decisions, decisions (red)

@"ReD"

"Doesn't hurt. I'm bad with pain - I'd never have been able to pull it off if it hurt." Eph took the comments in stride and gripped a little tighter, taking the comment as an invitation to be more physical. She slid down her arm from his neck, pulled her head close, and snapped a picture of the two of them.

Her eyes inspected the picture, and finding it to her liking, she said, "This is going into my collection. If - if you're fine with that. Me taking pictures of you, I mean. Wait, uh, I - I mean - pictures of us. You're obviously fine with me taking pictures of you, we settled that... stupid."

She drew a deep breath through her teeth and lightly slapped herself on the forehead with a sigh. Every now and then, her thoughts and words got so muddled that they made no sense. "Well, that was the teaser for the upcoming series 'Eph Cannot Mouth.' Hope you enjoyed it." A tiny giggle issued from her while she mock bowed.

Ah. Eph didn't know why, but Lochlann's bartending thing struck her as natural. Although it probably wouldn't help much, considering vodka was just vodka. "I, I get drunk easily so... it's on your good conscience if you're going to take advantage of that or not. Like really easily. It took me two cups of wine to go from Eph to Scottish lady-kisser Eph."

"You know what? I think I'd actually like that," she said with a smile, tucking her arm inside Lochlann's shirt. From behind, her tail wrapped around his waist and poked at the insides of the shirt as well. "I could be touchier, but this is as much as I'm doing on my own. Oh, and do you think you could take this shirt off? And - and change. Too early in the day to just leave it off."

@"ReD"

"'Course it'll be okay. I'll have to get them printed first though, then hand them to you... which gives me an excuse to hang out more. I like it!"

This was such a comfortable moment. Lochlann's presence helped her not care much about what she looked like to other people, and at the moment she probably looked like she was going to dig into his clothes. Eph burrowed her head into the gap between Lochlann's neck and shoulder. "You know, you're the first guy to ever ask if I wanted to be taken advantage of. Kudos for originality. I like the suggestion though... maybe some time. I'll bring a grill."

She drew back, satisfied at his reactions to her little touches. The camera she held flashed twice, snapping pictures while he changed clothes. "Pick whatever catches your interest," she said, examining the photographs she snapped. "Okay, these are going in my room somewhere else."

Eph felt bemused by the question Lochlann asked, so much that she forgot to snap more pictures. Her expression was bewildered, and she thought it would be fine to mock him for this particular instance. "...I - I made these clothes. So, uh, yeah I know how to do like tailoring stuff..?"

@"ReD"

Eph's jaw dropped.

She had been expecting something else, what with the way the conversation had been going, the evident nervousness, and that mention of payment. What came made her positively squeal. "Oh. My. God. That is so adorable. Of course I can, idiot! We'll make your family proud!" Her first thought was to jump because she really did find the request quite cute, and the second was to just hug him in glee. Both of them popped into her head at the same time, resulting in a hug that was more tackle than anything. Every bit of her semi-reptilian mass went into the motion, knocking both of them down.

Eph gripped even tighter as she lay atop Lochlann on the floor, grin wide and eyes shut. It took a while before she loosened up her grip and sat up on his belly, not considering whether or not her weight was bothering him. At the moment, she felt too giddy to care. The tail whipped around, wrapping around everything nearby - Lochlann's legs, then the nearby chair's legs, then her own, and then finally wrapping around Lochlann's wrists, bringing them up so that she could hold his hands and lean in close with an expectant smile. "I swear on whatever I have at home that's valuable that I will make you the best suit you will ever wear."

A sinister thought crossed her mind, and her honest grin turned wicked, and she leaned in even closer. "Although... we will have to negotiate some sort of payment plan. Suits don't come in cheap - and I can't even lie about that. Sure, we could go cheap, but then it'd end up more trash than anything. Any thoughts?"

@"ReD"

"It's nice, I'll admit," Eph said, stretching her arms up. Her spine arched and she let her shirt hike up. After all, half her interaction with Lochlann was already teasing on its own, so what was a little skin? The position she sat in made her yawn a bit though, and she lay on his chest like a cat, her eyes closed. "It's warm, and us cold-blooded people like warm. Also, I sorta feel powerful up here. That's hard to come by with my size."

She lay there wordlessly for a few moments, smiling and breathing slowly, her expression content. A question crept into her mind while she lay on him, and her contented expression changed into something a bit more questioning.

Gently, to not scratch him with her claws, she pushed herself up back to a more upright position, and noted the presence of something else in the same position. She put one hand on his thigh and said, "Calm down, that comes later. There's something else on my mind right now."

She put both hands on his chest lightly and asked, "What did you mean by you want them to think everything's okay? Are - that sounds suspiciously like everything is not okay. Are you okay? You - okay, now I'm starting to panic. Calm - calm down."

@"ReD"

Eph heaved a sigh of relief and threw her head back, her body arching backward. Her arms fell limp at her side, brushing against his thighs listlessly. "Oh, good. You nearly gave me a heart attack. I, uh... sorry for freaking out, I guess. Am - wow, I just killed the mood. Sorry..."

She breathed in heavily and set herself down again on his chest, her expression rather mournful. Worry was never a good thing to feel, and whenever she felt it, it was intense. Her voice was softer, gentler than her usual. "I have this thing where I panic over people I know and care about... cause I don't really have a lot of them. Heads up by the way - I might be overprotective at some point. Just - just tell me to back off if that happens, okay? Okay."

Again, more gently than before, she wriggled her arms and wrapped them around Lochlann's waist and snuggled in. Eph took a deep breath and let her worried expression shift to a very faint but contented smile. "Just when you were talking about me being hot... oh well. I'll figure out some other way to get the mood back. Like this, maybe."

Eph moved her body a bit forward, allowing her to reach Lochlann's face and give him a light peck on the cheek. "Can we stay like this for a bit?"