Aaron had barely been paying attention to Klaus’ lecture - reminded him too much of a torturous Philosphy class he’d been forced to take in his first year of university. Instead, Aaron had been quietly laughing to himself as Mathis instigated, nursing a beer. 

Klaus, however, had a way of snapping a class to attention. His loud mentioning of their research was enough to quiet the group. Luckily, the bar was raucous; it was unlikely that anyone was listening to them. 

As unadvised as it may have been, however, Aaron raised his glass, drinking deeply before covering the lower half of his face with his scarf once again. “No, no, Klaus has a point. Humboldt took a turn for what I see as the worst in ’33.”

Aaron stood, ambling over to Klaus’ stool and gripping his shoulder. “You’re right my friend. I can’t say I agree with what they’ve been imposing on us.” His scarf slipped, revealing the lopsided grin of the inebriated. He looked over his colleagues, from Józef’s cool gaze to Mat’s both amused and slightly concerned one. He briefly locked his eyes on Mat’s, though, and it caused the grin to fall. He polished off the rest of his glass and set it - with necessary force - on the bar. 

“Though, we can’t stop now.” His voice had taken on a slower, more reserved tone. Mat’s eyes fell into his drink, and his grip on his glass became visibly tighter. Aaron tried at a recovery. “I mean, consider all the headway you’ve made, Klaus. I may be drawing a blank but you’re a physicist, you have the chance to study a phenomenon unlike anything ever seen before. Your work will be taught in universities all across Europe, and all of our names will go down in history. Right?”

Aaron forced a smile, Mat doing the same. They both knew very well that Aaron scarcely meant a word of what he said. He’d be tortured to have his name in a text book for their dirty work. 

Reluctantly, Mat played along, pulling a token grin. “Yeah Klaus, how can you reject an opportunity like this, with so much yet to be explored?"