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Claire was completely oblivious to Aulus' inner ravings of her snapping the spaghetti in half. If she wasn't, she would've thought he was being way too particular. "Yes, though I found a simple recipe just with a few types of cheeses. I'm glad I actually found one in here, I didn't exactly have time to look it up." Lucas had said he wanted manicotti - or 'those round things with cheese', which she'd had a wonderful time trying to figure out just what those were and was still amazed she'd figured it out at all - and so she had to make manicotti as quickly as possible. Oh well.

"You can sign out cars in the garage level, though I'm not sure if there's a rank requirement for it. At least grunts can," she said before a thoughtful pause, filled with an idle stir of the pasta. "You'll be a grunt in a couple months anyway, but I'm sure if you can't sign one out yourself you could get someone else to. It isn't that hard, really." Though she never did except for that one time Lucas bought her breakfast at that cafe in Camphoreon. Whenever she went out, she normally flew on Odette. "Flying-types are incredibly useful though, so I never sign out cars if I can help it."

"Well, I expect I can last a couple of months without heading off base," Aulus grunted, giving a shrug into the bargain. "After that... Well, maybe I'll be able to get hold of a flying type? That's what science is for and everything, like you said..." PsychoScarface seemed to have fallen asleep. Aulus raised an eyebrow and jerked a thumb at the older man. "What's up with him?" he murmured softly. "He doesn't even seem to know who I am, let alone to want to break my spine."

Not that he was complaining about the last part; having somebody above you in the ranks who had it in for you could not be a good thing. He'd work his way up though. He wouldn't be subordinate to Lucas forever, or to Claire for that matter. Ideally he'd like to be superior to Lucas, but if the man was as good as he'd given the impression he was back in Ambergris, Aulus was prepared to accept that this might not be possible. Would be nice though. As for Claire... Well, he could happily stand to be on even footing with her; being beneath her rankled, but then he'd never liked answering to anyone. He'd have to learn if he was to survive here... He might have to learn to answer to Lucas. Yuck.

Well. That gave him a slightly different view of the man's character... Yet on the other hand it didn't. Protective brother. He supposed that now he was just seeing a self-sacrificing facet of that relationship, rather than a weird and psychotic one. For some moments, Aulus regarded the sleeping man in silence, not really sure of what to do next.

"I'm glad your mission was successful," he said eventually, before reluctantly adding; "and I'm sorry he was hurt. I might hate the b*****d, but obviously you like him so... Well, I suppose as I'm grateful to you for bringing me here I'd rather that you didn't have to worry about people you like so... so... so I hope he gets over it soon. Even if he goes back to threatening to kill me, which by the way I still think is a massive overreaction to me being within a square mile of you. Guess it's nice to have somebody care about you like that though."

If he'd thought somebody was a threat to Vivian he would have taken them to pieces... But all he'd done was exist, and alright maybe snark a bit. He hadn't given any hint that he was an evil vicious b*****d though... Maybe Lucas was a hypocrite too, judging him by the scar on his face just as he had judged that suspicious looking Scarface #2 with the gun in Ambergris. That thought made him feel a little bit smug, but only a little.

"Hu. Whatever," Aulus scowled and shrugged, "just repaying a debt by restraining my usual gitishnes, it's nothing special." Maybe if he was a smart person he would try to make friends with her. Sure she had a psycho-protective 'brother', but she was smart, sharp, snappy, sexy... Well, she was; he didn't have to plan to do anything about it to acknowledge that. Lucas would shoot him dead without question if he heard that thought, but then Lucas was as mad as a hatter, and as he wasn't planning to do or say anything it didn't matter.

"Anyway," Aulus gave a slightly different degree of scowl, "grater..." After a few moments of scanning he spotted one that looked like it had been washed and left to dry. He grabbed a small bowl from the same rack and moved back to the counter he'd been leaning on, before setting about grating. "How much cheese do you like?" he quizzed, glancing up at Claire. "And how much does he like?... I guess maybe quite a bit, if he wanted that cheese thingie from you?"

"Mmfh. Fine." Scowl deepening, Aulus grated more vigorously. It might be fun to do this to Vivian's face... Cheese. Not face, cheese. Grate cheese... "So how long have you been here?" Aulus quizzed, slowing his grating a little as he looked up again. "I see you've progressed well through the ranks... Ah, but will you tell me anything?" he snorted and shook his head slightly. "You're not fond of straight answers, are you?" She twisted and turned like... like a twisty turny thing. Why? Everyone was how they were for a reason, right?... So what about Lucas? Had he failed to protect someone in the past? Was there something in particular about Claire that made him go nuts like that? It was probably only the man himself who could say, and somehow Aulus couldn't see him volunteering information.

Mmm: butt. While Lucas was asleep and Claire wasn't looking, he took a moment to appreciate it. "I'm amazed you care to volunteer," he commented, averting eyes from assets and quirking a smile as he grabbed a proper sized bowl from himself and scooped in a good quantity of spaghetti. "Not that you probably care," he added at the same time as adding sauce to his dinner, "but I come from Kanto originally. Here's the cheese." Plonking the bowl down beside Claire and grabbing a decent ammount for himself, Aulus glanced back over at Lucas.

"I think you ought to wake him," he decided, "just in case he's remembered his desire to kill me; I hate to get killed before dinner, spoils my appetite." This was almost friendly. Almost relaxing... But Lucas was still there, and so it wasn't. The man might have a gun on him, and might decide to whip it out and pull the trigger at a moment's notice. Why did the madman have to be here? He'd much rather be spending the time with Claire alone than vaguely wondering if he was going to be shot within the next half hour or so.

Lucas had shifted multiple times throughout his nap, brow remaining creased throughout as if in concentration or anxiety. For once, however, he actually opened his eyes at Claire's efforts, blinking sleepily before moving to regard her. "Mm." Come on, wake up. Sit up. Look alive. At his own inner insistence, he managed to push himself upright, pressing his palm to his forehead. "Dreamed about that guy," he said offhandedly, swaying slightly. "That guy with the scar."

Merry responded much more quickly, shaking her head no. She had eaten already; in fact, Lucas feeding her was what she suspected had made the man suddenly desire food.

A fork was jokingly wagged at him again. "Now now, don't get ahead of yourself there," she said with a chuckle before sitting down since Merry had declined her offer, "I said I joined in Johto, never said I was from Johto." Those were, after all, two entirely different things.

When Lucas sat up, she gently nudged the bowl she'd prepared for him over to sit in front of him. "No, not you," she said in response to Aulus' question before returning her gaze to Lucas. "Did you? What was it about this time?" Hopefully he wouldn't go on about Liselle this time. Arceus, that was awful reminding him he was, in fact, what? Ten, fifteen years past that already. She still wasn't sure of the exact number of years - Luke never mentioned that little detail, just orders of things.