"Don't you mean, you've got plenty hanging off you?" Rosa retorted playfully. She flicked the aproned belly again with a laugh, but her next words left no doubt what the kitsune really meant. "I smell some tasty tanuki meat under there."
"Oho, I like your tone, foxy." Martin's gut jiggled as he laughed in turn. "Maybe we could go somewhere private so you could take a closer look at the goods."
"Mmm." Rosa took another sip of punch, smirking around the Halloween-themed plastic cup. "I think we could play around a little before we get intimate. You know? Let the others have some fun, too." She held up a finger, a little flame springing from her claw as if it were a lighter.
"Oh? What do you have in mind?" asked the tnauki, mischief piqued.
"Well... I think this punch is kind of bland..." With a glance to make sure nobody besides the tanuki (and an increasingly "heated" James) was watching, she skimmed her claw across the liquid in the punch bowl. The foxfire flashed across its surface, and vanished. The scent wafting to their sensitive noses shifted to a richer, spicier... and somewhat arousing aroma.
"There! That'll help people loosen up. Make them more... accepting, if you know what I mean." She winked at Martin, then ladled some of her magically spiked punch into her half-empty cup.
Honestly, he wasn't quite sure what she did mean, though from the smell he was guessing "aphrodisiac" fit in somewhere. But before the tanuki could inquire, a hot scent of another kind intruded upon his nostrils -- the scent of fire, laced with musty reptile.
The other mythics had been aware of Rosa's little stunt, though only James had actually seen the flicker of flame across the punchbowl. The release of magic attracted worry from Kacey and Brad -- what had the kitsune done to the punch? Brad debated asking her versus simply deterring anyone from drinking; Kacey took a more direct approach, moving decisively towards the two tricksters.
But James had no such concern. All he saw was his girl performing for someone else. It was the final straw, and with a disgusted snort of flame he shoved out of the ring of his admirers and stomped towards vixen and tanuki.
Martin turned around just in time for the dragon's heavy claw to descend on his shoulder. Rosa, who had been aware of James' approach from the corner of her eye, raised a brow but just continued to smirk around her cup.
"You're messing with something that belongs to me," growled James, smoke spilling out of his nostrils.
Martin blinked. He couldn't help but be a bit intimidated by the bigger, more muscular male -- and the hard feel of the hand on his fur, and the acrid scent, confirming that this was a real anthro dragon glaring down at him. But he also felt... mischievous. He glanced over at the vixen. Yeah, he thought to himself. I'll show her what a trickster I really am! That's bound to impress a kitsune, right?
Encouraged by her sly expression, he gave the dragon a cocky smile. "Hey man, we were just talking. And I don't see your name on the fox."
James was a bit taken aback -- this was not the reaction he was expecting from a lesser creature. Then he snarled. "You've got a nose now, don't you? You should smell my scent on her!"
"Oh, James." Rosa laughed. She had never been fond of this James' posessiveness -- it was why their relationship was on-again, off-again -- and as a free-spirited kitsune she found it even more repulsive. But she also found it ridiculous, and she masked her other feelings with humour. "'Your scent' on me is of the old you... besides, I have enough tail to go around."
"What!?" James stared at her, outraged at the implications. Martin took the opportunity to wriggle free of his claws.
"Brother." Kacey's cool voice interposed. The onlookers started, seeming to notice the unicorn girl for the first time, standing radiant in their midst. Behind her stood Abby, somehow seeming to fade into the shadows despite her large wings. "Control yourself. Everyone's watching."
"Don't tell your big brother what to do!" James barely spared a glance at her, before turning back to Martin. "Let everyone see me put this overweight raccoon in his place!"
"Overweight, or overqualified?" retorted Martin. Now that he had some distance between them, his fears dissipated under the heady sense of magic at his fingertips. He was totally ready to rock this arrogant worm -- and more importantly, wow the lady trickster in the process! "I've definitely got you beat in one area, lizard boy!"
The still-human party-goers blushed under their masks as the tanuki patted his loins under the apron, but couldn't help following the tanuki's eyes to rest on the dragon's own smooth crotch.
Flames flickered around James' jaws. "That -- that just makes you a bigger target!"