"Short circuits both sides of the divide," he muttered. Which ultimately was perilously close to cutting off one's nose to spite the face, but there was nothing he could do about it. He laughed, though, as Charlie went on. "Yes, no more official pleasure," he said and shook his head.
"Salad-y and dessert-y, got it," he said. He didn't think it would be too hard to convince Esme. She wanted to meet Charlie, had nagged him about it several times.
He made another almost-purr as the pain-pleasure of getting the knots worked out of the muscles nearest his spine. He just couldn't help it, it felt too good. He sighed in commiseration a moment later, though. "Amen to that," he murmured. "Some days I wonder if there really is nothing I can do to make life better."