The train rumbled down the track, with a noise that could only be created by a VR Pendolino. The track beneath the mechanical beast juddered from side to side as it made its way along the line, heading for Jyväskylä, Finland.
Snow covered hills lined either side of the track, dotted with fir trees and the lights from a few small kylät which every so often passed the windows of the train. It was early evening, in late November and the sun was just beginning to fade over the horizon. The sky was painted a light lilac and most of the landscape nearly silhouetted against the distant mountains.
Like the outdoors, the windows of the train were covered in a thin layer of the falling snow, although most of it was brushed off, by harsh wind passing over the vehicle. The cold outside was biting but inside, the climate was comfortable and favourable.
Dorian Red Gloria stared out the window, gazing at the frozen world outside. He slowly twisted a golden curl of hair around his finger, propping himself up on his elbow against the trail windowsill. Despite the temperature, the Earl’s clothes were thin and could be described as…limited.
He sipped from the flask of coffee on the table in front of him, turning from the landscape and instead focusing on the interior of the train. The seats were a disgusting shade, little darker than amethyst with red diamonds sewed, randomly, into the arms and headrest. The aisle between the seats was thin and carpeted, in the same repulsive style as the seats. The entire carriage was quite poorly lit, a dim light above each window, the only source of illumination.
The coffee was a little too milky for Dorian’s taste and he swallowed it without relish, quickly screwing the lid back onto the flask and pushing it away. He turned back to the scenery and tried to focus on the luminance from a distant kylät and for a moment he thought he could fall asleep right there. He was less than forty minutes into the journey but the day had been long and trying.
Having woken in the cheap hotel room, with decorum similar to the interior of the train carriage, Dorian had made up his mind very quickly that it was better to return to Jyväskylä, than spend another day in Oulu and the cramped conditions of the tiny room, six floors up, with damp in the walls and holes in the floor. But, as Mr.James had assured him, it was of course 'a bargain'.
Gently Dorian began to rest his head on his arms, crossed over the table. The table before him was made of the type of plastic that Dorian had wrongly assumed was reserved solely for cafeteria trays. It didn’t make for comfortable pillow, but it would have to do for now.
The train went over a bump in the track and the whole machine jolted slightly upwards, suddenly, causing the Earl’s flask to be flung over the edge of the plastic table and into the aisle, rolling towards the seats at the front of the carriage. Dorian looked over at his thermos’s passage down between the seats, and gave a long tired sigh.
It belonged to the train now. He didn't want it's contents.
But someone else obliviously did. An arm reached out from a seat a few rows in front of Dorian and lifted the flask from the carpet. Rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand he glanced over the seat to see who had recovered his carafe.
The stranger stood and turned towards the Earl’s seat and eyes met, as they had before. A smile crept to the edges of Dorian’s lips and a hand moved up towards his mouth, trying to hide his childish grin.
This was his favourite coincidence of the day.