Well, Aoba might have verbally stumbled and called Declan an angel before, but that didn't mean he was about to roll over and let said Guardian angel completely take care of him. There was almost a sort of irony in that: Aoba had been forced to work for the Deckers, and here was a not-Decker telling him he didn't have to. Still, inclined to laziness though Aoba might have been, he wanted to earn his keep for as long as he was here.

But if Declan didn't know what a kept man was, Aoba didn't want to be the one to tell him! He didn't want Declan to think he'd had weird ideas about their arrangement or anything like that.

"Mm. I'll probably go talk to Tess once I've got my bearings a little better, since she offered. I wonder if I can get some maps on Ren somehow... he was always my navigator back home."

Ren, still content to be resting his chin on his paws while Declan petted him, spoke up. "I will continue to keep logging directions and locations manually, Aoba."

"Of course. Thanks, Ren, I know I can count on you no matter what."