Hilarity Ensues [Sera/Dark]

[seraaches]

Tosiek's ears flattened briefly against his head as his eyes narrowed at the woman. Yes, Mnem was quite frightening in her own right and here, in her element, he felt lucky he hadn't already been stabbed with something.

"Unfortunately, Mnem, I do not know any little birdie mixes available for experimentation." He wondered if it was worth it to fight the name battle. "And my name, as I'm sure you recall from Thalia saying-- repeatedly-- is Tosiek."

He looked over at Minh during her explanation. It was baffling Thalia was as normal as she was-- which really wasn't that normal at all-- but, well, sitting with these two women reminded him that she was as lucid as she was. "It's always good to be so involved with your work," he answered politely, though he really wasn't certain of that statement at all. "What makes a good test subject?" Not that he planned to ever be one. EVER.

[Bee]

Thalia had chosen this moment to wander back in with a few cups of tea. She hadn't even realized she was paying attention to the conversation until she was responding to it.

"Basically you just have to be exceptionally pliant," she said, absently, passing out the teacups with her hair, giving the prettiest cup to Tosiek because he looked like he needed something special right now. "Which is generally assured by having your subject be unconscious. Everything else is variable. I think Mama likes banders because they're easier to get and children because you can watch them grow into their mutations. Under most circumstances I don't think I'd have any desire to experiment on you at all, Tosiek. Do you like sugar or honey in your tea, or milk? I can get any of them." A sugar packet dropped out of her hair. "Huh! Look, I think the sugar was fate."

[Dark]

Minh hummed in agreement at her daughter's explanation; banders were easier to acquire, especially if you knew the right suppliers, though the bloody buggers bred so fast Minh didn't ever really need to buy any additional stock--unless she was looking for different genetic traits; children were interesting to watch develop--Minh enjoyed the unpredictability of the mutations when puberty hit, but it also made it difficult to track the specifics of a forced mutation; for the sake of politically correct science, a healthy adult was the best subject.

It was depressing to hear her thoughts confirmed, though she was curious under what circumstances Thalia would experiment on the little bird-creature. So, she asked, as politely and uninterested as she could manage. Which wasn't very; subtly was something Minh had spent a lifetime trying to come to terms with, and she still wasn't quite there, yet.

[seraaches]

Tosiek turned to stare at Thalia, managing to keep his beak closed this time simply because, well. . . this wasn't the most surprising thing she'd ever announced. Still. She sounded very much like she'd thought about this. That niggled at him, though it was easy to be more laid-back about it since, well, she was Thalia. He really did trust her with his life.

The bird mix turned to stare now at Minh when she asked in a not-entirely-uninterested voice as to which circumstances Thalia would experiment on him. He, sadly, was rather interested in learning these as well-- though his goal would be to avoid said situation to the best of his ability. It wasn't encouraging, however, to have her parents know how to put them in a position where Thalia would be so interested.

Nevertheless, he could think of no way to hijack the conversation away from such things, except with a somewhat forced laugh. "Well, sugar sounds fine then, Thalia. How are you doing yours?"

[Bee]

Tea, science, tea, science. Two threads of conversation going two entirely different directions. Thalia decided to answer them both with no particular degree of coherence. "I'm pretty sure I have more sugar packets in here somewhere--"

And sure enough, she shook her Hair and a few more dropped out. Mom was looked at her like her brain had just slid out her ear but then Mom always looked at her like that.

"--and there'd be a pretty narrow window, Tosiek, don't worry, though I might get some honey, I like that too--I mean, I don't wanna damage you 'cause I like you how you are and sometimes these things are unpredictable and--" she eyed the kitchen. Maybe all three would be good, honey and sugar AND milk. "--you already have that super-cute jawbone. Maybe if one day I needed to--"

She wandered back to the kitchen and grabbed some milk and honey, and promptly forgot where she was going with the conversation.

"You're safe," she assured Tosiek, and offered him some honey.

[Dark]

Minh eyed the little bird-creature with a more critical eye; clever, distracting Thalia from giving a proper answer by asking another question. Minh loved her daughter, but the girl could be a bit of a spazz sometimes, and had trouble multitasking; no idea where she had gotten in from.

She snagged a bit of sugar and milk for her own tea, and distracted herself for a moment preparing the beverage to her satisfaction. Generally, she enjoyed coffee more, but a good cup of tea was always nice from time to time; she supposed that was Mnem's influence.

Speaking of Mnem; her eyes slid towards the woman as she sipped at her tea. Her partner in crime was unusually quiet throughout this entire exchange, and Minh couldn't help but wonder what the woman was thinking and/or plotting. She loved Mnem for that; such a clever, sly creature.

[seraaches]

He was greatly relieved that it had worked and, as such, accepted the honey happily, despite the fact that he'd already put sugar in his tea and really wasn't a fan of overly sweet things.

He had also noticed Mnem's silence, though his ruminations on that particular subject weren't nearly as nice as Minh's were; of the two women, he certainly feared Mnem more. Minh was a danger, yes, but it just seemed likely that she could be distracted with just the right things to keep her from permanently damaging things. Like his body. It would take some work, but he was fairly certain it was still possible.

Mnem, however, he thought would be not only harder to distract, but perhaps impossibly. Add on to that the fact that she certainly knew how to divert Minh in with her plans. . . well, Tosiek would prefer to just avoid that fight, thank you very much.

He sipped his tea in silence; he'd done his duty as a good, polite guest and he was currently out of ideas. He would save his quick tongue for hopefully getting himself out of any future jams with Thalia's parents.

[Bee]

The rather dull conversation about science had trailed off after her ditzy daughter had managed to almost half-give an answer to something; other than giving her a look to indicate how very scatterbrained she thought she was, she really hadn't been paying very much attention, just sipping her tea and contemplating what to do with the Tosiek creature. Experimentation fell under Minh's purview and, when she could get it together, Thalia's. Mnem really just liked watching the bird--and people in general--squirm.

Then she noticed everything had suddenly gotten quiet, a tense sort of stillness, as though the assembled crowd was anticipating some kind of terrible disaster. Mnem yawned.

"Thalia," she said, easily, "it's awfully rude to have tea without a snack. Go fetch the brownies from the kitchen; they're by the bread box. I'm sure young Thaddeus is famished. I could use some sweets myself."

[Dark]

"Brownies are always a nice snack," Minh said with an honest smile over the rim of her teacup. Brownies really were a nice snack, and the ones Mnem baked were especially delicious. It must have been the special ingredient that made them so tasty; she wondered if the bird-creature would enjoy them.

Speaking of the bird-creature. He was being quiet all of a sudden, and Minh eyed him curiously. It was a calculating sort of quiet, the kind of silence where you plotted things. Did he think he was smarter than they were? The younger generation was so cute, sometimes.

Minh really couldn't help but wonder what Thalia was doing hanging out with bird-creature, though. Especially if it wasn't to experiment on him. Did he have some sort of redeeming quality that they were missing?

"So what do you do for living, Tahvo?" That was appropriate small-talk, wasn't it? And it got her the information she wanted. Handy.

[seraaches]

Silence, on the whole, did not bother Tosiek. It was part of his 'trade' as he saw it, after all. Sometimes silences were far more capable of getting one (see-- Thalia) out of trouble. Well, silence and a very good puppy-dog look. Though that hadn't worked as well since they'd grown into adulthood. This silence was slightly awkward due entirely to company, but the bird mix didn't let it bother him. That, at least, was an acquired talent, and one that had often been useful in the past. People, in general, hated silences.

It was unsurprising, therefore, when Mnem broke it. He wasn't enamoured with the idea of having to eat a brownie, especially one from this household; he was well aware of their penchant for additives.

"Tosiek," he corrected them firmly, but still carefully politely. He had been expecting this question. "I sell vacuum cleaners. I don't know which brand of vacuum you use right now, but the Cleanerific is developing a new line guaranteed to suck the most." He smiled his salesman smile.