"By the way," Odette said, tapping Clovis on the shoulder. "Have you ever trusted somebody with your life?"
Red faked a laugh he was quite proud of. "That's a bit rude, isn't it? I didn't take you for a brute."
Clovis lowered his head slightly to stare up at Red, doubtfully, from under his brows. "Brute, no. Blunt? yes. I'm simply not in the mood to grow other appendages today."
Clovis' motions unlocked memories in Red's mind - certain strategies he'd learned either by observation, reading them in books or both. He saw a chair nearby enough and fetched it.
"Interesting. Is that your given name, or a stage name?" he chuckled.
I should've just said Red, Red thought to himself. It's not as if it's an inherently masculine name, even if I'm so... usually am so masculine myself.
What the fuck does that mean? Red simply smiled and hoped he wasn't being insulted. He certainly could have thrown some of the Helixians' language at him to even the field, but it was not one that flowed quite as smoothly.
Was he falling for it? Red has no idea. On the rare occasion he did hear a conversation like this in public, he'd simply gag and leave. But it's not like he could just be direct - the man already seemed to think of him as some lowly street hooker, and he had to admit his own performance did little to contradict it. Gods, just abducting people was so much easier...
Selene laughed. “You’ve quickly embraced your inner straight catgirl, haven’t you, Scarlet?”
Red turned to Selene and nearly hissed before realizing that was far more of a cat than a girl thing to do. Instead, he gave an expression of shut the fuck up, you're ruining my plan, and then turned back to Clovis as if his smile had never left his face.
He stuck out his lower lip. The slip caught him off guard, but he decided to not read too much into it. For now. "That's unfortunate. Try to find another one so nobody accidentally solicits you for a lap dance. Although..."
"Mm, yes," he agreed. "Like becoming a catgirl. I have a degenerate figure skating friend who had a dream like this," he recalled. "Strange."
Clovis pursed his lips. "Straight catgirl? What, are you actually gay and trying to use me as a cover? Shame, Scarlet. Shame." He shook his head, but still flashed a winning grin at her.
A humorous thought flashed in his head, but quickly he realized it may actually work - this was a friend of Odette's, after all.
The fur of his tail bristled. "Oh, no, you misunderstand. 'Straight' is... just catgirl slang. For a straight back. Like how a cat straightens its back when it's really enjoying things."
"Your confidence is alluring, I'll give you that," he complimented, rubbing his lower lip with his index finger as he eyed her. "You sound experienced."
However, his expression dropped when he heard this explanation. "That sounds like..." he trailed off as he scratched his temple. "Gods, what's that slang word..."
Selene furrowed her brow, trying to think of a reason she could drink. "I had to chew the jello stuff in the potion that never happened, and I'm going to count that because, frankly, I would appreciate getting my legs back before I end up as a zoo exhibit."
You couldn't even begin to imagine how experienced I am at mutilating people, Red thought, somewhat saddened by the fact that he would not be able to tell him all about it.
His tail bristled again. "Well, you see, that's because, uh..."
"Oh, would you look at that, it's another drink for me," he said. "Don't you go anywhere." He began to make his way to the potions.
He raised his brow, waiting for the extra response, when the new question was asked.
Clovis sighed in relief, finding that he wouldn't need to drink, because he had indeed had some food at an Ikea before. Plus, he still had the potion that Little Miss Thing and the Grudge had gone off to get.
As Red--or Scarlet--headed for another potion, Odette was headed back toward Clovis, a potion in hand. She brushed shoulders with Red, but appeared too preoccupied with Odile yelling in her ear to notice.
Odette continued to whine toward him, when she took notice of Selene's new form. She gasped, and Clovis let her go.
Selene broke out of her sunlit reverie and turned to face Odette.
Altair waved a wing dismissively. "How could I've eaten here if I don't even know what an..." Altair looked back at the large writing on the wall. "IKEA is in the first place?"
Altair rolled his eyes at the display. "Get a room, you two!"
Red's tail flicked from side to side as he watched the braided women return to his silver-haired target, who looked like he'd forgotten all about Miss Scarlet by now. Damn. It looked like that was a waste of time... he'd have to find another way to get back at them. If there could be one before the end of the game...
And now Moneybags was already ogling another woman. Red scoffed - and the wrong reverberation in his throat was the final straw. He couldn't wait to get back to his old body. And on that note...
