𝒽𝑒𝒶𝒹𝒶𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓎

The moment Russo is beside Cherry, she can’t help but get in real close. There’s something about the leecher that pulls her in. She lets her hand wander down the other’s arm before she entwines their fingers together and she rests her chin on the other’s shoulder for a moment.

“Just doing some research for a job I’m working on,” she muses, currently occupied with gazing at Cherry more so than looking at where she puts her feet as they walk. “It’s this rich, white businessman. You wanna come?” As she offers, her eyes begin to sparkle. There’s just something wonderful about ending a man’s life. What better way to spend your evening?

starter for @djcherry

With the new rules laid upon her, Russo is struggling. She always goes out all by herself. She likes it that way. Plus, it’s a lot easier to do her job when no one else is around. The Death Dealer can take care of herself, she just hopes Aleksander won’t be too pissed when he finds out she’s gone out alone. Russo is wandering through the streets of New York in the middle of the night with her hood pulled over her head and her backpack on, when through the crowd of disgusting human men – she spots a familiar face. As quick as she can, she crosses the street and makes her way over to the lycan.

“Don’t you know it’s super dangerous to be out here alone?” She says all casually as if she’s not doing the exact same thing. “I’ll stay with you. You know, to keep you safe.”

          lights out.  panic, excitement, and cheap alcohol zing through the air something delicious, but suwon hasn’t lasted centuries walking this earth to become distracted by the sound of a few thrumming, frantic heartbeats and pumping blood.  he kicks back at a table in the very center of the room and grins as he soaks in the flavor of the room.  a sommelier at a tasting.  a florist with a bouquet.  

          the leecher doesn’t fit in.  he noticed her as soon as they stepped in this hazy, black-lit dive where there’s more beer to be found on the floor than in a glass.  suwon feels her scrutiny on his skin and preens at being studied so closely.  loves the caress of a set of eyes, even if it’s a mutt’s.  he hasn’t so much as glanced her way but he knows the scent in the air as hers.  cherry.  a daring little darling.  who else?  he doesn’t mind making her wait.  after all, he’s here on business.  as if on cue, the body slumped across from where suwon’s sitting pretty slides a folded piece of paper across the table, hands shaking.  suwon tastes their nerves in the air.  “thank you for your help,” suwon purrs with a smile, eyes so blue against a brief flash of light as he takes the note.  stows it away, safe in a pocket.  thunder rattles the windows and after a clap of lightning, the lights cut to black.  suwon makes his leave.

          “nosy thing, aren’t you?”  suwon whispers close to her ear.  difficult, considering her deathtrap shoes, but he makes do.  suwon’s pulling back the next breath.  she’s no wallflower.  once he’s sure he has her attention again, suwon quirks a brow and tilts his chin,  “didn’t your mother ever teach you to mind your own business?  or are manners too civil for your breed?”

Guessing at more than she knows has never been her strong suit. Functioning off of less than half of the information is borderline impossible, like asking to fail, like being aware she’s going to fall short, but being unable to stop it as well. Cards held close to her chest, her posture stiffens noticeably at the whisper, as dangerous as it is low, and far too close to her to be anything but displaced air. Stifling a shiver that threatens to wrack through her body, Cherry tries to suppress her own instincts to lash out, knowing that it would end only in more bloodshed than they can afford at this time, in this place. They should both know that, despite her tailing him tonight, and despite the way that he speaks to her in that tone. 

“Sometimes.” She allows it, conceding to his point on her sticking her nose into other peoples’ business, and not particularly caring what he thinks of it. Forcing her movements into something slow, something deliberate, she turns about to face him in the darkness. Arms fold over her chest not defensively, but with a confidence that she knows she exudes despite being caught slightly off-guard. “Funny that you should speak of civility --- this is my bubble, and that’s yours, okay? The most basic of manners dictate that you should remain in yours exclusively.”

the roll of his eyes is affectionate, not an ounce of genuine annoyance anywhere in the gesture. “don’t say things like that,” he chides shyly, hiding his face in her neck. “if i’m too good for anyone, i’m going to end up alone! that’s the last thing i’d want.” he surrounds himself with people for a reason – friends, crushes, admirers from afar – basking in the attention. he also doesn’t know if she’s necessarily right in her praises. surely, he couldn’t have anyone. still, he’s flattered and pecks a kiss to her collarbone nonetheless. “i’m… not sure now is the right time to ‘open a dialogue’.” he speaks to the raised tensions between lycans and vampires but only vaguely. to hopefully keep cherry from catching on, he sprinkles his statement with a half truth. “we only just went on our first date. i don’t want to make it too… heavy by telling him i have a big ol’ massive crush on him and want him to see me that way too.”

“Miyu and I are not a couple, and we are not ‘just friends’ either. ‘Just friends’ is an oversimplification of our relationship, and not how I would describe it. I care for them very deeply, I even love them — I have no problem giving my love freely, generously, and nobody is more deserving. I take care of them, and they remind me of what it is to be soft. I need it.”

“The last people I fell in love with… Mmm, Soren and Keung. Bell. I would say I’m in love with all of them, and then there’s Aster, of course. That’s something else. Something old. If I talk about it, I whisper, you know.”

“Fuck Zade and Dante, kill Damien. I’d never adhere to an institution as archaic as marriage.”

He has his back towards her as he keeps walking, though it doesn’t really matter with the million of mirrors around them. He watches her through them and listens carefully to what she says. Once he makes his way around the final corner and sees the end of the hallway, he stops. The vampire fixes the cufflinks on his suit before he turns towards her.

“You have a point,” he says as if he’s in a meeting and someone just made a valid argument over budget cuts. A quick glance around and he can already see a couple of humans enter the maze. “But not here,” he grabs her wrist and quickly tugs her with him. Once he exits the building, he has already let go of her. In the middle of the crowd, he realises that he hadn’t thought this through very well. Where were they even supposed to go? It’s a lot easier when your fellow coven members aren’t surrounding you and listening in on everything you do. Dante wants to turn to Cherry and ask her – yet decides to do neither of those things. Literally anyone could see or hear them. With a sigh, he combs his fingers through his hair and hopes she thought this part through before she went to see him.

Pleasant surprise wells in her. Cherry feels like she’s waited for this, feels like she’s been patient enough for it, and when Dante finally acquiesces, she is ready to lead. Turning her hand, she takes his, intertwining their fingers together and pulling him off towards the parking lot. The fact they’re finally out of the mirror maze is nice, and so is the fact that she has tinted windows in her car. Removing the keys from her pocket, she starts it in advance, and pulls Dante towards it without so much as a care in the world. Nobody is watching then. She would feel it if they were.