Being doubly scolded like that just made John sink into sullen silence. If he'd been challenged, he probably would've snapped and turned Elliot's smoke into a Molotov cocktail by accident, but Darlene had kind of sort of acknowledged him and Elliot had just sounded exhausted. Neither was worth keeping up a fight. Instead, he flipped his lighter open and lit while Darlene was facing away and concentrated on shaping the flame into a smooth, shining coil that spiraled upward, the kind of precision work that always soothed him.

When she called out that she had found the movies, he slammed the lid of his lighter back down way too fast before she could turn around and pocketed it again.

"Never seen the Matrix movies before. Are they any good?" He sounded a bit more amicable now, at least.