Dale and Bruiser’s Rigged

Outfit

---

Devin was definitely procrastinating, the windows still hadn't been blocked up, boxes hadn't been unpacked, and she was still dead sleeping in the closet. These were all things that needed to be done, but every night when she woke, there was a certain dread that came with doing it. Unpacking seemed like a total drag, she still hadn't found a company to block up the windows, but she hadn't been looking either and lastly, while dead sleeping seemed uncomfortable on the body, it wasn't like she could feel it anyways. She was nothing more than a corpse during the day, totally blank until the second it was safe to come out.

So clearly, it wasn't that important that she get everything done immediately, right? Of course not, because she had all of eternity on her hands now, and small things like that could wait.

Right now, Devin just wanted to live in the moment and do things that were fun because the last six months or so had been super rough. She had some control now, some power, and so that meant it was time to play. What would she display this new found control and power on? Well, the fucking stack tower of course!

You could win a shit ton of tickets off of those, and most humans didn't have the lightening fast relaxes needed to win the 'big prize' but Devin human anymore, and she did have those reflexes. Grin wide on her face, Devin would watch as the stack grew higher and higher, finally coming to the last line, the big winner line that would have her in ticket heaven. Ding, ding, went the bar as if flew from left to right.

It would seem intimidating to most, but not Devin, her hand swiping out in glorious victory as it came to the middle. The prize was all hers except....

"It fucking skipped!" She gasped, hand slamming against the machine in protest.

outfit except this choker

---

Skirting again. To the west this time, cutting through Camp Baron. It'd been a night or two, long enough to consider feeding but not long enough to need it. And much too soon to go traipsing back through Ridgefield. There was a plenty thick line between reckless daring and just plain open stupidity, and Kaida very much enjoyed the thought that she kept to the former. At least a week would pass before she'd enter the city center again, probably a month barring some pressing business. It really was good that she mostly met clients digitally.

At any rate, while she may have taken to heart the caution of not further antagonizing Ridgefield's crimson-haired sovereign, she wasn't just going to sit around the house for another night. Boredom set in way too easily and she hoped to find some generally-not-violence-inducing fun. No promises, but it was the loose goal anyway. Dale and Bruiser's was good for that sort of thing. Less ubiquitous alcoholism than she'd find at the bars. Really didn't need to go down that mental road again so soon.

Meandering through the expansive arcade and willfully avoiding the playground/trampoline/hyperactivity side of things—colloquially to her writer, "Jimmytown USA"—Kaida came up short at the unmistakable sense of another of her kind. It was a fainter sort of signature, and she quickly pinpointed its source as a slim-dressed figure thoroughly engrossed in some game. Hanging back to observe and assess, she decided this vampire was likely her junior. Very possible that hair and the abundant ink, which she could only assume continued where the dark clothes obscured, were recent acquisitions on a much older body, in combination with the feel of their power, though, she was willing to assume a relative youngster. Fifty maybe. Less. There was really no way to be sure.

She almost wished she'd dressed differently this night, because the outfit sported wasn't far off from much of her own wardrobe. What fun that would have been. Oh well. The thought had her slipping a finger under the choker for a moment. Her little memento.

"System's rigged," she commiserated with a click of her tongue and shake of her head. Slightly louder than she'd normally speak to ensure she'd be heard from the short distance away where she leaned on another arcade cabinet.

Devin had been so absorbed in her game that she hadn't registered the fact that there was someone like her around, her senses only catching on the moment that a voice sounded up behind her. It seemed strong, magically stronger at least, and Devin's head would fall back on her shoulders with a curious arch of her brow. Imagine her surprise when the face that met her was that of a fairly young woman, seemingly younger than herself.

Of course, when it came to vampires, one could never tell on just how old the other was. This one could be like eight hundred years old or something, which was both cool and scary to think about!

Righting herself, Devin would turn to face the vampire, the grin returning to her face. "They act like those shit prizes of theirs are actually worth something." A roll of her eyes as she closed some of the distance between herself and the stranger.

"Devin." A hand offered, already feeling a bit more friendly to someone that was similar to herself.

There was a twitching pull of her lips at the further berating of the establishment. It was all quite the scam. Control. Really the same as any casino but legal for minors because the payouts were worthless. Extravagant reasoning.

Kaida hadn't entirely considered how she'd behave with this creature when curiosity had pulled her in. But she considered the hand, the hair, the inkwork now she could see it more closely. Nothing that immediately repulsed her. And frankly, young lady, you could do with some allies. She'd met, what, three other supernaturals in the last week or so and made enemies of each. Real supernaturals, she meant, not flavored humans. Andrew, sweet boy, didn't count.

Well, none of them were her fault really. The dog was unfriendly and refused her first two generous offers that he leave her be, going so far as to threaten her with flame. No, he'd gotten less than his mouth called for. And then whatever the fuck—she got mad just thinking about it—had invaded her thoughts in Reignhart and driven her into an embarrassing bloodlust. Surely she couldn't be blamed for that.

And then being interrupted in her business that would have been entirely subtle and untraceable if she'd been able to continue. By that fucking cat Domina. Well, actually, she wasn't too torn up about that one. The redhead had worn pretty classy boss bitch energy. Enough to cow local shifters, maybe. No, that one was an unfortunate misunderstanding. Maybe she'd be able to sort it after some time had passed. Her fingers went to the choker again.

Her left fingers. The right slid into Devin's grip and returned it, quick and light. "Kaida."

Yes, something less than open hostilities was the goal. So there was no need to go lording her clear superiority over the other vampire. She smiled herself, if somewhat less broadly. "You must be new in town if these things haven't bored you yet." A gesture to the offending machine.

Kaida wasn't a name you heard often in the states, especially back where she grew up, but Devin found that she liked it. She enjoyed things that were different, things that she hadn't really seen in her ghetto ass town full of drugs and fighting. It was one of the main reasons that she had been enjoying Ridgefield thus far, and why she couldn't really see herself leaving anytime soon either.

It was comfortable here.

"Yeah," a glance back towards the machine before coming back to Kaida. "Still haven't even unpacked yet." A chuckle as her hands came to cross comfortably in front of herself.

"You been here long then?"

"Not by our standards." She shook her head, loose hair lightly brushing over her eyes before settling. "Almost a year. I've been laying low for most of it, getting a sense of the place."

Tilting her head, lips pulled back in a thin smile that wasn't exactly unfriendly, but maybe dipped lightly into condescending territory. She'd told herself she wouldn't do that, but it was haaard. "Care to hear what morsels I've learned?"

It was an odd location for such a conversation, just standing in the arcade. But it wasn't like either of them was going to get a sore back, and Kaida had a full night's worth of mojo and no particular need to feed. She could afford to blow a suggestion or two wiping away careless conversation from an eavesdropper if it came to it. And also didn't always make the best choices.

Devin wasn't really sure she could actually relate to whatever standards Kaida was putting between them and the humans, but she had a fairly good idea of what it could be. This one was probably not as young as she looked, not by a long shot if a year still equated to a short amount of time for her. Devin also couldn't imagine 'staying low' for that amount of time either, because she was one to get bored so easily and that sort of lifestyle just didn't fit her personality.

Good on Kaida though, cause it seemed like she had some interesting deets, if that smile was anything to go by.

"Well, how could I say no to that." She hummed, a brow raising in interest. "Lay it on me."

Well... "There are two clutches I'm aware of. One just south in downtown, and the other in Alder Heights to the... more south." Southeast, but she didn't actually look at a topdown map of the area kind of ever, so it was a distinction lost on her. Anyway, that seemed like the most important thing for Devin to know. But certainly not the most interesting.

"The one downtown? I think the domina has some shifters that heel for her." Was this well researched and established? Nope! But she thought it was impressive and didn't really see the harm in spreading it around. "And about that, there's good sport hunting in Rice Bluff, but I ran into a rabid dog there the other night, so be careful if you wander that way."

Clutches were not an unknown entity to Devin, despite never being apart of one herself, she had been given a basic run down of them by Luis before she'd left. He'd claimed that she'd need to be careful if caught in another's territory, try and keep her head low. Apparently, the leaders had a great deal of magical power and it wouldn't be very hard for them to over take her if they thought she might cause trouble for them.

Devin usually wasn't afraid to test the limits, but when it came to the supernatural shit, she tended to keep her guard up, at least until she knew what was going on. This whole thing was still rather knew to her after all, and she didn't want her second life dropping away too quickly.

She was having fun!

It was nice to know where to watch her toes though, Devin taking note of the cities given with a soft nod of her head, maintaining a confident air about herself. A confidence that quickly turned into open excitement at the mention of shifters.

"No shit, are you serious?" She gawked, mouth falling open some. "I'd been told those guys could be a bit testy with our kind." This domina downtown was starting to quickly sound like an ultimate badass.

Not a test exactly, but Kaida had been far from certain this girl would know what clutches even were. Honestly she still was, a little surprised at the portion that had been fixated upon. But no, no that would make sense, wouldn't it? If she was young, she mightn't have ever encountered one.

"Yeah, they're pricks." No uncertain terms. No qualifiers. "They smell bad, taste worse, and love to wave lighters around like they're at a fucking Lynyrd Skynyrd concert." Ugh, there was just no part of that which appealed. And yes, maybe she was projecting her latest encounter onto what few past ones existed and certainly onto all future. But fuck it, who had that asshole's lighter now? She did.

Sounded like the type of thing that she would have to avoid if she didn't want to be a pile of ash, which really fucking sucked because she really wanted to meet a shifter at some point. She might still try it if she could get a bit better at this new power she'd developed. She doubted that anything would want to fuck with her too much when they learned that she could literally turn the ground around them into a minefield at will.

"Surprised this domina would want to keep those sorts around." A pause as a mischievous grin tugged at her lips. "Bet they'd turn on her for just a piece of ribeye." They were animals after all, and everyone knew that animals preferred food over any owner.

Admitting to not knowing things was not on any list of Kaida's hobbies, but she was presenting things that would be too easy to verify or disprove to feel like flagrant lies were the way to go. At least with someone she somewhat wanted to not detest her.

Lifting her hands to either side of her head in a light shrug while pulling a Jim-looks-to-camera face, she soon conceded, "Who can say? I didn't stick around to interview anyone on their job contentment." It had really all happened in maybe six, seven seconds. Cat showed up, delivered an order, got disobeyed, delivered another order, stopped being a cat, and sicced her dog. It had been a lot. Kind of thrilling, but she'd been in too dark a headspace to appreciate it.

Fuck.

Fingers toyed with the choker again.

"Protip, don't go killing anybody on her turf. She gets mad about it."

Well, that was an interesting choice of words wasn't it? Devin took a moment to really take this smaller woman in, debating if there was any value in her words. She certainly didn't look the type to kill others, but that was mainly because of her small stature and young features. It made it easy to underestimate her, but with the power she was giving off, Devin wouldn't make the mistake of thinking her weaker.

She was well aware that most vampires would be stronger than her given her fairly new status as vampire. There was no point in equating age when it came to vampires, for even this woman could be much older than even her grandfather.

"You saying this from personal experience?"

Oh how her smile thinned, growing broad across her jaw. Was that of interest? How new was this girl if the notion of wreaking death was not simply a given? Perhaps her first feeding was less... zealous than had been Kaida's. But it was a sort of revenge tale, to be fair. Die then kill.

Hands clasping sweetly behind her back, she twisted and shrugged to go with her smile. "We all have bad nights."

And it had been bad, as much as she refused to let it bother her. Refused. She recalled a time when it didn't seem like every other feeding ended in some sort of irritating disaster. Hopefully she could get back to that sort of pattern.

She wasn't given an outright 'yes' but Devin could pretty easily discern what a 'bad night' might entail for a vampire. There really wasn't room in Devin to judge, she'd been the cause of death in her time alive, and she would probably be the same in her time now. It was just a thing that happened, and regardless if it was a bad night or not, as long as it wasn't putting her or those she had a bond with, she really had no reason to care.

"Listen, I ain't judging." She chuckled, raising her hands up in mock surrender. "I was just curious. You do you, girl."

It wasn't effecting her any, and it wasn't like it would come around to bite her in the ass either. If this girl wanted trouble with the locals, that was her prerogative, Devin just preferred friends over enemies.

It did probably sound like a big messy bloodlust incident. Which happened. Fucking Reignhart. The truth of the experience was a good deal more complicated and, well, personal. A little bit of wallowing and long festering resentment. Rage even, of a strangely not-bloodlust nature. But all of that wasn't a thing she'd care to get into. Except to consider with a serious turn to her expression, "It was the best decision for all parties."

Kaida didn't regret the murder. Nor precisely the interruption since it meant she'd met the domina. But the possible consequences, those were regrettable. Those were always so regrettable. If only there were some way to stave off bad consequences.

The only way that statement would make sense in Devin's head was that the human or psychic had been left in pretty bad shape after the feeding, that a slow death awaited them if not for Kaida taking it into her own hands. It all seemed pretty gallant to her, which was even more reason for her to remain unconcerned with the whole thing. Why it had led to this Domina being upset, Devin couldn't really be sure.

"I see." She hummed nodding, "then there isn't much to worry about right?" A shrug of her shoulders as her hands dropped back down to her sides.

"One dead human isn't that big a deal." Unless of course there had been multiple, then she could kinda see were the Domina was coming from, much harder to cover up multiple deaths.

"No, nah," she agreed. Worried she was not. The Domina didn't seem to want her head, just to get her out of the city. Had she been hunted at all on her way north? Couldn't say, too indulgent of her own fucked up thoughts. She'd picked up no telltale dog scent, so that was something.

Okay, there was room here for a little more honesty without revealing any real vulnerability. "There. Is..." she began slowly. "An outside chance it wasn't that part that pissed her off. She gave me a command—which, spoiler alert, I'm not big on—and it's possible that I followed it with a creative interpretation she didn't appreciate."

Again the shrug. "She'll get over it. Like you said, one dead human." She would have toppled off those shoes to her death eventually anyway.

Oh? So it hadn't been the killing, but the way that it had been done that made the Domina of downtown angry. Devin kind of wished that she had been able to see that, eager to see what look she possessed when Kaida did not obey. Curious what the demand even had been to warrant the death of this, now known, single human.

"Ha, so that's the case." The grin broadened, "I don't think I would be so keen on following orders from a leader that wasn't mine either."

Verging on the air of nosey, Devin could hardly stop herself from questioning the situation. "So what exactly did she tell you to do anyways?"

Not to judge a book by its cover, but this information did not surprise her. Maybe not so much the outfit, but the hair and ink and overall presence of the younger dead girl did have Kaida thinking she wasn't exactly one for bowing to authority. Although the specific phrasing did make her wonder what leaders she'd been under, the context of it all.

She could ask. But that would take focus away from herself and for the moment she was enjoying it just fine thanks.

It hadn't been funny at the time. Hadn't really even been meant as a joke. Just reflexive sass at the attempt to interrupt what she'd deemed important. Now though? Removed from the moment and the anger and the feelings of inadequacy it had all roused? Now it was funny. And Kaida giggled, shaking her head then holding up both hands to make air quotes.

"'Let her go.'"

Again the shrug. Again the smile.

"So I did."

It was probably wrong to be making fun of this human's death in this way, but the way that all of this had gone down did have a pretty comedic feel to it, also it wasn't like the human would ever know of their light teasing. They were way past that point, and even if there did happen to be a God out there and the human was staring down at them, Devin really wasn't scared for whatever retribution they had to give.

If the human hadn't wanted to end up dead, perhaps they should have been a bit more careful with who they'd played with.

"All a matter of perspective then," Devin snorted, a wave of her hand as she brushed away the invisible anger of the Domina. "If anything she needs to learn to be a bit more specific with she wants." Doubtful that Kaida had actually misinterpreted anything, but if there was a chance to shift the blame on the other party, why not do it? "Anyone's mistake." A shrug of her own to follow along.

Vindication wasn't really a thing she'd been looking for. Not a thing she typically sought. Kaida did as she liked with as much consideration as each situation warranted, and generally refused to waste much time second-guessing or otherwise agonizing over how she could have done better. She did like to think she learned from mistakes—it had been a long while since she'd bloodlusted midair—but didn't view this particular incident as a mistake.

Still, all that aside, it was quite nice to find herself agreed with. A reasonably like minded vampire, young enough to not presently be much of a pressing threat and congenial enough to enjoy conversation, was a pleasant discovery. Nothing to be trusted, this went without saying, but a contact with enough potential to be intriguing. A friend to be guided and shaped, maybe.

"What about you?" Now she could turn the spotlight about, satisfied for the moment with the attention she'd received. "Any exciting happenings since you arrived?"

She really wished that she could supply an interesting story for Kaida, but unfortunately Devin's life had been relatively mundane since the move. The highlight of her week being the fact that the local arcade apparently rigged their games so that people couldn't get the grand prizes. How fucking lame was that shit!?

"Afraid not, but give me a couple weeks and I might get something for you." She promised with a wink, "unless you find unpacked boxes thrilling?"

This was a problem. Not for Kaida. Not to her perceptions, anyway, though it wasn't exactly going to help with that avoiding consequences plan. She didn't mean to cause trouble. Mostly. The dog and the mind rapist hadn't been her doing, and one dead human hadn't been the plan. Especially not paired with annoying a shifter-dominating Domina. She did mean to sort of lay low after, but now? Hoping to form something of a bond here, some sort of alliance. Or at least acquire a crony. It required being memorable. Being fun.

And Kaida could use some fun.

"A couple weeks?" she echoed, smiling wide and thin again. "Why not tonight?" Clasping her hands behind her back and swiveling side to side once more, she asked leadingly, "Are you hungry?"

What a very good question.

A question that had Devin's smile widening, eyes crinkling with the effort as a hand came to her mouth, a finger tapping against her lips as she mocked a debate. "Well," she hummed thoughtfully. "I suppose I don't have anywhere else to be, and I definitely could eat."

She was honestly just curious as to what this woman had in mind, the mischievous light in her eyes enough to tell Devin that it wasn't anything good. The sort of no good fun that Devin found the most enjoyment in, and the type that she had been sorely missing since her change.

"What did you have in mind?"

Dark eyes slipped away from the other vampire, roaming the crowd. Her hand followed in their wake, waving invitingly. "That depends on your preferences. Man, woman, old, young, share, or find a combo meal."

There was no brilliant plan here, no great stratagem. It was just a good time, letting loose. A single target would be less likely to survive, although she herself hardly needed a full meal out of the night so it wasn't impossible. Multiple would bring its own set of complications. But she was happy to adapt, facilitate, kill. Whatever it took to make an impression and leave her new friend wanting more.

Grace was here fucking around and nothing more. She did not have the cash to spend on games. But, she was pretty good at snagging spare tickets out of machines? And maybe if she did that enough times, eventually, she'd have enough to buy a glow in the dark spider ring or some shit.

Also, sometimes, if you jammed the shitty refund button, coins would pop out. So in this exact moment, she was bent over a machine, pounding two fingers in there like she was trying to get it off. And hey, it was her lucky day, because one single bullshit token tumbled out onto the floor.

She bent down to swipe it, wiggling it in her hands. Lucky coin number one.

Now just needed about a thousand more.

Ah, so it was up to her then.

Devin's eyes would already be making their way around the arcade as Kaida spoke, considering all the options given. She didn't much care for the gender of their meal, but she did think it better for them to get a shared meal rather than two different snacks. Suggestion wasn't always reliable, but between the two of them, it was much more likely to succeed in some way or another.

If Devin failed then Kaida could succeed, and vise versa.

"I'm thinking-" Devin mused aloud, eyes falling upon a young woman who was fingering one of the nearby machines. "She would do?" A nod towards the woman as a speculative glance was thrown Kaida's way.

She seemed relatively small, and even from here, Devin could smell the addictive scent of psychic.

So many choices. Who would... Oh. Of course she would pick the sweetest fruit. Kaida was always that little bit leery about unknown psychics. She didn't fancy being set alight in response to a failed and awkwardly phrased suggestion. Still, she wasn't going at this one alone, and having another flammable body to duck behind should the worst happen did help that concern.

"High risk, high reward," she observed, clicking her tongue. "Someone's feeling daring." Yeah, best let Devin take point on this so she could vanish—or splatter the psychic girl against a pinball machine—if the need arose. But she could facilitate that. Helpful Kaida.

Strolling right up to the unknown danger, she gave a little tug on the bandana around her wrist while throwing out a lazy wave. "Hey." Cocking out one hip and folding her arms across his stomach, a little head nod indicated Devin, whom she could only hope had followed. This was gonna be awkward otherwise. "My friend has something she really wanted to tell you." Hopefully this would lead the two taller women into making eye contact. She was curious to see what her fellow bloodsucker would go with if so.

That was rarely the kind of thing people said when they had something good to offer you. Grace heard that first hey, turned, and saw lesbo Captain America and Johnny Depp rolling up to her. Not the way people really dressed when they wanted to come hang out at the arcade, and there would be no missing purple eyed Grace checking them out. And, guess what, they both clocked in on the supernatural Geiger counter.

She looked them over, little and big, and readied herself to probably get punched. Unclear why she was about to get jumped, but hey, she'd been there fucking done that. Eye contact was fleeting with both of them, half a second each, before she remembered Delilah's little warning.

"Weird she's having you tell me first," she said, then stared up the big one's nostrils. "'Sup."

Grace made sure her tongue wasn't in the way of her teeth in case someone felt like beating her up for not being butch enough.

Devin doubted that it was very daring when there were two of them against a single psychic, but she would take the compliment as it was given, offering a shrug of her shoulders as she followed after Kaida. The start up wasn't the best, already placing quite a bit on her shoulders, but Devin would do her best to maintain the natural smile as debated what to do next.

The pressure would only intensify when the woman chose to stare at her nose rather than her eyes, which really fucking sucked. "Yeah sorry," She laughed, glancing back towards the machine the woman had been at previously.

"Noticed you fucking with the machine earlier, just curious what you were doing?" Eyes back to the woman, friendly smile remaining.

Ugh. It was hard to tell from Kaida's perspective if contact was there. She offered a careless shrug at the observation. It seemed common enough to her for people to rely on friends to break the ice. Wingman'ing or whatever. Now it looked like she was looking at the other vampire's eyes, but either Devin was hilariously bad at this or the psychic was a little savvier than she looked. Even odds so far.

The purple eyes had her on high alert immediately, and that there was no obvious effect being displayed didn't go all that far in dissuading that. Still, figuring she'd hold quiet and see how it played out, Kaida entertained herself with visions of this magical little human going headfirst into the ceiling if her power usage became overtly hostile.

She was ready for some shit. Didn't get it, though. Some tension in her shoulders settled. The purple vanished, and she let her eyes meet briefly, another half second. It was hard to look people in the face and not the eyes. Grace wasn't some back down bitch.

"Bullshitting to get some tokens," she said. Palm came out, a single thumb printed coin shining in the colorful arcade lights. Not the best haul, but Grace wasn't easily ashamed.

"You pact buddies or something?"

They were both a certain kind of didn't fit in that made them fit together. Grace's gaze flickered between the taller chick's eyes and settled low key between them. Would that make her look cross eyed?

Fucking probably. She wouldn't keep this up forever or she'd irritated herself to death.

Huh, Devin wouldn't of expected that sort of trick to work, but she also wasn't willing to sit there and try it either especially when the results was only one single coin. It made more sense to her to just spend the ten or so dollars it took to get a handful of them.

Really didn't matter much in the current scheme of things though.

"No shit," a shake of her head as the coin was displayed. "Never heard of that before." Eyes would meet her for only the briefest of seconds, hardly enough time for Devin to monopolize on it. The girl didn't really seem to be the shy type, so why was it such a struggle to get that contact?

"Nah, nothing like that." Devin didn't know a hell of a lot about pacts, and so she didn't want to risk her lie being exposed quickly if psychics could sense that sort of thing. "Gotta be honest when I say pacts aren't really my forte."

Pact buddies? There were other words, but they weren't interesting. This, though... Oh! Yes, the things she'd read, research done following a surprising little newscast outing the final piece of the supernatural trine she was aware of. So the psychic thought them psychics? That could be useful.

"Ugh," she voiced, turning her gaze on the other vampire, annoyed at how it seemed her fellow predator hadn't noted the advantage for what it was. And playing that annoyance very differently for the prey's sake. "You keep saying that and it's never gonna work." She didn't know a lot about pacts. Not in a sifting the bullshit from the truth sort of way. It didn't matter that much to her since it was a sort of power she was banned from. Like learning about shifters; what was the fucking point? Well, here was the point. The more she knew, the easier these situations would be. For now she could play to her own ignorance as well.

Looking back to the prey, she smiled and shook her head, letting her eyes flash red as she subtly lifted onto her toes, trying to keep it from looking like an actual use of power. Just an eye flash, a little psychic handshake. Trust me, little morsel. "You had any luck with all that?"

Not pact people. She didn't fucking get that, honestly. Why not group up if you could. If you were already two people, you were practically there.

Except stripes apparently said it wouldn't work if Depp didn't want it or whatever, which. No shit. There was some trashy enjoyment in seeing the top of someone else's argument iceberg, and a hint of a smile appeared.

The question came back to her ghetto approach, and she saw the woman's eyes, looked from her to the stupid token she'd just flashed. Was she getting checked out right now, or was a power happening? Don't look, at least for a little longer. Actually, why the fuck even just stand here staring at each other anyway.

"Nah. Kinda jack shit. Probably better off actually getting coins if you got the cash."

Which Grace did not. She gave a nod of her head along the machines, taking a step like maybe they could walk side by side if they wanted. Better than feeling like a weak bitch who wouldn't look. And actually, you know, why even fuck around with it?

"So you two psychics or vampires trying to get high?"

She didn't expect an honest answer if it was the second one, because every vampire she'd ever asked pretty close to point blank had been a fucking liar. Fuck you, Sam. Fuck you, Tempest. Fuck you, first time meeting Delilah.

"I don't really do eye contact after dark, either way."

Grace was, at the end of the day, pretty fucking bad at poker.

The 'ugh' had Devin turning with an arch of her brows, honestly confused on what Kaida wanted from her. Lying and saying that they were apart of a pact could be pretty damn revealing if psychics could sense that sort of thing, or if this chick decided to quiz them up on it. Devin had a pretty strong feeling this psychic wasn't completely ignorant to the other supernaturals around her, and this fact was only proven when she was suddenly mentioning vampires.

Great.

It seemed that her suspicions had been correct in assuming that this one knew about the required eye contact as well. It definitely explained why she didn't look at them directly in the eyes when speaking, which made things much more difficult on their end.

Probably best to move on to another meal, but she was a bit curious as to what Kaida was looking for, and so she wouldn't be taking her leave just yet. "Think she meant the pact." Devin corrected with another glance towards Kaida for confirmation. "Like I said, the whole pact thing isn't exactly my forte and given all our failures, I'm starting to think it isn't a real thing either."

Risky, going into some group con without having worked anything out ahead of time. Kaida wasn't much of an intricate planner though, and the nature of the hunt often required sweeping improvisation. Devin seemed to catch on well enough. Enough to even point out a minor misunderstanding. Good, she very much seemed not a waste of time. The psychic, though...

Asking so directly. So she knew the effects of her blood. Had likely met other vampires before. What a headache of a complication. Knew about suggestions as well. Shit, this was not the sort of prepared she liked her meals to be. The cautious thing would be to bail. The less cautious in the moment but probably long-term wiser move would be to snap the girl's neck. No feeding, no blood. Nothing to make it look like vampires. Just casual murder. Ugh, that wasn't what she was here for though. Why could shit never just go her way? It was so unfair.

There was another option. The girl already knew. Knew and wasn't afraid. Or controlled it well if she was. Could mean she knew how to deal with them. Or it could mean she was... amenable. Hmm...

High risk, high reward, she'd said. Time for a gambit.

"Alright," she cooed, reaching over to lay a thin hand on the side of Devin's shoulder for a moment. "This is my, mm, bodyguard slash blood-sugar momma." Smiling and folding her arms once more, she looked at the psychic with undisguised intrigue. "I'm a vampire." Safer, maybe, to out Devin instead. Or both of them. But she did still want some enduring amicability there, and taking such liberties probably wasn't the way to get it.

"You offering?"

Avoiding eye contact was the most bitch-ass shit. She fucking hated it. Made her feel like a nervous little shit, eyeballs bouncing up real quick, then settling on foreheads and noses and whatever.

The explanation was fucking weird. A psychic helping a vampire hunt, maybe? Grace could load Delilah up if she wanted to, but that seemed a lot like selling your pals out to the Nazis or something. Bodyguard, though. What kind of vampire needed a bodyguard? Couldn't they throw cars and shit? Unless this other psychic somehow had the strongest powers in the whole world.

It was tempting to ask for cash. A vampire probably wouldn't fuck her up in public, she assumed. They liked bar bathrooms and sketchy dark streets. This place was lit up and not exactly empty. She thought, glancing away for a moment so she didn't have to dig her eyes into someone's pores.

"If you or your friend pay well."

And suddenly she was some sort of bodyguard blood bag? Devin really couldn't see where Kaida was going with this, but she was more than willing to go with the flow to find out. There was a chance that there was some great plan forming in that brain of hers, and if there wasn't, at least Devin hadn't been the one to be outed.

It seemed that the psychic wasn't completely uninterested either, offering up a statement that Devin had heard plenty enough in her life.

Money was always everyone's prime goal in life, and most were willing to do just about anything for a good amount of it. It was nice to know that things hadn't changed regardless if she was a human, a vampire or even just a blood bag.

She would leave it up to Kaida to decide what to do next. This was her plan after all.

She actually laughed. Money. Fair enough. It was harder to acquire and thus more valuable to the doomed little humans. Of course Kaida wasn't the fabulously wealthy that she'd known some others of her kind to be, nor even certain humans. Not by a long shot. Fucking Bezos.

Assessing the girl's look, wardrobe, she tried to come to a decision on what would be considered "paying well." Her coffers far from endless, she wasn't at all sure how much value she'd actually place on this girl's blood. Psychics were tasty, but the accompanying high wasn't actually much of a plus. Not to her. However, Devin had seemed interested and this was an opportunity to show off a little bit for her new hopeful friend. As well as turning the feeding directly into a gift. That was worth some investment. Plus, too low an offer could be embarrassing. She disliked embarrassment.

"Five hundred for a private feeding. Safety guaranteed, of course." That sweet, broad, thin smile.

Damned if her heart wasn't fucking racing. It was an increasing tell for someone trying to play this very cool. Lucky for her, she didn't realize vampires could listen into that bullshit.

She waited for the offering, wondering if she'd get lowballed. Here, kid, fifty bucks. (Which, honestly, she would take from the right person, but these two didn't need to know that.) When the total came out to ten times that, her eyes bugged a little, a lightning quick flash of matched gazes with the apparent vampire before looking away.

But the rest, though. That sold this shit out. Private. And safety guaranteed, of course. All the free candy if you want if you just get in my van, kiddo!

"Safety guaranteed my dick, dude," she barked, voice a laugh. Feeling bolder in public, with people around. She had this. Grace was good at making a scene if she had to. "No way. You can bite my wrist right here for four hundo or you can go pretend to want to talk to someone else."

Five fucking hundred?! Devin's own eyes would bug out at that amount because that was some pretty hefty cash to throw down for just a quick meal. There were plenty of other free meals running around here, and so there was no need to go wasting that sort of money on a psychic.

A psychic that knew a bit too much about vampires in Devin's opinion.

It was probably best to just move along and find someone else, although a smile would threateningly pull at the corners of her lips at the woman's boldness. She clearly gave no fucks about the fact she was at a disadvantage. There were two of them, and while they were in a public place, it would only take like five seconds to snap this girls neck and dip out.

Ten if she wanted this machine to explode.

Another glance towards Kaida, unwilling to mess up whatever was going on here.

She'd back her up in whatever.

Thin brows arched at the rebuttal, lips pulling into a little smirk as she glanced from the girl's face to her crotch and back. She'd caught the little expression of shock before; It was a solid offer. But she was being stubborn. Honestly if Kaida's goal had actually just been securing herself a meal, the terms would've been acceptable. Though way too much cash. The problem came with her actual goal being securing a feeding for the vampire she'd already assured wasn't a vampire. Awkward. Somehow coming clean about that now didn't seem wise. And absolutely wasn't an option. Because pride.

"Sweetie," she began softly, smiling again. Her heart was loud with its rapid reverberations now. Loud enough Kaida could pick it out easily enough despite the cacophony of the surrounding arcade. "Why would I want to hurt you?" Well... "I've been honest as a show of good faith. Where is the returned courtesy? Where is your faith?"

An unnecessary hand gesture accompanied the question, a simple lifting of her palm, and her eyes bled red once more. With the intent to lift the girl lightly off her feet. The gentlest intimidation. But it didn't seem to want to grab hold, because the universe unjustly despised Kaida and punished her unrelentingly for things beyond her control.

---

miss

"Sweetie." Honest. Yeah, every vampire got really fucking honest when you called them out on their shit. Where was that honesty when asking about the token bullshit? Grace was angry, angry enough to want to do something real goddamn stupid.

Then she saw those eyes turn red, because even her power bullshit had to be edgy. Some hand lifted, but she saw nothing, felt nothing. Just gave her a heavier nutsack to swing around. Steam might as well have poured out her ears. Grace was so over these motherfuckers, rolling up and lying and expecting people to suck their frigid dick for it. Approaching her like this, probably trying to mind fuck her into forgetting whatever they did after dragging her into a dark corner. It made more sense to leave, but she couldn't find it in her.

She could rattle off a bullshit monologue like this one. Or.

There was snort somewhere in the back of Grace's throat as she summoned a power she'd been gifted early in life, even before the hologram shit she loved so much.

That power?

Hockin' a loogie. And that's what she did, right at edgy's mouth. Give her a taste of what she was missing. She did not stick around to see if it struck its mark, because she immediately bolted, trying to bust her ass into the nearest group of people in the arcade.

---

IT MISS THO

Kaida didn't move to leave, and so Devin would remain in her place, the smile still tugging at her lips as the smaller vampire began to speak. She spoke of honesty and faith as if it were something she spewed naturally, as if she hadn't just stood there and lied entirely about Devin's identity. It was amusing from this side of things, but she would reign in that mirth, unwilling to just give them away completely.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't be contained for long because soon the little psychic girl was actually spitting at Kaida. Devin's eyes would watch as the loogie dove towards Kaida, a bomb of it's own variety as the psychic quickly made a break for it.

The act had been so unexpected and so out of place that Devin could not hold back her laughter. A loud burst of breath that had her eyes moving towards the ceiling for a moment, head giving a very confused shake.

How fucking ridiculous was this whole thing?

"Fuck." She snorted, "this is so fucking dumb."

You try the soft touch, and this is what you get. Didn't anyone teach you better, Kaida? Well yes, in fact, someone had.

There wasn't time to process Devin's laughter. The uppity bitch was getting away. But to run her down would be... Intensely satisfying, actually. Peel her lips off maybe so she could never spit again, just have it dribble from her dumbfuck mouth. But no. No, she might have done if she'd been alone, but as disastrous as that had gone, desire remained to not alienate everyone she'd met this night.

A fresh flare of red in her gaze with no accompanying gesture this time. Kaida felt the power surge forth and grab... Goddammit. Some fucking bystander the shitty little spitter had ducked behind in her madcap scramble to escape. The nonspitter flew from his feet, straight up to collide headfirst with the ceiling. About twenty-five feet above him. Then he plummeted back down and didn't even have the decency to land on her intended target. That girl was seemingly gone.

There were cries from the crowd, gurgles from the idiot who'd gotten in the way. Kaida glared up at the taller vampire, only now barely registering what she'd said.

"I fucking hate psychics," she spat. It wasn't strictly true, but as meals went, they were rarely worth the gamble. And right then it was very true. "Time to go."

And she'd stomp off away from the scene. Maybe distance would provide a clearer head and the opportunity to try again.

---

hit, but...

She heard a laugh, though she didn't wait around to see who it was from. Grace was busting ass, shitty worn out sneaks pounding the thinly carpeted surface. There was potential here for this to be the worst decision of her life.

There was a sense shit was going on behind her, some crowd noise that implied bad news. She glanced over her shoulder just in time to see a guy hit the ground.

Feeling victorious despite someone else's collateral damage, she flung herself forward still, finding a pile of panicked people near the prize counter to hang out with.

And then, you know. Putting a double of herself sitting on the rooftop outside the entrance, to see whether her new friends were coming after her or peacing out.

Devin watched as the clusterfuck spread further and further, the psychic making a mad dash into the arcade as Kaida tossed some poor civilian into the ceiling above. How did Devin know this was Kaida? Well it certainly wasn't her, so it had to be the only other person in the arcade that had some sort of bone to pick with the little psychic... Not that Devin really cared about this whole thing.

It was a lost meal, no biggie there and something that Devin experienced quite often in her new found life.

Kaida on the other hand, didn't seem quite as equipped to deal with these things, Devin meeting the glare with an easy smile and a salute for the demand.

"Rodger that." She agreed, following after the other vampire easily enough, no way in hell was she going to stand around here and wait for some prick to question her.

It was only in the vaguest sense as Kaida stalked away, looking as delicately furious as if she were in cat form, that she recognized how very good it was Devin had such a laid back attitude. Another copy of herself in that moment and something regrettable might have happened. More regrettable than letting that crass little bitch get away. Something truly unfortunate that might have ended in one or more piles of ash.

It didn't bear examining right then. Kaida made as straight a path for the exit as she could, sharp little turns when they were necessary, glad in a way she wouldn't voice that the other vampire followed. Not until she was knocking the door open—with enough care now not to shatter the glass and lacerate her arm all to shit, which was just what she'd need—would she glance back.

"And that's the fucking bullshit you risk going for psychics. Worse. Some of them can throw fucking fire. And there's always the chance they know the game. Not goddamn worth the risk." As if she was dropping some great wisdom and not just ranting. God, fuck, if that spit had connected...

Deep breaths didn't mean much anymore, so Kaida just went very still.