"He needs not hear me say it, I only need to stand near him," he says with a grin.

"To be a bit more precise, I'm what would be considered an imperfect Creation. Creation, as a magic, requires clarity of thought and focus unhindered by strong emotions or distractions. As you can imagine, I'm naturally very good at this. Hades is extremely competent, but he is emotional and prone to overthinking."

Hythlodaeus begins writing out the recipe for the other cookie as he considers his words.

"I wasn't meant to have a mind of my own; I doubt he even knew about me or he would have released me from the mundane cruelty of being the only sapient being in his diorama of Amaurot. We only were meant to just add a little light and color to his stage, you see. Even if he thought "Hythlodaeus will see through this"... that would have been enough."

He shrugs, putting his pencil aside as he watches Steven.

"He hadn't even come to find me after he made me. I doubt it would have eased his loneliness one bit to have a hollow version of myself teasing him," he said, casting his gaze softly to the middle distance.

To Hythlodaeus, it sounded a bit like a burgeoning crush, but he would deal with that as a separate thing and away from prying eyes and ears.