It's so normal and he thinks so little of it that he barely even registers it happening. In his defense there is kind of a lot to be focusing on.

"In fact I have met Walker exactly once and it was while I was breaking into Trammel's house and the only reason he didn't kill me is that I lied convincingly enough about having a dead man's switch."

SHE! FUCKING! KNEW! IT!

Is this supposed to make Joan feel better about her, or rather Inaaya's, life choices.

"So anything you learned about him from me is guesswork based on what I learned about him from you, you can disregard it.

My real name is Mordred Orkney, we're not actually cult affiliated at all, we are in so far over our heads I literally drowned last week, and I would like to do actual for real information sharing where we're not lying to each other about everything."

"I knew it! I knew it! I knew he wasn't a cultist!"

"Who do you work for?"

"The daughter of one of the people who tried to stop the ritual ten years ago."

what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the

"...do you have. Evidence?"

"He doesn't talk like a cultist."

"The most parsimonious hypothesis is that they're telling the truth."

"I have the spells I just handed you, I have Inaaya's general testimony about who I am as an entire person although presumably you already knew that, I have several notebooks of records of the last six months, I don't think I have anything a very dedicated person couldn't have fabricated but you have to admit if I were lying it would be an incredibly weird lie."

"Walker does incredibly weird lies."

"Or at least he might."

"I think the most parsimonious hypothesis," Joan says, "is that the true thing is whatever's most likely to get us all killed."

"That's not how Occam's Razor works."

"This is Joan's Razor and if he betrays us I will use it to slit your boyfriend's throat."

Okay, heading this conversation off since it doesn't seem to be going anywhere helpful, "That's all extremely fair. You don't have to believe me immediately, if you want to check up on the spells and come back I understand and if you want the notebook you can look through it right now."

"Can we take it and read it at our leisure?"

"Yes."

He hands her the copy he'd made during the week they were learning to cast out the Black Pharaoh, which doesn't have any of the events of the previous two nights.

Inaaya takes it and flips through. "It has an index! I love you."

Tiny, stressed-out smile. "I love you too."

SUSPICIOUS.

"I don't suppose it would help if I offered to answer questions as the resident horrible liar," Oswald suggests, somewhat weakly. Joan somehow seems scarier now that they're ostensibly aiming at working together. "...I don't know how I would prove that. Everyone can attest to it. There was a reason I spent most of our dinner getting Anchisa to interrupt us."

"Well, I can read minds."

"This is true. The other reason why I kept getting Anchisa to interrupt us."

"If you want I can just-- confirm that you're telling the truth."

"Sure. Okay. Uh, do you have specific questions or -- the short version is that I definitely believe we're working towards the same goals and we don't intend to harm you, the long version covers a few months--"