"Couldn't hurt to try," Benedict muses, relaxing out of his begging stance to look down at what he was working on before Julius entered-- and something occurs to him, causing him to sit straight back up again.

"I do need your counsel on something," he realizes, "or-- perhaps everyone's-- I'm not sure. Manfred, the ah. The professor's assistant. ...skeleton."

His smile is something more like a grimace.

"How do we... what do we do with Manfred."