[center]Collab with [@Fading Memory][/center]
[i]Ignocious Phlemonte. Phlemonte- I've heard that name before.[/i]

She chewed her lip, working her mind over the name scrawled on the note in her hand. Soon she began to giggle.

[i]Did I kill a Phlemonte? No, no, that was a [b]Flimmonte[/b] not a Phlemonte. Easy mistake.[/i]

Her laughter, while already soft, died shortly after her words as she folded the note away. She'd gotten the recommendation of one 'Ignocious Phlemonte' when she went to search for her usual contact for poisons... but apparently the fellow had moved town, changed names, and in all likelihood hired bodyguards after Vivian's last visit. This loss of a once-reliable source of her poisons had lead her to search for another...[i]Trustworthy[/i] sort of alchemist, and the word around the metaphoric grapevine- Nyhem had no grapes on vines as far as Vivian was able to find in her limited searches, but perhaps she had neglected to check by the Grand Temple or the noble's homes- was that the man who's name was scrawled on the parchment she folded away didn't care much about what he was asked to make, or who was asking.

Where was she?

Oh right, the alchemist. She moved her way through the quieting streets of Nyhem; night time was falling, and this woman- dressed in a simple maid's outfit, shrouded in a heavy black cloak- had somewhere to be, somewhere she would prefer to get into quietly. She pulled the hood up about her face, shadowing her features, as twilight settled across the city, and once night fell proper she stopped her meandering. She knew it was implausible she had been tailed or even 'made', as spies are wont to use the term, but her enriched paranoia had kept her alive all these years and she wasn't about to abandon it now.

[i]Should I pay him, threaten him, or seduce him?[/i] she thought to herself as she began to head into an alleyway of Nyhem's streets, hiding herself fully in darkness and out of torch light. As she began to scale the side of a building to throw her tracks further off the ground, juuuuust in case she [b]had[/b] been followed, she decided to answer her own question;

[i]I suppose it'll depend on how 'e looks... but you've never been picky old girl, just do what the Old Man asked and get your payment. If he'll give you poison for a kiss, hell...that's the best margin of profit, now ain't it?[/i]

Vivian then began to silently make her away across a few of the rooftops, cautiously avoiding any stray lights that might reach her hidden vantages and taking her time to ensure she didn't get spotted. This was all to satisfy her paranoia, the possibility she had been followed, and after an hour of silently crossing rooftops she finally descended back into an alley, then back out onto the streets.

She already knew where Ignocious lived, and now that she'd satisfied herself with covering her tracks, she went directly there.

[i]To knock on the front door, or break in and say hello...Oh, why not, it could be fun to surprise him. If he gets loud, I'll just kill him and find another apothecary.[/i]

And thusly the woman decided that breaking into the (in)famous alchemist's house was the best course of action for this evening.

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[i]This is odd. He's definitely home, I can tell that much, but this place is bigger than I expected. Rather empty, though- I wonder what he does with his money.[/i]

The cloaked woman slid her hands behind her back, where she had slung a crossbow discreetly; the weapon was a lighter, smaller, crossbow than most, and the heavy cloak shielded her form to a satisfactory degree to have hidden the weapon as well. She chewed her lip- a tick she just couldn't seem to break, whether it was a seductive tick or a nervous one such as moments like this, where a plan didn't happen precisely as she thought it would.

It wasn't until the form of Ignocious Phlemente, the very man she sought to employ temporarily, was nearly right in her face did she come to a realization- [i]Of course someone like this would have secret passages in his home![/i] she chastised herself, as yet unnoticed to the alchemist, as she composed herself and leaned on the wall some short distance behind him, aiming her crossbow at him through her cloak to keep it hidden.

The woman then cleared her throat to get the man's attention, having caught him in the process of emerging from a hidden room. she couldn't discern the nature of the room from her current position. She also didn't really care: knowing this man's secrets wasn't her job.

"Ignocious Phlemonte? I've got a job for you." She said swiftly afterward, not giving him a chance to react before her words were said. Her voice carried nothing but a...sort of flirtation. A very pretty voice, soft and rolling out of the heavy hood as if whispered by the wind. She kept her face and body hidden by the heavy cloak, for now.

The only acknowledgement Ignocious gave to the sudden voice in his home was a brief pause in shutting the hidden entrance to his lab, before walking down the sparsely decorated hallway. Without waiting for a reply Ignocious strode up to a doorway down the hall and began fishing for keys from his trouser pocket.

“Well…,” was all he said as he slipped a key into the door and pushed it open, finally turning to look back down the hallway.

"A poison. Not of the body, but of the mind. I need something that'll scramble a man's brains, but not kill him in the process. Can you do that?"

The woman slipped the crossbow back behind her back, satisfied she wouldn't need it in this situation. She strode up the hallway after him, closing the distance rapidly as she let her silken voice roll out to him. Once she had established herself well within the concept of 'personal space', she let out a giggle.

Of course, poison. Why else would someone break into his home instead of coming to his lab? He watched her move lithely down the hall toward him. If her breaking into his home and her cloak weren’t enough, her movements revealed her as an assassin to him. As she stepped right up to him he arched an eyebrow at her then sidestepped away from her and into the room he had unlocked. It was his personal study. The walls were lined with bookshelves, and every surface was covered with papers and books. He stepped around his dark wood desk and settled himself into the armchair there.

“Your request is an interesting one. I have read of such poisons before but have never made one myself. With time, I will be able to make what you ask.”

"With time, eh? Time means money, Phlemonte. What kind of price do you have in mind?"

Her honeyed words came quick that time, no slow coy meander. Same silken tone, just rushed with the speed of someone who wanted to get to the point. She walked forward across the room and disregarded his possible organization by gently pushing some papers aside on his desk to make room for herself, then she slid forward and sat on his desk- leaning over the surface to lean over him. This revealed the lower half of her face from the hood, where her deep red lips were curled up in a smirk.

"I'm a resourceful gal: whether it's gold or a service you want, I can get it."

Watching her slide his work aside to sit caused a pang of irritation deep in his chest, but he kept his composure as he spoke.

“It certainly does. First, tell me what happened to your last supplier,” he kept his tone even, eyeing her from behind his hands, fingers laced together.

"He left town. I was less than cordial with him- he had a family I could find." Her silken words carried poison within them. "But I'd never threaten you, Ignocious~" She teased.

“Don’t think me a fool. You’d threaten me as soon as you believed it would get you somewhere. That’s beside the point, though. For my fee, I would call upon you when I am in need of your skills. You will undoubtedly be checking up on me as I research and concoct the poison you asked for, so we may as well open a correspondence and make this a symbiotic relationship.”
Vivian licked her lips, a slow, calculated, gesture.

"I see. You want me to offer my services in return for the poison. Well, Ignocious, if you ever have need of my services just leave this..."

She produces a sanguine-shaded handkerchief from her cloak pocket, embroidered with an elaborate 'S’, and hands it to him.

"In your window. I'll see it and visit you when I can. Keep me interested, supply me with new and fun tools, and I’ll do whatever you ask~”

Ignocious took the handkerchief and slipped into his trouser pocket.

“I trust you can show yourself out without being spotted?”

Vivian lifted a hand and kissed her palm, before blowing the kiss to Ignocious. She giggled and slid off the desk, before throwing a hand up in farewell- that little bit of a smirk now hidden once again- and moving from the room.

[i]This is going to be fun.[/i] she thought, laughing in her mind.

Ignocious watched the woman go, lost in thought about the exchange. She had said her previous supplier left town. He would have to check on that in the morning, find out local apothecaries or other alchemists who had recently left the city. He shuffled the papers back into their previous places on his desk.