Claudia laughed at the mock offended look from H.G. as well as the remark about her looks. It wasn't a twinkle in the eye, regular ol' H.G., but it was a start. It was horn tooting and smirking and, as far as Claudia was concerned, it was more normal. "That saves all of us from having to catch up on birthday gifts."
She took the cup of tea with a smile and muttered "thanks" before gesturing toward the package of biscuits, just so H.G. remembered that it was there and hers. "Um. Since you can watch it and probably will, best to be honest about it... I told off one of the Regents. Pete's mom, actually. And I broke into the Regent's H.Q. and - she helped me in my plans to bring Steve back to life, because I had told her off, but that didn't go over too well since she was rogue in her decision to help me."