It has come to my attention, or perhaps I've only been reminded, that I can only really do good work on the Centre books when I'm in a thoroughly shot to hell mood.  I've been getting work in on that stalled chapter today, in between dealing with emotional trauma, admin stuff and revamping my site.  Here's an excerpt.  Thought I'd share.  It's not anything special, but here it is:

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“What’s the matter?” Kevin asked before sipping his drink. Save for a light in his eye and slight furrow of his brow, I’d have never known there was more than passing concern behind the questions.

I shook my head, tried to laugh a little, managed to fail at doing both. “Thinking.”

“Well stop it!” He ordered, rather forcefully. “It look is serious.” He leaned back in his chair, a rather drunken gesture considering how little he’d had and swirled the liquid in his glass.

I sighed, unable to help myself. “I’m just wondering if we did any good, that’s all.”

“You’re shittin’ me, right?” The question came from Vicious, who was looking at me with the kind of ludicrous expression that made me wonder, no matter how briefly, if I’d sprouted a third arm.

“I second that,” Kevin agreed with a finger pointed to Abernathe in emphasis. It was enough to make me wander if he’d started drinking before the meeting. Considering how he’d started his morning, it wasn’t entirely out of the question.

“Details, pray tell?” Abernathe added, leaning forward to rest his elbow on the table so that he could use his hand to prop up his face. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was settling in for one hell of a story. I had no intentions of giving him one. Given the company I was in, I was too afraid it would be mistaken for a pity trip, which it probably was to begin with, but that didn’t mean anyone had to tell me as much.

“They’re shutting us down.” I responded simply.

“And from this conclusion you’ve decided the past two decades of your life were for nothing?” Kevin asked. “Good God, man, we haven’t saved the world in some grandiose fashion, but we’ve more than done our part and it sure as hell wasn’t for lack of trying.”

“It wasn’t enough, I observed, rather miserably.

My observation made Kevin sober just a little. In spite of the change in demeanor, he smiled softly, meaning to infuse his next words with some small level of comfort. “It never is.”