[ It's easy to smile over Teach and the many ways in which there are to admire the man in question, and easier still to smile wider when Marianne sends one his way.

Marianne's absolutely not wrong that a large motivation behind said bothering is because of caring, at least when it's directed towards his friends. But - because she's also handed him an opportunity to act like a fool, he's going to take it with an overdramatic gasp. ]

Because I can't help myself? That's just cruel.

[ It's no such thing - and is rather accurate, really - but that's not going to stop Claude from clutching a bandaged hand to his chest to really complete his faux 'outrage' like he's been seriously wounded. Never mind mirth threatening to overtake his expression at any second. That's totally not there, like it's not a relief to latch onto something far lighter than all they've discussed so far for a small break away from it. ]

I don't know how I'll ever recover from this. Lysithea would be awfully proud of that, you know.

[ And Lysithea would've said something far more scalding than a gentle truth, most likely, but: details. ]