undergrounds | May catch-all

Alex could take care of herself better than most, so she'd never given a second thought to walking through bad neighborhoods by herself late at night. It took her completely by surprise when a hand roughly grabbed her shoulder and someone slammed her into the nearest wall. The demand that she hand over her money and jewelry barely registered.

She whirled on the would-be mugger, easily slamming one hand into his wrist while the other hit at his fingers, causing the knife he was holding to fly into the street. Maybe the guy was crazy, or suicidal, or drugged up, because that wasn't enough warning for him. He lunged at her, desperately trying to grab at her pockets. Baring her fangs at him and letting her eyes turn gold was instinct, just as much as throwing the knife away had been. In the struggle, he grabbed her necklace and yanked hard. The chain snapped. The mugger turned and ran. Alex stumbled at the sudden shock of the necklace being gone and her fangs suddenly disappearing. If she was honest with herself, she'd gotten way too comfortable having the necklace.

She swore softly under her breath as she turned to run after him.

Ringer wasn't expecting an exceptional night. She was taking a walk mostly to confirm her suspicion that, yes, her eyesight was definitely better at night now than it had been previously. The confrontation between the two people down the street barely registered until she saw the knife clatter into the street. Her gaze shifted to the man, clearly high, and the woman, clearly fanged, as she tried to catch up with what was happening.

The man grabbed the necklace and ran. Without hesitation, Ringer broke into a sprint after him, pulling up even with the werewolf who the jewelry belonged to. Although she looked like a human, Ringer didn't have much trouble keeping up with what should have been a faster race.

"Moonlight necklace?" She asked as they ran. Noticing Alex's questioning, or perhaps skeptical expression, Ringer realized she hadn't offered any explanation. "It's okay. I know what you are. I want to help."

Alex wasn't expecting company. Her initial reaction was to snarl at the newcomer, then to be suspicious that someone who just happened to know about moonlight jewelry was wandering nearby when hers was stolen. But when she turned a corner and saw the mugger disappear into what looked like a crowded club, she decided that she might as well let the other girl help. Finding the mugger in that place wouldn't be easy.

"Alright, come on then." She briefly wondered what the girl was - she was too fast to be human, but she didn't smell like a vampire, and she didn't really smell like a wolf either. But she could work that out later. Right now, she needed that necklace back.

She dashed up to the club entrance, only to be stopped short by a bouncer.

There's a small cafe near the Night Council headquarters, and luckily it's open late. Alex has settled in near the window to watch the comings and goings, specifically keeping an eye out for any vampires. She's most interested in Millicent, of course - any information she can get on the vampire leader's schedule will help her plan her attack.

She's scribbling down a few notes on the comings and goings of vampires she recognizes, slowly eating the sandwich in front of her, until she smells a familiar smell. Pig blood.

She keeps her head down and keeps writing, hoping Natasha is simply here to buy a late night snack and leave.

This is not somewhere Natasha would be just to get a snack. She's heard rumors about movement—a girl werewolf making plans to act against the recently re-elected representative of the Islington nest. After everything that's happened this month, Natasha sympathizes with why someone would feel that way. But the events of the month also highlight why this shouldn't happen.

This city is feeling like a powder keg after Bloodfest and the hunting, and as unbalanced as things might be, as unfair as the situation, the last thing they need is someone putting off sparks.

She's only mildly surprised to discover who the wolf is. She doesn't even pause as she settles into the chair across from the girl. As though she was invited. As though she'd been running late.

"You know," she says evenly, her tone friendly in case anyone overhears. "I never did get your name."

Even when Natasha sits across from her, Alex doesn't look up. She's done writing, but she keeps scribbling little doodles next to her notes as she frowns down at the notebook, not acknowledging the woman's presence yet. So much for hoping that Natasha just wanted a sandwich, though what she does want, Alex has no idea.

Alright, so Natasha found her even without knowing her name. There's no real point in hiding it then.

"It's Alex," she says quietly, still intently focused on the squiggles she's making.

"Alex, huh? All right,"

Natasha is ex-KGB, highly trained, and experienced with supernatural politics deadlier than anything she's seen yet in London. Tracking down would-be assassins? That was something she was well prepared for.

"Nice to run into you again. I was sort of wondering if it would happen. Big city... but it can be a small community."

"Smaller than I thought," she mutters. There are much worse vampires she could have run into, but she would really, really prefer to be alone just now.

Alex finally closes the notebook, drops it on the table in front of her, and gives Natasha her full frowning attention. "Do you want something?"

Much, much worse—but this still isn't a vampire who's going to leave until she's had her say.

Natasha leans forward, resting both of her arms on the table. Her smile fades as she searches Alex's face for signs that the rumors were wrong. Alex's expression doesn't offer much reassurance, though.

"Just thought we might have a chat."

Instead of mimicking Natasha's pose, Alex leans back in her chair. She doesn't feel particularly casual, but she's trying to look it. That searching look and Natasha's sudden serious demeanor make Alex think that maybe this isn't a random meeting.

"Did you follow me here?" she demands, still speaking quietly in case they're overheard. She's been told she's paranoid, and maybe that's what she's being right now, but better safe than sorry.

"No," she answers with a snort, her lips tightening as she holds back something that's half wince and half smile. "Figured I might find you here, though. I've heard things. Sort of hoped they weren't, but..."

She glances down at Alex's notebook pointedly. There's no attempt to see what's in it; she can guess that much.

"Well, here you are. To be fair, though, I didn't know it would be you."

Alex knows exactly what Natasha's heard, but rather than admit it, she crosses her arms and looks away, still trying to be casual. She ignores Natasha's glance at the notebook - as long as the vampire doesn't reach for it, she'll just leave it there, looking like a totally casual notebook casually sitting on the table.

"I don't know what you mean," she says as she looks back at Natasha, casually making eye contact. She's definitely not going to admit to an assassination plot to someone she met on the bus one time.

"Of course not," Natasha responds, not even pretending to actually believe her. there was nothing innocent about Alex sitting here, watching Night Council coming and going. Not right now.

"Is it short for Alexandra? Your name." How she says it, it doesn't sound like she's changing the subject. It's as though this is the most natural next step.

Alex doesn't quite follow the line of questioning. It's not what she expected Natasha to say, and even though it doesn't sound like a non sequitur, she can't figure out how it relates to why Natasha's here.

She narrows her eyes and frowns at Natasha. "Yeah. Why do you want to know?"

"It's not a nickname you here much back home," Natasha explains, shrugging one shoulder and pursing her lips. If it's unexpected, then it's exactly what Natasha intended. "Alexandra, though... Sasha? No, you don't look like a Sasha."

She taps the table top once or twice, then leans back slightly. Might as well give the girl a little of the space she clearly wants. "What do you know about Russia? Not the Communists or the Revolution, but—let's say our people."

Alex still doesn't know what this has to do with anything and it's starting to frustrate her that she can't figure it out. She also doesn't like the personal turn that the conversation's taken. She did go by Sasha for a while, but that's not a time in her life that she really wants to think about.

Instead of letting any of that on, she keeps her face as blank as possible, determinedly playing the part of a kid from Michigan. "Not much. You wear those furry hats right?"

Natasha laughs at that, softly and without much humor, and nods. As though she expected no less. Whether or not she believes Alex about her origins doesn't really matter at this point. Either way is about the same to her, in this strategy.

It's covering her bases to try to play this in a way that works, whatever the truth is.

"Sure, furry hats," she says with a trace of a smile. "And war. I've seen a lot of that in my time. More than you might imagine." Her gaze cuts in the direction Alex was looking before, toward the Night Council. "Regimes fall every day. It's usually not pretty."

Ringer nodded to acknowledge the prompting, pushing her new skills harder to keep pace in the last stretch. She slowed to a more human speed as they approached the club, Alex pulling ahead in time to be stopped by a bouncer. Ringer didn't hesitate, barely thought about it at all, as she dashed past Alex.

"I'll meet you inside," she murmured quickly before darting around the bouncer. The man immediately turned around to pursue Ringer, offering Alex a precious few seconds to slip past him. Ringer didn't fight him as he wrapped his arms around her beyond a simple struggle, careful not to injure him with her newfound strength.

She was deposited back outside within a minute's time, stumbling out onto the pavement. Her gaze immediately snapped around to see if Alex had made it inside.

"Some regimes need to fall," Alex snaps.

While she's not going to outright admit to the assassination plot, she knows exactly what Natasha's alluding to and doesn't feel like beating around the bush. If Natasha is here to talk her out of it, Alex doesn't want to hear whatever the woman's got to say. Alex has made up her mind, and that, as far as she's concerned, is that.

Alex took the opportunity to duck past the bouncer into the club. Inside, it was simultaneously very bright and very dark, overwhelmingly loud, and it stank of drugs, sex, and booze. Places like this put Alex on edge, and her mysterious new ally's help would definitely come in handy.

The girl had seemed confident that she'd meet Alex inside, so Alex didn't bother trying to help her out. She gritted her teeth and started shoving through the crowd. She caught a glimpse of the mugger on a balcony above the dance floor, but before she could run after him she heard the bouncer shouting.

A glance over her shoulder confirmed that the bouncer was directing another bouncer to go after her. She started shoving faster, making her way towards the staircase up to the balcony.

Once ejected, Ringer made her way down the sidewalk and turned into the nearby alley to find a side or back door. Conveniently, the thing was labelled. She focused her effort on breaking the locked knob and was able to do so after only a few tries, sliding through the opening and quickly navigating the short backstage area into the club.

Noise, lights, people. Ringer was immediately on edge. She hated places like this in general, but her newfound better sight and hearing made it hard to stand them. She hadn't learned to control it quite yet. The girl pressed a hand to her head, trying to focus through the discomfort to look for the stranger or the burglar. It was the bouncer she saw first, following the guy's line of sight to the other girl.

She darted into the crowd, pushing past people quickly and easily until she caught up to the bouncer. Thanks to the cover of chaos, she felt no real risk in kicking out the back of his knee, sending him toppling to the ground. Ringer moved past him as he worked to regain his feet, trying to figure out where the burglar was.

Alex glanced over her shoulder again in time to see the bouncer go down and catch a glimpse of jet black hair moving quickly past him. Must be her new friend.

She made it to the bottom of the stairs and started running up, dodging past people with drinks in their hands and couples making out against the wall until, finally, she made it to the top, just in time to see the mugger dart out through a back door.

No time to make sure the other girl was still with her - she'd either figure out where Alex had went or not. Alex dashed towards the door, barreling past anyone who got in her way.

"Maybe. But maybe you don't have to be the one to bring it down." She searches Alex's eyes, looking for an opening. What she finds isn't encouraging; in a way that intransigence is what keeps Natasha trying. If Alex showed signs of doubt, then chances were she'd change her mind on her own.

Normally Natasha didn't want to convince people of things. For this, she made an exception.

"You do this and you won't be able to control what comes after it. Have you seen what it looks like when our people are actually at each other's throats, Sasha?"

"It's Alex." It comes out as a snarl. She really doesn't like being called Sasha. "And yeah, I have seen it. It looks kinda like what just happened on the full moon."

Alex knows that 'the vampires started it' is a kindergarten level argument, but that's what's justifying this whole thing to her. She's not willy-nilly murdering vampires. She's getting vengeance for what was done to her pack.

"It'll look a lot worse than that," Natasha responds mildly, unfazed by the outburst. She's not satisfied by it either, but it's telling. It says a lot about Alex, where she's from, why she's doing this.

"You might not believe me, but I'm trying to prevent this from going very bad for you."

May catch-all

[Ringer]

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[Natasha], late May

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