decisions, decisions (red)

@"ReD"

Admittedly, the best of intentions weren't involved in today's tryst. Eph paced the floor of this unused art room - why were there so many unused rooms in this academy again? - tail dragging behind her on the floor and picking up a bit of dust that she flicked away. It was like she was subconsciously filling in the role that came with her maid outfit.

She'd been in the mildly dusty room for almost an hour, as her previous appointment fell through quickly and there wasn't much else to do. So instead she'd just stayed in that room, waiting and doing whatever came to mind, not all of which were wholly appropriate. The mattress that was tucked beside the stacks of chairs now lay on the floor, where she took a bit of a nap that ended quickly because of the dusty air.

Now that she thought of it, inviting Lochlann to a secluded corner of the school with a message that just told him to come alone, where he would find her waiting in a maid outfit, was probably not the best idea. She could guess what he'd think, but whether or not she wanted that to happen - well, she was torn. On one hand, that was sure to be fun. On the other, she needed to be productive. And she couldn't do more than one thing at a time if the things involved were that intensive on concentration.

The decision regarding which course of action to take proved harder than it had any right to. She couldn't decide whether or not to be productive today or just slack off with Loch. The latter seemed fun; the former seemed necessary. What to do, what to do...

It hit her that she could just outsource the decision-making to a third party. He could decide which between the two options they could do for them. She smiled as it clicked, and then she pulled the mattress so that it would be the first thing someone who would open the door could see. There she lay on her side, head resting on one hand, the other hand on her hips, tail swishing lazily and face grinning all cocksure and smug.

The door opened and sure enough, it was her guest. "Hey, so I have two ideas. Now, you can either help me with my work - I need art for concepts so I'd paint you and then make you wear stuff so I can take pictures and put it up on my site, cause people don't buy if I'm in the pictures, saying 'how do I know it'll fit humans' and that sorta stuff - or you can... I think you can guess from what I'm doing right now, yeah."

She grinned even more smugly as she began to chant mockingly, "Tick tock tick tock tick tock - come on, you don't want to leave a girl waiting, do you? Tick tock tick tock..."

@"ReD"

Eph couldn't help but giggle at Lochlann's mildly stammered answer. It was an adorable thing, that awkward honesty he had. "Sounds like a plan. A better plan than I had in mind anyway. Gets more done."

She clicked her tongue and stood up, dusting her skirt while her tail tightly coiled around the mattress, dragging it into an upright position. With both her clawed hands, she hoisted the foam above her head and brought it to the corner of the room beside the board, where it could stay standing for a while.

She pulled up two chairs to the middle of the room, and one box that was suspiciously leas dusty than everything else nearby, motioning for Lochlann to come over as she did so. "I made it, yeah... I ever mention that I made clothes, or were we too busy making magic in the kitchen last time? Not important. See, thing is, business has been really slow since people keep asking for pictures of my work on humans. So..."

Her claws ripped through the tape keeping the box closed, revealing what seemed to be several layers worth of clothing neatly folded and stacked atop each other. Eph put her fingers together as if framing Lochlann in a picture, smiling and clicking her tongue. The tip of her tail probed into the box and poked into a sleeve, pulling up a deep red dress shirt into the imaginary frame she had.

"Yeah, I think I got your size right," Eph said smugly. "If you think back, you'd remember that around the nth time we mucked about in interspecies heaven, my tail was very frisky... I was trying to get your sizes then. That's what you call thinking ahead."

Eph folded her arms and dropped the shirt back into the box, chin raised in playful arrogance. "I am magnificent, am I not?"

@"ReD"

Eph bit her lip and shook her head a bit. "Sorry about that... but after the nth time I realized that I had to make ends meet... and sweetie, you don't pay me and let's not go there please even if I'm around eeeeighty percent sure you've paid for sex at some point."

She thought for a moment about how and why she was so open about this topic when she normally pictured herself being much more prudish before he dropped by back then. The thought made her chuckle softly.

Lochlann's head beside hers felt comfortable, though it did concern her a little bit. She turned her own head a bit and asked, "Doesn't it bother you that I'm all covered in scales? I know I wasn't last time but right now... they make me uncomfortable so I can only imagine how it'd be for you. Or maybe you're putting up with it because of your fragile masculinity saying 'men can do this much'?"

Her tail lazily wrapped around Lochlann like a satisfied cat as she leaned over and dug a bit deeper into the box. "Yeah. It's an investment of sorts. If they look good on you - and trust me, they will - I can get a lot of good press going and bump up my sales, which gives me more money, and if they don't get sold I can always give them to you."

Eph straightened up and spun around to face Lochlann, her tail loosening a bit from its grip but still staying on. "Not all of them, mind you... that would be poor business. I'd give you one or two for free and the rest you'd have to pay for. With discount, of course. How much discount depends on... various things."

Gently, she threw her arms over his shoulders and around his neck, pulling him close with a coy grin, which stayed for a few seconds. Then she broke away and gestured to the box, uncoiling her tail as she did so. "So. Willing to help me? It should be fun, if you're anything like me... so probably not fun. Eh. Think of something to make it amusing for you if you want. A game of some sort, anything. Just keep it reasonable, okay? Okay."

@"ReD"

"Oh." Eph drew her head away, taken aback at that statement. She nodded approvingly and smiled nervously, knowing that although Lochlann seemed to take her assumption in stride, it was still most likely an offensive thing. "Sorry about that. If it's any consolation though, I'm glad the off-chance was right, and your ranking on my 'nice people' list's gone up a bit. My sister's tough to beat in that list though."

His spot on that list certainly wasn't hurt by how well he knew how to make her blush though. She didn't say anything about his comment on the scales, instead opting to just give him a light peck on the cheek in thanks before turning her attention away. "You know, it's weird how touchy-feely I am right now. Never expected that, honestly. Not a bad feeling though. Kind of comfy."

She had noticed his gaze, and truth be told, she liked it and as much as she could, she was going to try and provoke more of it. The attention was doing wonders for her confidence and mood. Her tail swished around playfully while she listened to Lochlann talk about his clothing issues.

"Huh. That - don't really know what to make of that. I mean, it's sort of adorable that clothes can make you panic and adds a certain... something - can't quite get the words right, don't worry, I will make better mouth next time - to your charm. But really..." Eph tried and failed to stifle a laugh before continuing, "'buttons and things'. Hoooo boy."

Seeing that Lochlann took a deep breath, she also did, mirroring his act and calming herself down as well. She still giggled a bit though as she said, gesturing once more to the box, "Pick out what you like, put it on, let me take pictures, rinse, repeat. Not literal rinsing. You know what I mean. Also, since these will be going up on the Internet on my site, is there like any sort of online thing I have to be aware of with you? Like, do you have an online reputation I'll have to work around?"

@"ReD" this thread making me guilty cause this currently the only thread i can reply to quickly because of how their interaction is anyway moving on

"Connected's a nice way to put it, yeah. Helps that you're a lot more pleasant to the touch than pa's bark, Crystal's constantly cold skin, or ma's perpetually weird whatever it is she puts on herself. Don't ask me; she puts this thing on her skin that is probably a lotion of some sort but may or may not be a poison. Yeaaah, she was a complicated woman." Eph nodded contemplatively, a finger on Lochlann's sternum. She traced the feeling of the bone, following it with a light touch down to the middle of his ribs.

With a light prod here and there, she probed Lochlann's body, grinning. "Glad you think that way. I'm going to take full advantage of that." Her poking grew more rapid and playful, and her grin turned into a little giggle. "Sorry, it's not everyday I get to poke someone."

His abrupt mention of his past made Eph's curiosity flare up. She couldn't help but grow intrigued, as she never really knew much about him, and she wanted to know. It took precedence over the thing she should have been concerned with - that wanted comment - and she chose to pry a bit.

"You don't have to sit or anything," Eph said, pulling a camera out from inside her blouse. It turned on with a little beep, and she put it up to her eyes to look at her model. The focus was decent, the lighting seemed fine though a bit dramatic. "Just act normal, I'll snap pictures when I get the chance, and see what happens. After all, you look like the kind of person who'd work better au naturale."

Eph stood up, her tail gently wrapping around her chair and pushing it away. It began to sway behind her, as she slowly circled around Lochlann for no apparent reason other than for the heck of it. She asked, "So you came from a poor family? I - well, I don't really know too much about you, do I? We should fix that. Hmm... oh, I know. Let's play a game called 'Interrogations'. It's simple - we just take turns asking each other questions about anything, and there's probably a punishment for someone who refuses to answer or something. You go first."