Strange Behavior *Finished*

[Dark]

Minh looked up from her delightful array of sushi just a little bit surprised Shinrai was actually trying to participate in polite conversation with her. It was an interesting turn of events, actually, considering his previous hostility.

Pleasantly flabbergasted, Minh contemplated the question a moment and started talking.

Mnem and she had actually never eaten out together, before—they’d stopped at the occasional café for coffee and the random slice of cheesecake, and Minh had stopped at a few bar’n’grills on her own (when she was avoiding shopping). But with those small exceptions, they always ate at home—each too caught up in their own work to bother with anything but a cup of coffee and cold leftovers. If Mnem didn’t occasionally have days where she was possessed by the cooking bug, they probably would both starve.

As for the sushi—her brother had been rather fond of experimenting, and while fish wasn’t his favorite he always made sure to make sushi once in awhile to lure Minh out of the basement. Minh knew it was a setup—the old hag snuck down and tidied up her lab while she was busy inhaling the delectable treat—but she couldn’t help but fall for it every time. The call of the sushi was strong.

[Bee]

Mnem was attempting to half-listen to the conversation Shinrai, bizarrely, was apparently trying to strike up with Minh, but when the feline launched into a spiel about sushi and her pleasant past with it, Mnem decided that there wasn't much worth listening to and tuned Minh out. She was terrible at small talk as a rule, but as soon as someone hit on a topic she was particularly interested in, there was no stopping her. Shinrai had, unfortunately, managed to stumble onto one of these topics. Minh could carry on for eternities and not run out of steam.

She picked delicately at her food for a moment, considering what she would say to Darrien. She did not want to appear too forward. "Well then," she said, warmly, "I do hope I don't come across as rude, but I rather hope your business in the City keeps you here a while longer."

[Jaguara Katial]

The conversation that Minh was having with “Whip” was not interesting to him at all and he unknowingly tuned them out. He only watched Mnem like she was the last female on the face of the earth. Every feminine curve of her body and her dazzling eyes, he just could not get enough of them.

“Yeah…I do too…,”[/b] he said as he watched her intently but his blue eyes. He did not even think when he answered Mnem and then it suddenly dawned on him how forward his words must have been. He blushed and looked down at his food. “I…umm…I mean…”[/b] he just stuttered not really knowing how to redeem himself. Slowly he raised his head and looked back into her lovely eyes “You are not rude…you are far from it. I must be the one with no manners. Please excuse my lack of them…”[/b] he looked ashamed as he tried his best to redeem himself and his forwardness as that was not how a gentle man should act.

[Bee]

He really was rather adorable in his insecurity, Mnem thought, taking a sip of her drink. She even failed to find his constant and undivided attention in the slightest bit creepy. She was familiar with being an object of lust, but never of quite this level of undisguised adoration. It was perhaps something she could get used to. His stuttering and attempts to be gentlemanlike amused her more than they should have.

If he was having trouble speaking now, he should wait till later. He'd be incoherent. But now was not the time to be thinking so far ahead. She tried to concentrate on the moment.

"Don't worry, darling," she assured him. "I don't think you're rude at all. Quite the contrary. I find you to be quite charming. I even think I'd like to enjoy your company after we've found your father's business." She took another bite of sushi.

[seraaches]

Evidently he had struck a favoured topic and Minh was going. His ears flicked back in brief surprise; really he had pegged Mnem as the talker. He gave brief nods and noncommittal sounds as the black feline kept on talking about who even knew wot. When she finally took a breath, he asked almost tentatively, ”Wot research are you doing?” Really, he was curious; perhaps he could learn something of wot she might have done to him and another, rather perverse, side of him wanted to see if she could rant for longer about another topic.

Still, one ear was keeping tabs on Mnem and Darrien and the stallion was fortunate that Minh kept their conversation rather one-sided. Wot a strange pair of females. Under different circumstances, he might have almost liked them as people. Well. He might have liked Minh. Mnem was rather firmly on his dislike list now.

[Dark]

Minh was happily content eating her sushi and chatting nonstop in Shinrai’s general direction, but the word “research” set up a blaring red flag to alert her that they were straying into dangerous territory. And maybe that had been the stallion’s intention all along—playing nice and acting interested so she’d talk, and then the minute her defenses were lowered he’d ask her about Teh Big Secret and she’d mindlessly spill everything. Well, tough luck, buddy—this kitty-cat is too smart for you! Nan-er, nah, nah.

During this entire extremely complex mental process the constant stream of babble being projected didn’t slow, smoothly transitioning into an animated discussion about her research in identifying what genes were responsible for mutation and disease, and by mapping the entire genome how she hoped to learn how to alter them to benefit individuals with debilitating or cumbersome conditions.

All truth, of course—she just wasn’t mentioning methods or the ethical ramifications of those methods.

[seraaches]

Shinrai couldn’t help being rather surprised by Minh’s new rantage… surprised and rather impressed. When she went on like this, she actually sounded… intelligent. ”How is your researching going then?” the stallion put in when she took a breath. It sounded as though she could do something truly great given half a chance.

Of course, on the heels of that thought came the remembrance that he still didn’t know wot the pair of females had done to him whilst he was out of his head and a further desire to keep Darrien safe even if it meant despite himself. Of course… from the way the male stared at the other canine, he really wasn’t going to have much of a chance to help the other man. Add in the fact that he just knew Mnem would know he was hoping to prevent the dog from falling into the woman’s nefarious clutches.

[Dark]

She fell silent. How was her research going? Well, on a microscopic level she seemed to be making progress—but she wouldn’t know the true applicability of her work until she got results back from her latest batches of tests (Shinrai, mostly). The mutations she’d produced in the banders were simplistic in comparison to the astronomically more tedious process of successfully manipulating the genes of a card—they were such more complex organisms.

Realizing her prolonged lapse in speech was probably a tad bit unnerving for the already paranoid stallion, she launched in a brief explanation of her endeavor to improve the capacity of her microscope. She wasn’t an engineer, but she was a genius, and if no one was going to bother by better society through the creation of something that was actually useful she’d do it herself. The research on glass-grinding and metallurgy had been horribly tedious, and she was hoping to find a relatively cheap (but professional grade) workman to do that bit for her—but the plans were all drawn up and ready to go. She hoped.

She really hated theoretical calculations—you could never be sure until you actually did the experiment, and by then you could have invested hundreds of dollars into something that ended up not even panning out. Minh watched Shinrai in consideration and hoped he wasn’t one of those cases; she really needed to get him knocked up.

[Jaguara Katial]

He placed another piece in his mouth and silently chewed as he listened to her response. His father’s business…the office…He wondered if any one there had heard of his engagement at all. Probably not and even if they did he could request that every thing be kept strictly professional and that questions and probing about his personal life be kept secret from them all. The last thing he wanted was Mnem to find out about Tuuli. In addition, if his father found out…there would be trouble. Oh, there would be a lot of trouble. Curse that day almost a year ago. Why did he have to be stuck with her? Why could he not have chosen whom he wanted to spend the rest of his days? Why could not he have met Mnem earlier? Why did not they live here when he was growing up? Thousands of question flew threw his head all at once and it made his brow furrow slightly.

He looked at her and swallowed his food. “You are sweet Mnemosyne…I would enjoy spending more time with you. Perhaps you could show me around a little later today or tonight?”[/b] He looked hopeful in an innocent way. If he had been closer to her, he would have been tempted to touch her hand. Thank god, he was not though.

[Bee]

Mnem, at this point, still did not know much of Capital City, except the locations that were of immediate interest to her (a little park, a few select cafes, the bar, and a few different building at which she conducted some business), but she was sure she would be able to take the other canine somewhere interesting. At the very least, wandering about would allow them an opportunity for chatter and for Mnem to convince him to follow her back to her lair.

Well, perhaps not the lair. Even if she managed to dislodge Minh, the apartment would be a terrible place to spend prolonged time with anyone. A quick bit of tea, perhaps. But not what she had planned.

"Please, it's just Mnem," she said, "and I would be more than happy to show you around."

Hopefully dinner would wind down soon, then. She got a bit antsy when there was business to be taken care of.