"Instead, our friendship began because you think what I can do is incredible," he quotes, with a bit of an edge to his tone.

All of this praise about Alan is making his skin crawl. He thinks, briefly, what it would be like to show Darling what he thinks about people who fawn over Alan, but, no. He has to switch gears.

"I hope you're not going to try and get a blood sample." Scratch leans back in a bit. His voice has taken a playfully flirtatious quality instead of the annoyance seeping in earlier. "I'd be a terrible lab rat."