"What," Vir asked, staring at the object in the middle of the room, "is that?"
Lennier rattled off a series of numbers and words, but off Vir's blank look revised his answer to: "An Earth vehicle called a motorcycle. It is Mr. Garibaldi's."
"Ok, so why are you showing it to me? Does Mr. Garibaldi need help with it?"
Lennier's eyes slid off Vir's face. "Mr. Garibaldi is off station at the moment."
"What does that -" Vir stopped and narrowed his eyes, suspicious. "Does he know we're looking at his ... motor thing?"
"Motorcycle. It was connected to human concepts of freedom and masculinity."
"So, no, he doesn't know." Vir sighed. That Londo was a magnet for all kinds of trouble never surprised him, but he'd expected that the Minbari wouldn't send a troublemaker to be Delenn's attache. And up until a couple weeks ago, he had thought Lennier to be quiet and unassuming. Well, to be fair, he was still quiet and unassuming, but he'd also held his own in a bar fight along side Londo. Hadn't been smart enough to avoid playing a poker game with Londo in the first place, but all the same...
Ok, so, Vir thought Lennier was potentially kind of interesting. And getting to know people other than the Centauri on the station - and the Centauri mostly wouldn't talk to him anyway - couldn't hurt. But when he'd agreed to spend some time with Lennier he hadn't expected they would end up... doing whatever they were doing.
"What are we going to do with this... motorcycle?"
"We're going to ride it." Lennier swung a leg over the machine and perched on the small seat. He looked expectantly at Vir.
Vir was less than enthusiastic. "I don't know... it doesn't look very safe. And if Mr. Garibaldi finds out - and he will if we're riding that thing around half the station -"
"I have ridden it before, Vir. And I will tell Mr. Garibaldi that it was my idea."
Vir could see he wasn't going to get out of this one. He had to admit he was kind of curious. There must be some reason for Mr. Garibaldi to have a vehicle like this. And Lennier didn't strike him as some sort of daredevil. Ok he'd gone out gambling with Londo but all the same...
Lennier leaned foward and put his hands on the bars at the front of the vehicle. "Sit behind me, and hang on. Mr. Garibaldi doesn't own a helmet."
Great Maker Vir sighed to himself I must be mad.
He got on the bike. There really wasn't enough room; if they stopped sharply he was afraid he'd bash his nose on the back of Lennier's head. At least the Minbari's head bone wasn't as large and pointy as a lot of others he'd seen on the station.
There also wasn't anything to hang onto.
"Where do I -"
"You have to hold onto me."
Vir turned red. No, okay, obviously that was the best solution. Grabbing someone around the middle probably didn't mean the same thing to Minbari. Not that the Minbari he'd observed seemed very big on physical contact in general, but probably, given their different anatomy-
With some effort he drove the train of thought out of his head and grabbed Lennier around the waist before his nerve could fail. Then something else occurred to him.
"You do know how to drive this thing, right?"
"Faith manages, Vir." And before he could respond to that, they were off.