Chapter 36: Coquette
A lot of people probably don't know this, but fights leading to a lot of crying will result in the crying individual not sleeping at all.
Audrey just sat there, her back on the door, frozen like a statue. Her eyes had tired marks underneath, probably from looking aimlessly at the window as the outside world transitioned from Sunday night to Monday morning. Her mind ached from all the things that had struck her.
Mental and physical assaults. Scars. Near death. Public pressure. Hatred. Transformations. Discoveries leading to self-existential crisis.
Yeah, and I don't blame you for your grandparents inviting the whole world except my mom to that silly christening, Mal's voice echoed in her head.
A lifetime of plans, gone. Your mother could hold on to a prince in her sleep, Queen Leah's voice echoed.
Give me any number you want, I find your overall life pathetic, Gothy's voice echoed.
IS THIS REALLY THE BLISS I'VE BEEN LIVING IN? MY FAMILY REALLY EXPECTED ME TO BE QUEEN OF STOLEN LANDS? Audrey could hear her own angry voice.
You waste my time with a useless Auradonian princess, Marius Bogfae's snarl echoed.
There's nothing I could gain from murdering an Auradonian princess and cause a stir among the townsfolk, and vengeance would be dishonoring my mother's grave. Audrey could imagine Cologna shaking her head.
Wake up and smell the sour chocolate, newbie! Willywaffle's frustration echoed. You clearly don't have the working sin of a commoner.
You're all self-entitled brats, thinking you could claim any land that wasn't yours. The disgust of Indimia Rex echoed in her head. I'd rather take one killing bite and leave your carcass to the local carnivores than poison myself with your spoiled flesh.
A run-over bombshell, Ozzy's first words towards Audrey echoed.
Is that all you got, Sugar Pie? The echoes of Kory Lokidottir's psychotic words filled her head. Auradonians, simple mortals, have the natural instinct of believing that villains will go back to performing evil… I can see why Auradonians hated you so much! Even for a beginner in magic, you're uncontrollable! Yes, Audrey Rose. Very much like you, I summoned a demon decades ago to satisfy my greedy needs… Your greatest flaws are your naivety and your pride… Hated you SO BAD that he sent me a holy weapon with modifications just to wipe you out of the surface of existence!
"AUDREY!"
Audrey regained her senses when somebody shook her by the shoulders. Beatrice was kneeling in front of her, paler than usual.
"Am I dead yet?" Audrey gulped.
"No?" Beatrice frowned.
"Then why are you paler than usual?"
"I threw up all night."
"Oh my gosh! Did I do that to you?" Audrey bolted herself up. "I'm so sorry!"
"What? No! I threw up all over the Hello Kitty-themed room… Practically turned it into a Mission On Mars-themed room… I'm like my mom. I REALLY don't like pink, girly things and whatever the media has invented for gender stereotypes since the 50s." Beatrice gestured to the coffee table in the room… well, where the coffee table was, since the furniture was covered by a mountain of cupcakes, chocolate croissants, and milkshakes. "I should have knocked, but you didn't answer, so I teleported all this stuff I bought from the train's sweet shop. You know, since I figured you'd want to do emotional eating for breakfast."
"Thanks…"
Beatrice nodded and made her way to the bed's nightstand, where a small radio rested. Audrey looked in confusion as Beatrice merely knocked on the radio as if it were a door rather than typically toying with the buttons. Some static was heard before jazz music started playing in.
Hear me why you keep fooling,
Little coquette
Making fun of the ones who loves you.
"Coquette?" Audrey was surprised.
"You know Fats Domino?" Beatrice handed her a cup of strawberry milkshake.
"Mostly the Royal Canadians." The two sat on the ground, diving in. While Audrey took sips of her strawberry milkshake, Beatrice dipped a cookies and cream cupcake into a chocolate milkshake before swallowing the whole thing. "There was this restaurant back in Auradon. Tiana's Palace. My…"
She struggled to say those words. "My parents used to take me there when I was younger. I remember all the jazz songs playing there. Some days, Tiana and Naveen held classes for the young royals to learn how to play jazz or swing dance. I went there a lot…"
Breakin' hearts you are rulin'
Little coquette
True hearts tenderly dreaming of you
"Why'd you stop?" Beatrice offered a new cup of milkshake to Audrey once the latter was done with the first one.
"My grandma didn't want me to continue. Didn't think that royally born princesses should dance like commoners, she had me stick to waltzing. Not to mention that she and my mother wanted me to spend more time with Ben… The whole 'lifetime of plans' thing." Audrey sighed. "The only 'dance outside of balls' that they tolerated from me was cheerleading… Why the fuck did I let everyone decide for me?" Audrey threw her second empty cup away, ignoring its clanging as she took two carrot cupcakes. "Why did I lash out like that?"
"You didn't talk for two days." Beatrice sat closer to her. "I mean, we're your friends. Real friends, Audrey. Not the cheesy excuses who stuck around you because you were popular. The real kind who know that something wrong happened to you, sometimes you need to scream because it's too much pressure for you, and we give you space until we know you need us."
Someday you'll fall in love
As I fell in love with you
Maybe the one you love
Will just be foolin' too
"And frankly, you're right to be angry about me."
"It's just… I know you tend to play around with others for the fun of it because it's your nature," Audrey said. "I know you don't have a lot of friends back in Macabretown, but… I'm just disappointed, Beatrice. Why didn't you tell me that you knew who my demon was? To boot it all, he's your godfather!"
"What could you expect out of me?" Beatrice tossed away a half-eaten chocolate croissant. "It's not like every day, I make this awesome friend who doesn't treat me like dirt since day one, that sticks up for you, she basically becomes your idol cool big sis, and then the next thing you know, your godfather admits your friend's actually his client, so you have to stick with being a neutral party that sticks to the family!" Tears dropped out of Beatrice's eyes, ruining her makeup. "And thanks to your stupid grandpa and De Mort's stupid curse, there's a one to a million chance that my friend might become my godmother! And the other chances that you and my godfather will go crazy just from avoiding each other! I mean, there are too many days when I just HATE your family… I sometimes wish that I could just drag them to Hell!"
And when you're all alone
With all your regrets
You know my little coquette
I love you
"Wow…" Audrey paused. "Beatrice, that's probably the weirdest, nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."
A knock came from the door. "Come in, Gothy!" Beatrice called out.
Crystal and Gothy peaked from the door. "How'd you know it was me?" Gothy asked.
"Ozzy doesn't know how to knock. And I don't know where Charles is." Beatrice shrugged.
"Oh. That." Crystal chuckled as they walked in. "Audrey wasn't joking when she made a comment about Ozzy having the hots for Charles, she practically dragged him to the Moulin Rouge room for a 'non-penetrative evening'!" Crystal air-quoted 'non-penetrative evening' before bursting into laughter and snatching a cupcake. "Come on! Who wants to bet on the future Mr. Charles von Rockenburg?"
Someday you'll fall in love
As I fell in love with you
Now Maybe the one you love
Will just be foolin' too
"Isn't Ozzy aware that Charles shouldn't kiss or have sex until his condition is over?" Audrey's friends looked at her with stunned eyes. "What? I took him to the hospital when I met him on Thursday. Dr. Hama had to fix him up. She said his body suffered from trauma and he had respiratory infections. Apparently Frollo beat him up pretty bad as a kid and his fireplace troubles…"
"Frollo's fireplace troubles…" Gothy realized. "He hallucinated Esmeralda for years!"
"And Dr. Hama said that Charles would easily follow through with her medical advice since he's a biromantic ace. You know, romantically into guys and girls but not really sexually attracted to anyone?"
Gothy froze, a deadly glare appearing in her eyes. She quietly walked over to Audrey, leaned down so her eyes could be at the same level as Audrey's, put her hands together, and quietly, but calmly asked: "Audrey. Are you telling me that I let my sickly, abused, asexual little brother get molested by Ozzy?"
"Uh… yes?" Audrey hesitated.
"OK." Gothy calmly leaned back to an upright position. Her face suggested that she was handling it just fine.
And when you're all alone
With all your regrets
You know my little coquette
I love you
"HOLD ON, CHARLES, I'M COMING!" Gothy screamed in panic and ran out the room.
"GOTHY! WAIT UP!" Crystal ran after her, leaving Audrey and Beatrice alone.
"Should we go after them?" Audrey asked.
"Not unless you want to see a possible case scenario of naked teenagers in a love suite themed after a movie French nightclub." Audrey grabbed a milkshake. "Alastor always said 'Never deal with sexual deviants until they're fully dressed.' Well, except he had a different perspective on what it meant to be 'fully dressed', so what we always said ended up being translated as 'don't deal with sexual deviants, and if they still can't take no for an answer, record yourself destroying them so that I may broadcast their screams on my station.'"
"Uh." Audrey grinned a bit. "You should put that on a pillow."
Beatrice chuckled. "If he saw you right now, he'd say you were fully dressed."
Meanwhile
The rapid rays of the sunrise flying through the vine grills of the heart-shaped window caused Charles' purple eyes to pop open. He was still leaning on his side, the red silk of the bedsheets bundling him with warmth. For a moment, he almost thought he imagined the whole thing until two things proved him otherwise: the small pains on his neck and the arms wrapped around his bare waist, keeping him close to the body of the arms' owner.
"Merde…" Charles quietly hissed. As discreetly as he could, he cautiously peaked under the bedsheets. He sighed in relief when he saw that his underwear was still on him… Nothing wet, what a relief!
He almost panicked about the absence of his dagger sheath until he saw it on the dark red nightstand, right next to an ice bucket bearing a bottle and four boxes, all heart-shaped and with their lids adorned by pictures of can-can dancers, stacked on top of one another.
"Morning, handsome…"
And he was going to die. "Bonjour," Charles mumbled. "Listen, we need to… Hey!" He got cut off when Ozzy managed to flip him, pressing his back onto the mattress and straddling him while the two were still underneath the bed sheets. Charles felt his cheeks burning like an active volcano when he saw the Troll princess above him, already much taller than him, the messy red and black hair on her shaved head glowing from the passing sunrays like a lion's mane, and her black leather lingerie standing out on her dull-blue complexion. He opened his mouth to say something until Ozzy put her hands on his sides, dragging them up and down from the level of his chest to that of his groin, massaging his skin and occasionally pausing to let her thumbs trace out and rub the scars on his sides. "Damn it…" Charles let out a mixture of an exasperated grumble and a groan that was confused about the pleasure.
"I figured you might be sore. The bed's pretty small," Ozzy said.
"Really? I couldn't tell," Charles snarked. In fact, he could tell. For a love suite that was designed after Moulin Rouge, the bed was no bigger than two twin-sized beds pressed together, the red pillows bigger than Charles' own upper body, and the sheets, despite their warmth, made it hard for him to kick them off. At this rate, Charles would have to think about complaining to the train's designer. Whoever it was, they obviously were perverted.
Charles shook his head. When Ozzy began leaning in, he put his hands on her shoulders. "Not that… whatever we did wasn't fun, but… you didn't ask for my permission!"
"To be fair, I did ask you permission for things."
"Sure. May I remove your underwear before we get in the chocolate pool? Would you like to take a shower with me? May I remove your dagger sheath before we go to bed? Sure, you asked my permission for those things, but you certainly didn't ask for my permission when I made it clear that I didn't want to be dragged here!"
"Uh-huh." Ozzy stopped her massage. "Quick question: do you know what's annoying about Trolls? Not just Rock Trolls. Any Troll."
"You're the only Troll I ever met and I'm afraid I spent most of my life studying any species that could kill me, so I didn't think Trolls fit the bill, so please, do entertain me." Charles rolled his eyes. "And refrain yourself from your idea of entertainment."
Ozzy smiled at him. "And you're confused as to why I find you appealing, Charles? Compared to my sycophant kindred, you stand out."
Charles frowned a bit as he managed to scooch back and sit up. Still trapping his legs underneath, Ozzy straightened one of the big pillows for Charles to rest his back on. "Did you just call your own species a bunch of 'sycophants'?"
"I did. My mom always said that Troll royalty never has it easy because the people, regardless of the tribes or genres, will always tell you what you want to hear." One hand cupped the side of Charles' waist while another tapped its fingers up Charles' spine, giving the human teenager some shivers. "Don't get me wrong. It's not like I haven't done things a bit more over the top with others than last night, but it's all bootlickers, you know? I could easily ask them if they want to do it with me, and they easily tell me yes… Because they think I'll push them into a volcano or something for saying 'no'."
"Fantastic." Charles groaned. "You're basically Gaston. He could have any of the ogling ladies but he wanted the resistant one for a trophy. Guess who got the No-Belle Prize, fell off a balcony, and got resurrected just to be thrown in the Isle of the Lost while his ideal trophy wife ended up marrying his rival and ran a kingdom."
"Did she resemble him physically?" Ozzy asked, a look of genuine curiosity in her magenta eyes. "In interests? Talents?"
"Recheck your history, Osbourne, he only liked her for her face, her possibility as a baby factory, and the idea that he could cure her from being a bibliophile. I swear, it's a miracle he let me befriend his own son. My father abused me all my life, but compared to Gaston, he actually encouraged me reading. So no, there was nothing in what you expected."
"Well, it was bound to fail, with that description of yours." For once, Ozzy finally got off him to sit down and reach for the heart-shaped boxes. With the bedsheets finally off him, Charles thought of crawling out, hopefully grab his clothes, take a shower, and run off to another one of the rooms. Unfortunately, Ozzy was a faster thinker, even with her back turned on him. As she opened the heart-shaped boxes, her hair moved and wrapped itself around Charles' right leg.
"Clever girl," he said sourly.
"Thanks. Ooh, more chocolate!" Ozzy put the open boxes on the bed, revealing the rows of square-shaped chocolates bearing colorful designs of the Moulin Rouge. "Milk, dark, white, and… cake flavored?" Ozzy curiously took a bite from one of those chocolates. "Wow! This tastes just like sachertote! Chocolates that taste like chocolate cakes!"
"Osbourne…" Charles was getting angry. The tips of his fingers were beginning to fume. "Do you really not care that I'm really not happy with how you don't care about this? Because if this is how you treat your toys, especially the ones that aren't interested, then I won't give a damn if I get executed for burning off your face!" He didn't even flinch when Ozzy managed to break a piece of white chocolate with a mere snap of her fingers.
"And you wonder why I'm fascinated with you," she sighed. "You just have everything in harmony. Nearly everyone I've encountered is only just one of anything, it's so frustrating."
"Speak English," Charles said.
"You grew up in an island full of villains, right? Did people ever tell you that you could only be one thing but not two?" Ozzy showed the broken chocolate pieces in front of Charles. "For instance, did anyone ever say 'You're a scrawny bookworm, so you can't be an athlete'?"
"Well, I'm more average built, but I get the picture." Charles tilted his head.
"Or if they say 'Unless you play the organ, you can't dress like a rocker and play classical music?' Because I known morons back in the Troll Lands who won't admit their preferences in playing music outside their tribes. You know, like how you dress like a goth going to the cemetery but you also play the violin."
Charles' purple eyes widened. "How did you know?" He asked.
"Didn't have to." As Ozzy dropped one of the white chocolate pieces into the palm of Charles' left hand, her fingers brushed against his. "It's not as impactful as scars but tugging on the strings of instruments will do that to your fingers. It doesn't matter what genre you play, but your fingers acquire extreme flexibility and precision. It's like lighting a bunch of candles with one match; you gotta be quick and precise to make sure the match doesn't burn off. When I saw you in action, I could easily tell with the way your fingers moved that for someone who knows his way around blasting fire, you've been playing a lot of jazz and pop tunes on the violin for years."
"I…" Charles lost the words. "You're not… Ugh." He groaned and shoved the piece of white chocolate in his mouth, the sweetness dissolving down his throat.
"How often do you hear of a guy who isn't some beef pound, but still has brains and brawns, can easily change between being lethal and a dork, not seek acknowledgement for what he does but does crazy things because he wants friends, isn't a coward but also doesn't act like some thrill-seeking devil, and manages to both resist and respect you?" Ozzy took two pieces of dark chocolate. "Maybe it's much to ask, but yeah, maybe I really fancy the idea of having someone who finds that balance in everything, and maybe I'm not good at approaching it because I'm more familiar with PERFORMING the thing than UNDERSTANDING how I feel about the thing!" She looked at Charles. "I guess you kinda get that, huh…"
"I do, and I kinda underestimated…" When Ozzy handed him one of those cake-flavored chocolates, he gladly accepted. This time, the flavor got tantalizing. "Creamy, with cherries and chunks of dark chocolate…"
"Sounds like Black Forest cake…"
"Putain! C'est délicieux!" (Damn! It's delicious!) Without even asking, Charles snatched the box with the cake-flavored chocolates and started devouring them one by one. "Does chocolate always taste like this?"
Did the room suddenly seem redder?
"Black Forest cake is made out of chocolate, silly!" Ozzy giggled. She snatched the last cake-flavored chocolate. When Charles almost pouted, Ozzy smirked as she put the chocolate in her mouth, let it stand on her tongue for a few seconds before taking it out and putting it in Charles' mouth. He was too stunned to not swallow it.
"Are you trying to give me cooties?" Why was he giggling?
"Not sure… are you inviting?" For some reason, Ozzy was pinning him down, one hand both pressing on one of Charles' thighs and toying with the garter while the other rested behind Charles' neck.
"I'm… not supposed to… Funny. I forgot something. Can't remember what it was…" Charles found himself chuckling and hiccupping like a dork, not even stopping Ozzy as her face got very close to his.
"Maybe you might remember if you show me the way you French boys kiss?" Ozzy teased.
Thank God Gothy broke the door open before anything else could happen.
Hours later
The Hello Kitty theme room was really never going to catch a break. After Beatrice had already vomited all over it for the mere design repulsing her, the bathroom was getting destroyed as Charles, showered and fully dressed, vomited. Audrey came in, carrying a plastic bag, when she found Beatrice shoving mint leaves, black licorice, coffee, asparagus, and black bean soup into a blender, even spitting in it before blending everything together.
"Bea, what are you doing?" Audrey frowned.
"Homemade anti-aphrodisiac fluids. I picked it up from the Spa of Scents back home; my mom insisted that when Grenouille started his business that he also provided such stuff if his clients wanted to fight off the stuff." Beatrice stopped the blending when she saw the liquid obtaining a dark brown hue.
"I just came back from the train's pharmacy with the medicine you recommended." How a train company could even afford to have a pharmaceutical wagon escaped Audrey. "I overheard Crystal yelling on the train phone. I think she was yelling to the manager or something."
"You'd be pissed too if you found out that the company deliberately put aphrodisiac-spiked chocolates in a first-class love suite without clientele consent. And the clients are teens. Ozzy and Charles better not get addicted."
"By the way, how's Ozzy?" Audrey asked.
"Good thing she took a shower, puked, and went to sleep. Gothy looked like she wanted to murder her, like she became Sister-Of-The-Year overnight. I don't know what pissed her off the most: Ozzy nearly French kissing Charles while both didn't have straight heads or all those hickeys he now has."
"I can't even understand two of the terms you used," Audrey muttered as she put the plastic bag full of medicine on the now-green Hello Kitty table, right next to the blender.
"Well a hickey is one of those neck kisses that leaves bruises and French kisses is when things get just too weird, I don't even know why it's French." The bathroom door slammed open and out emerged Charles. Drained, he immediately grabbed the blender, pinched his nose, and drank the whole substance. With the way he lifted his head up, some bruises on his neck showed themselves despite the tight collar of the black turtleneck with purple flame patterns that he was wearing. "Great balls of Hell, Charles!"
"Your neck!" Audrey exclaimed. "You look like you were strangled!"
"Thanks for the brilliant observation. My simple-minded brain just COULDN'T figure it out." Charles' sarcastic comment was followed by a burp. "Excuse me."
"Yeah, let's check your brain." Beatrice took the blender out of his grasp and snapped her fingers. A checkered armchair appeared just underneath Charles, forcing him to sit down. "OK, I'm going to ask you a bunch of questions to make sure you ain't dead."
"Is it necessary?" Charles grumbled.
"Yes! Trust me, I got a pornstar buddy who needs his brain checked to see how high he gets." Beatrice cracked her knuckles as her outfit suddenly converted into the black-and-white version of a stereotypical psychiatrist. "OK. How old are you?"
"Sixteen?" Charles frowned.
"Parents?"
"Judge Claude Frollo and Mother Gothel."
"Siblings?"
"Cassandra Gothel and Gothy Gothel?"
Audrey managed to find a big, untouched and clean Hello Kitty head pillow to use as a cushion to sit on while Beatrice continued.
"Birthday?"
"June 21st."
"You're a Cancer. Cool. Chinese Zodiac character?"
"Goat. Why the fuck does it matter?"
"I ask the questions, Mr. Oblivious," Beatrice snapped. "OK, name me all the demon ring leaders and all the rings they govern."
"Lucifer for Pride, Beelzebub for Envy, Sathanas for Wrath, Abadon for Sloth, Mammon for Greed, Belphegor for Gluttony, and Asmodeus for Lust."
"What do you know of the hierarchy of Hell?"
"Lucifer, his offspring, the Seven Deadly Sins, the Ars Goetia, the overlords, every single sinner that fell after death along with some Hellborns and fallen angels, succubi and incubi, and finally hellhounds and imps."
"Wow. You're good." Beatrice was impressed. "Not many humans can remember the order that well."
"Dante was the first."
"Oh, you read Dante."
"Yeah, I read The Divine Comedy for fun."
"For fun?" Beatrice looked at Audrey in shock. "Ya hear that? He's probably as much of an expert in death and demons than my own mom and he read The Divine Comedy for fun!"
"I also read Freud's books before going to bed. The Ego and the ID and The Future of an Illusion were among my favorites."
"Freud, damn…" Beatrice whistled. "Remind me to introduce you to Alastor at one point before you die. He LOVES talking with people who read."
Audrey smirked a bit. "A bookworm, eh…" She muttered.
"OK, now I need to dig into the freaky stuff that happened last night," Beatrice said. "I'm surprised you're still a virgin."
"OK, TMI and how do you know?" Charles asked.
"Trust me, I socialize with too many horny people. Did Ozzy kiss you?"
"No… Well, not on the lips… The aphrodisiac would have made her do it until Gothy stopped her…"
"Did she suck your dick?" Beatrice's question made Charles fold his legs and hug them close. Audrey cringed in disgust at the question.
"Hell no!" Charles explained.
"So, there was nothing in the room that she could have used to peg ya…"
"Where the Hell do you get such information?" Charles blushed in embarrassment. "You're worse than my father's goons!"
"I told you! I know a pornstar, so details get leaked! So, you're saying Ozzy did nothing penetrative whatsoever?"
"Hello!" Charles waved at himself. "I'm still a virgin! A VIRGIN!"
"Wait, I still don't get it." Audrey raised her hand. "I mean, I know I hit a bit of a freeze for 3 days but I did pick up that Ozzy… for some reason likes him, but why did she act like that?"
"It's hookup culture, Audrey. Not everyone believes in everlasting romance," Charles said.
"Did she?"
Charles and Beatrice stared at Audrey. "What do you mean?" Beatrice asked.
"Look, I don't want you to recite me all the details about… whatever happened last night, and I might not fully understand what an aphrodisiac is, but it sounds a whole lot like a love potion. When Ben broke up with me, it was because Mal put a love spell on him."
"Oh yeah, and he didn't even bother to dump you properly." Charles shook his head. "You have GOT to find yourself a better taste in men, Audrey. I mean, sure, Mal broke the love spell and you guys made up after wards, but still…"
"Don't remind me. What I'm saying is, if Ozzy didn't know the chocolates were spiked, does that mean she saw the whole night as a one-time thing or did she… I don't know, see it as something more?"
"I…" Charles hesitated. "I'm not sure… She made it sound like she… NO!" Charles shot up from the chair. "No, no, and no, FUCKING, NO! Ozzy is NOT and WILL NOT be into and with me! The mere FACT that she…" He shuddered. "Infatuation at the first sight… Revolting."
"I guess you learned a lot from Frollo's own insanity, huh?" Audrey said.
"Tu crois?" (You think?) Out of nowhere, Charles stunned Audrey and Beatrice by doing a sultry walk, swinging his hips cautiously but obviously at the same time. "Apparently he had a type for sexy gypsies, he goes overboard, sings about how he either wants to kill or fuck the source of his lewd, bigot thoughts, and nearly burns all of Paris and her at the stake when she said 'Fuck Off'! Oh, and let's not forget the drunk sex he had with the 1000-years-old gypsy bombshell that brought yours truly!" Just like that, he came to a halt, leaned, put a hand on his hips, and gave out a coy smile. As if to amuse him, Beatrice transformed herself into a photographer and started taking pictures, which immediately printed out from the device. Audrey chuckled a bit.
"What?" Charles dropped the act to ask sourly.
"At this angle, I'm definitely seeing how you are related to Gothy," Audrey told him. "Naturally prettier than Gothel, the black hair, and nose… And I'm sorry, but pose like that and you look like Gothy when she's pissed. Not to mention that when you guys don't even try anything, you manage to get people to like you."
"You confuse mindless sheep to real connections."
"What? When situations change, you manage to make real friends." Audrey smiled. "I mean, you nearly had all the mothers in Villainapolis smother you and you and Gothy somehow really caught the eyes of two princesses. Give yourself some credit!"
"Credit, huh?" Charles' tone soured, causing Beatrice to back up. "From one abused kid to the one who grew up with everything on a silver platter, I won't tell you to give yourself credit for not caring how your family and friends felt when you left without even saying goodbye. I won't tell you to give yourself credit for risking yourself physically and mentally just so that your powers can help you fit in. I will ESPECIALLY not tell you to give yourself credit for what you're putting yourself through with that demonic contract of yours!" Charles calmed down, shook his head, and made his way to the door.
"Charles, I didn't mean…" Charles held out his hand, silencing Audrey.
"I'm not angry and I don't want to make you angry. I do really see you as a friend," Charles said in firm patience, "but now that you're done letting people decide for you, you got to stop and think. In the end, what do you want, Audrey? What's the goal for you once this whole joyride is over?"
