xp_logs | Marie-Ange and Hope, drinks.

Marie-Ange gives Hope a quick lesson in pharamacology and mixology, and then sets her on some homework.

Marie-Ange's office was stunningly under-organized. She had bookshelves and file folders and desk drawers and a trash can and somehow her office still managed to be half a dozen small piles of papers, another half dozen stacks of tarot cards, books, newspapers, art supplies, four days of coffee cups and a few cardboard boxes stuffed under tables and her desk and a few shoes sticking out here and there.

But the front of her desk was a very tidy line of glasses and cups, none matching and behind that, a plastic box of bottles - sodas, iced tea, a cold coffee drink, assorted alcohols, a few energy drinks, juices, and even a small plastic bottle of milk.

She waved a hand at Hope, indicating that the other woman should sit down, and then sat down herself, almost grinning. "Pharmacology 101, I hope you have a driver scheduled."

"I was planning on taking a cab back, yes." Hope replied as she took her seat, eyeing the various bottles. "I am taking a guess we'll be moving from discussing theory to the more practical side of things from the looks of it?" The previous lessons they had discussed various substances with their effects and issues and she looked forward to doing something a little more practical.

"Well I am not going to roofie you." Marie-Ange said with a sly little smile. "But if you are going to keep trying to slip people sedatives, you should know how best to hide them, and how to identify them as well. There are only a rare few that have no taste or smell and those do not always dissolve well in drinks and especially not cold drinks."

"That sounds like something in between cooking lessons and a chemistry class." Hope remarked as she leaned forward, interested. "I remember trying to figure out how the hell I was going to slip the Valium I found to Shieldo and Shielda. And even my tea solution was not very good. I think I mentioned it being some kind of exclusive bitter tea or something like that."

"Well, first a tasting round, and then a homework assignment." The line of glasses was quickly filled from the assorted bottles and then Marie-Ange pulled out a few envelopes of pills and tablets. "Mostly inert - I have a friend who works in pharmacology who pulled some placebo pills for me. But your goal here is to guess which drink has what additive. Sugar, bitter binding powder, salt, that sort of thing."

"Want me to turn around while you add them?" Hope raised an eyebrow at Marie-Ange. "Or are they all identical enough that I will not be able to tell anyway?"

"Well, you do not know which is the salt and which is the sugar from the pill capsule, yes?" Marie-Ange said. "Or if you do, then yes, but if you can identify a sugar capsule on sight we can skip six lessons ahead!" She seemed almost gleeful about that idea. "Or I can send you off to go view some autopsies of people who have overdosed or been poisoned.."

"No thank you." Hope commented dryly. "Your acquaintance made sure I viewed one of those when I visited the morgue. I got treated to a 'fascinating' lecture on stomach contents." She watched with interest as various pills and powders were added to the glasses. "Anywhere in particular you'd like me to start?"

"No, they are in no particular order. I picked the order out of post-it notes from one of Wade's hats." Marie-Ange explained. "Did you also get the fecal matter lecture and how some substances can be traced via fecal sample and since corpses defecate..." She waved a hand. "But we should move on to less disgusting conversation because speaking of poo is not conducive to using your nose and taste buds."

"Then I might as well start from this side." She lifted a shot glass with some kind of bright pink fruit juice and sniffed it. "Just smells like regular fruit juice. Very sweet." Hope took a small sip and rolled it around in her mouth, almost like she would with a nice wine. "Tastes sweet too. But there is a hint of bitterness, though its not very noticeable because the juice is so sweet... Overly strong flavors can camouflage drugs?"

"Yes exactly." Marie-Ange agreed. "But also that it can make the stand-out flavor even more noticeable. If that had not been bitter, if it had been sour... what would you have thought? Would you have noticed, if someone had said "oh, dragonfruit cocktail?"

"I know what real dragon fruit tastes like, so I would have been doubtful. But if someone claimed it was some kind of fruit I had never had, then yes, I would have not thought it strange for a fruit cocktail to have a sweet-sour flavor." Hope put the glass to the side as she replied. "Especially if it's something directly from a bartender or waitstaff."

"Exactly. And slight of hand can mean that you never lose sight of your drink... or food, or cosmetic, and yet it is still contaminated." Marie-Ange pushed a tea cup towards Hope. "When did I put something in this? If I did at all...."

"So how do you remain vigilant? I am suddenly reminded of that scene in Kingsman where Eggsy manages to overcome Arthur through slight of hand." Hope asked as she picked up the tea cup and sniffed the tea. "Oh... this is a nice Oolong. But when you put something in it..." She ran through the last few minutes in her mind, but then came to realization. "I cannot tell. I was too focused on the things you were adding and not really to what you were adding. Plus the fact that you could have done that slight of hand at any moment while I was focused on something else."

Marie-Ange nodded. "Just sugar, and it was added while I was pushing it towards you. But oh goodness, I am not always vigilant. Just when I do not have someone else to help watch, and to read the room. Sometimes it is unavoidable. You learn to function high, or to nurse a drink when you cannot be certain, and you learn to slip to the ladies and throw up, if you must."

"Just like the potted plant or an accidental case of tripping and spilling ones drink might come in handy as well." Hope raised an eyebrow. "I know I have done it once or twice when someone was just a little too pushy with just normal alcohol." Rubbing her hands together, she added: "So, what is your next challenge?"

Another shot glass, this one with an amber liquid. "I will give you a hint for this, rum and spices - cinnamon, and sugar, and then it was spiked." Marie-Ange placed a lime slice atop the slot glass and nudged it towards Hope. "But it is a shot, so it is meant to be drunk fast. What else is in it that does not belong?"

Hope picked up the glass and tossed it back. "Whoa, that is strong." Her face turned thoughtful though as she analysed the flavors that still lingered in her mouth. "This one is harder... there are already different kinds of flavors in the cocktail... hmm. It kind of tastes more sour then I would have thought of with amount of lime that is in it."

"Like hides like." Marie-Ange said, nodding. "And busy drinks hide things better than simple ones. Spike someone's tiramisu martini, they may not notice the drug under all those flavours." She pushed one more shotglass towards Hope. "The last one, but, this one is actually spiked. Try to guess what is in it. It is not poison." Well, not much. Technically.

She hesitated for a long moment, looking between the glass and Marie-Ange a few times. With a deep breath, Hope picked it up and drank it up. Rolling it around her mouth for a few times, it seemed to taste like an a kind of tea. "It's very... earthy..." After considering things for a long moment, she asked. "Is it some kind of tea made with weed?"

The snort that came out of Marie-Ange was entirely unrefined and followed with slightly hysterical giggling. "No. Oh goodness no, and I think Kevin is the only person besides you who calls it weed." Well, at least non-ironically. "It is not my pot stash wasted by steeping in hot water, and I am not quite sure that would work. But close. Tea, but not pot. Mushrooms. I apologize for the taste, your next homework is to find a way to hide. that. taste." She wasn't sure it was possible.

"Tea made with cannabis is a thing. I read about it in the biography of a woman with cancer. But hiding the flavor of mushrooms... now that is an interesting challenge." She considered it for a moment. "Same principle as with the liquor though. A tea blend with complementary and contrasting taste should maybe not quite hide it, but certainly letting it blend in. You want an actual sample of such a mix?"

"No, I want you to make it and then get one of your peers to drink it with you." Marie-Ange's giggling stopped, abruptly, and she was all business. "One of the straighter-edge ones. Convince them. Your other lesson is that sometimes, you do not spike the drink, you apply the right sort of pressure and they go right along with your ideas." Her expression softened, deliberately. "Also I know tea with pot is a thing, but it is a terrible thing. I think also it is a tisane, but you would have to ask Amanda about that, she is our herbology professor. I am divination."

"You do not look very divination like to me, to be honest. Perhaps a colleague of Snape?" She gestured at the stuff on the desk. "But it is an interesting challenge though." Hope sounded a little unsure, but she soldiered on. "Do you have a sample of the mushrooms I can use?"

"Of course." Marie-Ange said. But she puttered around in her desk drawers for a little bit, taking out notepads and sketchbooks and flipping through them. After several, she set one down, and the smallest, crankiest Severus Snape, book version with the hooked nose and beard and oily hair stepped out of himself, sketched in fine india ink, and stood, waiting, tapping his foot.

He was handed a neatly labeled zip-loc bag, and he glided towards Hope, sneering down his oversized nose at her before thrusting the bag.

Hope giggled as she accepted the bag. "He is quite adorable... in his own unique way." Carefully... still a little hesitant... she tucked the baggie of mushrooms in her purse. "What is the best way to prepare them?"

"It depends on your method of persuasion." Marie-Ange said, plainly. She gestured at the little animated Snape and it stalked away, walking off the edge of her desk and disappearing. "Your potential target will change the best method too, if they have preferences in taste. I would start with boiling water and let them steep. It is no less terrible for sitting cold, or drinking fresh. I suppose you could dip them in chocolate and eat them as they are too but I assure you that tastes worse than the tea."

"I'll give it some thought." Hope nodded. "In tea, there are some pretty strong flavored ingredients I can use as a cover if needed. But I was mostly thinking of how much to use though. I would not want to accidentally overdose anyone and sent them to the medlab... The doctors would have my hide."

"See, now you are thinking about it. You would perhaps avoid Miss Gwynn as well, the overlap could be unfortunate between this and her unique powers." Marie-Ange explained. "That baggie is several doses, perhaps five or six, although an overdose is more likely to just make your target vomit than be quite seriously ill."

"Alright." Hope nodded, taking careful mental notes. "I will get in touch when I have succeeded then?"

"Or if you want to discuss your plans beforehand. This is not an assignment that you cannot ask for advice." Marie-Ange answered. "Though you do not necessarily need to ask me, but if you ask anyone else besides Doug, I would recommend not mentioning my name." She paused. "You also cannot use Doug as your target, even if he has never taken this particular drug. He cheats at persuasion and it would be unfair to you."

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind..." Hope nodded again. "Probably best if I avoid the psi's as much as possible as well, now that I am thinking about it. Not sure what it would do to Topaz with her empathy for example..."

"... and Quentin would just tell you yes, take the tea and slam the door in your face." Actually, Marie-Ange thought, it might improve his disposition to have a revelatory experience via hallucinogens.

"Luckily he was not on my immediate list of people to try." Hope had to grin at the picture Marie-Ange painted, then glanced at her watch. "I am afraid my cab is actually here though..."

Marie-Ange smiled - it was not a kind smile, though it was an amused one. "Which is good because that tea is likely to start affecting you any moment now."