"That's an improvement, in any case." Even if they hadn't done anything about the litter. It was always so easy for him to find things to complain about, but this evening they seemed to fall into the background. He wasn't used to feeling adrenaline that wasn't warning him of something life-threatening.
Perhaps he should have been taking heed of it as a warning; he should have felt more precarious than he did. He was, as always, planning to be careful before stepping too far out into anything. But planning was one thing, and doing was another, and he'd already moved further than he thought was wise. He just didn't care. As far as he was concerned, he had earned the right to do whatever the hell he wanted. The only thing he had to worry about was the fact that he wasn't exactly in the habit of getting to know people. He still felt closed, though he was trying not to. And there was plenty that he thought Essery might not like if it were open.
But putting things out of his mind was something he was good at. "You can't tell me the music hasn't changed, however." He'd heard the nonsense that passed for wizarding music, and it couldn't be that much better in the world at large.