"And the two of them are with you because...? I mean I get why Sadde is, I guess, kinda, but..."

"Because the vampire needs moral support."

Matt eyes Theo a little, then says, "We're just – you know, being helpful."

She eyes Sadde.

Who shrugs. "It's not my secret to share."

"I can't be trusted, basically, to be left alone. Sort of can, not totally. Probably. Sample of past-day-ish."

"Why not."

"You heard the vampire part, right, well bloodlust unfortunately is not a myth and I continue to have superspeed."

She does not take a step back. "So. Why are. You outside. At all."

"… You realize I continue to have superspeed and inside my house would not help that much if I were in the mood to bite people? Better question: why am I not in some remote desert."

"Yes, that."

"Well, see, it's because I'm terribly selfish and also at the time I was burning in the sunlight and then Sadde's kept me here all day because we've been talking and also he's been mind-altered." Pause. "That sounds bad – it wasn't intentional and it has been mostly fixed."

She might note how he continues not to look at her, though, he supposes he can still hear her.

"Mind-altered how?"

"Ugh," he says, then looks around at the others. "Is no-one going to help explain this really awkward-slash-annoying thing while I continue to be in a bad mood? I get that I'm sure I'm asking overmuch because my preferences don't matter or I'm being melodramatic or whatever the fuck but I am seriously not in a good mood and this isn't improving it."

Matt gives him a bit of a look – it's a look that says 'what the heck, dude' crossed with 'um right whatever' – and says, "Instinctual trust-slash-affection-slash-attraction, can be squinted at if you think to bother to do that, is apparently kind of invasive."

"I'm operating under 'not-my-secret' here, if you want I can infodump Willow, I think I'm generally good at infodumps."

"He's got a bunch of super-senses, he's got superstrength and speed, he so far drinks the blood of people or animals, he has bloodlust, he has that mind-control thing that we're calling sway that is sort of– abusable and we should probably be careful about it, and also he's got a bunch of various brain improvement things." He looks at Theo. "Apparently."

"Is that why he's not looking at me, is he gonna control my mind, is he controlling your minds-"

"It's complicated, but no, it's not mind-control, it's a sort of fascination or glamour or something like that and Matt and I are more-or-less immunized to it now but you aren't."

"...okay."

"And I'm specifically not looking at you because it will probably make it worse and I'm hiding my face, quite annoyingly conspicuously, because you had a good point that if I don't want to be recognised I shouldn't be acting as I was."

"Looking at me activates it? ...now I'm kinda curious."

"– Uh, nope, also hearing you activates it but in lesser quantity."

"Nope what? I don't actually want to be mind-controlled, thank you."

"Nope that looking at you activates it…? Like I said, hearing also activates it but in lesser quantity, I can hear you, that is to say it's already activated in lesser quantity? But I'm not going to look at you and make it worse, note how I am pointedly currently not doing that."