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Elise hated these games. No, not the ones that put their life at risk or anything — those were fun if anything. He hated these arcade-like games in this stupid gambling hall. These were supposed to be fun and enjoyable! Not some stupid slot machine that looked just like every other one. Sure, slot machines can be fun, but they can also be repetitive when you've been sitting here for what feels like forever and you're forced to overhear That One Bull Guy and Risky Speedway or whatever their names were flirt with one another for almost a full hour.
The feral boy needed something fun and exciting to do, not gamble on these dumbass slot machines again and again. He's been doing this for so long, even before interviews when Vick made him do the exact same thing for twenty minutes. Yes, he loved gambling, but he needed variety, and this place does not have that.
Instead, Elise opted to seek out the poor Dappy Goon of their group. He wasn't hard to spot. In fact, he was right around the corner, sitting stranded by the water fountain.
The doors to the gambling hall disguised as a carnival swung open and Elise hopped out, skipping around on the red carpeting of their "main enrichment room" as one could call it. After all, it did lead to all the varying rooms the staff had prepared for the 13 of them — a bar, a shop, a VIP room for the rich people (aka Elise), a gambling hall, and the odd phone-booth-looking-confession-room-thing they have yet to identify.
Along with these different rooms they had available, a large fountain was also placed in the middle of the room, blood-red water pouring from it. A plaque with some philosophical quote rested at the front, but Elise had no reason to pay much attention to it if he was being honest. At the moment, a much more interesting boy was sitting right at the edge of the fountain, catching all of his attention instead.
If Elise was being honest, he had half a mind to push the boy in right here right now, but there was the chance of him being killed on the spot from the cuff on his hand, and no one wants that so early on.
Sailor was sitting at the edge of the fountain, staring longingly into the water as he traced a hand over the surface of red, watching the waves ripple away from his hand as he swished it back and forth. The long sleeves that normally fell far over his hands were pulled up on only the right as he dunked his hand in and out of the water.
Seeing this as a perfect opportunity, Elise slowly and quietly stepped up behind the blissfully unaware boy, hopping up on the sill surrounding the bloody fountain; his approach akin to a predator stalking its prey.
Even as he stood silently over Sailor, one leg on either side of him, Elise remained unnoticed. Sailor continued swishing his hand back and forth in the water, paying no mind to the boy standing ominously over him.
"What'cha doin', dodo?" Elise pivoted downwards, bending over to look down at Sailor and practically smash heads with him.
To sum up the noise Sailor made, he sounded almost identical to a seagull. He jumped back, flinging his hand out of the water and splashing stray droplets of water on the soft strands of Elise's hair, as well as the front of his shorts in the process.
"Oi!" Sailor brought a hand — more like a sleeve with how far it fell over his left hand — up to cover his mouth, using the still wet hand to point accusingly at Elise as the boy sprung backwards, landing withing arm reach of Sailor behind him, hastily brushing the front of his clothes over and over again. "What business do ya' think ye have scarrin' thee cap'in?" He questioned.
Before answering, Elise ripped off his bunny-eared-headband somewhere beside them on the floor, aggressively shaking his hands through his hair in an attempt to get the water residue out of his luscious, blond locks. "Aghh!" He continued shaking his head for another second as he yelled, before stopping to look accusingly at Sailor. "What were you doing?! Throwing coloured water at anybody that walked by?"
Sailor's hand dropped to his side, as he stared dumbfound at the reply. A cheeky grin grew on his face as he began to piece the jigsaw puzzle together in his head. "Sea bunny…" He began, "are ya' afraid of wa'er…?"
"No!" Blush rapidly broadened across not only his face but quickly to Elise's neck and ears as he yelled. "I just hate the feeling of unnecessary water on my clothes or in my hair!" He reasoned, balling his hands into fists at his sides and averting his gaze as he continued. "It makes my hair all unnecessarily frizzy and my clothes stick to my skin!"
No, he wouldn't act so child-like under any other circumstance, but he also wouldn't be in the "teased" spot under any other circumstance. He's always the one picking at others and their issues and insecurities, not the one being picked on.Either way though, Sailor had some way of bringing out this different version of Elise that he wasn't used to seeing often, if ever at all. It scared him, and that's why he needs to talk to the Dappy Goon until he can either get the other boy under control and make him stop doing whatever it is that evokes these feelings, or they disappear on their own accord and he's safe to run along through the games as he pleases without the constant thought of "Sailor. Sailor! Sailor!!!!" looming over him.
"Ohhh…" Sailor seemed to sound like he understood, but his simper only evolved. "So if I did…" He turned around grabbing both his sleeves with his teeth and cupping his hands in the blood-like water, waiting for a small pool to gather in the small bowl he created, before spinning around and hurling the water at Elise in one smooth motion. "This!"
Luckily, Elise was quick enough to duck out of the way and running in the direction of his bunny ears and picking them up as he passed them. "You wouldn't dare!?" He yelled, fitting the headband back on his head as he ran in the direction of the stairs leading to the V.I.P. room.
Behind him, Sailor giggled, making a break for it and rushing to catch up behind him. The two of them made a full lap around the loop of stairs, Elise's shrieks of demands for Sailor to "Just stop before I take your hat and never give it back!" or "Stop harassing me before I call some sort of security people on you!" seemingly fall to death ears, as Sailor ignores them in favor of his own laughs and remarks on how Elise runs "as fast as a sailfish!" Sometime during their running, Sailor had dropped his sleeves, letting them fall over his wet hands without a care towards it in the world.
As they make their second lap, Elise's shoulder rams right into Bones, who was covering laugh with an unlit cigarette in hopes of hiding it from Elise. His laugh shuts right up as the two of them are spun around slightly, and Sailor gains an advantage as he quickly closes a vast amount of distance that was put between them when Elise would jump over the railings.
"Shit," Elise watched in fear as Sailor rounded the corner, his face beaming as he saw Elise and sped up by a lot. "Help a guy out!?" Elise begged Bones, turning to run down the stairs behind him to escape Sailor.
Bones coughed into his hand, shaking his head even though Elise couldn't see him. "No can do. You got yourself here, get yourself out."
"Ugh!" Elise cried, hopping over the side of the railing and making a beeline for the bar. "You will regret that later!" He slipped past the corner, running down the long hallway and passing all the different, partly-morbid paintings on his left as he kept his eyes on the door in front of him.
A second pair of footsteps followed not to far behind him, but far enough he would be able to shut the door and add some sort of distraction for a moment.
"Oi, Sea Bunny!" Sailor called, his pace not slowing once as he followed behind Elise. "Where ya' think ya' goin'?" He asked as Elise swung the door to the bar open, almost hitting the gardener boy as he ran past.
"Fuck around and find out!" He teased, starting to find some sort of joy in their game of tag. Normally, most people wouldn't be able to keep up with his fast pace and agile tricks around things like the kids playground or skate parks, but Sailor was easily able to keep up with him… somehow.
Though, that should be no surprise, as they are all convicted criminals after all. Maybe Sailor ran away from a lot of cops on the regular. Man, the amount of chips and money Elise would pay to find out what Sailor got locked up for. He was so curious, he'd do just about anything to get Sailor to cough it up. Maybe another time they could find some place comfortable and go back and forth, exchanging crimes they've committed and stories they have of said crimes. For Elise, he'd guess that — and actually committing one of those crimes — would be his ideal first date—
Not a topic he should be thinking about. Especially now. They're in a gambling show with their life on the line for Gods sake. Why is that one of his main priorities at the moment and not gambling the most amount of chips he possibly could to keep his life at little to no risk, or his plans for rigging the system so he makes it out alive?
Elise dove around the corner, choosing his hiding spot behind the couch that sat a little ways away from the pool table, facing the wall. He slid down the side of the couch, waiting with a grin on his face as he listened closely for Sailor to open the door. He had a plan outlined in his head, ready to execute the moment Sailor fell into his trap.
The door to the bar opened, the bell chiming as Sailor stepped in. He stood in the doorway, holding one hand over his head as he scanned the room for a bright blonde head of hair or hot pink flamingos poking out from somewhere.
After a moment of watching everyone in the room closely, he seemed to have given up, walking over to where Rook stood behind the bar, cleaning the same glass over and overs again without setting it down.
"Oi, mate!" He leaned over the bar, resting his head in his palms. "One glass a wa'er, please and thank ya'!" He grinned, watching Rook, hesitate.
"Of course!" She grinned, setting down the glass she was scrubbing at and turning around to grab a different glass for the tap water. "That'll be one chip."
"One chip!?" He groaned, looking at his one and only chip laying lonely in his pocket. "Gimme a sec!" Sailor dashed across the room, tumbling to a stop as he reached the small table in the back corner Maneki was organizing some sort of unrecognizable game, likely setting it up to play with… a non-existent player Sailor guessed.
As he approached the table, Maneki looked up to meet the kids gaze. He tilted his head in question, eyebrows drawn in concern.
"Catfish! I'm in a bit of a sea pickle right now…" He brought a hand up to his chin,rubbing gently at his lower lip through the cloth. "Got any chips to spare for ya' cap'in?"
Maneki's glance flickered over to Elise, who was now on the other side of the couch watching in fear as Sailor spoke to him. It wasn't difficult for Maneki to make sense of what was happening quickly, smiling at the revelation that there might be a game Sailor thought they were playing, but Elise might not see this as much of a game.
Nodding, Maneki dropped two chips he likely won from either gambling or playing this game with chips on the line. He held up his fan, opening it with ease to reveal a ":3" written in red on the front.
"Thanks, partner!" Sailor gripped the chips in his hand, spinning on his heels and skipping back over to Rook, who had the glass of water ready on the counter by the time he got back. "One chip for one wa'er!" The chip rolled across the bar as he dropped it, moving to pick up the glass instead.
"Oh Sea Bunny~!" He called turning around to see if Elise had come out of his hiding spot. Lucky for Sailor, Elise was already on it, making a move for the door the moment Cobyn had moved far enough away that he could open the door without shattering the plants in his hands. Sure, he didn't care one bit for Cobyn or those plants he was smuggling, but any commotion could draw everyone's attention and cause a flaw in his escape route. "Found ya'!"
As Elise sprinted out through the door, Sailor followed close behind now with a glass of water instead of just slightly-wet hands. Now this will be a problem.
"Lay off, bastard!" The two of them circled the fountain, Elise trying to put some distance between them as he scampered up the steps, losing his footing once or twice but still making it up there with enough space between them at the moment.
"Nuh uh!" Sailor bounded up the stairs two steps at a time, rapidly closing their distance.
It was only when Elise was about to make his way down that he realized how close Sailor was getting. He was going to have to jump over this railing here, and just hope that he lands it, or he'll have to give in to letting Sailor win against him, and he couldn't possibly let that happen.
"Then try and catch up!"
So, Elise hopped over the railing, watching as he caught only a few seconds of airtime before landing directly on the small, red couch pushed up against the wall to the left of the gambling hall. Just as he landed, tripping forward the momentum but not falling, Sandbag emerged from the shop, walking kinda slowly and dragging his feet as he walked over towards the couch on the right side of the wall,adjacent to the cushions Elise had just slammed down on.
Above them, Sailor leaned over the railing to wave to their new guest. "Sharkbag!" His sleeves fluttered about above him as he waved down. Elise watched as he beamed, resting his elbows on the railing while he greeted Sandbag.
"Sailor!" Sandbag grinned at the sight of Sailor, returning the gesture with a small wave. "You doin' well?" He asked, eyeing Elise carefully, even though he hadn't moved from his spot against the wall as he waited for Sailor to finish so they could return to their game of "intense tag" as he'd labeled it in his head.
Nodding aggressively, Sailor tipped forward to glance down at Elise. "Me an' Sea Bunny were playin' chase 'round the rooms!"
Sailor watched Elise with a sort of soft fondness in his eyes Sandbag didn't recognize from Sailor himself, but could easily spot in a newly announced couple when they'd look at each other. He didn't hate the look whatsoever, but he hated who it was directed at. Though, who was Sandbag to dictate who Sailor liked? He may have viewed the boy as a son or younger brother, but he had no actual authority over him in any way.
"We were not." Elise crossed his arms and turned towards Sandbag. "This feral hamster was harassing me! And no one cared either!" He complained, rolling his eyes and spinning over to face the fountain as he complained to anyone who'd listen, like he normally does when he complains. "When had humanity plummeted this far—"
His sentence was cut short as Sailor leaned down, paying no mind to the open cup of water in his hand that had begun to pour out, the water falling directly onto Elise below him. Sailor tried to tip the cup back up, stop the water from falling so he could go back to watching Elise thrash about as he whined, but the damage has already been done, and the water had already splashed all over the blond like a shower of rain.
Elise stood still, too stunned to speak for a moment, before he reached up to lift the hair in his face, turning around to look directly up at Sailor above him. "What the fuck!?" Elise cried, stomping a foot down in anger and throwing his arms at his sides for dramatic effect. "Did you seriously just pour a whole cup of water all over me?!" His screeches could likely be heard from everyone in any of the other rooms, no matter how far away they were.
"Shit, I'm so sorry!" Sailor dropped the cup, bolting down the stairs to try and reach Elise before he ran away for real this time. "I di'n mean ta pour it, I swear! It was jus'— I forgot I had it and—"
Elise didn't leave him any room for apologies, turning and running up the stairs, muttering profanities and insults under his breath as he slipped past the V.I.P. room curtains.
Sailor kept his eyes on the top of the stairs that Elise had run up just a moment before, slowly turning to look at the dark puddle he left on the carpet, reminding him of the mistake he'd just made.
"Hey, kid…" Sandbag walked up to him, gently resting a hand on Sailors shoulder for comfort. "He wasn't the nicest person anyways, at least you gave him what he deserved."
"But it ain't like he's worse than the rest'a us." Sailor turned to look at Sandbag. "He might be a bit snippy, but no one here's a good fishie, and he ain't any dif'rent!" It seemed like Sailor was trying to defend Elise, but the look he gave Sandbag begged for some sort of guidance.
Sandbag didn't want to give someone as evil as Elise any leeway, but he didn't wanna let Sailor down more than he wanted to make Elise live with what he deserved. No matter what he said though, Sailor was right. While Elise might be a bad person, it's not like they're any better. He didn't know just what Elise had done to get locked up, but it wasn't like Sandbag or Sailor didn't do something just as bad as him, if not worse.
Sighing, Sandbag released his hand from Sailors shoulder and crossed his arms. "I heard through Cecilia that there might be a blow dryer in the dressing room… If you use one of the outlets they use for lights in the bar, you might be able to use it without bothering her too much."
The more he helped, the brighter Sailors face lit up, joy filling his expression as he realized how he can try and mend this non-existent relationship. "Thanks, Sharkbag!" Sailor turned to run towards the front room by the stage they used for interviews and the introduction. "I owe ya' tons!"
Sandbag smiled, watching Sailor sprint through the low doorway to the front room. Hey, if there wasn't a relationship even there to begin with, who said Sailor couldn't just make one anyways?
Sailor slammed the door to the dressing room open, running straight to the drawers under the vanities, frantically searching through them for the blow dryer.
"Oh my!" Cecilia's soft and airy voice fluttered through the room as she swiveled around on her stool to watch Sailor rush around the room. "Is there something you're looking for, young boy?"
"Yeah, have ya' seen a windy dryer thingy?" Sailor asked, moving some things around in one of the deeper drawers without looking up.
"The drawer to the far, bottom right," the woman twittered, turning back around in her chair to touch up her makeup in the mirror.
Slamming the drawer shut, Sailor zoomed to the other side of the room, opening the exact drawer Cecilia directed him to. Lo and behold, the only thing in said drawer was a black blow dryer with the cord wrapped neatly around the handle. He pulled the appliance out, holding it up in the air for a solid two seconds, watching it like it was his savior, before turning to glance back as Cecilia.
"Thanks to ya'!" Before Cecilia could call back her own reply, Sailor was already out the door, zipping down the stairs and around the corner, heading straight to Sandbag in search of more help.
"Sailor?" Sandbag turned his head to watch as Sailor stumbled slightly as he ran around the blood fountain to reach the wall Sandbag was leaning against.
He skidded to a stop, halting for a moment with free hand on his knee and the other barely holding onto the blow dryer. "Barnacles! That place is farther than ya' think!" Sailor complained when he finally caught his breath. "How'm I gonna talk ta Sea Bunny if'e don't wanna talk!?"
Right… There was a large flaw in their plan because, unlike everyone else, Elise was rich enough to flee to the V.I.P. room and Sailor couldn't follow.
Sandbag stood for a moment, pondering on their next course of action. He could tell Sailor to give up now, that Elise won't even accept his apology and probably target him in the next game they were playing and if he wanted any chance at living he should stop. That might be enough to scare him off Elise, but Sandbag didn't want to stop Sailor from doing something he wanted, and it was obvious Sailor wanted to do this. So instead, he conjured up a new plan.
"Bull and Speedway haven't left the gambling hall yet," he remarked. "As much as I don't working with the enemies — or for the enemies for that matter — I think Bull was with their group earlier so he's probably rich enough to get into V.I.P. without any issues. Play your cards right and you might convince him to lure that little bunny boy outta his hiding spot." While Sandbag might be onto something, if something goes wrong he's sure he's digging Sailor's grave as they speak. But who would do such a horrible thing to Sailor, a kid?
Right, Bull, the Jokester, Dreamboat, and Tycoon guy would. They have and would probably do it again. Maybe this wasn't a good idea.
"Actually, on second thought—"
"Thanks so much Sharkbag!" Sailor had already turned to the gambling hall, swinging the door open and running in, not pausing for one moment to adjust to the bright lights or loud sounds to mimic people gambling like crazy in there.
It didn't take long to spot Benny and Eddie, sitting the the far back corner by the food stalls. They were talking about something he couldn't quite tell, because their conversation quickly died down as they noticed him quickly approaching.
Benny tilted his head to the side, eyebrows drawing in confusion. "You're the kid, right?"
"Mhm!" Sailor nodded his head happily before turning to Eddie. "Orca man, I need your help!"
At that, Eddie's expression twisted in confusion to match Benny. "Me? I thought you were mad at me?" He questioned.
"Not 'till after you help me," Sailor explained. "Then 'll be sure to be mad again!"
Benny laughed at Sailor's reasoning, turning to the side to hide his amusement. Eddie glared at him from the corner of his eyes, before turning back to Sailor ready to hear him out.
"Ask away, I might be willing to help if it's not too much of a stretch." He nodded, signaling for the boy to continue with his request.
"Well," Sailor twisted the cord of the blow dryer in his hand, suddenly aware of the far lengths he's going to just simply to apologize to Elise. "Ya' know how yer rich and stuff…? So, I need ya' to get Sea Bunny outta V.I.P. so I can apologize to 'im!"
At that, Eddie began to look more concerned than confused, worried about what Sailor had done to piss Elise off so much so that he needed to apologize.
"Dare I ask, what happened…?" Benny questioned before Eddie could say anything.
For a brief moment, Sailor's face burst into bright red, burning at the tips of his face as most obviously visible even as he used a sleeve to try and shield his face. "I… Er… Long story short, I dumped wa'er on 'im and he scurried off 'for I could say som'in."
The room seemed to go silent as he waited for a response. Surprisingly, Benny wasn't the first one to laugh. Instead, Poppy, who had been sitting on the other side of the room but still listening in, burst out into hysterical laughing, banging on the table she'd been resting on previously and tipping it over to the side the more she hit it.
Benny was quick to follow though, as he keeled over in laughter, slapping Eddie's thigh… for some reason… He had his own appendages he could have abused all he wanted, but for some unknown reason he chose Eddie as his next victim.
Even Eddie had cracked a smile, all of them tittering together like a choir with Sailor in the middle, turning around, clueless.
Truly, he had no idea what was so funny. Yeah, he'd found it fun when they were running around previously, but Elise seemed genuinely distressed when the water hit his head. Sailor didn't mean to upset him, he'd just assumed they were having fun earlier. Elise didn't once run into any of the rooms Sailor couldn't access, and he'd been telling Sailor to "catch up" and making small jokes back and forth between them as they ran around. He just wanted to apologize and clear any bad water between them.
"Sure, sure." Eddie stood up, brushing off his pants and turning back to Benny who was still trying to stifle laughs. "I'll meet you back at the bar for that drink later…?"
Benny nodded, flashing a quick thumbs up before standing up and turning to one of the slot machines. "I'll try a little more at the games before I head to the bar." He patted Eddie's shoulder and pushed him forward, urging him to follow Sailor, who was already turning around and slowly walking towards the door again. "Off you go! Go help solve their little lovers quarrel, and keep me updated."
With that, the two of them slowly made their way out of the gambling hall, Sailor asking Eddie questions on his age, trying to keep a conversation with him to distract his thoughts from how upset Elise was earlier. Once they made it to the bottom of the stairs, Sailor chose to part ways and go wait by the fountain for Elise. Sandbag said he'd wait by the stairs in case they were planning to try anything, but both Sailor and Eddie reassured him no one's going to pull another dirty trick at the moment.
As they split ways, Sailor moved to sit by the fountain while he waited for Elise, tossing and turning the blow dryer in his lap as he created a speech of apology to give Elise. It takes a while before anything happens, though, he seemed too lost in his thoughts to notice how much time had passed, not realizing that during his long, well thought out pondering, Elise had stomped down the stairs, whining and complaining the entire way. Sailor only realized as Elise was already half way down the hallway leading to the bar, grumbling something with his arms crossed as he trudged down the hall, leaving a trail of dripping water in his wake.
Sailor snapped his head up, instantly leaping up and darting over to the bar, following just far enough behind that Elise wouldn't notice him over his own complaints. Lucky enough, Elise didn't notice a thing, and Sailor was easily able to slip behind him unannounced, following Elise into the bar and watching through the glass door as he sat down on the couch right next to the entrance, his back turned to the doorway. Perfect.
Nonchalantly, Sailor sauntered into the bar, walking around the seat Elise was sitting in and turning to kneel down beside the plant.
"Argh! What are you doing here?!" Elise groaned practically pulling at his hair as he watched Sailor mess with something behind the plant up against the wall. "Can't you piss off for just two seconds!? First you dump water on me with no shame, then you come to bug me without even apologizing when I get reasonably upset!? Learn where you stand!" He yelled, no care for everyone else in the room who he was disrupting, nor the upset looks Vega was giving them from their spot directly behind them.
Sailor ignored Elise's complaints, finally plugging in the blow dryer successfully and standing up to sit in the empty space on the couch beside Elise. Without any words exchanged, Elise watched as Sailor rolled up his long sleeves and pinned them under the elastic band that held them on his arms.
"'m sorry," Sailor whispered, turning the blow dryer on high and pointing it directly at Elise's hair.
The hot, aggressive air from the blow dryer made Elise yelp, a soft smile forcing its way onto his face no matter how much he tried to smother it. "Maybe a little warning!?" He complained, though there wasn't as much malice to his voice as there was before.
Moving the blow dryer to the side, Sailor looks up to see Elise's reaction, making sure he wasn't upset at or disapproving of Sailor's advances before continuing. As he looked up, wide, confused eyes searching every inch of Elise's genuinely happy smile, their eyes locked for a brief moment.
Odd.
He's never seen such an expression on anyone, even less so would he have expected such on Elise of all people. There was some sort of glint in his eyes that made Sailor wonder what he was thinking. It wasn't the same look Elise had when him and the rest of their crew were trading off the first aid kit, but instead something much more tender and sweet. Though, it was directed at Sailor. Now this was something he wouldn't ever expect; such a passionate and loving look directed at him. This was different from the way anyone ever looks at Sailor.
Elise's gentle, up tilted smile that reached the curve of his eyes paired with the soft touch of a dusty pink across the tips of his cheeks made something warm swirl inside Sailor. It wasn't a look he'd ever seen on Elise, but it wasn't something he'd hated seeing. If Sailor had any say in this, he'd choose to see Elise like this over and over again if he could.
"Whoops." Sailor simpered, taking one small cluster of sopping hair in his hand and waving the blow dryer back and forth over the hair.
When Sailor broke their brief silence — that technically wasn't silent due to the loud blow dryer right in their ear — he seemed to also snap Elise out of the shallow daze he seemed to be caught in. Elise spun his head around to face away from Sailor. "Be quick with it or I'll just take the damn dryer and do it myself," he pouted.
Instead of giving Elise the reaction he likely wanted, Sailor simply giggled, continuing to run his hands through the short hair, swishing the blow dryer back and forth to get the most coverage.
After a few minutes of them sitting quietly, Sailor running the blow dryer up and down every individual strand to make sure Elise's hair wouldn't be the slightest bit damp, Elise eventually began to start talking, complaining about the stupidest things or feeding any sort of misinformation to Sailor that he could think of. Of course, nothing too bad, just small harmless lies, nothing to get Sailor in major trouble.
Together, the two of them sat on the small couch while Elise complained and lied his way through the whole conversation, and Sailor gently brushed his fingers through the dripping, blonde hair. The longer they sat, the fluffier Elise's hair became, slowly losing all the liquid that was previously trapped.
Soon, Sailor was just running his hands through completely dry and airy hair, but he didn't want to stop this interaction. He enjoyed listening to Elise ramble about how Eddie had ran up into the V.I.P. room while he was surfing through the drawers in there and began talking his ear off until he couldn't take it anymore and had to leave, or the little hints he'd drop here and there referencing his life before prison, yet never elaborating on it any further, keeping Sailor curious and engaged. It felt nice, listening to Elise talk normally with him, no teasing, no high pitched yelling, no scamming, just Elise, Sailor, and the words they exchanged.
Sure, Sailor didn't mind when Elise would tease and poke fun at him, but sometimes it could get to be a bit too much, and Sailor really did just want to enjoy time with Elise without him without the constant jabs him.
Not to mention how fluffy Elise's hair was. The blond wispy strands felt light under Sailors touch, as well as very warm from the blow drier that he refused to turn off, because turning off the blow drier meant accepting their conversation would end and Sailor would have to untangle his hands from Elise's blonde hair.
Though, Sailor's worst nightmare eventually came true, as Elise paused his rambling about a question Cupid had asked him during their interviews. "Are you ever gonna be done?" He practically whipped his head around, turning to stare at Sailor accusingly.
Damn it.
Sailor had been caught red-handed and he had no explanation. Except… Maybe he could lie a little bit. "I— Er… Yeah, I just finished!" He flicked the blow dryer off, holding it up to Elise as if it proved something. "Ta~da~!"
Elise squinted, glancing back and forth between the blow drier and Sailor for a moment before standing up with an exasperated sigh. "You're horrible at lying, you know that? I'll teach you how to actually lie if you make it outta this next game, deal?" Elise spun around on his heals, turning to look at Sailor.
Standing up next to him, Sailor stuck out a pinky towards Elise. "Deal!" Sailor twinkled, a bright smile making its way onto his face.
"What do you think I am, a kid?" Elise stared begrudgingly at the hand held out in front of him. "I'm not making a pinky promise with you."
"Yes…" Sailor yanked Elise's opposing hand, bringing it up to his own and forcing it into a fist before unfulfilling his pinky and linking them together, "ya' are! It's'a pinky promise!" He shook their hands together, squeezing their pinkies, before letting go and tossing Elise's hand down.
Immediately, Elise grabbed his hand and aggressively rubbed it against his clothes that were barely damp with how much the blow drier had done to them indirectly. "Yuck!" He yelped, continuously wiping his hand over the front of his shorts.
In front of him, Sailor giggled, dropping his sleeves over his hands again and bringing them up to his face. "Yer funny, Sea Bunny," he remarked, still giggling as he watched Elise slow down his actions to a stop, too stunned by Sailors reaction.
Bright red flared up his face, causing Elise to yell at Sailor in frustration. "Stop doing that!" He turned to the doors leading out of the bar, quickly stomping out of the room and likely running to find someone that he could actually pester without them retaliating in the same way Sailor would; kindness and laughs.
Sailor watched as he ran out, glad that he was able to patch the tear in their relationship. For better or for worse, Sailor was glad to have Sea Bunny as part of his crew now.