Half-breed Encounters(Der)

@"Nightstripe"

"You should. The Battle of Wits dude is glorious," she said, watching Wesker go off behind the trees and seeing his large spider part disappear behind it.

Eph stayed back, not going behind the tree, instead busying herself with her thoughts for a while. When a few moments had passed, she walked to the side, to where she could see a bit of Wesker changing, seeing his torso and smiling. "Uh, sorry to invade, but I don't get actual, real life reference for male physique that often, and Internet is both too slow - in my case 'cause it's not a decent setup - and a bit unrealistic."

She bit her lip, rummaging in her pockets and patting herself down, and stopped with a disappointed sigh. "I - I didn't bring my notepad or my tape. Yeah, because chances like these weren't rare enough."

Almost defensively, she explained. "I - I make clothes for a living. Mostly made-to-order stuff, and it's mostly for female customers because of reasons I do not know, but there are a few male orders that came in and I don't nearly have enough experience working with a male figure to work on that properly, and I'm out of scratch to buy a decent mannequin with."

@"Nightstripe"

"Define 'favor'. I'm fine doing stuff - but the thing is, 'stuff' refers to a lot of stuff. And I have certain stuff that I'm against... and stuff. Man this running gag is tiring to keep up." Eph leaned herself on a nearby tree, her tail wrapping around it unnecessarily. "Having either option's a good thing, but there's a cost behind it, I'm guessing. Everyone - and everything - has a price."

That particular train of thought grew depressing to think about, and she cringed at it, and its insinuations. "I - wow, that was too real and too dark. I think you get what I mean though."

@"Nightstripe"

Eph nodded, wary. "Huh. Well, any chance you could define what this favor may or may not be? I'm not digging my claws into certain things, so I'd really much prefer to know what that might be."

Feeling that she was being a bit too accusing, she shook her head and attempted to explain herself with an anecdote. "Sorry - it's just, well, people have tried guilting me into things I really would rather not do in the slightest, saying 'you owe me a favor now do this horribly unsettling and possibly illegal thing for me okay' and that sorta crap. Just wouldn't want to have that happening again."

@"Nightstripe"

"Trust me, Wesker, I'm not some puzzle you want to solve," Eph half-said, half-growled, her voice unnaturally gravelly and guttural. Then it was back to being perky and jumpy as usual. "Don't, uh, pry too much. I open easy."

When Wesker mentioned commissions, she lit up both in understanding and embarrassment from her own thoughts. The fact that she jumped to such an illicit internal assumption bothered her. "Oh, that... yeah, sounds like a pretty fair deal. I mean, I'd have offered something if I was probing around for stuff I could use, since there's really not much else to me. I... make clothes and live in the forest. Like some kinda witch. Guess that runs in the family."

@"Nightstripe"

"A game. Hmm. There's something there, lemme think for a bit." The lizard's tail curled around a tree, grasping and gripping tightly. The deeper in thought she was, the tighter was its grip, and then she let go abruptly, wincing. "Ow. That was a stupid idea."

There was something more important to take care of first though. She was busy for most of the near future. "Uh... maybe if there was some way I can contact you instead? I'm sort of busy for a while because I've got quite a few work orders to finish, but maybe I can drop by when that's done."