Usually he would relish the chance to witness Edwin's more prickly side in person, and the fact that he's apparently a little too on edge to appreciate it only makes him wish he had the protection of cat's body and their lack of physical tells to make him feel more comfortable as he experiences the weird shame-frustration combo that swirls in his chest. But, ever the expert at faking it until he forgets the line between reality and pretend, he firmly boxes the thought away. He does, however, let himself appreciate the closeness of Edwin on his arm, not missing a beat when he comes in tighter, his own shoulders visibly dropping a half-inch or so in relief.

"I'm not sure I agree with that. I've seen you lie. You're not bad at it, just..." Searching for a good word, he seems about to cast his eye over the town, but detonates that plan before it really takes off and looks at Edwin instead. Edwin has lied about him to Charles, he's lied about his feelings, he's lied about his motivations, his desires; and all of that only in the Cat's brief experience of him. He shrugs. "Hm. Well, you take it too seriously. You use lies like armour, and they're shitty armour, you can take that from me. You need to learn to lie for fun. Sometimes a white lie here and there can make things interesting. It doesn't have to be so serious."

But then, Edwin's seriousness is oddly refreshing to him, if equally frustrating at times. Though he's not sure he'd like it if Edwin cut a little more loose.

"Well, you can guess where I'm taking you. I think you can probably get it in- hm, maybe ten or so, if you're in top form today." A shrug. "Unless you've got an annoying little trinket or something like it in mind that you're expecting me to guess."