Refried Scenes

It's been nearly two months since Lanse's breakdown, and things have started to get a little easier; over the last few weeks, he's started getting out more, coming to Saigremort and Jude's for dinners, or going sometimes to a little bar down the street from his flat. He's still not working -- every day seems like a job in and of itself, and the logistics of actually managing a real job or keeping figures for someone seems like too much to think about just now. Eventually, Saigremort suggests that maybe having more than just himself or Jude at dinners would be helpful. And so they start having meals, now and then, with Ravi.

In the company of Saigremort and Jude, Lanse is usually pretty solid. He laughs, talks about the boat, sometimes even tells stories from his gun running days. The first night Ravi is over with them, he goes quiet again -- polite, to be sure, deferential, but shy or wary. It gets easier, the more they get to know each other, and eventually Lanse is comfortable enough to suggest (as he did when they first met) that Ravi ought to come by and see the ship sometime.

He made this offer without much thought, and he doesn't think much about it afterward, either. So when Ravi rings him on the comm unit a few days later, he's clearly surprised; more surprised still when Ravi suggests he come visit Lanse at his flat. He says he's got something he'd like to share, and Lanse is too off balance to say no. Once they sign off, he sets about tidying up the place, stashing the pill bottles away in his bedroom, and he changes into something a little more presentable, one of his new shirts that Saigremort's brought from the tailor's.

Then he puts on some water for tea, and tries not to get any more nervous than he already is.

She and her office look no different from the last time he was there. She settles into the same chair she took before, and waits for him to sit before she says, "So, did you think about what I asked you last time?"