[ For a second, Claude pauses from where he was about to lean over to study an unfamiliar clock mechanism in Viktor's hands, blinks, and looks up almost as though he's not sure whether he heard that correctly. But he did, and when it sinks in there's nothing to do but laugh. Actual, genuine laughter at that too rather than anything forced or pretend. ]

When you put it that way, it is difficult to argue with. You'd think they could offer all of us more than being soldiers in return for the kidnapping thing, really. Maybe we should all be asking for more.

[ He's not serious about that, given it'd attract the exact kind of attention none of them seem to want in terms of being shuffled towards the military rather than staying (relatively) out of its reach. That wouldn't be of any assistance to anyone he's interested in helping, not when there's still others who need it more than the Free Cities needs someone else in a uniform. ]

Speaking of that, kind of. I've been helping out at the orphanages here when I have the time, and many of them could use more help than is being provided. I'm not sure of what the logistics behind it would be exactly, but have you heard of anyone organizing something for that aside from what you're doing with the rebuilding in Libertas?