It was incredibly funny that he now seemed unwilling to say 'that word', and also that he had any qualms about anyone being impolite from the way he spoke to her, so Claudia's giggles became an outright laugh over his continued swearing that she had to try to reign in with a squeak and hand to her mouth again. It became a little less funny as she heard Louis in her ear, telling her they didn't have to put up anymore with the white arrogance that thought them savages. To him, she was a dog, now a cat, and ravaged livestock. How predictable for a thing whose so much more polite skin wasn't even real.

She was suddenly right in front of him, one fist in the preppy forelock of his hair, yanking it up to let her grab a steely hold around the hinge of his jaw, fingers pressing into the joint relentlessly. "Which of them do you think called me a dog?" she asked sweetly, eyes locked on his, red and refusing to blink. "And how long do you think they lasted after that? One minute? Two? Maybe it depends on if you're counting how long their heart was still beating. That could be hours."