2019-09-07 - Heads You Win Tails I Lose

(TXT to Erin) Joey: Everything ok?
(TXT to Joey) Erin: It's getting there. Mostly thanks to Lilith.
(TXT to Joey) Erin: I'm sorry I missed work.
(TXT to Erin) Joey: You're going through a lot of shit right now. You got time to take care of your shit. The most important thing is are you safe and your job isn't going anywhere.
(TXT to Joey) Erin: Safe is relative. I was attacked in my apartment. I almost died.
(TXT to Erin) Joey: Yeah I know. I talked to Min all about it. We actually kinda go way back to first grade
(TXT to Joey) Erin: Not to be dramatic 🙁
(TXT to Joey) Erin: How does Min know?
(TXT to Joey) Erin: I need to talk to some people. Right after I woke from surgery my grandmother was there.
(TXT to Erin) Joey: wait you got attacked? I just know your family was. Min told me there was a ghost
(TXT to Joey) Erin: Stabbed a whole lot. But it was mostly magically healed. At least the deep wounds. She saved my life.
(TXT to Erin) Joey: back up 1- are you in teh hospital right now and b- are you in one piece 3- Aside from hold your job which is not in jeopardy cause Duarte's got taste in his ass there anyhtin I can do?
(TXT to Joey) Erin: I'm in the hospital. I'm in one piece. I'm still healing but it is at a quicker rate. I had several stab wounds. I don't know what anyone could do. I was alone in my apartment but then I wasn't. But my grandmother came by. I should text a few people and tell them what I know. But Joey? I'm so afraid I'll put them in danger.
(TXT to Joey) Erin: From what I was told, I think I figured out some things with everything. I can't risk getting others hurt. I'm not sure what to do.
(TXT to Erin) Joey: Maybe we should talk about it. Or it'll sound weird but if you wanna talk to my mom you can. Ain't like this Billy asshole can hurt her so.
(TXT to Joey) Erin: (bouncing dots)
(TXT to Joey) Erin: You said you lost your mother.. and I'm so sorry you did.
(TXT to Erin) Joey: Yeah. Jr year high school
(TXT to Joey) Erin: Talk to your mother?
(TXT to Erin) Joey: Doesn't mean she's not still a pain in the ass. Not all ghosts are assholes. All of them are absolutely annoying af. sometimes she uants the house.
(TXT to Joey) Erin: I think I'd put up with just about anything to have my mom even as a ghost in my life. In any capacity. I think you're lucky.
(TXT to Alexander) Erin: I need to talk to you.
(TXT to Alexander) Erin: I need you.
(TXT to Erin) Alexander: You're up. I'm glad. I heard what happened. I can come to the hospital immediately if you need.
(TXT to Alexander) Erin: I do. I need to say some things.
(TXT to Alexander) Erin: I don't know who to tell.
(TXT to Erin) Alexander: I will listen to anything you have to say, of course.
(TXT to Erin) Joey: yeah I think I am pretty too. Be better if it didn't feel like my fuckin fault but we take what we can get sometimes. I know your'e tired so I'll keep it short. From an asshole expert? Whoever is doing this wants you to feel cut off. You're not protecting your friends by not saying anything. you only make it easier to be a target that way and remove someone else's heads up. Police do that all the damn time.
(TXT to Joey) Erin: I have some company. Alexander. I'll get back with you.
(TXT to Joey) Erin: I know who did it.
(TXT to Hyacinth) Erin: Please come by when you can.
(TXT to Ruiz) Erin: I need to speak with you at your convenience.
(TXT to Erin) Joey: If it's that Billy Ghoul fuck tell em to come talk to me. Enjoy your company though and text whenever. We worry about you too.
(TXT to Joey) Erin: I will get back to you.

Erin is finally awake again and feeling much better than the night before. (Note the absence of the incapacitated wound!) When a healer does her thing it's magic! Still, she has a lot of healing to do, but she is in better spirits and better rested than she was the previous night. Breakfast was waved away, so the nutritionist had placed it on the rolling table where Erin had pushed it away. The smell alone was enough for her to discard it. So was her texting. She had so much to talk about now that she had decided to talk and share it rather than hold it in. Hopefully she was gathering the right people to help her. After texting, she lays her head back against the pillow and lifts bandaged hands to try and smooth her hair in some vain attempt to look presentable in a hospital. Wearing a mint green, flowery hospital gown. With air conditioned back included.

Alexander arrives shortly after the text conversation. HOW shortly depends on if he came with Isabella or not, and therefore could bum a ride in her Jeep. Like a slacker. Or whether he had to walk. We'll leave that for Miss Reede to decide, but either way, he definitely stopped by the gift shop to pick up a couple of things. One, a ridiculously cheerful vase of flowers with big, colorful blooms. And the other, a couple of books of puzzles. His head peeks around the doorjamb and seeing her awake, smiles and makes his way inside. "Erin. Flowers?" He moves to put them by the side of the bed, then gives her a thoughtful once over, before going to the foot of her bed to see if anyone left a medical chart where he can perv through it. "How are you feeling?"

Medical chart would show multiple stab sounds with defense wounds on both hands and a deep cut on her left forearm. (2 09/06/2019 Multiple Stab Wounds Incapacitated (INC) - @.... )

Alexander makes it first and Erin smiles as the door opens to allow his entrance. Of course the flowers announce him first and she smiles, trying not to laugh. Laughing still kind of hurt. "They're beautiful, Alexander. Thank you, they sure brighten the place up." She watches as he sits them down and reaches out a couple of fingers to touch the petals of one. "I'm not entirely sure I've gotten flowers before. They're perfect." As he goes for the medical chart, she watches him already knowing what he would find. "Thank you for coming, too."

She's definitely here, and with Alexander, though she lets him head to Erin's room first while Isabella takes a quick call from Louisiana, forever juggling various obligations from different parts of the world. In many respects, her every day life isn't unlike Byron's.

When the archaeologist does finally arrive, her expression is tight with concern - and relief to see her well, though she doesn't need three guesses to know why. Byron had been the one to leave her the voicemail - it stands to reason that he's probably called Lilith already. "I don't know how you manage to look as fabulous as you do in an outdated hospital gown, but here you are," she says, electing to open with good humor, stepping up to the bed and offering Erin a gentle, careful hug. How she manages to push down filaments of white-hot rage curling up from within her remains a continuous miracle - everyone can feel it, but nobody can see it.

For now.

She withdraws once that token is delivered, and she glances over at Alexander, and then the chart. "Is it our guy?" she asks him quietly as she moves to take a seat near Erin's bedside.

"I'm certain you will get more," Alexander says, with a flicker of a smile. He lets Isabella take care of the physical contact and hugs, while he violates HIPAA by reading through her charts. His eyes narrow. "Defensive wounds." A glance back up at her, eyes near-black and expression blank, almost reptilian. "This wasn't Gohl, then? There's no defensive wounds when a healer attacks you." Which might answer Isabella's question, as well.

"Oh this old thing? Just something they had lying around. Nothing but the best!" Erin's hair was a mess, she knew it, but Isabella brought a smile with the encouragement. It's a smile that almost reaches her eyes, eyes that look wary in general. Accepting the hug, she is just as careful. "I know who did it." The words are spoken quietly. "And I have a few suspicions. It's why I've asked everyone who was available to come. I need to talk and I only want to say it once. I feel like everything I do or say is known and I'm so adraid of putting people in more danger. Still, I do have these suspicions and I feel like this group can research them best." Her eyes lower. "Can we wait for Hyacinth and Byron. I was unable to get a response from Javier."

To say that Hyacinth is resplendant at all times is and isn't an overstatement. it's a fuck ton of work to be on and ready to go at all times. a lifetime of practice has got this process down as rote, but all of that planning she didn't think she'd be veering off course and showing up at the hospital. The heels make an even tak-tak and she lets herself in with a vanilla caramel macchiato which she sets down in front of Erin on the tray with a tiny white box with string tied around it. "I don't trust hospital food. I was with Vyv so I had him give me some of those breakfast quiches for you." She looks... stressed. To Bella and Alexander her fingers fan up and down again in a wave. "morning."

Ever since the police and ambulance sirens alerted the tenants at the Bayside Apartments that someone else was attacked in the building, Byron Thorne's phone was ringing off the hook. Even when he was here at the hospital last name, his phone silenced momentarily, he knew that his tenants were trying to contact him. So he arrives at Addington Memorial now, speaking on his phone as he makes his way down the hall. Of course, he's dressed in full business professional attire today. He's had to meet with a lot of tenants earlier as well as police detectives. To Byron, this sort of business as usual is an unfortunate consequence of living in Gray Harbor.

"I understand your concern and the GHPD are looking into it right now." He says to the woman living in Building A Suite 510. The same floor as Erin. "Yes. Security has been patrolling the apartment grounds and each floor of every building for a month now. No, they didn't see anyone." It was frustrating if he wasn't sure whether he could tell her that their killer was doing so psychicially." His conversation goes on even as he reaches the door, so rather than bring it into Erin's room, he works to finish it right then and there, "I'll look into that. We have a protective wall there and it would take a lot of effort for someone to scale the cliffside just to get into the apartment complex. We have cameras along those walls and they'd still need to get ins-- Yes, I'm not dismissing your concern, but I'll have the police department know so they can investigate the look out. Thank you, if you have any other questions or concerns," He regrets even saying that, "don't hesitate to contact me."

He takes a deep breath, switching his phone to vibrate as he slips it into his pocket. Once he enters, he takes note of everyone else in the room. People who had left a voice mail with last night. Two of his own hired security guards would be posted here if de la Vega didn't send his own GHPD officers to stand guard over Addington. "Erin, you're looking a lot better." He's not sure for how long she'll be here for, but he does have a package for her, "I found this on Amazon, I'm not sure for how long you'll be here for and I don't know if it even matches your sense of style, but I thought it might help to lift your spirits.

Within the package is a hospital gown. Hospital gowns aren't known to being stylish, but at least this one isn't mint green with a bunch of flowers on it. It may even be a maternity gown cinched to form. "I have doubts that I'll be able to convince the hospital board to update their patient uniforms but for now this will do." He doesn't expect her to change into it right away. There was company! He, too, brought a bouquet of flowers, setting it down beside the rest of Erin's other gifts.

Defensive wounds? The fact that Erin seems to know who did it sharpens Isabella's green-and-gold stare. Her restlessness only intensifies - potential energy ready to be transformed into something more active than live. Still, she is bound to accept the will of the patient, remaining in her seat by her bed. When the others arrive, fingers lift up in a wave, but it seems that can't last. She rises from it, and starts to move around the room in an effort to bleed out the tension. The possibility that it isn't Gohl though sparks a look of curiosity that she can't completely quell, but this, too, is smothered almost completely by anger.

She stops by Alexander's side to take a peek at the chart, though there's a quiet nudge towards Byron. "Thank you for calling me," she murmurs to him. "I tried to get in last night but they wouldn't let me."

"Hyacinth. Thank you for coming. I'm so glad you're here. I feel like I have so much to say but I know once I start talking, what seems like such a weight will be said in a single sentence. I just.. I'm scared." A look to the gifts from her and Erin smiles a little, "Thank you. I couldn't stomach the breakfast. I'll eat soon. Promise. Please have a seat if you like?"

Which brings her to look at the door. There was Byron. No Ruiz yet, but that was expected. She does breathe a sigh of relief that everyone present was unharmed.Her eyes drop to the gift and the flowers. "I'll need to hire a secretary for all of the thank you notes. Really though, thank you. I mean that. And thank you for all being here."

With a deep breath, she glances around at each one. "I didn't know at first. I was at the apartment, things are already packed for the move now, I just didn't have a way to move them over to the new house last night. It happened just like you said. Just suddenly I'm getting stabbed everywhere, I put my hands out and they got stabbed. My arms, my chest, my stomach. There were so many. Then the knife was at my throat and I knew it was over. I knew I wan't going to live through it." She hesitates and curls up a little on the bed, drawing into herself. "Then he was gone. He didn't cut me there, but he wanted to. I could feel it. There was hate so much hate like in the hospital the night of the storm. Then just like that it was gone." There's more. But she waits a moment, the horror of everything requiring she take a few moments.

Alexander moves aside deeper into the room, and the wall to his back, as Hyacinth and Byron come in. He relinquishes the chart, having gotten what's useful from it - at least from his perspective, and now studies the greetings and gift exchanges like an anthropologist taking notes on an alien culture. But perhaps that's just a side-effect of the thinking he's doing. His eyes flick to Thorne, and the flowered hospital gown. That, at least, amuses him. Just a brief upward tilt of his lips. He does tell Erin, solemnly, "Told you that you would get more."

But that's all the humor he has in him, at the moment. A nod to Byron, seconding Isabella's thanks. Then his attention returns to Erin, to listen. "The knife," he murmurs. "Did you see a knife? A physical object? And was there a person?" His voice is low, but intense. It's only after the questions tumble out that he blinks. Realizes empathy is called for. "I'm sorry. Erin. I know it must be difficult to recall, for you." A sidelong look to the others, one that says, 'hey, do the social thing'.

"Wait...there was a physical presence?" Isabella's expression shifts, slightly confused - she remembers the hospital, in the night of the storm, because that was the first night in which she spent in Gray Harbor after a decade gone, and the weirdness that engulfed her and Erin both when they were there. She remembers mention of the hate, the reason why the other woman couldn't assist the fallen man down the stairs. "The thing we encountered at the hospital was a shadow, I saw it move, and I sensed it leave the hospital. The thing calling for Billy and felt familiar to me."

And why didn't he cut you? is the prevailing question, in the end, but she refrains from asking it. Erin wouldn't know the answer to that either way, but considering how she looks like there's more to the story, she remains quiet. She finds a space on the nearby wall to lean on, hands sliding in her pockets as she waits.

With all these questions being asked, Byron will allow Erin to respond to them, his eyes on Erin as he lingers near her bed among the others. The mention of the knife does pique his interest, brow creased now. "I don't believe that Rebecca Carr saw anyone or anything during her attack." He's trying to replay what was said during their talks with her into his mind. "I even alerted her to the fact that another attack occurred. She may be laying low with a friend, just so the killer doesn't immediately know where she is." Byron now comes to wonder just how this whole scenario played out.

He doesn't want to push her any further, she was still recovering. They did need answers though so that they could move on. "Right, the person at the hospital held some hatred to you, but was familiar to Bella, which was a mystery to be unraveled." It didn't help that they were in that same hospital now. "Take your time, Erin. The more that you inform of us of the event, something which I know was incredibly traumatizing, the more that we have to work with."

Hyacinth says with great sympathy, "You're injured. They shouldn't be making you eat hospital food on top of that. How are you supposed to get any better that way?" Her concept of priorities might be skewed but really adhering to normal high standards seems, to her, the viable approach to improving dire situations. She does offer, "You can have my PA work on addressing that out for you. Just... rest and catch us up." Sharing. This rarely if ever... happens. Erin must be loved a bunch.

The details are taken into the steel trap of hers and she asks gently, "Would you be willing to show me what you remember?" Those sharp eyes on her rather inscrutable face narrow a titch. Her purse is set aside and from it she pulls out her phone, presumably for notes. A glance is given to Byron with a side tilt of her head to suuuubtly grab the door and then another look sliding to Alexander Clayton in silent conference on the idea.

"I didn't see anything, there was nothing except pain. But I could feel the knife and I tried to grab it. He did cut me. Repeatedly stabbed. I almost.. died." A shake of her head, she's trying to relay truths without emotion. But the fear is all too real. "A healer took over though so I'm so much better." Erin is trying, she does manage a flicker of a smile to Alexander at his humor. This is where it gets more shaky. It's to Hyacinth she looks now. "Right after I woke from surgery, from the anaesthesia , she was there. Grandmother. Waiting for me. Something she said made me realize.. or made he have suspicions." Her eyes quietly scan the room, the tiles of the ceiling, the windows, looking for anyone or anything out of the ordinary. Just plain scared. "This, what happened to me was my fault. You don't defy Grandmother and get away with it. I've known that all my life. She gave me a little space but as long as I stayed between the lines.."

Reaching for her extra pillow, she hugs it to herself and when she talks again she asks. "Maybe we have gone about this the wrong way. Thomas said he'd had control of Billy for a long time. But if you had a way to settle all of your grievances with a single order, would you? Everyone who died recently.. was it my Grandmother who had issues with them? And not Gohl? Was it my grandmothers enemies?" Such a traitor, she feels like. But she continues. "Something she told me.. something she said."

Not bothering to knock before entering, on account of the number of visitors Erin seems to have this afternoon, de la Vega prowls right on in looking fresh off of ten hours of riding a desk. He's attired in a dark suit and pants, crisp white shirt and tie, and a pair of posh looking ankle-length boots on which he's seemingly spared no expense. He skims the other faces present with characteristic aplomb, dark eyes slightly narrowed like he's trying to sift through some mental detritus. Or a hangover. Could be a hangover. Erin is honed in on fairly quickly though, and he draws closer to her bedside, a quick smile offered as her appearance is taken in. He'll not interrupt until it looks like she has a moment.

Isabella's eyes narrow dangerously at that. There's a glance towards Ruiz when he enters, and while the spike of temper mollifies, slightly, at seeing him, it remains sharp.

She looks back at Erin. "What exactly did the grande dame tell you?" she asks, ever straightforward.

Alexander's brow furrows. "You could feel a knife. Grab it. But you couldn't see anything." His fingers drum out a rhythm line on his thighs - he is for once only the second-worst dressed person in the room, since Erin is stuck in a hospital gown. He's thinking, thinking. "That's not what it feels like when a healer injures you. I'd almost say illusion - but my illusions don't kill, and," he takes a breath, "they can distract, but I've never successfully become invisible." But he's thinking about it now, that's for sure. Which is probably a delightful thing for Ruiz to contemplate as he enters. The Captain is given a distracted sort of nod - most of Alexander's brain is elsewhere.

Another, more thoughtful, nod to Hyacinth. "If Erin would be up for that, I think we could share it among anyone who wished. But it may be traumatic." His eyes flick back to Erin. "Could you tell us, or show us, exactly what the Ol--" a cough, "Ms. Addington said?" A nod to Isabella. "Yes. It's important that we're able to put this together correctly - especially if your suspicions are accurate."

What Erin says about the attack, that she saw nothing, gets a slow nod from Byron as that's what he'd expected. The sensing of an actual weapon, however, is a curious thing. "Is that how these powers work? When you cut into someone, is it imagined like a knife? A surgical tool?" As that's out of his power set, it never came to mind before. Curious that. "If one tried to break bones, would they need to picture those bones being broken by something or other. Then again, not everyone works in similar ways from what Lilith had taught me last night." The mention of Lilith more than hints that she was the healer in question.

It's when Erin gets to the point where she'd awoken to her grandmother's presence that Byron's been waiting for since he was here last night. Hearing the door opening once more, he's not surprised to see Ruiz lingering in the corner. A quiet nod is given the man, but he doesn't offer a vocal greeting. When asked about linking up with one another, it's Byron's turn to narrow his eyes suspiciously, though they turn sympathetic when he looks to Erin, "Is it too difficult to just tell us what she'd said." He's never one to let open his mind up to others unless they break the barriers down.

Hyacinth nods slowly to Alexander, "I have, in a sense." The confident claim falls into admitting, "I had to pick up my Amazon stuff off my porch and my face wasn't on yet." says the woman that likely has an outfit just for getting the mail in. The door open and blessed be her patience for not trying to mind-march someone into fucking off elsewhere instead of bothering them. The look hardens on the Police Captain to fall back into a very professional capacity.

That look, assessing and always judging (perhaps now someone not in the room) turns a faint smile, "Oh I don't doubt it. If you go through the laundry list of losses we've had it's all family that has told her 'no'. She doesn't have to get her hands dirty to execute that order. That's just efficient delegation. Why... you? You'd honestly be her second to last option I'd imagine unless it was to show threat and scare you into dependency." She pauses and waves her hand in a circle, "It's pretty much the plot of Mean Girls but super effective. It could explain why he stopped."

"Maybe I was expecting a knife so that's what I felt. It felt like a knife stabbing into me and slicing into my hands. Maybe it wasn't one at all, but it's what I was expecting so it's what I felt." A helpless shrug as she lifts a hand to her forehead to try and combat the sudden headache. When she lowers her hand, Ruiz is there by the bed. Smiling. She visibly relaxes and returns the smile to him, lifting a still bandaged hand to touch his fingers briefly before lowering it.

The moment passes as she looks between Byron and Hyacinth. Avoiding the look from Isabella for the moment since she could feel the anger there, emanating outwards. "She's very unhappy with me right now." That's not all but Erin looks distraught at that. "She's the only parental figure I have left. She's raised me since I was a baby when my own parents left with better things to do than raise a child." Just trying relay the importance of the role her Grandmother had always played in her life. "No, Byron. I will tell you what she said. I want you to tell me if you think I'm wrong. Please tell me I'm wrong."

With another deep breath, she begins.. "Grandmother was there when I woke up. She was so calm, so very calm. And apologetic." Squinting, as if looking back at the memory, she continues. "She told me that earlier that day she'd expressed her frustrations to Thomas about some of the decisions I'd made. Mostly the one where I was working as a secretary. I'd not told her that bit yet but she knew. Oh she knew and she wasn't happy about it. As soon as she realized how that had been interpreted by Thomas, by Billy, by both - she intervened, but it was obviously too late. For that, Grandmother is sorry."

With most of it told, she looks around at the others. "If you had a way to dispose of anyone who you imagined slighted you any, would you? Is that what she has done? Am I wrong?"

Lovely time for Ruiz to walk in. Right on cue for the discussion about what dodgy shit some of them can do with their minds. He doesn't seem immediately inclined toward weighing in, but then the captain's always been rather closed-lipped where his abilities are concerned. Byron gets a curt nod as he enters; Alexander and Isabella the slightest of smiles. Closer to a twitch of his lips, really, that anything approaching true warmth. Erin's forearm is given a surprisingly gentle squeeze when she reaches for him, and he listens with some curiosity as she describes the interaction with Margaret. "I still wouldn't be surprised if she's the one pulling the strings here," he opines, low-voiced, reiterating an earlier concern that he'd broached to a few people. "I'm not at all sure that you're wrong," he adds in clarification.

Another new development? Police stationed outside her room. There's a chiseled-jawed fellow currently standing watch in the hall, thumbs hooked in his duty belt, conversing with a passing nurse.

Alexander gives Hyacinth a long look. Like the idea of activating an illusion because of a lack of makeup is something that would never, ever have occurred to him. But then - look at what he willingly goes out in public wearing; it probably hasn't. "I've diverted attention. But to hold an illusion like that while attacking the victim? I don't know if I could do that." A pause. "I don't know how I would test that, except through causing someone extreme distress."

As Erin continues, he quiets. Listens. "Admittedly, that's not a workplace that you really should," he stops, sighs. "Nevermind. But...perhaps. It might be some amalgam of the two of them. Assuming that either William or Thomas are entirely sane at this point may be a mistake. I don't know what it's like to be trapped in someone else's mind, or to be the prison for an insane ghost, but I imagine that there's some," a long pause, "boundary blurring there, eventually."

Taking in everything that Erin has to relay to them about what Margaret Addington had told her, Byron lets this process in his mind. "I wouldn't discount that theory, except that Gohl definitely has a hand in something. He's the one boasting about his kill count. So he's proud of the death that was brought on. Or so I would assume." With his arms wrapped across his chest, a hand rubbing at the light bristle at his chin. "That doesn't mean that he isn't more than happy to take credit for what Thomas Addington may have done under his sister's influence. Which I suppose could be even more satisfying for him."

A look is then given Hyacinth when she talks about her own use of illusions. This is something that he, himself, has never done. Not intentionally. So he has little to add there. The look, however, was given due to other things. "Did your grandmother know about your father--" father's situation, but he'll leave it vague there, "Before you had the chance to tell her? I guess, I wouldn't put it pass her to know that." He then refocuses on Erin, "And your parents? Why would she have been upset at them? Or Susan Lewis." Another Addington by blood. "The Baxter blooded, sure. But there are other factors like the Hendersons that don't fall in place." A pause, "So you think that these ideas that your mother places into Thomas Addington's head is what Gohl locks onto?"

Hyacinth blinks to Alexander and an eyebrow arches reasoning, "Well you can try. Find someone. Slap them repeatedly and see if they yell at you specifically." It's really that easy. Of course she's also volunteering him.

She looks to the Captain not shy and puts her focus in Erin closing her eyes letting her talk about her grandmother, Hya's great aunt. It's like she's straining to listen to something but she's listening. And then a very odd and unusual things happens. A very organic, home growna nd not at all store bought emotion surfaces on her face clumping her eyelashes together.

Looking up, ceilings her very favourite things to illuminate she says quietly, "Erin, just... look at me and don't look up please." And once that is done focuses to replay only the very essential part of the memory. Only the matriarch from an FPS perspective omitting out Erin in any capacity. For as much of a callous bitch she's reputed to be there is subtle care not to make Erin or her framily relive what is better known and not seen.

"It's the only guess I know. It could have been anything, even a small disagreement between her and my parents, or Susan. Anyone. It happened to me because I'm working at the gym. That's such a small thing and it's the sole reason. So I don't know why she would have been upset at the others, but if she was and she voiced that to the only person she talks with most, her brother, then who is to say it didn't stem from there. From idle conversation!" Erin settles back against the back of the bed and holds the pillow tighter. "Maybe it was just idle talk about any one of them? Maybe she complained to him that she was tired of my parents shirking their responsibilities. Maybe she knew, maybe she didn't. But she does now and she keeps doing it."

Calming herself, Erin looks to her cousin, directly and remains silent, allowing whatever Hyacinth was looking for.

Sometime after she ends her day at the Gym and is back home, Erin gets just full-on assaulted. A stab to her chest. Another to her stomach. Another in her chest. They come rapid-fire, stabstabstab all over. She can feel that next stab pushing into the base of her throat - but it never breaks the skin. Instead, as abruptly as this attack happens, it retreats, a switch flipped somewhere and it just stops.

Assuming Erin calls 911 and goes to the hospital and doesn't just bleed out on the floor of her house... Margaret will come visit her and explain, with a sort of calm apology, that she'd expressed frustration to Thomas earlier in the day about some of the choices Erin is making - mostly the one where Erin works as a secretary! As soon as she realized how that had been interpreted - by Thomas, by Billy, by both - she intervened, but it was obviously too late. For that, Margaret is very sorry.

I don't know what it's like to be trapped in someone else's mind.

Isabella's expression is stony there, though her eyes are alive with that comment from Alexander. Her fists ball into the pockets of her jeans, and she looks away from all of them. And when she speaks, it's calm and level, however many things are roiling underneath the surface. Her voice takes on a drifting lilt, as if she has stepped out of her body, as if this is the only way to speak of such things.

"That's more than possible," she says at last, her voice low. "You can live as part of someone, so long as there's a strong enough connection. You know their thoughts, you know where they are, you can even feel when they're injured - the damage they sustain can be extended to you, if you're that connected. When the bond's that complete, there's no such thing as a real boundary, whether physical or ephemeral and in such a state, it's easy to mistake the other presence's desires as your own. And that's..." Her throat tightens. "It's complicated enough with two people, but with three?"

"That would be the 'extreme distress' that I'd prefer to avoid, Ms. Addington," Alexander replies, voice very dry. He waits as Hyacinth works - it's clear she's planning to do something, so although he shifts a little in place, he watches with more curiosity than concern, with half his attention also turned towards Erin, listening to her. "Well. If that is the case, then it doesn't change our path forward. But it does mean that once we have trapped William, we must manage to find a place to store him that is far outside of any possible influence by her. There's no guarantee that, if she's enjoying that power, she won't shrink from...infecting someone else who might be biddable with the ghost." A pause. "If that's a thing."

"We would need to be prepared for the possibility that Thomas Addington may not be the same again, even if we were successful."

Isabella's eyes fall to Erin at that, her expression apologetic. "He's been living inside of your great-uncle for fifty years, and what we are proposing to do is forcibly rip out a presence that has made a home there inside him for half a century, from root to stem. That isn't without its consequences. And I agree with Alexander that once we do manage to trap the Ghoul in a box that we should keep it as far away from you and yours as possible. Though considering I've just been recently educated as to just how far a person's range extends, if practiced enough, I don't know if any place in Gray Harbor is far enough. We'd have to either bring him outside of it, or..."

A long pause, but she manages to say the words: "Return him to the Veil."

Hyacinth reads one more thing in the visit to Erin. (Sorry missed this part) The visit ends with the suggestion that Margaret feels they're putting this all off too long, and Thomas should be sent away sooner rather than later.

"Different? Thomas may be different than he is now? He tried to kill me. Only by the grace of.. mercy? His mercy? Am I alive to tell about it. I don't know what made him stop but I'll always be glad he did." Erin clings to the pillow as she looks at each of the others. "Whatever has to happen, we need to make happen. Now, soon? As soon as we can."

With all this chatter going on, Byron finally comes out to say, "If she has this taste of power and she's relishing it, why would she need William Gohl? If her brother can do the deed without him?" His stance shifts, posture straightening. "I mean it's good that she was apologetic about the whole thing and I'm /sure/ that Thomas Addington won't react to everything that his sister complains to him about, but seeing everything that's happened thus far.." Thorne is sure he knows what's on Ruiz's mind. He had a feeling that the Captain would be pretty damn pissed that another attack had occurred and to someone that both Ruiz and Thorne had been working to protect.

It's unpleasant business, all of this, and the look on Byron's face, the stoney set of his jaw reflects some of that. "I agree, Erin. We were supposed to stop this before anyone else got hurt. You almost died and it should never have come to this." His dark eyes look to Alexander, but especially Isabella now, "I know that some are working on finding a way to trap Gohl so that we can send him off. Do whatever needs to be done. I just hope that whatever we do we accomplish before Gohl decides to finish the job," With Addington, "Or they claim their next victim."

"Conjecture," Alexander murmurs, although not without sympathy. "Keep in mind that we only have so much evidence about what's happened, and none of us in this room have what could be called a professional-level knowledge of the areas we are dealing with." His lips twitch. "It would be a very strange profession if we did. I recommend we focus on trapping and ridding ourselves of Gohl. After that?" He sighs. "We can reassess the situation." That the idea of 'permanently' dealing with either Thomas or Margaret Addington - however that might be accomplished - causes Alexander some concern, perhaps even distress, is fairly clear from the hunch of his shoulders and the way his gaze has dropped to stare at the side table rather than anyone else in the room.

Hyacinth :holds up both hands looking at them as if they lost their mind. "Yeha, totes a great idea discussing all these theories in front of the damn police. Now if someone does something guess who gets implicated." Her lipgloss presses together with a slow agreeable nod. "Yeha...yeah. I feel like we're all learning valuable lessons today. But... My grandfather is, clearly... a problem. Historic and present and cowardice has gotten people we loves and oe we don't injured and or killed and we all have shit to do!" Looking to Isabella and Byron she says "Whoever brought the stupid box over should take those gross little bones back."

Ruiz has been a little preoccupied with his phone, coordinating something that sounds precinct-related and nothing to do with Erin or Gohl. He sounds vaguely irritated about the whole thing, or maybe the discussion ongoing in the room, and concludes the phonecall rather curtly before shoving his phone back into his pocket. "What's stopping us from bringing Thomas over to the veil ourselves?" he asks, stripping out of his suit jacket as the thing finally reaches terminal annoyance levels. It's slung over the back of one of the visitors' chairs, and he starts turning up the sleeves of his shirt to his elbows. Hyacinth is given a bit of a browraise, though he probably doesn't blame her for saying what she said. "What theories?" he asks, deadpan.

The long, significant look has Isabella's eyes narrowing even further at him, taking a few steps forward. "If you have something to say, Ronnie, then say it," she tells him bluntly, syllables threading over with white-hot filaments of her rising temper. "But I'll remind you of the fact that it was Erin who wanted us to come up with a way to save her great-uncle without killing him or committing him to a place where they'll have him fed out. Don't pin this on Alexander or me."

Her patience is on its last nerve; that she doesn't try to hide, and she turns to look over at Erin on the bed, and Hyacinth now, too. "Have either of you changed your minds on that?" she asks.

Taking him into the veil has to be better than drowning him in the fountain or the bathtub. That's what he mentioned happening when he was talking to Grandmother. It was like I wasn't there at all when I went to see them. He is scared, or so it seems, and he's getting either more powerful with Gohl or losing himself to the madness." Lifting her eyes to Hyacinth, Erin searches her expression before lowering her own. "I don't want anyone else to die. Hyacinth and I are closest to them and it still happened to me. What if it happens to her? I can't take that chance. If I had to choose between my life and Thomas, I would have to choose my own. And Hyacinth and Thomas, I would choose hers and it feels like that's the choice. But how? Can we take him to the otherside? Can we rip it out of him like was mentioned?"

Alexander reaches out, and if allowed, places his hand very gently at the small of Isabella's back. "I don't think Thorne is trying to pin the current state of affairs on anyone." Whether he believes this or not, his voice is doing an admirable attempt at being calm. "We're researching the issue. Several of us," he says, with a nod to Hyacinth, "so I've heard. Gohl is the immediate issues. If we can remove Gohl without harming Thomas, then we'll be able to see how much of this, if any, is something inherent in Thomas, and how much of it is," he waves a hand, "possession or whatever the fuck is going on. So let's just...focus on the problem, and not on blaming anyone for the problem?" His eyes come up, sweep the room, resting for a moment on Ruiz. "Yes?"

"I'm not pointing blame," Byron says wearing a dismissive look on his features, brows gently lifted when he looks to Isabella "I was hesitant about it in the beginning as well. Though I can't say that it never crossed my mind." Without even looking at Ruiz now, his eyes turn to Hyacinth, "Captain de la Vega wanted to put an end to this before anyone else got hurt. So I'm sure that he's willing to listen to all options and then we can decide which will be the fastest way to handle this. Like I said, before anyone," He wont' say Gohl or an Addington, "Finishes what they started here." He also doesn't bring up Penny Faust's death, but it's on his mind.

When Erin speaks about still wanting to preserve her uncle's life, Byron says nothing. Even if he adds, "Let's deal with Gohl, if this abuse of power continues beyond that, at least we'll have an idea on who to look into first."

Hyacinth shifts a look to Ruiz and speaks plain, for her, "I'm sorry but I don't know you and my first priority is to protect my family who act like family." She pauses and adds asa quiet tack on after the fact, "And not get killed and ruin my jacket." It's Isabella looking to her about changing her mind and that gets a slow eyebrow with some carefully selected words, "Are you even aware of what my mind is?" Taking a very composed breath she says perhaps too calmly, "The man let his granddaughter get torn into pieces and then regrets that it happened but knew these risks and didn't do anyhting to stop it and murdered his own son, my...idiot father." She lets that sink in before gesturing gently to Erin with a sigh, "And now... this. So before anyone wants to dip into town theory about who I am, or my feelings o this matter or what my mind is made up to do I will kindly invite you to ask"

Ruiz gazes right back at Alexander, hands retreating to his pants pockets, jaw tight. "I said," he repeats, cool as a cucumber, "What's stopping us from bringing him to the veil. Ourselves." He looks briefly to Thorne, and then Isabella for a beat. The emotion rolling off that woman seems to result in a subtle fortification of his mental barricades. Which is likely just as well, given the man's temper. "It might give us some room to breathe. And consider further options." Back to Hyacinth, he gives the woman a curt nod. "Fair enough." That she doesn't know him from a hole in the wall. "I've got more pressing things to do than try to convince you, but you're welcome to your skepticism until you understand that we're on the same side."

"He contains the power that Gohl is using," Alexander points out. "And may be willing to use it in his own self defense. If he agrees, it's a viable option. If he doesn't agree, and we attempt to press - that could get violent and bloody very quickly, unless someone knows a way to shut down someone's abilities." There's a thoughtful pause. "And since ghosts can use the abilities of the people they're haunting...I don't know if even rendering Thomas unconscious will stop Gohl from being able to slit our throats." He shrugs. "We could try. It would be educational. Possibly fatal. But educational."

"He is on our side, Hya. He can be trusted. I can vouch for him." Erin is just trying to reassure her cousin. "I said if we can do without drowning him in the fountain or the bathtub, then that's a bonus. The man I thought he was is all a lie. He's a killer, possessed or not. He did let Hya get hurt." Talking to Byron, "He's hurt so many before the bones were ever brought back. You heard him. I heard him. The bones had nothing to do with it. We are sitting here talking when we could be doing things. Like ripping him out and taking him to the veil as something to at least try first. I have a feeling our time is limited."

Byron was rudely texting someone during some of this when the conversation drifts to going over to the other side, "I've learned that one of my tenants may be able to find the Facility. Unfortunately, that won't happen until he is able to speak to his..." There's a brief pause here, a gentle breath being exhaled through his nostrils, "Uncle Monty. Who worked there at the Facility before his murder recently. For all I know Gohl killed him too, but I can't be too sure. Vivian was witness to that. They were on the other side, in his office, at the time when he was telling her about Billy the Ghoul, who was also a patient there."

His gaze lifts up, eyes to Erin, "I believe we're trying to figure out just how to do that, Erin. None of us even know where to begin aside from," And there's a vague gesture here, "Speaking to that occultist again. Which may help. I have very little experiences with ghosts and possessions." Which is the normal thing for anyone to say.

"Grandmother said she could find the facility easy and that it was never hdd383

"Grandmother said she could find the facility easy and that it was never hidden from her. I don't know if I can trust that right now. I don't know who to trust in that house." Erin says quietly.

After watching Byron with a long and scrutinizing look at his lifted eyebrows, she rips her attention away from him, though her skepticism there is palpable. Those green eyes fall on Hyacinth.

Are you even aware of what my mind is?

There are words there, piling up from behind her teeth - as sharp as razors. That no, she doesn't know, because as she recalls correctly, the woman was emphatic in not making the call as to what to do with her own grandfather and the urge to let it loose strains the air around her, pulsing with the ferocity of a sleeping dragon on the verge of waking. Her memory is excellent, she remembers these conversations and it is only by the virtue of someone touching her that manages to draw her out of her growing tempestuous haze. Isabella shuts her eyes, focuses on the welcome weight of Alexander's fingers fanning out at the small of her back, and Vivian's words in the back of her mind. Try not to come from a place of anger.

She turns her attention back to the problem, catches up with all the questions. She starts ticking them down one by one. "What's to stop us from taking Thomas Addington to the Veil, ourselves? Margaret Addington. That, I'm sure of. I already proposed that in the meeting with her, I asked whether she would allow us to be there for whatever measures she decided to enact regarding her brother. She said no. So it stands to reason that if we try to do that ourselves, she will interfere. Unless we can leverage Margaret's guilt over Erin's condition." She looks over at the woman on the bed. "And convince her to let us do it."

When Byron brings up the Facility, she nods. "It can't hurt, to know where it is. The occultist, Dr. Kosimar, is presently researching how a container can be made, though we still don't know who the Three are." She pauses. "I still believe as Byron does that Addington blood might be the key, though Lilith Winslow said something interesting also. That it might not have to be Addingtons but three people with the right level of power and who control different aspects of it, though they can't be Baxters either, so Alexander and I are out, if her theory is correct. I know Erin can heal." She nods to Erin. "And I know Hyacinth's skills are similar to Byron's. If that's also a possibility, we'd need a mover to round out the set."

Alexander sighs. "I'm not sure we're going to get anywhere further, here and now." He offers Erin a small smile. "Please get the rest you need, and let yourself heal. Both mind and body - a healer can fix the latter, but violence leaves its own scars that go beyond the flesh. You have my number, if I can help." With that, he turns to Isabella and leans in to place a kiss on her temple. "I need to go for a walk. Clear my head. Come at this again in a bit." Everyone else gets a curt sort of nod. "Don't die." Then he's making his hunch-shouldered way out of the room, careful to slide around all the others in his shabby clothes so that he doesn't brush against anyone.

Hyacinth listens to teh words still composed as angry furniture, but it's Ruiz she looks to processing Erin's words. Apparently they're taken on faith and looks back . Finally she says openly, "To be honest I had to get talked out of turning my car around going back and shooting them both and taking a nice long bath. Okay? Everyone happy? So, if we need to create a safe space to retreat to? I can manage that." She pauses taking a deep breath lifting her fingers, "I'm going to stay here with Erin to make certain he isn't returning but I have faith that it was misinterpreted mandate. Still... She gave one. He followed it. I'm very disinterested in making excuses for them but whatever we need to do to protect... well everyone? I'm in.."