[ he wouldn't want her to flex it anyway. it's not that he wants her definition to change. he just wants to be a part of it to begin with. maybe he doesn't have words for that yet. maybe she doesn't. but they'll figure it out someday.

for now, venus only flinches a little at the feeling of fingers in his hair, and only giggles a little bit at anna calling herself the serpent. ]

Some people think Satan was an angel, once. I'm not sure that could have been you. [ he grins, only lazily bothering to cover his mouth. ] But it was a nice effort? Very serpentlike. You'd definitely corrupt the youth.

[ the lights dance and flicker. for a moment, it seems like they might draw closer, might illuminate some secret between the two...

and then anna says that, and the light evaporates as simply as that. venus breathes in and sighs, less sad or surprised and more resigned. ]

I wouldn't have wanted it in the first place. I already told you, right? I don't... I don't want to try and do that kind of thing in the first place. It's gross. Expecting that from someone is gross.

[ and the weirdest part is, he doesn't even sound like he's lying - to himself or to anna. ]

And you're not even into guys, right? Only someone who actually wanted to kick the devil out would try to change that. [ his tone of voice should make his disgust clear with that idea. ] I don't want any of that. I just... Kind of want to sit here. That's all.