From Vitali's position, he was already doing what was necessary to prevent another war. He never wanted to see the East and West locked in some ideological conflict. Rather, he had hoped that ultimately the exploration of space would become a major focus of the various world powers, and thus solve many of the resource and other questions that cause war to be an issue in the first place.<br/><br/>When his hand was squeezed, he had indeed blushed. Despite the fact that she wasn't trying to be outright flirtatious, he was indeed slightly showing some red playing out across his face.<br/><br/>He himself wondered if he would be taken care of if anything were to happen, or if he would be forgotten about. "That's why I'll probably only fly one or two more missions and then be permanently removed from the rotation. They're also afraid if there were an accident that the deaths of veteran cosmonauts would be bad for public relations."<br/><br/>Soon enough he laughed as had once more sounded like her old self. "Some of the other cosmonauts like having some vodka, but I stay away. Does that make me perfect?" He grinned a bit and laughed as he felt increasingly at ease around her.<br/><br/>Nevertheless, he had soon allowed himself to be quiet. Walking over so that he could be seated, he didn't exactly say anything until they were. Eventually, though, the conversation would have been allowed to pick up again.<br/><br/>For now, though, he was a little more interested in getting something to eat.<br/><br/>He was, of course, quite hungry and he had no idea that sharing a meal with her might ultimately be bad since it could increase his level of trust.<br/><br/>She did seem a bit different, but some of that was probably the result of living in London. Their social expectations, as she had even thought, were of course rather different from what he was used to.