~~Beatrice~~
"Hey Clara."
The werewolf raised a brow as she looked at her, but before the woman could find a polite way -- or not so polite way -- to get rid of her, Harcourt clapped once and leaned back in his chair.
"Ladies! Visiting?" And again, before Clara could find a way to tell her date that she didn't want the vampires around, Harcourt grabbed a nearby chair. For three women. Total dunce.
Jennifer didn't hesitate. She sat down at the small circular table and got comfy, leaned back in the fancy wire metal chair, folded one knee over the other, and finger waved at Brace.
Clara frowned at Jen, and ground her teeth subtlety enough only the dumb dude at the table wouldn't notice. But, Clara didn't know Jen, didn't know Jen was doing it on purpose, to make Clara jealous because she figured it'd get the two together faster, not because she wanted to steal Brace from her. Drama. Jennifer embodied soap opera drama. She really did have more similarities with Daeva bitches like Isabella than a Ventrue like Elaine.
How the fuck did Triss and Jen ever hook up? They kinda didn't, not really. Sorta just evolved that way.
Triss took a moment to check her hair and make sure it was covering her cheeks. The Discipline Obfuscate had a lot of ways to keep people from noticing her, Cloak of Night being the most used. But Face in the Crowd made sure that while people could see her, they just wouldn't care about her, and as long as she made sure her teeth weren't obviously visible, it'd stay that way.
"We were scouting," Jennifer said, nodding to the hunter. "The Invictus and Carthians insist on being a nuisance."
Clara put up her hands. "We're staying out of it."
"You and the pack, or you and Brace?" The Ventrue grinned as she gestured with her head toward the hunter.
Harcourt shrugged. "Uh, both, I guess? The Prince has done right by Marge, Dennis and me, and she doesn't want us getting involved. As long as people -- kine, I guess -- stay out of it too, I got no problem." Without so much as a glance to Clara for permission, the hunter grabbed another nearby chair, slid it over, and gestured to the two remaining ladies. Clara looked annoyed, but with Brace, not the girls. She probably didn't realize just how nice the hunter was, until now. Nice to a fault.
But then, maybe that's what Clara liked? Jack was nice to a fault, or at least he used to be. Still kinda was, but also kinda wasn't, curse or no curse. Growing up was painful, especially for someone like Jack, and every time Triss caught up with the kid it was easy to see he was growing more bitter and upset with the world. Harcourt, on the other hand, seemed impervious to that kinda shit, considering the rough life he'd had while still being a nice goofball. Maybe that's what Clara wanted?
Or the girl was just dating a nice guy, cause Jack was off the menu and she finally accepted that.
Samantha glanced at Triss, and Triss gave her a playful shove. Go sit, dumbass. Smiling, Samantha took the other chair and got comfortable.
"I hope it stays that way," Sam said. "No kine getting hurt, I mean. I'm uh, pretty new to this vampire thing, but--"
A waiter came up to them, but Clara shook her head, waving him off. Yeap, she was annoyed. Well, sucked to be her, an info update was important, and one of the best ways to get one was randomly, like this, catching people off guard so they couldn't formulate crafty answers easily.
"But uh, I'm more worried about Jack," Sam continued. "He's going to try and fix everything himself, like he always does."
Clara nodded, wincing a little as she took a memory dive. "He does seem to do that."
Triss raised a hand. "But we're all staying out of it, right? I mean, you know, barring a really shitty exception, we're gonna let the two idiot groups duke it out. And Jacob says it's not the first time they've butted heads, and they're still here, so it can't get too bad, right?"
Everyone looked at each other, frowning or wincing. Yeah, she didn't believe herself either.
"How is Marge and Dennis?" Jennifer asked. "I see you and Clara are enjoying yourselves," a bit of a pause to make it obvious what she meant, "but I do wonder about those two."
Harcourt nodded, taking a bite of his steak and chewing it fast. "They'd been hanging out with Leauvion's crew for a long time. Jack apparently thought they were being, uh, hogged? But now they're seeing what the other vamps are up to. Invictus mostly, though. Not that I blame them. Dolareido's got this whole Las Vegas vibe going, and the crew and I had been doing backwater bullshit for years. Trying out hot tubs and fine dining," he gestured to his meal, "seems to be more of an Invictus indulgence here."
"It's not everywhere?" Samantha asked.
"I've been in a few cities. Clara too. We've seen some weird setups, you know? Dolareido's the only one I even know of with dragons in charge; we rarely even hear of them, let alone run into them. But in other cities, the Invictus aren't always rich and wearing suits. Sometimes it's more like a military state. Sometimes the city doesn't have any luxury at all, and the Carthians and Invictus becomes more like, local anarchist punks versus the local mob."
"Tijuana," Clara said, "was a little more... extreme. The Invictus were brutal, and thrived on markets a lot nastier than the shit you find in Dolareido."
"Oh?" Sam asked, with the enthusiasm of a mother getting drawn into a documentary about crime. "How... how bad was it?"
Clara picked up on Samantha's innocent mom personality quick, and she laughed as she leaned in a little toward her. "Heavy drugs sold to kids, sex slaves, and we ran into one incident involving organ trafficking."
"Oh god. And you were fighting the vampires there?"
"It didn't start out that way, but everything went to shit quick when the vamps realized we were in the city. They didn't want to talk, just wanted us out. Then we ran into a new Uratha, Arturo Ibarra, and things got even more confusing. Eventually we had to leave."
"Wow. That... that does sound a lot worse than Dolareido."
Harcourt nodded, chewing with one side of his mouth so he could talk with the other, smiling the whole time. "That asshole Jeremiah tricked us pretty bad. I mean, he didn't have to try very hard; most cities we'd seen with vampires had a nasty side to them. But with Dolareido, he told us a lot of horror stories, and we came here full intent on war, you know? If we'd known the Prince was so strict about how kine are handled in Dolareido, a lot more than just Dennis, Marge and me would have sided with Jack." His smile faded for a while, but once he started chewing again, his smile came back, and he nodded to them all as he swallowed. Easiest way to a man's heart, his stomach.
"Perhaps Dennis and Marge could visit the Circle?" Jen said, and she made sure to put a little slutness in her voice. "Or you? We're all quite friendly in the Circle, and comfortable with each other." Leaning back, the Ventrue made a small gesture to Sam, and to Triss behind her.
Harcourt raised a brow, but when he saw the other vampires not exactly deny what Jen said, he coughed and choked on some more of his food, before managing to swallow it down.
"I don't think Harcourt is gonna be seduced by a random offer for an orgy," Clara said, narrowing her eyes at Jen.
"Oh? I heard y--"
Triss slapped Jen upside the back of the head, and Jen went quiet after a tiny squawk. Harcourt blinked, confused, and Clara breathed a hidden sigh of relief as she smiled up at Triss. Yeah, Jacob might have hated the werewolves, but Triss didn't, and just cause Clara had made a drunken mistake once or thrice with Jessy's ghouls didn't mean it was worth rubbing her face in it. Not that Harcourt would care, but Clara seemed worried anyway.