Excuse you, London is not dreary. But judging from the tightness of the hand on the cup--not enough to indicate it's about to break, but definitely enough to signal to Julian there's negative feelings there and he's about to step headlong into another conversational minefield--he'd be best served by leaving that alone for now.

"I see." He adds the information to the mental sub-folder he's created for this new Khan, because he's well and confirmed that he's different than the one in the history books here.

It was harder than it looked, carrying on idle conversation with someone who was both emotionally unstable and capable of snapping you in half.