Serah's head spun from hearing Zel-Ghin drone on and on, not giving her a chance to speak. Well, he did give a brief pause for her to interject, staring intently into her eyes. She didn't look away- albeit more out of defiance than for any other reason as she looked him in the eye.

[color=00aeef]"Well... I don't know, have you tried being less of a jerk?"[/color] she'd tell him bluntly, crossing her arms with a frown. [color=00aeef]"You're part of the team now. It wouldn't be a party without [i]everyone[/i] there, you included. If you tried being nicer to people, I'm sure they'd like you a lot better."[/color]

It was then that Zel-Ghin commented on her being eager to jump into the fray, and that he'd trade her a lollipop for a [i]kiss[/i]. She visibly shuddered at the thought. [color=00aeef]"I- no?? No thank you, not in a million years!"[/color] she snapped back, taking a step back to get away from him. He took the opportunity to walk past her, saying he'll be at the party. At least she accomplished what she set out to do. Before Zel-Ghin fully walked out of sight, Serah put her hands around her mouth and shouted one last thing at him:

[color=00aeef]"The professor said we could change parts of our frames out! If you really think [i]Squid[/i] was the problem, then just try it and see what happens!"[/color]

...There. Serah had done everything she'd set out to do. She spun on her heel and walked back in the direction she came from, away from Zel-Ghin. She suddenly remembered the lollipop he gave her and pulled it out, inspecting it as she walked. [color=00aeef]"For a kiss...? You're throwing them at everyone on the ship..."[/color] she muttered to herself. She didn't want it to go to waste so she fumbled with the wrapper for a bit, then a small piece unceremoniously crashed to the ground from having split in two after the head bonking incident. Serah begrudgingly picked it up to not litter, partially because she was raised as a good little girl and another part of her didn't want to find out what kind of horrific punishment littering was met with on this ship. Then she licked it, because Serah ain't afraid of no floor.

It was apple flavor.

Yuck.

She promptly tossed both halves in the nearest bin she could find.