"Right... Good..." Ben said, clearly still struggling to figure out how to 'act normal'. "Well..." No maybe he just shouldn't say anything about it at all. He quickly put his cup to his mouth, to shut himself up - and quickly took it away, when he burned his lip.

Anthony nodded awkwardly. "...Yeah," he said, taking another, much smaller sip from his cup. He glanced briefly at the man, but decided to spare him from another 'are you okay', instead choosing to just sit there in pure, awkward silence.

And awkward it was, as it was so silent that they could hear the cheap coal crack in the cooking range, and the muffled chatter from outside. Ben sucked on his burnt lip and looked down at his tea. He didn't want to mess up by asking the wrong question again. "Elijah's a good man," Ben finally said.

Anthony looked at the ground, taking a small sip of his tea every few seconds. He blinked rapidly and looked at Ben as the latter finally broke the silence. "Yeah. He is," Anthony said. He was kind of beginning to doubt the validity of that statement, but right now was not the time for that. "he's...a good friend."

Ben nodded. "He's a blessing for the town too. He's kind and doesn't hate our lot. Whitby has a good constable in him..." Ben turned his cup in his hands and watched it. "Wouldn't want him to lose his job over any trouble or scandal…"

"Neither would I," Anthony nodded absently. He raised his cup a bit as if to drink from it, but with how much his hands trembled, he decided against that. "he's...a good man, at the very least. Very nice and kind and all that." He didn't have much to say about Elijah that wasn't very personal or scandalous, and so he just basically restated everything Ben had already said.

"Good." said Ben, and he seemed relieved. He began slowly sipping his tea.

Anthony, on the other hand, was not relieved or anything in the slightest. "Yeah. It is," he said, shifting a bit awkwardly in his chair. Trying to suppress the trembling of his hands, he took another sip from his tea.

Ben sipped his tea in silence for a while. Then at last, he asked. "Ye smoke?"

Anthony had actually somewhat been enjoying the silence between them, but as always, all good things must come to an end. "Sometimes. Not very often," Anthony shrugged.