Anybodys sat at the table of the room in Mushnik's Skid Row Florists that had now been designated as her station for making floral arrangements... in the quite frankly incredibly optimistic scenario that the boss' plan of making financial success once again known to the shop through hiring a floral arranger in addition to renting out the bedroom of his dead... son? Seymour might've been his son?... would work. Audrey had given her one of the aforementioned potential beneficiaries of nepotism... or at least as close to nepotism as someone of their social standing could hope to benefit from...'s books on flower symbolism to start and had been gathering more for a while now, and in the meantime Anybodys had solemnly dedicated herself to the task of putting as many flowers with funny and spiteful meanings into one bouquet as possible. She contemplatively twirled a black dahlia in her hand for a moment, gleefully and painfully imagining and only partially wishing that she had had one to put on Tony before he had been taken away, and dropped it back onto the table as Audrey came back into the room, a stack of massive and ancient books that she logically should not be capable of carrying tucked under her chin.
Anybodys could swear that she felt the floor shake as Audrey placed the books on the table. "I know this looks like a lot, I... might've gotten a little carried away." She picked up the two books on top of the monument to botanical nerdiness and attempted to hand them to her, succeeding in getting her to take them after a slight delay. "These two cover how to make floral arrangements and the meanings of the different flowers... I haven't read them, since I didn't need to for keeping those weird and exotic plants of Seymour's alive... or the ones that I've picked up on my own since then... and the others are about botany." She seemed to pick up on Anybodys' confused look at that last word. "-Oh, that's the study of plants. You don't really need to know anything about it to make floral arrangements, I just thought that it might be interesting for you like it has been for me." ...Thank the... EVER LOVING lord... only for this though, yer not gettin' off that easy... but if ya could hook a guy up with whatever heart-to-heart topic is as far away from THAT as possible that'd be great... oh, I know! No thanks to you as usual... She leaned in slightly closer to her.
"...So... ya really wanna be a girl?" Shocked, Audrey didn't respond to this extremely reasonable inquiry for several seconds, her voice and expression taking on a note of bewilderment that mirrored hers. "...You really wanna be a guy?" ...Is she serious? Is this some kinda trick or somethin'? Anybodys attempted to match the gravity of her words with appropriately wild gesticulations, reeling them back slightly after Audrey flinched away from her. "...Yeah?! Every girl does?! How didja even STAND ta get rid of yer wide shoulders and decent amounts of hair in places 'sides yer head and deep voice, not even all the money in the world or bats n' crowbars could talk me into givin' those up if I had 'em... now that I think of it how DID you go about doin' that exactly and does it work the other way around?!" Stunned, Audrey shakily sat down across from Anybodys and took in what she had said for several seconds, and her desperation to find out the answer to her question quickly overrode her knowledge that it would be considered 'polite' and 'not a dick move' to allow her to respond in her own time.
"...So how exactly didja..." She trailed off frustratedly as Audrey interrupted her, seemingly not realizing what she was doing. At least that amazing awed tone of hers was back. "...It's really not just me, oh my God... I-I thought I was sick for wanting this... for so long... but you're not sick, clearly... I couldn't help but hope that my suspicions were correct even though I would never wish this pain on anyone..." Anybodys let out a sigh of relief and untensed her all too small muscles as Audrey appeared to recall her aversion to other people touching her right before her hand touched hers and pulled it away. "...Yeah, yer... fer sure not the only one, ya might be the only one headin' in the worse direction but yer not the only one... about half of everyone'd agree with ya." Audrey cocked her head confusedly at her. "...How many others have told you that they feel the same way you do? I've never met anyone besides you who understands." ...Has? Anyone done that?... oh, duh, it's so obvious that bein' a guy is better that there's no point in bringin' it up, might as well say that cops are krupin' bastards... though we did do that once... She tore slightly at the fraying binding of the book on flower symbolism that she had been working with.
"...No one, but I figure it's 'cause it's so obvious that there ain't no point in sayin' nothin' about it, 'specially considerin' that it didn't seem like there was anything ya could do ta fix it 'till I realized you must've found a way somehow... speakin' a which how'dja do it?!" Her frustration grew as Audrey almost guiltily lowered her eyes to the table instead of answering her increasingly desperate question. "...I don't... I don't think many people are like us in this way... I mean, my girlfriends are all very understanding of this... desire of mine, and very happy with living as and being women, and the... male customers at my... night job... are often just as confused by this longing of mine as, well, as you are... but, again, the women get it." ...W-What... girls... wantin' ta be girls?! Why?! Eventually, Audrey managed to catch her befuddled gaze, speaking through a slightly amused smile. "-sir? Is everything okay?" Exuberance that he had not known since Ice had bestowed temporary hope that he could be a guy upon him... although Audrey's awe at his stunning defeat of Action certainly came close... coursed through him. "...Well NOW it is... at least, it will be afta ya tell me how ya've gone about doing this."
Audrey looked away from him for a far too long moment, anxiously tapping her fingers against the table, before meeting his eyes with a still warm if not now anxiety-ridden gaze. "...Okay... here goes... You're familiar with the..." She looked around for a moment and lowered her voice as if she was worried about being heard by anyone else. "black market after your time with the Jets, right?" Anybodys attempted to puff his chest out with more confidence than he was actually feeling in what he was about to say. "Oh yeah... okay fine not really, but we did lotsa other cool stuff! Those PRs didn't... know what hit 'em..." ...Yeah that's startin' ta seem less cool afta everything that ended up happening... WAS any a what we did cool? His self-reflection was immediately put to a stop as Audrey gave him that wonderous look. "...So I'm going to want to hear that story and what PRs are later, but for now, I'll just tell you..." She took a deep breath. "They don't just have street drugs if you know where to look. They also have estrogen..." She clarified after Anybodys gave her a confused look. "The hormone-chemical that normally help girls become women, and I've heard that they also have testosterone, which helps boys become men, but I'd never needed to look into that before we became friends." YAY I'M GONNA GET TA BE A GUY AND WE'RE FRIENDS! Anybodys jolted up excitedly, not particularly caring to stop himself from hopping slightly and punching the air in his enthusiasm and being joined by a widely smiling Audrey a moment later. "This is so great! How d'ya get testosterone?! Is that why you have a night job? What is it, I'd do anything ta be a guy!"
Very quickly, Audrey's smile became an awkward baring of teeth. "...Well... it's uh... it's a night spot..." Anybodys halted his thrilled hops. "Whad'ya mean? Is that something bad?" Audrey looked away from him ashamedly and lowered her voice to the point that he had to lean in closer to her to hear her. "...sex club... If there was another way to get enough money I would've found it by now..." Anybodys desperately shoved down his very unwanted memories of what he had ended up needing to do in order to provide for his siblings before he had fallen in with the Jets, blotting them out with his exhilaration that he was finally going to achieve the first and most intense desire he had ever had. "That's okay! I'll do it, 'it' falls under anything after all." Audrey sighed in relief before giving him a pained look. "I'm so sorry it has to be this way... you shouldn't have to do this." ...Yeah, I shouldn't, what the hell?!... but I'll get to be a guy! He gave her a reassuring smile. "True... but hey, at least we can make it so the clients who cross us'll be needin' stitches, right?" At Audrey's extremely disappointing and at least slightly disappointed head shake, Anybodys dejectedly kicked a leg of the table, sending the black dahlia falling to the floor.