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It all started in Italy with a pair of snakeskin shoes. Cliff didn’t think too much of it at the time since Rick was already treating himself to the finer things with his recent earnings. Then there was the gold snake bracelet Rick said he was buying for Francesca as a wedding gift. Cliff thought it was a weird choice but maybe she was really into snakes for some reason. He never saw her wear it, though.
But it wasn’t until a few weeks after the incident with the fucking hippies that Cliff finally brought his observation of the fast growing collection of snake themed merchandise to Rick’s attention. He wasn’t sure exactly what happened while he was in the hospital other than Francesca leaving Rick, and for all he knew this was some sort of coping mechanism if snakes really did remind him of her.
“Hey man. I gotta ask. What the fuck is up with all the snakes?”
“What do you mean?”
“What do you mean ‘what do you mean’? Shit, you’re drinking a shot with a rattler on it right now.”
Rick looked down at the shot glass in his grasp and around at the drinkware and bar tools with some sort of snake motif on it. “Well shit, guess I went on a bit of a shopping spree, didn’t I?”
“Was that her favorite animal?”
“Huh? You mean Francesca? Nah, nah, she ain’t got anything to do with this, shit. This is all me.” Rick downs his whiskey and pours another. “Sure you don’t want any?”
“Not if we’re heading out soon. So that bracelet was for you then? The one in Italy.”
“Ah, fuck. I forgot about that thing. Should have asked for it back before she left. No, I gave it to her but I don’t think she fancied it too much.”
“So. Why the hell are you buying all this snake shit then?”
Rick snorts and downs his second shot. “Fucking swear you w-won’t laugh?”
“I’ll try.”
“I-I had a chat with Sam Wanamaker while filming Lancer. He said he thinks a rattlesnake is my spirit animal and well, guess I-I wanted to em-embrace that.”
“Huh…” Cliff looks away as he can’t help but chuckle and shake his head in disbelief as he tries to shut himself up by taking a drag on his cigarette.
“Look, I-I-I know I’m not normally into this kind of shit because I don’t usually believe in it, but-“
“Oh hey, no. I’m not laughing at you for doing that. I’m laughing that you think a rattlesnake, or whatever kind of snake, is your spirit animal.”
“Well then, if you know me so well wh-what do you s-see me as?”
Cliff bites his lip and rubs his hand over his chin, anticipating the worst. “Well. If I had to pick. I guess I’d go with… a rabbit.”
Rick luckily finished most of his third shot before the spit-take kicked in. “A wh-wh-WHAT??”
“Well some sort of prey animal but yeah, I think rabbit works best. Cute. Cuddly. Gets easily stressed, all nervous and jumpy.” Cliff grins and makes a sudden movement like he’s going to attack him and watches Rick instinctively back up in response. “See? Like that. If you were a snake you’d have bitten me back.”
Rick was so flustered by Cliff making a point that he forgoes the glass and just takes a swig from the whiskey bottle before putting it away. “Asshole. Come on, let’s get going.”
—-
Cliff got the all clear at his hip check-up and was relieved that he’d managed to escape the attack with no lasting damage. He took this as maybe a sign he was being given a second chance and should take this opportunity to at least attempt to make something of himself in case Rick tries pulling a marriage stunt again and he really is left out on his own. Rick wanted to pick up some more reading material anyways so here Cliff was, in a bookstore browsing the shelves for any sort of career self-help that was calling out to him. But that feeling of not wanting to waste this opportunity was slowly vanishing and being replaced by wondering what was in the adults only section when Rick comes around the corner brandishing a book he found.
“Here, you prick. Read this.” Rick opens the book to the page his thumb kept marked and shoves it at Cliff’s chest.
Cliff rolls his eyes when he looks at the cover and sees this is gonna be Rick trying to defend his spirit animal choice. “Alright, let’s see. The snake often appears as spiritual guidance during a period of transition. Is that what you’re in? I mean, you grew your hair out so I guess.”
“Not a physical transition. Just l-life in general. I mean, going through a marriage and divorce and living in another country counts.” Rick takes the book back so he could get to cherry picking his proof. “Shedding skin is kinda like me shedding each character I play.”
“Uh huh. I think the shedding skin is supposed to be you shedding your personal demons or something. Like maybe stop all the drinking. And are you sure Sam wasn’t saying the character you’re playing is like a rattlesnake and not Rick Dalton?”
Rick ignores his question as he continues to interpret what he’s reading. “Snakes are close to the ground so it’s suppose to mean I gotta stay grounded in my transition.”
“Man, I think you just wish you were a snake more so than you are one.” Cliff grabs the book from Rick and skims it over. “I don’t think cold-blooded should mean someone is calm and chill, which we all know you’re not. Self-awareness… well you know you’re a drunk so you got that going for you.”
“Th-thanks. I guess.”
Cliff just shakes his head as he flips to the index to find what he wants. “Well if your goal is to transition into a snake let’s see what it currently says about what I think you are. The rabbit is often associated with abundance, prosperity, and longevity.”
Rick instantly cracks up at this. “Holy shit. Ho-lee shiiiit. Could you pick anything more wrong?”
“Wrong? I don’t know man, compared to me and a lot of other people you sure do have an abundance of shit and are far more prosperous than most people who come out here trying to make it big. You just don’t appreciate what you currently have because you’re too busy wanting more of what you don’t have in comparison to the select few at the top.”
Rick looks down trying to avoid eye contact. He’s seen what little Cliff has to his name and was always amazed how much happier he was than himself. And here he was, always wanting something bigger and better because he felt it wasn’t enough, that it meant he wasn’t successful enough; that he was a failure.
“Well I-I-I sure don’t got much l-longevity left to me, that’s for sure. N-no one is gonna remember who I am in another ten years.”
“Oh, I don’t know. You still got people coming up to you, calling you ‘Jake’ or hell, didn’t you say Jay remembered where the flamethrower was from? Shit, man. As long as one person remembers who you are and what you’ve done, you’ve still got more longevity than the average Joe. And as long as I’m around, I’ll be sure to keep your legend going.” Cliff pats him on the shoulder as he continues to read. “Although it does say here that the longevity is associated with rabbits being extremely fertile and well, we won’t be finding out if that’s the case any time soon.”
Rick growls and snatches the book back as he continues to read it on his own. He gets to the part about how rabbits are often associated with fear and anxiety, something he unfortunately knows dictates his life as he pretty much showed just now to Cliff that he was afraid of being forgotten. And then there was cleverness and creativity? Well… he guessed torching that fucking hippie chick with a flamethrower was kinda that. Goddamnit, was he trying to validate Cliff now?
“I-I-I don’t want to be a r-rabbit,” Rick whines and sniffs as he wipes his nose on his hand. Why the fuck was he crying over something as stupid as this? Rick Dalton has hit a new fucking low.
“Well then, learn to be a snake. But I’d personally would rather cuddle a bunny. Ya know, like those Playboy bunnies. You’d look cute with those ears and little fluffy tail.” Cliff braced himself for the book smack he knew was coming for saying that before continuing. “So what do you think I would be.”
“Something stupid or annoying, like a woodpecker.”
“Well… I do like pecking wood (braces for another smack), or are you just calling me a double dick?”
“Goddamnit, Cliff. Y-you give me a headache sometimes.”
“Like a woodpecker.” Cliff grins as he gets one last smack. “Nah, but in all seriousness, I’d probably go with… maybe a wolf?”
Rick scoffs as he flips through to find that page only to have his face fault when he reads it. “Well. Shit.”
“What’s it say?”
“The wolf is associated with loyalty, freedom, and strong instincts.”
“Yup. Doesn’t sound like me at all. Guess my instinct on that wasn’t too good.”
“Oh, fuck off. Oh hey, wait a minute. S-says here wolves are very loyal because they mate for life and won’t have another if their partner dies. You’re fucked on that one, buddy.”
Cliff smirks. “Am I? Where does it say there that the ‘mate for life’ is the one they’re legally married to?”
“W-well I-I assumed that’s just… just what i-it’s suppose to mean.”
“I wouldn’t stunt for anyone else but you if something happened to ya.”
“You wouldn’t anyways because no one would hire you.”
“True. But I still would never be someone else’s regular. Just do background stunts or something. I’m your partner for life, or at least until you try divorcing me again. Don’t know what I would have done if those hippie didn’t inadvertently reverse that.”
“Fine, Fine, stop guilt tripping me, shit. I-I’ll go put this back.” Rick closes the book and tries flattening it so it doesn’t look like it just got roughed up and disappears around the corner, returning a few minutes later with a couple books he wanted to get. “Alright let’s go check out.”
Cliff cocks an eyebrow at his reading choices. “Grimms’ Fairy Tales? Aesop’s Fables? Got a kid somewhere you haven’t told me about?”
“What’s wrong with me wanting to read that? If Walt Disney can make it off this kind of shit and get adults to see it then i-it can’t be that bad.”
“I hear wolves tend to have a bad rap in fairytales.”
“I could say the same about them having a bad rap around sets. Especially this one jerk I know.”
“Well they sure aren’t easy to domesticate. But you never know. One might for a rabbit.”
Rick groans as he gets in line to check out. “Thought wolves eat rabbits.”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure this one has.” Cliff smiles as he watches Rick fumble with his wallet at the innuendo, cursing under his breath before switching to public appropriate Rick for the cashier. He even got an ‘Aren’t you Jake Cahill?’ from her which made her day just as much as his.
“See? Longevity. No one else is getting that treatment. She had no clue who the hell I am.”
“Fine. You’ve made your point. I’ll get rid of the snake stuff.”
“Nah, man. Just use both. Lord knows you probably need at least two with how all over the place you get. Might even need a third.”
Rick didn’t bring up this debate again after the car ride home so neither did Cliff, although Cliff did think about maybe getting some rabbit gag gifts just to mess with him. But to either Cliff’s disappointment or pleasant surprise, he found a new shot glass a week later with a rabbit on it that he knows he didn’t buy. Either Rick was going to embrace it or beat Cliff at his own game before he could.
Clever rabbit.