Venus reaches up and pinches her nose, letting her tongue hang out her mouth like the tail of a letter 'Q'. "Doesn't even need to be poison. Caramelized corpse just flat-out never smells like roses. You okay?"

She holds the other hand out, elbow resting at her side, as if to remind him that she hasn't pulled the sword from her belt. She knows better than to assume every kid here is docile, but she also knows that no one really wants to watch a grown woman beat up a pre-pubescent boy.

"You know that guy you're flambeing?"