032 :: TEXT ( BACKDATED TAX MAN )

[prosopopoeia]

[ Knowing Marie, this file already existed. It's just a matter of releasing it into the wild. She has priorities. ]

Thermo Scientific Incubator	--	13,567.70
Analog Water Bath	--	1,269.60
Multi-tube Vortex Mixer	--	1,640.00
Vials	--	1,830.08
Thermoreactor	--	596.00
Cathode Multi-Element Lamps	--	1,034.00
Bench Meter	--	1,280.00
Cryogenic Dry Shipping Materials	--	4,316.00
Plant Growth Chamber	--	5,652.30
Fume Hood	--	14,028.08
Laboratory Reactor	--	19,233.70
Trinocular Microscope	--	1,817.60
...

Côtes Catalanes CaudLouis, Mas Mudigliza (Grenahce Gris/Maccabeu)	--	104.00
Riesling Spätlese Hochheimer Domdechaney Balthasar Ress, Rheingau	--	112.00
Quinta de Fonz de Arouce, Beiras, Portugal (Cerceal/Sercial)	--	120.00
Naia Naiades, Rueda, Spain (Verdejo)	--	128.00
di Lenardo Vineyards Ribolla Gialla Comemivuoi, delle Venezie	--	128.00
Viré-Clessé Cuvée E. J. Thevenet, Domaine de la Bongran (Chardonnay)	--	136.00
...

Baking Powder	--	3.00
Eggs	--	4.00
Flour	--	4.00
Fruits	--	10.00
Hamburger	--	8.00
Pasta	--	11.00
Butter	--	3.00
Milk	--	6.00
Potatoes	--	2.00
Salt	--	3.00
Vegetables	--	7.00
Tuna	--	5.00

Comments

[deadmanbusiness]

[Loooks at the list... ]

Are you a mad scientist?

[prosopopoeia]

Mad?

[This is a scaaaathing look.]

[deadmanbusiness]

[The list! The List!]

I just know our resident mad scientist back home would kill for some of the stuff on your list.

[They just don't let him have it because he'd probably end up killing people. By accident, but still killing people.]

[prosopopoeia]

Zhis inventory is universally inadequate.

[deadmanbusiness]

What else do you need?

[prosopopoeia]

A number of chemical 'ypos I won't bore you naming, a Quantum Bio-Reconstructor, a replicator, better laser equipment...


[The list goes on.]

[deadmanbusiness]

[He listens to it and may take a few notes on it.]

And what are you planning on doing with it?

[prosopopoeia]

My work.

[.....SCIENCE.]

I am an engineer, and astrophysicist.

[deadmanbusiness]

[SCIENCE!]

An engineer? Really now.

[He sounds interested.]

[prosopopoeia]

Yes, a laureate.

[A Nobel laureate. This one is brainy.]

[deadmanbusiness]

[Hah! That's one thing she has above Adrian who hasn't managed to come up with something that could qualify for a Nobel Prize yet.]

That's impressive!

[prosopopoeia]

[It's not exactly that Marie is vain but...]

Thank you.

[She has very few and very small pleasures in her life. She seems pleased with the compliment.]

[deadmanbusiness]

[That's good. Because he is being earnest and honest.]

I'd like to see some of your work at some point, if you don't mind?

[prosopopoeia]

I do mind.

[She doesn't trust anyone... except maybe Chekov.]

[mortemscintilla]

...You really seem to like your wines, Miss.

[ Don't judge, Hei. By 24, so will you. ]

[prosopopoeia]

Yes, I do.

[WITHERING. Hi, Li.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ AWKWARD! HELLO MISS DELACROIX :T ]

Well, at least you have ingredients for meals that pair well with the wines. [ He clears his throat sheepishly. ] Except the, um, hamburger.

[prosopopoeia]

I don't cook much.

[Because she is too busy smoking and drinking coffee in between bottles of wine.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ It's cool. Hei has very little in the way of hobbies outside of eating, drinking, assembling artillery and cracking skulls Underground. ]

Does work keep you too busy? Or have you just never been interested in cooking? A lot of people aren't. [ Because a lot of people don't need food every one hour. ]

[prosopopoeia]

I can cook.

[Her mother had taught her. It had disinterested Marie, but she recognized its use.]

But I am very busy.

[Busy self-destructing, kthx.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ 8| He has an inkling. (Potential trainwrecks recognize potential trainwrecks?) ]

Well, if you ever do have the time to cook, you should try smoked scallops with Verdejo. Or just a simple home-baked pizza. It's a delicious combination. [ ...Careful, Li. You're going to start drooling. ]

[prosopopoeia]

Zhat sounds frivolous.

[Seriously, Li.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ wibble.jpg ]

Well. I guess it would be. B-But everyone needs hobbies. [ Yes, binge eating is a hobby, stfu. ] You can't subsist on work alone. [ cough~hypocrite~cough ]

[prosopopoeia]

Yes. You can.

[mortemscintilla]

But think how out-of-balance your life would be, miss!

[ The sheer amount of hypocrisy here omg ]

[prosopopoeia]

In what way? Idleness is merely zhat.

[mortemscintilla]

Hobbies aren't idleness! [ L I E S ] They give you a chance to relax! They put work-related pressure out of your mind. It's necessary to have that once in awhile.

[prosopopoeia]

I do not like to relax.

[By which she means she is incapable of doing so. The attempts to do so just make her feel like she's vibrating. Like she wants to vomit. Like something is stalking her and she is not protecting herself.]

[mortemscintilla]

M-May I ask why?

[ His own paranoia has a much more ambivalent nature. On the one hand, it's less sharp-toothed in the City, more subcutaneous and silent. On the other hand, the ongoing curses and the monsters -- human and inhuman -- inhibit any of Hei's efforts to smother it completely. Part of it is the behavioural cues -- the need to protect his cover, the routine perimeter checks, the casual run-ins with violence -- which continue to remind him what he'll always be. ]

[ It's not just operational necessity. It's who he is. ]

[prosopopoeia]

There are too many things to do.

[She was always a workaholic, but there is most certainly a new, more insistent than ever, pulsing in her veins and nothing she does will see it silenced.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ Ouch. There are meds for that, Marie. ]

Well. Even so. [ He offers a bright smile. ] If you ever need to unwind, I'd be happy to take you out for drinks. Or just a fun outing. [ He's not flirting. It's just that sticky-sweet, Li-patented goo of unstinting friendliness. (Be on your guard 8| ) ]

[prosopopoeia]

[She can tell the difference between flirtation, and the lack of it is admittedly refreshing.]

We'll see.

[Le. Sniff.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ Show them what they want to see. That's the modus operandi Hei navigates by. ]

Great. [ Sunshiny!! ] Ah -- I-I don't think I've introduced myself. Sorry about that. I'm Li Shenshung. Nice to meet you.

[prosopopoeia]

'ello.

[She almost doesn't introduce herself in kind... Siiigh.]

My name is Marie Delacroix.

[mortemscintilla]

How do you do, Miss Delacroix. [ He's painstakingly correct in his pronounciation. ] Unless, um, you're more partial to 'Marie.' [ He doubts it. She seems the type, in the face of unfamiliarity, to adhere to steely boundaries. ]

[prosopopoeia]

Delacroix is fine.

[No Miss, and no Sir. And no one ever pronounces it right, she might give him a suspicious look over it.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ Painstaking, not effortless. (Nothing's ever effortless for simple, stupid Li.) He meets her suspicious look with his mildest smile, which makes him look almost like a lost puppy. ]

Right. [ With a polite inclination of the head, ] I'll let you get back to work then. It was nice talking to you.

[prosopopoeia]

[HMPH.]