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phormthevixdjinnThe door to the office flew open abruptly. The rabbit girl practically came tumbling through, tripping over her own feet. She caught herself on the edge of the desk with a gasp and a flurry of barely coherent sounds.
"V-vect! Vect! T-There's some kind of- She-She's some sort of- I don't know how to-"
"I see her," The mink's voice was distant, thin. She wasn't looking in the rabbit's direction at all. Her vision had been fixed out the elevated office window, toward the barstool below, since this new guest had walked into the building. "Is she causing problems?"
Terri always had been excitable. But this was different. She stood up, straightening her crop top as if it were formal attire. She was dressed for the occasion tonight - Which is to say, strategically. A miniskirt, platform heels, fishnets - Far beyond what she'd normally wear on duty, but tonight was supposed to be...
"Well, no. Not exactly, b-b-but She asked for you."
"She asked for the owner?"
"N-no," Terri stammered, then paused slightly, "She asked for you. She asked for Vect."
The pause hung heavy in the air. Vect didn't break her gaze as she flicked a cigarette out of the inner pocket of her denim jacket, slipped it between her lips, then lit it with the lighter she had been cradling in her palm.
The rabbit continued. She seemed to choke on her own words as she squirmed on the opposite side of Vect's desk, wringing her hands nervously, "S-She ordered a Crimson Silk."
Vect went rigid in an instant, and quiet for much longer. The freshly lit cigarette dangled limp in her lips, barely held there at all as she turned to face Terri with a wide-eyed expression on her face.
"... No shit."
She tapped the end of her long cigarette holder, though no ash fell to the floor. A rising purple mist lazily rose into the air, languid and confident despite being overtly out of place. Had anyone been daring enough to get close, the scent would've caught them off-guard. It was certainly not tobacco, nor anything else familiar. But here, tonight, there were none courageous enough to catch even a whiff. Thus, she sat at the bar alone, the other patrons giving her a wide berth. The seats proximal to her, glaringly vacant.
She found this dryly amusing. For it meant, despite trying to ignore her, that they saw her.
The club was nearly filled to capacity. The dancefloor was pulsing and writhing with a kind of visceral excitement that she adored watching. So unrestrained! So liberated. She had half a mind to join them. But then, that would distract her from her mission, as it were. As much as she adored indulging herself at every opportunity, tonight she had a purpose. And why ruin everyone else's night by upstaging them here, spoiling their evening? She was benevolent in this act. For she knew that, were she to show them more, they'd never forget it. Or even rival it. So cruel it would be, to give them a taste of what they could never truly savor again.
She shifted on the barstool, one leg over the other as she waited further. She idly reflected that her elegant, minimal purple evening dress was completely the wrong attire for this venue - She ought to have worn spiked cuffs and cut-offs. But changing now, easy as it would be, would attract too much attention. And honestly, who shouldn't thank her for sharing her graceful side? So few got to see it in such a setting. She rolled her shoulders, the fluffy wrap around her neck sparkling with an otherworldly, ethereal shimmer to all who looked on. It wasn't fur of course. It wasn't even natural. She did so love to revel in synthetic materials, after all. Besides, it was a conversation starter, this glimmering, fluffy, fuzzy pi-
"You the one who made the special order?"
She swiveled on her seat to face the bar. There, behind the taps, set in front of the shimmering neon mirrored lights and shelves upon shelves of bottles, was the other mink. She was leaning onto the bar, shoulders rolled upward as she stared pointedly, but calmly. There was an undeniable note of fatigue on her face, hidden somewhere behind her eyes. The tattered denim jacket, the tight, torn pants - Her hands wrapped up in white strips from wrist to knuckles, as if she had just been called away from sparring. A cigarette hung from the corner of her mouth, smoldering along with her eyes.
Ah. So this was the one. She could feel the patrons in the booths and on the dancefloor - all stealing furtive glances and sharing hushed whispers as the two of them locked eyes.
"Yes, I was hoping I might be able to sample some of the establishment's more exotic, signature drinks. And I couldn't resist the opportunity to meet the proprietor herself." She tapped the end of her cigarette holder lightly, the purple smoke rising in thin, obvious, unhurried plumes. "You must be Vect."
"Sure," Vect grunted, gaze unwavering. She planted her hand wide on the bar and narrowed her eyes as she leaned in closer, "So who the fuck are you?"
The other mink let out a mirthful laugh. Vect could feel it colored with shadow, despite the brightness she feigned.
"You may address me as Teff," her voice was smooth, velvet. Frictionless, "And please, there's no reason for hostility."
"Is that fuckin' right?" Vect stared across the bar for a long, turgid moment. The instant hung in the air, taking up space, until Vect finally scoffed. She stamped out her cigarette in the sink with frustration, then proceeded to pull a shaker from under the bar. She set to work despite her brusque demeanor, keeping her eyes firmly on Teff even as she uncorked bottles and poured in startlingly accurate quantities.
"Now is that any way to tre-"
"You're not a guest, and you're not a customer. And you're sure as hell not one of my girls," Vect interrupted.
"You've hardly given me room to speak, Miss Proprietor."
"Yeah, because I don't want to hear whatever it is you have to say," Vect continued shaking Teff's ordered drink without missing a beat. "You walk in here, ask for me by name, and then make that order? You stink to high hell, lady."
Teff stilled herself, merely taking another drag on her cigarette, hiding her impatience behind a smooth, cool demeanor. Somewhere in the back of her head, she thought something akin to "If this bitch only knew...". But she let Vect continue.
"You stank before you opened your mouth, and I've got no patience to play goddamn twenty questions. So why don't you tell me what the fuck you want, before I have you thrown out the front door by a seven foot tall wolf who can bench more than whatever showpiece fuckoff car drove you here tonight? Or worse?"
Teff recoiled slightly. A flinch, with eyes widening, as if someone had just thrown ice water in her face, "Well now, but aren't you a delight."
"I'm tired, is what I am, Teff." Vect shook the mixer with pointed force, the frost of the chilled beverage within creeping along the chrome exterior.
"Yes, I can see that," Teff eased in her verbal dagger with softness. Vect sneered in reply as the other mink continued, "Since you seem to harbor no love for pleasantries, I'll tell you directly that I came here this evening to seek information. I thought this might be a way to get your attention most... effectively."
"Yeah, no shit." Vect slid a martini glass onto the bar, into which she strained the beverage from the shaker. A single cherry rolled into the dark red liquid, and Vect pushed the finalized drink across the counter to the mink in the purple dress. "Your Crimson Silk, madame. Now, how about you give me a little information? Like how the fuck you know about any of this. Particularly that?" She gestured heavily toward the glass on the bar.
Teff slid her fingertips under the glass, letting it glide into her cupped hand. She made a show of slowly inhaling the scent of the beverage, before gingerly nursing a sip. She looked up, and to the right, while savoring the taste upon her palate. Vect leaned forward in obvious frustration, able to make about half of a sound before Teff raised a single fingertip to silence her.
"Mm. Extremely sweet. Heavy notes of fruit, though lighter on the citrus than I'd expect. Cloying aftertaste. Excessive alcohol. Christ, that's awful."
"Alright, yeah, hilarious," Vect snorted, throwing a towel from her shoulder to the bar in further frustration. "We can all look forward to reading your scathing review." The agitated mink leaned in close across the bar, nostrils flaring as she huffed an irritated breath at Teff, across from her, "Now start fucking talking. In case you haven't noticed, we-"
"Yes, I have." Teff set her drink upon the bar and made a dismissive motion with her other hand, taunting the other mink despite the obvious agitation Vect was putting on public display. "You've got all the exits blocked, and each of the six girls with eyes on me is armed."
Vect didn't move. She remained rigidly rooted. Her jaw, and her grip on the bar, each tightened as Teff continued to speak.
"Let me assure you, Miss Vect, that there's no need to use the machine pistol under the bar." Her words continued to slip soft into Vect's ear, "I promise that I'm sufficiently intimidated. Just, completely reduced to ineffectual fear." Vect was poised to snap the bar in twain.
A momentary beat hung heavy in the air as the DJ on stage reached the end of her playlist. A slice of silence cut through the club as the two minks stared at each other with burning intensity. Vect's claws cut gashes into the wood beneath her fingertips. Yet the slick, too-pale mink in the evening dress seemed not the least bit perturbed. She kept her eyes locked with the proprietor, not pushing forward even for a moment, yet at the same time not retreating in the least. Some of those in the booths nearby watched on breathlessly, trying for all the world to appear as if they weren't looking.
Applause on the floor, the DJ pumping the crowd for the next set, general hoots and laughter from the patrons on the floor who weren't even aware of the exchange transpiring at the bar.
Teff threw back another swallow from her drink, grimacing almost comically as she pulled it down. "That truly is awful... But I can see why you serve it to them. Something sweet to calm them. Something to take the edge off. Something welcoming, like a warm hug that could never hurt them. They must be terrified when they order it, yes? Unsure of the rumors, unsure of how safe it is, unsure most of all in themselves?"
Teff finished the drink entire, head tilted back as she drained the glass far too quickly. "What would it take, Miss Vect, to convince you I'm on your side?"
Vect unclenched her claws, lifting them from the splintered grooves she had sliced in the polished wooden surface. "A lot."
"I don't work for Apex, dear."
The mink behind the bar narrowed her eyes in an instant, as if she had been punched in the stomach. "Yeah? Just gonna drop that name too? Jesus fuck. How am I supposed to trust you at all, let alone believe that you're on my side?"
"You're not intrigued, Vect? Not the slightest bit curious?" Teff let the smile spread across her face with alarming ease, "Where's your sense of wonder, of adventure? It's not every day an establishment such as yours has a visitor like me."
"Fuck off," Vect practically growled as she stood to full height, "You want me to be dazzled by you? When you walk in here, sit down at my bar, try to flex on me, and needle me the way you have? I don't even give two shits that you're trying to get under my skin, you know?" Vect gritted her teeth, breaking gaze with the otherworldly mink for a moment to sweep her vision across every person in the club, "Because if you're even half as knowledgeable as you're letting on, then you know - You fucking know - that the minute you walked in here you put every single person here in fucking grave danger.
"I don't care if you are on my side, Teff, because the amount of risk you just brought to my girls right now? Inexcusable."
"Oh, this should be good," Teff placed her elbows on the bar, chin resting on her palms as she smiled across to Vect.
"You're so fuckin' flashy and out of place here that a goddamned satellite could probably make you out. You don't think Apex has eyes on us? Constantly? You don't think they know you're here right now? And even knowing jack shit about you, I'm guessing you've got their panties in a wad just visiting me. They could be mobilizing to torch this place to the ground just because you decided to stop in and ask me a question. You and I," She motioned with a finger between herself and the other mink, "talking together? That's gotta be one of their 'code red' situations... And that's the best case scenario. That's if I take you at your word. That's if I believe you.
Vect snorted at Teff, her expression verging on a hardly concealed sneer, "If you're on my side, I'd hate to see what you consider an enemy."
Teff sighed in a pronounced, obvious manner. The elegant mink rolled her eyes, head resting on her hands still, as she looked across to the bartender. "The alliance doesn't know much about me, Miss Vect, but I'd surmise they know enough not to cross me. I'm something they hardly comprehend. But even they, in their limitless ignorance, understand 'Do Not Touch'. As such, I'm something they would rather not deal with." Teff gave a knowing smile, the kind of self-satisfied grin that betrayed a hidden satisfaction. "They've tried."
"Yeah?" Vect's curiosity betrayed her, "How'd that go?"
"Remmington showed up with six heavily armed men and a plan," Teff took another slow drag from her cigarette holder, exhaling a slow, rolling breath of rising purple. She grinned softly, "He left alone, naked, and dripping with liquid, pink latex goo."
The corner of Vect's lips curled upward as she gave the slightest grunt of a laugh.
"I would've liked to have seen that."
"Oh, hold on," Teff rummaged around in her purse enthusiastically, "I took pictures."
"Keep your hands visible," Vect interjected tersely, tone souring immediately. It seemed she would not be so easily distracted.
Teff froze in reply.
Inwardly, Teff found herself building to a nearly insufferable frustration. She was not used to being addressed in such a manner. She was not used to being so disrespected. A part of her wanted to rise up with indignation, wanted to assert loudly how Vect and these girls were nothing to her. How she could deal with them in an instant. How their pathetic firearms couldn't so much as inconvenience her.
And yet, Teff knew that making a scene here and now would be inadvisable. She had plans, after all, and any delay would be unpalatable. And for as much as she enjoyed boasting, deep down she realized that if Remmington's gaze truly fell upon her...
The slick glistening mink stopped her motion immediately, hands slowly moving back into view in a show of good intentions. Clearly, Vect needed to feel as if she were in control here. Yet Teff had her own ego to maintain.
"I'm not here to 'fuck you up', dear. I'm playing by your rules, and to be quite honest you should be thanking me for that. Try to meet me halfway here."
Vect's rage simmered further. A low roil that was building by the second. An unstable mixture of high alert, and unrefined anger.
Teff slowly moved to pick up her cigarette holder, taking an extended drag as she let the moment stretch wide.
"I'll sate your curiosity this much: I know of your organization and all these intimate details because of your... prospective recruit?" Teff slowly spun her cigarette holder betwixt her fingers as she leveled a knowing grin across the bar, blowing smoke casually from between purple lips.
Vect's eyes flared wide. The sound of wood splintering under her claws returned.
Teff answered her silence with a knowing smirk, "Should I call her that? I'm not sure if you have a fun little name for them."
The bartender was rigid from ear to tailtip, face twitching involuntarily as she struggled to hold herself back. Teff regarded her agitation with satisfaction. She surmised the bartender might vibrate through the floor entirely. Slowly, Vect moved her claws off the scored bartop, just out of view, grasping at-
"Oh, don't worry yourself over her dear, she found what she was looking for." Teff's gaze slid up Vect with purpose, her widening smile blatant and brazen. "Though she found it with me."
"YOU FUCKING FILTHY CU-"
The entire club shattered to the sound of Vect smashing a bottle on the edge of the bar. Even amid the chaos of the dancefloor, motion stopped. Every eye in the house turned to watch Vect vault across the bar, plunging the ragged glass directly into Teff's face. The improvised shiv slid in easily, sinking beneath the surface of that glistening, unnaturally white cheek as if it were so much insubstantial fluff. There was no hard stop, no resistance as Vect was familiar with. As if Teff had not a single bone in her body.
Teff failed to react. No cry of pain, no recoil from the impact. The shattered portion of the bottle sunk effortlessly into her face, disappearing into her flesh almost up to the thin bottleneck, even as the barkeep's fingers were still wrapped around the makeshift weapon. After a long moment, Teff finally did respond - by letting out a slow, light sigh. A sound as if she had been slightly inconvenienced. All the while, Vect remained rigid in place, adrenaline carrying her through the act in a haze of emotion.
The entire scene seemed to linger too long. The club was too quiet, despite the thumping music.
Eventually, Vect sild backward off the bar in shock. At first it was shock at herself, but gradually, her shock transmuted into a growing, deepening fear. She stumbled on her feet as she fell backward, colliding against the wall of booze bottles behind her, her previously hardened demeanor melting into helplessness - sliding from abject rage into uncertain anxiety.
Teff took another drag from her cigarette holder, before slowly reaching up to curl her fingertips around the neck of the fragmented glass in her face. With a sick, wet sound, she pulled it out in a single motion and dropped the broken bottle on the counter with a loud clatter. It was slathered with thick, slick white goo. The same ooze which seemed to weep from the wound on Teff's face for a moment.
And then there was no wound.
Teff looked entirely, completely, and fully undisturbed - even in spite of the fact that she had just been impaled directly in the face by a broken bottle. She picked up a bar napkin and slowly dabbed below her eye - as if she were blotting up a bit of excess makeup. Then, she let out a laugh as artificial as her skin, before turning on the barstool to face the dancefloor.
"Just a friendly exchange, everyone, I assure you. We all know how impulsive our magnanimous hostess can be, don't we? Everything is fine, please do resume the festivities!"
A slow murmur of uncertainty, an atmosphere of discomfort, lingered heavy above the club. Eventually, the patrons slowly set themselves back to and attempt at reveling, but the mood had doubtlessly been tainted beyond recovery.
Vect was breathing a little heavier now, eyes wider than they had been. Suddenly she didn't feel in control anymore.
Suddenly she felt threatened in her sanctuary.
"What the fuck are you?"
"I'm glorious, dear," Teff noted with a hint of a scowl underlying her smirk, "Now then. Perhaps there's somewhere more private we can take this conversation, to avoid making any more of a scene?"
Vect froze to the spot, petrified, before slowly nodding in agreement.
"Good," Teff traced a single fingertip along the edge of the broken glass upon the bartop. "And don't worry too much. I'll give you that one for free, considering the circumstances. But if you ever do anything like that again?
"I'll show you how I use a bottle."
"V-vect! Vect! T-There's some kind of- She-She's some sort of- I don't know how to-"
"I see her," The mink's voice was distant, thin. She wasn't looking in the rabbit's direction at all. Her vision had been fixed out the elevated office window, toward the barstool below, since this new guest had walked into the building. "Is she causing problems?"
Terri always had been excitable. But this was different. She stood up, straightening her crop top as if it were formal attire. She was dressed for the occasion tonight - Which is to say, strategically. A miniskirt, platform heels, fishnets - Far beyond what she'd normally wear on duty, but tonight was supposed to be...
"Well, no. Not exactly, b-b-but She asked for you."
"She asked for the owner?"
"N-no," Terri stammered, then paused slightly, "She asked for you. She asked for Vect."
The pause hung heavy in the air. Vect didn't break her gaze as she flicked a cigarette out of the inner pocket of her denim jacket, slipped it between her lips, then lit it with the lighter she had been cradling in her palm.
The rabbit continued. She seemed to choke on her own words as she squirmed on the opposite side of Vect's desk, wringing her hands nervously, "S-She ordered a Crimson Silk."
Vect went rigid in an instant, and quiet for much longer. The freshly lit cigarette dangled limp in her lips, barely held there at all as she turned to face Terri with a wide-eyed expression on her face.
"... No shit."
She tapped the end of her long cigarette holder, though no ash fell to the floor. A rising purple mist lazily rose into the air, languid and confident despite being overtly out of place. Had anyone been daring enough to get close, the scent would've caught them off-guard. It was certainly not tobacco, nor anything else familiar. But here, tonight, there were none courageous enough to catch even a whiff. Thus, she sat at the bar alone, the other patrons giving her a wide berth. The seats proximal to her, glaringly vacant.
She found this dryly amusing. For it meant, despite trying to ignore her, that they saw her.
The club was nearly filled to capacity. The dancefloor was pulsing and writhing with a kind of visceral excitement that she adored watching. So unrestrained! So liberated. She had half a mind to join them. But then, that would distract her from her mission, as it were. As much as she adored indulging herself at every opportunity, tonight she had a purpose. And why ruin everyone else's night by upstaging them here, spoiling their evening? She was benevolent in this act. For she knew that, were she to show them more, they'd never forget it. Or even rival it. So cruel it would be, to give them a taste of what they could never truly savor again.
She shifted on the barstool, one leg over the other as she waited further. She idly reflected that her elegant, minimal purple evening dress was completely the wrong attire for this venue - She ought to have worn spiked cuffs and cut-offs. But changing now, easy as it would be, would attract too much attention. And honestly, who shouldn't thank her for sharing her graceful side? So few got to see it in such a setting. She rolled her shoulders, the fluffy wrap around her neck sparkling with an otherworldly, ethereal shimmer to all who looked on. It wasn't fur of course. It wasn't even natural. She did so love to revel in synthetic materials, after all. Besides, it was a conversation starter, this glimmering, fluffy, fuzzy pi-
"You the one who made the special order?"
She swiveled on her seat to face the bar. There, behind the taps, set in front of the shimmering neon mirrored lights and shelves upon shelves of bottles, was the other mink. She was leaning onto the bar, shoulders rolled upward as she stared pointedly, but calmly. There was an undeniable note of fatigue on her face, hidden somewhere behind her eyes. The tattered denim jacket, the tight, torn pants - Her hands wrapped up in white strips from wrist to knuckles, as if she had just been called away from sparring. A cigarette hung from the corner of her mouth, smoldering along with her eyes.
Ah. So this was the one. She could feel the patrons in the booths and on the dancefloor - all stealing furtive glances and sharing hushed whispers as the two of them locked eyes.
"Yes, I was hoping I might be able to sample some of the establishment's more exotic, signature drinks. And I couldn't resist the opportunity to meet the proprietor herself." She tapped the end of her cigarette holder lightly, the purple smoke rising in thin, obvious, unhurried plumes. "You must be Vect."
"Sure," Vect grunted, gaze unwavering. She planted her hand wide on the bar and narrowed her eyes as she leaned in closer, "So who the fuck are you?"
The other mink let out a mirthful laugh. Vect could feel it colored with shadow, despite the brightness she feigned.
"You may address me as Teff," her voice was smooth, velvet. Frictionless, "And please, there's no reason for hostility."
"Is that fuckin' right?" Vect stared across the bar for a long, turgid moment. The instant hung in the air, taking up space, until Vect finally scoffed. She stamped out her cigarette in the sink with frustration, then proceeded to pull a shaker from under the bar. She set to work despite her brusque demeanor, keeping her eyes firmly on Teff even as she uncorked bottles and poured in startlingly accurate quantities.
"Now is that any way to tre-"
"You're not a guest, and you're not a customer. And you're sure as hell not one of my girls," Vect interrupted.
"You've hardly given me room to speak, Miss Proprietor."
"Yeah, because I don't want to hear whatever it is you have to say," Vect continued shaking Teff's ordered drink without missing a beat. "You walk in here, ask for me by name, and then make that order? You stink to high hell, lady."
Teff stilled herself, merely taking another drag on her cigarette, hiding her impatience behind a smooth, cool demeanor. Somewhere in the back of her head, she thought something akin to "If this bitch only knew...". But she let Vect continue.
"You stank before you opened your mouth, and I've got no patience to play goddamn twenty questions. So why don't you tell me what the fuck you want, before I have you thrown out the front door by a seven foot tall wolf who can bench more than whatever showpiece fuckoff car drove you here tonight? Or worse?"
Teff recoiled slightly. A flinch, with eyes widening, as if someone had just thrown ice water in her face, "Well now, but aren't you a delight."
"I'm tired, is what I am, Teff." Vect shook the mixer with pointed force, the frost of the chilled beverage within creeping along the chrome exterior.
"Yes, I can see that," Teff eased in her verbal dagger with softness. Vect sneered in reply as the other mink continued, "Since you seem to harbor no love for pleasantries, I'll tell you directly that I came here this evening to seek information. I thought this might be a way to get your attention most... effectively."
"Yeah, no shit." Vect slid a martini glass onto the bar, into which she strained the beverage from the shaker. A single cherry rolled into the dark red liquid, and Vect pushed the finalized drink across the counter to the mink in the purple dress. "Your Crimson Silk, madame. Now, how about you give me a little information? Like how the fuck you know about any of this. Particularly that?" She gestured heavily toward the glass on the bar.
Teff slid her fingertips under the glass, letting it glide into her cupped hand. She made a show of slowly inhaling the scent of the beverage, before gingerly nursing a sip. She looked up, and to the right, while savoring the taste upon her palate. Vect leaned forward in obvious frustration, able to make about half of a sound before Teff raised a single fingertip to silence her.
"Mm. Extremely sweet. Heavy notes of fruit, though lighter on the citrus than I'd expect. Cloying aftertaste. Excessive alcohol. Christ, that's awful."
"Alright, yeah, hilarious," Vect snorted, throwing a towel from her shoulder to the bar in further frustration. "We can all look forward to reading your scathing review." The agitated mink leaned in close across the bar, nostrils flaring as she huffed an irritated breath at Teff, across from her, "Now start fucking talking. In case you haven't noticed, we-"
"Yes, I have." Teff set her drink upon the bar and made a dismissive motion with her other hand, taunting the other mink despite the obvious agitation Vect was putting on public display. "You've got all the exits blocked, and each of the six girls with eyes on me is armed."
Vect didn't move. She remained rigidly rooted. Her jaw, and her grip on the bar, each tightened as Teff continued to speak.
"Let me assure you, Miss Vect, that there's no need to use the machine pistol under the bar." Her words continued to slip soft into Vect's ear, "I promise that I'm sufficiently intimidated. Just, completely reduced to ineffectual fear." Vect was poised to snap the bar in twain.
A momentary beat hung heavy in the air as the DJ on stage reached the end of her playlist. A slice of silence cut through the club as the two minks stared at each other with burning intensity. Vect's claws cut gashes into the wood beneath her fingertips. Yet the slick, too-pale mink in the evening dress seemed not the least bit perturbed. She kept her eyes locked with the proprietor, not pushing forward even for a moment, yet at the same time not retreating in the least. Some of those in the booths nearby watched on breathlessly, trying for all the world to appear as if they weren't looking.
Applause on the floor, the DJ pumping the crowd for the next set, general hoots and laughter from the patrons on the floor who weren't even aware of the exchange transpiring at the bar.
Teff threw back another swallow from her drink, grimacing almost comically as she pulled it down. "That truly is awful... But I can see why you serve it to them. Something sweet to calm them. Something to take the edge off. Something welcoming, like a warm hug that could never hurt them. They must be terrified when they order it, yes? Unsure of the rumors, unsure of how safe it is, unsure most of all in themselves?"
Teff finished the drink entire, head tilted back as she drained the glass far too quickly. "What would it take, Miss Vect, to convince you I'm on your side?"
Vect unclenched her claws, lifting them from the splintered grooves she had sliced in the polished wooden surface. "A lot."
"I don't work for Apex, dear."
The mink behind the bar narrowed her eyes in an instant, as if she had been punched in the stomach. "Yeah? Just gonna drop that name too? Jesus fuck. How am I supposed to trust you at all, let alone believe that you're on my side?"
"You're not intrigued, Vect? Not the slightest bit curious?" Teff let the smile spread across her face with alarming ease, "Where's your sense of wonder, of adventure? It's not every day an establishment such as yours has a visitor like me."
"Fuck off," Vect practically growled as she stood to full height, "You want me to be dazzled by you? When you walk in here, sit down at my bar, try to flex on me, and needle me the way you have? I don't even give two shits that you're trying to get under my skin, you know?" Vect gritted her teeth, breaking gaze with the otherworldly mink for a moment to sweep her vision across every person in the club, "Because if you're even half as knowledgeable as you're letting on, then you know - You fucking know - that the minute you walked in here you put every single person here in fucking grave danger.
"I don't care if you are on my side, Teff, because the amount of risk you just brought to my girls right now? Inexcusable."
"Oh, this should be good," Teff placed her elbows on the bar, chin resting on her palms as she smiled across to Vect.
"You're so fuckin' flashy and out of place here that a goddamned satellite could probably make you out. You don't think Apex has eyes on us? Constantly? You don't think they know you're here right now? And even knowing jack shit about you, I'm guessing you've got their panties in a wad just visiting me. They could be mobilizing to torch this place to the ground just because you decided to stop in and ask me a question. You and I," She motioned with a finger between herself and the other mink, "talking together? That's gotta be one of their 'code red' situations... And that's the best case scenario. That's if I take you at your word. That's if I believe you.
Vect snorted at Teff, her expression verging on a hardly concealed sneer, "If you're on my side, I'd hate to see what you consider an enemy."
Teff sighed in a pronounced, obvious manner. The elegant mink rolled her eyes, head resting on her hands still, as she looked across to the bartender. "The alliance doesn't know much about me, Miss Vect, but I'd surmise they know enough not to cross me. I'm something they hardly comprehend. But even they, in their limitless ignorance, understand 'Do Not Touch'. As such, I'm something they would rather not deal with." Teff gave a knowing smile, the kind of self-satisfied grin that betrayed a hidden satisfaction. "They've tried."
"Yeah?" Vect's curiosity betrayed her, "How'd that go?"
"Remmington showed up with six heavily armed men and a plan," Teff took another slow drag from her cigarette holder, exhaling a slow, rolling breath of rising purple. She grinned softly, "He left alone, naked, and dripping with liquid, pink latex goo."
The corner of Vect's lips curled upward as she gave the slightest grunt of a laugh.
"I would've liked to have seen that."
"Oh, hold on," Teff rummaged around in her purse enthusiastically, "I took pictures."
"Keep your hands visible," Vect interjected tersely, tone souring immediately. It seemed she would not be so easily distracted.
Teff froze in reply.
Inwardly, Teff found herself building to a nearly insufferable frustration. She was not used to being addressed in such a manner. She was not used to being so disrespected. A part of her wanted to rise up with indignation, wanted to assert loudly how Vect and these girls were nothing to her. How she could deal with them in an instant. How their pathetic firearms couldn't so much as inconvenience her.
And yet, Teff knew that making a scene here and now would be inadvisable. She had plans, after all, and any delay would be unpalatable. And for as much as she enjoyed boasting, deep down she realized that if Remmington's gaze truly fell upon her...
The slick glistening mink stopped her motion immediately, hands slowly moving back into view in a show of good intentions. Clearly, Vect needed to feel as if she were in control here. Yet Teff had her own ego to maintain.
"I'm not here to 'fuck you up', dear. I'm playing by your rules, and to be quite honest you should be thanking me for that. Try to meet me halfway here."
Vect's rage simmered further. A low roil that was building by the second. An unstable mixture of high alert, and unrefined anger.
Teff slowly moved to pick up her cigarette holder, taking an extended drag as she let the moment stretch wide.
"I'll sate your curiosity this much: I know of your organization and all these intimate details because of your... prospective recruit?" Teff slowly spun her cigarette holder betwixt her fingers as she leveled a knowing grin across the bar, blowing smoke casually from between purple lips.
Vect's eyes flared wide. The sound of wood splintering under her claws returned.
Teff answered her silence with a knowing smirk, "Should I call her that? I'm not sure if you have a fun little name for them."
The bartender was rigid from ear to tailtip, face twitching involuntarily as she struggled to hold herself back. Teff regarded her agitation with satisfaction. She surmised the bartender might vibrate through the floor entirely. Slowly, Vect moved her claws off the scored bartop, just out of view, grasping at-
"Oh, don't worry yourself over her dear, she found what she was looking for." Teff's gaze slid up Vect with purpose, her widening smile blatant and brazen. "Though she found it with me."
"YOU FUCKING FILTHY CU-"
The entire club shattered to the sound of Vect smashing a bottle on the edge of the bar. Even amid the chaos of the dancefloor, motion stopped. Every eye in the house turned to watch Vect vault across the bar, plunging the ragged glass directly into Teff's face. The improvised shiv slid in easily, sinking beneath the surface of that glistening, unnaturally white cheek as if it were so much insubstantial fluff. There was no hard stop, no resistance as Vect was familiar with. As if Teff had not a single bone in her body.
Teff failed to react. No cry of pain, no recoil from the impact. The shattered portion of the bottle sunk effortlessly into her face, disappearing into her flesh almost up to the thin bottleneck, even as the barkeep's fingers were still wrapped around the makeshift weapon. After a long moment, Teff finally did respond - by letting out a slow, light sigh. A sound as if she had been slightly inconvenienced. All the while, Vect remained rigid in place, adrenaline carrying her through the act in a haze of emotion.
The entire scene seemed to linger too long. The club was too quiet, despite the thumping music.
Eventually, Vect sild backward off the bar in shock. At first it was shock at herself, but gradually, her shock transmuted into a growing, deepening fear. She stumbled on her feet as she fell backward, colliding against the wall of booze bottles behind her, her previously hardened demeanor melting into helplessness - sliding from abject rage into uncertain anxiety.
Teff took another drag from her cigarette holder, before slowly reaching up to curl her fingertips around the neck of the fragmented glass in her face. With a sick, wet sound, she pulled it out in a single motion and dropped the broken bottle on the counter with a loud clatter. It was slathered with thick, slick white goo. The same ooze which seemed to weep from the wound on Teff's face for a moment.
And then there was no wound.
Teff looked entirely, completely, and fully undisturbed - even in spite of the fact that she had just been impaled directly in the face by a broken bottle. She picked up a bar napkin and slowly dabbed below her eye - as if she were blotting up a bit of excess makeup. Then, she let out a laugh as artificial as her skin, before turning on the barstool to face the dancefloor.
"Just a friendly exchange, everyone, I assure you. We all know how impulsive our magnanimous hostess can be, don't we? Everything is fine, please do resume the festivities!"
A slow murmur of uncertainty, an atmosphere of discomfort, lingered heavy above the club. Eventually, the patrons slowly set themselves back to and attempt at reveling, but the mood had doubtlessly been tainted beyond recovery.
Vect was breathing a little heavier now, eyes wider than they had been. Suddenly she didn't feel in control anymore.
Suddenly she felt threatened in her sanctuary.
"What the fuck are you?"
"I'm glorious, dear," Teff noted with a hint of a scowl underlying her smirk, "Now then. Perhaps there's somewhere more private we can take this conversation, to avoid making any more of a scene?"
Vect froze to the spot, petrified, before slowly nodding in agreement.
"Good," Teff traced a single fingertip along the edge of the broken glass upon the bartop. "And don't worry too much. I'll give you that one for free, considering the circumstances. But if you ever do anything like that again?
"I'll show you how I use a bottle."