"Oh, no!" Jon hurried to assure him. "No, no nefarious purposes. Just...um." He sighed. "Fear entity. Not mine!" he scrambled to add, then grimaced. "For protection, not...not feeding."

He stopped and took a deep breath, aware he was doing this badly. "There's a...a thing that replaces people. Replaces their memories, too." Another deep breath. "But it can't change non-digital images. This is for...reference, I suppose. Just in case."

...was that non-creepy enough?