete delusion, but everything's pointing... well, it sure is pointing. This isn't a hallucination - from that assumption, what then?
Living in Herse trains one to pay closer attention to transactions than Arche or Chaldene would allow most to muster. Calculations that take an average Taygete drone tens of minutes might take a businessman just one, and they can go by as fast or faster along the well-worn thought-tracks of someone who needs to make deals and friends to survive, and can never afford to be cheated.

[color=crimson]"Nothing to lose,"[/color] she echoes. Her expression doesn't say she believes it. Her expression says she's probably never believed anything she hasn't seen, and rarely what she's seen either.
Then her eyes dart aside, almost as if regarding someone who's come up next to John.

[hider=Why won't you relax? This isn't normal. You're not normal.]
Miss Charlene! Is that your mother? Tell her I said hello.
I know there's some tension between you two. If you ask me, the biggest problem is that you don't feel like you know each other. Firstly, she's human like everybody else: listen to her words, listen to her tone, and then listen to [i]her[/i]. Put it all together, and you can even hear what she's thinking. Just like we practiced. Can you hear?
She's been [i]everywhere[/i]. She knows [i]so much[/i]. She has time for [i]you,[/i] little miss, because she's so [i]bored[/i] of learning secrets that anyone else could die for. She'll share that with you just for a promise to help, just for a breath of hope. She's suffocating. She's so tired. Can you hear that?
And besides, in that way, isn't she a little like you? [sub]And doesn't that make her dangerous?[/sub][/hider]
Everything is quiet more often than not at this time of morning. Noises as subtle as taking a breath to speak are audible from feet away. In the right wind and the right echo, hushed voices could carry for a block or more. Experience can teach a woman anything. Cherry answers in less than a whisper.
[color=crimson]"We'll see."[/color]
Her eyes flick back to John. Over the course of a few seconds, the tension and suspicion in her demeanor have gradually dried up as if by miracle. She's only a little louder as she says, [color=crimson]"We both know I have no idea where to start for my end, but it sounds like you'll let me use you until I find something. So - fine. You have my commitment if I have yours."[/color]

[hider=And?]
She wants to get to know you too. Remember your manners, Charlene.
[/hider]
[color=crimson]"...you can call me Cherry."[/color]
She offers her hand.