Well I am a filthy old man who takes endless delight in distracting my young, captive mate from anything else— so if that's what they think, I really should give them more credit.

[It's amusement that colors him now, at the start and then in the segue he takes on as it dens down softly in his throat, though it's not the same as laughter. One more of those odd moments where he shows his age (or whatever disjointed excuse for it there is after two hundred years on his back, sans memories of his former life— ) where numbers still count for something, particularly when stacked up against an age-reverted counterpart.

He sounds long-lived, yes.

Mature, to put it bluntly.

And chiefly: happy.]

Though looking back, I honestly have no idea which of us it was that corrupted the other.