~~Natasha~~
"Holy shit," Jessy said, eyes wide, leaning forward with hands gripping together. The two of them were sitting at Natasha's counter in her apartment, her new apartment, sharing a corner and a bottle of blood. Antoinette had lent her some of her thralls to serve as moving crew, and they'd done quick work, so all her stuff was set up and ready for breaking in.
Natasha didn't bother pouring a glass. She drank from the bottle directly, something she'd never do normally, and slid it a few inches across the counter to her friend.
"Yeah... t-t-terrifying."
"I mean, I knew about nasty shit like werewolves, but a giant spider monster? First it's the Begotten, now it's spider monster things taking over human bodies and... fuck. Fuck fuck. Fuck fuck fuck." Jessy got up from her stool and shook out her legs as she rubbed herself down. "Feel like I got them on me!"
Giggling, Natasha waited for her friend to recuperate from her well-deserved fear of spiders, crawling up legs and getting into her clothes.
"It was s-s-scary... no d-doubt about that." But, oddly fun. Well, maybe not fun. No, not fun, fun was not the word. And poor Art, poor Matt. Stephanie died on that hunt, and while Natasha didn'tβhadn't like her, she got the impression her two new friends did. Or at least, thought of Stephanie as family; like a pack of wolves.
"Cool hearing the kid come through like that though. Glad he's Invictus." Jessy sat down beside her again and took a drink of the blood with all the grace of a drunkard downing beer. "Wanna come back yet?"
"... no." She sighed and shook her head. Not after what Maria did, not after what happened. Not after seeing all these things, and needing some sort of answer. "Come on, d-don't ask me that."
"I know I know, just kidding. So, over a whole night trapped with two of those sexy dogs. How'd that go?"
"It was nice! We p-played cards and talked and stuff. And Art told me about p-pack life a bit, and Matt and him joked about... why are you looking at me like that?"
"You liiiiike them." Jessy grinned, and slid the bottle back toward her.
"Iβwell, um, I d-do like them, they'reβ"
"No no, not this 'they're my friends' crap. I mean you like like them. I mean want to wake them up with a good morning blowjob like them."
"Jessy! Not everything has to d-d-d... d-devolve into sex!" This woman, ugh. Natasha entertained her friend's sexual obsessions to a point, but she had a limit.
"I'm not saying it's only about sex." The Gangrel leaned in, frowned at her, and gave her a shove on the shoulder. "I talked to Matthew and Arturo earlier tonight I'll have you know, and I got that impression. They like you, and not in your typical I-really-want-to-fuck-her way... well, I got some of that too, but I meant moreso the other kind."
"You... you did?"
"Mmhmm. You should go visit them."
"Visit? Did theyβ"
"Yeah, gave me the place they're staying at. Still no phones though." Jessy reached out for her and scooped her closer, arm hooking her shoulders in a hug. "Much as I think those wolves aren't much better than dogs, god damn they are cute."
"You j-just like anyone with... b-b-big shoulders and whose tall."
"I know what I like. And I know I wouldn't like hanging out with those two much. Too much like me."
Natasha raised a brow at her friend. That was an oddly self-aware statement for her. Weird. Maybe Jessy was getting wiser in her old age. Natasha sure wasn't.
"... w-what should I do?"
"Do? Girl it's not complicated, go hang out with them! Go say hello. Here, I got their address; it's on the edge of South Side near North Side, Carthian district." She grabbed a pen and a notepad β sticky notes were Natasha's vice β and wrote down some numbers. "And get those dumbasses a phone. It's the fucking teens of the century, and they don't have smartphones?"
Go hang with them. She made it sound so easy, like you could just drop by someone's place without first arranging a meeting, setting up a schedule, or at least texting them to see if they were free. Randomly dropping by? This wasn't the 1800s!
But... maybe she could? They didn't have phones, so it wasn't like they were exactly modern age.
"I see those eyes shifting around, thinking up strategies." Jessy bonked her on the head, and Natasha whined as was custom, clutching her skull. "Stop thinking, and just go. Have fun. Be yourself."
"Be myself... b-be myself."
"Well, maybe a little more like your current self? You know, fun Natasha, horny and slutty Natasha! Natasha who I've seen enjoy some pretty sexy stuff. Natasha who I've seen ride dick, with two more in her hands."
"Jessy!"
"But also Natasha who went down into the tunnels with her two new friends. A little spontaneous, you know? Come on, go have fun!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nervous nervous nervous. So damn nervous. Why so nervous? All she was doing was visiting a couple of friends and saying thank you. That's all. Nothing else to it.
So what if she'd drank both of them? Felt their warmth in her body? Their really... really... warm, thick blood. Felt their heat on her fingertips, on her fangs, smelled their musk. Animals, wolves... men.
She shook her head, planted her palms against her eye sockets, and shook her head more until her hair was going everywhere. Grow up you big baby, and knock.
She knocked, and waited, and trembled. It was a different fear than being chased by monsters, but a fear all the same, the sort of fear that made her stutter worse, that made her mind race a million miles a second planning exit strategies.
But they deserved a thank you, and she did want to see them again. They were nice. At least Matt was nice. Art was... not nice, in a fun way. Pushy, but also sneaky. Jessy was pushy too, but with zero sneak factor. With Art she could tell he was smart enough to trick her, but Matt counterbalanced his deviousness, made them enjoyable to be around. Being stuck in that tunnel for a whole night and then some had actually been sort of fun, when she forgot about the danger they were in.
The apartment door opened, and Matt's face lit up like a Christmas tree.
"Madam Vola!"
"Y-You... you know to call me Natasha."
"Right right. Sorry, come on in." He threw open the door and motioned for her to enter. "Art and I were just watching some TV."