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The constable was doing it again. Sitting at the bar, still and quiet and not drinking in the midst of the bustle and commotion and drunken carousing of a busy night at the dabo tables -- the new investigator probably thought he was being subtle but he really wasn't.
Quark decided to confront him about it. "Can I help you, Odo?" he asked pointedly.
Odo quickly looked away. "What?" he asked, feigning ignorance.
"You were staring at my ears again, that's what."
That made Odo change his tune, somewhat. "What, is there something wrong with that?" Odo said with a haughty sniff.
"Didn't your mother ever teach you it's rude to stare?" Quark asked but he grinned as he said it in a way that indicated he was mainly just amused.
"I don't have a mother," Odo muttered.
"Right, of course," Quark said, still in a good mood. "I don't get it," he wondered aloud, "what's so interesting about my ears anyway?"
Odo paused before answering. "They're quite large," he said at last.
"Oh?" Quark said with a small smile, running a fingertip along the edge of his lobe. "You think my ears are big?"
"Well, yes, I just meant, compared to other species," Odo said, in a somewhat defensive tone.
Quark's cheer dimmed just a little bit at that.
After a moment, Odo added, "It makes it easy to notice a lot of... details... I've never noticed before."
"Oh," Quark said, his disappointment increasing as he began to have an inkling as to the reason why the investigator kept on staring at his ears. "Your ears, huh," he stated, pointing at them with a finger.
Odo covered one of his ears with a hand self-consciously. "I... still haven't been able to figure them out yet. They're... difficult."
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it eventually."
Odo glared at him.
All right, apparently he didn't appreciate patronizing words of encouragement. Quark decided to busy himself with other tasks as he tried to think of a different topic to switch to.
Odo's voice interrupted his train of thoughts: "Quark... Would -- Could I touch them?"
Quark inhaled too fast and almost ended up choking. Of course there was no way that Odo could mean it that way given the innocent way in which he'd said so many things in this conversation. But it didn't stop Quark from giving his typical reply: "Only if you're serious about it," he said with a grin.
Odo frowned. "What do you mean by that?"
Quark sighed. Well, he supposed Odo would find out eventually. Might as well be today. "Maybe you don't know this, Odo, but Ferengi ears are an erogenous zone."
There was a loud scraping sound as the investigator shot up from his seat.
"So if you want to touch them," Quark continued, "you're welcome--"
"Forget I asked," Odo said harshly.
"Are you sure?" Quark asked innocently. "It could be quite the educational--"
"FORGET. I. ASKED," Odo repeated, snarling.
Quark felt a chill at the almost murderous look in Odo's face. He only belatedly realized that it was probably a bad idea to tease the new shapeshifter security officer too much. Quark gave him a nervous smile. "Haha, right, of course," he assured him quickly.
At that, Odo stormed out of the bar, and Quark watched him go.
Well, a Ferengi could dream...