Affari Esteri

[Reeves]

With a gulp to finish off the small amount of his drink left, he extended the empty glass outwards and that got the robot's attention. It promptly approached the table, retrieved the empty glass placed there first and then with some degree of coordination managed to take the glass from Morreti directly. Since it had managed to do so, this prompted him to give the thing a smirk of appreciation.

His eyes had still not moved even when interacting with the mechanical waiter, clearly he had the ability to focus on more than one thing and perhaps that was an acquired skill from years spent flying. With his drink gone and an absence of anything for his right hand to hold onto, he allowed it to rest on his half of the table and occasionally gestured albeit with his palm facing downwards. "That's actually quite simple. Or at least as simple as you or Malta would like it to be, signora. I have shown from my end of the table, both literally and figuratively, that I am willing to not just do business but protect mutual interests. So it's only fair that Malta proves to us that it's willing to do the same thing for the LFR before we start giving you additional allowances. While this is limited by things such as resources and money at this stage, the thing which matters most is a foundation of trust and we've only just started building it. It'll be a slow process if it's just you and me laying bricks, but the more people get involved and the more every gesture is reciprocated, the sooner this hollow frame will start to look like a Home. One that's shared by partners rather than a master and a servant." He grew quiet and shook his head, offering her a short answer if it needed to be conveyed in simpler terms.

"For those reasons, I can't provide an estimate. But I do believe it will be a matter of a few years rather than decades if an image of a joint venture partnership is cemented, rather than something adversarial or servile." He flashed her a brief but sincere smile to convey something without words having finished giving her an answer.