Note: A bit of a shorty but I'm just pleased to be back on schedule. I'm excited for where we're going here and still working on exactly where we're going. I realized I'd already mentioned Data in the last chapter by name and then smacked myself for forgetting already. Ah well, anyway, no warnings here, I couldn't help the "pairing goes to a sex dungeon" trope but didn't want to get too mired down with that. It's always nice to have a convenient scene for sex though if i need to stall to flesh out ideas. Thank you all for reading, commenting, and supporting me, and C&C is always welcome!
"Julian, should I be concerned?" Garak murmurs those words softly to Julian at his side as they both see the door to the basement- both in location and in name in a glowing sign. They stand in the narrow constructed hall the glass separating them from the dimly lit "magic room" which is a sea of bodies, pillows, and music that does strange things to his equilibrium. Julian was able to find out as Garak's eyes watered and throat burned from the hookah room prior that the android had in fact been spotted earlier that evening. Of course none of the people they spoke with seemed aware that they'd been speaking with an android, which he could understand perhaps given some of the patrons they'd been speaking with inhaling magic while a few others imbibed things far more exotic than that. When they encountered a man who swore the brightly colored pills gave him the highest highs he'd ever had, there was a strange part of Garak that was terribly curious. And why not? For all practical purpose his life was over so why not make the most of it. He'd had to wrestle with that impulse almost certain that might extend far beyond mere "impulse control" issues. Still, whatever the name Julian had had to refuse a bit more firmly on his behalf and then confiscate the few he'd managed to swipe. Damn observant augment.
But that news of Data's presence had come from much earlier in the evening, and according to the half asleep human he tended to become restless and retire early on nights like these. Nights like these being where the bounty hunters come out full force and there isn't a glare that exist in his plane that could fully encapsulate his feelings hearing that. That's not to say he didn't try, Julian putting his hands up begging ignorance. Garak had only sighed in response. It was a moot issue and what was life without a little risk, right? He would have liked to see Julian make that same argument were they talking augment hunters but Julian seemed suddenly anxious to find Data. It made him wonder if there wasn't some bounty on him as well but he could hardly wrap his head around something so ludicrous. Could one even put a bounty on an entity considered little better than a glorified drone? He sees Julian whip around and has the irrational desire to bite his own tongue clean in half when he realizes he'd actually said that out loud. Julian had glared at him but he supposed there was something in his expression that makes the look relent- understanding, empathy for his condition. He had half a mind to make some other provocative statement just to erase that look but forced it back down giving himself a friendly reminder to focus. Once upon a time he actually knew how to do that. He was beginning to wish he'd gotten a drink in spite of the fact that it only would have exacerbated that malady.
The door in front of them now is a large wooden monstrosity wrapped in iron. It seems more designed for function than mere formality as the rest of the partitions that he's seen so far. Still, given the adult nature of the area below he's surprised they rely on nothing but a door and a small plaque with some unrecognizable symbol. Unrecognizable to him anyway, Julian seemed to know exactly what it was and was in no hurry to educate him. Garak looks around a moment, self-consciously wondering if anyone is watching the two of them enter and he almost expects to see some leather loincloth clad barbarian out of one of Jadzia's lurid pulp novels guarding it. And that thought then spawns the recollection of the one book featuring not only that fellow, but an equally scantily clad female donning that cover and it pains him that he can call that offensive thing to mind so vividly. He absolutely refuses to think of the title of that offensive thing, instead preferring to recall the memory of that impish grin of hers, laughing behind her hand as she watched him try and parse that painful text.
Garak peers into that darkness, making out nothing but a wide curving set of steps down. Julian steps up next to him with a small teasing grin.
"Not unless you're having thoughts of pushing me down the stairs again."
"While I relish the visual of our undignified tangle of limbs I'd prefer to keep such things a private matter."
"We might not have a choice in keeping certain things a private matter. Unless you want them to think we're just two voyeurs looking for a cheap thrill."
"If one is permitted all manner of indulgences in the basement space then would that not be permitted as well? Or are we playing favorites when it comes to one's sexual deviances?" Garak glances over the small printed list of rules not seeing that particularly phrased though one might extrapolate from the mention of privacy and consent-
"Is it some Cardassian instinct to irrationally argue every point or is that just you?"
"Perhaps you might ask Jadzia," Garak answers far too self satisfied as he decides that he's done all the fact finding he's able up here. "She is the cultural expert. I myself can vouch for her… expertise in Cardassian idiosyncrasies. She might even be able to teach you a few things." And with that he practically glides through the door leaving Julian sputtering hotly at the top.
The stairs glitter. There's no there word for it, the light catching metal flecks of silver like a beautiful path of stars. It's almost mesmerizing as he walks down, almost disappointed when the reach the ground. Looking back, he's reminded how narrow that was, but the stairs had distracted him enough not to particularly notice. Clever. He sees Julian on his heels, and catching the hazel eyes in the dimly lit space, he almost wishes the spectacles weren't a necessity. That green eyeshine would be quit lovely to behold right now. Garak forces himself to look around, seeing their ingress point as some lone center point of the rest of the room, a veritable maze of makeshift metal walls of some brass, some silver, some chrome, he doesn't really know. He can see all myriads of their reflections as well as those of some other patrons depending on their position amongst the elaborate house of mirrors. He really has no idea how they're expected to find anything here without walking in on any number of unsuspecting actors. He also doesn't know how long he's going to be able to stand the smell. The incense is so strong that it nearly makes him dizzy. One taste of the air lets him know exactly why such a strong aroma permeates as he can detect that musk intermingled with the smoke.
Garak wrinkles his nose about to complain to Julian when he sees him carefully studying what appears to be a key of the rooms and the layout. He's not encouraged by the frown as Julian concentrates, seeing the myriad of possibilities from some rope areas, wax, pillows, to water tanks, and there it is a room exactly for voyeurs and exhibitionists alike. Well, it looks like he won that debate after all. But he can see where this is going to be tricky. There don't appear to be any free floating individuals to ply with questions and he doesn't imagine the employees are that acutely aware of who is doing what. The areas seem largely self sustaining, a dial near the entrance of each section red for in use green for available he can see. Simple enough. Now if he only had some way to divine what sort of "human experience" this elusive android is in search of...
Garak practically jumps as a hand appears to his side with a white cloth, Julian's sly little smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth letting him know Julian had seen his stalker and done nothing.
"A gift for our Cardassian customers," a diminutive woman to his left holds that cloth out with a sympathetic look. "These are specially made filters to blot out some of the smell. Fancy, yeah?" He nods, feeling not a little silly as he puts it to his face, finding the aromas dying down to a much more manageable level.
"You have my eternal gratitude," he says in a muffled voice.
"Was there something I could help you gentlemen with? Any questions, recommendations?" She gives them both a good assessing look up and down, a thoughtful cross of her arms pushing her small bosoms up in the silver corset. Her long black hair is pinned up and she appears human, but there's something about that face that he can't quite pick up that isn't shaped quite right. "I could definitely offer a few suggestions I think you might enjoy," she informs him with a devilish grin.
Garak is about to consider it honestly.
"Actually," Julian steps in and he's not sure whether he's pleased with that development or not. "We were looking for a gentleman and I was wondering if you might have seen him. He's about so tall, yellow eyes, somewhat pasty looking skin, he might be calling himself Data but really he's got any number of names that I-"
"Do you mean Mr. Livingstone? Walks about with a fancy cloak and cape, sometimes wears a brown hat with the little stripies?" She asks not seeming to need any more description than that. Garak wonders at Julian's eye roll to that name supposing it's some esoteric knowledge he's never heard of.
"Yes, that would be him." She laughs at that, looking far too amused.
"Oh I'm sure you'll run into him. Tonight's Thursday so he'll be making his rounds. Says he's trying to solve a mystery," she says dropping her voice a bit dramatically.
"A mystery?" Julian asks doing the same. Garak thinks it's darling that Julian is so quickly taken with these sorts of theatrics.
"Wouldn't give me any details only said something about the sign of the four whatever that's supposed to mean. I don't ask questions." She shrugs. "He tips well."
"The sign of four?" Julian looks confused while Garak thanks the woman seeing his lover deep in thought. "Can an android malfunction?" Julian muses aloud to himself and Garak is about to tell him that anything in theory can malfunction, and they might want to contemplate that not blocking the stairwell, when he turns and catches sight of that very man coming down the stairs like some convenient plot device in a human story.
"Well, my dear," Garak says from behind the white cloth breathing far easier." It would seem that we're about to find out."
Jadzia throws back her head and laughs as she pounds another Sharpshooter down with gusto. The drink is strong, and she watches as the man next to her- a blonde human by the name of Tom if she caught it correctly, waves a hand up as his head slumps down on the bar with a groan.
"Well," She says feeling a bit unsteady, "I guess there's my tab." She looks up at the bartender, Pol, he said his name was, a modern twist on the cultural classic, short sleeves, irreverent tie and twin tattoos up either arm. There's a tattoo of what appears to be a mythical creature starting at his neck, shaking down and she wonders just how far it goes. He laughs with a shake of his head.
"You know my third wife would adore you," Pol says with an absolutely infectious smile and for a moment she nearly forgets to watch the doors. Her recovery is a bit exaggerated but he seems to attribute it to Julian and Garak's absence. "Of course I know not all Trill are quite that open," he adds. She has to blink a few times before that catches up. Somewhere she thinks her thoughts are still back with Tom's earlier come on about drinking down to the worm. Clever enough but she's still heard that one twice before. She realizes exactly what it is Pol is proposing and that might have been quite attractive under different circumstances.
"Is she a Trill as well?" Jadzia asks knowing that whatever Garak and Julian feel about the matter, she's already decided it's going to be a pass. Between the two of them and Worf and their current mission… Ah, and she'd at least thought she left complications behind when she came to Westworld. Well it had seemed that way until Garak came slithering in awakening Julian from that night terror walk through life. If Julian decided that he'd prefer Garak all to himself she supposed she wasn't attached enough to fight the point- at least not terribly much… and really only if Julian insisted. Which makes her think of Work a bit uneasily. She doesn't put it past him to follow her here. If he's back now then he's determined and she knows just how he is when he set his sights on something. That had been a big part of his appeal after all, his honor, his courage his… She looks up realizing that she nearly missed the answer. Wait. Did he say-
"Lenara Kahn?" She asks wondering if she misheard him. He nods enthusiastically.
"You know each other?!" he exclaims with a clap of his hands and that enthusiasm really is quite attractive. She looks down suddenly, drawing her finger around the rim of the glass, not quite sure how to feel about that all of a sudden. Torias' memories come back in a rush- not for Lenara, who she's never met in this incarnation, but Nilani. His beautiful Nilani who loved to sketch him in his uniform, who'd have to be pried away from it with a tease, a kiss, a- Jadzia doesn't realize her hand has stopped until she finds herself staring at it. She wonders what Nilani is like now. The Kahn symbiont had always been more cautious, more level, but just so hard not to be drawn to. Torias used to think she hung the moon, as that old expression went. Jadzia feels that stir at the memory, at the completely insane notion… of them meeting. Dax had been devastated by that sudden sense of loss and she felt that guilt resurge at the memory of Joran, of that tortured soul whose own turmoil surely wasn't helped by the symbiont's near inconsolable grief. Jadzia feels that tug again and has the gently pull away, back to her own full consciousness.
Pol seems to detect that shift in mood.
"Ah, of course if that's not a good acquaintance then no hard feelings." He slides her another drink, and she finds she really likes the upturn of his nose. His accented standard is nice too- it sounded like he said "vumpire" in standard when talking about his aversion to sunlight. She about to pass on another drink deciding to pull back from getting full on inebriated when he assures her that it's non alcoholic. "A trick of an old doctor friend, on the house." He really is quite easy to look at even if he is a bit young- not too young mind but- She really must stop. Already she's wondering if a violation of that taboo with an intermediary... a very attractive intermediary.
"Thank you. And I'm not offended. Lenara and I were married- Torias Dax was married to Nilani Kahn, that is." She looks up seeing a blank expression and sighs. "Meeting isn't a problem but… anything else would be too risky." She takes a drink, finding that clear liquid surprisingly sweet. She looks at him with a bit of a hopeless smile. "You know Lenara now… would it be risky?"
He nods, a sympathetic sigh of agreement.
"Ah the complexities of other races."
"But that's what makes life so exciting, isn't it?" She says raising her glass, already feeling a pleasant cooling sensation starting at her chest. She looks at him again, still feeling a bit warm and decides it might be best to watch for Data outside where the night air is cooler and there may be a few more slips of latinum to be earned at the card table. She thanks Pol with a generous tip and a big smile as she heads back outside, unaware of the eyes that watch her go.
