Heartthrob

Chop Shop, next stop. Come and get your meat-based slop.

The quarter shuffled along the street in hurried fashion; Esper James was huddled, tucked beneath the arm of her lover, while the paired once-nuns made for aloof-looking point women. Thankfully, the four of them were headed into a nicer side of town - EJ had stopped by Chang's when first she had left Purity's place, all those weeks ago, after all.

The change was notable, as it always was. Esper James breathed in the somewhat fresher air, mind still reeling from the events at Jacobson's. Was this where the city was headed? Was this what was next for Vitus? The queries kept replaying in her head, alongside memory of the man who had given in to his impulses.

The way he had chewed... The way he had bitten, and swallowed, and laughed, and spoken. The way he had made so much fucking sense, despite it all. She wished someone could... could take her hand, calm her down, tell her he was speaking nonsense. The things he said had felt like truth to Esper James — truth that, while she could tell herself, no one else was allowed to put to speech. If they did? They would send her fragile little head into a tailspin. It would be outside acknowledgement that shit was as fucked as it seemed.

All their talk of taking down Tsang... of at least taking the fight to them, and striking back at them, for whatever it was worth? It had all sounded so good in the moment, in each and every moment. Tsang had ravaged Vitus. Judas had personally inflicted such agony upon Esper James, and her lovers. The whole world was worse off for the existence of this foul necropolis, then — and yet, there was quite the difference between saying it among like-minded souls, and actually doing something about it.

She had already agreed to do something about it.

Esper James's mind wandered to something she had once read in a book, a quote, about not wanting to live in such times — but that one does not get to choose what times one lives in. They must simply act within the time they are given. Now, the sentiment stood coldly within her chest, a spectral chill setting every one of her bones to ice.

She wished not to live in such times, either. But... she could not choose. She could only live as best she could within her lifetime — and she'd been given the advantage, in a sense, of a long, long life. A deep breath found its way into her lungs, filling them like the bellows of a mighty forge. However, as she made to release it all in a meaningful sigh, she stumbled on a small rock on the sidewalk — tripping, but being caught in an instant by Est.

"Woah, EJ, you okay? Haha, don't worry, babe... I can see Chang's, just down the street. Hey, want me to shoot Purity a message, see if she wants to meet us? We can, y'know, have a cute little double-date-sort-of." Esthrielle pulled Esper James a little bit closer to herself, giving her a one-armed hug of sorts to emphasize the sentiment. Then, she looked over to Lucretia and Zofia.

"The numbers're a bit off, haha, but it'd be nice! A good way to calm down, have some... some real life time. Some time outside our... 'hotel room'. Some time to just... exist, in the city, without anything fucked up happening. 'Kay?" Esthrielle kept walking, legs on some sort of autopilot; her strength allowed her to use her hold on the ghoul to keep EJ's feet just above ground, carrying her along as subtly as one could.

EJ's brain took a few moments to reboot, the surprise of tripping, then being caught, and the lingering malaise of her previous thought paths, overloading her. After a second or two of blinking and staring, wide-eyed, EJ started to nod — and then shook her head, emphatically, face becoming stern.

"N-No. We don't need to call Purity and bother her — I'll be fine. You don't need to... to call her on my behalf, just to have her come coddle me. I'm fine, Est. I... I promise. I'll be fine, if nothing else — I've gotta be. I've gotta learn to get through shit like this all on my own, you know?" A timid smile came, then — but it grew in strength as EJ reinforced it.

Est looked at her for a breath longer, and then nodded. "U-Uhh, yeah, sure. Sorry, I didn't mean to... imply anything, babe. You're a big girl. You've lived here for decades. I just... I wanted to make sure you were—" Est stammered to try and ensure she hadn't caused any offense, a blush allowed to come to her face.

Esper James interjected, though — in the form of a soft chuckle, and a shake of her head. "No, hey, Est, it's fine. I know I've been, uh. I've been pretty easy to rattle in the past. Frankly, if you had talked to me last month, I'd be fucking amped to have you call Purity. But..." She drew in another deep inhale, then letting the heavy wind of resigned acceptance flow from her. Her gaze dropped to the sidewalk — where she stretched to put her feet on solid ground, and resumed walking unassisted.

"I've been fucking pathetic. Thirty... Thirty years of getting your shit kicked, and your face pushed into the mud, kinda ruins your psyche. I've always wanted a girlfriend who would, I guess, kinda... kinda look after me, a little. Help lift some weight off my shoulders." It was her turn to redden, face blossoming a rosy hue. She chuckled again, but her eyes were devoid of mirth — only a gentle sadness lived within them.

"But... well, now that I have two of them? I gotta... gotta learn to be more self-reliant. I can't just call you or Purity to snuggle me every time I'm sad, no matter how badly I'd love that to be how it works." EJ's eyes raised up, now meeting Esthrielle's own, emerald to ruby. The meat-eater flashed an apologetic smile.

Est nodded, a single huff of a laugh pushing its way out of her nose. "Yeah, I get you. I kinda... I used to be the same way, in a sense. Used to want someone to take it all away; to keep me safe, keep me close, keep me happy. I found that, in a way, in Luca. Luca, my big brother — you know."

Esthrielle's arm released Esper James, allowing her to proceed completely on her own; in the meantime, the cyborg's gaze went down the path, though it was focused on something outside of any form of sight. She continued after a few more moments of walking; when she did, her tone was heavier, laden now with a somber aspect which weighed it down like a sodden blanket.

"Luca was my everything, for... for a lot of years. My best friend, my big brother, my... ehh, eheh, I admit, I used to kinda crush on him a little... but, er, fuck, uh. He was exactly what I had always wanted. But..." She kept staring a hole through the distant-yet-nearing wall of buildings, where Chang's Chop Shop showed itself with a glowing neon sign.

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"I became a person I wasn't, trying to impress him. I tried to be the perfect little sister for him, because he had been good enough to... to save me, really. To be my second chance at life. I did everything I could, in an effort to repay him." She bit her lower lip, steely fangs pulling back soft skin in an expression of vexation, or grim acknowledgement. EJ wished she could have said it was the former, but the latter seemed far more apt for the situation.

"Bah. I became a whole new me. Now... er, fuck, I'm not trying to say Luca's a villain or anything, or trying to say Purity and I are making you worse or some shit, just... Fffuhhh. Look, you get what I mean." Esthrielle's eyes then flicked over to Esper James - who was looking up at her with a soft grin. The blonde nodded.

"Don't let the comfort of having you and Purity here, distract me from being me. I don't have Judas breathing down my neck anymore, so... I guess it's time for me to find who I am. Alright, Est, I can do that — thanks, yeah? Thank you, babe."

EJ flashed Esthrielle a thumbs-up, to emphasize the thought — a gesture which the Italian was more than happy to return.

Meanwhile, Zofia and Lucretia shared a glance between one another. Zofi snickered; Lulu rolled her eyes. Otherwise, they were silent... but, being at the front of their procession, they were in full view of the other two women. Est stared at them with a playful sort of pout, wondering what they could be giggling about; however, it was EJ that spoke up.

"Hey! What the hell're you two gigglin' about up there? Got something to say, ladies?" Esper James could feel a smirk coming over her lips, the obviously theatrical sort of indignance she was portraying only being bolstered by the groan which came from Lucretia.

"Ohhh, nothing, mom-m-m! Just thinking that this is quite the place to be reminiscing like this, haha!" She turned her face back to look at EJ as she spoke, a subtle grin of her own curling the edges of her lips skyward. Zofi hopped in, then, looking back as well - though her smile was more pronounced, the ghoulish imitations in her maw catching the neon lights of the city in their steely surfaces.

"Definitely not thinking about how cute it is that you two're havin' a little girl-talk! We promise!" She gave a nod in the affirmative — but now it was Lucretia's turn to speak up once again, this time directing her faux-ire towards her partner in crime.

"Woah! Who's this 'we' you're referring to, Zofi? I don't promise a damn thing. I think it is cute that Est and EJ are bein' soppy and gay back there, and I'm not afraid to say so! What'll they do, huh? Gonna be cross with us? Not pay for our... what'd EJ call them? Sinewdles? Yeah! What, are they not gonna pay for our sinewdles? We've got money!" Lucretia had turned on her co-conspirator in an instant, and now, Zofi was caught in the cross-glare of all three of her companions. She made a mock-stammer, raising both hands up in surrender.

"W-Woah, haha, hey, I...! I'm not saying it isn't cute! I'm... happy we could get out of our, uh, aha, 'hotel' today, and... yeah!" The poor bookish nerd girl had a genuine blush form on her cheeks, allowed there to go along with her performance — but there was some real embarrassment required to have started the impulse.

The quartet walked in silence for a few moments, staring playful daggers at one another, before Esper James burst out laughing with a soft 'snrk'. Then, it snowballed into a great, chest-shaking bout of laughter as Esper James was swept up in her own mirth — and the others were taken with her, all of them falling about themselves. By the time they had stopped, they were at the door of Chang's; Esthrielle went first, to open and hold the door for everyone else. Each woman gave her a nod as they entered.

The sinewdles were just as she had remembered them: savory, in a stinging, nearly metallic way, with a limey undertone; possessed of the nuttiness and gentle, flame-licked taste of toasted sesame oil; this time they were richly spicy, as per the ghoul's own request. She had slurped them down with great gusto; the other women ordered more familiar fair, such as fish-skin bao buns, some traditional preparations of pork belly, and one of the few first-living-friendly options, mapo tofu.

Est and Esper James immediately dug into their food, with great gusto (potentially to make themselves forget how spicy it was). Lulu, despite her field work, was still somewhat distanced from the Vitus fare — she munched down her pork belly in steady, measured bites, savoring the flavor even as she watched Esper James and Zofia engage with more exotic interpretations of meat.

Zofia, however, was the odd woman out — and visibly so.

She had ordered the fish-skin bao, the piscine peels fried to a delicious, crispy state. They were greasy, and stuffed with a sinfully dangerous mix of meat and aromatics - mostly pork, blended with fish, but with just enough spring onion and cabbage slivers to nearly be harmful to a second-living. Zofi had mentioned, subtly to the group, that she had never had a chance to eat real 'Vitus food', since she had been cooped up in the convent nearly from the moment she arrived. Now, she'd finally get to try what the locals considered good eats. Or, so she hoped.

A tentative hand reached out to take a bao, the fish skin crinkling softly as her grip made its delicate composition shift. She gingerly raised the meat-based bun to her mouth, opening wide so that her replacement teeth might have their needle-tips graced with gore. There was a crunch... and a soft gush, as the oily meat within was pressed down... and then, a singular swallow.

Zofia squealed in immediate, overwhelming, all-encompassing delight. The rest of the bun between her fingers disappeared in record time, a veritable blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment; then, the rest of the buns were attacked in rapid succession. Another round was ordered before she had even finished the last of her first plate; however, by time the second one arrived, the first's plate had been licked clean in a mad rush to consume.

Esper James couldn't help but feel some sick sense of pride in her city, and its denizens. Seeing the way Zofia was mowing down what many Vitus citizens would consider 'standard fare', when only some weeks ago, Esper James had seen her eating steak and creme brulee? It was refreshing. It was... well, it was exciting, to know that the second-living's diet was still palatable to the first-living. Truthfully, it was something Esper James had always thought about tangentially - but, only once she started seriously dating Purity and then Est, did she really worry over it. What sort of date night would it be if Esper James's 'dietary restrictions' meant they could only go to certain places?

With a wry, bittersweet feeling, she supposed that that wouldn't be a problem anymore. Not like they'd have plenty of opportunity to go out on dates, after all - at best, they could order food to get delivered to La Scission. Oh well.

Watching Zofi crash through her second plate, while Lulu and Est looked on and tried not to giggle too loudly, Esper James sighed. Hopefully, there'd come a day where she and the others could just... go out on a double date. A real double date. One that was, well, a date, not just... happenstance. Not just a distraction from the atrocities of the world around them.

Another goal for the bucket list. Esper James smirked with wry amusement — she sure hadn't chosen to live in this time, but she'd sure live as best she could with the time she'd been given.