Holtzmann stood a bit straighter, ears prickling. Erin had a bad track record, too. Huh, maybe Abby was right- Holtzmann wasn’t the only one with lousy advice. But, that was easy for her friend to say; she was in a nice, interesting relationship… Holtzmann wanted a nice interesting relationship. “I’m sorry to hear that. I hope the right one comes along.” That was what normal people said in response to that sort of a thing, right? Sure, she’d roll with it.
She gave Erin a playful side eye. “Maybe I should keep you around to keep Kevin in tip top condition.” Maybe another Australian was the key to get through to him. However, Erin Gilbert would never speak to Holtzmann again if she gave Kevin an attractive assistant. The ex-professor would go on and on about how unfair her life was. “Fairy breast sounds…” wait for it. “Fairy.” In place of ‘very’. “Delicious.” Before she could even wait to see if Erin would laugh at that, the blonde was already cackling at her own joke.
“It’s usually over people’s heads…” She realized that that could be taken negatively. “Not that you couldn’t figure it out or learn it–” Her brows furrowed, she didn’t want to offend the woman. “Not many people know how to operate Paranormal Equipment and that’s not a bad thing.” Erin didn’t deserve to have her mind always racing like Holtzmann’s. The blonde never slept. She barely ate. And she was constantly afraid of death. How ironic. “I make most everything from scratch. There’s been some painful trial and errors- but, yes. I’m the head engineer for The Ghostbusters.” She grinned at her new companion. Erin may not know it yet- but, Holtzmann had already decided that she was going to try to become Erin’s friend.
“Erin squared!!” Holtzmann bellowed and pumped her fists in the air. Then, she realized the Australian probably didn’t follow. “Sorry, there’s another Ghostbuster named Erin. She’s a BEAST at equations and science. You two should meet later.” She continued her strut along the sidewalk and leaned forward to adjust her pack a bit. “I’m Jillian.” She stuck her tongue out in disgust of her own name. Only a handful were allowed to call her that. “But, everyone calls me Holtzmann. Or Holtz. Or Holtzy.”
Erin couldn’t help but laugh at the pun. It was delightful. More than anything, she could appreciate that someone else could be as silly as she often was in her own mind but kept to herself. “It is fairy delicious. Unfortunately I’m pretty sure an excess of both of those things would keep Kevin in anything but top shape. But it might work if you’re trying to condition him for work,” she joked wiht a soft laugh.
“That’s really incredible,” she complimented earnestly. Erin couldn’t even begin to try to imagine what went into any of it. It was completely over her head but she was still interested and definitely impressed. “Taking something completely unknown and mostly unseen and not only bringing it to life in a way other people can understand but then building the technology to combat it,” she shook her head, thoroughly impressed, “that’s amazing.”
Confused but still amused at the antic, she laughed a little at the outburst which quickly made sense. Meeting the head engineer of the Ghostbusters and then being offered to meet another one, maybe it was silly but she felt a bit starstruck. And also incredibly welcomed. She’d showed up thinking she’d be just a number, a client, maybe not even that if they couldn’t help with her specific issue and instead it felt like she was making a friend. “I’d love to.”
“It’s really nice to meet you, Holtzmann. I will probably take you up on one of those shortenings. It’s the Australian way, all our friends get nicknames” she joked.