Nadeau settled implacably near the bar, incorrigabillity hanging around him like bees to a hive.
"Sean... A slight, mannerly refreshment, if you would be so bold - and how was your Leedsian sojourn, suitably unfavorable I trust?".The self-styled Burgundian arched, eyes settling wryly on the Bretonian barkeep.
"It is so benign of you to venture among us anew - why, the other imbecile had a remarkable tendency to... refrigerate... the wine, would you believe? A barbarity that you would not be guilty of, I dare put, of course..."
Nadeau trailed, attention roving with a casual deviance over some of the more... esoteric members of the Commonwealthian bar, pre-emptively sliding forwards a handsome, remonstrative tip of a credit chip as he did so. After all, even after all these months of their parting, a little less spittle in the glass wouldn't go amiss.
THE SYNDIC LEAGUES
(A co-operative of Rheinland's outlawed trade unions, determined to take the underworld for themselves.)