So you thought the only way to promise my presence was to dress it up as a necessary relationship, I suppose? Rhetorical question, of course. Because I recall the arguments you used, in persuading me to engage that moirallegiance. I recall the necessity at the time.

[A beat. He draws a deep breath on this one.] No. [Another beat.] Not at present. But I'm working on changing that, making it something authentic. He understands me in a way no one else here can -- [in part because Mitchell has read Riddler comics] -- which makes him a liability. And an asset. I want to keep that close.

Why do you consider having a moirail worse than having that one who prevents kismeses from actualizing? The auspistice. I imagine those have screwed you out of your favored quadrant more than just a few times.