Afraid of the Dark

Chapter 19: So Much Unsaid

Jules picks at her lips with her teeth as she thinks. "The cat was fine, at first. As I said, shaken up but otherwise okay. But he slowly started getting more sluggish and weak and he even started collapsing as he walked. At first I thought it was just because he's old, but then I remembered he's synthetic. So all of his problems are Regan problems," she says.

"So whatever happened to Regan was gradual," Reela affirms. "Something was draining him."

Jules nods once in confirmation. "Seems that way."

Reela goes back to examining the cat and has to tell her emotions to fuck off for a second so she can think. Assuming Regan sent Romeow to Jules after he saw that the ship would be under attack, he must have had a reason. Some kind of desperate plan in the heat of the moment.

She takes a deep breath and steps back. "Okay. If we're going to figure out what happened, we need to think like Regan," she states and holds out her hands. "So... Say we're on a ship, minding our own business, Nisha is steering, and Naomi..."

Corb gasps and holds up his hand. "Oh! I know this one! Naomi was drunk!" he exclaims happily. "She likes to get drunk."

Reela claps with a smile. "Good! Nisha's steering the ship, Naomi is drinking and/or drunk, so that leaves Regan..."

Jules snickers. "Regan loves the sea. When he was four, he really wanted to be a pirate until he realized it would be scary," she snorts and rolls her eyes. "He'd be on deck, writing probably."

Reela slowly nods as she starts painting the mental image in her head. "If Regan was writing and Naomi was drinking, then Nisha would have to have been the one to notice another ship," she states. Nisha's been a pirate for years and along with that, she was a spy for Varagores. She would have recognized the flags and known what they meant. She must have known that if a Varagores ship was headed their way, it would have been for a fight.

"Nisha would have seen the danger approaching and..." she tries to think harder. What would Nisha have done?

Corb clicks his tongue. "Not sure if this helps, but I remember after Aramora was blown up, Todo and me were on a ship with Naomi, Nisha and the old man, Malachi. While we were aimlessly sailing, waiting for the barrier thingy to break, there was a rough storm at one point and Nisha told me and Todo to hide below deck," he throws in and Reela smiles at him.

"Perfect! Regan's basically a toddler when it comes to danger, so Nisha would have had him do the same thing. So, if Regan was hiding below deck while Nisha was probably trying to evade the other ship... He must have had time to prepare for the attack," Reela purses her lips and steps back over to the table and Romeow and she looks at Jules. "He sent Romeow to you with the shard... But he must have known that Romeow wouldn't be able to tell you what happened..." she taps the table as she thinks.

If Regan had been writing on deck, that would've meant he had a pen and paper on hand when everything went to shit.

Reela looks down at the cat again and starts feeling around his neck and the bowtie he's been condemned to wear for all of his eternal life. She doesn't feel anything so she moves to his stomach, checking if maybe something's hidden within his fat orange glory. Nothing.

Corb clears his throat and steps closer to the table as well. "What, uh... Whatcha doin' there, Re?"

Reela looks up at him. "I'm checking if Regan left a note or something for Jules," she says and resumes searching, and Corb frowns at his intrusive thoughts before he grabs the cat's tail and peeks at the ass.

"Found it!" Reela gasps with a smile after she had opened Romeow's mouth, and Corb immediately dropped the tail to focus on her. She sticks her fingers into Romeow's mouth, hoping to Mazenya that he doesn't suddenly decide to regain sentience just in time to bite her fingers off.