[He stops short. Says, primly,] Well. [She has a point, and it's making him lose steam in his playacting. Mostly he just doesn't want to get out of bed unless he really, really has to, so...

He sighs, and there's a little less grease to his façade. One reason he's been so antisocial lately is that he's just too tired to keep up snotty or sweet appearances, either of them.]

Isn't it enough to know how to hit a person in the mouth? [he asks finally.] I can do that. Can lick a person well enough with just myself, on my own. Any more than that and I don't want to deal with it anyhow, so I should be good just like that. Don't you think?