"Oh, well. I've been reading it in connection with an investigation. And I understand... William had a strange experience with it. Bordering on mystical, you could say. Did he ever talk to you about that?"

"Oh, no, not at all," Nigel says. "I was entirely out of my occult phase by the time we knew each other. Bunch of men standing around pretending to summon angels. The public morals people are entirely wrong about how many orgies there are in occultism, did you know?"

"They tend to exaggerate!"

"All I wanted to do was enact the great rite but no... Or help to summon the Whore of Babylon. I'd be a lovely Baphomet, don't you think?"

 "I've never cast an occult ritual so I can't say! I take it William wasn't interested in the great rite? But he was an occultist?"

"No, he was a musician. He wasn't interested in much of anything other than music and alcohol and seeing what he could get away with. I suppose he'd perform a Satanist ritual if someone told him he shouldn't."

"I know this is going to sound like bullshit, and I promise I'm not some occult crank. But when William read Der Wanderer he had a vision of his own death-- the author seemed inclined to take it in stride, like it just happens with this text. But the events of the vision just happened."

Nigel bursts into tears.

Yeah. He can't blame him. "Nigel, I'm really sorry," he says. "It's horrible. And I can't blame you-- if you think I'm just making up a story. I don't know what's going on, just that there are a lot of strange connections. Horrible things happening to, or around, people who've gotten interested in certain texts-- there's a play too."

"I don't want to think about horrible things!! My friend just died!!!"

Nobody wants to think about horrible things! "I know. It's awful-- but to be frank with you-- we need every scrap of information we can get, because the police really don't care about solving your friend's murder. We're just a bunch of degenerates to them-- they put one man away already, who was innocent, I think."

Nigel throws himself into Oscar's lap and starts to SOB WRETCHEDLY AND INCOHERENTLY ON HIS SHOULDER.

"If you think about it it's just common sense," he says. He's going to pat Nigel's shoulder because, well, Nigel is being a bit much-- but his friend just died. "The police protect the interests of the capitalist state, not artists they can't extract value from." Ginger patting. "We have to stick together; it's what William'd want. A tribute to his memory."

Sob sob sob INCOHERENT WORDS OF AGREEMENT. "We should stick together."

"That's the spirit, Nigel."

Nigel is now fully in Oscar's lap and his arms are wrapped around Oscar's neck.

Oscar hasn't been this physically close to another man in a while. Nigel's genuinely having a horrible time, but this is the sort of stuff he's only seen at parties he gets invited to by accident. They're fun parties to be sure, but he needs to find a nice way to tell Nigel that despite his open-mindedness in matters of art, Oscar is a normal man. Also, Nigel's friend just died.

Sob sob sob sob sob sob kissing?

 Oscar gently moves his face away. "Nigel," he says sympathetically. "I have a wife and children."

"Well, that doesn't mean anything," Nigel says. "Most of the men I like have a wife and children."

 "I mean I'm a normal man," Oscar says. "I'm really sorry. You're not the first to get-- an incorrect impression. I got invited to a quean party once. It was pretty fun?" he says, in a conciliatory voice because poor Nigel's been through a lot and he doesn't want him to think Oscar dislikes him for being queer.

"Normal men like queans!"

"They're pretty good company, yeah."

"It-- hurts that he's dead. I want to fuck my brain away until it stops hurting. And you can lie there and get your cock sucked and think about women or whatever it is you like to think about. Beneficial for both of us."

Nigel... "It makes sense that you're grieving and I do want to help, but it doesn't exactly spark passion in me, you know." He pats Nigel awkwardly again, which maybe doesn't help with the "I'm only into women" argument. He's honestly not even sure what would because he keeps misreading it. "Any chance I've run into you at a party?-- You do seem kinda familiar."