More Than Meets The Eye!

Who: Scox & Eris
Where: Babylon
When: Early Evening

Scox had turned back around after The Smoking Guy had disappeared. That was lame. Don't tease with riddles and innuendo and then just slink off without explanation. That was just plain rude. And Scox was just trying to make idle conversation. What an employee for a place to have. He finished off his current drink and flagged down the bartender for another with an easy wave and innocent smile. It was hard to look innocent with freaky eyes, he'd admit, but he did his best. He wasn't bothering anyone, but Scox was pretty good at acting the part when appropriate. There were always people, of course, who could see through that kind of act. Scox liked those people a lot, in the sense that they were harder to win over. And he did like a challenge. He glanced around again and wondered if the jukebox had any good music on it or not. A little classic rock or so would be good right about now. Maybe a little 'Ventura Highway', or 'Take It Easy'. Something mellow. He figured anything too much older either wouldn't be available in a place like this, or would just be to old man-ish. Scox liked to get with the times, but current music was nothing compared to music from around the 50's through the 70's, at least in his opinion.

Eris was threading through the crowd towards the juke box, people seeming to move out of her way regardless of if they noticed her presence there or not. It was something that happened, almost a distortion of space rather than people scrambling to get out of her way. She stopped with one hip resting against the juke box, pushing the buttons and stealing the song selection of the person who'd put money in. She smiled at Scox. "Evening." she said sweetly.

Scox was intrigued by the stealing of another's jukebox money. Hm. He gave her an appreciative once over. "It's a good evening now," He smiled back and noticed a lack of a drink on her as well. That seemed to be happening a lot in this place.

"Would you like my assistance in procuring a drink, since you've got the music selection all squared away?" He let his eyes do a little roaming as he spoke. He could always blame it on the alcohol if she got offended, even if he wasn't drunk.

Eris didn't have a presence like hers put in place to discourage any oggling. So she smiled, as 'White Wedding' started to play by Billy Idol. Because who didn't like that song? "Are you offering to buy me a drink?" she asked. "If so, why not. Your choice." she even gave him. Which was pretty funny to her, considering he'd be getting her something she already owned. So that was amusing.

Nobody, that's who didn't like the song though Scox was glad he never went through a leather-vest-bleached-blonde phase during the eighties. The corners of his mouth turned up. "Indeed, I am," His eyebrows arched a bit. His choice, huh? Seemed a little too easy. "Is you insist," He located a passing waitress and ordered two more whiskey sours since he liked them and why not?

"So my choice? Hooked on the first line?" He narrowed his eyes in mock suspicion at her. "Either I'm that good, or you've had a few already." He smirked.

"Check your ego at the door, sweetheart." Eris said. "Maybe I'm just bored, and it's neither." she pointed out. Because actually she hadn't had anything to drink tonight. Usually she drank wine, when she was of a mind to drink anything, but tonight she hadn't. She'd wanted to walk around her place of business and take in the local color as it were. She leaned closer to him, and stage whispered in his ear. "It's possible you don't have it all figured out, you know." she teased.

"I'm a little attached to my ego," He shrugged and made no apology for it. Hm, no alcohol, putting him in his place and no comment about the eyes. He was used to questions about contacts. He bit the corner of his lip and almost laughed at her comment. He smoothed a hand down his shirt and straightened up to stand taller.

"The ego dictates that I'm supposed to argue this point to the death," He announced with a firm nod.

Eris smiled at him. "You'll lose." she said. "So. Are you planning on trying to blatantly keep hammering away at this, or are you going to bow out and come up with a new subject?" she asked. Really, she was going to see how long it was before he brought up his eyes. It was always amusing to her to utterly ignore something so terribly obvious, because generally speaking, people squirmed about it after a while. The '...but there's something weird about me! Ask already!' thing. She'd actually had people stop mid conversation and all but stomp their feet to have their specialness acknowledged.

Cute little snowflakes, just like everyone else.

The waitress came back with their drinks, and she took hers, winking at the girl before turning back to Scox. "Thank you for the drink." she said.

"And I'm the one with the ego?" He asked. Scox didn't usually strive to be a snowflake. It was usually quite the opposite. Keeping a good cover was important. Even if he could get out of a situation, it meant extra work, so he preferred keeping the spotlight away. He did like making people squirm about the eyes. Whenever someone didn't it either meant they knew more than a regular person, or they thought commenting would be offensive. He couldn't decide which was the case here, though he was leaning toward the first option.

He nodded at the waitress and took his drink as well before handing over some money, enough with a tip anyway. "Don't mention it," He shrugged. "And since the drink was my choice, how about the subject is yours?" He asked before he lifted his drink to her. "And cheers!" He added with a cheeky little grin.

Eris smiled at him over the top of her drink. "Cheers." she said in return. "Alright, what brings you to a sleepy little town like this?" she asked. "And you don't get to think about that, you have to say the first thing that comes off the top of your head." she slid the condition in there immediately.

"Work." Scox answered as soon as he'd finished swallowing the sip of his drink he'd taken. He tilted his head a little with a shrug. "I don't think that means I can skip out on the fun that comes along with it," He added afterward.

"You have fun with your work?" she asked. "Interesting. What is it you do?" she asked. She was aware of what he was. She knew what everyone was the second they set foot in her establishment. But that didn't mean she didn't entertain herself now and then by seeing what people would actually own up to. How long they would keep the lie going, or if they tried at all.

Yeah sure why not. "Biochemical Engineer." He answered. Playing with germs and potentially deadly chemicals - how could it not be fun? Well, the paperwork wasn't too much fun, but still. "I suppose there's fun to be had aside from work," He mused. "It's a small town right? Tawdry, crazy secrets growing wild among the towns folk?"

"You would think so." Eris said. "Though it's sleepier than one would give it credit for. It has it's secrets, however." she added. "You just have to know where to dig." She leaned against the wall, sipping more of her drink. "One doesn't usually think of fun when biochemical engineering comes to mind. What is it you do with your skills?"

"Hm." Scox replied at first, much like he had earlier to...that Asian guy. "Am I digging in the right place?" He paused in answering to watch her lean back. "It's really rather boring to most people." He confessed. It should probably be boring to him after so many years, go figure. "My shiny new job is for a pharmaceutical company. Biological organisms, molecules, research, paperwork." Of course, he left most of the paperwork to his assistance on a normal basis. He'd had to break in his new assistants. That was always an annoying part.

"Research, that would be interesting." Eris said. "And depends what you're digging for, sweetiepie. If you can tell me that, I can certainly point you in the right direction." she said pleasantly. She sipped more of her drink, and watched him. A lot of demons were fairly offputting, egotistical and most of them loved pissing contests. They were fun for a little while until that got old, basically. So far this one was still keeping her attention, however. So that was nice.

"The interns do most of the grunt work." And he got to play with the pretty organisms and chemicals, huzzah! If pressed, Scox was fairly certain he could beat her in a pissing contest but only a literal one. Then again, who knew? That was besides the point anyhow, she was an awfully forward woman. That wasn't necessarily a bad trait.

He took a drink from his glass as he decided on a second response. "I have a feeling," He said once he'd swallowed. "That I'm digging for whatever it is this place is a cover for," He told her. "And maybe the reason why you know what it is?"

Eris almost laughed. She didn't quite, she merely smiled at him, clearly amused. "My my, you are a twisted little mind, aren't you, sugar?" she asked. "You just assume everything's got duality to it. One or the other, option A or option B, and you don't think anything's what it seems. That has got to be a therapy session waiting to happen." She shook her head. "I know a lot. I have connections in town, as it were, so if you actually wanted to tell me what you might be after, I could tell you where to get it. But you would actually have to come out and ask." she said. "There's a magic word. Starts with a 'p'."

Scox smirked at that. "No, no. I was assuming it earlier. And then the little Asian man - quite comically cryptically I might add - implied that," He rolled his eyes up in thought for the phrase the man has used, "And establishment such as this was more than its surface?" Amusing.

He tilted his head and refrained from using the original 'p' word he'd thought of. So she liked to force the question out of a guy? That verged a little on kinky, no? "'Pleasure' for the win, Alex. And lots of it - the dirty, sweaty variety, not the lame girly fluffy bunny variety - I shouldn't say girly though, should I?" He looked her over again and doubted she took too much pleasure of the girly fluffy bunny type. At least, he hoped not. It would be a horrible waste of a perfectly good presentation.

She finished off her drink and handed it off to the first waitress that she saw, before she crooked her finger at Scox. "Come closer." she enticed. "And I'll tell you everything you need to know. On one condition." she said. Her voice had a sultry sort of purr to it, one that carried despite the noise around them.

That sounded promising. He reached out to stop the waitress so he could finish his own drink in a last gulp or two and then passed her the glass. "You're setting me up for disappointment, aren't you?" He asked even as he grinned and stepped closer to her. He was intrigued about how well he could hear her above the noise. Hm.

"Another therapy session for you, then." Eris said. "Expecting to be let down before you even hear the condition." she sighed and shook her head, eyeing him. When he got closer, she looked up at him through her eyelashes. "All you have to do is ask nicely and say please."

"But still willing to hear the condition all the while," He mused with a lopsided grin. He waited, patiently in his opinion, for her to show him the way so to speak. He laughed a little when she finally told him. "Seriously?" Women always used the lame 'p' words didn't they?

"All right. I'll bite." He decided. "I would like you to tell me all that it is that I need to know, about this place, those connections, and all the other relevant 'p' words associated to both topics," He said before being sure to add, "Please?" He even gave her a little sweet smile for her. He was genuinely curious at this point, though he doubted he'd be too surprised by the answer.

"You ask for a lot." Eris said. "I'm going to grant you what you asked for before. About all the pleasure you're seeking." she said. "Follow me." she added, pushing into his personal space, then around him without touching him. She started threading through the crowd like she had in the first place, people seeming to not be in her way by the time she got near them.

"Is that a therapy session for you? Tell the guy to ask, he asks and you tell him he asks for a lot?" He teased even as he followed, eyes on her features from behind. "Whatever it is you're selling...I'm buying..." He mused to himself as he let her lead the way.

She led them back into a hallway near the back of the bar, and turned to a doorway that lead to a narrow staircase. "Actually, it's not. Initially you just wanted to know what would get you off, then you decided to pile a bunch of things on top of that. You're getting what you initially wanted. Everything else in due course." she said, heading up the stairs.

Scox smiled and put his hands up in surrender as he followed up a narrow staircase that he thought was rather promising really. "Hey I'm on the train til it's last stop, not complaining." He told her. Following her up the steps provided an even better view of various curves. Scox was quite all right with this arrangement, whatever it may be leading to.

She led him into her office, and shut the door behind them. She went behind the desk to sit, then smiled and motioned to one of the chairs on the other side of it. "Welcome to Babylon. I'm Eris. I own this establishment."

Scox took a brief moment while she was shutting the door to look around the office. One of his eyebrows popped up when she went and sat at the desk and he let out a snort of laughter with a shake of his head. His mouth twisted up into a lopsided smirk but went to sit down in one of the chairs she'd motioned toward.

"Ohhh...now that's sneaky," He smiled as he folded his hands behind his head. "I like that," He decided with a nod after a beat or two, still deciding whether he wanted to give her his name or not. He could just give her his 'official' name of course, decisions, decisions.

"If you want anything to do with my establishment, there are ground rules. There's a contract, and it's binding. We cater to any taste you might have here, but you have to follow our rules. If you don't...well. I'm sure you can figure out that it won't be pleasant." she said, full air of business around her now. She also had the underlying air of capability, that said if he fucked with her she was more than capable of fucking back.

Scox sat up a little straighter once it was time for shop talk. No fucking around and following the rules, right. He moved his folded hands to rest against his stomach so he could set his elbows on the arms of the chair and nodded. "Wouldn't dream of breaking the rules of such a fine establishment." He replied and even though there was still a joking undertone in there, he was serious. Scox could behave himself where appropriate.

"Good. If you would like services, then you can have them. Payment can be made in whatever way suits you personally best, so long as it gets paid. You can choose whatever rooms you like, as long as you let me know in advance which of my employees you wish to see on a given day, so we can be prepared." she said. She smiled at him, and handed him a thick folder. "Here's your paperwork that outlines all of our rules, our rooms, and accommodations that can be made for you."

Scox reached out for the folder, intrigued but amused. Payment wasn't much of an issue for him, nor were the choices of who, what, where and when at the moment. He still opened the folder to leaf through it as he thought of an appropriate response. "Now here's some non-boring research," He grinned. And then he nodded. "Payments are no problem, and I'll be sure to call ahead to make a reservation," Just like a restaurant. "Is there anything else I should know?"