"They're a lifesaver, that's what they are, sugar. I mean that literally too, if my doomy gloomy tone of voice wasn't suggestive enough."

It feels strange to talk so openly with a virtual stranger, to discuss things without his flippant live and let live 'tude. Maybe that should be called something else, but he'll settle for it even if it is a misnomer. It is never just flippancy. It isn't ever just about living and letting other people lead their own lives.

But in the here and now? It feels as though he's leaving all that pretense behind. He had the same feeling the first-and-last time they met.