also not treating it like a baby. Or a lover.

watching him, amused.

coos to his gun.

snorts. Loudly.

jumps a little, pointing the gun to the source of the sound. "Show yourself!" He commands before realizing who it is... and that she wasn't-

hiding.

waves happily, giggling. "Cute."

lowers his gun a bit, but is still stiff, and totally not embarrassed. "What are you doing here?"

smiles, holding out a bag. "I thought you could use some *good* chocolate."

looks at the bag warily. "What are those made out of?" He doesn't want to take the immediately. That would look desperate and cheap.

shakes the bag. "What chocolate is normally made out of?"

takes it, because he's definitely not cheap like that. "Thank you," he says a bit gruffly. "I'll give it a try."

smiles brightly. "I'm sure you'll find them to your liking."

thankful that Lotte is at least somewhat polite at the moment. He'll make the chocolates last. His gun twitches in his hand,-

still not completely clean.

the gun looks pretty spotless, watching Vash quietly.

turns around, nibbling on a piece of chocolate. He carefully begins taking apart his gun to clean it better.

sits down, watching him. "Have you ever killed someone with that gun?"

nods. "Yes, why?"

shrugs. "I thought you were supposed to be neutral."

"I've never taken part in armed conflicts in other countries, but I'm part of peacekeeping missions around the world, and sometimes-

it becomes dangerous."

why else he would have such a strong military. All of his men go in at 19 until they're 34.

nods, rubbing her cheek our of habit. "Alright then."

smiles to himself. "I can be proud of my service." Then looks to her. "Have you ever trained?"

nods. "Of course I have! But not for a while..."

nibbles more on the chocolate, determined to make it last at least a day. "You should train more, or else you might end up lazy. Though... -

you are a lady."

watches him eat the chocolate, raising a brow in amusement. "I need to learn self-defense, apparently." She snorts, shaking her head.

frowns. "I heard." He shakes his head, disapproving. He holds back from ranting about how irritating Prussia is, and ends up with:

"out of everyone, *him*?"

shrugs. "He was there. It was a rash decision."

scoffs. "That's an understatement."

snorts. "What's done is done. If I could take it back I would."

offers, "if you ever need help with self-defense, I'm more than happy to help."

smiles at him. "Would you make me pay?"

coughs. "Well uh." He looks away. "Well if you really needed it I'd do it for free."

shakes her head. "Do you mean it?"

stutters. "O-Of course! If you need my help, I won't refuse it! I'm not like AMERICA or any of those other nations!"

giggles, reaching over to pat his shoulder. "You really aren't as much of a hard ass as I thought."

frowns, setting his gun down. "And what do you mean by that? You think I'd refuse to help a country out just because they didn't pay me?" -

He'd just have them pay him back later if something was up... though he wouldn't say that.

shrugs.

"It's just the way you act. Can you really blame me?"

humphs. "There are other countries *much* worse than myself."

hums. "I know *that*, but still."

finally finishes the piece of chocolate, a bit unhappily. He wishes it would have lasted longer.

more chocolate, if he wants.

that she could always pay him in chocolates.

that would be a good idea!

would like this in paper, while they're at it.

nods, pulling a notebook out of her purse and handing it and a pen to him.

write out a quick contract to seal the deal, and signs before handing it to Lotte.

signs the contract, looking up at Vash. "Is that it?"

blinks. "Well, what else is there to it? I'm keeping this, of course." He doesn't distrust Lotte THAT much. He distrusts her just as much-

as he distrusts the rest of the general population of nations.

nods, handing the contract back to him. "I'm not sure. I was thinking there would be more...something."

explains that if it had been money, he would be much more careful about the deal, but seeing that it's chocolate, he trusts her to be able-

to pay him.

nods, rubbing her cheek. She could understand what he meant, and she stands up, brushing off her pants.