"The robots might know," she points out. "...This probably isn't comforting but I'd be surprised if opposing factions used the same basic design of robot."

"Great. So if the rest of the world had robots, they will probably point weapons at us and make us pronounce incomprehensible things."

"If they do voice recognition at all. Maybe we can get some of these robots to work for us and send them as scouts into places that might be inhabited by other robots."

"... True. I think I'm still paranoid and on edge."

Isabella pets him.

He is pet. "I'm extremely glad you're safe," he murmurs.

"Me too. You were very quick with that shield," she says.

"Thanks. It wouldn't be much use if it took forever to get up, so... I worked on my reflexes for that one. A lot. You probably saw with the gummy worm training."

"I saw you hoarding them, what does that have to do with shields?"

Adarin laughs. "I was - I was practicing with them. What, did you think I was just - grabbing the gummy worms and running off for no reason? I had a stopwatch, if I could get the layout of a completely unique spell for a shield in under three seconds, with all of my parameters, I got a gummy worm."

"I had no idea what you were doing. That's adorable, why are you so adorable?"

"Thank you, I didn't realize I was adorable so I couldn't give you a reason why. You must have thought I was insane, with my stopwatch and my book of cheatsheats and a bag of gummy worms that I would eat at strange times."

"I wasn't about to judge, I have been known to have notebooks and do non-transparent things with them while eating candy!"

"Pfff... The stopwatch didn't seem strange at all? I don't know what else I would even use it for!"

"I didn't use a stopwatch, but I've been curious about how long it takes me to do certain mental tasks..."

"You time how long it takes you to do certain mental tasks?" asks Adarin curiously. "... That's adorable. Also useful, but really adorable. Technically I was doing exactly that, but for a very specific purpose of reflexes."

"So we are both adorable and now I know what you were doing with a stopwatch and gummy worms."

"Yup. Now you know what I do if I slink off somewhere quiet with a bag of candy. I'm practicing magic."

"You will not ever be making me cunning Valentine's Day crafts?"

"... I might now, but I will need you to explain to me what Valentine's Day is!"

"It is a holiday characterized primarily by a red, pink and white color scheme, heart- and lace-themed decorations, and couples being obnoxiously coupley. And chocolate, chocolate's a thing."

"'Obnoxiously coupley,' huh? That's a thing I can do. Bwuahahaha!"

Isabella cackles.

"Birthday first, though," he says, once the evil laughter of shared obnoxious couplehood is complete. "Right? Wait, when is it in the year, is it before or after your birthday? Because planned birthday presents aren't couple-based at all, just things I think you will like."

"...Valentine's Day is before my birthday in the calendar year but after it in terms of what things happen next. It's February 14."