~~Natasha~~
It was the day after the trip into the Hisil, and Natasha couldn't stop smiling.
"Oh my god oh my god oh my g-god!" She vibrated as she bounced around, almost hitting Matt and Art with each step. "That was so d-d-dangerous!"
Art and Matt both nodded as they stepped up the stairs. They were in front of her apartment building, a place she rarely visited anymore. All those nights at the Prince's, it was easy to forget she had her own apartment, a nice one at that. It wasn't as fancy as Jack's, but it was still a nice, decorative place. They didn't hang in at it often enough.
Plus, she could be herself more in her own apartment, where the walls were hers, and she knew every creak, every inch and corner, every thing. No home like home.
First thing she did was throw open her laptop and send Jessy a quick message. The two of them were still doing their frequent check-ins with each other, and considering yesterday she'd just been in a literal different dimension, this check in would be interesting.
~Back from the Shadow Realm!~
~Eric was telling me about it, and you, you brave little girl.~
~Brave?~
~Talking to Black Blood? Yeah, sounded pretty fucking brave of you. You at home?~
~Yeah.~
Naturally, Tash's laptop started ringing, and she rolled her eyes as she accepted the call. "Hey J-Jessy!"
"Tash, Iβoh, is that Matthew and Arturo?" Jessy leaned down toward her laptop and smiled at the camera. Eric was beside her on her couch, dressed in his Bloodlust suit, shirt undone and tie nowhere to be seen. Jessy was in a white tube top masquerading as a tank top with tiny straps, and her leaning forward was purposeful: showing off the cleavage. Not that she needed to, considering the tank top was almost see-through.
"Yeap!" Tash motioned to the boys, and they came to join her at her kitchen counter where she kept the laptop.
The two boys sat around her, and waved. "Hello there," they said together, in unison, with eyes on Jessy's display. So Natasha elbowed each of them in their ribs, because.
Eric caught on, slipped a hand around Jessy's face, and pushed her back into the couch with enough force to make her bounce.
"This line secure?" he said.
Natasha nodded. "Y-Yes. Why? D-D... Did you want to talk about the trip?"
"I did, yes, assuming Art and Matt don't mind."
Art and Matt shrugged, got up, and started walking around Natasha's kitchen. There was meat and stuff to be found, bought by them and deposited in her fridge and freezer. It was almost like a girl sneak-moving into her boyfriend's apartment, except instead of makeup kits, toothbrushes, and feminine hygiene products, they'd brought food. She couldn't help but giggle at that as she watched them start to cook up a bunch of steaks, with liver and hearts to go with.
"They d-don't."
"Right. So, Jessy wants to come on the next trip."
"She d-does?"
"I do!" Jessy fought to get out from behind Eric's hand, eventually being forced to push the man off the couch altogether. "Eric was telling me about the things he saw, Black Blood and shit. That sounds fucking freaky, dangerous, and a lot more important to Dolareido than I figured it was."
"Important?"
Art raised a hand, and reached around to wave it in front of the camera from behind the laptop. "I'm guessing she's talking about how one world affects the other."
The Gangrel nodded vigorously. "Yeah! Like, Eric was telling me about the drug spirit he saw. If the wolves killed it, would drug activity drop in Devil's Corner?"
"Probably," Matt said, "assuming you could get away with it. Spirits have their own society, you know." He had some raw steak in his mouth, and he swallowed it down mid sentence. Ugh, like a mom snacking while cooking, except with the stomach of a carnivore, capable of handling nasty bacteria.
"It's not our j-job," Tash said, "to police the kine. We're supposed t-t-to let them d-do what they want, within reason."
Eric leaned into the camera, and frowned at her. The man usually frowned, but never at people directly. He was the sort of man that frowned at circumstances, situations, never at someone, and never a vampire, from what she knew of him. The hard look on his face was unsettling.
"Not everyone lives the good life in Dolareido, Natasha. Just because it's a good city on average, doesn't mean it couldn't be better."
That was aggressive. She looked to Matt and Art, and she could see the two men were ready to get between her and the angry man on the other side of the laptop screen, but she gulped and shook her head at them.
"I know it's n-not perfect, Eric. If you want t-t-to help the less fortunate, maybe... talk to Garry?"
"Garry? Right, the Carthians. I mean yeah, I guess I could do that, but I'd prefer to put my unique skills to use. If I have to be Uratha, then I should try and do what I can."
She tilted her head to the side. "I'm n-notβ"