X can't help laughing. Rutile is being perfectly serious, and on some level, so is X; it just isn't very often that he makes friends with someone as thoughtful and self-aware as this. Or perhaps self-aware isn't the right word. Wholly honest? Forthcoming? Modest, maybe, although 'modest' isn't a word X would have used describing Rutile to anyone else.

"Alright," he says, "you win. They're a thoroughly dishonest merchant with absolutely no capacity for change. There should be someone you could report their behaviour to, someone who isn't in the Sentry. Who oversees merchants?" X wonders idly. He has a feeling he knows that answer, but it's not coming to him in the moment.

Well, at any rate. He looks at Rutile, and smiles. "It's good to see you again. It's... been a while, hasn't it? How are things going for you?"