#important question: does a platypus prefer vodka or tequila!

[surepetey]

Petey offered a sloppy little smile -- or whatever the equivalent of a sloppy little smile is on a duck bill -- when Ezra actually seemed interested in their half-joke. Maybe he was just being nice and trying to make sure Petey didn't feel as inferior as they did ( hey, glowing under a UV light was cool, but it was no walking through walls ), maybe he did actually want to see it... But, in that moment, head swimming a bit, Petey didn't really care which it was -- they were just glad to be in the company of someone so nice ( ha ! ). The sloppy little smile faltered when Ezra launched into a description of what his old settlement had been like, though. As a platyperson, Petey hadn't been living a life that was all sunshine and rainbows, but it sure was better than what Ezra had begun describing! Petey still had good friends, Petey still had a job and somewhere to live, Petey still had loving parents. They were never one to complain -- they knew they were lucky ! -- but, man, they wouldn't even speak a word of that. Instead... hm... "Man, I -- I'm glad you could get over here, then." That worked, right? Maybe a little too hazy to judge it totally properly, but it was acknowledging that that sucked but also not totally pitying him and also... uh... Another thing that their bill couldn't do, but definitely would? Blush. They were not conventionally attractive by any means! They were too human for platypuses, too platypus for humans -- 'conventional' and 'platyperson' never really went together! But... beauty? Gee, they liked to think they were all gravy with it, but they'd never known what the opposite end of it felt like -- not until now. Of course, they most certainly did not get the innuendo Ezra had assumed they were making -- far be it from them to understand it! "Oh! Oh -- I, y'know, one of my, ah... talents is, see... I sweat milk." Not very sexy, Peter. "Really?" Petey asked, genuinely shocked... maybe a bit too shocked, maybe they had to tone that down. "I just mean, y'know, you seem so... confident." Ezra had been lost before? "And -- and very pretty, too." Man, there were so many words other than 'pretty'! Not that it didn't describe him... Ezra had been lost before when he was also attractive?

"i'm sure i can rustle one up. i'll be holding you to that, i hope you know." and he will, even past the disappointment that it isn't something sexual. overtly, anyway... he's a pervert first and person second, but the second does still exist. there's natural curiosity within himself, still. all it needs is a little platypus-shaped kindling! in the meantime, there's always the physical to get him interested. he can't imagine a place in the world where petey doesn't find someone falling at their feet. ah, if only... he can be a tad idealistic. taking another gulp of his drink, ezra's brow arches. "were they, what? horrible, awful, no good, terrible shits? yeah, most of 'em. would sell their own mothers if it meant getting on the train below." and then there's the follow up. and you? of course, it's a silly question. he's already sold out the lot of his family and would again for less! his mum, bless her soul, had hated him... even as much as she had tried not to, caring for him as she did. his father was just shy of his own level of crazy as a human. and his siblings? screw them. they had better prospects away from the old man. envy is the name of the game. he leaves that unsaid question... unanswered. "that it is—part of your beauty, i mean. not part of whatever nonsense has convinced you it's not." he even means it, strangely enough. it's not often that ezra insists upon someone else's confidence—no, more likely for him to take advantage of it—but it just doesn't sit right seeing someone so... lost. "'course, you'll have to suffer through me asking all my terrible questions." he smiles, genuinely. "by milk, you don't mean—?" he grins, hopefully getting the message across. he's not shy to say it of course, but he's testing the waters of his company. petey seems the flighty sort. "me, myself? you'd be surprised. at one point i was as...abandoned... as you are. i had to build myself back up from all that. part of the reason i'm here, now." with a lot of omission between the beginning and end. his indulgence in his gifts were not won by confidence alone, but by the willingness to disregard all else—convenient when, genetically, he tends toward chaos and destruction. not so good for anyone in the way...