Who: Raven (Mystique) and Alice Morgan When: 8/7 Where: A downtown bar What: Sizing each other up Rating/Warning: PG13, discussion of sex and death, and gets a little hot and heavy. Status: Complete!
Alice was bored. Flemeth was caught up in some business or another, and she wasn’t answering her phone. So, she was reduced to sitting at a bar to try and find someone intriguing. Really, she was almost embarrassed. But maybe she’d find someone to take home. She might even let them leave in the morning.
Raven was casing the joint. She was in a pretty good mood, and she didn't have anything lined up for the evening. So she was checking out the people in the bar, dismissing most of them of not being worth her time. She slipped onto a stool and ordered a Bloody Mary.
Alice felt the stool next to her shift a little; a pretty woman had sidled up and ordered. “Sorry, am I in your way?” For some reason, she felt like being charitable. She preferred men, but this girl was pretty.
No, not a girl, a woman; she was a little older, perhaps, but still beautiful. “I must say, you have wonderful skin.” A smile, a well placed giggle. Maybe the woman would bite, and Alice could have a bit of fun at home.
"No, you're not." The red-head looked over at the other woman, her eyes doing that thing where they were roaming over a potential meal. "And thank you. You have beautiful eyes. I've always been fond of the sea."
An oldie, but a goodie.
“How kind.” Mm. Someone who knew the steps. It might still be fun. “The weather here is such a nightmare in terms of actually making oneself look good. I don’t know how your skin looks so healthy. Mine must be windblown in the extreme. If I wanted to look like I lived on the moors, I never would have left Devon.”
"I spent a lot of time in Europe. I learned all the tricks for skin. I could...show you some of the better ones." She reached over to tuck some hair behind Alice's ears. "But I don't think you need it as much as you think you do."
“Do you mind if I ask where you’re from? My accent is much easier to place than yours.” Alice smiled almost bashfully. One had to look innocent, after all.
“I suppose that depends on one’s definition of where from?” She shifted on the stool, twisting to face Alice more directly. “I’ve spent a lot of time in several countries, but I was born in the Balkans.” She didn’t specify much more than that.
“An entirely fair response. I just meant that your accent was hard to place, and it’s a hobby of mine. Though now I daresay you ought to ask me an impertinent question, since I’ve inadvertently probed too deep.” Alice actually did try to avoid being rude most of the time. Rude was memorable.
“Good.” She picked up her drink and took a sip, happy that it was hard to place. Raven liked being hard to pin down, in just about every way that could be imagined. “Do you often stick your foot in your mouth around pretty women?”
“No, actually. Most of them don’t know the steps. They usually simper at me and tell me I’m not being rude when even I know I am.” Alice arched one eyebrow. “It does get tiresome.”
“Being rude or listening to simpering imbeciles trying to impress you to either get into your pants or into your business?” Raven quirked an eyebrow almost Vulcan like, though a devilish smile had formed on her lips.
“Yes.” Alice chuckled, but it wasn’t all mirthful.
It made her chuckle, and she dropped her hand onto the bar, close to Alice’s. Her fingers traced a circle in the bar. “A woman like yourself should converse with someone of equal intelligence.”
“I quite agree.” The implication was obvious. “This may sound impolite, but I’ve always wondered why I never fancied many women sexually. We’re obviously the more intelligent gender, with rare exceptions. At least then I’d be getting a partner I could speak to on an intelligent level.”
"You might just have a type. While there's some appeal in someone stupid they're never anything more than a quick fix or thrill. Usually though, that's what a man is for." Raven's fingers moved their way to Alice's, but her eyes never left the other woman's. "There's a danger in taking a chance with an equal."
“Men are only good for a quick thrill? Usually, yes.” Alice shrugged. “Just ... well. Women are so soft.” And she didn’t even necessarily mean in terms of body parts. Women were raised and conditioned to be gentle. She never wanted gentle.
"Sometimes a far too quick thrill," Raven replied. "And sometimes too hard. But I like women who aren't hard so much as...sharp. A diamond edge, glittering and dangerous."
“Brilliant and hard, like a diamond.” Alice smiled. “I think we have things in common.”
Raven licked her lips. "Want to find out just how much we have in common? Rub off some of the hard edges."
“Oh, but I’d like to keep those.” Alice smiled, but it was about as predatory as she allowed herself to look when she wasn’t planning to kill anyone. “They serve me very well. I imagine yours do, too.” If this woman wasn’t a killer, she was something else dangerous. Alice could smell her own.
"See? You're a very smart woman." Raven lifted Alice's hand to her lips. "I'm Irene." She'd always liked the name Irene. She didn't use it as an alias often because of that.
“Zoe.” She didn’t know where the name came from; maybe because it was just as Byzantine as Irene was. “A pleasure.”
“You look like a Zoë,” Raven said, kissing another finger. “The right sort of exotic. You’re not a normal woman. I find that intriguing.”
“Well, you have that right.” Bold, maybe stuck up, but also just true. “There aren’t many like me.” Alice smiled sweetly, but even she knew there was something behind it. She cocked her head to one side, offering her most fetching, emptiest eyes.
“I’d say there’s only one like you, and I’d like to know more.” She held up a finger. “Not too much. Ladies like us thrive on secrets.”
“It’s so nice to meet someone who knows that.” Alice said, nodding firmly. “It’s like the old magicians, you know, Irene - give away too much and you have nothing left.”
There was a tone to Zoe’s voice. It sent a chill of danger right down Raven’s spine. Her smile only grew bolder. “That’s half the fun. How much you can keep, while taking as much as you can.”
“Oh, dear, do we both play our cards so close to the vest?” Alice bit her lip. “Perhaps we’ll have to go somewhere for a lesson or two.”
“I’m not sure how much time I have,” Raven said, playing a game. “I might need to be convinced to give up my precious time.”
Alice knew the steps, and simply kissed her, clinging and pointed, staring eyes be damned. If Irene declined, then so be it.
Raven's body pressed into Alice's, a subtle relinquishing of power though she didn't let out the groan escape that was so close to her lips. She allowed herself a moment to collect her breath, then murmured. "I'm convinced."
“Oh, good. My night would have been horribly dull otherwise.” Alice smirked. “Are you staying nearby, Irene? Or do you live here?” The county, she meant. Alice would take her home if need be, but hopefully it could be avoided; she didn’t feel like cleaning blood off the hardwood floors.
“I know a place we can spend the night.” Raven slid her hand behind Alice’s neck and played with the nape. “Neutral ground.”
“All right.” Alice was armed. She wasn’t worried. “I suppose I can relinquish enough control to tell you to lead on.”
“Good.” Raven put some bills on the bar to cover the drinks and then slipped off the stool. She didn’t look back, and walked with a little saucy shimmy towards the door.
Alice was able to follow her quickly enough to keep calm, but she did thread her arm through Irene’s with a little bit of sharpness. “Not a lapdog, darling.” She leaned on the woman, though, still smiling.
“What, you didn’t enjoy the view?” She turned her head, stealing a quick, not-quite-chaste kiss, then tilted it to briefly expose her neck.
“Well, of course. But I like to take my time with it.” Alice smiled. “I’m what they call an epicure.”
“I think we’ll get along just fine, Zoe...”
“Do you think so?” Alice smirked. She bit lightly on the woman’s ear. “Let’s call a cab.”
Raven liked that idea even better. She was itching to get her hands into Alice’s shirt. She’d have to be on top, of course....
They were outside now, and Alice whistled for a cab. Irene was still on her, and it suited her fine. “Tell me,” she murmured, “what do you do?” It wasn’t just small talk; the answer would be illuminating. Even how someone phrased a simple fact told you something about them.
Smiling thoughtfully, Raven replied without much hesitation. "I'm an information consultant."
Sufficiently vague to hide any agenda. It told her more than a straight answer would have. “How very handy. I knew a few of those.” Alice laughed gaily. “One of them has her fingers in every pie in town!” If she was what Alice thought she was, this Irene would know of Flemeth.
Raven nodded, replying smoothly. “Does she now? I’ll have to look her up. It wouldn’t do to not pay my respects.” And it was never a bad idea to suck up to the head bitch.
“She’ll like that. She does need flattery.” Alice chuckled. “So, I think, do you! You really are beautiful, you know. I mean it.”
Opening the door of the cab for Alice, Raven smiled again. She leaned in, lips fluttering against Alice’s cheek. “I think you actually mean that.”
“I did, you know. Beauty is an asset in the games we play.” She meant in this endeavor, but also in whatever they both actually did for a living. “People say I’m strange looking.” It was the mouth, she knew - unfortunately, her lips were unique, and the curve of her expressions.
“Strange things are beautiful too,” Raven assured her. She was barely playing the game, when she said that. It was something she believed. Part of her felt she had to believe it. “In their own way.”
“Well, I certainly agree.” Alice nodded. “I have to. Especially when children are cruel.” From a young age, they’d been horrible. She’d wanted to kill many more before she actually got to it. “I’m sure you’ve been all over Europe - some of the loveliest spots are off the beaten path, unusual, or just plain macabre.”
“I’m reminded of this little place in Germany. I spent about a year there, when I was thirteen or fourteen.” Of course she’d taken off after she’d given birth to Kurt. She couldn’t have risked staying after that. “Reminded me of a place you’d read in a storybook. I half suspected there was a witch out in the woods.”
“I went on holiday once with my parents to Romania, and I wondered the same thing.” She chuckled a little, leaning on the woman once the cab was off and running. “Except I was certain it was one of Vlad’s progeny.”
“I paid a visit to the place where Elizabeth Bathory was said to have done most of her crimes,” Raven replied, laughing. “But I never had the pleasure to pay a visit to Vlad’s country.”
“Hungary is lovely, but Romania is even better.” Alice smiled. “Is it odd to say I wanted to make love in Čachtice Castle?” The castle was where Bathory had been walled up alive. “It all just seemed so ... romantic at the time. I was there with a boyfriend and I don’t know.” Murder turned her on.
“That’s not odd. That’s a little of a turn on,” Raven admitted with a purr. She slipped her hand onto Alice’s thigh and stroked lightly.
Alice let her, closing her eyes. “The idea of him throwing me up against the same wall where countless girls died just seems ... appropriate to me.” She smiled softly. “Sex and death come from the same place, after all.”
“Do they now? Tell me how so?” Raven’s fingers slid higher up Alice’s leg.
“Well, I’m sure you know that they used to call orgasms ‘le petit mort.’ The little death. Both acts are terminuses of sorts.” Alice smiled a little more ferally. “I’ve often wondered what it might be like to have both at once.” She’d killed, and she’d orgasmed, but never both at once.
"What a way to go," Raven murmured. The thought was sort of an appealing one. Not that she ever wanted to die, though there were several people she'd love to kill.
“One would go out on top of the world.” Alice laughed. “But, alas, I do enjoy living, so I may have to wait.”
“I suppose when I’m bored and eighty,” Raven said, laughing along with her. “Unless I decide I want to go young.”
“Some do. I don’t understand them, but maybe I will one day.” Alice smiled, looking over at Irene. “I’d much rather live! Meet people, take what I can from them, help them in whatever what I can.” There were some people that she’d helped to a higher understanding of the world. She doubted this woman needed the help.
"Enough talk of life and death," Raven decided, blood-red hair falling to the side as she moved her head. "But I'd like to share some more of that le petit mort with you."
“Are we almost there, Irene?” Alice rested her hand on the woman’s knee.
“Yes, Zoe. This hotel coming up.” It wasn’t a roach motel either. It looked fairly expensive. She’d taken more than one congressman here.
“You have lovely taste.” The cab stopped, and Alice handed over money - it seemed only fair, given Irene had paid money for the hotel room. She handed the cabbie a twenty from her brassiere, smiled, and left the cab.
Raven followed after her, letting Alice have a bit of the lead as they made their way into the hotel. She pulled a keycard from inside her bra as they stepped into the elevator. "Fifth floor." A view was nice, but a normal room was a lot less conspicuous.
Alice would have appreciated that nuance. As they got into the elevator, she saw they were the only two there, and she tilted Irene’s face to one side and kissed her passionately. She would do much worse to learn more about an interesting person.
Raven wrapped a leg around Alice, one of her hands propping herself against the elevator side and the other digging into the back of Alice’s neck.
Alice sighed loudly, pressing her hips upward pointedly, but then the elevator dinged. Alice sighed, letting go, nodding toward the door. “To be continued.”