Check on Lupin

I'm going to see if I can help Lupin. I go out to the hall to find her room.

She's probably making a final check of the plan for tonight.

I don't know what I can do to help even if I offer, but there might be something I can do. If it starts to look like I'm getting in the way, I'll leave right away. I tell myself that as I approach her room. I arrive at her door and knock. "Lupin? It's Caleb."

"Come on in. It's unlocked." Lupin says.

"Thank you." I enter the room, and find Lupin taking notes with a map and pocket watch at her desk. "Are you going over the plan?"

"Yes. We need to cut off the train car and switch rail lines at the same time. I'm going over the overall process."

"You're very bold, but I guess you're very detail-oriented in your plans."

"I'm able to be bold thanks to all the precautions I take. All right. I think this is good." Lupin says. "What did you want?"

"I was wondering if I could help at all."

"Oh, that's nice of you. But I literally just finished."

"Am I getting in your way?"

"Not at all. Why don't you come sit with me for a bit?" Lupin pours us two cups of tea from a pot on her desk.

"It's almost like you knew I was coming."

"Haha, really? A thief needs to have good intuition for this sort of thing. Here, have some tea." She hands me a cup of tea and takes a sip from her own. I take a sip as well. The warm tea is soothing for my nerves. "Are you nervous?"

"No, not at all." I answer quickly so I sound confident and reliable.

"Haha, you don't have to put up an act. It's normal to be nervous, so you don't have to hide it."

"I'm not hiding, but..."

"You're just afraid of messing up, right?" Lupin says. "I get it. I was really nervous about my first heist. I was like, 'what if I mess up?'"

"You nervous? I can't even imagine it. You're always saying that there is a zero percent chance of failure."

"Are you trying to emulate me? Everybody has a first time for everything."

"You've taught me many things. Did you have a thief teacher, too?"

"Mm... Yes. Something like that."

"Was that person like you are to me?" I think about what I said and it's a bit embarrassing for some reason.

But Lupin looks like normal, and it doesn't seem that she's read too much into my words.

I'm a little received, but also slightly disappointed.

"I don't know. I can't tell what's going on inside your head." Lupin laughs. For a while after that, Lupin and I reviewed what she taught me. The various techniques and methods of accessing situations. "Does that ease your mind a little?"

"Yes."

"All right, I have one more thing I can tell you that will help calm you down. Mistakes and such are bound to happen." Lupin says. "That's why my plans account for anything possibly going wrong. So, you can worry all you want, but I've seen every contingency. Well? Does that make you feel any better?"

"Yes. It's quite a relief."

Lupin smiles, and in this moment I feel like everything's going to turn out right.