Right. He can handle that. He's already resigned himself to however much of his money Tim is going to spend; it's not as though he makes much use of his researcher's paycheck, here. Watching Tim get blind drunk to tolerate his presence is... probably better than getting hit again. Probably better than watching him walk away.

"Alright." Stiffly, but he's trying to find a topic that is somehow less fraught. He... only has one remaining update on familiar faces, and if it's less of a bombshell than Sasha's presence, it's only because that set the bar rather high for surprises. "Well. Elias is also here, unfortunately. There have been... rather a lot of developments there."

A gentle understatement.

"Martin and Melanie got him arrested, after the Unknowing. He did actually go to prison." For a while.