Peking-Hankow Express

[DrPeterson]

"Zoukhoudian? Did you meet with Davy Black? He's pretty stiff, even for a Canadian, but I guess that's what you get if you work with Scandinavians all the time. Well, he was anyway."

She shakes her head in a merry sigh, her curls flowing gracefully with the movement.

"I didn't take you for the type to hunt after fossilised humans, Dr. Renwick. We might find some common ground after all."

She adds a teasing grin.

"We can leave the religious dissertation for when you get back, with what was it? The wine?"

[Mr. Handy]

Elisabeth thanks the steward for the tea and sips it while listening with fascination to Caroline and Henry.

[Cearlan]

I press my lips together to stifle my outrage ... Davy Black!!! is that any way to talk about the most respected man in his field, well certainly one of them. I then realise that she may not know he is dead. Taking a deep breath to calm my racing heart I say;

"I see that you may be unaware of the situation as it stands. I regret to have to inform you that Professor Black passed over last year from heart complications. He was a man I respected and admired for a lot of reasons and although I was on the site as the medical doctor, I did learn a lot from the likes of the late professor and his replacement, even though it pains me to say it as comrade Wenzhong and I did not see eye to eye on many things."

[DrPeterson]

Caroline looks at the Doctor with appraising eyes, gleaming with an almost sensuous mischief.

"Yes, I thought I saw something of him in you, Dr. Renwick. And I'd thank you for the news, were it not known to me already. Professor Black and I are or should I say were, both part of a select group of researchers who believe the origins of humanity to lie in the Tibetan plateau. Davy was a bit too bland for my taste and I a bit too hot for his, I imagine .We never saw eye to eye, despite our shared hypothesis. The fact that he was one of those flint fetishists didn't help our understanding one another either."

[Tabs]

Caroline teases--?--the unhappy Doctor, meanwhile Mingzhu sips at her tea; over the brim of her cup she catches Elisabeth's eye, and raises an eyebrow.

Posie jumps up from her seat and implores Santiago: "Oh, 'something more substantial,' please . . . daddy." Santiago exits. "Aren't you going too, Mr. Renwick?" adds Posie, oblivious to any tension, thinking only about food.

[ooc: Anyone outside of the compartment, place your post under a "Spoiler" button.]

[Cearlan]

I nod at Caroline, never taking my eyes off hers and say, "Well let us continue this discussion later my lady, but for now I am afraid I have a more pressing engagement, the pursuit of food with Santiago. I shall see you later ladies." Nodding he takes his leave of the compartment to join his friend.

[DrPeterson]

"I look forward to you and Santiago's imminent return, Dr. Renwick."

She disconnects from Renwick's gaze with a winning smile at the ladies and says:

"Well, ladies, shall we go pick some berries while the menfolk hunt for food?", looking at Mingzhu she adds, "Or should we just have another smoke?"

[Mr. Handy]

"I don't smoke," says Elisabeth, "but I don't mind if anyone else wants to."

[Cearlan]

I close the door as gently as my simmering temper will allow. Catching up to Santiago I mutter quietly, though loud enough for my friend to hear me. "That infernal woman - she know how to get right under my skin, and I cannot even tell you how she does it! That's wrong actually, I know exactly how she does it ... well some of it anyway. The flippancy she uses when talking about "Davy Black" for example. The woman has no reserve or thought for protocol at all. Now I am no stick in the mud but I mean to say, damn it all!" I drone on in this vein for a time.

[Tabs]

Mingzhu hands another cigarette to Caroline. "Tell me, Caroline, why are you traveling alone?" She thinks of Dr. Renwick: "Did you scare them all away?"

[ooc: Renwick and Santiago, go back to "An American in China" topic.]

[DrPeterson]

Caroline emits a sultry, throaty laugh as she takes the cigarette from Mingzhu, her fingers touching the Chinese woman's a little longer than necessary.

"My company is travelling in second class, darling, it wouldn't do to have my porters ride in first, you know as well as I do that it would upset more than a few social conventions, besides they are terrible bores."

[Tabs]

"Quite so!" smiles Mingzhu. "'Bores' are insufferable.

"One day, I hope to be in the movies, in Shanghai."

[DrPeterson]

Caroline slowly draws on the cigarette, savouring the smoke before exhaling.

"With eyes like yours, Mingzhu, you'll knock 'em dead."

[Mr. Handy]

"Yes, you'd be a natural for the cinema," says Elisabeth. "I'd love to see anything with you in it!"

[Tabs]

"Thank you. Both of you." MIngzhu, oddly, sheds a tear, which she wipes at irritatedly.

[DrPeterson]

Caroline knew better than to further teary conversations. She pats Mingzhu affectionately on the knee and then turns to stare through the window at the countryside rolling by.

[Mr. Handy]

"You're welcome," says Elisabeth, who decides it might be best to change the subject. "Have you ever been to Chengchow before?"

[Tabs]

"You seem well travelled, Caroline?" adds Mingzhu to Elisabeth's enquiry.

Posie shifts on the seat uncomfortably. "The boys are taking ages: I'm awful hungry!"

[Mr. Handy]

"Yes, I wonder what could be keeping them," says Elisabeth, sipping at her tea. "It's not like they could get lost on a train. Distracted, perhaps."

[DrPeterson]

Caroline seems to snap out of some revery and turns to the other ladies, her curls cascading with the motion.

Just briefly, darling, for some paperwork, you know how it is. The focus of my research is more on west of China., she smiles at the well travelled compliment. "Why thank you, I do try to get around."