Guzma and Odette plucked their share of uniforms from the proffered pile, with Guzma snickering as he examined his hat and sash.
“Oh,” he snickered. “We’re entering our Zorro cosplay era, huh?”
He put it on anyway. Clearly something about that struck him as cool.
Before Esperanza could completely leave them, Odette held out a hand to stop her.
“Thank you for everything,” she said. “I’ll send word to Sonora that we met. Hopefully you guys can meet before too long.”
As the floragato disappeared into the night, Odette settled back next to a thoughtful looking Guzma. Something about the interaction had settled his gruff exterior, at least until Odette fished her gun out of het garter and loaded it with the last few iron thorns she had in her pouch.
“Do you really need that?” he said in a huff.
She spun the barrel, and when the gun clicked into a lock, she stuffed it back where she found it. “She said they have guns. I have one too.”
The staccato of her delivery let any listening ear know that was all she had to say on the subject.
"I have people I've been working with,"
Odette settled into a silence, listening to the rest of her unwilling companions converse. The only thing she offered to the back-and-forth about the “what’s next’s” was a muffled, barbed scoff.
Yeah, you have people you’ve been working with, she wanted to say.
The people who just tried to fucking kill us.
It felt like the opportunity was presenting itself for her to out him right then and there. Not like Lillie would listen to her either way, but Blue seemed skittish enough to not want to adhere to the words of a zoroark who was accused of trying to wipe out another group of ‘mon trying to protect a god. The sprigatito, on the other hand…small and cute, but still hard to say.
But now wasn’t the time. They couldn’t very well get out of this predicament alive if they were all pointing fingers at each other.
Guzma listened to her sound off with a raised furry brow before sliding a slow, cautious glance to Gladius. What the fuck was the animosity there? What was he coming into?
And then there was a stowaway. Not at all what any of them were expecting. Because of course, plans like this never went exactly as intended.
“Awh,
fuck,” Guzma whined, throwing up his claws. “I knew this shit was gonna go tits up in some capacity, but not so damn
quick.”
"I mean, the silver is real, it's not nothing, but Essie's been trying to find a way to get me away from Papa for months
While the rest of the party scrambled to figure out how to handle this evidently terrified servine, the outer layers of Odette’s focus peeled away, allowing her to zero in solely on this unexpected passenger. Something about her fear, her insistence they not send her back…
She was the smuggled goods. Not anything in the cabin, but this poor girl, desperate to get away from her father.
Guzma, having caught on, brought his claws up to rub his nose as defeat settled over him. “Y’know…it might’a been super damn helpful if El Esperorro or whatever the fuck her name was mentioned we were dealing with a—“
Odette sprung up and jabbed a finger at Gladius. Not one of accusation; one of genuine concern.
“You,” she said, breathless. Something unsaid had lit a fire under her ass. Her eyes were wide with a want—no, a
need—to figure this out. “Zoroark in my world can sometimes be trained to take on disguises with clothing items on. Can you stretch your abilities to change into a form that’s wearing this uniform—“she tugged her own sash for good measure—“so we can give her the one you’re wearing now?”
Before he could answer, she turned back to Guzma and snapped at him. “Give her your glasses.”
He squinted at at her. “Huh?”
“Give. Her. Your glasses. They’ll cover her face. Just a hat and a sash aren’t going to do shit for a disguise, but if her eyes are covered, she’ll be better off.”
It took him a second, but he seemed to ultimately agree. He rose to his four feet and scurried across the carriage to Isabella, presenting her with the only thing he’d taken with him off his human form.
“Here,” he said. “Not sure how well they’re gonna fit your, uh…” He slitted his eyes at her snakey snout. “…nose. But it’s better than nothing. Just don’t break them.”