[Social] Chelmsford - The Raven and the Bat

[Samantha McManus]

"They're fine. They're having their ideas of what's possible expanded, but they're fine."

"This is a little on the nose though," she teases.

[Miriam Bell]

"Is it? Or are you intimidated by my impeccable taste?" she smirks back at Sam.

[Samantha McManus]

"A flame in a lantern is something you can think is tame," she says idly, going through the next turn in anticipation of Miriam.

"The idea that fire, no matter how fearsome, can be mastered by humanity, stolen from the gods."

"All it takes is one slip of the fingers, though..."

Miriam feels a tug that she didn't intend from Sam's direction. Or did she? It feels like something she might want to do. The flourish doesn't seem out of place...

[Miriam Bell]

For a moment, Miriam doesn't notice but when Sam's lead-up results in nothing but her 'leading' Sam she raises her eyebrows.

"Cheeky little flame, are we?" she grins. Careful, you are wearing a very... suggestible dress." she says, nudging Will cinch a little tighter around Sam's thighs and knees. And maybe drop the dress-line on the back of the dress a little.

[Will Stanton]

Overcoming Will's mental defenses to force him to shift in such counterintuitive and fundamentally unlike him way required Miriam to use every ounce of her...

OK, no, getting Will to cling to Sam's thighs wasn't exactly the sort of thing Miriam would have to ask twice, or even once, really. Getting him to expose more flesh was a little rougher, but hey, he can play ball too, when asked.

[Samantha McManus]

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about, Miriam."

Every so often Miriam feels it again. Just a little sensation of her grip on Sam, both metaphorical and physical, slipping for an instant. Just enough to tantalize.

"We're just having a good time here, aren't we?"

[Miriam Bell]

"I won't deny that." she says, letting Sam 'slip away' on the dance floor before bringing her back in close until their faces are less than an inch apart. "But I can think of a couple ways of making it up to you." she says with a grin and without giving Sam a chance to respond spins her around until she has her back to Miriam and the vampire's arm around her waist. It's sudden enough that it takes a moment for the sharp pain in the side of her neck to register and just as Miriam's embrace saps enough warmth to cause goosebumps, her bite draws on something deeper, more ephemeral. Like the feeling of a drop, yet slow, tugging at the pit pf her stomach. While at the same time she catches some of the sheer relief and satisfaction coming from Miriam at the complex taste of rich, full-bodied warmth filling her mouth. It tastes of sharp flowers and unyielding swords and spring showers over an open grave.

[Samantha McManus]

Sam's a bit at a loss for words for a few breaths.

"...does it feel like that every time?"

[Will Stanton]

You get used to it.

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam draws a shuddering breath herself, though anyone thinking about it for a second would realize that has to be for show.

"It becomes... familiar, but yes." she says, brushing the corner of her lips with her thumb to wipe away a bit of excess blood. "Very much so."

[Samantha McManus]

"...guess drinks are on me after all," Sam says as she starts to recover.

[Will Stanton]

When you subsist on blood, the whole world is filled with wine bottles.

[Miriam Bell]

"I'll try not to indulge too much, tempting as it may be."

[Samantha McManus]

"I don't know what I expected, but it's certainly... intimate, like you said."

[Miriam Bell]

"And you're okay with that?" Miriam asks, trying really hard not to sound vulnerable.

[Samantha McManus]

"Do you think I couldn't have stopped you, there?"

[Miriam Bell]

"I'll take that as a yes then. I don't mean to challenge your mental or physical prowess. Not like that anyway." she says, quick to recover her flirty attitude.

[Samantha McManus]

"I don't think either of us are tapping out just yet, aye?"

[Will Stanton]

No, of course not. The pair of edging queens here could go all night, it appears, one of the Will's quipped back.

[Miriam Bell]

"The tension is getting to somebody, it seems. Time for a private booth, perhaps?"

[Samantha McManus]

"I don't think we prepared for a general rebellion of our wardrobe."

[Will Stanton]

Oh, don't mind the peanut gallery. We've got the best views in the house. But if you think that the other onlookers are getting the full blast of this...

[Miriam Bell]

"They might be a glutton for punishment but they're more reliable than that. I was thinking just... in general. Though you still might end up having to fix your clothes. No promises." she smirks.

[Samantha McManus]

"Well," Sam says coyly, "as I've mentioned I can get us into the VIP area. You might need to give me some slack for that, though."

[Miriam Bell]

"Because you asked nicely." Miriam smirks and snaps her fingers at Dress-Will while untangling Sam from her sleeve with a dramatic gesture.

[Will Stanton]

And, with the snap, Sam's movement in her lower extremities became freer, with Will loosening up on command.

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam lets Sam lead the way, but places her hand in the small of her back. "I could get used to this." she laughs.

[Samantha McManus]

"I don't know where I'd get the impression that 'VIP' suits you," she smirks as they settle into a private booth.

[Miriam Bell]

"Yes, precisely what I was talking about." she says, then takes a moment to order a bottle of Tears of Llorona Tequila.

"And before you say anything, this one is aged in old Scotch barrels."

[Samantha McManus]

"I don't have the budget to be a bar snob, Miriam."

[Will Stanton]

Not all of us have crazy Vampire money to burn.

[Miriam Bell]

"You don't have to be a snob to have preferences. And people tend to be suspicious about Tequila regardless of price. But yes, this one's not cheap and technically paid for by Alessia's slush fund."

[Samantha McManus]

"I'll try to appreciate its nuances before it knocks me on my arse."

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam laughs and shakes her head before brushing her hair back over her ear and Sam gets the distinct impression that while Miriam might not have gotten tipsy, much less drunk, from the cocktail earlier, she definitely seems a little... intoxicated. "You're telling me the Irish Warrior Lass is worried she can't hold her liquor?

[Will Stanton]

Getting into a drinking contest with the undead seems like it falls into the category of 'poor decisions'.

[Samantha McManus]

"Not really a contest if she's vicariously getting drunk off of me, is it?"

[Miriam Bell]

"One of those things is a lot less ubiqui... ibuq... plentiful than the other though."

[Samantha McManus]

"You don't need to drink a handle of me to get the benefit of me drinking this," she smirks, pouring.

[Miriam Bell]

"I see, you think you can drink me under the table psychologically." she says smugly as if she has some ace up her sleeve. "And I'm not going to lie, that might work!" Okay maybe she's already a bit buzzed somehow. Or at least a bit more... impulsive.

[Samantha McManus]

"I'm still going to drink it," she says, raising her glass to Miriam before downing what she poured.

To her credit, she keeps a good poker face, for the most part.