Oh yes. Well, idealism or despair, but one so often leads to the other!

[His smile goes aggressively bright and cheerful to match his tone. It's not funny, as such, but mordant cynicism goes better with a smile.

Magnus's comment about the metro gets an understanding nod; the cars can't be more than nine feet tall, after all. Andrei is lucky that his own mutation's worst side-effect is killing small consumer electronics when he gets nervous.]

And the weather is nice for walking -- so long as the crowds are friendly, of course. Please take care; I am terribly grateful for the save.

[His smile flickers to gentler sincerity, and he pats his coat pockets with an absent air.]

Let's see, I'm sure I had... there.

[He produces something that looks like a tangle of ribbon from his inside breast pocket and gives it a shake; it untwists into a complicated spiral of silver plastic, cut, twisted and seamed together into a wind-spinner. It's one of his latest favorites: the inside layer spins in the opposite direction, and it's striped with bits of holographic foil.]

A small token of my appreciation? Since it seems we must part ways shortly.