"Absolutely."

"Fearful, yeah, seems to be a lot of nightmares," says Oscar. "I mean, judging from Roby. And I mean, uh, I had one too."

Oscar had nightmares? Jing Yi is very carefully not reacting to that.

"I would also love to hear about your dream, Oscar. Or read about it, if you'd rather write it down."

...he's going to have to sneak an account of his to Sal, isn't he? He is Not Looking Forward To The Prospect

Sal I know you mean well but that look is disquieting. "Thanks," he says. "Honestly, I think this Roby business isn't great for me. Probably anyone with an ounce of human feeling gets a bit caught up-- emotionally."

Nobody's called him crazy yet which is much better than he expected.

"It's a lot to deal with." Terrence is sympathetic.

It is a lot to deal with. Jesus, he's been run down enough lately, with Roby and the fight with Hannah, that he's oddly moved by that.

"Can we come over here?" he whispers. "There's something else I want to bring up but the subject matter is private." (Where by over here he means to a more private area of the apartment.)

And now he is going to be stuck with Oscar. Inexplicably in his house.

"Certainly. Excuse us, gentlemen."

"So... how's the bookshop?"

And then he's left with William Jing for the first time in, uh, a long while. Of course.

"It's fine," he says primly. "Same old." He can't resist-- "You got any productions coming up?" He takes a sip of coffee.

"The Roby case has been taking up most of my time for auditions. But it pays better, so that's fine."

There it is. "The pay's not bad." Especially for a struggling actor. "Yeah, always curious what goes on in the theater, books take all my time."

Jing Yi kind of doubts that he is actually that interested in the theatre, but he appreciates the pretense of them getting along and having a normal social conversation. "It's 70% art and 30% petty social nonsense. And hard to explain nonsense that doesn't mean much to people outside it, at that. Though I imagine running a shop is similar."

"I've been talking to this guy Lawrence about his manuscript," Oscar says. This is a great way to reward William Jing for his sparkling conversation.

"Is it any good?"

"Yes," says Oscar. "I'd say it's good-- I forget it must be the same way for you, auditions take up most of your time." He sips his coffee. "Are you often at Terrence's?"

"--We're roommates. This is my apartment too."

Oh.

"Crazy that's never come up," he manages.

"He's much more of a homebody than me. That's probably how," he says, trying to to help Oscar save face here.

This is a lot to process?

"Right," he says. "I mean, I don't really know him well, outside of--" he gestures expansively, as if to indicate the whole world-- "this Roby situation."

"We've kind of ended up being a bit of a Merry Band because of that."

"Oh for sure."

Implies William Jing and Terrence weren't super close before which is something.