Hey! Hows it goin'? ((Independent Mighty the Armadillo RP blog. Slightly AU. NSFW. Status: On Vacation Note: Mighty is an idiot. Please keep that in mind with all RPs and Asks. Sidebar: frankyding90 is NOT the owner of this account.
Slowly but surely, Red was getting back into the swing of things. He flicked his ear as Mephiles began to play with it, a part of him knowing that she would do that with how much she loved his ears. With how well he thought the kiss had gone, Red thought that his mate would want to make-out a little more, but it looked like she wanted to take things into her own hands.
Red didn't have a problem with that. He closed his eyes and squeezed Mephiles' waist, silently encouraging her to continue. Her purrs were right in his ear, and he was quite enjoying them, but he felt that he wasn't doing enough to her in return. As he thought, he began to play with Mephiles' tail again, shuddering against his mate as she continued to kiss his neck.
He stared forward and pulled on her tail gently, licking his lips. He leaned forward and kissed at her shoulder, moving his hands away from her tail and instead trailing them up and down her back. He then leaned over and moved to nip and kiss at Mephiles' ear, wanting his hot breath in her ear.
"MIIIGHTYYY SWEEETIEE~! CATCH!" *He chucks a.... Jeep. At Mighty. Hopefully the armadillo will catch it in time. He also threw over a cookbook, for some reason, filled with all sorts of rather exotic recipes. It'd have a lot of weird stuff in it, though, it's author being... "The Ifrit".* "Merry Christmaaas~!"
"Chasey…? What are you doing—?!"
Oop, there was a Jeep coming towards him. Thankfully, Mighty had enough time to react and catch it right before it had collided with him. A bit unsteadily did he carry the Jeep, getting over his shock and panic with a relieved sigh. Unfortunately, a book was thrown and hit him in his chest.
Though thankful for the gifts he had been given by his divine friend, Mighty couldn’t help but muse a bit as he set the Jeep down carefully in front of the house.
"Yep yep. That’s right. Look-it you, gettin’ things down pat like that! You’re almost ready t’drive," said Chasey, lying back in his seat, fingers interlaced over his chest.
"The catch… there is a catch, sorta. I guess you can say.. heeh heee! The catch is that ya gotta pay for whatever ya hit!" jested the god, already shaking in giggling laughter.
He sensed that perhaps the joke wouldn’t be as funny to Mighty as it was for him, though, and so Chasey had to awkwardly stop his roaring to regain his calm.
"…AHREM! So! Let’s, uh, let’s do this part a lil’ slower. Now, y’see, driving is all ‘bout three things: Goin’, steerin’, an’ stoppin’. Sometimes. Steerin’ y’car on a drive can either save lives or take ‘em, and you can bet I’ve.. almost been responsible for the latter. But! I’ve learned t’steer the right way, and I just can’t remember th’last time I’ve had an accident. A couple of close calls, maybe, but—” A slight cringe came over him on the ‘but’.
"…N-never.. nevermind, let’s just do this already. Keep your foot real light on that right thingie. ‘Called the ah.. accelerator. Drive ahead of where we are to someplace a bit more open. Just go straight ‘till it’s safe t’start turnin’ round and stuff. Turnin’ feels a lil’ weird at first, but you’ll get the swing of it once ya do it. I’ll tell ya what t’do from there."
Mighty found himself double and even triple checking to make sure that he was doing all that Chasey had told him. The handle thing was on the 'D', his foot was on the break, and his hands on the wheel. He found it a little hard to keep his strength in check on the break. A little more and he'd break it, and a little less and he'd start moving forward. This... was going to be a little harder than he thought.
He turned, startled, at Chasey. Not at what he had said - Mighty had already assumed that the god was a little... crazy on the road - but at his laughter. Those giggles and chortles had Mighty wanting to burst out laughing himself, but he didn't, fearing that that would be rude to do. Instead, he bit his lip and held in his snorts and snickers, looking down at the steering wheel to focus on driving.
His ears twitched and flicked as Chasey began instructing him again, and he nodded slowly at the part about 'going slowly'. That sounded great to him. Mighty turned slightly to face the god as he mentioned having close calls. Maybe... Chasey was a little more reckless on the road than he had previously thought. Mighty's face paled and his fingers trembled. Chasey may not have been the best person to teach him, but he was the only one who could. To his knowledge, Mephiles hadn't even touched a car before.
Okay, now he needed to drive. Getting away from the house sounded like an excellent idea, Mighty just hoped he could navigate well enough through the surrounding trees and bush to get to the dirt road. He gulped and slowly eased off of the break, nearly shrieking as the car began to move forward slowly. He immediately wanted to break again, but he was going slow enough; he just needed to inch forward and steer.
His hands were sweaty but he kept his grip on the wheel tight despite that. He moved his foot over to the gas pedal and lightly pressed. The jeep moved a little faster, but it was still slow compared to normal. Mighty couldn't bring himself to care. He continued at this speed, steering tensely between patches of tall grass and large rocks. When he came to a tree, he was shaking terribly. He turned the wheel slightly to the right and dodged it completely, slowly driving past it. Mighty felt so proud he allowed himself to smile brightly, looking over at Chasey and bouncing in his seat like a child.
It was true that actions definitely spoke louder than words. Tikal was always one to give speeches of morality and all that stuff, but she also knew when it was better to act than to preach. The kiss was timed well, but she initially doubted he’d do something like that. As for what it meant to her, well.. It was special. It said everything that had to be said, and it was just what was needed for that moment. It wasn’t sappy or gushing with love or anything like that. It was just what it was, a simple act of kindness, and an agreement in a way. An agreement in both emotion and thought.
Everything was silent for a while. She wasn’t sure if the act should’ve been returned or not, but decided perhaps it would’ve still been kind of strange to do it again after the other, what, three times she did it before? As she recalled the beginnings of this little hang out, she began to laugh. She laughed quite happily in fact, not too hard but not quite softly either. It was just an all around funny thing to think, really. A bit ridiculous, in fact. Stopping her chuckling and giggling, she said, “…I do not think I will ever be able to thank you enough. This has been a great time we have shared together. And to think, it all started with me touching your rear. How amusing! You know, we will have to have an outing in the near future after what has developed today. We could go to one of.. Those…” Fingersnapping again. “Clubs. And I know it would certainly be fun. Do you think so?”
At first Red was a surprised at Tikal's sudden laughter. It had come out of nowhere, but he simply had to remind himself who he was sitting next to. Tikal was a very... odd individual. Nevertheless, Red released Tikal's dread and let his hand fall to his lap, smiling softly as the echidna continued to giggle.
Blinking slowly, he was silent as Tikal spoke. A slight blush covered his muzzle. Red hadn't been expecting a thank you, but perhaps he shoudl've. He wasn't going to lie and say that spending this time with Tikal had been unpleasant, the opposite in fact. Red had gained a new drinking buddy and they had both learned something about one another in the process. Though, she was right, it was funny how this had all started.
He snorted as Tikal snapped her fingers, turning to lean back against the couch and resting an arm on the backrest of it. "Yeah, I think it would be... interesting, to say the least," Red said, already seeing how things could go horribly wrong in cramped, dark club with Tikal. Still, they could get wasted and amble about on the dance floor since Red doubted Tikal knew how to dance.
"We'll probably have to get you some clothes and stuff," Red thought aloud, scratching his chin with his right hand. He lazily turned his head to her then. "Do you know how to dance?"
Just as she figured. Red was certainly affected by the question, and Tikal already felt a twinge of pain in her heart. She was already beginning to regret asking, though one could argue she already deeply regretted thinking about it in the first place. Red’s grip on her hand had tightened, yet she felt no discomfort from that. The only sort of discomfort she had came from what he said next, though ‘discomfort’ might be understating the terrible feeling that came over her at that moment.
There was no way for her to expect something like that. It couldn’t have been seen ahead of time, for who would expect something so far at the very end of the spectrum of trauma? Red was strong, but Tikal had thought something at least slightly less severe would’ve caused something that could bring someone like him to this state. In contrast to the empty eyes that looked to her, Tikal’s were wide and almost shivering in shock.
Slowly but surely, Red snapped out of his daze. His vision was no longer clouded with the memories of glowing emerald eyes and flashes of chaos energy, but he still appeared somber. Tikal's statement just made him feel worse, his smile turning into a bit of a smirk at her words. That was something that had crossed his mind before, but it had been a while ago.
No one really understood him, not even Mephiles. Sometimes he would think that she did, but she didn't, and every so often, Red would have to remind himself of this fact. Being tortured and killed wasn't what brought him into existence, but it certainly aided in his escape. Mighty had never felt such betrayal, fear, and pain than in that moment, and those very emotions fueled Red.
Red had heard the story before; if Mighty had heard it, so had he, but he listened to Tikal's tale anyway. It was pretty sad that this was something they had in common, being hurt by gods who, at the time, had no control over themselves. It was odd, but... Red hadn't noticed before how similar the two stories were.
The armadillo finally lifted his head to look at the other on the couch, and was not happy at what he saw. The tremor in Tikal's voice, the way that she didn't make eye contact, it reminded him of himself and Mighty. Tikal's sacrifice had been a noble deed, not to mention smart and wise of her. It made him and Mighty look like fools in comparison, not even able to fight their way out of being tortured.
Much like Tikal, Red didn't flinch as his hand was gripped harder, harder, and even harder still. He only continued to stare at her with furrowed eyeridges, unsure of what to say to her.
He felt many things, anger towards Chasey, who he already wasn't on good terms with, frustration at himself for not being able to do anything at all to help Tikal with any of her problems, and a sense of relief. Red hadn't known it would feel so nice to talk to someone about what he had been through.
As Tikal smiled at him, a smile that he himself was very familiar with, he felt a sense of confliction within himself. Red was a very passionate person, speaking with actions instead of words more often than not. Not only because his vocabulary was limited, but because he felt that actions got the point across much faster and easier than words ever could.
Considering what they had done earlier in the day, Red had no issue acting on his emotions. He lifted a hand and placed it on Tikal's cheek, messing with the dread that hung there for a moment, before he inched forward and kissed her.
Red wasn't the type to spout out long monologues about feelings and friendship. He wasn't the type to say cheerful and optimistic things that honestly did nothing and only made you feel better for a short amount of time. No, Red was the type of person who acted on his feelings, which, this time, meant kissing to show Tikal that he felt the same exact way she did.
That was peculiar. Looking towards him with a sad smile, she squeezed his hand as well. Tikal knew that this was probably a strange thing coming from Red, and she was even a bit surprised, if only mildly. All the same, however, it was clear that the echidna was very grateful. She must’ve been pretty special to him to get this treatment. “I will not.. I will try not to worry too much about this.”
Already she shared with him a rather sensitive issue of hers. “As for the question..” And now, it was time to see if he wouldn’t mind sharing something sensitive with her. This was definitely going to be a bit difficult to ask, though. There wasn’t an expectation for an answer, but it was certainly a perplexing problem that begged one.
"There is no obligation to answer, but.. A while ago, when… When I grabbed your arms. I would like to know what happened. T-to you. It hurts me to think of what could have made you scream like that. I would like to know what.. What did.. she do to you?” She didn’t want to ask the question, but even after the mood had finally settled down after that incident, the questioned lingered around in the back of her mind, finally bursting out after what felt like forever. Tikal needed to hear an answer, but feared more of what harm asking could do in the first place. Truth be told, Tikal wasn’t all that shaken when Red shouted at her to back off earlier, but now she was noticeably concerned. She cared too much now not to risk hurting him a bit with a question, if any healing could be done by getting an answer. Whatever happens, though, Tikal would do her best to understand.
A squeeze in return... Well, that just made Red blush harder. It felt like they had come to understand each other a little more, something that usually would've made him hurl, but Tikal was different. It probably had to do with her being honest, insightful and bold. She was strange, but she was a rarity in that Red enjoyed her presence rather than tolerated it. Not many people had that luxury.
Red wasn't sure what Tikal was going to ask him, she was unpredictable like that. He had only hoped it would be something that didn't further embarrass him. With how long it was taking Tikal to ask the damn question, Red's thoughts turned to it being more of a personal question than anything.
Yup, he was right.
He should've seen this coming, actually. With that whole fiasco that had happened earlier, it was only a matter of time before Tikal brought it up. Oddly enough, there was concern in her voice, something that made Red pause and close his eyes for a moment. Not many knew what happened between them and Mephiles, and Red was hesitant to speak of it still, but Tikal had told him something rather personal, so wasn't it only fair to answer her question?
Red scowled and clenched his jaw tightly, flashes of memories already flooding his vision and filling him with the same emotional hurt and pain he had felt that very night. He unintentionally squeezed Tikal's hand tighter, still struggling with the question she had asked.
There was one easy way to instantly get onto Red's bad side, and that was bringing up any painful or hurtful memories. Unfortunately for Tikal, she had just asked about the most painful one, meaning that it caused Red the most stress and pain to think about. It was taking every ounce of self-control he could muster to not get up and leave her on the couch. Some part of him though, kept him there, ushering him to answer her question.
A deep inhale and then a long exhale, Red finally opening his eyes to look at the coffee table blankly. Slowly, he turned to her, his face expressionless and his eyes looking empty and not like his own.
"She killed him... me, us," Red answered, blinking slowly before he looked down at their hands. "Your claws... they're not as sharp or painful as hers. She sliced our arms up with her claws..." Red gently touched one of Tikal's claws with the pad of his index finger. "No, not as sharp... Nowhere near."
It seemed like Red was on auto-pilot, only explaining what he saw in his memories and nothing more.
"Then surging, burning chaos energy... into our arms," Red said, looking up at Tikal again. He lifted his free hand and gently touched her neck. "A claw went into our neck... right here. Then chaos energy again..." His hand fell back down to his lap, and his eyes searched Tikal's face for something, but it looked like he wasn't truly looking at her.
"It was torture, and she knew it. She told us that she wasn't herself. That wasn't her..." Now Red smiled, looking at Tikal's hand again. "But it still happened, and we have the scars to prove it."
"…That was the problem, for a while. And it still is for the most part. However, it is not what bothers me. I have accepted it to be something that simply happened, and all I am left to do is adapt,” she replied, not quite looking at Red until the very last few words. Her face said nothing, eyes distant. She was not quite sad, but not all comfortable looking either. All that was in her mind was how to properly explain how she truly felt, but within her own heart, she could only find traces of feelings and memories, and besides such traces, nothing.
"It was hard to realize at first, but I think what bothers me… Is that I am forgetting. I can barely recognize names, and I cannot recall the face of my own grandmother. There are some things that I can say with some accuracy about my old life, but such memories are fading too quickly. The world is new, yes, shocking and strange, I obviously know nothing about it, and life can be difficult— Anyone could understand that. But I am afraid, that perhaps I’ve lost too much of my past already." What was once a mildly sad tone turned to that of a nervous fear, Tikal obviously using up a lot of her strength to say the right words.
"Halfway through my time sealed, I made every effort to forget what happened, for that was all I could do. And now, I fear to forget what I left behind. I fear that I am dishonoring my family by leaving them behind. And yet, I already cannot find them anywhere. I want to salvage something, but… there is little left to honor or hold onto."
Well! It seems even while under a light buzz, she can still be as wordy and composed as ever. It was pretty weird, actually. It seems the only effect the substance had on her was just being more likely to spill out some of her feelings. If she had a bit more difficulty in accepting this new life, she’d likely be sobbing or obviously shaken. But instead, she was holding up remarkably well. “It is just.. a sad thing I must face, I suppose. And I am just having.. some trouble getting through it. This is what has been bothering me, much more than just the circumstances alone. I may just be adapting… too well. It is just a startling thing, I think.”
More silence, and then a chuckle. “…I sound ridiculous. Crimson.. You have done much for me already. You.. have my thanks, for listening to me sing my woes to you. …There is something I would like to ask of you.”
Oh. Well, he was surprised to hear that. Red was certain he had guessed correctly, but he supposed there could be other things that bothered her besides her troubled past. The look on Tikal's face was a familiar one. Red was sure that he had shared that same expression many times before, and it made him feel... angry, almost.
Her answer was one that Red hadn't expected at all. It made sense that forgetting important parts of her past would upset her, but Red didn't have that problem, or rather, Mighty didn't.
Their earliest memories could be seen clearly, and Red knew that was only because of his existence. Tiny details like the color of furniture or walls or the time could be seen clearly, only because Red remembered things so vividly. It was not of his own will, of course, but it did prove useful from time to time.
Unfortunately... Red had no idea how it felt to forget something, especially something important like faces or names. Because of Red, Mighty could see both of his parents faces clearly. But if he didn't exist... would Mighty remember anything about them at all? Would he remember what their childhood home looked like? Where it was? Would he remember each town he visited after the fire, and each person he met down to the smallest detail? ... Probably not.
Red felt as though... he wanted to help Tikal, in some way. Memories were one of the few good things he was good at, but... there was no possible way for him to retrieve her memories. It left him feeling a bit useless and frustrated, that his powers only worked on Mighty. It obviously bothered Tikal greatly, and though he wasn't one for sympathy or concern, Tikal was a special case.
With how much Tikal had to say on the subject, Red could tell it had been bothering her for a time. He narrowed his eyes as he looked to her, still unsure of what he could say or do to at least... help her feel better, at least for right now. Mighty was always the cheerful one, the picker upper who always knew the right thing to say. Red knew words weren't really his forte, so he settled on doing something else.
Blushing lightly in embarrassment, the armadillo reached over with a hand and took one of Tikals' in his own, holding it securely. He didn't look at her, much to embarrassed to do that, but he did squeeze it as a comforting gesture.
"Don't worry about it," he replied, shrugging off her thanks with ease. It wasn't a big deal to him anyway. He was the one who got her drunk, after all. He wasn't sure what she was going to ask of him, but he nodded anyway, hoping it wasn't something terribly embarrassing.
"MIIIGHTYYY SWEEETIEE~! CATCH!" *He chucks a.... Jeep. At Mighty. Hopefully the armadillo will catch it in time. He also threw over a cookbook, for some reason, filled with all sorts of rather exotic recipes. It'd have a lot of weird stuff in it, though, it's author being... "The Ifrit".* "Merry Christmaaas~!"
"Chasey…? What are you doing—?!"
Oop, there was a Jeep coming towards him. Thankfully, Mighty had enough time to react and catch it right before it had collided with him. A bit unsteadily did he carry the Jeep, getting over his shock and panic with a relieved sigh. Unfortunately, a book was thrown and hit him in his chest.
Though thankful for the gifts he had been given by his divine friend, Mighty couldn’t help but muse a bit as he set the Jeep down carefully in front of the house.
"Mmmhm. Seat belt first, dear, right," assured Chasey with a nod. That actually reminded him to do the same, despite there being the question of why something completely made of water should use a seat belt.
"Now, see that key, there?" he asked, pointing at the ignition. "Twist it gently ‘till ya hear the car go vROOM! Then let go, real quick. Next, you’ll wanna switch that handle thingie there from P to D, now. That’ll let the car move ‘round like it should. An’ from there, s’all simple. Wheel t’steer, left thingie by your foot to break, right thingamajig to go," he explained.
The god was definitely confident that his instructions were clear. It probably would’ve been better to explain things one at a time, though. Chasey didn’t quite bother to acknowledge the fact that this was his pupil’s very first time, and was even rushing the teaching process a little.
Oh, right. It would make sense that he'd need to turn the car on first. Mighty laughed quietly at himself, reaching forward to follow turn the ignition, but pausing when he realized Chasey was still talking. Very quickly, even.
"U-uh, right, yeah," Mighty quickly turned on the car, nearly breaking the key in his nervousness to follow all of Chasey's instructions correctly. It took a moment for Mighty to remember what the god had said next, something about a 'P'? The armadillo looked around the steering wheel and on the dashboard before he looked down and remembered the... handle thingy that made the car do the driving... thing.
"Wheel to steer and... left thingie...?" Mighty placed his hands on the wheel timidly, but before he did anything else, he looked down at where his feet were and saw the pedals. "Left to brake, right to go?" Mighty repeated more to himself than to Chasey. It didn't seem that hard to drive, Mighty thought. Though he could see himself pushing a /little/ too hard on the break and possibly... breaking the break and pushing his foot through the car.
"This is pretty simple. Is there some kinda catch or something?" Mighty asked, moving his right foot on the break and gently pressing down. He wasn't sure if he was ready to go just yet.
Well, obviously it was for protection, yet Tikal gave a mildly surprised look at that statement, as if it had only occurred to her at that moment. “Ohh. That makes sense,” was her only comment for a while as she listened on. Red definitely seemed used to those sorts of questions.
After he finished, Tikal just nodded her head for a moment, but simply said, after an untimely pause, “Oh, but I have seen arma.. rama… Armadillos, before. Crimson,” she started, staring off towards nothing, too busy recollecting memory. “There was a man who was one. A merchant. He came from miles beyond our home. Sold rare and expensive things. He was nice. He arrived.. Twice, perhaps three or four times a year.” She paused. The nostalgia of the memory alone was enough to get her to smile a little bit.
"…Of course, he is dead now," she said, still smiling, strangely enough. "Unless your kind has some sort of extended life span I know nothing about. Which would be a.. Great surprise to find out." It may have come across as strange to some that she seemed to accept her situation as a sort of inconvenience all of a sudden. This small occurance was what Tikal thought over in the brief silence.
"…do you know what bothers me, Crimson? Make several guesses. Make three guesses.. And I’ll tell you the correct one."
A bit of interest as Tikal mentioned seeing an armadillo before. Red didn't hear that very often, even if it was likely she would be talking about before being sealed in the Master Emerald. Since she wasn't looking at him, Red took that moment to look at her.
Tikal seemed out of it, tragically so, and for a moment, Red felt sympathy for her. He kept that to himself, instead trying to focus on the story she was telling.
Maybe enjoying travel was some common trait that all armadillo Mobians shared? He wouldn't know, as the only others he knew of were his parents. It was an interesting thought, one that he didn't feel much like speaking on. For once, Red just... didn't feel like speaking about anything, for that matter.
He glanced over at Tikal again, feeling like this was somewhat his fault. It was rare for him to feel that way, since, usually, he didn't care how others felt, but this was different somehow. Red kept quiet as she finished her solemn tale, figuring that he needn't answer her.
Red scratched at his shell at Tikal's question, but her guessing game made him pause. He was curious as to how she thought he would answer, but Red was never one to avoid the truth and tread carefully. That was Mighty's shtick, and more often than not it got him into trouble.
He heaved a long sigh, thinking for a moment, before he finally spoke. "Everyone you knew and cared about is gone. You spent years trapped with a god who probably drove you crazy, and now you live in a world where everything is different, and you don't have any friends or family with you."
Yeesh, that sounded horrible when he said it aloud, but he already knew that Tikal was having a hard time. Kinda the reason why he wanted to at least... get her drunk or something. But maybe Tikal was the type that needed to talk about her problems, a trait that she shared with his counterpart. Though Red knew he wasn't the best person to be discussing things like this with, he decided he'd be... somewhat polite. Or maybe just less rude.
“‘Now we…’ ..?” Copied Tikal, tilting her head towards Red as he approached. Even in a less ‘woozy’ state, she wouldn’t have minded him examining the mysterious things that hung from her head. Not many other people seemed to have them, sans for a few humans she saw before.
"Oh. Oh? Uhh. Huuuuu…. OH! Those, yes, they are just…." Cue the finger snapping. "..Dreads. They are very flexible spines that tend to twist together. I.. think." She said, mumbling the last part.
She looked at the one he just released and had to think for a moment, only to realize that she barely knew what they were anymore. “…No, I don’t really know what they are, actually. I forgot a lot of things after all this time. I believe they sort of. Just. Grow that way?” If it were a few thousand years earlier, she’d probably give a more exact answer.
'But… Do they grow like this? ..Or have I simply been neglecting them….?’ “..Hm. I will have to ask Chaos. He would remember this sort of thing better than me. ..Humorous as it is that the one without them would know, ha ha ha.”
"…What of you, then? That shell of yours is incredibly strange. Same goes with the ears. That seems to be a trait among your kind, but it does not make it any less odd."
Dreads. What the fuck were those?! Red snorted at that explanation and how it only brought up more questions to be answered. And they /twisted/? That was... weird. Red thought they looked weird, but at the same time they added something that he felt was necessary to the echidna's appearance.
"You don't... know?" Red repeated, raising an eyeridge at Tikal. Well, maybe he should give her the benefit of the doubt. How often did echidna's get asked about their... dreads? Probably not that often. He did find it kind of weird that Chasey would know, but given their history, he supposed it wasn't that weird.
Red sat back against the couch, thinking about pouring himself another shot when Tikal spoke up again. Since Tikal had spent most of her time trapped in a gem with a god, he supposed she hadn't seen an armadillo before.
"Yeah, I'm... pretty used to that," Red replied, waving his hand dismissively. "Everyone asks about the shell; it's there for protection. Because of it, I can curl up in a ball and spin dash n'shit. I can also take it off... but I ain't goin' to, so don't ask." Red said that last part sternly, glaring at Tikal for a moment.
"The ears are normal. I can make 'em point up but that takes effort. Much better leavin' them as they are," he explained, lifting a hand to scratch at one of his ears. "Armadillos ain't that common. It doesn't surprise me that you find certain things about me 'odd'."
Once he had gotten that nod of understanding, Red took his hand off of Mephiles' chin and sat it next to him on the bed. He had thought it would be obvious how to sit considering what they were about to do, but it seemed that Mephiles was having a bit of trouble deciding how she wanted to position herself.
Red snorted, leaning his head to the side and resting it on his shoulder. He smiled lazily at Mephiles, finding her predicament to be a funny one. It was also funny how she was still so careful about messing up the sheets. With how often they laid together, Mighty had started buying new ones in bulk.
When Mephiles wrapped her arms around his neck and grinned at him, Red couldn't help but to snicker at her. It wasn't often that Mephiles was confused about sex positions, of all things. He supposed he couldn't clued her in on what position they would be taking, but that would take the fun out of it! It was much more entertaining to see her figure it out herself.
"This is nice..." he thought aloud, smiling at her still. Though Mephiles had done as asked, she wasn't exactly where Red had wanted her to be. With a single hand placed on the small of her back, he pushed her forward a little. "But this is better."
He leaned forward and poked Mephiles' nose with his own, thinking for a moment. He wouldn't be able to touch her as much as he wanted with his hands supporting him as they were, so he scooted back a little, bending one leg at the knee. Now his hands could move about freely, and now they wrapped themselves around Mephiles' waist, Red now rubbing his nose against hers.
"Nah, this is better," he said, laughing softly at himself. The most difficult part, at least in Red's case, had been taken care of for the moment. With a position decided upon, the only thing left to do was set the mood. It was something that usually came easy to Red but now he was having a little trouble.
Confidence dwindling, Red moved one of his hands lower to play with the base of Mephiles' tail, also taking that time to think. Mephiles always responded to his kisses, no matter how short or chaste, so Red decided to start there.
A quick kiss was placed on her lips and then he began kissing her with more passion. He slowly closed his eyes, sucking on her tongue and kissing her with more force as his other hand gradually made its way up to her face to cup her muzzle.
"Whoa-- You're a secret agent?! How can you say that's not interesting? Do you go undercover? You go on dangerous missions, right? Are you a master of disguise?" Mighty excitedly asked, getting a little ahead of himself, he quickly backtracked, remembering what else Hershey said.
"Geoffrey? I've met an alternate of Geoffrey before! I didn't know you were his wife! That's awesome! So, you guys go on missions together, right? I bet that's fun!"
Red's eyes were beginning to get a bit heavy as Mephiles silently rubbed her fingers against his chest. It usually didn't take this long for her to respond to anything that he said, which was curious, but Red wasn't allowed to think too much on it because of those fingers of hers. Really, if she wanted him to pay attention, she should know better than to do that by now.
Slowly did he look from the ceiling down to her as she finally spoke, her answer confusing him some. If he knew the answer to that, he wouldn't have asked it in the first place, but Mephiles often answered his questions in riddles and it took more than a minute to figure them out. The armadillo sighed deeply, closing his eyes for a moment as Mephiles saw fit to rub at his chest even more so.
It was a miracle he hadn't fallen asleep at this point, but he was determined to stay awake for the sake of the conversation. His eyes slowly widened as Mephiles continued, her kisses making him grumble and glare at her. Her laughing made him feel a little better though, as did her answer.
"I over think everything," Red said quietly, closing his eyes for a moment to regain himself. If Mephiles felt it was true that he always showed her that he loved her, he supposed this time... he just had to focus solely on that. But, thinking about that made another thought cross his mind.
The armadillo sat up somewhat and held himself up with a hand, using the other to lift Mephiles' chin so she would look at him. "This goes both ways, y'know," Red told her gently. "I want to remember how your hands feel, how your lips feel, everything. Just so that I can look back on this and remember every little thing about this moment."
Red wanted to hurl at how mushy that sounded. No doubt Mephiles was probably going to tease him or say something embarrassing, so Red leaned down just a little to kiss her, pulling away after just a few seconds to chew on her bottom lip.
"Sit in my lap," he whispered, placing another kiss on the corner of her mouth. "And wrap your arms around my neck." It looked like he was finally ready to give her what she had asked for.
The silence was unsettling for her. When Red started laughing, she started to have a bit of a laughing fit as well. By the time she figured out what was actually so funny about it all, she laughed even more. She probably sounded like a bit of an idiot at this point.
"I’m.. sorry. There is no feeling of nausea, however. I do not feel… terrible. Just… somewhat light. What is the…" she started, sitting upright for a moment to snap her fingers. "..Woo… Wooooosyy. That word. Woosy. I am actually far more held together.. Mnm. Than I thought. Just wooosy. I could gamble on what my… limit truly is. But..maaybe… No. For sure, now I should. Stop." It would be interesting to see how things would progress, but curiosity rarely trumped stupidity in Tikal’s case. She knew it was better to stop now than to suffer a terrible fate.
"I am a wise person, and wise people.. like myself, we do not make mistakes. And for stopping me.. you are being very wise." Well, it was at least sincere. And not slurred, either. Maybe she could go a bit further, who knows, but it was better to not find out.
After a pause, with a most thoughtful look on her face, Tikal asked, “And.. what now?”
Well, that was good news. No having to deal with nausea... at least not yet. Red had expected the woozy part, since most people felt that way the first time they got drunk, but Tikal was very talkative, and Red was having trouble keeping up with what she was saying. He did catch that last part though, and he snickered a little.
"Yeah, you're stoppin'. I don't want to know what you're like when you're hammered," he replied, easing himself back against the couch. Red could stand to drink a little bit more, but since he was with company, it would probably be best for him not to.
"I know I'm bein' wise, but thank you for the compliment," Red teased, looking over at her with a cocky smirk. Her question somewhat annoyed him, but just a little. That was the problem with guests, they always needed to be entertained and catered to. Red was not the type of person to cater to someone else's needs.
"Well, now we..." he paused, narrowing his eyes at the echidna and taking in her appearance. He scooted closer towards her on the couch, uncrossing his legs and lifting a hand to touch one of the dreads that framed her face.
"Can you explain to me... what the fuck this is? Is it hair? Or is it a piece of meat or somethin'?" Red squeezed the dread and noted it's texture, his head tilting to the side. "It's not a quill.... it doesn't feel like one. Y'know, we've been wonderin' what the fuck these things are since we met Knuckles for the first time, but Mighty was afraid if he asked him it would be impolite."
Red realized that he could be invading her personal space so he let the dread go but he still wanted an answer to his question, which was made clear by his mild glaring at Tikal. "Is it some kind of echidna secret or do you guys not know yourselves?"
