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It turned out that Naomi wanted to talk to Blysse, so Geoff was free to relay the whole thing to Lou by himself. She pulled him to their living room couch so they could converse in comfort. He tried to retell it exactly as he remembered it, not glossing over or embellishing anything. She let him get through the whole thing with only a few shocked gasps and angry curses muttered under her breath.
He finished his tale and then fell silent, waiting for Lou to respond. She didn't say anything at first, tucking both of her feet under her rump and letting her eyes wander for a protracted time, lost in thought. Geoff wasn't sure if she was rehearsing a rant or replaying his replaying for herself, but either way he waited with the patience of the tides. If she was going to rip him a new one for the way he handled things – well, that certainly wouldn't be the first time, nor would it be the last.
"Well," she said finally, shrugging a bit, "you did the best you could."
Geoff waited for more, but more never came. Her words were a tad patronizing, but he was not offended. He was, however, surprised to not find himself with a freshly ripped new one.
"That's all you've got for me?" he asked. He really was a glutton for punishment some days.
"If I had more, would it really make a difference?" Lou sighed, her tone more weary than angry.
He considered for a moment, then shook his head. "Probably not, actually." Even after recounting what happened and having more time to reconsider his actions, he would not have done anything differently. He couldn't see himself being any other way.
Lou threw up her hands as if to say, "there you have it," sighing in exasperation. "Maybe one of these days you'll figure it out, but after all these years I'm not holding my breath."
"Fair enough," he replied, content to let the subject drop. "So I guess that's it for my grand idea to show up that priest and his idiot followers. I don't suppose you came up with a better plan in the meantime, did you?"
"No," Lou said. "Unfortunately we couldn't come up with anything."
Geoff growled. "You know how much I hate sitting on my hands waiting for shit to happen to us."
"I know, I know. But what the hell do you want me to say? I notice you don't have a backup plan either."
"Not yet."