Burning Desires [Finished]

[Dark]

((Such a cheesy title. LOLZ. Someone shoot me. xD;))


The Capital wasn’t overly impressive at first glance—polluted, narrow streets chalked full of miserable individuals who weren’t worth the smog-filled air they breathed—but the Capital did have one thing that made it worthwhile, and that alone had been more than enough reason to leave the comforts of her home. The Capital had opportunity, and Suha was very ambitious. She would take what the Capital had to offer and bend it to her own ends. She would succeed in her machinations; failure was not an option.

To begin her plans, though, she would first need to make the proper connections, and that was turning out to be a rather trying process. She didn’t have a way into the inner circles, and finding one was turning out to be more difficult than she had first imagined; she’d already been in the city for several weeks.

Suha glanced around the tiny café she sat in disinterestedly, and sipped her chai latte. Something had better come up soon, or she very well might do something rash.

[Bee]

Mnem had not walked into the cafe planning to assault the barista, but, well, sometimes the day takes an unexpected turn. "I'll have a white mocha, no whipped cream," she had told the little fucker, because the whipped cream melts into the drink and makes it taste funny. She had fully anticipated having her drink served to her precisely as requested. Then she sipped through the lid and got a mouth full of whip.

She would've liked to blame her consequent actions on a bad day--perhaps the spawn had been especially annoying, or she had just come back from a rough day doing something vaguely taxing at Court, or a carriage had crushed her handbag.

But this was really just one of those tiny things that danced on her very last nerve, and she was in an inexplicably foul mood, and the barista looked so appealingly like a deer in the lights. So moments after ingesting the whipped cream, she was back at the counter, Hair flailing angrily, right in his face. She figured she made a terrifying sight: a vexed human King with writhing, angry hair and hands that looked to be itching to choke something. That the barista was probably pissing himself at the moment almost filled her with enough joy to dissipate her rage.

She grabbed his tacky tie. "Honey," she told him, "I'm not sure how someone whose IQ is clearly on par with a rotten kiwi's can get a job, but let me let you in on a trade secret: when your customer specifies no whipped cream, you don't give them whipped cream. Otherwise..." She tugged on the tie and smiled. The barista looked like he wanted to die.

She felt very accomplished.

[Dark]

Most of the customers were transfixed at the drama unfolding at the counter, some of the side of the woman--"Should have gotten the order right the first time; it's not like it was a hard order to fill"--and some on the side of the barista--"It was an honest mistake. Can't she--scrap it off?" But no one interfered; no one spoke loud enough that the woman's attention might turn to them.

Suha was just as transfixed at the rest, but for different reasons. What luck! A King, and one with obvious power. If only she could effect people in such a manner! To command such fear and respect. She was nearly green with envy. There was much she could learn from this woman. This was the opportunity she had been looking for, but how to make her approach?

Abandoning her cooling drink, she made her way to the counter, schooling her features.

"Excuse me," she smiled (not an easy thing to pull off with fangs, but she'd had plenty of time to practice,) "There's an easy way to remedy this. You, young man, though it was an honest mistake, I'm sure, owe this lady a new drink." She turned to the woman, "Would you like to sit down with me while he does that?"

[Bee]

Mnem's first impulse was to tell the meddling bird to mind her own goddamn business--she had found the easy resolution to this problem already, which was making the unfortunate barista piss himself and then demanding recompense for the mucked-up drink--but her burst of malice had apparently soothed her, and she really had nothing better to do while she waited for the barista to compose himself. She supposed she could smile menacingly at him from the table.

She shrugged elegantly.

"I don't see why not," she said. She wasn't sure why exactly the bird wanted to sit with her, but Mnem could do worse with her time than chat with an attractive woman while she waited for her drink. The fangs were a little odd, but she wasn't a sin against the color palate like some Morganberries.

She followed the bird back to her table.

[Dark]

Suha sat demurely, and with downcast eyes went about correcting what damage she'd wrought by interferring in the woman's affairs.

"I'm very sorry if I overstepped my bounds, but I ever do hate confrontation." True, to a degree. In Suha's experience, confrontation usually meant that she had failed in whatever subterfuge she was partaking in and had been caught--it didn't happen often, but failure did happen occasionally--and it wasn't a pleasant predicament to find herself in by any means. When happening to people unrelated to any of her schemes, however, Suha could have cared less. This pretty woman just happened to fall into one of her evolving schemes, however, and thus her realm of interest.

"My name is Suha Darzi." Her late husband's name, but it offered her a certain respectability that she had lacked before; it was all about image, after all.

[Bee]

Mnem had spent her entire life perfecting her bullshit, and she liked to think that at this point, she was fairly good at detecting the bullshit of others. Something about the bird's shrinking violet behavior seemed contrived and syrupy. If she really hated confrontation, she wouldn't have approached Mnem at all, who clearly had been about ready to choke someone. She would have remained in her chair and watched in mute horror, wishing she had the balls to do something.

Mnem knew that type. Kel was that type. This Suha person was not that type.

But she thought it might make an amusing game to find out what this woman's bullshit was, and why she was employing it. It might make for a fun afternoon. If the bullshit was entertaining enough, it might make for an interesting new friend.

"Mnemosyne Eumeleia. It's a multisyllabic trainwreck. You may call me Mnem. Most people do."

[Dark]

"Mnem, then." Suha practiced her smile, all too aware of her unsightly fangs--she would really need to see about doing something about them in the near future; perhaps she could have them ground down a bit, if not outright removed? Something to consider, and look into.

For the moment being, however, she need to focus on her tablemate, and what she hoped to accomplish from their meeting. It would have been a lot easier to plan if she knew what that was, exactly; all that she did know was that their acquaintance would be beneficial.

Mnem's speech and mannerisms were those of the well-educated, ruling class, and Suha was suddenly doubtful of her ability to fool the woman. Suha had learned by mimicry and books, but Mnem was the genuine article. Would she see Suha for the fraud she was? And if she could, would others be able to as well?

[Bee]

Poor girl needed to get rid of those teeth--she would have a lovely smile if not for the fangs. Mnem wondered how she got them. Corvie tampering, probably. Mnem attributed most of the weirdness in the world to the whims of that realm. Corvies, after all, did a lot of strange nonsense just because they could. Look what Minh did to bandersnatches. Look what her youngest spawn did to...life.

The barista scampered over with the coffee and set it down in front of her with a gush of apologies. Mnem gave him an overly-toothy smile and took off the lid; seeing that there was now no whipped cream, she nodded at him, and he nearly fell over himself running away.

She sipped her white chocolate mocha. It was so much more satisfying with the additional taste of someone's terror. She thought about what to say next. May as well be direct.

"So you're a peacemaker," she said, with interest. "I have a friend like you. Sweet girl. Dreadful doormat."

[Dark]

Suha tilted her head, sensing a trap, and tried to keep her expression pleasant, "Not so much a peacemaker, no. I will admit that I had--" she ducked her head in feigned bashfulness--"ulterior motives." All very true; the best lies were mixed with truth. "You seem very--worldly--and I couldn't help but want to talk to you." Talk to you, learn from you.

Perhaps she should be honest? It was the quickest way to get what she wanted, but she couldn't quite give the game up. It was ridiculous, but she almost felt like she was being tested, and if that was the case, well, she'd hate to disappoint. Besides, honesty and she didn't have the best understanding.

"I do hope you aren't too upset with me," a shy smile, "but it was too good an opportunity to let pass by, and I took advantage."

[Bee]

"I've been around the block," she said, with an easy shrug. Several times. Around the world, really. "Little of this, little of that."

Ulterior motives, clearly. Suha was trying to flatter, and Mnem was in the mood to indulge it. She wondered what opportunity the bird was looking for. She wasn't a Diamond, so it couldn't be an attempt to get into that Court.

Perhaps she knew of Mnem's reputation as a botanist and herbalist. That would be too damn bad; Mnem didn't feel like teaching anyone about plants at the moment, unless there was something exceptionally good in it for her.

Maybe it was just a roundabout way of getting her in the sack. But somehow she doubted it. The bird's interest didn't seem sexual.

"But I'm afraid I really have nothing of interest to say," she said, cheerfully, and sipped at her drink.