"Reality does rarely measure up to the glamorous hypothetical," he says, pulling away from the curb, his eyebrows ticking up just slightly when Palamedes mentions space giving him headaches. It's an unsurprising reaction, maybe, but still mysterious. "Which goes as much for space as anything else, I guess."

Darlington starts towards the edge of town, on a whim choosing a route that's a little more scenic. You might only be able to get so far in Darrow, but that doesn't mean they can't enjoy the journey a little. He listens as Palamedes explains, grimacing almost as the same time as the other man winces. "Just a bit, yeah," he says ruefully. "Though as far as I know, back home we at least haven't tipped from climate change to catastrophe. Small mercies." Palamedes' mention of a Resurrection is something Darlington heard from him before, albeit still rare given the newness of their friendship. Something in the way he says it now suggests import and mystery, a meaningfulness he can't help but grab onto.

"Is that the precipitating event, then? What tips a world like...well, like this," he lifts one hand from the steering wheel to gesture at the road in front of them, the outskirts of town just starting to give way to the fields and trees of the countryside, "into the world you know?"