"Well, Astarion, a pleasure to meet you and congrats on your, uh, sobriety?" His hand withers back to his own personal bubble, and while his word choice is joking in nature the sentiment is genuine enough. He wonders if it's by choice or physiological design but that sort of inquiry is probably a bit invasive for a first meeting so he abstains from asking.

"As for myself in regard to Riftwatch..." he pauses to think about what all to say and how to say it. Path of least resistance? Because he is here and may as well make himself useful? Because the work is interesting? He doesn't know where else he'd go otherwise?

He stares into the large mug and the bit of wine lingering in the bottom.

"I don't know how much you heard of my rambling earlier, but where I'm from I studied a variety of magics and specialized in refining teleportation magic to methods that anyone could use, even those who can't cast spells. Joining the Research Division just made sense when I accepted my residency here as something I probably can't do anything about - at least for now. Who knows in the future?"