Spades who Stalk [Xenon] [DONE]

[Greenie]

Vessatha laughed outright at his immediate... fear? anticipation?... of encounters with Yarrows. "Probably very true," She said with a snicker. "I've been told I was honorably granted the Yarrow seal of approval, but I think you'd have to do a bit of... reconfiguring," She gestured in the direction of his crotch, "down there to walk into that particular region."

She rose an eyebrow when he began, for lack of a better word, playing with his pants. Someone had cabin fever, per se. "Clothes can be so useful, though. They can hide some horrible things and disguise others, and in the right situation, are simply lots of fun to peel off." The ferret grinned again. "Lock you in a closet for being naked? What's the fun of being naked if you can't streak?" If his body was good enough that the ex wanted to lock it up, it probably meant it was worth streaking with.

"Pale." She said flatly, then closed her eyes for a moment. "Because you're pale, or..? I might as well call you Whitey, for that matter. Apocalypse it is." It was a strange name to her sensibilities, but it was better than thinking about his skin color everytime she called him over. "Ah, business. Yes. What the hell is going on? All we've heard recently is that Shinrai is dead and some crazy person -- am I allowed to call him crazy? -- has taken over and is scaring all your minions shitless. Is this permanent, temporary, undecided or option d, and should the rest of the Courts be worried?" Her demeanor changed visibly from lighthearted to one of concern. If she was going to get eaten for asking about this new Queen, she wanted to know about it now.

[carcinoGeneticist]

Yes, this woman understood. That was why he kept the pants around in favor of something else, like a kilt or a pair of boxers or - best of all - a loincloth. Those were all great when it came to comfort, but he felt as if he lost something of the fun when he didn't wear the pants (however constricting they might be). "That's the whole reason I keep these around." and then he nodded. Streaking. Oh, he did miss streaking. This meeting was giving him a powerful desire to return to his old habits, something he was sure would make someone scream, even if Rhi could only do it in his head.

The man folded his fingers in front of himself, leaning his chin against the bridge the interlocked digits made. Then, he breathed out through his mouth, blowing a strand of his hair out of his face again. It seemed to get in his eyes quite often, given the chance. "I never said people were creative with their nicknames," he said, leaning back and waggling a finger at her. That was a much simpler explanation. After all, if he really considered it, he'd been Rhiannon's Pale One for much longer than he'd been her Apocalypse. One was just more of a name, in his mind.

Then, he sighed. He couldn't share very much about the current situation, but if the Spades required something to go off of... "Shinrai is dead. Rest assured and try to believe me when I tell you that while yes, the current Queen is a bit out there, we are working around the clock to keep him under control and everything running as smoothly as possible." He glanced at her, something tired in his expression. "Your straightforward answer is Option D, the I don't fucking know option. But don't be worried. If there was cause to worry, you can bet one of us would have taken the situation into our own hands quite a long time ago."

He hoped that would be enough for her, at least for the time being. He couldn't answer much more than that.

[Greenie]

She grinned in response. She'd been tempted to wear pants once or twice just to understand what it was like to have them ripped off, but the restriction of motion gained with them really wasn't worth it. Her skirt worked for her. It covered the necessary parts, felt nice, and when ripped was easily replaced.

"Apparantly. Maybe I'll call you Paco. At least those letters all exist in your name almost in that order, and then you'll rhyme with taco. Wouldn't you rather be associated with food than with being horribly pale?" She asked with a smirk. Not to mention tacos were highly tasty.

Her humor vanished at his assessment of the situation, but she tried to bring some of it back in. Politics sucked, but in private conversation the best you could do was make fun of them. "So my Spade mark is safe? No terrorists are going to come chewing at the Club and Spade Courts? Our bricks aren't very tasty, trust me." She sat back in the chair, her gaze wandering as her thoughts did. "Alright then. That's more than we've gotten out of anyone else. Appreciate it. Anything else newsworthy happen around here? On the more interesting side, that is. Scandals are always so much fun to share."

[carcinoGeneticist]

He wasn't able to keep the slightly irritable expression that went across his face at her proposed nickname. As much as he hated Pale, it was still better than Paco. "Better than Poccy, I suppose." Only one person had called him that before, and that had been a short-lived excersize in the self control of a weapon. It turned out that they didn't really have any. Then, he furrowed his brows, jutting his lower lip out at the woman ever so slightly. "Hey now, nothing wrong with being pale. Well, albino, technically. I'm a Boggie. They think it's hot as hell. Wouldn't you agree?"

He waggled his eyebrows at her for a moment and slowly ran his hands over his chest, then snorted, covering his mouth with a hand. She'd still be able to see his happy smirk, however. "Sorry. Couldn't help myself."

He nodded by way of confirmation. For now, at least, things were... stable. Ish. If His Majesty Se actually made a move that they thought would result in the crashing down of the courts, one of the nobles was almost guaranteed to step in. Besides, his family seemed to have him at least most of the way under control, which he was greatful for. "Glad to be of some assistance. As for other scandals..." there was one that came to mind almost instantly, but it was a matter of his own personal security.

So he'd lie about it shamelessly. Well, at least part of it was true. "We had a King - Her Highness Rhiannon - resign from the court. She was the ex I mentioned before." he sounded entirely cheerful as he said it, leaning back in his seat. "So I've taken her old position. It went as smoothly as it possibly could, though, so minimum scandal there. Other than that... A King's lover, a Spade Queen, had some babies with a Jack, but no one's all that angry there, either. Sorry to disappoint."

[Greenie]

"That is is, that it is." She snickered. Poccy. Paco the Taco. The possibilities here were endless, really. She might have to come back just to call him Mr. Taco in front of someone potentially embarrassing... Oh yes, this had potential.

"Albino? That explains it." She blinked as he began, well, feeling himself up, then couldn't help but laugh. "Sure, bogface. Only if you don't stink. I've heard some rumors about one of your people who stunk up the castle for quite some time..." She paused, her brain working through family trees. "Mikael! He's related to like five billion people around here. He only stinks a little bit, though." The ferret nodded happily, having found a mental connection to his Bog-state.

"Ooh, scandals. Do tell." She sat forward in her seat, an eager grin on her face. Vessie couldn't help it. Scandals, especially ones involving sex, were just fun. She pouted momentarily, though, at the first one; someone resigned, boohoo, that wasn't very interesting. Even if it was this guy's ex. "Jack babies aren't so bad. Wait.. Spade Queen?" The ferret paused, her brow furrowed. "For some reason I'm getting a hairy image. Doesn't come 'round Spades much, do they? I'd get a mental picture if they did."

[carcinoGeneticist]

Really, in the man's mind, just about anything was better than Poccy. Paco wasn't much better - really, in the chain of things, he preferred Pale to it, but if that was what the delightfully interesting Spade wanted to know him as, he wasn't going to fight it. Instead he offered her a twisted sort of grin. So she knew a Bog-dweller or two? That was rare, and almost certainly meant that she'd come into contact with some members of his... "extended family". He waited for her to finish.

Then he laughed out loud. "Michael? Yeah, I know him. Good kid, if not a little weird." he shook his head, steepling his fingers on his desk before looking at the woman again. "And yeah, he is related to five billion people here, including my ex. She's his sister, actually. Big family, they really... got around, shall we say?"

In fact, that brought him back to his scandal of choice. As the woman began to put the pieces of the puzzle together, Apocalypse's grin widened with satisfaction. "A fuzzy picture of this man is an accurate one, Your Highness," he chuckled. Seth was... quite the creature. Really, he made Apocalypse nervous, but then he'd never been entirely comfortable around men, and Seth was manly even for his gender. "And no, I imagine he'd stay as far away from the Court as he could. He's Michael and Rhiannon's father as well, after all. Like I said, big family."

An entertaining thought crept its way into his mind and he leaned forward, looking at Vessatha through partially lidded, relaxed eyes, a slow smile making its way onto his face. "And if that's not scandal enough for you... There's always the potential to make one ourselves." Hah, take that, flirty woman!

[Greenie]

She nodded in agreement, musing over her many interactions with the odd Bog boy. "He's doing well at Spades, if any of those many family members are wondering. We're not torturing him, just scaring him a bit." She snickered to herself; she already had a few more "tasks" Mikael could handle no one else was willing to do.

"Big families. Pfah. I know how that goes." The ferret wrinkled her nose, trying not to picture all of her grandchildren. Now that was a potential conversation killer. No, she wouldn't be mentioning them. She didn't feel like a grandmother - or even a mother - so therefore she wasn't one, damnit!

"Fuzzy.. big fuzzy something. What is he? Something big and unusual right?" Vessie frowned, trying to remember. Winged! Was he winged? Or was it fanged? Ah, well. "Is he? BAT. I bet he's a bat. Mikael's a bat underneath the weird." She nodded firmly, pleased with her memory.

It took her a moment to come out of her thoughts and blink at his mischevious look, before returning it with a raised eyebrow and a slow smile. "Could we now?" The biped slowly leaned back into the chair and crossed her legs in a deliberate manner. "Now, why would I want to do that?"

[carcinoGeneticist]

At the comment about Mikael, Apocalypse quirked an eyebrow, inclining his head to the side. Judging by her haste to tell him that the boy wasn't being tortured, the ex-scythe decided that he likely would be quick to tell anyone who'd listen that he was. Personally, Apocalypse didn't mind. Sometimes a little torture could be good for someone - just look at the people in the dungeons! Put hot irons on their nipples and they remembered quite a bit of information that had slipped their minds before! He couldn't help but feel that it would do quite a lot to light a fire under the weird little coyote-bat's rump.

He chuckled at the comment about large families. He didn't really have a family, but he'd been as well as adopted into Heilyn's, if not Seth's, as well. Not that he cared, as he didn't particularly care for the bat. "Bat's exactly correct. Big bat, too. Dripping with testosterone." he rolled his eyes. You didn't need to be coated with body hair to prove you were a man. Granted, Apocalypse had some of it himself, but with the color, it was almost impossible to tell. "Anything with Solandria or bat in it, you can probably assume Seth had something to do with its... production."

He grimaced. The man really was prolific. He wondered if Vessatha knew anyone else who Seth had sprogged.

Apocalypse steepled his fingers in front of himself, then made a bridge with them, leaning close and resting his chin on the laced digits. He raised an eyebrow at the ferret, a sly smirk making its way across his face. "Can't you picture it? Forbidden couplings between Heart and Spade Kings! Scandal with us at the heart of it all! Who doesn't like to stir the shit a little, so to speak?" he grinned, then, flashing her a glimpse of his fangs. "...'sides, it's fun."

[Greenie]

Vessatha stuck her tongue out the tiniest bit at the mention of testosterone. The most useless chemical on the planet, if you asked her. "Maybe someone should siphon some of it out and use it for something productive. Like throwing it out." She replied, deadpan. "Really? Prolific? Now that you mention it, I can't claim I've met many bats or Solandrians that weren't both.." She paused again. "Please, please tell me Hadrian isn't related to him." Her gaze rose to his, praying he wouldn't recognize the name. Why were so many people related to this man? Sheesh!

At his further prompting of his suggestion, she bit her lower lip in thought, seriously considering the proposition. Suits knew she was horny enough. She hadn't been getting any; Quinn had been gone for months and there was no one remotely attractive in Spades she would consider screwing. There were just too many consequences, even if Donnie disagreed.

"I can picture it.. quite clearly." She said simply, her fingers tapping against the back of her hands as she pondered it. "It's an... attractive.. proposition. I'm used to spreading scandals, not making them myself. You may have to educate me." She quirked a sly smile at him, her head tilted.

[carcinoGeneticist]

The pale man let out another amused chuckle, imagining someone pinning the big man down and siphoning out his sex hormones. It was a rather amusing thought, all things considered, and really... It wasn't like Seth was going to miss it. Perhaps it could be sold on the black market for use in various illicit or under-the-table sex-change therapies? He'd have to file the idea away for future methods of making money, should he find himself no longer living in the Courts.

Which really, he didn't see happening any time soon, as long as he kept playing his cards right.

When the woman paused, Apocalypse inclined his head to the side. Then he laughed. It wasn't a chuckle, it was a full-on laugh. "Hadrian?" he said, wiping mirthful tears away from his eyes and then leveling a gaze on her. He tried to keep his face serious, but simply couldn't keep from grinning at her, wide and cheerful. "That would be Seth's first son, yes. I take it you've met the man?" this was just getting better! It even seemed like Vessatha disapproved of Hadrian as much as the ex-weapon himself did!

But, oh... There were other things to catch his attention, things that seemed much more important, much more deserving of his time and attention. Apocalypse's eyebrows were raised slightly, giving his face a much more... interested appearance, his normally partially-lidded eyes focused entirely on the woman. Absently, he made a circle with thumb and pointer finger, then began to slide the index finger of his opposite hand in and out of that hole. "Educate you?" he mused, letting his hands drop, a thoughtful tilt to his grin. He leaned forward, closing the space between them, and lightly ran his hand across the back of hers. "Really, it would be my pleasure to teach you how to cause a scandal..."