Unlike Andy, Simon did realize Billy could talk about graphite until Andy let go of his hand or the cows came home. The question was, would he stand by and watch that happen? Hm. No one was getting hurt, and the endless awkwardness was entertaining. Special bonus: for once, Simon wasn't the one being awkward. On the other hand, Simon suspected that of the three parties to this conversation, he himself was having the most fun.

"Quills can be messy," he answered Andy as seriously as he could. He didn't have to bite his lip just yet, but if this went on much longer he was going to have to start thinking of unfunny things or he'd crack up. "Where I come from, we wouldn't know how to begin using a quill. Here, I guess by default we all have to be, ah, as you put it, 'quill men'. But it's not my preference." He cleared his throat. "So. What I was going to ask, before we started talking about quills, was where you buy your shirts."