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In Claudia's defense, she didn't know the man who's throat she's currently ripping out was a high-powered pharmaceutical exec who's on at least a few hit lists for price-gouging his drugs and spiriting away any and all negative test results from his clinical trials. She knew he was important. Man like that wearing a suit like that and throwing around money in that way, he had to be important. Or at least, he had to think he was. All Claudia knew was that she hated the way he called her sweetheart and stared at her prepubescent tits just a little too long.

She knows Louis would be mad. Targeting someone like this, someone with money, that's sloppy. That's going to draw attention. You're rash, Claudia, you've got to stop being so impulsive about this. But she knew she could hide this from him. Try as he might to say they're a pair, to say that they're a team, Claudia knew that Louis's eyes wandered away from her more often than not, wandering to the bed of another.

Just the two of them sticking together, 'me and you,' huh? Bullshit.

So yes, Claudia could have planned this better. But she was so hungry and she hadn't eaten in ages and it was so much fucking harder to hunt in this day and age than back in the 1920s, when people didn't ask too many questions if a body was found in the lake or a drunk was 'mauled by a dog' as they so often assumed it was. Now they had fucking security cameras and phones in everyone's pockets and apps that let you whine like a little bitch to your neighbors if someone looked at you funny. Claudia was adjusting, but it was a trial.

So of course she wasn't going to take up the opportunity when the man invited her to 'join the rest of the girls' back at his place. And of course she was going to make sure the rest of the girls were conveniently not in the building when she sunk her teeth into this man's neck, blood spurting out as it started to paint her and the rest of the room a deep crimson. She was so hungry. It ain't wrong to want to feed yourself!

The problem (because there's always a problem) came in the fact that the door might not be as thoroughly locked as Claudia wanted it to be. Or just one security camera was left unplugged. Or that she's just not as sneaky as she'd like.

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Root definitely respects a good façade. If Claudia's fine with that, then far be it from her to suggest otherwise. She imagines the social value of sharing a meal together is likely similar for vampires as it is for humans, so it's not like it's pointless. Assuming vampires used to be human, that is.

There's just so many questions. But Root was serious about making it a fairer trade, and she answers easily as they walk out of the apartment and into the hallway.

"Just getting some information out of him, which I did. He had an illegitimate child in his last marriage and his ex-wife wanted to know if there were any others. To set them up with a bank account, not to knock them off, if you can believe that.

"Aren't people funny?"

Claudia trails behind Root, hating how much she knows she looks like a child trailing after her mother. She should look like Root, they should be two women going out for a meal together, like friends (secretly, she hopes they can be friends. Root seems nice. Root treats her like a person). But instead, she is well aware of how juvenile she looks.

At least the conversation is distracting. Because Root's right: people are funny. The idea of someone setting up a bank account for an illegitimate child, who actually cared about relations that weren't hers, is foreign to Claudia. All vampires are assholes. Most people are as well.

"Really makes you wonder what her ulterior motives are," she muses. "People ain't that nice. Not like that."

"Maybe she has some, maybe she doesn't," Root shrugs. "The ratio is skewed, but there are people out there that pull the average to the middle." They can't all be foul caricatures of their species, though she's met plenty of those.

Root sounds perfectly at ease discussing such a weighty topic as they leave, flashing a quick wave and a smile to the security guard on their way out. She spends an inordinate amount of time thinking about deep philosophical questions, especially the relative value of a human life and inherent morality, so she has answers she's already thought of to offer.

"Humanity is such a dismal disappointment because it's possible for us to be better." She turns her smile sidelong at Claudia, knowing. "There's plenty of people no one would miss who deserved it less than Jerry, and who would be a lot less trouble."

But here she is.

It says a lot about Claudia's short life as a human and even longer life as a vampire that she gives Root a skeptical frown as Root mentions that people might be that nice, that the average can be pulled to the middle. Yeah. She doubts it.

Still, Root's already established herself as someone who's a bit unusual. Maybe this is another one of those ways.

"I'm gonna have to take your word on that," she shrugs. "Simply because nobody's ever given me any reason to think differently."

"I'm doing that badly so far, huh?"

Root flashes her an overtly flirtatious smile and picks up speed now that they're out of the building, heels clacking on the sidewalk.

It doesn't seem like she expects a direct answer, because she goes on without pause: "Come on, there's a cute little sushi bar one block over."

Congrats Root: you managed to make Claudia just give the vampire equivalent of a bluescreen. Because that's flirting. She's flirting. There's someone flirting with her.

...she is never going to let this weird white lady go.

Claudia's mood shifts from 'blank and kind of confused staring' to 'equally flirty' as she lightly teases, "Night's still young. We've got plenty of time to see how it'll end." There's a moment before, "You know, I ain't never ate sushi? Back when I still ate food, people would have looked at you like you were crazy if you ate raw fish. I don't know how it even would taste to begin with."

Root can't help it, it's basically compulsive to flirt with violent women, and seeing Claudia tear out a man's throat with her teeth had certainly helped place her in the 'woman' category after learning her real age. She experiences mostly mental rather than physical attraction, anyway. The flirting is fun in its own right, even if it doesn't go anywhere.

"I could describe it to you if that's something you're interested in," she suggests, tone sly. Root reaches up as she walks and pulls the pins out of her hair to let it down from its secretary bob, and it falls down around her face in waves. This part is not intentional flirting; she's just literally letting her hair down since her charade is over with for the evening.

"I also ain't never had anyone describe food to me before," she lightly points out, making sure not to stare as Root's hair cascades across her face. "So you know what? Yeah, I am interested. At least I can tell you if you're good at describing or not."

She's falling into a rhythm with Root. Light teasing, a little banter, going back and forth. It's a light and easyness that Claudia feels comfortable reciprocating, a light back and forth that she knows she can keep up for the rest of the night.

"Really?" she asks, a little incredulous. "After all the food that's come out in the past fifty years -- not even a peach gummy?"

Maybe Root just likes peach gummies. In her opinion, there's very little point to life or existing at all, and if you take the small sensory pleasures away then there's really no point.

"I can guess what that would taste like," Claudia points out, with a little shrug. "I can still smell, after all. But nah. I lived with vampires after a while. It's not like any of them would describe something they can't eat for me."

That's another interesting piece of information, as it implies several things. Claudia seems perfectly amenable to her (human) company, so it's obviously not a fundamental objection to socializing with mortals that is driving her to live with vampires.

Root sweeps into the sushi restaurant and goes through the motions of requesting a table and being guided to sit in it. She has a breezy, easy-going air throughout the social interaction, gliding through it without friction. Once they're seated and alone again, the intensity returns to her face, and she leans in over the table.

"Next question: how'd you end up in Jerry's condo? Do you just test to see who's skeazy with young girls and figure that's one less slimeball the world needs?"

Claudia lets Root do the talking, instead taking in every opportunity, every glimpse of this place she can get. It's her first, and probably her last time visiting a sushi restaurant, after all. Might as well drink it in, see what the fuss is all about. People these days seem to care a lot about sushi, after all.

She slides in a chair across from Root, giving her a little nod. The question, however, elicits a bitter little laugh.

"Guys like that aren't missed. There's always too many of them in the world. Take out one or two, nobody asks too many questions. And guys like that always make themselves obvious."

"There's never a shortage," she agrees pleasantly, with just a slight tinge of a darker undercurrent. "Sometimes the world is a better place with one less person in it."

Their server sweeps by, attentive, and she's instantly back in normalized social mode again.

Root certainly cares about sushi, at least in that she sees no reason to be alive if she's not going to enjoy the little things. Mindful that Claudia is counting on her to salaciously describe what she's eating -- and cultured and familiar enough with Japan to understand that the point of sushi is the subtle differences -- she orders a chef's special, a whole array of sashimi alongside a carafe of sake, with a bright, personable smile.

Once their server leaves, she turns back to Claudia immediately. "I don't think either of us are trying to be a saint, but there's a line. Am I right?"

Probably she should be taking this more casually on a first date, but Root has never understood the meaning of casual in her life. She has a loose sense of morality but, conversely, an oddly strict one. She'll kill whoever needs it for her objective, pragmatically, and she'll lie and cheat and steal, but there are certain things she's never had to question that she won't do. She won't abuse people who don't deserve it, in her estimation. And she would never take advantage of an actual young girl.

Claudia's eyes are sparkling with excitement as the conversation goes on. It's wonderful to have someone who understands her. Who doesn't look at her with the hesitance that Louis did, who doesn't view her as a child the way Lestat always did. This person, this Root, she's seeing Claudia in a light that Claudia hasn't ever been seen in before.

It's nice.

"Some people are scum," Claudia simply responds, with a little shrug. "I'm not gonna say some grand statement of humanity or whatever. But that's just what it is. And I ain't gonna pretend like I haven't drained people who aren't scum before," says the person who's drained a lot of people who weren't scum, "but someone who ain't scum is going to have someone who asks questions. And there's a lot more people asking questions these days."

Frankly, it's rude that she can't just dump a body in the bayou and let the gators take care of it anymore.

Root doesn't exactly socialize conventionally much herself. She's been isolating herself since she left home over a decade ago. It wasn't entirely intentional, but something about her is off, different, unable to meld with most people. Either she's too cynical or she's too smart or she's too obsessive, but there's always something.

So she'd stopped trying, and is honestly nonplussed to stumble into both a supernatural being and an interesting conversational partner all in one. She automatically wants to test the limits here, leans by default into brutal honesty.

"I'm a paid assassin and hacker who specializes in untraceable hits," Root responds without hesitation. "Today's job was a little off the beaten path, but I won't pretend everyone I've hurt deserved it, either." There's a blistering frankness to her demeanor, an utter ownership of the moral depravity of her actions. She has lines, as she'd said, but not enough for most people.

She lets that rest a moment before finishing her thought.

"You know, we could make for a beautiful partnership."

Idly, Claudia can't help but think of Louis. He had so many compunctions about killing people, focusing solely on rats and cats instead, sustaining himself through animals. Even now, with all her years of experience, Claudia never understood that. Why would he limit himself in that way? Why would he deny what he is? She can't help but wonder what she would think of an arrangement like what Root might be suggesting, where he turns what he is against those who are undeserving.

Deserving, undeserving, that doesn't matter to Claudia. What matters is the kill. What matters is keeping herself satiated and fed. And, though she loathes to admit it, having someone in her court would be good. Someone who could do basic things like this time like rent a fucking apartment without being stared at and asked where her mother is. Loathe as she is to admit it, Claudia needs a partner. She was created where she would always need a partner.

And honestly? She's known this weird white lady all of half an hour and she already likes her more than any vampire she's ever know.

"I'd be amenable to a partnership," Claudia admits, giving Root a sly little smile as they talk. "Paid assassin like yourself's competent enough as is, but I'm sure you wouldn't mind someone watching your back."

Over the past couple decades, since that day that proved a turning point in her childhood, Root hasn't stopped believing that it matters who gets hurt but she's given up on following that through for the most part. Certain things still hit her too strongly to ignore -- ironically, hurting young girls is one of those things -- yet over time it's seemed increasingly like no one else is following the rules, so why should she?

"I can be limited working alone," she agrees. "Usually I hire someone if I need an extra set of hands, but it's nothing like having someone I trust." Not that she's saying she trusts her already, but partnership means trust, and she's open to it growing into that place for them.

She has to pause briefly as the server sets down two waters and the carafe of sake, and Root starts pouring for herself.

"We could try it for a while, see how it goes." She won't admit she's been hideously lonely for a long time, but she has been for so long, and it makes her cautious and wondering about the possibility of breaking that status quo. "You have to eat, I like to keep busy, and I'm very good at making sure no one gets caught. Plus -- " Root grins fiendishly. "I bet no one takes you seriously."

So many amazing possibilities for cover identities and scams and making stupid people pay for their assumptions.

Claudia doesn't bother to hide the tinge of bitterness in her laugh as she points out, "People look at me and they don't think 'capable.' They've been judging me by how I look my entire life."

Even the vampires, people who know her true age, judge her. After all, she's still too small. Too weak. She couldn't create a fledgeling even if she wanted to, there's just not enough of Claudia, even though she feels like she's bursting at the seams by simply existing.

"But yeah. I'd be up for trying this if you are."

Claudia also won't admit that she's been hideously lonely, that she's been keeping it to herself, that she's willing to try anything, even including partnering with a woman she barely knows but has a potential of hope. She'll keep that a secret.

Root can understand that bitterness, at least to a certain extent. She's such a capable assassin because when she takes on a role she embodies it fully, and so few people imagine a thin pretty woman is capable of violence. She's made her peace with it, though, by owning it entirely, using it mercilessly to her advantage.

"We can use that," she assures her eagerly. "If you're stuck with it, we should take advantage of it. I have so many ideas."

She really does. Root doesn't know how this will pan out -- she's not banking on anything, not truly tying her hopes to anything -- but it sure sounds like it'll be fun.

After dinner (during which Root did indeed describe her sushi, less salaciously and more thoughtfully) they exit the restaurant and stand on the sidewalk in an odd version of post-date standing around while they wordlessly assess what to do next. Root makes a snap decision to part ways because she is now itching to do a ton of hacking to see what she can find about the existence of vampires. How could she have missed this before? What's going on there?

"What's your preferred contact method? Normally I'd say I'll find you, but I don't know if vampires use email."

She's adjusted fast, that's for sure.

Claudia pays attention at Root describes her sushi, taking in every small, every little detail. She listens intently, nodding at Root, wide eyed expression. Because this is interesting. The idea of eating raw fish never occurred to her while she was alive so hearing this talk, hearing this description, it's interesting.

She listens for their entire dinner. As they exit the restaurant, at Root's question, Claudia frowns. She's sure some vampires use email. But she's never really seen the use of it.

That being said,

"I've got a smartphone," Claudia points out. "We can exchange numbers if you want. Seems easy enough."

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