On recent game shenanigans...

[recognize_an_opportunity]

You realize it's inaccurate to call it a "midlife crisis," don't you? At best, it's a quarter life crisis. And either way, it's insulting.

It's a car.

[And several other things, but those should probably go unmentioned.]

Not everything has to have deep psychological meaning.

Comments

[luxuryflower]

A car?

[recognize_an_opportunity]

Yeah, a car. There's some sort of implication that I bought it to cope with underlying distress of some kind.

[luxuryflower]

And naturally, this isn't true. Naturally, it can't be!

[recognize_an_opportunity]

I can understand why someone might think it was true. But like you say, it's not.

[luxuryflower]

Do tell me more about your car!

[recognize_an_opportunity]

[Oh good, his favorite topic!]

I'm still working on it, of course, but it's very modern, and you'd never believe how fast it can go.

Or will go, once I've got it all fixed up.

[luxuryflower]

Speed is as much a spice of life as variety, I should think. And speed of this variety sounds very exciting.

[recognize_an_opportunity]

It is. Seventy five miles per hour, so far, and that's without it running at its best.

[intheicebox]

Trouble in paradise?

[recognize_an_opportunity]

[Oh. Hello there.]

Things are going as well as could be hoped, under the circumstances.

[intheicebox]

[Don't look so excited, Mr. Lansky.]

And what are these circumstances?

[Is it any of his business? Of course. Everything is Manny's business, if he wants it to be.]

[recognize_an_opportunity]

[But he's super thrilled, can't you tell.]

You find yourself living in a different world and a different time entirely, you have to learn to adapt. That's what I'm doing.

[intheicebox]

[Meyer does usually have that super thrilled look about him. He's might as well be called Mr. Emotive.]

This is an answer?

[A shrug.] Well, a mid-life crisis, a quarter-life crisis... What is that to a young man? A bi gezunt.

[recognize_an_opportunity]

Sure, it's an answer. You asked what the circumstances were, I told you.

[And he's just staunchly pretending that the two of them don't speak most of the same languages, either. He'll be sticking to English, thanks.]

It isn't any kind of crisis at all.

[intheicebox]

[That won't deter Manny, though it might irk him. Does irk him. After all, he has extended an invitation, and staunch rejection is not to be overlooked.]

The description left something to be desired.

And your typist seems to think otherwise. Or she is prone to... hyperbole? Hysterics?

[recognize_an_opportunity]

What kind of description would you have preferred?

[A sigh.]

Hyperbole and hysterics? No. Mockery? Yes.

[Much to his endless chagrin.]

[intheicebox]

[He waves a hand, shaking his head. The matter has passed.]

So she has her games. They are children, these typists.

[recognize_an_opportunity]

[Oh look, he's agreeing with you for once.]

Or at the very least, childish. Mine's older than I am, but you wouldn't know it. The uncontrolled delight over my 'bad choices' is getting tiresome.

[intheicebox]

You aren't so old, yourself. [No more than a bokher, for all his poise.]

But what you say is to a point. They focus on our shortcomings when they should see to their own affairs.

[recognize_an_opportunity]

I'm not so young, either.

[Yes, he really is. But that's what being uptight and serious is for, to hide it.]

Yours focuses on your shortcomings, too? That's... unfortunate.

[And now he just wants to know what those shortcomings might be. He can think of a few things.]

[intheicebox]

[No? That one receives a laugh.] Out of the cradle, perhaps. But careful words and fashionable suits alone do not make a man.

Neither, I think, does owning a car.

[As for the rest... Manny shrugs again.]

Does she? Maybe she does. Maybe I say it to give you comfort.

[recognize_an_opportunity]

[You can subtly insult him and his not always so fashionable suits all you want, but the minute you insult his car, well...]

It's not just any car. You'd have to see it to believe it.

[A tiny, almost imperceptible smile.]

You don't strike me as the type of guy to worry about comforting people.

[intheicebox]

[And now you get the raised eyebrows, Meyer. And the folded arms.]

It must be quite the contraption, to earn such a defense. This car is your joy?

[He cocks his head, considers for a moment.]

I am a man of surprises.

[Surprises of a certain, oft-unsavory sort, maybe.]

[recognize_an_opportunity]

It is. I guarantee you, you've never seen anything like it. It's beyond what most of us'll see in our lifetimes.

[Have some raised eyebrows right back in return, then.]

I don't doubt that, although I do doubt how pleasant the surprises might be.

EYEBROW-RAISING CONTEST

[intheicebox]

You are so sure. [Meyer's probably right, of course, but Manny doesn't like to hear anyone say what he can't or won't do, what he can't or won't see.]

What is it makes this car of yours so incredible?

[Not that Manny cares so very much. If he's interested in anything, it's by Meyer's seeming enthusiasm for this car.]

Well... I don't usually ask. And the fellas I surprise, they don't live long enough to tell.