Experimentation [FINISHED]

[Bee]

[OOC: Minh referenced with Dark’s permission.]



The night was mostly cool and pleasant, but the faintly malodorous city air thickened and ripened into outright foulness as she entered the pub. Mnemosyne did not frequent these places to drink or enjoy the company—her drinking was mostly limited to intimate social occasions, and drunks were usually too far gone in the brain to be any fun to toy with. But Mnemosyne did not much care for relationships (they took too much effort, and for the most part were so very tiresome and not worth the time invested), so the dingy little bar was a fine place to pick someone up for the evening. She would be long gone the following morning and her companions usually did not remember who she was—other than, possibly, a lingering notion of bright fur and ornamental beauty—and that worked out just fine for her.

But tonight that was not the only thing on her mind. Tonight she had a companion already—not one that she planned to have that kind of fun with, but a companion nevertheless—and Mnemosyne was quite determined to show her a good time, and have a good one herself.

Her eyes raked appraisingly over the barflies, assessing targets. Then she turned to her friend.

“Plenty of people for you to experiment on, my dear associate. You may even attempt socializing before you drag them off to your lair.”

[Dark]

Minh objects for the simple sake of argument: “It’s not a lair.”

Secretly, the term delighted her. A lair—it sounded entirely wicked and dastardly and sounded oh so much sweeter than having to explain an abandoned basement facility. It was short and to the point. And did she mention wicked?

Mnemosyne was kind of like a lair herself—innocuous on the outside, but upon exploration unwillingly divulged barely legal Bander experiments, illegal chemical compounds and slightly incriminating lab notes.

The bar had totally been Mnemosyne’s idea, after some muttered explanation of needing a particular kind of companionship that could most easily be found at such a venue. Minh was about seven shades of horrified. So many people, crammed together in a convulsing mass of erotically moving bodies. The smell of alcohol was too sharp on her nose; the music too loud.

Mnemosyne just grinned, and dragged her rather forcibly into the crowd.


[[Mnemosyne referenced with Bee's permission, yo.]]

[seraaches]

It wasn’t his usual hangout; he was above these types of places. Usually. Except when it was useful to look for information. How likely was it he’d find anything? Very slim. Exceedingly slim. Frighteningly slim. But on nights like these, nights when his past rode him hard, he had to get out, had to do –something- to appease a conscience pushing guilt because he’d been raising his rank and preparing for his move to the Capital rather than searching dutifully for the blasted pispards who had nearly killed him as a colt; who –had- succeeded in killing Shin. He wished he had a fist just so he could clench it.

So he sat in seedy bars, drinking swill and listening. That was all. Fine, triangular ears swiveled this way and that picking up a thread of conversation here, then there; searching for something of note.

“—and SHE said there was no way in h—”

“Kimer, you’re joking, there’s no way she would agree to sleep with—”

“It’s not a lair.”

“–was all just a prank!”

But the stallion’s interest was suddenly perked and he searched again for the conversation he had just lost. A lair? Lairs could be promising. His green head twisted in an easy motion, ears up as he tried to pinpoint exactly where that phrasing had come from; it wasn’t entirely incongruous, but it was also doubtful that a simple glance around the room would garner much attention. He certainly wasn’t the only one searching for persons of… interest tonight. All he could say was that he was likely a bit more discerning in his choices than those around him.

[Bee]

Mnemosyne found that trying to keep Minh entertained became much easier once the feline had the seed of mischief planted in her head, and Mnemosyne therefore found it much easier to scope out targets of her own. The pickings were slim in Yarrow Gardens as far as men were concerned--there were so very few of them, and as such were in high enough demand that none of them actually had to go anywhere or do anything to get snatched up by some lucky lass--and while Mnem liked women well enough, she was in the mood for something a little different now that she was in the city. At least for now.

And perhaps she had finally found it. Her wandering eyes finally rested on a bright green stallion who was drinking at the bar, and looking far too intently at the people around him. Most people probably would not have noticed this. Mnem was not most people.

Especially when she was on the prowl.

He was a superior suit and a higher rank, she knew that immediately, but Mnemosyne for better or for worse was not typically intimidated by that sort of thing. Sheer force of personality usually carried her through. And when that didn't work--well...her garden had usually served her well, in those unfortunate circumstances.

She turned for a moment to Minh. "I think I've found something," she said, mouth curving upwards slyly. "Would you be a doll and keep yourself amused for a little while? This might work out well for the both of us."

[Dark]

Minh was slowly learning that Mnemosyne’s sex drive was something to be reckoned with, and was starting to wonder if maybe her sensuous friend needed some sort of inhibitor. But then, Minh wasn’t too keen on curbing Mnemosyne’s appetites when it meant a gain for her as well. Mnemosyne lured them in, took what she wanted, and threw what was left to Minh to play with. It actually worked quite well, in the grand scheme of things.

Minh glanced in the direction Mnemosyne’s attention seemed to have drawn, alighting on a rather striking stallion. Her friend certainly had taste—he was a fine specimen.

Good thing Mnemosyne was around to play the siren, though—Minh was the type his type put restraining orders out against.

“Yes, yes. You have fun with that. I’ll be off in that dark corner, brooding over an appletini.”

Because brooding was what slightly mad biochemists did when dragged out to socialize, and a appletini just tasted good. (No matter what image it sent, dammit.)

[seraaches]

Shinrai heaved a low sigh as his ears briefly flattened in irritation. Whoever had said that wasn't talking about it any longer. In the low hum of the bar, it was difficult to follow tones; he had to sweep for words, at least until he could get a good lock on the location of his targets. He huffed slightly in annoyance, baring his teeth when a waitress approached him with an alluring smile and a sway to her steps.

Affronted, she dropped his next mug on the table and stalked off. Rai gulped the dredges of his beer and pulled the new one closer carefully. How many of these had he had? He wasn't entirely certain, and still the world was fairly well focused and clear. He wondered if he was building up immunity to this stuff.

He carefully took another sip. Well, he certainly wasn’t growing to like the taste. He stuck out his tongue briefly in disgust. Well, he wasn’t buying this stuff for it’s lovely flavour, nor for the wonderful atmosphere; he bought this swill because it was the cheapest on the menu and he could spend hours here for virtually no cost. His tail twitched between his legs as his ears began their pivoting yet again, searching for something of note.

[Bee]

Mnemosyne threw an amused smile at Minh's back as she slinked off to her dank little corner. To glower while...sipping delicately at an appletini. As mad scientists do. Mnem chuckled. Well, whatever floated Minh's boat. Mnem just wished she were able to somehow record Minh's odd play at being a moody mad genius for posterity.

Then she shifted her attention back to the stallion. He looked to be the brooding sort--sullenly attentive and drinking a steady, endless stream of booze--and if it weren't for his coloring Mnemosyne might have fancied he hailed from Torquehelm. But this was fine. She liked the brooding sort. They made for an amusing chase.

She wondered, briefly, what approach she could try. Most drunks fell hard and easy for the slanted-smile vixen routine, but the stallion did not look drunk, quite. Merely morose. Had Mnemosyne still been involved in her former enterprise, she might have offered him a drink with a special additive from her own expansive garden to make him more amiable and amenable.

For a few hours, at least. Then he would have dropped dead. But she would have a lot of fun beforehand.

Perhaps quietly self-possessed and classy, then. The persistently morbid and disagreeable were usually fond of that.

Purpose in mind, perfect aura affected, Mnemosyne padded lightly up to the stallion's perch and took a seat, slouching as elegantly as was possible to slouch. She flickered her most alluring smile, and said, "You waiting for someone, doll?"

[seraaches]

Shinrai heard someone approaching him, though there was an equally good chance that whoever it was would simply pass on by to assault some other table rather than his. No such luck this time, though; the soft, padding steps stopped beside him. The equine didn't -quite- flinch when she slunk up, but only one ear swiveled towards her, the pointed tip quivering steadily before his whole head finally turned to face her.

She was… a surprise. A bright-toned creature with knowing pink eyes and streaks of purple and yellow shot through her pink fur, Rai wasn’t certain if the surprise was for her glamorous looks beside his own more plain colouring or the obvious fact that she was a Yarrow Gardens creature and he was a high-ranked male from Josiggy. Specifically, that he was a high-ranked male. Finally he settled on being surprised by the latter rather than the former. Nevertheless, while this all passed through his mind, there was only a glimmer of surprise and decision evident in his grey-green eyes; his face remained a blank mask of coldness.

”Whoever I may or may not be waiting for, it likely isn’t you.” He didn’t like dogs. He didn’t hate them anymore, but it had taken a great deal of counseling to get him to that point. So now he just disliked them from the get-go and was occasionally surprised by a lack of aggressiveness and stupidity by one or two of them. Though the others he met often more than made up for it.

[Dark]

Oh, burn.

Minh might not be the ensnaring type, herself, and she might not be able to hear exactly what was being said, but she knew a rejection when she saw one. And Mnemosyne had just got trashed. Hah.

Mnemosyne was clever, though, and if she played her cards right—hah—she might be able to keep this from being a total disaster. Either way, Minh was quite content watching from the sidelines, sipping her appletini and hissing and/or growling at anyone who strayed too close to her gloomy sanctuary. It was almost therapeutic.

Routing around in the tote bag she had taken to carrying with her everywhere, she pulled out some journals on experimental gene splicing. She’d rather be at home doing something useful with her time, but there was no one—mainly Mnemosyne—to say she couldn’t get some work done now, and she might as well take advantage of some spare time to catch up on her reading.

Oh, yeah. Now this was more like it.

[Bee]

The stinging shot to Mnemosyne's pride was biting but ultimately transitory. She knew what she was getting into, and hadn't expected it to be simple--if she had wanted an easy lay she would have focused her attentions on some alcohol-addled nitwit, and while she didn't rule that out as Plan B, she had every intention of seeing Plan A through.

Besides, she had noticed a brief flicker of surprise in the stallion's expression before it settled back into its seemingly typical surly caste. There was, she thought, something to work with, small though it may be. She just needed a bit of persistence, and she had that in--if one could pardon the pun--spades.

She just hoped it was worth the effort.

So she glossed lightly over the rebuff. "It likely isn't something terribly interesting, then," she said affably. She scanned the room briefly for a barmaid, spotted one, and waved. "Darling!" she called. "Your best aged barley wine for me and my companion, please."