Marco tilted his head as he watched the lone blonde read by flickering candlelight. Annie always did everything on her own. He could sort of understand not wanting to grow too close to people you might not see again after training was finished, but Marco couldn't think of a single time the other teen connected to anyone.

Adding some dried lavender that his mother sent him, Marco brought two mugs of tea over to Annie.

She glanced up as he offered her one of the cups. Annie eyed Marco for a moment before the scent of the tea seemed to win her over. "Thanks."

Marco took a seat at the same table and reached for the other mug. He was quiet for a moment before finally breaking the silence. "So, what are you reading?"

"A book."

Marco chuckled softly, glancing down at his tea. "I can see that, I meant what kind of stuff are you reading?"

Annie sighed. "It's mostly short stories with the occasional poem."

Marco perked up slightly. "You like poems? My mom sometimes sends me poetry books, I can lend you some maybe?"

"If you want."

Marco sipped at his tea as things fell silent again. "So, uh, do you have any siblings?"

"No." Annie wasn't glancing up from her book. Feeling like he was being an annoyance, Marco stood to leave her alone, when Annie suddenly spoke again. "Do you?"

Beaming, Marco sat back down and nodded as Annie set her book aside. "Yeah, two; an older sister and a younger brother."

Annie took a sip of her own tea. "Mm, good," then added, "you seemed like the older brother type. How old is he?"

Marco snickered, rubbing the back of his neck. He did feel like he was the older-brother to Jean from time to time. "Fairly young, still an infant. Well not a, uh, a fresh infant. He's six."

Annie arched a brow at Marco's interesting choice of words. "Fresh?"

Marco blinked, face reddening slightly with embarrassment. "I meant new-born. Forgot that word briefly."

Annie shook her head, "No-no, that's better. That should be the new term for when a baby's still 'fresh.'"

Marco was convinced Annie was grinning a little, something he'd never seen the blonde do before. It made him grin more himself. "So if the new term is fresh, would the full new saying be: a freshly harvested infant?"

Annie was definitely grinning. "That's a better term. Though that makes it sound like you plan on eating it."

Marco giggled. "Yeah true. Though it's not as bad as freshly boiled infant."

Annie almost coughed on her tea with the snort that escaped. "Or freshly baked infant."

Marco laughed. "Hey Annie would you like some freshly baked infant cookies?"

Annie couldn't help but laugh. "Sure, would you like some freshly simmered infant stew?"

The snickers died down as the pair eventually noticed another slightly frightened trainee. Once the trainee sprinted off, Annie and Marco glanced back at each other, and then fell into laughter once more.

They agreed it would be fun to occasionally bring up this inside joke around others to see their reactions. Three points if they made someone run away.