Oh. His great-aunt is tearing up looking at him? And not out of revulsion, it seems. God. He really needs that. It's so good to have a bastion here that isn't one of his fellow time-travellers. Or Lakshmi, as wonderful as she is.

"You aren't quite what I'd pictured," he admits with a bit of a grin. "But I'm glad to know you like this. Intensely so." Best not to mention he's never met her, period. That might cause too many questions he doesn't want to answer. "You really don't mind, though? I'm not much, physically."