[Claude grins, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. 'Not convinced by his argument', huh? As though Hubert would go along with this, tell him anything at all, unless Claude's arguments had swayed him fairly significantly. As though Hubert has to indulge Claude's requests just to 'not sit idle'. Maybe the man's clinging to the plausible deniability of having some lingering doubts, but he's obviously more than convinced enough.

But Claude's getting what he wants from a notoriously prickly individual, and as tempting as it is to tease him, he's well aware that one wrong move could snap Hubert shut like a clam. He wouldn't put it past the man to get huffy about his bluff being called and change his mind just to prove how not convinced he is...or maybe just out of petty spite. Not worth risking just to have a laugh at Hubert's expense.]

Hey, c'mon, do you think I'm totally classless? Of course this is too important a conversation to have over the network. So how about tea? Just like the old days. We can even play a little chess, if you feel like it. I won't say I haven't missed our games.

Pretty flattering for you to call the Lions mine, though. I'm an outlier here, just like you. If anyone's adopted anyone else, it's probably the other way around. But I wasn't planning on bringing any of them along, don't worry.