[Fully charged laughter was the last thing Kit expected from his companion, but after his initial surprise had worn off, he found Vincent's amusement to be quite understandable and infectious.

In hindsight, knowing how the incident had turned out for everyone involved, it really was very easy to laugh about. He hadn't walked away from the confrontation completely unscathed, but he'd felt that the minor scrapes and intensive community service he was given were both prices worth paying. For his own pride, and for the security of someone he...had come to view as a friend of sorts. Or a close acquaintance.

...the word itself didn't matter. He protected his associates. He always had. Except when he hadn't. When one had been a traitor and the other had told him to go.

Why had he listened? Was he so desperate then to save his own skin...?]

So...

[He shook his head, and with it, cast away his grim train of thoughts.]

You knew someone who was there at the same time as I was. I'm glad it wasn't the toothless one.

[However, there'd been so many coming and going all the time that isolating which person it was would be no small task. Anyone who couldn't even differentiate vegetables wasn't likely someone who'd drawn much attention from Kit.]

I should probably apologize for however many other erroneous stories you were told.