[ Matt is definitely flustered. But he can't help laughing at that, amused and pleased. Liem sounds like Matt's a second-round interview candidate whose resume he plans to review over the weekend, and honestly, it's kinda cute. ]

I guess it has been pretty brief, [ Matt allows. ] It only feels like I've been here for a hundred years. [ hahahaha get it, get i He shakes his head ruefully, and adds in a slightly shyer tone, ] Maybe it's because I was so new to communion, but the first time you talked to me--when you said my name--

I don't know.

[ Matt wonders if there are strings of sympathy that connect him and the other him, and if important input can resonate between them. People, memories. Maybe there are even more of him out there, passing the odd mycorrhizal intuition through the network of their roots. Quantum theory suggests at least some of this is possible.

That's not what Matt feels he has to address at the moment, however. ]

I'm a charming young man? [ he redirects. His lips quirk. ] You've got some distinguished gray, but I can't believe you're that much older than me.