Tanith Zeresa v. Stein Matthus (private topic)

OOC-abilities are normal few extra syringes full of other hallucinogens, using this to get my Zeresa vibe back
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Description-hrm...lets go for a bar

The barkeeper and all its current residents are not armed, however the guard at the front door has a small to medium length steel baton. Tanith is seated at the far left end of the bar with the seat facing the door and subsequently most of the bar.
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She takes another mouthful of whiskey, and the burn starts anew, her face screwed up in response to the taste. Zeresa was never a heavy drinker by any standards but with the recent insight being that Stein had gotten out of America and was holed out her in France was particularly amusing, and in some ways distressing. If the madman existed within an organisation ,what sort of people was he surrounded by? What happened to them...or more to the point, why was Stein there?

A grin slides its way onto her face and her eyes calm down, perhaps she was over thinking it. Then, that was why she was her at the moment, to stop thinking about it, it had caused her to lose sleep among other things.

Tanith wanted to deal with it, but this was stupid, she had to think about something else. There was something about Stein that made her want to take him apart in more ways than one, find out what made him tick, to do that, she would have to go after him. Again, another reason why she was here, the room kept her entertained for only so long before she realized she wasn't going to get any sleep.

OOC: I'll go ahead and put Stein in the current state he's in IC to even out the stat difference. In other words, he having one of his insanity fits while heading for the bar.
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The rain felt refreshing against his stitches as he sluggishly made his way down the sidewalk, beady eyes looking every which way through his dripping white locks of hair to catch sight of anything that might appear and his arms dangling lifelessly by his side as if they were dislocated. He couldn't tell if the few people he saw were real or another trick of his mind, even the rain's realism was in question, but it felt real enough to him. He may have finally snapped this time, losing his grip on reality. He had even lost track of how long he'd been wandering the streets, apathetic toward what problems the sight of him could cause.

Stopping in his tracks, Steins eyes widened for a brief moment at a man exiting the bar across the street, the unhinged state his mind was currently in transforming the male into an otherwise horrendous creature that couldn't possible exist. Sparking an immediate interest and being unable to tell the difference between reality and fiction any more, Stein' moved as if he were nothing but a blur across the street, his feet barely touching the ground as he closed the distance in the blink of an eye. Right hand leading the way, the sparks emerged from his palm as they clasped around what would be the normals mans throat and slammed him through the bar door with Stein ontop of him.

Sadly, the hallucination only lasted that brief moment and now Stein could clearly see the man in his grasp, his throat crushed and the electrical signals causing various muscles in his face to twitch violently as they went to work. Staring for a brief moment, Stein suddenly began giggling madly to himself as he rose to his feet, a shadow obscuring all but his shining eyes as he looked over the people in the bar.

This was most likely going to be a major news story after he was done with this place.

Taking another slow sip, she entertained the ideas of what would happen should the two meet again. There was no real way of knowing with him, he was unstable, unpredictable in some cases. Perhaps that was what interested her so much, it was the challenge at reading the guy. As for her attire, she received a few quick furtive glances in her direction. After all not many people wore clothing such as hers, she waited for a few so their eyes could connect and she would chuckle a their eyes darted away.

Of course, she was having a certain amount of fun with these small things until the door imploded as two bodies came flying through the door. One was easily noticeable by the lab coat, her surprise was almost on par with those within the bar. A few screams and a few shouts were sounded but not many people moved aside from the guard who walked up to Stein a smacked him in the head with the bat, hopefully knocking him out so the fight could be easily sorted out. The guy beneath Stein didn't look like he was going to be moving anytime soon, and so his top priority was the one still conscious.

Zeresa herself was feeling tipsy, in her right mind she wouldn't have done what she did, her self consciousness had already been low to begin with. Even this had turned her safety into a risk, it would have looked rather amusing as a fly on the wall as she walked slowly out from behind the bar with a bright smile on her face.

"Did you finally make room enough in the freezer Stein?" this would no doubt trigger something with Stein, he'd probably launch himself across the room at her or throw something like the old guy sitting within a few meters of the two sprawled on the floor, something that she was already ready for. Why on earth she was ready for such a thing would be unknown to the rest of the bar, for some reason she assumed they weren't accustomed to psychotic laughter. Probably something to do with the uneasiness that shifted in the air of the room. It had gone a deathly quiet, as glances were thrown at both of them. While she held a smile, her true intentions were as per usual, a mystery. Her eyes held nothing but a reflection...

Standing over the sprawled out man, the next thing Stein felt was the impact of something hard on the back of his head. Of course, no pain was felt from it, and the impact left hardly any damage to begin with regarding his own enhanced flesh and regenerative capabilities, but it was felt nonetheless. Shifting his gaze to the bouncer without turning his head, he peered through the dripping locks of white hair for a brief moment before his hand went into motion. The next thing the guard would feel is Steins hand wrapping around his throat and lifting him off the ground. Electrical signals wouldn't be needed, instead superhuman strength lent him a superhuman grip in which to crush the mans throat.

A voice caught his ear. A familiar one. One interesting enough to draw his eyes toward the bar. It was the woman from earlier, at the lab. The one who stabbed him with a syringe and left soon after. A grin tore across his face the moment he realized and his entire body began to shake with the giggle he tried to suppress.

"You don't belong in the freezer, you belong on my lab table!"

Stepping forward, Stein utilized his abnormal strength to toss the former bat-wielding bouncer across the room toward Tanith, intend on having the two of them collide and fall into a pile. He wouldn't be able to follow up on it though, his mind was still working against him. Steins free hand flew up over his face as the room began to change. The walls melted, the people currently inside began to mutate into a variety of strange beings and the walls began to line with sets of vertical eyes that seemed so common to him now.

His eyes twitching to maintain his focus on Tanith, Stein did manage to slide three scalpels into his hand from his sleeve to keep at the ready. Though how useful they would be at the moment remained to be seen.

She watched with mild curiosity as Stein lifted the man off his feet and then respond to her. She had created a lasting effect on him, that was good, possibly even still had the effects of the hallucinogen running through his system. However, whether he did or not, she was going to get as much leverage on this man as possible, drugs or no. Zeresa watched the life get crushed out of the poor guy, better him than her, she thought with amusement. Not having to wait long, that was another thing with Stein, you never needed to wait for things to happen, he just done things on impulse. Much better than some of her colleagues she had worked with over the years. Even as this thought string passed through her head as the anticipated move came and passed, a slightly larger body than what she had assumed, but nonetheless it would be dealt with.

Her body had already been moving as he finished his line, she ducked into a low crouch along the floor and jumped up between the bar and guests along the bar to use it as some form of a tightrope. Glass, wood and shouts sounded as the former broke when it came into contact with the weight of the body thrown. Tanith knocked a few glasses over herself but managed to get out unscathed. She needn't have looked as the table to the right of where she had been standing had been broken on impact and guests realized that the guy was in fact dead. There were screams and the like as everyone reacted and started rushing this way and that trying to find a way out or to shelter themselves from whatever happened next.

She felt her grin come back to her face as she dropped off at the end of the bench. Tanith acknowledged the show of scalpels with a syringe she had grabbed from her handbag that still sat at the end of the counter. "I'll have some fun before it comes to that, having trouble focusing darling?" a sweet look came to her eyes as she went into a confident stride toward Stein, perhaps a couple of metres away from him now.

Over confidence was one thing, but in his current state, Tanith would just have to remain vigilant. "We always have the bench over there, we could even take turns with these people", she gestured to the chaos around her, "surely I don't spark your interest that much?". She giggled at the thought and watched to see what he'd do next.

So many things to focus on....so many things catching his interest. He wasn't sure what he wanted more, the strange forms his mind had turned the people of the bar into or Tanith. Grunting out of irritation and effort to maintain his hold on reality, Stein was surprised to see that Tanith was the only one retaining her normal appearance. It was amusing and interesting at the same time, even the others at the lab had been subject to turning into some unreasonable creature whenever he broke the boundary between reality and fantasy, but she didn't. The syringe in her hand drew his focus as well. He remembered being stabbed by one at the lab, it had a strange..."effect" on him. He wondered what this one would do.

A high pitched, almost distorted laugh escaped his lips, the one he had held back moments ago was finally let loose as he lowered his hand. Maybe he was interested in her, she certainly raised more questions than any of the useless piles of meat currently scattering about the bar. The offer was tempting, very tempting, especially with the way they looked in his eyes, so many mutated and unnatural creatures running about was hard to resist, his scalpel hand even began to twitch at the thought, but he was never one for sharing. Everything around Tanith, to Stein, was a blur, but she was clear as day. Maybe it was his minds way of telling him that she was the one he wanted most, or maybe he was still drifting between the fabricated delusions of insanity.

Stein's deranged grin formed once more on his face. "I think we both have a mutual interest in one another, there's no other reason for this! This is just a chance to find out which interest is stronger!"

Stein flicked his arm forward in a blur of speed, releasing the scalpels from his grasp as little more than silver streaks of light. His usual pinpoint accuracy was watered-down from the twitching in his wrist and otherwise partially blurred vision, but nevertheless he sent them forward.

His laugh turned the chaos around him into a frenzied state, in all the confusion some people had forgotten who they were running from. Zeresa waited for the opportune moment to reap its rewards, she half smiled at what he was saying. He was absolutely right, but how much she was willing to admit to him was a different case. She never stopped in her calm stride toward him, "What makes you say that?" Tanith put on a poker face, but was genuinely curious as to what gave it away. "So, I'm the object of desire?" she raised an eyebrow as if wanting for a specific reaction.

Perhaps it really was obvious, but despite what asking might entail, she wanted to know. When Stein grinned, Tanith was ready, however the guy in his twenties that just ran past her wasn't. Two scalpels tore through the walking dead man in front of her from which she heard the click of bones being hit by the force behind them and the other one whizzed past her, way off course. She used the guy in front as a vault horse before his legs gave way, one foot planted in his back lifted her off the ground and she pushed with her other to sail across the remainder of the distance in a smooth flip that landed her beside him.

Now inside his personal space, Tanith waited for only a few seconds to see how he would react to her sudden presence before she grabbed at his wrist. His sleeve was brushed back to allow her to better access to his nerves, if her memory was correct, and she'd like to think it was, then these few pinches of his nerves would temporarily stop him from using the hand at all, if she had the electrical current restricted to one hand, then she would be able to do something.

After she was done she yanked Stein closer to her, not expecting him to be led, it was an attempt at least, to move him closer that he wouldn't take much notice her thrusting yet another vial full of hallucinogens into his system. Though the closeness lessened her chances of success, at best she'd probably end up being pinned on the wall behind her or one of the nearest tables. She'd better hope it worked, just in case, her mind was already working its way out of the mess that this was about to become.

Stein's observative mind was something that defined him, his attention to detail could be compared to supernatural in scope, combining this with his knowledge in psychology and it was easy to understand how he came to the conclusion he did. He caught several ques and hints that he could use to answer her questions, but right now he was more interested in what she was going to do.

His accuracy was laughable in his current state of mind and uncontrolled twitching, so he wasn't surprised when the only one that wasn't intercepted by the fleeing moron sailed harmlessly passed her. These people were an annoyance. How easy it would be to dissect them all, to turn them inside out, to experiment on them. But now wasn't the time. He witnessed the woman use her meatshield as a stepping stone and flip across the gap between them, watching with slight amusement at her acrobatic talent before his eyes shifted to where she'd land. A normal person would ready themselves, but she showed no signs of physical augmentation so there was really nothing to fear...aside from that syringe.  

He had already deduced that was the cause of everything. The reason why he could no longer keep his mind in check. After all, it was only after she stabbed him with it in the lab did it began to run wild; no longer contained by his efforts. She, herself, wasn't a physical threat, so if she wanted to come to him then by all means, he'd let her. Feeling her take hold of his wrist, Stein felt nothing of the pinches the woman made on him, instead taking notice how his arm went limp. She was knowledgeable in neurology as well? This kept getting better and better!

Her effort to yank him closer was assisted the moment he felt his arm go numb. Instead, he turned  to fully face her and sent his other hand up to grasp at the wrist of the hand holding the syringe to stop it from making contact, and pushed forward with the aim to pin her against the wall that was located behind her. If she wanted to play nerve games, then he'd happily oblige! On top of the pinches that would follow, if he managed the grab, an electrical current would be sent from his hand into her wrist to not only add to the nerve damage, but to add an painful shock to the lineup of things to come.

Stein laughed once more, "What makes me say that? The fact that you keep inquiring about yourself, as if you want me to take an interest! That's how I know. Now, how would you like me to dissect you? Across or down the middle!?"

As expected, she was forced back and yet the syringe was diverted, he was much, much stronger than she could hope to resist. Not when her arm lost all its use anyway, the syringe dropped harmlessly to the ground sporting a small crack in the casing but not much else. Both his strength and matching knowledge on the human body surprised her, intrigued her even. Not many people she'd found in her trips across the world had knowledge enough to do that, it gave her the curiosity to even submit to him, to see what he would do when he dissected her. Though that would be foolish given circumstances, she hated the unknown for various reasons.

Powerless to do anything, she felt herself driven back, the small of her back connected with polished wood. She didn't hit it overly hard, signaling he wasn't even using all of his strength, he was toying with her. Well two could play at that game, she kept a hold on the nerve in his arm, still keeping him from using it. As the electrical current went through her arm it spasmed and ended up hitting the wall just above her head, subsequently losing even more leverage even if she did have use of it. She didn't grant him the satisfaction of hearing her cry out, that would send him even further down into the depths of his twisted mind.

As her arm hit the wall, her right leg kicked out to try and catch his knee, if she was lucky something would give way, if not no one but her would be the wiser of the maneuver considering how close they were now. "I usually find down the middle does the job more efficiently, across restricts too much", Tanith replied with a matter-of-fact tone to it.

She obviously didn't care what the topic was about, so long as they were talking, she found she didn't need to hide this at least. "And obviously you do take an interest, I want to know how much now...that wouldn't be too much to ask now would it?" a sly smile came to her face as these words left her lips, they were this close and she still had to wait, what was he waiting for? Slowly her head lifted off the polished wood and inched closer to Stein's, a mild distraction at the least, but she was finding it thoroughly entertaining how he reacted to everything she did even if it was just the occasional twitch of the eye or the tone and placing of words.

Its as he thought, no physical enhancements to speak of. If she had them, she wasn't utilizing them in any way that he could see. She was as strong as an ordinary human. It was something that made things easier, but it also disappointed him. He expected some type of mutation, some form of augmentation, some experiment she preformed on herself to enhance her body; but it appeared she had none. How could any scientist resist doing such a thing to themselves? It amused him. Why stay weak when you can break the limits of the human body and go beyond, to further increase your chances of survival?

Pinning the woman and her arm against the wall, it was a somewhat interesting stalemate - if one could call it that. Perhaps it was his carelessness that allowed him to get into this situation, perhaps it was the way his mind was right now that made him overconfident, but the fact that they both now had one arm useless and the others occupied was an intriguing situation. The madman's keen eye caught sight of her leg kick out, causing him the brace himself against the impact, which surprising held a noticeable amount of weight behind it and caused his leg to slide back quite a bit, but it wasn't successful in causing the doctor to topple over.

He wouldn't fall for the same trick twice, he learned from his previous mistakes.

Her responses sparked an arousing curiosity in him, even more so than what was already there. In fact, he had to take a moment to fully process it. No fear? No crying out? Straight answers without any sign of sarcasm or deceit? This was unusual...and interesting. He found himself think that alot when she was involved. However, the sly smile that came over her face and her inching closer made him think about something that he hadn't in several, several years. His previous life. Hadn't he had a wife before? Yes. What was her name? For the life of him he couldn't remember... But now that he thought about it this woman and his previous wife were oddly similar. He had a child too, didn't he? Its name was lost to him as well. The only thing he could distinctly remember, apart from tearing them apart, was their characteristics.  

Flinching at the images suddenly popping into his currently unhinged mind, Stein stepped back and pulled Tanith with him, letting go of her pinned arm and grabbing her by her shirt collar, he utilized his inhuman strength as he turned to toss her across the room before taking a few steps back and leaning against the wall beside the door; unable to force the images back into their once deep graves in his subconscious. His usable hand shot up over the left side of his face in irritation, though he was still allowed to keen an eye on his surroundings with his right.

"Tsk... Why..are you so similar to her?"

Watching for whatever came next, Tanith was actually surprised, there was something to this. Stein had flinched from the proximity or from her intentions? This was a golden moment for her, she had been using his surface emotions to effect him before, but now it was something deeper, history, perhaps it had something to do with his time in America? Either way, if she pursued this much further...well...she was already playing with fire. Her eyes shone just seconds before Stein began his momentum, using his own weight and strength to sling her across the room. Despite knowing it was happening, she was of course, powerless to do anything. Or at least she thought until her quick working mind figured something out.

Tanith's left leg came out and connected with the wall behind her and she pushed off it with all her strength before she was airborne on flight chaos. The slight push off the wall gave her at least a little bit of maneuverability, well the more technical term would be called momentum. Her leg came back around and slammed into the ground with much more force than intended, some muscle damage may have been done. Either way, the job was done as she slid the rest of the way only to collide with one of the few people still running. Toppling her and subsequently kneeing her in the side of the face as she went down.

Uncaring of what Stein was doing Tanith, as if by reflex shot her hand out to grab at the man's ankle, who came down like a sack of crap. Blood dribbling down the side of her head and staining her blonde hair, she looked like something out of a nightmare when she straddled him and punched him square in the middle of the face. Knocking the guy out and sating her desire to just hit something. This squabble was still amusing, but it was making her want to hit something. There was only so much she could do, but then, there really was no harm in her sitting back and taking pot shots at his psyche, it would probably enlighten her as to what kept her curiosity on hyper drive when she was around him.

There was something there...the way he had said 'her' so dismissively, perhaps it was a close friend? Perhaps, but Tanith didn't like uncertainties as much as she didn't like the unknown, each worked hand in hand. "Because your subconscious mind wants me to be? Surely its not that hard, or do you still not have that in check?" Tanith brought two fingers up to her mouth a pressed them to her mouth, stopping the smile that came to her face. Of course he didn't, her drugs were still jiggling about in his system.

Steins visible eye shot a glare toward her. Now he fully understood why she didn't use physical amplification, she didn't need it to get what she wanted. She toyed with peoples minds. She was a manipulator. A snake that crawled into a persons mind and bent them to her will. In fact, looking into it now, she could quite possibly have a higher understanding of the human mind and psychological workings than him, and given that he was under the effect of a hallucinogen, it must have made the job even easier. She had an attention for detail, that was certain. He wondered how much easier it would be if she managed to stab him with the other syringe? Would the effect stack? Or would it just last longer? Was it even the same drug?  

Stein gave an audible grunt as he pushed himself away form the wall into a hunched over position, his arms dangling toward the floor like a puppets with its strings cut. The images continued to flood in from a time in his life when he could of been considered "normal". Then again, even as a child he had a tendency to cut things apart, so that term could never have truly applied to him, but there was a time when he felt it did. However, maybe Tanith was right. Maybe the resemblance was purely effect of the drug? Maybe he was seeing false memories because he was just overall insane? Maybe both.... He killed her once before, could he really do it again?

Stein stood up, leaning back with his arms still dangling, his eyes widened with shrunken pupils that stared into nothingness, an almost shocked and frightened look appearing on his face. Then came a deranged giggle and the sadistic smile, revealing a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his labcoat. They had always helped calm his nerves, helped him control himself, so why not put another nail in his coffin? They wouldn't counteract the hallucinogen already flowing through his body, but they could atleast help him center himself for the moment.

"Perhaps...you're right." He pulled one out with his teeth and tossed the pack aside, "Maybe it is a trick of the mind, but..." He swung his arm to the side, sending a poor man who tried for the door flying into the same wall Tanith had previous been held against, his back breaking from the impact. "I've never gotten to dissect something so interesting before!" Retrieving a lighter from the same pocket, ignited a cherry at the end of the cancer stick and exhaled a large cloud of toxic smoke, he deranged gaze fixating on Tanith.

"I'm going to cut you open now! I want to see what makes you tick!"

Abandoning all sense of care as he began to march toward Tanith at an uneven pace and a trail of smoke drifting off behind him from the coffin nail clenched between his teeth, Stein clapped his hands together before his chest and pulled them apart, creating an bridge of electricity between his palms for a brief moment. He rushed forward in a sudden outburst of speed, though it was far below anything of supernatural origin - rivaling maybe a track runner at the most - it was still quiet fast, but he wasn't thinking clearly. His right hand would lead the way, but he was purely lost in the moment.

Then there was more curiosity, she had been using all along, but perhaps she would use it more now that it was at its peak. Perhaps, but the sudden movement from Stein caught her attention rather quickly as he pushed off the wall. Some part of her mind wanted to hang back and talk him into a net of his own psyche, the other more rational part knew it was time to move, however much she wanted to dissect the man beneath her. The deranged stare into nothingness was her queue to wait, if she didn't time this right she'd be back on a wall, through it or worse. She almost jumped the gun when he paused mid-sentence, her nerves all a jangle and yet her poker face remained.

"Trust me darling, I'm always right", her blank stare blurred as she moved as fast as her bare feet would carry her among broken glass and shattered tables. Bits cut at her feet as she ran and jumped over everything in an attempt to get at her bag. It was of no use however, Stein's palm electric rod of an arm smashed into her stomach, she gasped even as she was lifted off her feet. A slight misstep of their little interaction, this was the sort of deranged person as to see weakness when it was dangled in front of them. It was going to end badly if she didn't recover quickly. Her shoulder found one of the chairs rather quickly, one of the legs broke off under her sudden weight. While the whole thing flipped over backward.

She tried getting up but was immediately feeling like she was going to throw up, he probably even cracked a rib for good measure. She didn't know nor did she care, this was a live or die or possibly live situation, she needed to move. The second time she staggered to her feet, she remained upright, she staggered the rest of the distance to the end of the bench a fell behind it. Effectively hiding her from view as her hand dived into her little bag of tricks.

"I know I'm interesting and all that dear! But would you mind refraining from doing that again?! I'll let you cut me open in good time..."she called out from her temporary shelter, saying the last bit under her breath but knowing he would hear it despite this.

Had it been under different circumstances, her not hunched over and all due to contracting stomach muscles and extreme chest pains as well as an added headache, she would have probably faced the headlong charge and danced around him, perhaps that was due to the whiskey...yeah blame it on the whiskey. That was the only explanation for her getting so reckless, that and one other thing...

He may not have been moving at anywhere close to his full speed, but he did need to be delicate with her. He'd completely forgotten the difference in physical strength between them during his charge and mistakenly struck her with more force than he intended to. He held his place, no longer advancing but instead being consumed once again by the fabricated delusions, his body twitching and tweaking occasionally as a muffled, deranged giggle tried to escape his lips. He brought both of his hands up, covering his eyes like one of the three wise monkeys, not caring if Tanith took advantage of the opening or not. The otherwise maddened features that were previously spread across his face all but vanished as he spoke in response to Tanith with a low, cracked voice; as if frightened by something only he could see. The coffin nail between his teeth fell carelessly to the floor, a sudden boom of thunder from the storm outside rattling the bar windows and the few glasses that were still intact.

"Ah... That's right, I.. I have to be more careful..." His fingers parted, allowing his deranged eyes to peer through toward the bench Tanith was currently behind, his pupils shrunken in a self induced fear of resurfacing memories from his past, brought to the surface through this damnable hallucinogen that robbed him of what little control he had left. "You're delicate, fragile, tender... Held together by nothing more than weak ligaments and flesh, so easily broken...like a doll."

Steins paranoid gaze darted left and right from between his parted fingers, desperately trying to follow something eerily similar to a ghostly apparition that only he could see, drifting in and out of the corner of his vision like a phantom. Blond hair, a lab coat and..a...child? Stein paid little attention to the carnage around him, several of the current inhabitants of the bar taking the chance to rush passed him toward the door, even a one that accidentally bumped into him got nothing more than a small grunt in response, his body falling forward into a hunch with his arms dangling toward the ground like a puppet.

The shine of his blue and green eyes shone through the shadowy veil cast on his face as he looked up from the floor, fixating on the bench with a wide-eyed, horrifying gaze. Dozens of suppressed or forgotten memories rushed through his frantic mind, desperately trying to find a way out. The thunder, the pouring rain from outside, the slowly fading footsteps from the fleeing inhabitants, Stein heard none of it. His keen ears twitching every few moments, listening intently for things that weren't supposed to be there, voices only he could hear. Deathly silent in his own mind, focusing only for sounds of the unseen or for Taniths voice, Stein seemed like a zombified statue. His mind was processing several things at once, making it hard to focus. The last thing Tanith said echoed through the silence a few moments later, though not enough to snap him out of his trance-like state.

Stein wanted to dissect this woman, to tear her apart with precision and skill that no other doctor could even hope to match, to lay her out on a table and slice her apart, but at the same time he wanted to know more... If he killed her, she would be useful to study..but a live subject gave more results. Dissect, or observe...

He truly couldn't decide.

A dark grin came to her face and disappeared just as quickly, returning her facial features to a blank-like slate. Zeresa's hand closed about the syringe containing the concentrated dose of scopolamine, if he were to be hit with this it would probably give her enough time to get out, but delivering it would be the problem, seeing as how her last attempt at that had failed. That and how long it would take for it to take effect, at least one minute would be all she needed...easier said than done. She looked at the last few people leaving from where she was sitting, the bar had almost come to complete silence save for the rain and the thunder outside. The only thing going for her now was his current state and the mess under foot.

Eyeing a beer glass near her shoulder that had come close to the ground in the process of escaping the doctor with deep seated mental issues. Not that she was one to complain about the situation, the depths of his mind was interesting her to no end, minds were usually laid out on a table for her like this, so it wasn't that she was curious about, no, it was the resistance he was putting up to her poking and prodding, and the curiosity he displayed whenever he wasn't fighting his demons. "Fragile...perhaps, but it's my...-her turn to play the doctor", her casual jab at this delicate memory didn't go without its own words. Mere seconds after saying this, she stood up and threw the glass that had been near her arm. With a little bit of luck it would connect with some portion of his upper torso or head, though she wasn't counting on luck and fully expected her throw to land anywhere within his area. A mild distraction to cover her approach minus the previous hunch.

A few nerve games here and there and her pain was forgotten, it wouldn't stop whatever had torn or broken in her from making things worse when she would deal with it later if she got out of this. That was a thought for another day however, it just would not do to have her thinking about pain when there was such an interesting thought patterns at hand with just a carefully, well placed jab at his psyche, away.

His posture and expression told little, but all the subtle points here and there were enough for Tanith to figure out what was going on. While the lingering effects of rough memories remained, the strong stench of cognitive dissonance was hard to miss. She almost wanted to spit the word when she realised what he was going through, there would be more pain, there would not be subtlety. Though perhaps this was something she could use, given the right string of words pieced together and she could have him hooked again, though with such an unpredictable mind with such memories she was still mildly surprised by, it wasn't reliable.

"Look at that now...all the toys are gone, although I suppose this means you really do enjoy the attention. I suppose saying I offered really makes no difference anymore", she said this as she picked her way around broken and shattered pieces of furniture and glass. "Are you going to make me wait any longer, I want to know..."

Steins eye twitched at the mention of "her". Truly, this woman's attention for detail frightened him, but her skill at putting what she had just learned to use was even scarier. He knew what she was trying to do, but he was in no position to resist what his mind would conjure in response to it. Almost instantly, as if on cue, it took effect, the phantom image dancing just at the edge of Steins vision became more frequent and the hum from an old lullaby once used to put his child to sleep hauntingly touched his ears, sending a shiver up his spine.  

Was she really going to play the doctor this time? Was she coming to get him? The thought caused him to giggle lightly to himself. What would he do if she was, cut him apart? The thought fascinated him, anything seemed possible at the moment. The thought was fueled even more as Stein's eyes darted to the corner of the room as a phantom-like figure, edging ever closer, just barely escaped his sight. The hundreds of vertical eyes lining the walls were in full quality now, he could see each and every one of them with the utmost detail. He wasn't sure why they were there, perhaps they were a subconscious warning that his mind was going haywire, or maybe they had no significance at all, but they were still so interesting... Both of which distracted him long enough that Tanith's standing frame to go unnoticed, and the beer glass sent flying his way to smash against his head without resistance, catching him surprisingly off guard and causing him to stumble backwards.

The bottle shattering into pieces against his skull drenched him in the alcohol and broke bits of his skin along his temple, but it had about the same effect as the man with the baseball bat; close to nothing. However, the left lens of his glasses broke inward from the impact, sending shards of glass into his left eye. Blood ran down the side of his face and cheek, staining parts of his frosty white hair and forcing him to close his left eye in response before the small cuts carved in began to heal themselves - his eye would take a bit longer however. He steadied himself from his previous stumble, grabbing onto an undamaged table for support before glancing up to face the blond.

"All of them are gone...? Good. No more annoyances, no more screams, and no more interruptions!" A trio of scalpels slid into Steins free hand, held between deft fingers. "That means I have you all to myself!" A fling of his arm sent the trio speeding her way, though the silver streaks of death lacked their usual, pinpoint accuracy; the group was still intent on hitting the woman at various places.

The giggle that escaped her lips could not be helped as the glass had connected rather well. Soaking him in his own blood and alcohol. He looked rather amusing, frightening cute at the same time. The last part being something that anyone who had previously been in the room would have blanched at. The thought gave way for another wave of laughter, this control or lack thereof, it was going to get her killed. Zeresa's keen eye found the man close by Stein's feet, perhaps not all of them were gone...she'd have two lab rats when this was done and it turned out one of the ways she wanted it to. More reason to stay alive, his response was all the answer she needed, either being scalpels or a frontal charge. It being the former as it was, Tanith had mere seconds to drop into a spider-like crouch spread along the ground and ready to spring up.

The scalpels themselves tore through the space above her, the quickest of the lot still catching her right upper arm, slicing through flesh like butter. Muscle could be seen beneath the loose flap of skin now and there was a decent blood flow, she had to either wrap it up now an risk Stein taking her or not, and risk losing any chance of using the syringe. "Great, now that I have your undivided attention, we can talk", this would probably send him into a state of repetition or trigger an anger. Talking wasn't something that this part of Stein liked to do, it liked to narrate and describe what it was doing, talking be damned, only the damned and the lucky got this one to talk in such a state.

"You cut people apart and yet you don't want to see what comes of it when others dissect you?", came her melodic voice with the hint of hostility, "Oh, but you mustn't misunderstand, I admire such selfish actions in this case, I just want to know what the motives are if all it is, is you wanting to know".
She remained low to the ground, watching, waiting for his next move and/or reaction to her questioning. By this point her right arm was half soaked in her own blood and was dripping to the floor. Tanith was paling slightly, but didn't seem any less coherent as of yet, seemingly determined.

The scarlet fluid that surged forth from the wound on the woman's arm brought a glint to Steins deranged eye, even as it tracked the various hallucinations in its peripheral vision, the other still closed tightly as glass was slowly expunged from the flesh as the regeneration process kicked in. He had managed to hit her once with the electrical surge from his palms, and he knew a few of her ribs were either cracked or broken, and yet she was still able to preform so well.

She was truly a fascinating woman, both mentally and physically.

However, her words did strike an interesting point, one that made him hesitate for a moment. Now there was an interesting question. Why would he want to see what came of it? He had already dissected himself, both mentally and physically, so was there was really a reason to allow another person to do it? No. The only benefit of knowledge would be for the person doing the dissection, not to him. It was pointless.

His attention was now focused on Tanith, but he was far from stable. The ghostly figure he saw became more clear as the moments went by, dancing ever closer in the corner of his eyes. God that lullaby was so...annoying! He wanted it to stop. He wanted it all to go away and let him focus completely on the task at hand, but it was being stubborn... Too stubborn. The closer it got the more he had the urge to ram his hand through its stomach..but he refrained himself from doing so, for now anyway.

"Nothing interesting will come of it when others dissect me." Stein left eye gave off a dark green shine through the shadowy veil his blood soaked hair cast over his face, "There's no knowledge for me to obtain by allowing others to do so. If its not beneficial to me, then why allow it?"

Stein began his march forward, crushing broken glass and plates under his boots as he did, a deranged grin tearing across his lips as his right hand reached into his coat pocket to retrieve his own syringe; one filled with Dexedrine. It wasn't as fancy as the hallucinogen Tanith had at her disposal, but it would allow for a more stable dissection. Drowsiness, depressed respiration, euphoria, sleepy and uncoordinated feeling, all of these would come with it if injected. "My motive..? What motive does any scientist have when doing their work? It's quite simple... Experimentation and observation, that's all a true scientist cares about. Everything in this world is my experimental test subject, of course, that includes myself as well."

Stein drug the middle finger of his free hand across his stitching, smearing the blood diagonally over the bridge of his nose to get his point across, forcing the black stitching the stand out amongst the now red surroundings. "There's no point in someone else dissecting you when you've already done it, right?"

The question had actually made him think...now there was an interesting thought, if it weren't for the fact that he looked like he wanted to take a look at her insides with an air of ordered chaos then she would have suggested that they end this petty squabble right now. However, he was trying to look at her insides, and his resolve strengthened again. Perhaps she would just have to talk him into a version of insanity he'd never visited before god knew, this was easy. The fact that he'd had to think about it meant that even after all this time, he still had a few kinks here and there that wouldn't fit with the lifestyle, but then...there was no way of truly knowing unless he was drug free, something that wouldn't be the wisest of ideas right at the current time. Perhaps it would just be easier to let him have at her...perhaps...

The slight twitch in his eye gave way that he was still being haunted by memories, she was actually starting to get sick of its effects, something that she never thought would happen. Then again, it just made getting the information she wanted out of him that much more of a challenge, fortunately she loved challenges. "Tsk, tsk, no information whatsoever Stein?", she taunted but along the same tone sounded hurt indirectly, only helped by her change in posture as she came back into a crouch. In turn she lowered the mask of the memory allowing for a little less torment, his curiosity in her would probably spark some 'rational' part of his mind into talking. "Then truly you must miss the joy of observing someone as they drive themselves into all forms of mental dramas telling you more than your scalpels would, the benefit? Of having someone freely volunteer themselves to lay down on your laboratory table? I must express sympathy for you...but goodness knows I'm almost incapable of it", she stated with the closest thing she came to sympathy, amusement.

She giggled before his next words took her by surprise, and by all accounts of the word, almost nothing took her by surprise. Zeresa's balance wavered and her own thoughts and curiosity threw themselves at her and before she knew it she was half cross-legged and sitting on the floor staring at Stein. She acknowledged his syringe with a slight shift in her eyes, not caring for what the tool held, it didn't really matter. Her own lay discarded mere centimeters from her hand, "True Scientist? You say that as if it is a new concept to me".

Her left hand came up and tugged at the clothing near her neck, taking it down just far enough to see the multitude of pale scars criss-crossing the flesh in between her jaw and her left shoulder. "I can assure you, that I was not on the receiving end of a nasty knife throwing incident", Tanith spoke with a hint of annoyance. "I think you'll find that your observation is incorrect, I'm burning in the palm of your hand, an itch that can only be sated by your fulfilling your purposeful need to dissect me. Me merely telling you the results of my own experiments would not stop that purpose, it would probably just grow until it becomes something that you can not refuse. Without that purpose, I would have to sadly say that you would be, slightly less entertaining", Tanith spoke with fear or hurt, this was generally something that she thought he would understand even in his current state.

Stein never stopped in his advance as the woman spoke. She was like the others, something he was almost saddened by. Then again, it was understandable. Even he couldn't understand himself sometimes, but for a fellow scientist to misunderstand him was quite a shock - thought not a visible one. However, the crisscrossing scars caught his eye with a bit of amusement. Deranged minds thought alike it seemed, something that only made his interest in her grow. To what extent was she covered in scars? How many of them were self-inflicted? What was the reason, was it truly the same as his?

He doubted it, as she had misunderstood what he said. But then, perhaps he worded it wrong? He wasn't in his right mind at the moment. No. He was fairly certain he covered the points needed. There would be no benefit for him if someone was lucky enough to slice him open as he already knew what they would find. Clearly she failed to catch that part. Ah well, no point in fretting over it.

A flick of the wrist brought another three scalpels from his sleeve before they were caught between his deft fingers, their blades glimmering a dark blue from the reflection of light in the room. It took everything he had not to send them flying at the ghostly hallucination dancing ever closer to him in the corner of his eye, but he had more interesting things to observe. Syringe in one hand, scalpels in the other, Stein continued his slow - somewhat unstable advancement across the trashed room, a deranged grin spread across his lips.


"You misunderstand, like others before you." Stein brought his scalpels before his face, blocking his still ruined eye (which had already expunged the broken glass and was well on its way to recovering) before stopping a few feet from her. "But since I'm about to cut you open I suppose I can explain in more detail..."

Stein flicked his wrist again, digging the scalpel blades into the stitching across his face. Blood seeped from the wound, but quickly stopped as it closed on its own. "I know what you'll find if you dissect me, and me telling you would simply spoil the surprise you've worked so hard to reach. You merely telling me the results of your own experiments wouldn't be exciting at all, it would simply ruin the experience all together! Surly you can understand that much?"

The subtle hints and the like were picked up without a second thought, it was like even without him speaking she was still having a conversation with him. What she found, she wasn't impressed with. It looked as though...he was judging her? A second later and it was confirmed as he started crossing the small gap between the two. How dare he? After attempting to take this conversation down to a civilized level, he assumed it was his job to judge her. That was his first mistake, his second was the tone he took with her. Well now, there wouldn't be any more progress until they got this sorted...

Her amused smiling face resumed its cold calculating stare, this night had gone on long enough. The cops would be swarming this place soon, she didn't want to be here when they came. "Misunderstanding and carefully placed words in order to get a respectable answer are two different things dear", she said in a sing-song tune.

Perhaps he would think about his words this time...perhaps, but then there was always the chance that he would just act. "Cops are going to be here soon, I'd rather not be here when they do", Tanith stated as if the matter needed dealing with,"My place isn't far, we could continue this, there?"

OOC: Throws woman around bar, cuts her with thrown scalpels, cracks a few ribs with an electrical palm-strike, and still gets invited to her place. Winning~
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He was all over the place the moment, and it annoyed him to no end. Even his own wording and responses were completely thrown around. What the hell was he thinking? Did he really just say it would amount to nothing should the data she obtained be shown to him? These drugs were quickly becoming a pain in the ass. Letting out an audible "tsk" in response to his growing hatred for the hallucinogens, Stein simply tossed his own syringe to the floor and grabbed the bridge of his nose as he tried to center himself. Feeling no immediate physical threat from the woman, he even closed his eye while doing so as his stemcells continued the repairs on his other one.

Trying his damnedest to drown out the lullaby music ringing in his ears and the distorted surroundings, Stein took a few steady breaths before slowly opening his eye again. It worked. Well, sort of. The damnable ringing had stopped, and the ghostly figure that had previously been drifting at the edge of his vision had all but vanished. The walls were still lined with dozens of groups of vertical eyes, in groups of three, but they were horribly faded and out of focus - not like moments ago where they were in the equivalent of high definition quality. Granted, he was still having trouble with his inner thoughts, having to continually suppress unwanted images or memories that tried to force their way out of his subconscious, but otherwise he was back to his old self...for the moment.

Letting out a deep breath, Stein torqued his head from side to side which let out audible cracks and pops from the built up stress and tension. He did this for a few moments, the audible release being nonstop for the entire period of time before he finally came to rest in a straight posture. He flexed his fingers, popping them in the process as an electrical spark came and went for the briefest of moments. He was releasing built up tension, and by combining it with deep, calming breaths, hopped to gain some of his grip back on reality.

"This damn drug of yours is annoying..." Stein spoke as he pulled his ruined glasses from his face, tossing the broken eye-wear off to the side with a visible twitch in his good eye giving away his current internal struggle of trying to control something that was outside of his influence to do so. He had little doubt he'd be seeing things again within the next few moments, and he was never one to fully control his urges regardless of if he knew the situation he was in. This small sliver of control was something that was managed by the more rational, observant part of his mind taking charge.

He let out another deep breath, this time accompanied by a bit of steam that was created as he cocked his head to the side. "An answer from me, while in that state of mind, is hardly respectable at all, woman. At least, not from the angle you're trying to poke at." Stein glanced out the corner of his eye, given the angle his head was cocked at, made it look as though he was looking at the ceiling, when in reality he was more so taking interest in what the blond has said.

"Police... Ah..." He drifted off again as his eye focused the red symbols slowly coming back into view, becoming ever more detailed. It was starting again. Goddammit. "Women prefer their own beds for a myriad of activities, so I suppose dissection shouldn't be excluded from that list. But no, I'll just dissect them should they interrupt." The hallucinations would come again, but he'd do his best to drown them out - to focus on Tanith and only her as his main objective.

Watching him with narrowed eyes, Tanith was thoroughly amused by this point. Every small twitch or movement being another bit of information for her to file away for later, when he threw his syringe away it made her frown. An unknown, she didn't like that...she didn't like having that piece of information stolen from her, it was like he had just taunted her with a treasure map that hid billions. Her frown didn't let up, this was something she had to know! Even as this thought ran about in her head, she noted yet more changes in his posture and head movements. Weariness? no...he wasn't threatened by her...yes that must be it, she resisted the urge to shrug and smile as she finally clicked something with him.

His jab at her drug's effects came as no surprise, any smart person would realize what was going on and express at least some distaste. "Stop thinking of me so strongly and it will end, keep thinking of me in any way and it'll get stronger...just thought you'd like to know, that's all", Tanith raised an eyebrow to watch how he would react, she had some idea, but knew better than to assume now that he knew how to circumvent it. His next line did come as a surprise, didn't look like he had any psychological study at all, not really a problem...she'd just assumed he had. "Your actions speak louder than words dear..." she chuckled at this...something she found amusing, not immediately obvious.

The chuckle was almost short-lived as she picked up what Stein said over the sound of distant sirens. At this, she raised an eyebrow but didn't look back up at him at all. Let him assume things, it'd leave openings for her to jump in on, not something she particularly favored in the way of social tactics, a tool nonetheless. "Sure", was her only response given.