>Talk reason unto the paranoid and the scared.

104

Okay, here goes.

JACQUELINE: “Look, both of you are making very good points. Your concerns are both valid and smart, the pair of you. Clara, it’s okay to not want to change, but look at me. I’ve got coral growing on my face, and I’m trying very hard not to notice that it’s there. You’ll still be you.”

CLARA: “But what about, you know…?”

OMAR: “Who, me? And my inevitable betrayal?”

JACQUELINE: “Clara, there is very little he can do to delay us. The floor will eventually cool, the flames will go out. We can take as long as we like, and I can speed the process along. Even if he burns everything as he goes, he’ll probably need us at some point further down this malicious puzzlemaze.”

OMAR: “Hmph.”

JACQUELINE: “But that doesn’t matter, Omar, because I trust you.

OMAR: “What.”

JACQUELINE: “Look, from the moment you burst into the room, guns blazing, you were shouting at me to stop something malicious you thought I was doing. You were perfectly willing of throwing yourself into the jaws of someone who could have been capable of anything. That takes bravery and selflessness. Go last. We trust you.”

OMAR: “Um… thanks.”

JACQUELINE: “Okay. Now, Clara, your puzzle.”

That went better than expected.


> Clara: go first.