Smoking Car

[Mr. Handy]

Elena takes Wolfgang's arm and accompanies him to Roby's table. "A pleasure to meet you," she says.

[Laraqua]

"Good evening to you both," says Mr. Roby. "My name is Alexander Roby and this is my wife, Caroline Roby. Would you like a seat on the lounge? The pianist is quite good and this position is most conducive to being able to hear him just right."

[Mr. Handy]

"Thank you," says Elena, taking a seat and smiling. "Good evening, Mrs. Roby. I take it this is not your first trip on the Orient Express."

[DrPeterson]

"A pleasure in ze meeting you.",

Wolfgang and greets Mrs Roby with a friendly nod, and then sits down as well.

[Laraqua]

"What a lovely thing to say!" exclaimed Mrs. Roby. "Do we seem well-travelled, dear?"

[Mr. Handy]

"You do," says Elena, "but that's not all. Your husband knows how good the pianist is and where best to sit to hear him. We've only left Paris this evening, so he hasn't performed yet on this trip. Therefore, he must know from a previous trip."

[DrPeterson]

Wolfgang laughs appreciatively, hearing Elena's explication.

"You must being using caution, Elena hast ze keenest mind! You vill have no secrets remaining."

He smiles as he raises his glass in salute to the Russian woman.

[Laraqua]

"You seem to be quite the young Miss Marple," says Mrs. Roby. "My husband and I occasionally travel to visit his publisher and bookhounds in Germany and Istanbul. Of late our presses aren't so active in Germany, unfortunately, but we have a roaring trade in Istanbul in works of fiction. Have either of you been aboard this train before? And whereabouts are your destinations? You two seem very well-acquainted if you don't mind my saying so. I can only hope that you two met aboard this wonderful train."

[DrPeterson]

Wolfgang concurs with a sad nod.

Indeed, ze wrong zings have being active in Germany and zey no longer love books zat do not enhance ze Führer.

A smiles passes his lips at Mrs. Roby comment.

"Ve having only meet zis evening, but ve sharing ze common destination. Ve vill be get off in Istanbul as vell. But you must telling me more about ze writings, I vas a literature professor in Munich before..before ze situation."

[Mr. Handy]

"I'm a writer too," says Elena, "a travel writer. The business hasn't been so good for me lately, but I expect it to pick up soon. Once the war starts, people won't be able to travel as much, but they will hunger to do so vicariously - and I will be more than happy to feed them. I am thinking about writing a book about my journeys. I wonder if your publisher would be interested. I have been on the Orient Express once before, last year."

[Laraqua]

Piano Bar Car, France, 21:00

The New York Twelve - You're Driving Me Crazy, 1930

This sophisticate carriage contains a long bar staffed by a bartender at one end and it opens its doors at 10AM to allow entrance to the Dining Car if need be although it doesn't serve alcohol until midday at which point the bar remains open and staffed until midnight wherein guests can mingle, listen to music, dance, and drink either on stools at the bar or on long couches upholstered in brown that face each other over the central aisle with a polished mahogany coffee table between them and a set of lamps on tables between each couch to provide additional lighting on top of the dim overhead lighting if need be. The couches are quite comfortable and the room is always nicely warm. Oftentimes this carriage is filled with the heady scent of cigarette smoke and ashtrays are plentiful on each table. While the bar stands on one side of the car (closest to the door to the Lounge Car), a piano sits at the other end alongside a gap about as wide as it is long which is used as an impromptu dance floor on occasion by those enjoying the bar.

"My husband's publisher is a rather small printing press interested in a obscure collections with a rather obscure focus on strangely artistic literary works which have binary and concurrent meanings," says Mrs. Roby. "Though perhaps they might be interested in a travel guide which focuses on obscure destinations with a distinguished interest for those of a more spiritual nature."

"Forgive my wife," says Mr. Roby. "What she means is they publish collections of poetry and symbolic tales designed to inspire through the revelation between darkness and light."

[Mr. Handy]

"Ah," says Elena. "Well, I write strictly prose, so that wouldn't be a good fit. What books have you written, Mr. Roby?"

[Laraqua]

"Well, I have a few," says Mr. Roby. "The Royal Shade of Pale is a small book of poetry that focuses on a rather surrealist depiction of artistic nobility through the ages. The Yellow Rider & Other Tales is a collection of short fiction written by myself and a few others which my wife has collected. The City On The Lake examines how all urban cities have, at their core, shared connections in artistic interpretations that suggests a racial memory of some ancient place shared in dreams which includes some Jungian ideologies. There are more but I'd really rather not bore you. If you are interested, I could fetch for you a book to read. Would any of those suit your tastes?"

[Mr. Handy]

"Thank you," says Elena. "The City on the Lake sounds intriguing, especially to a traveler such as myself."

[DrPeterson]

Wolfgang is concentrating intently to follow the conversation. Eventually he chimes in.

"You have saying zat you publish in German publisher? Do you writing in German as vell?"

[Laraqua]

"I do, but not on me, I'm afraid," says Mr. Roby. "I do, however, have a copy of Unaussprechlichen Kulten - also known as Nameless Cults or Unspeakable Cults or the Black Book - which I could loan you for the duration of the ride. I would need it returned before Istanbul, however.

[DrPeterson]

OOC:,Can I make an occult or literature check to have even heard of that very interesting tome of which Roby speaks? If yes, here's my roll. [dice]0[/dice]

I vould be delighted, I only bringing Goethe and zough zere is no finer reading in German, a man needing a little distraction zen and now, yes?

Wolfgang takes another sip from his glass, seems to think for a moment and speaks up again.

"You must pardoning, but ve could not help but hearing about your dream. It sounded very...how shall ve saying? Particular."

[Mr. Handy]

"Oh, yes, I'd be very keen to hear more about your dreams too," says Elena, excitement in her voice. "My own dreams are never so interesting, when I'm lucky enough to remember them at all."

[Laraqua]

"My dreams?" asks Mr. Roby. "My dreams have always been very particular. Sometimes they are even close to prophetic."

[DrPeterson]

Wolfgang clears his throat and gets up out of his seat.

"Might I suggesting ze ozer round of drinking?"


He goes to collect the refreshments and returns to his chair.

"Prophetic? How do you mean, you having had a dream coming out?"