Experimentation [FINISHED]

[Bee]

There was suddenly a lot of ruckus coming from the other room, and Mnem swore violently under her breath. Of all the times for Rai to suddenly gain consciousness! She knew she should have given him a heavier second dose of tea, chance of slipping into a coma be damned. In fact, he probably would have been so much easier to deal with had he been in a coma. The only snag in that plan was not knowing when--or if--the troublesome horse would wake.

The banders were a pressing concern, but making sure Shinrai didn't escape his binds and flee before they were through with him was even more pressing. She still had a couple of poisons she wanted to try out.

This was almost becoming more trouble than it was a worth.

She shot a look at Minh. "But I think we should secure our dear friend before we set about taking care of our little infestation."

[Dark]

Minh winced as she heard another spectacularly loud crash and nodded in profuse agreement before traversing quickly back in Shinrai’s direction, almost skidding off a book stack in her haste. He couldn’t choose to interrupt something more mundane, could he—he had to start making a fuss when they were in the middle of an intensely delicate retrieval mission. Who knew what mischief the banders were getting up to while they dealt with his tantrum; the possibility of surviving this upheaval was looking to be less and less in their favor. Damn.

Skidding to a halt on a peculiarly balanced cupboard, she took in the thrashing stallion and considered her options. Her eyes skittered in the direction of the rubber mallet Mnemosyne had made her set aside earlier. Maybe now warranted the use of brutal force?

Of course, she could always just lash him down better—but that would mean braving the floor. Crouching low in preparation to pounce, rope in sight, she threw a jaunty salute in Mnemosyne’s direction.

“Cover me.”

[Bee]

Mnem nodded, and as Minh began her operation to pin Shinrai down more securely, she decided to keep close and make sure neither of them got ambused by banders. Her mind was awash with images of dozens of furry monsters attacking them en masse and tearing them limb from limb with vicious claws and hungry mouths--hungry mouths? Would they be eaten, truly? It would be a terribly ignoble end. Mnem had no intention of going out in such a manner.

She wished she had her poison-gun. One little shot of sleepy-time brew and they wouldn't have to worry about the stallion at all.

No point in regret, though. She just followed the feline carefully, keeping a close eye out for banders.

And there they were. Their dark eyes flashed when they caught the light--they had somehow used their moment of distraction to surround them. Some were perched on shelves, some were peeking out from piles of clothing and messes of paper, some were crouched under chairs. They did not yet appear to be attacking, or planning one. They were just watching.

Monty was nowhere in sight, and that worried her more than anything.

Quietly, to Minh, she said, "Move, quick."

[Dark]

Thousands of beady little eyes, starring her down, peering out from behind cabinets and underneath tables, all zeroed in on Minh and ultimately bent on her gruesome demise. It made focusing a problem, and her paws kept slipping on the rope as she struggled to lash Shinrai down. It would be easier, of course, if Shinrai would just hold still. The sensation of an ever-diminishing life expectancy had her swatting at his head in frustration, using all of her weight to pin his neck down and immobilize him with a mess of rope, looped around and around and knotted tight. She was done being nice—if he strangled himself, the blood was on his hands.

Something brushed by her ankle and she gave a high-pitched yowl, instinctively jumping for higher ground. She clung to the cabinet, breath coming hard, and tried to get her short bottlebrush to settle down. No luck.

She peered down and met the blue eyes of the devil.

"You were supposed to be looking out!"

[Bee]

"I was looking out, darling. This little bugger was nowhere to be seen."

Mnem's eyes fixed on the tiny bander in front of her, and she was overcome by the sudden urge to squash it like a bug while its attention was focused away from her. The bander, however, seemed almost to sense her intent, for she turned to face Mnem with what appeared to be a mixture of warning and contempt. She might have been imagining that, though. She hoped she was. The only thing worse than a mad bander was one that could read her thoughts.

Read her thoughts. Damn, she was getting paranoid. Ridiculous.

But perhaps if they could keep Monty's attention on one of them while the other bagged the little monster—but then, if they tried to capture Monty, surely the others would descend upon them like a swarm of furry death?

An idea hit. Shinrai was struggling, mad at the moment, and the banders were just spoiling for a battle—and surely, surely a fight with a group of crazed animals would wear the stallion out, and they could safely drug and tie him again? Yes. That sounded perfect.

“Minh,” she said. “Minh, I have an idea. Untie Shinrai.”

[Dark]

Minh wasn’t quite sure what she was hearing at first, because she was fairly certain something resembling crazy-talk had just issued forth from Mnemosyne’s maw. But there it was hovering over there heads like a chocking fog. The only reason someone would release Shinrai while he was exerting something resembling vague consciousness was if they had an imminent death wish. And Minh just wasn’t that type of girl.

“Are you insane? You’ve been sniffing fungus out of your kit again, haven’t you? Because that is the only viable reason I can see you purposing something so entirely suicidal. He outweighs both of us, together! And while he might squash a few banders—and brownie points for that—what’s to stop him from squashing us!?”

Maybe she was overacting, but she felt it was warranted considering the situation. She considered her options and found both lacking—she could either be squished by a rapid equine, or mauled to death by mutant banders. Yeah. They were fucked.

[Bee]

Mnem refused to dignify the insinuation that she was high with a response--Mnem would inform Minh if she ever felt like toking up, and this was clearly not one of those times. She was aware of the dangers, but she really didn't see any other options. They had to find some way to take care of the banders and get the stallion back into a more mellow state, and this seemed like the most effective way to kill two birds with one stone.

Inspiration struck while she was again eying Monty. "You mentioned darts earlier, dear, if I recall correctly? I assume by this inquiry that we have them?" The words came out in a bit of a rush as the idea sorted itself out in her head. "We let Shinrai loose, he levels unholy destruction on the banders, we capture Monty in the chaos, and then we fill our darling friend full of darts."

[Dark]

Minh blinked, mind awhirl with calculations. It…might work. They would have to drastically up the dosage, of course, in consideration of Shinrai’s mass, but it should theoretically have the same somniferous effects on Shinrai that were induced upon the banders. Yeeessssss…

But then there was the matter of getting Shinrai free—she looked at the tangled mess of knots and loops she’d made to hold him down with trepidation. The quickest way (and probably only way) to get him free at this point would be cutting him loose, but she needed a knife for that.

Scouring the area for weaponry proved to be a tad bit more difficult than one would first imagine—she had scalpels galore, but nothing with a keen enough edge to saw through the think rope. Her eyes drifted towards the fire extinguisher and emergency axe—it would work if Shinrai held really still, but considering how much he was thrashing about it wasn’t a particularly viable option.

Then she spotted the sordid remains of several weeks past’s dinner and the accompanying steak knife. Presto.

Crouching low over Shinrai’s bound forming and hoping he still possessed some kind of reasoning, Minh quickly whispered, “Shinrai, you need to listen carefully; this is very important. You’re recovering just dandy from your alcohol poisoning, but the clinic has been overrun by mutant banders. We need your help to neutralize the threat. Do you think you can do that? Nod if you understand me, and I’ll undo your restraints.”

[seraaches]

The words were rather slow in processing the haziness surrounding his mind through a combination of alcohol and drugs. Alcohol poisoning, mutant banders, threats. He did, however, catch the general gist after several moments of long thought. He gave a small nod of his head which was more of a loll than an actual bob. It didn’t occur to him to wonder exactly why –he- would be needed to neutralize a bunch of mutant banders or even why there were banders –in- the clinic at all.

He struggled feebly, expecting his bindings to disappear immediately. He needed to get up, he needed to be free. With the promise of freedom, however, he wasn’t thrashing as he had originally, almost calm as he waited for the restraining ropes to go away. The stallion was still, however, out of his head, and likely to just react instinctively once he was free. Fortunately for Minh, it wouldn’t be turned against her, unless she caused him further pain.

[Bee]

Mnem watched with curiousity as the stallion seemed to respond to Minh's quiet lies. He really was so pliable when hungover and drugged out of his mind. She wondered what they could manipulate him into doing with the right words, and she felt a surge of remorse at the fact that she really wouldn't be able to find out. Who knew how long it would take for Shinrai to take out the banders? Mnem might not even have the opportunity to test out the rest of her antidotes, the opportunity to catalogue extensively the symptoms of a few of her non-fatal concoctions.

They would have to get their hands on him again. Perhaps follow him about and wait for the opportune moment, then pounce. She was confident that another chance would present itself.

If they lived, that was. She didn't think the stallion was going to harm them, not when he was probably convinced at this point that he needed to take out the banders, but if he failed, those wretched little monsters would probably descend upon them and eat them alive, feet first, so they could feel the terrible pain up to the very last.

She eyed the knife and the rope with anticipation.