Milo swallowed uncomfortably when his eyes met Lucina’s. That stare meant ‘back off’, and while his English was far from perfect, this was something he understood perfectly. Lucina had age on him— was stronger than he was, and he knew perfectly well that she would snap his spine, which may or may not have been intuition based on past experience. So he did as she requested, and was silent the rest of the way.<br/><br/>He removed himself from the car and let himself stretch. The long flight and car ride had taken its toll, and he twisted his back far enough to make an audible crack. He watched Lucina walk inside, and then caught up with Vicente. He remained quiet until his lord started to speak, and responded to his statement with a hearty laugh.<br/><br/>“I do get along with Lucina,” Milo argued. “We are good friends, yes. Just sometimes it is easy to get under her skin.” He tried to make himself sound sincere, but underlying sarcasm flavored his statement. Milo blinked at the next question. “No, there is no problem, no. She said it herself; she is nervous, and therefore I can assume she is just a bit on edge. But I cannot stand idly by as she makes ridiculous statements regarding our safety, Mr. Valtieri. If anything, I was hoping to calm her down.”<br/><br/>—<br/><br/>Eli stopped walking and blinked, caught by surprise by what Riko had done to him. Had he just been flicked? His eyebrows furrowed, and his face contorted into a perfect picture of confusion. He seemed to snap out of his daze rather quickly, and continued along with the group, taking a few more extra steps to catch up to Riko and Drake.<br/><br/>He noticed Drake received the same punishment, and then concluded that Riko had a habit of doing this to people. It was surprisingly effective. He thought about at least snickering, but kept it to himself in fear of being flicked again. Instead, he adjusted his coat and followed along quietly.<br/><br/>When they arrived to the house, Eli muttered something condescending about domesticity under his breath, but seemed eager to walk in. He crossed the threshold and mirrored Riko, placing his coat on the rack a few pegs below hers. Then, he made himself right at home, plopping down onto a couch in the living room and tucked his arms behind his head.<br/><br/>“So,” Eli started. “Tell me something I don’t know.” He looked expectant, and then decided to clarify. “Yeah, I get it, Drake lives here. But that isn’t the whole reason you’re so far away from headquarters, hm? What’s the happenings— and more importantly, what’s this meeting about?”