In fact I have been all over town

[outstandingbalance]

I. Hoar's Head (Closed to Evie)

Who is Natasha to argue with good atmosphere? Evie described the place as Marie Antoinette's attic, which is both amazingly accurate and misses its exact charm. It feels private, which Natasha respects, and there's something about it that's not as masculine as a lot of bars. She doubts she needs to worry about fights breaking out over a girl or the latest football match.

As she walks toward the bar, she scans the room for Evie. She couldn't be the first one here, could she? It's five past ten now, and Evie didn't strike her as the type to be late.


II. Guilty Pleasures (OTA)

It's been a while since Natasha said she'd stop in, and it might be too late now. She's heard that Kenzi's not around anymore and that was supposed to be her reason, right? Keep an eye on the girl. Give her a friend, someone who knew what she was going through. Someone who wasn't her sire to help her adjust. Natasha considered not even coming in...

But here she is now.

If nothing else she's hoping to see how Cherry's doing, that she was safe and comfortable since Natasha and Evie rescued her last month. Make sure that she's back to normalcy. That's why Natasha comes in on Lady's Night. Or it's a good excuse to come in on Lady's Night. Either way.

It's well into the evening when she shows up, taking a seat at a table near the corner with a good view of the room and orders herself a gin and tonic. She keeps an eye on things from there, not asking after Cherry directly or looking for Jean Claude. If either of them actually want to speak to her, she imagines that they'll know she's here before long. Maybe it was a passive approach, but she was fine with letting them decide whether or not they wanted to talk to her again.

In the time being, well, she has plenty of money.


III. Dark Corners (Closed to Arthur)

Natasha tries not to think about how long it's been since she fed, but it's not very successful. The thirst won't let her forget it. Even if it's not at the front of her thoughts, it's always there somewhere in the back of her mind.

It's been about the same length of time since she's had sex. Not unrelated. The two things had often gone together for her, and while she'd played with the idea a little, even gone on a date or two, but it never went anywhere. Natasha wasn't in the place for a relationship, and she hadn't wanted to lead anyone on. But there's no reason she shouldn't have some fun.

Tonight, she doesn't intend to give anyone the wrong idea. She walks into the bar knowing what she wants. It's a little bit more upscale than most of the dives she frequents, and the dress she wears could be shorter, could be tighter, but she's dressed to attract attention rather than deflect it. If she turns heads, it's intentional.

She smiles when she spots a familiar face. She remembers Arthur from Lancelot's birthday. Their chat had been fine—and he was certainly attractive enough. Internally, she shrugs. Why not? She could do a lot worse. She'd even considered making a play for it at the time, but Arthur had left with another woman and no hard feelings that he had.

But if she's going to get a second chance?

Natasha sits beside him at the bar, crossing her legs pointedly as she swivels an eight of a turn toward him. "The accountant, right? You might not remember me..."



IV. Fresh Air (Closed to Eames)

On the street, panting warm night air and trying to calm a raging thirst: not Natasha's finest moment. She's not even sure what she left behind her. She thinks Arthur was saying something as she disengaged and chased herself away from the situation, but she hadn't registered what he was saying over the pounding in her ears. Perfect.

She leans back against the brick wall behind her, steadying herself.

"Shit." She is a mess.

And now she has an audience.



V. After Hours (Closed to Daryl)

Looks like Natasha is going to have a chance to do some of the tourist things after all. Maybe she should have begged out, but Daryl and asked her if she wanted to go and she'd said yes. It's not like she really had anything better to do. It's not like she doesn't want to spend more time with him. Daryl has been good for her, refreshingly nonjudgmental for all his awkwardness.

She waits for him to meet her on the street near near the Redbright Institute. She's still not entirely sure this is a good idea, but as far as bad ideas go, she's had a lot worse.



VI. Grocery Delivery (Closed to Alex))

Alex has been relocated to a nondescript little apartment in a bad neighborhood, paid for in cash by Natasha with a little extra to keep quiet. The landlady is a Russian woman in her sixties, and after a hushed, serious conversation in their native language, Natasha was confident that money wasn't the only reason she wouldn't mention the suspicious circumstances of her new tenant's arrival.

It was a good move, for the short term at least, and Natasha was starting to think that she might just be able to keep the werewolf alive through the end of the month.

After a few days in the new place, Natasha checks in again. She brings two bags of groceries, since Alex still shouldn't be outside where she can be seen. Even during the day, there were too many ways word could get back to the nest if she were spotted. Or that word could get back to the Night Council. Either way, the end would be about the same outcome for both of them at this point.

"I brought you a couple of steaks," Natasha says as she brings the bags in. "I wasn't sure what else you'd like, so I went ahead and guessed." Her tone is light, inviting Alex to let her know if there was anything in particular that she'd like in the future. "There's a book of sudoku, too."

Once the food is on the counter, she turns and takes in the flat quickly. No sign of trouble, at least.

"Anything else you need before I get out of your hair?"



VII. Choose Your Own Adventure

(Don't see anything here that strikes your fancy? Then let's do something else. Hit me up on plurk at sarosaron!)

Comments

[falsify]

"I don't think it's quite so funny to anyone who doesn't know you, dear" Eames answers as a casual aside, almost like he's talking to an unruly child instead of someone who's annoyed for a very understandable reason. "Or your impeccable sense of timing."

[outstandingbalance]

Natasha clears her throat at that. She's getting a strange picture of the relationship between the two of them, and the more they say the more clear it becomes that it is some kind of a relationship.

She's at least half serious when she asks, "Are the two of you together?"

If they were, she could at least see how one of the fae would find it funny.

[specifiercity]

"What?"

Arthur's so thrown off by that that he can't properly react at first. It's such a ridiculous idea and he can't actually conceptualize where she would get that idea. They're clearly being antagonizing right now.

"No, we're not - of course not."

[falsify]

If Eames were drinking, he likely would've spat it out, so let's all be glad that didn't happen. He barks a sharp laugh, equal parts actual humour and surprise.

"No, god no." He shakes his head, "I'm not sure I've ever heard a worse idea."

[outstandingbalance]

She looks between the two of them, not exactly skeptical but their mutual antagonism still seems very familiar to her. At least it seems to have got their attention. Maybe that can be a first step to an actual answer.

"Well, that rules out one possibility. Should I keep guessing?"

[specifiercity]

"We're just..." Arthur starts to insist, trailing off as he tries to come up with an appropriate way to end that sentence. There's definitely something going on here but he doesn't want to take a chance on being wrong and having to explain away a lot of things he doesn't want to bother with.

"Colleagues," he finally says, not all that convincing. He keeps his gaze trained on Eames. "Maybe he can enlighten me as to why that's relevant."

[falsify]

"He is, unfortunately, very good at what he does." Eames answers more smoothly than Arthur, and shrugs a shoulder. He's never actually hired Arthur as an accountant, but it's probably a fair assumption he's good at that too. He's the kind of person who loves numbers and niggly details, because apparently one needs to come up with their own boredom in life.

[outstandingbalance]

"So he balances your books." Now she does sound skeptical. Natasha doesn't know Eames's work, but that seems unlikely. And while she doesn't have a problem with secrecy, this is getting frustrating.

She turns her attention to Arthur instead; at least he doesn't find the situation any funnier than she does.

"You know what he is," she says, not quite asking a question. That seems like a good start. It's vague enough that if she's wrong, she can still walk this back—but she sincerely doubts she's wrong.

[specifiercity]

Arthur pauses a moment, studying her expression to make sure this is what she really means. She's asking if he knows that Eames is fae, and after that pause he nods.

"Yeah, I know what he is."

[falsify]

So is everyone just gonna pussyfoot around it then? Eames rolls his eyes — there's nothing to be gained and it's annoying.

"I'm a fae, he's a human, she's a vampire. Just so we're all on the same page." Eames shakes his head, "and even the long-lived among us need an accountant from time to time."

Centuries of accumulated wealth doesn't manage itself, you know.

[outstandingbalance]

"I'm not sure we're all entirely on the same page." It still left the question of what Arthur was doing hanging out with supernatural elements. Natasha has a few guesses about that, though.

She scrubs a hand over her face.

"But it does clarify a few things."

[specifiercity]

Arthur takes a deep breath like he's steadying himself. It's not like Eames has revealed anything about him specifically, but he needs to get a handle on the situation. Natasha is a vampire, and here Eames is chatting amicably with her? She must not be Islington, or she is and she just doesn't have very strong anti-fae convictions, or he's just looking to live on the edge for a little bit. Nothing is really out of the question with Eames, but Arthur feels like he just tripped on about a million questions.

Number one being, did Natasha leave because she decided she didn't want to eat him? Arthur puts his hands on his face and tells himself not to ask that question, because it's never a good idea to intentionally make a vampire mad. He clenches his jaw and just says, "fuck," like he's just remembered that he left the stove on.

[falsify]

"What?" He glances at Arthur with the incredible disposition of someone who seems to be impatient with an unruly child, wondering what the issue could possibly be now.

God, he hasn't even made it inside the bar yet. This is ridiculous.

[outstandingbalance]

"At least I can see what you found so funny now," Natasha says, most likely willfully ignoring what he actually means by the question. It was kind of funny though, the more she thought about it. Eames had suggested finding someone who knew the risks, and here maybe she'd had one after all.

She pushes away from the wall then, huffing a little, and glances at Arthur, surveying his reaction. If he is a hunter, or even if he's just familiar with vampires, he probably has a pretty good idea why she left. A vampire making a hasty retreat when things get hot and heavy? She's pretty resigned to judgment.

[specifiercity]

Arthur glances at Natasha when she speaks, but then he turns his gaze back to Eames, and it's clear he's at least a little annoyed. He hates being laughed at, and sometimes it seems like Eames wants to make a sport out of it.

"You just can't stay out of anyone's business, can you?"

[falsify]

Wow, someone's in a mood. Eames gives Natasha a look as if to say 'here we go' and sighs. He came out to have a drink and now Arthur's being pissy because it was briefly amusing that he got walked out on.

"The business of... making conversation outside a bar?" He says with a tone that suggests he has no idea why Arthur's so annoyed, "should I ignore every familiar face for your comfort then?"

[outstandingbalance]

"If we're going to keep talking about this, maybe we should go inside."

With the implication that Natasha can be on her way. She's cooled down enough to be in control of herself at this point, and while she's not inclined to be embarrassed by what happened, she doesn't know that there's much point in drawing the conversation out further.

"Otherwise..."

[specifiercity]

"No," Arthur says immediately, not wanting Natasha to leave. Now that he knows why, maybe they can work around it somehow, maybe they can just talk. He's still a bit buzzed and maybe he just aimlessly wants to be around her because she's beautiful and it might lead somewhere later, but he also doesn't want her thinking that he's going to be a complete asshole just because he happened to be a complete asshole for a minute. That's Eames' fault.

"No," he repeats, a bit slower and a bit calmer, "this conversation" - he gestures between Eames and himself - "is over."

[falsify]

Eames rolls his eyes and looks at his hand again-- Is that a hangnail? Weird. Whatever it is, it's certainly more interesting than whatever bee Arthur has in his bonnet right now.

"Right, well--" He claps his hands together and starts toward the door, really quite eager to get a pint or two in before last orders, "I'm going to do what I came here for. You two behave yourselves."

[outstandingbalance]

Natasha clears her throat a little, glancing. She wasn't trying to chase anyone else away, but she's really not in a hurry to leave herself. She would have liked to continue her conversation with both of them, but trying to keep them together seems... well, she's not sure what it seems. Complicated, maybe?

"All right," she says. "For whatever behaving yourself means."

[specifiercity]

"We could start with no one getting eaten," Arthur says dryly. He knows it's a bad joke as soon as it comes out of his mouth, but the beer has gotten to him, and he shoots Natasha an apologetic look right away.

This is still Eames' fault.

[outstandingbalance]

"That was what I was going for," Natasha says wryly, probably confirming what he already suspected. "So far, so good?"

[specifiercity]

"Guess so," Arthur says with a sigh. He seems tired, almost out of humour. "Guess it's lucky for me I met a vampire who's gone off blood for now."

[outstandingbalance]

Clearing her throat delicately, Natasha allows that. "I'd like to think so." she can sympathize with being tired with the whole situation. "Lucky for me that we're still talking."