Experimentation [FINISHED]

[seraaches]

Shinrai’s ears flattened again, he wasn’t entirely certain he trusted this canine’s version of “fun”; and their definitions were likely nothing alike. She had a mischievous glint in her eye. Perhaps they were just a little bit similar. He drained the glass before him, and, after a few moments of hesitation, accepted the refill.

It seemed the world was swaying slightly, but previous experience argued that it was likely him. It would be interesting, he thought detachedly, if the world would sway for him so he could just stand still. Focus, man, focus. It would be dangerous to let his guard down around the female beside him; he knew that instinctively.

Still, somehow it didn’t seem like a good to let the alcohol go to waste, so Rai kept drinking. "Just so we're clear," he said easily, voice still not showing the signs that he was truly beginning to feel the effects of his evening thus far. "I don't trust you."

[Bee]

He was just about where she wanted him to be, Mnemosyne reckoned. Perhaps a drink or two more, but the endorphin rush of the brawl she was about to push him into should settle the matter just as effectively as another glass of barley wine.

"You don't need to trust me," she informed him brightly, and it must have been the booze itself that made her utter the following words: "I'm not really particularly trustworthy, on the whole. But it's not like we're making the kind of commitment that necessitates trust."

She focused her attention on the fight raging on in front of them. The lynx had long since been taken out by the bear, but the battle continued anyway. A good outpouring of pent-up wrath for everyone involved, Mnem thought. And she was going to add another to the mess.

She raised a paw in Minh's direction. "My hapless little friend," she said, "could use some help, I think. I would be ever-so-grateful for your assistance."

[seraaches]

Rai snorted a low laugh. ”I’m glad we both know where we stand with each other.” He finished the last of his glass in a quick toss-back and shook his head carefully, the first real sign that the alcohol was affecting him. Still, he was beginning to feel antsy; certainly a bad sign. Normally he would take this as a sign to leave the bar and roam for awhile, but the fight he’d been studiously ignoring would work out the anxiety-based kinks. Or cause more.

He eyed the Corvistowneian feline with a sense of trepidation that he wrote off as the alcohol preparing him for a fight. She really didn’t look too bad off, just a little overwhelmed. He could even those odds.

The stallion went in with the first hint of a frightening grin touching his face. He had to concentrate to keep from kicking too hard and he could tell he wasn’t reacting as fast as he usually did. Ah, well, he was still doing fairly well—a heavy blow caught the side of the stallion’s head and he went flying into a fox. His ‘pillow’ hissed angrily and Rai responded by baring his teeth, then leaping forward to knock the bear off balance. His cheek stung where claws had scraped and Rai circle quickly in the tight space, nearly trampling someone’s tail. However, in his new position, the green horse could slam his hind legs into the bear’s deep chest and sent that off-balance creature flying.

Things might have gone from bad to worse, but the bear convenient slammed into a nearby wall and slumped down into unconsciousness. The main instigator in the fight was now down and the scuffles became less free-for-all and more one-on-one. With the way a bit more clear, the stallion forced his way to the desired feline’s side. Looking down at her, he abruptly realized he didn’t know the Gardens female’s name.

”Your friend suggests you move,” he said brilliantly… or not so brilliantly.

[Dark]

“Hm?”

Minh glanced sideways at the green blur that had invaded her space, while simultaneously ducking low to avoid a wild punch. Apparently someone was talking to her—and it wasn’t a drunkenly slurred insult to her parentage. She floored the duck assaulting her and turned.

The stallion—the one Mnemosyne had been chatting up. Really kinda cute, but so not her type; she much preferred the skinny, pale, angst-filled type. The kind you want to take home, bandage up, and snuggle. Yeah.

And—friend? He must be talking about Mnemosyne; and where had she gotten off to, anyway? Shouldn’t she have moved this young stallion to a private room somewhere by now? Whatever. Not her problem. She kicked the duck for good measure before responding, laughing as she immediately whirls to go for someone’s ankle:

“Mnemosyne often ‘suggests’ a lot of things, but she should know by now that I don’t usually listen.”

[seraaches]

An ear cocked back and Shinrai absently lifted his right hind leg to kick an incoming rat before it became a problem as he studied the problem before him. How was he supposed to aid someone who evidently didn’t want it? He had to put the foot back down as the world swayed heavily again. The name she produced was a bit overwhelming and his brain simplified it for him so all he really caught was ‘Mnem’.

His ears flicked about again and he caught the sound of another incoming assailant, though he didn’t move in time to avoid the spaniel from slamming into his hindquarters. His hooves scraped along the wooden floor and he threw his head up in the air to help catch his balance. His long tail whipped sideways smacking a half-conscious weasel. Well, blast. He heaved his weight sideways, managing to toss the spaniel back towards her own fight and off of him.

”She seems concerned for your—” He was interrupted by the need to duck a blow, responding to the attacking by lunging forward and knocking the weasel back towards his chair. ”—Safety. Perhaps you should consider retiring for now? The fight is dying down.” He head-butted the weasel, succeeding in knocking the angry muselid out this time.

[Bee]

Temporarily overwhelmed by the action going on around her, Mnemosyne did not have much chance to participate in the rapid-fire exchange between the feline and the stallion, but she heard her name, and wondered what exactly was being spoken.

No matter. There would be time to figure that out later. For now, she was biting the neck of some irascible and howling cat who had thought he was a good deal tougher than he actually was. His filthy scruff was leaving an unpleasant taste in her mouth, so Mnem tossed him into a table. She really preferred to watch these things rather than take part, but there was little she could do about it now--so she worked her way through the masses back to Minh and the stallion, noticing that the mess of creatures was thinning out a bit.

Good, she thought. The brawl was winding down. Hard not to, when a good deal of the participants now appeared to be unconscious.

And there was the stallion, in another fit of fortune. Most excellent. Mnem dismissively kicked a rat out of her way and approached him and Minh.

"It's time for a change of scenery, I should say," Mnem said, inclining her head toward the door. "Minh, I suspect I shall see you soon. And, my brave friend" -- damn, she would need to get hold of that stallion's name -- "I think I saw a lovely place to which we can relocate and continue our...conversation."

[seraaches]

Conversation? Shinrai wasn’t entirely certain wot they had been talking about prior to the fight. With the adrenaline pumping through his muscled body, he –felt- like his head was clear, but this fogginess in his memories bespoke a bit more drink than he remembered consuming. How many had he had? All he mostly recalled right now was the barley wine tasted a great deal better than the low-end beer he’d been drinking since he entered the city.

”All right,” the stallion agreed, though Mnem could easily hear the wariness in the man’s tone. He remembered, sort of, that he and Mnem weren’t getting along. No… that wasn’t it. Maybe they’d just been sarcastic? He needed to stop drinking so much. How much –had- he drunk? He couldn’t remember. He couldn’t even seem to remember wot he was just thinking, nor did he really seem to care; another fact that set up a red flag he just wasn’t responding to.

[Bee]

The stallion was very obviously utterly sodden, and Mnemosyne had the distinct impression that this level of inebriation was not a point at which her companion often found himself. All the better, as far as she was concerned. It made him more malleable.

She considered locations. She did not know much about the layout of Capital City, as she had not been in town terribly long, but she knew that she didn't want to skulk off to some cheap little motel. Her mind conjured images of stained carpets and stale air and poor lighting and she almost visibly grimaced. She may cruise about dingy little bars searching for company, but she never took company to anywhere even remotely dingy. They usually didn't care about the scenery, but she certainly did.

And really, what she cared about was all that really mattered, wasn't it? Of course it was.

There had been a little brocure, she remembered. In one of the little shops, a tourist thing, showing off all the lovely hotels Capital City had to offer. She remembered the names of a couple of them. She was sure she could find them, or find someone who could, if push came to shove. And Mnem was quite convinced that she could get the stallion, in his state, to shell out a pretty penny for a night somewhere nice. (Somewhere nice with room service that would not be averse to supplying them with more alcohol.) Besides, Mnem would make it worth his while.

In what was probably her most unsubtle gesture of the night, she put a paw to the stallion's flank and gently pushed him forward, toward the exit.

"It's a perfectly darling place," she told him, quietly and--since playing the coquette might not be completely wasted on someone so smashed--artfully coy. "It's called the Buried Bud. I trust you can take us there?"

[seraaches]

Shinrai knew he needed to clear his head some as Mnem pushed him towards the door. The red flags were switching to warning bells, but he couldn’t quite think of wot it was that was so important. It was as if those last few drinks of stronger alcohol had slammed into his system and, coupled with the numerous drinks he’d had earlier, the stallion was just about smashed.

Despite this, he was moving fairly well, lucky for Mnem, and he could keep to his feet. When he stood still, however, the large green formed seemed to sway slightly, as though in a gentle wind. Otherwise, the alcohol had just clogged his brain a bit.

”I don’t know where that is,” the horse replied a bit belatedly to Mnem’s question. Though it might be uncertain as to whether he really knew wot the question was. Perhaps he shouldn’t have head butted the weasel. Or squirrel. Or wotever it was he’d been fighting.

[Bee]

Mnem gently tugged her inebriated companion along, only momentarily set back by his apparent lack of navigational skills. Only to be expected from someone in his state, she supposed.

She would just have to ask around, then, or perhaps there was some sort of directory that would point them in the right direction. And then she would have to arrange some sort of meet-up point with Minh, so she could do her business--another kind of business entirely than what Mnem herself had planned--after Mnem was done with him. She wished she had coordinated this better a little earlier.

Oh well. She would just have to--

Ah. There was a directory of sorts, situated outside a small restaurant. Good. Mnem had hoped she wouldn't have to resort to asking directions to a hotel while dragging along an obviously drunk partner. That sort of thing tended to look a bit...vulgar.

The hotel was not far off. There were advantages to be had, Mnem thought, to being so close to a center of activity--especially drunken activity--and she was sure the place was not above capitalizing on it. It was a nice affair, in any event. Simple, clean, with a faint air of elegance. Yes, this would do quite nicely.

She smiled brightly at the stallion. "We have arrived, dear heart," she told him. "To the front desk, I should think."