He found her premise of essentially using him as bait if they were caught to be somewhat annoying, but probably effective just the same. It was the principle of how, when you were encountered with a wild animal, you didn't need to run faster than the animal, just the person you were with. Not very sporting, on the whole, but he supposed that people only wanted others to behave in such a manner to level the playing field, and when you're running for your life, you sort of do everything you can to unlevel it. Maybe. Life running or.. whatever it was he had originally been talking about. Being caught getting into mischief.
'They're just going to ask me who you are and if I'm that tired I might not be able to stave off their interrogation techniques.' Probably a lie, but it might keep her from totally abandoning him. (It was a lie because there wasn't much chance he would withstand even light questioning while wide awake, but he didn't really feel the need to clarify this.)
'Uh huh. Noodley. As opposed to my unflinching arms of veritable man-steel.' Laughable hyperbole, but he was reasonably sure he was at least stronger than she was in terms of upper body reserves. 'Have you ever even sparred with someone else before? When the blades hit, it reverberates all the way up your arms and hurts if you're not used to it.'
He didn't have a comeback to the thing about her doing him a favour by dragging him out of bed to accompany her on a spontaneous tour of the tower, partially because I don't have one and partially because she sort of had a point. Maybe half a point.
When they reached the kitchens, Ashya tried to be stealthy for reasons Loic wasn't really able to fathom. There would only be a Tranquil in here, so unless she had developed a sudden phobia of them, he didn't see the need to hide. 'Actually, I was hoping there might be something about still?' As if to back him up, his stomach growled, punctuating his words. Glancing down and then looking back up at the emotionless face, he attempted to look pitiful; it was always so difficult to realise that all emotion was gone. You held on to the notion that surely, at least something remained. After a moment, the Tranquil turned, taking a few steps and then fashioning something relatively quickly out of some of the food that was being handled for the next day's meals. Returning, they handed Loic a sandwich, which he accepted with a grateful 'Thank you'. The Tranquil went back to whatever it was they had been doing before, and Loic turned back to look at the girl, chewing away at his food.