For Sylvia, who asked.
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We carry the faint miasma of alcohol and tobacco sidestream into the compartment with us, and you crack the window open to keep the air circulating as I slide the door shut.
"Well. That was interesting."
The countryside rolls past, pastures and polders of the creator's own ironing board, punctuated by allotments by the rails and divided up into a neat Go board by canals glinting silver with reflected moonlight.
"Don't tell me you didn't enjoy it."
"Well, of course I did." I roll my neck over, feeling the click-clack of releasing tension in vertebrae. "It was just... unnecessary."
"If you say I told you so, even once, I am getting up and walking out of this compartment. Right now."
"So I won't." I drop my coat onto the chair and sit down opposite you. "I assume we're not going back there."
"Tomorrow?"
"Ever, unless they change management and all the bouncers." I look over at you. "Is that cigar ash on your lapel?"
You reach up with slender fingers; brush the fine powder off your tux with a look of faint distaste.
"How do you know it's cigar?"
"Mean particulate size, albedo, and the fact that the only person close enough to you to have dropped any there was sucking on a vile specimen of that little Freudian symbol." I drop my head back onto the bench. "If you ask me what make of cigar, I have no idea. I'm not Sherlock."
"That scan could have come in useful earlier."
"It did. Why do you think I said it was probably time to leave?"
You're silent for a while, letting the unspoken I told you so hang in the air between us.
Finally:
"All right, I admit I was pushing my luck."
"A tad. And he wasn't to know, was he? That there was no risk to his relationship with the girl. Such as might exist."
"How do you know that?" You arch an eyebrow at me.
"Because we had an argument about that, once upon a time." I fold my arms under my head. "You may recall."
"I was just testing."
"I'd say you succeeded." The false ceiling has holes dotted across it, acoustic muffling that in no wise silences the click-clack of the expansion gaps passing under the wheels. "He wouldn't have reacted to violently else. Next time, we stay out of the dives."
"Would it have made a difference?"
"Dressed the way I usually am, no. Dressed the way you are," I gesture, vaguely, at the dapper combination of jacket and vest, "you attract attention in strange and interesting ways. Including people out to demonstrate alpha malehood."
"I can't believe how fast he went down."
"Man takes a swing, man leaves himself vulnerable. Basic rule. Double that in spades if the swing isn't directed at me. Double it again if there's furniture nearby."
"So you were watching."
"Very closely."
"And coiled."
"Locked and loaded and ready to fire."
"Just waiting for someone to pull your trigger?"
"Where you're concerned," I say, lowering my gaze from the ceiling, "I don't need triggers. I can explode all by myself, thank you very much."
"Yes," you agree, meeting my eyes. "I know."
_______
Time: 30 minutes
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