The scuffle raged on.
Clover, sweaty and bloodied, relentlessly continued to assault Pam with everything she had, yet still couldn't land a good hit in; Pam's superior reflexes were too much for her to handle, and though kept on her toes, she was dodging all her attacks with relative ease. By then the mongoose had had enough of this pointless game of cat and mouse – she was going to put an end to it, and she was going to do so in a way that Clover wouldn't forget anytime soon.
Always one step behind, King Julien and the others had not given up their efforts to separate them; now they were being aided by Butterfish, too, who had cordoned off the club's entrance with a makeshift palisade of stanchions to keep patrons from pouring out. The bouncer could not believe what his eyes were witnessing – never before had he seen another person measure up to Clover in combat like that strange new woman was, much less make her bleed. Now that he was aware of the considerable threat that Pam posed, he'd begun to feel for her and wanted to help her, yet it seemed the girls were doing everything in their power to stay as far away as possible from him and his fellow men.
"Yo, KJ! This ain't workin', man; they're too fast! We're never gonna catch 'em at this rate!" he shouted to his king, with whom he was running.
"Don't wanna hear it; just keep going! Clo-Clo needs us, people!" he replied.
Both gasped in horror as they saw the girls start wrestling each other yet again – this time their struggles had brought them beside the blocked-off entrance, where Clover had managed to corner Pam. She jabbed out with a left-fisted hook and then an uppercut, both of which were easily evaded. However, she had predicted this; with a wide sweep of her leg, she knocked Pam off-balance, and the mongoose toppled to the ground – before her body could even graze a single blade of grass, she was caught by the throat, lifted back up, and then thrown against the stony walls of the cave. Clover immediately followed with a straight jab to the face, smashing nothing but solid rock as Pam ducked under the offending limb. Now, with Clover's left flank exposed and vulnerable, she prepared her counter-attack: with all the speed and strength she could gather, she savagely elbowed the bodyguard where she knew it would hurt most: right in the kidney.
Clover let out an agonized shriek; her legs buckled, and she fell on her hands and knees, gripping her side. Far off, through a mind-numbing haze of pain, she could hear the panicked voices of her friends calling her name, but she could not open her eyes to look for them.
"Not so tough now, are you, huh?!" Pam was gloating above her, her voice harsh and raspy, "I hope this is exactly what you wanted, 'cause it's all you're gonna get!"
As if to humiliate her even further, she quickly stepped behind Clover, planted her foot on the small of her back, and then thrust downward, dropping her completely. Before she could recuperate and get back into battle, Pam kicked her in the ribs so as to roll her on her back, grabbed her by the armpits – and hurled her straight into the barrier of stanchions Butterfish had erected. Clover, dizzied by pain, could not stop herself from plowing through that jumble of serpentine cords and cold metal posts; since they were all connected in sequence, the entire structure came crashing down on her like a domino set, pinning her from the belly down as it fell apart all over the red carpet. She thus found herself unable to move any part of her body except her head, right arm, and upper torso. Blood dripped from her nose to her upturned chest.
She was trapped... and Pam wasn't done with her yet.
She collected one of the disengaged posts from the ground, then dragging it behind her, sauntered towards her helpless opponent. Clover was wildly struggling to push the heavy weights off, but she couldn't do it fast enough; before she even knew it, Pam was already standing over her. The mongoose's face, glowing richly under the grand nightclub's sign, displayed nothing but pure sadistic pleasure as she stared into the wounded eyes beneath.
"Look at you! Just like old times; all battered up in the name of your precious little sense of justice! And for what, may I ask? To avenge some rando you didn't even know? At least back in the day you could claim you were protecting your king's reign, but this?! A needless waste of talent, is all!" she hissed at her, raising the post aloft, "Well, don't you worry none; you can send poor Gracie my regards after you've joined her in that hospital ward! Sweet dreams!"
And she rammed the post down. The speed at which it traveled was tremendous; if it were to hit Clover in the forehead, where Pam had aimed for, it would knock her out cold instantly.
However, she deftly blocked the attack with her forearm, choking back a cry as the hard material collided against her flesh. Pam ground her teeth, then tried again, and again it was thwarted – then a third strike followed, then a fourth. By the fifth, Clover's arm had begun to twitch and tremble as if possessed by an uncontrollable fright, yet she was not afraid; it was her strength faltering, and she knew that if they kept this up, it wouldn't be long before something broke. Fortunately, though, she wasn't ready to concede defeat just yet. When the next assault came, she managed to deflect the post instead by swatting it with her fist at the correct time, causing Pam to lose her grasp and drop it; not a breath later, the guardian launched her hand at her enemy's face, successfully snatching her by the goggles. If she could bring Pam close enough for a headbutt, perhaps there was still a chance for her to win this fight after all.
The speedster, likely surmising her intentions, responded by pounding repeatedly on her arm as she drew back, but Clover, debilitated though she was, still wasn't letting up; she inexorably kept pulling her in.
And then, the unthinkable happened: just when they were about to make contact, a pair of slim dark hands suddenly landed upon Pam's shoulders, their owner's well-kempt nails biting into her fur. The goggles' straps, having been stretched to their limit, finally snapped as Pam was thrown off by this newcomer, their rageful cry filling the air. The mongoose was sent on a tumble across the carpet and came to a rest face-down several feet away, which gave them enough time to clear out the load besieging Clover, and offer her a helping hand. Her face turned pale as a sheet when she saw the bright blue eyes of the person who had just saved her.
"Cri... Cri... Crimson?!"
It took her a while for her to act, but she eventually grabbed her sister's hand, whereupon she was helped off the ground.
No words were exchanged. Clover stared at Crimson, hunched over, breathing hard, trying to process the unexpected sight while the red twin did the same with wide eyes. Xixi truly hadn't been exaggerating – she'd been expecting things to be ugly... but this was far beyond anything she could've imagined. The toucan's own shocked gasp could be heard, too, as she soared by; she landed at a safe distance where she could watch from.
Frowning, Crimson turned towards the stranger, who slowly rose from the ground. Fearlessly, she went to meet her, picking up the fallen goggles on her way.
"Hey, you! Get up!" she yelled at Pam, "Ya got something to say, say it to me!"
Suddenly, Clover seemed to have forgotten all about her own injuries – her face fell with deepest terror, and she felt her heart skip a beat.
"Crimson...! Crimson, no!"
Yet before she could do anything, her friends came stampeding into the scene, and she was expeditiously tackled by Butterfish: the hulking bouncer locked one of his arms around her chest and the other around her nape while he forced her on her knees, his right foot pressing her tail to the ground to prevent her from using it on him as before. He wished he didn't have to be so rough, but he was not willing to risk being eluded again, so he kept bearing his huge body down on her until she'd been fully immobilized.
Julien listened to her tragic cries as she fought to get up, and it took all the willpower inside him to not order Butterfish to ease up on her. Though it pained the king immensely to see his friend being treated in such a way, he understood just as well as anyone that the direness of the situation had left them with only two choices: either this, or let the madness continue. He'd chosen the former.
"Stay down, yo; this is for yer own good! Stay down!" the larger lemur was bawling in her ear. But she wasn't paying any attention to him whatsoever – her bulging eyes were fixated solely on Pam and Crimson. He could sense the thunderous vibrations of her heartbeat on his skin the more he pushed down on her chest, as clear as though he were holding the namesake organ in the palm of his hand. It was racing impossibly fast, and he guessed it was not just because of the physical strain.
"Crimson, get outta here! Stay away from her!" she wailed, "Ya don't know what she's capable of!"
Her sister glared back with a cocky smirk. "Oh, don't worry 'bout me, Clo-Clo; she doesn't scare me." There was an understated air of intimidation about her when she turned to face the mongoose again. "So, you must be Pam, yes? The one who's been causing so much trouble 'round here!" she purred, "Well, Pam... a lil' birdie has just told me a few things 'bout ya... and I must say... I don't like what I've heard." She raised the mongoose's goggles, dangling them from her index's fingertip. "These yours?"
Just before Pam could answer, she dropped them with feigned surprise. "Oopsie-daisy, how clumsy of me! Here, let me get 'em..." She looked down as if to pick them back up – when suddenly, she slammed her foot down on them as fast and hard as she could, shattering the lenses into a million fragments with a loud crack. A drove of gasps echoed throughout the grouped animals as she innocently brought her finger to her lips. "Oh my... I hope those weren't expensive."
Pam stared at her, daggers in her glare, but otherwise stayed put. That was, until, in a single stride, she sped in and retrieved her headgear from the glass-peppered ground to examine it closely. The damage was extensive; the once-shiny golden frame had become littered with scratches and dents from her fight with Clover, the remains of the torn straps dangled limply from it so that they could not be put back on, and she would have to replace both lenses entirely if she wanted to use them ever again. Too much repair work to be worth it. Sighing, she dislodged the few shards of glass that were still attached to the rims, heedlessly flicking them at Crimson's feet.
"You got a lot of gall, you know that?" she cooed then, "For your own sake, I'm gonna pretend what you just did never happened."
Crimson blinked, unafraid. If anything, she looked rather amused. "Are you threatening me, pal?"
"Take it as more of a warning. The last girl who was gutsy enough to stick her nose where it doesn't belong is bleeding like a bushpig right over there." She pointed with her thumb at Clover. "So unless you wanna end up like her, I'd advise you to not make the same mistake she did... 'Crimson'." Pausing, she narrowed her eyes, after which she moved behind the red twin and began to slowly circle her, as if sizing her up. "...Hmm, that's a funky name you've got; for some reason, it sounds awfully familiar... and that face, that voice, that complexion... Have we met before?"
"Pam! This is between you and me; leave her outta this!" Clover shouted at her – the bodyguard had resumed her efforts to get up, now with even more verve than before, yet Butterfish still wouldn't let her. It was as though one wrong move on the speedster's part would send her into a flying rage all over again, a thought which scared Xixi and the other lemurs to the bone – most of all Butterfish. He'd already believed himself fortunate to escape her wrath once; now that he was the only thing standing between her and her sister, he doubted it would happen twice.
If only there were any other employees out here that could help them restrain Pam as well, he wouldn't have to be so worried about it – but of course, there were none, and there was simply no way Julien and company were going to get anywhere near that woman after all the harm she'd inflicted on Clover.
"Come on, answer me, tough girl! Who are you?" Pam asked. As a sort of test, she reached out to touch the beauty mark on Crimson's cheek, eliciting a hard slap on the hand from the lemur.
"Hands off!"
"Watch it, Pam!" Clover barked at her, as intended, "Lay another finger on her and I swear I'll tear ya limb from bloody limb!"
This made it click in her head – the reason Clover was acting so protectively – and it made Pam smirk broadly. "Ahhh, of course, I get it! You're Clover's infamous twin sister! Gosh, I knew I'd seen you from somewhere! Now where was that...? 'Cause I recall there was this huuuge scandal concerning you; don't remember exactly when it happened, but I read about it on the paper... Damn thing was so steamy even the other kingdoms must've gotten a hold of it." Suddenly, she snapped her fingers. "Oh yeah, you used to be betrothed to King Julien, weren't you?! Yes, yes, yes, that's it; you were, you slinky little rascal! How wonderful is that?!"
A puzzled Mort wrinkled his brow. "Where is this coming from?" he whispered.
Julien shrugged mutely. He didn't like where this was going.
"Pam," his advisor hissed, "you should leave while you still can. We've had enough of you."
"Yeah, what happened to you being in such a hurry?" added Mort.
"Aw, come on now, this is way too good to pass! It's not everyday you get to meet the lemur queen that never was!" she replied to them, before she took Crimson by the shoulder with a dark smile. Crimson rejected said gesture, so Pam continued circling her, feeding wispy words into her head, "You poor thing... I can still recall some of the stories that were told about the two of you – they described you as the perfect couple, like two peas in a pod, right? You were so starry-eyed, so madly in love, it couldn't wait a day more; you just had to get married or you'd die! So you made all the arrangements for the big day... You threw on your prettiest getup, everything was perfect, and you were so excited your heart could've burst out of your chest as you walked down the aisle, on to become queen and live happily ever after with the man of your dreams! ...Well, at least, that's what should've happened..." Creeping up behind Crimson, she cast her blood-red glare upon the king, her grin widening sinisterly. "...But then homeboy here realized he wasn't ready for such a commitment yet, and dumped your pretty little tail right at the altar, for the whole village to witness. My, what an abominable thing to do. Frank would be ashamed!"
Everyone veered their heads at Julien, who scratched his neck and shrank away with guilt in his eyes. Crimson's gaze lingered longer than the rest, her face falling as all the memories of that traumatic evening flashed before her eyes. Clover's fury dwindled at this, too; though she'd always been glad about that wedding's last-minute cancellation and would never hint otherwise, down inside, she'd indeed felt quite sorry for her sister after the fact. Crimson had loved Julien more than any other man before him (or since), and his betrayal had devastated her so deeply that her heart still bore the jagged scars to this very day. Clover's thoughts wandered – what could've been had she been there to console her, to tell her everything would be alright and that they'd always have each other? Things might have turned out differently between her and Julien today had Clover been a good sister... but as usual, her lack of confidence and the anger she'd felt at the time about the whole affair had stood in the way.
Were Butterfish not holding her back now, she almost could've even given Crimson a hug. She really looked like she could use one...
"Hey, smile, will you?" Pam patted her shoulder as she returned to the forefront. "I'm sure what you went through must've been soul-crushing, but let's not kid ourselves – it probably ended coming off as a blessing in the long run, didn't it?"
"Hm?"
"Come on, don't play dumb."
Crimson took a step forward, her doleful look replaced by a gritty scowl. "I'm not. Why don't you enlighten me?"
In the meantime, Clover was already getting worked up again, roaring her disdain, "HEY! One more word and so help me...!"
She was ignored. "Well... let's just say that the tabloids aren't actually the only place I've heard from you, sport," she replied snidely, "You see, I've been around the block a few times myself, and I've had my share of flings with boys – nothing serious, of course – and like in any good hook-up, we always end up sharing some... intimate stuff on a more personal level. Now, don't ask me why, but guys really have this penchant for bragging about their past conquests, as if that'll make them look cooler; and lo and behold, your name is the one among all that never quite stops coming up! ...Sadly, it's rarely about how much they love you for your glowing personality or how grateful they feel to have you as their partner, though – but rather about how skilled you are at polishing knobs!"
She punctuated her words with an obscene fist-to-mouth gesture, relishing the immediate reactions of her enemies: gasps of shock and disbelief rippled like gunfire amongst them, and Clover screeched out at her with inconceivable rage – all of a sudden she pushed against Butterfish with such an energetic jolt that the top of her head banged Butterfish on the chin, causing him to fumble and nearly release her by accident. Everyone else had to band together to aid him in holding her down, for if she were to be set loose for even just one second, there would be nothing in this world that could stop her from beating Pam within an inch of her life, or perhaps something worse.
"Clover, please, settle down! This is exactly what she wants; she wants you to attack her! Don't grant her that wish!" exclaimed Maurice.
"Yeah!" Xixi assented from the sidelines, "Don't you know that if you do and she doesn't fight back, she could report it and get you kicked out of the contest?!"
"Fine by me, as long as you go down with me!" she snarled – not to Xixi, but to Pam, "Ya think you can talk to my sister like that, ya brat?!"
Pam stepped a little closer to the downed bodyguard and crossed her arms, offering herself to her as a clear, yet inaccessible target. "Hey, don't be mad at me; those aren't my words! Pretty much every guy I've talked to has apparently known your sis inside and out very well, ha ha ha! Hell, I bet if we asked His Highness here, he'd say the same thing too – wouldn't you, hon?"
"I'm not telling you anything; that's private info!" he shouted evasively.
"Hm, there you have it."
Clover's killer glare, bolstered by her chittering, bloodstained teeth, made for a most grotesque sight, but Pam was unmoved by it; she only laughed insouciantly, then squatted to the crowned lemur's eye level. "Come on, heroine, are you up for round two? ...No?" She huffed. "Oh well, that's disappointing. In that case, I think you and I are done for tonight. Been fun catching up with you; nobody had given me a reason to run this hard in ages! I might even start coming around more often!"
"Butterfish... gimme five more minutes with her. That's all I need – then you can do whatever ya want with me," Clover growled.
The glacial tone in her voice made the fur on his arms stand on end. Still, he refused. "Sorry, y'know I can't do that."
Pam rose, and faced Crimson again – then, raising her voice loud enough for her sister to hear, said to her, "So, to recap before I go: why grieve the loss of one guy – for instance, Julien – when you can just sleep with another anytime you want? We're young, cute and outgoing; we aren't gonna be in any shortage, that's for sure. A word of advice though: be more selective who you take to bed; there's a lot, and I mean a lot, of rabble out there, waiting to have their way with chicks like you and me. If you don't watch out, one of your little nighttime capers could go from a bit of good fun to a waking nightmare in more ways than one."
Surprisingly enough, Crimson appeared quite unfazed by Pam's litany of inflammatory comments. The only sign that they even offended her in any capacity was a small shrug of the shoulders. "Well, you know what they say: it takes one to know one."
"You don't know the first thing about me, dear."
"I don't need to; I can already tell what kinda cheap tart you are just by looking at ya. Now stay the hell away from me and my sis, or next time I see your face 'round here, it won't be just her you'll have to deal with, ya hear me?"
Pam nodded; the lax look in her eyes showed she wasn't taking her very seriously. Smiling, she took one of Crimson's hands. "...Hold these for me, will you? You can keep them; they're useless to me," she told her as she coaxed her fingers open, and placed the destroyed goggles on her palm. "I will see you again... Crimson. Sooner than you think." With this, she began to stroll away from the area, briefly waving to the rest of the pack.
"See you, slowpokes!"
And then she rocketed off towards the treeline, and in a flash, she was gone.
Crimson clutched the goggles tightly. Suddenly, she felt gripped by a fury not unlike Clover's. "Ya can take these and shove 'em!" she screamed as she tossed the headgear in Pam's direction – it landed somewhere with a soft thud, forever lost in the jungle flora.
"Argh, let me go!" she heard someone growl behind her. Clover was back to writhing against the lone Butterfish, although now that Pam had left, her movements had become slower and weaker; a result of all the energy spent. The bouncer, however, compelled to enforce his duty until he could be absolutely sure she wasn't going to run off again, did not follow her order.
"Are ya calm?" he asked her. His voice was stern, but caring.
"Yes!" she choked out.
"Are ya?"
"Yes!"
Reluctantly, he stood up, dropping her. The bodyguard fell forward on her side, panting out of overworked lungs; she was hot and sore and aching all over, and her anger had surpassed such monumental heights that it'd started giving her a terrible headache as well. Yet despite this, she stumbled back up on unsteady feet, and quickly ran to to meet her sibling, grabbing her hands as soon as she got close enough. Crimson flinched when she noticed the speckled blood on Clover's fingers; she felt like pulling away in disgust, but given the circumstances, she deemed it'd be wiser if she didn't.
"Crimson! What on earth were ya thinking coming here?! Why'd you have to antagonize Pam like that?!" Clover rasped, out of breath.
"Um... you're welcome?" She furrowed her brows at the seemingly unwarranted scolding. "Why d'you always have to be such a sourpuss, Clo-Clo? I just saved your skin by getting that maniac outta here – d'you have the slightest idea the run I had to do to make it in time?"
"Well, you shouldn't have! I had everything under control!"
"Oh, sure, I can see that – you're looking damn peachy! Y'know, maybe I should've stayed where I was if all you're gonna do is act like I've somehow done something wrong! At least nobody was yelling at me there!"
The orange twin squeezed her sister's hands even tighter. "Listen, I'm not mad 'cause you helped me, but you don't understand who you're dealing with-
"Clover! Turn around – now!" King Julien's voice cut her short. Crimson watched the last strand of color drain from her face, and though she seemed deathly afraid to do so, she obeyed. His Majesty was standing before her. At once, her demeanor changed: clenching her hands and hanging them at her sides, she bowed her head in a docile manner, much too ashamed of herself and her actions to look at him. A mental prayer begged the gods to split the ground open beneath her, so that she'd be swallowed whole and be spared the burden of seeing his face.
"Your Majesty... I..." She struggled for words, for they dissipated in her throat before she could say them. There were no excuses to give; she didn't even know where to begin. She hadn't only embarrassed herself by losing her head in front of everyone and suffering a disgraceful defeat at Pam's hands; she had probably embarrassed Julien just as much, too... As the public figure that she was, she had a responsibility to upkeep a certain image as a shining beacon of strength and security for lemurs everywhere, and she'd failed to even do that. What would he be thinking – what would they all be thinking?
Her lower lip, parched from heat, yet slick with blood, quivered slightly when she finally opened her mouth to speak. "...I'm sorry... So sorry. I deserve everything I've got and more. What kinda head of security am I...?" she muttered, hardly over a whisper. She was bracing herself for the reprimand of a lifetime.
However, no such thing happened. The king only smiled with sadness, and his hands came up and gently cupped her face, forcing her to lock eyes with him. He was appalled, not just by her dreadful physical condition, but by how utterly heartbroken was the way she looked at him. "...Frank on high... what has that devil done to you?!" he observed, brushing some dirt from her cheek with his thumb. His sharp gaze fell on their bouncer friend. "Butterfish, go get a tissue for her nose – hurry!"
The portly lemur nodded. "Aye!"
He waded past the sea of stanchions on the ground, disappearing from view. He'd clean this mess up later.
"This is all my fault..." Clover whimpered then, surprising Julien. "I started this; all Pam wanted was to leave in peace from the outset, but I wouldn't let her. I was too angry with..." Her weary eyes drifted over to Crimson – although it lasted for less than a second, the meaning behind this action wasn't lost on her. "...Everything, to stop and think 'bout what I was doing. If I hadn't been so petty, none of this would've happened."
"Clo-Clo, this is not your fault," he differed, "As far as I'm concerned, you were just doing your job, which is protecting us from no-gooders like Pam who'd seek to harm us – if that's something to be sorry for, then I'd rather keep my apologies to myself!"
At that moment, Maurice walked in, carrying his lost crown. He dusted it off before Julien took it from him, and put it back in its rightful place atop his head. "He's right; even if you could've... admittedly handled things a lot better, your heart was in the right place," he said. Both lemurs noticed that his hands were shaking.
Suddenly, Clover winced, her eyes closing involuntarily as she lowered a hand to her abdomen – more specifically, the spot where Pam had elbowed her. She looked down through heavy-lidded eyes; there was no bruise that she could tell, yet that did not stop it from hurting as if she'd been stabbed with a blade. "Yeah, and what good did that do, huh? Look what that tosser's done to me – again," she grunted.
"Are you okay, Clover?" Little Mort asked her, his eyes big and round, and gleaming with concern.
"Yeah, I am. Y'all know this kinda stuff comes with the job! I just... gotta lie down for a while. Nothing to worry 'bout."
The pain was palpable in her breathy voice – she was too exhausted to even bother hiding it. This made Maurice frown. "You call this nothing? Nevermind the nosebleed – we saw you fall from that tree! How high was that? Ten, twenty feet?! You could've broken your back, or – or cracked your skull open, or worse: you could've killed yourself! And that's without mentioning that!" He pointed at her covered flank. "Are you even the slightest bit aware how dangerous it can be to get hit on the kidney like Pam hit you?! You should go to a doctor and get yourself checked ASAP! Just because you look fine on the outside doesn't mean that there couldn't be something wrong on the inside!"
She adamantly shook her head at him. "No way! I am fine, Maurice! I'm not going anywhere; I've got more important stuff to focus on."
"Like what, the pageant?" He rolled his eyes at her. "Ugh, give me a break!"
"Yes, the pageant! If Pam thinks I'm gonna sit here, and let her cheat her way in and steal that trophy out from under us, she's got another thing coming! I don't give a damn what I have to do – she's not gonna get away with this!"
The aye-aye exhaled loudly and ran his hands through the fur on his head, clearly frustrated. For a moment, the notion of urging Julien to force her to go to the hospital seemed appealing, but he let it die out in his mind. If Clover insisted she was alright, they'd simply have to trust her – it was her choice after all.
"Over 'ere, yo!" The distinct drawl signaled Butterfish's return, now with a box of absorbent tissues on hand, alongside a small waste bin which he set on the ground. "There ya go, bro. Need anythin' else?" he asked, giving the box to Julien.
The royal told him that would be all as he took it from him; then he took one tissue out, compressed it into a spongy white ball, and instructed Clover to rear her head back a bit. "Allow me."
She did; despite Julien being quite the fastidious man, he probably felt he owed this to her. For the next several minutes he worked fast and efficiently in cleaning the blood from her face, yet even with the copious amounts of paper he'd been given, there was so much of it that he'd soon started running out. He cursed indistinctly to himself; it must've been Frank's heavenly intervention that Pam hadn't broken her nose altogether.
While he busied himself, Clover looked up at the bouncer. "Oi, Butterfish! Listen, I'm... I'm sorry for flipping out on ya earlier. That was wrong on my part. I know ya were just trying to keep everyone safe," she mumbled at him. The tissues being tapped in and around her nostrils lent a kind of humorously nasal quality to her speech.
Smirking, he shrugged and laid one of his large hands on her healthy shoulder. "Ah, water under the bridge! Heh, y'know, that was a nifty lil' trick what ya did with yer tail there; what with my peepers an' whatnot!" He chuckled, drawing imaginary circles in the air over his eyes. "Maybe ya should teach it to me someday!"
A small smile was all she managed. "Sure, big fella."
"Yeah, and, uhhh... if you could please not report any of this to the committee or anyone else, for that matter – that would be very much appreciated too," added Julien.
"'Course, I'll make an exception for ya guys – but only this time, 'kay?" he replied, before pointing an equally-large finger at Clover. "Next one ya blow a fuse an' start fights like that without reasonable provocation, take a chill pill or somethin', girl! Ya wouldn't enjoy gettin' banned like yer sister 'ere, would ya?"
She shook her head (with what faint range of motion she had). At the mention of her person, Crimson shot him a resentful glare. "At least you'd be giving her a fair reason..."
He lifted his gaze to her, suddenly exasperated. He left Clover and Julien's side and stomped over to her. "Again with that? Ya do know the reason, lady, an' that's that nobody can stand ya or wants ya 'ere with that reputation yer carryin'! Be thankful I'm even lettin' ya hang 'round the place right now; were it not for the fact that ya just helped us, ya would've been sent away with yer tail between yer legs like ya always are, so don't push yer luck!"
Crimson stood on her toes to get nearer to his face, her eyes lively and fierce. "Oh, eat me, fatso! You got some nerve thinking ya can say that to me! I'm not the one who's at fault here – you are!" Spurred by anger, she shoved at his chest, to predictably little effect. He warned her not to touch him, but her voice was overpowering his. "You're the one who caused this in the first place; if ya had a functioning brain inside your head and done your job like you were supposed to, you wouldn't have accepted Pam into the club and I wouldn't be here, fixing your bloody mistake! And what if I hadn't?! Would you have beaten her to it before she'd been able to splatter my sister's brains all over the ground like in some kinda street execution?! HUH?! Didn't seem so to me from my end, ya incompetent, dimwitted slob!"
"Crimson!" Clover interrupted her, "Leave him alone, it's not his fault! He didn't know who Pam was; he couldn't have!"
By the flabbergasted look on Crimson's face, she obviously failed to understand how she could be defending him. "But Clo-Clo, he-
"'He' nothing! Just stop with the shouting – please! I can't..."
Whining, she brought a hand to her temple. Julien reminded her to close her eyes and breathe, and then solemnly went back to wiping her face.
Butterfish had been rendered speechless. He despised how Crimson had such a good point.
"...Mind yer tone. 'Member who's in charge 'ere," he hissed as he shambled away. She folded her arms, in her eyes unconcealed hatred.
"Pig..."
About a minute later, Julien was done; he moved down to Clover's chest, where the fluid wasn't nearly as prevalent as it'd been on her face, so it only took him a few seconds. Once he'd finished that as well, he threw the empty box and soaked paper ball into the bin, sighing with relief when the latter left his hands, then picked up one more tissue he had saved for last. This one he used to carefully plug her nostril, and stop any further bleeding.
"Okay... There. That ought to do it." He slowly withdrew away. "Feeling better?"
She felt around her muzzle and looked down on herself. Some faded traces of red endured in spots where the blood had become too ingrained to remove, but she couldn't complain – Julien had done a pretty admirable job.
"Hm. Not bad, Your Majesty, not bad at all."
"Hey, just 'cause I'm used to being coddled most of the time doesn't mean I can't do some basic things by myself, you know?" he replied.
"Yes, sir." She nodded.
Butterfish smirked at the pair as he hoisted the filled container under his armpit. "Well, now I should get back to work, y'all; got lotsa' things to sort out in 'ere. What will ya guys do? 'Cause darlin', if ya don't mind my sayin'... you're still lookin' worse than manure!" Overlooking Clover's unamused expression, he tipped his head towards the entrance. "Say, why don't ya pay the backstage areas a visit? Some of the dressin' rooms are equipped with private shower stalls – real top-notch stuff! I can ask someone to get ya a pass if ya want, an' let ya have the whole room to yerself for as long as ya need. Nobody's gonna bother ya, since pretty much everythin' there is closed down for the pageant revamps, an' the workin' crews only come in durin' the day."
Clover exchanged a furtive glance with Maurice, remembering their previous clandestine trip to the tunnels. The aye-aye even had to turn aside to hide a short-lived smirk on his face. She was thinking about what to tell him, when out of the blue, Crimson slid up beside her.
"Actually, I think she'd be better off with me, thank you very much."
Her sister lifted a brow at her, as curious as she was wary. "How so?"
"C'mon, sister-girl, have ya taken a look in the mirror? A paltry lil' shower ain't gonna do the trick to fix... all this! What you need is something 'bigger'; something that'll help ya wind down and get that tension off your chest before you suffer a fricking aneurysm." Giggling, she rubbed Clover's right shoulder blade; the muscle underneath was unbelievably hard and rigid, like a slab of alloy steel. "Whoa, I mean... you could hammer nails with this thing! Hot damn!"
The orange twin sighed – she didn't particularly care where to go, as long as it was somewhere quiet and out of the way. Nevertheless, as promising as Butterfish's offer sounded, and how badly she needed to rest, there was one problem discouraging her from taking him up on it: it would mean first having to cut straight through the club's main floor, and the last thing she wanted at the moment was even more people seeing her like this. Plus, the absurdly loud music and stroboscopic atmosphere of that place would only exacerbate her migraine, which already was thudding to the point of near-torture.
"Well? Are ya staying or coming?" Crimson asked her. "Whatever you choose, choose quickly; I don't have all night."
"Pfff, as if you had anything to do before this..." Xixi murmured.
"Shut up."
The bodyguard's joyless eyes bounced between the entrance and the bouncer. "...I can't go back in there. Not in this state. Thanks for the kind offer, mate, but I think I'll leave this one to her."
He nodded comprehensively. "Very well. Take care of yerself out there, a'ight? We'll be right 'ere if ya need anythin'."
She gestured back. Then Xixi glided over, perching herself beside him. "Yep, that goes for me too. Wouldn't wanna intrude in your sisterly matters!" she exclaimed through a wide-beaked grin. While Crimson and Butterfish did not understand why, the other lemurs did – Mort and Maurice seemed noticeably more eager to get going than anyone else. The advisor even gave Xixi a subtle thumbs-up, as if silently thanking her for everything she'd done.
"Well, what are you guys waiting for? Off you go then! Don't let us hold you!" she crooned, happily shooing them away.
Crimson smiled. Her fingers delicately plucked a leaf that was stuck to her sister's injured arm, and she flicked it over their shoulders. Then, with a few soft strokes of her dexterous hands, she smoothed the disheveled fur into place. "Don't fret, Clo-Clo; you're in good hands now. All ya need to do is relax and let me take care of everything..."