Abi seemed to be relaxing into the conversation, and it just made Ernest feel like he was bubbling over with joy. Oh, thank god, he still possessed the ability to keep her attention and get her lost in a moment with him. He was so damn pleased that he'd finally plucked up the courage to ask her out.
He laughed heartily at her description of the evening's events. "A notorious lothario, huh?" he chuckled. "In your defense, you did not know that then. I had you fooled," he joked. "Because you know, I was a total picture of innocence and all. Who the hell is Kathleen Cookson?" he added, just out of sheer nosiness.
"Good. I quite agree, and he absolutely deserved it. You're allowed to enjoy it when it's uh... noble?" he repeated her choice of words, rather enjoying the idea that he wasn't just throwing his fists around for no reason. The bastard had absolutely deserved it.
"You know, I don't come here often. But I do remember Lacey being something of a star baker if you're into cake at all," he told her. God, he remembered the chocolate birthday cake Charlie had covered himself in, and he couldn't help but smile a little. Where had that memory come from? He was sure that was a new one, filling in a gap.
"She's not joking, no. There are even a couple people who used to be horses," he told her, in a casual tone as if it wasn't that strange a thing to say. "No! Ponies, sorry. Magical ponies. Not actually sure of the difference between a horse and a pony, magical or not, but they're ponies," he told her, and then realised he'd gone completely away from the actual point. "A lot of us here were on an island together. Basically the same idea, maybe a little more sadistic because there was some power-mad guy running the show. But I was on that island for a few years, then I was sent back to my own world for a hell of a long time, started to think it was all just something crazy I'd dreamed up on too much Absinthe. Arrived here on the station... I'm not sure, a few months back anyway."