Gunsmith Cats, the s being tacked on at the end of the sign outside, certainly lived up to the first word of its name. The store inside was filled with all sorts firearms paraphanalia. No actual guns or ammo were in the shelves in front of the camera, but there were tripods, hunting scopes, rain covers, polishing kits, repair cuts, manuals, camouflage wear and all sorts of other things.
As Morrigan walked up to the counter, behind which sat the object of her visit, she took in the plethora of obviously well maintained guns in the case there arching an eyebrow in curiousity at some of the pieces which were clearly more for display than use. Most of which were shunted to the side.
There were small cards next to some of the pistols in the case.
"Tournament standard"
"Modified trigger sensitivity"
"Fitted for a scope."
"Interested in something?" the Indian girl behind the counter asked.
Half-Indian, Morrigan corrected herself, there was a trace of the British Isles in the girl's voice, though it was buried by a childhood raised in Chicago's own unique dialect.
"Yes, actually," Morrigan said raising her eyes and leaning forward so that her elbow rested on the glass of the container and cupped her chin as she smiled up at Rally.
Rally stared back for a moment before rolling her eyes a full second later.
"Son of a..." she snapped, harmlessly throwing down the cloth she'd been using to clean the gun in her hand. "Is there a sign on my forehead that I can't see?"
"Pardon?" Morrigan said, arching an eyebrow and straightening herself.
"Is it the job?" Rally asked, looking about her shop. "My gun collection, the leather jacket, the muscle car? What is it about me that has every lesbian who meets me trying to crawl into my pants."
"Well, dear," Morrigan said with a smile. "You put out about half as much pheromones as the average member of my kind, and it all screams lesbian. As for me, male, female, I don't care. It's all just as much fun."
She leaned back in on her elbow again, taking in Rally.
Slowly, the bounty hunter's eyes narrowed and her finger undid the strap on the gun in her shoulder holster, setting the gun she had been cleaning carefully off to the side.
"Didn't I see you last week?" she asked.
"Yes, there was a delightfully experienced girl there who bore horrid resemblance to a psychopath I've been unfortunate to cross paths with," Morrigan said.
"And then you turned into a cloud of bats and flew out the window," Rally said, leaning forward herself, on both arms with an expression decidedly less friendly than Morrigan's. "By the way, something feels a bit fuzzy around the edges."
"Really?" Morrigan said.
"Yeah, the last time I felt something like this," Rally said. "Someone was dosing me up to be her willing slave. And it was a lot stronger than this."
"Oh, give it time," Morrigan said with a smile.
"You want to tell me what you're doing before I decide to send you out of my store on your ass?" Rally asked.
"Ooo, that would be fun," Morrigan said, rising herself up childishly on two elbows and bringing herself inches from Rally's face. "Let's try that."
Rally rolled her eyes and stepped back, smacking her face.
"Can you give me one reason I'm not shooting you right now?" Rally demanded.
"Because so far all I've done is sit here and watch your very lovely body move through all sorts of interesting huffs, puffs and gyrations," Morrigan said, eyes glancing downward. "And done nothing more harmful than teasing you."
"And the fuzzy back of head feeling?" Rally asked.
"Pheromones, dear," Morrigan said. "I make a lot of them, sort of the scent equivalent to a hand grenade. But if you know it's there, it shouldn't be a problem. Of course, everyday in close proximity for a couple of weeks on end, and you might start obsessing just the tiniest bit."
"Ibuki-chan...." Anko sighed as she watched the other girl study, as she had for the last hour.
She was still two weeks away from "Ibuki-sama".
"But I don't see that a problem here," Morrigan said.
"So that's not like some aphrodesiac perfume meant to bend women to your will?" Rally asked.
"No, it's an aphrodesiac scent meant to bend whoever I want to my will," Morrigan said. "Perfumes are artificial, that's just me."
Rally blinked and stared at the unrepenentant woman in the purple business dress in front of her.
"So what do you want from me?" Rally asked.
"I should think that would be obvious," Morrigan said. "Not everyday you have an unearhtly beautiful bisexual women plop down on your counter just to stare at you, is it?"
"Been there, done that," Rally said. "And the three months of drug rehab that followed."
"Oh right, you implied a rather psychotic admirer earlier," Morrigan noted with distaste.
"So, I say again," Rally repeated. "What do you want with me...other than sleeping with me....why does every lesbian in Chicago want to sleep with me?"
"Pheromones again dear," Morrigan reminded her. "Anyway, the direct route seems to be working the best. I want to invite you, yes, you, to join House Aensland as a newly turned succubus of noble power."
"You want me to be a what?" Rally said.
"A succubus," Morrigan said. "You see, I'm Queen of the Makai."
"Makai right, and that is," Rally asked.
"The demon world, for lack of a better term," Morrigan said. "I inherited the position from Belial, who adopted me as a child. Now, the court is expecting an heir and I am responsibly for producing."
"And you chose me?" Rally said, flattered and flabergasted at once.
"My advisors suggested to choose at least five women of power," Morrigan said. "I've found two so far, about your age, much less mature, but lots of potential. And I am in....marriage negotiations with a third. A fourth has said she'll think about it. And there's this...feeling in this one place, but not sure what it is."
"So I'm your last choice then?" Rally snapped.
"No, my last choice would be the aforementioned particularly psychotic gun-toting monster who resembles your little friend," Morrigan said firmly. "You are a particularly tasty little find on a short list of women that I hoped would be interested in maintaining the peace between humans and makai...oh and the huge sums of money available to House Aensland, of course."
"I'm not sure I feel comfortable as one of many," Rally said. "And don't start tossing back and forth money. I am not a prostitute and I'm not about to sell my soul for money."
"I've no interest in your soul," Morrigan said.
"You want to turn me into a demon," Rally snapped.
"Yes, but you keep your soul," Morrigan said. "Go to church all you want. Forget about the whole adultry thing though, sort of a dietary requirement."
Rally sighed and leaned back before looking to the green-haired woman just staring at her adoringly. It was getting hard to resist the sweet and lovely look in her eyes.
"This isn't going to be something I just want to jump into," Rally said. "If it's real, that is."
The purple business suit disappeared into a burst of bats to be replaced by Morrigan in all her normal succubi beauty, now blowing a kiss at Rally.
"How about this," Morrigan said. "You're American. There's this curious American custom I've been dying to try. I hear it's been something of a catch on around the world."
"And that is?" Rally asked.
"A date," Morrigan said. "Let me take you on a date or two and we'll see if we...match up."
"Yeah, just so you know I don't go the bases on first date," Rally said with a laugh.
"Oh, no worries there," Morrigan said. "I need you a virgin until you say yes after all."
"Err, right," Rally said. "Who knew succubi would insist on waiting until after the wedding."
"So, date," Morrigan said, standing up and summoning her business suit again, complete with a card in hand. She etched something down on the card and handed it over.
"But this is the best restaurant in town," Rally shouted.
"Yes, money," Morrigan said, sidling up to Rally and winking at her. "Pleasures of royalty, my dear. Ta."
And then she walked, swayed, out the door.
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(Posted Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:11)
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