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He remained where he was for a moment, his ear twitching as she smoothed hair back from his face, before he sat up with a grunt.

"I'll get changed." he muttered. Wet clothes didn't bother him much. He'd gone to sleep in all sorts of states of disarray in the past, but sleep, honestly, was the furthest thing from his mind at the moment.

However, given those options....

He leaned forward, his fingers hooking the rim of his bottom dresser drawer and tugging it open to reveal a couple of half-stacks of T-shirts that had been folded messily and grabbed one at random. Dropping it on the bed beside him, he struggled out of the one he currently had on, the wet material clinging unpleasantly as it was peeled off.

"Huh?"

The question had taken him offguard as he'd found a pair of flannel pajama bottoms in the next drawer up and put them on. "Uhm...yeah." he said at last, letting himself carefully set down on this new track of thought and embark on it. "I'm probably gonna end up seeing that one by myself, though. Ray says it looks like a waste of eight-fifty to her."

He gave a chuff of slightly-forced laughter even as she turned back to face him and patted the computer chair. Now what? Oh. Right. His still-damp tail gave a swish behind him "Its....its all right, it'll be dry soon. You don't have to do that." he assured her, making conscious effort to try and stop his eyes from flickering to the shaded window every few seconds warily.

"You would?" he asked, seeming genuinely surprised by the offer. The last time he could recall seeing a movie with someone other than Raven or by his lonesome was when he'd been small. He, Arkie, and....whats-her-name. Some girl he'd been friends with for a bit that had vanished off the face of the planet.

"I...sure, I don't mind." He'd thought, up until now, her occasional extensions of being social in his direction were solely so she could not say she hadn't TRIED to make friends. But actually offering to interact outside of the household...? He allowed the corners of his mouth to crack a smile, momentarily forgetting his rattled nerves as he sank into the chair without further argument.

"I don't remember much of the third one. There was a baby that wouldn't quit crying behind me and some kid in front who kept whining he couldn't see..." One day, he would learn not to go to movies on their opening night...since, apparently, becoming a parent did something to one's eyesight and "Opening Day" translated for some people into "Everyone Wants To Hear Your Kids Scream".

It hadn't soothed him entirely, but it had made a bit of progress toward getting him there. Ken had initially shied away from her touch on his head, but then relaxed as her fingers had brushed through his hair and the dryer had done its work.

When she was finished, his tail puffed itself out, and then gave a quick rattling shake to make sure all of the rich brown fur was laying properly before settling itself again. He DID feel better.

As if she'd hit a switch somewhere with her words, the faint smile disappeared, and bi-colored eyes immediately refocused themselves on the floor.

How had she known there'd been more to it?

A minute ticked by in silence. Two....

"I don't know if I wanna talk about it." he said at last, ears folding back insecurely. Having calmed a bit had helped him to put things into perspective and while, yes, she'd put the fear of GOD into him at the time, it was not the scare itself that was bugging him.

With he and Tourma starting to make headway toward actual 'friend' status with one another, he found that he did not want to, at all, set things back by reminding her what an absolute spazz he was.

How are you NOT going to laugh? he wanted to ask, flicking his eyes up to steal a look at her through the forest of his bangs. She was giving him no indication, however, that it was any sort of trap. No barely-contained smirks, no mocking gleam in her eyes, no body language that suggested she was eager for gossip....

He vented a long sigh. Was he really going to get into this...?

"When I said she was acting weird," he began. "I meant really, -really- weird...."

Apparently so.

He was quiet a moment, wondering just how far back he ought to go.

Just start at the beginning. Or you'll be answering questions.

Right.

"I was on the computer, and I heard something at the window. She was out there and asked if she could come up. I thought maybe....you know, she had an emergency or something. I mean, why else would you show up at one in the morning...?"

Why else, indeed...

"Anyway, so I went downstairs and let her in so she could use the phone. And she said she had just come over to chat." He realized at this point, he was boggling just remembering it and how weird it had all been. And for some reason he'd just rolled with it anyway.

"So...." he went on, swallowing. "....so anyway, I told her I needed to go tell some guys on vent I was logging off and came back up here. And I didn't see her follow me up..."

Hell, his cheeks were already starting to burn. He'd thought getting a running start from the beginning of the story and repeating himself might give him the momentum he'd needed to fill in the blanks. He wasn't sure he even wanted to finish.

"I turned around and saw her standing there, and....she was just..." he said, with a dismissive wave of one hand, trying not to look as flustered as he was feeling relating it. "She was all over me all of a sudden."

This was starting to sound like a bad rendition of a Dear Penthouse letter...

"Starts saying she'll show me how and all of that." he went on, scratching at that pesky imaginary itch behind his ear again. "And, I guess I was supposed to go for it? I think most guys would've. But.....all I could think of was how she looked like she wanted to eat me or something. And I freaked out."

His tail had begun to lash a bit behind him. ".....so I went and locked myself in the damn bathroom until she went away." he finished grudgingly, looking fixatedly at the floor in mingled humiliation and anger.