A city that never sleeps
The world isn't as it seems, and New Yorkers certainly know that well. While the element Asterium is not widely understood, those in the city's underground know better. For millenia, humans have known of this energy. They called those born with it in their bones changelings and mutants. Legends have told of werewolves and vampires for centuries. Those who can harness it became witches and warlocks. All they know now is that some things are better kept secret, and where else can you hide a secret better than New York City?
NEW YORK TIMES
07/07/2020 It's been (technically) our first month! Thanks to everyone who's joined us, and for more announcements, please check HERE for in-game and new developments!
17/06/2020There are staff & RP position tryouts here!
23/05/2020 Trying to gauge interest right now! If you want to help out and potentially take one of the leadership positions, please message me! (either on achromatic#7519 on discord or if you have my skype!)
A SUPERNATURAL ROLEPLAY SITE
Modus Operandi achromatic
Blueprint is a premade Proboards v5 theme designed and built by punki of Adoxography and Pixel Perfect. MODUS OPERANDI is the work of the mind of achromatic. All characters and content are copyright their creators, and may not be replicated without their creators' permission. All images belong to their original owners.
coincidentia oppositorum
CURRENT PLOT
We are currently starting up, and trialing some of the groups right now! There will be an upcoming plot in regards to some city shenanigans soon, but for now, we're simply fixing up the kinks and establishing roles/groups/characters. Feel free to join us! The community and the lore is still being built, and we're always open to new suggestions.
UPCOMING EVENTS
The strange Fourth of July groundhog day event is coming up! Please sign up HERE!
let me down slowly / closed
bucky
Member
She / Her
EDT
astrorum#7334
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Post by bucky on Jul 19, 2020 7:49:14 GMT
“Oh my God—is that Blake Darling?!”
As soon as she hears it, her heart sinks.
It was supposed to be a fun evening. Blake and some of her new friends had made plans to have a girls’ night at a trendy new bar a handful of blocks from Blake’s apartment.
It was all going according to plan until less than thirty minutes before she’d planned to leave the apartment, Talia texted the group chat that her fiancé was sick, Sophie had an emergency plumbing issue, and, well, everything devolved from there.
The group chat was flooded with well-wishes and apologies, and though Blake had sent a handful of heart emojis of her own, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed. It was the first time she’d had plans to go out with friends in New York City and she’d had her outfit and makeup picked out for days in advance—she’d even filmed a tutorial on the look.
She sighed and set her phone on her kitchen counter. The setting sun cast solid beams of light through her apartment, making the whole room glow golden. A glimpse of herself in the hallway mirror gave her pause. She took in her distressed black jeans, flirty but not too flirty silk and lace top, ethereally glow-y makeup with perfectly crisp winged eyeliner, auburn hair curled into seemingly effortless waves… Then her back straightened and she grabbed her phone. There was no way she was letting a look this good go to waste.
So she’d headed to the bar and told herself not to look like she’d been stood up on a night out but like she’d meant to go by herself the whole time. She’d have a good time.
But, since today does not seem to be her day, almost as soon as she enters the building, she hears her own name across the din. She winces. The last thing she wants is to be mobbed by fans; aren’t there supposed to be fewer of them in New York City? She loves her fans, she does, but…but not tonight. Tonight is her night.
Luckily, the bar is crowded and the fans are too far away to walk right over to her so she whisks herself towards the bar. There are only a handful of empty seats and as her brain races to come up with a plan, her gaze falls on the back of a man who seems to be drinking alone.
Lightning fast, the plan crystallizes and Blake acts on it—before she can truly think it through, really. Blame the hunter training; act fast, ask questions later.
She slides into the seat beside the stranger and flashes him smile she hopes leans more towards winning than nervous.
“Hi, God, sorry, this is stupid, but my ex just walked in and she was kind of the worst so would it be possible for you to, um, pretend to be my date? Just until she gets the hint? I really don’t want to talk to her right now,” she finishes in a rush with a small chuckle. She hides a casual glance to check on the fans with a bashful smile and duck of the head.
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achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
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Post by achromatic on Jul 19, 2020 9:30:01 GMT
Elias wasn't much of a drinker these days. It didn't do much for him anyway; werewolf metabolism and New York prices didn't really make a match in heaven, and it wasn't like he wanted to wake up in the morning and throw a hundred dollars out the window just for fun. Frankly, drinking at a bar sort of felt like that these days. Still, it was part of the culture of a city life, and while he often made excuses here and there, sometimes there were moments he couldn't quite get out of.
This, for example, was one of them. They were supposed to be celebrating one of his coworkers' birthdays at the bar, but man, this girl just had the worst luck ever...or maybe the worst husband in the world. The group of them had planned to meet at the bar, but a last-minute issue with her temperamental SO had left her in tears, and the other girls decided to comfort her back home. They told Eli it was fine, that they'd take care of it, and here he was, alone at the bar they were supposed to meet at.
A sigh left his mouth as he ordered a simple whisky on the rocks. To think they actually dragged him out for once and nothing even happened; yep, he was right to just stay home next time, he thought with a frown, thanking the bartender as he placed the drink in front of him.
A moment later, a pretty young lady slipped into the seat next to him, mentioning something about an ex. Oh? He blinked at her for a moment; this sort of thing had never happened to him before, but he felt the immediate pull to help the other girl. If anything, it was that big brother instinct, to be somewhat protective even if the girl wasn't his sister.
"Yeah sure, uh...what do you want me to do?" he asked with a nervous laugh. Probably not a full on dating thing, at least; he didn't even know if she swung his way. "What's your name? I feel like if I'm going to fake-date you, I might as well know who you are. My name's Elias, but everyone calls me Eli."
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bucky
Member
She / Her
EDT
astrorum#7334
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Jul 19, 2020 18:40:53 GMT
Post by bucky on Jul 19, 2020 18:40:53 GMT
The glance confirms the handful of girls are still actively headed her way. Blake jolts her attention back to the man in front of her, finally getting a full glimpse of his face for the first time and—
Oh. Oh no. He's hot.
Ignoring the sudden flutter in her chest—she is Blake Rusakov; she does not get butterflies—she smiles and tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear, taking a slow breath to center herself. The gods are truly testing her today. Get it together, she murmurs to herself. She forces herself to turn her full attention to the man—to Eli.
"My name's Katerina, but everyone calls me Blake. I'd shake your hand but, well, you know," she says sheepishly. Her birth name slips out thoughtlessly and while it's not like it really matters that he knows it, it still feels a bit odd saying it out loud to a stranger in a bar.
Though Blake doesn't glance over again, she knows the girls must be getting closer. She leans in on the pretense of being heard over the din in the bar but is careful not to actually touch Eli. Though he had consented to 'fake dating' her, she doesn't want to seem predatory or cross any of his boundaries.
"Buy me a drink? It's not—I'll pay your whole tab but if she sees you order for me she might back off," she adds quickly. The last thing she wants is for it to seem like this was all an act to get a free drink.
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achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
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Post by achromatic on Jul 20, 2020 6:13:30 GMT
She was...very pretty. That was the first thing that crossed his mind, and immediately, he felt just a tad more self-conscious. He didn't want to make it too obvious that he was at least mildly interested, especially if she had thought him nice enough to choose as a fake boyfriend. He wasn't going to ruin a stranger's time by being a total creep. Well, maybe bars weren't all that bad after all. Even if he couldn't exactly get drunk, he could be sociable.
"Blake," he greeted with a smile, "nice to meet you. Glad we're both skipping straight to the nicknames," he joked. If they were going to be fake-dating, he might as well act familiar, already waving the bartender over. He glanced briefly to his back, spotting a couple of girls heading to the bar. From the way Blake had glanced back, he was certain she was talking about them.
"What's your poison?" he asked, sliding the cocktail menu towards her, "–and don't worry about it. You're saving me from looking like I got stood up at a bar, so I think we're equal on that." A light laugh left his mouth, as his hands moved to his hair as if he was about to tie it back, only realizing he had already done that. Right, he didn't have to be that nervous around girls, he reminded himself. It had just been...a while since he had even gone on a date; his coworkers kept trying to set him up with their friends all the same.
"So uh...not to be a total idiot, but shouldn't I know a few things about you if I'm going to pretend we're fake dating?" he chuckled, "or are we pretending this is our first date and we just met on Tinder or something?"
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bucky
Member
She / Her
EDT
astrorum#7334
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Post by bucky on Jul 20, 2020 7:45:12 GMT
As more seconds tick by and the girls don't get any closer, some tension begins to ebb from Blake's frame and she can really, truly begin to evaluate the situation.
Unfortunately for her, the more Eli talks, the more endeared Blake becomes.
Eli is polite, kind, and is more than just humoring her; he's going out of his way to spark a real conversation. It's...it's unexpected. It's nice.
She accepts the menu with a smile, skimming it for something vodka-based. "These all sound so elaborate," she says with a short laugh. When the bartender swings close enough, Blake puts in her order and blinks back to Eli.
When she smiles at him this time it's different—softer, not so forced. It reaches her eyes. Maybe...maybe she can make something of the night after all, a tiny voice in her head whispers—and for once, Blake allows it. She's young and single; shouldn't she be allowed to flirt a little? It's so fun and it's been so long.
"Well, let's say this is our second date," Blake says coyly. "Then you'd know that I'd just moved here from Los Angeles, my favorite color is blue, and I love terrible horror movies. What would I know about you?"
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achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
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Jul 20, 2020 16:13:10 GMT
Post by achromatic on Jul 20, 2020 16:13:10 GMT
So the girl liked vodka, it seemed. His eyes skimmed the menu, noting that she immediately went through the menu, choosing the first vodka-based drink there was. He chuckled at her words. "I feel like that's most bars these days," he hummed, "I used to only know what a martini and a whisky sour was, but now they have things like...what, Russian Breakfast? What does that mean?"
It was definitely one of the fancy bars things, to name their drinks after such strange concepts. If anything, Eli was probably just as lost as she was, but part of him almost admired how confidently she had slipped into this conversation. It was one thing he was never all that good at, unlike his sister, who was enough of an extrovert for the two of them. Still, if there was one way to spend the evening, chatting with a stranger who was easy to talk to didn't seem like a bad idea at all.
He couldn't help but smile at the bit of information she shared. Second date, huh? His teeth met his lower lip for a brief second as he thought of his own answer. "Mm, I actually used to live in Alaska, my favorite color is green, and I also love terrible horror movies, but you might not want to watch them with me. Apparently I ruin movies by telling them how unrealistic their depiction of shark attacks are."
A quiet laugh left his mouth. "I feel like I'm in middle school playing a game of twenty questions," his voice had a teasing lilt to it, "but LA, huh? What made you decide to pack it all up and move here? I always thought people on the other side were very...'west coast best coast' aren't they?"
Was that too personal to ask? He took a sip of his drink to mask the feeling of self-consciousness, one he rarely felt. "I mean, if that's too personal for a second date, you don't have to answer," he offered.
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bucky
Member
She / Her
EDT
astrorum#7334
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Post by bucky on Jul 22, 2020 1:05:37 GMT
Blake tilts her head, eyes crinkling at the corners. "Americans like to call anything with vodka in it 'Russian'," she says. She tilts her chin towards the bartender currently mixing her drink. "And then they go and make it with Swedish vodka," she adds dryly.
The bartender, oblivious, sets the drink in front of her, and Blake thanks them before taking a sip as she listens to Eli talk. She laughs brightly at his shark comment. She's familiar with the type; her brother has a particular obsession with how poorly time travel is represented in film.
"Ah," Blake says, raising her glass a bit. "At least we have alcohol this time around," she quips, taking another sip.
The question of why she moved only gives her slight pause. She can't, of course, give the full reason, but she has found that the half reason is more than enough for most. "My brother is starting grad school and I thought it would be an adventure to come with him to New York," she says with an easy grin. "And I've moved around my whole life so it wasn't much trouble to just pick up and go. Alaska, though. I've heard the wilderness up there is beautiful."
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achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
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Post by achromatic on Jul 22, 2020 1:53:18 GMT
He laughed at her comment. So he was right, she did know her vodka. "So I'm guessing you're a fan of the Russian kind rather than the Swedish kind?" he offered, his gaze more intently on Blake now. He didn't want to seem intense or anything, but that was just how he was. He was the kind to keep his full attention on someone if they had it; perhaps it was a wolf trait, he'd never really know.
He smiled at her. Alcohol didn't do much for his system, but he could certainly mirror the effects if he wanted to. Hopefully, she wouldn't notice, but if she did, he could always blame it on him being a heavyweight.
Ah, brother? "Younger or older?" he asked, "I have a sister in college too actually." Her answer made him almost feel...wistful. To just set out on an adventure with nothing to lose...well, wasn't that how he had ended up here too? The city had jobs and people got lost in it, and Eli had found it easier to deal with than small towns where everything just felt stifling; everyone knew everything about you.
"I definitely get the whole adventure thing; I think I came here for the same thing," he mused, "Alaska's gorgeous and I miss it sometimes, you know? Like, my grandpa was a very 'live off the land' kinda guy, you know, all the herbal remedies and wild foraging kind of person. You don't really get that in the city."
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bucky
Member
She / Her
EDT
astrorum#7334
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Post by bucky on Jul 22, 2020 5:34:46 GMT
Blake thrives under attention. It's not like it's much of a secret.
She has always sought out the spotlight, first as hunter heiress Katerina Rusakova, then as influencer Blake Darling, and now as both. She inherits it from her mother, she supposes. She has been called narcissistic, and though she admits all influencers have a bit of narcissism within them, the label doesn't ring quite true. She doesn't want attention for people to call her pretty, though that certainly is a not unwelcome side effect. She wants attention for the power that comes with it. The power to entertain, the power to charm, the power to lead. The power to have people listen when she speaks.
While Eli's sudden intense gaze might have off-putting for some, Blake preens in it.
"I think my grandfather would have a fit if he knew I was drinking anything but," Blake replies, glancing up at Eli through her lashes and hiding her smile behind her glass before taking another sip.
"Younger," she adds. "Your sister?"
She tilts her head and absently brushes a strand of auburn hair out of her face.
"Oh, I know that type," Blake laughs. Most hunters Blake knows are paranoid and self-sufficient to a fault, but even among their own, there are some who take it to a new extreme. Absently, her thumb runs along the edge of her cup. "And how is your adventure going so far?"
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achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
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Jul 22, 2020 11:00:26 GMT
Post by achromatic on Jul 22, 2020 11:00:26 GMT
He really was curious about her. It was like collecting. Eli enjoyed collecting silly things, like old cultural knick knacks, photo albums, the little superhero collectibles of his favorite series when he was young. Collecting information about people was sort of the same. It wasn't to any effect other than his own curiosity, fulfilled, but he liked knowing the details about people. Perhaps it was his own romantic idea that there were more stories to be told out there, or that his own day job was rather mundane and he was simply bored, but he liked learning about people.
So far, he knew a few things about Blake. She liked the color blue. They both liked terrible horror movies. She was from LA. Her grandfather was Russian. Some of the tribes of wolves in the north had known the Russians, long before the settlers came, his grandfather once said. They brought with them new blood, a different kind of wolf's blood. They also brought along their hunters.
Russia always seemed like such a mysterious land. How fitting, for a mysterious girl who he decided right then and there, that he wanted to know more about.
Maybe it was the fact that they both had younger siblings, he chuckled to himself. Older siblings connected in a way that was just...unique, right? "Younger too," he replied with a smile, "she's a lot younger than me actually, but she's got a good head on her shoulders. She'll be fine."
When she began to ask about him, though, there was a bit of a difference. It wasn't that he didn't want to tell her details about his life, but there were just things he didn't quite know how to answer, and how he felt about his current life was one of them.
"Mm," he looked thoughtful for a moment, before giving an awkward chuckle, glancing down to his drink, "it's...it could be more exciting I guess. I feel like I probably skipped a whole section of my life where I got to be young wild and free, like most people who just move to New York. I literally arrived, started a job as a physiotherapist, and my life has been pretty boring since. I guess I missed out on the partying and going crazy part of my life; this is probably the most exciting thing I've done the past month."
He turned to her. "-and you? How's your adventure in New York so far?"
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bucky
Member
She / Her
EDT
astrorum#7334
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Post by bucky on Jul 23, 2020 2:42:08 GMT
The girls have long given up by now. Thankfully one of them had come to their senses enough to not intrude on what was for all intents and purposes a date. Blake could, technically, give Eli the all-clear. Should give him the all-clear. He'd already done her a favor and then some.
But.
Blake loves small talk. She loves the ebb and flow of new conversation, testing the waters to see how much a person is willing to give, hiding any misstep with a soft laugh and flutter of lashes. Gods help her, the butterflies in her chest still haven't gone away. And, unless she's reading this all wrong, Eli is interested too.
So she doesn't mention it.
"You're never too old for it, you know," Blake says, watching Eli from over her glass as she takes a sip. "Being wild and free." It's as much to herself as it is to him. She knows where he's coming from. Blake has her own set of rules to follow; hers mostly revolve around protecting her family and killing the creatures that go bump in the night. Keeping the world safe in its ignorance. The burden of her name and her family's legacy weighs heavily on her shoulders.
She shakes her head slightly and smiles away the gloomy thoughts. It's not difficult to refocus under Eli's rapt attention.
"Oh, it's been fun," she says. "The apartment we're renting was only half furnished so I've been exploring all sorts of fascinating little stores around the city. Not exactly the wildest, I'll admit," she adds with a laugh.
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achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
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Post by achromatic on Jul 23, 2020 5:22:36 GMT
Eli didn't seem to notice anything other than the woman in front of him right now. It didn't feel like pretending to be on a fake date anymore, but rather, having a genuine conversation with someone he was interested in. He laughed.
"I wish I could believe you but I think even my sister's been trying to give me hints that I need to get on the dating scene before I get old and wrinkly," he teased, "I would love to go crazy I think my workplace would actually murder me if I miss another appointment because I forgot I had something that day."
He had to admit, as much he was truly an adult™ and had some of his life together, organizing his schedule was the one thing he was horrible at.
"Oh, decorating an apartment sounds fun," he piped up, "what kind of furniture are you looking for? I might know a few places I think. Are you more of a minimalist, vintage brass and wood, or a plant mom type of decorator?"
It wasn't like he knew a lot about decorating, but his sister had a habit of sending him random buzzfeed quizzes about the most ridiculous things and well, he wanted to humour her, so now he knew a lot more about 'shit tier ranks of furniture design' for some reason.
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bucky
Member
She / Her
EDT
astrorum#7334
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Post by bucky on Jul 25, 2020 5:55:19 GMT
Blake hums contemplatively, swirling her drink and watching as the dregs of sugar syrup that had sunk to the bottom mix with the remaining liquid. "Not the dating type?" she asks, trying to keep her voice light.
She doesn't know why she's so disappointed at the thought. It's not like she'd had any sort of preconceived notions for Eli to shatter about how the night would go. He is still a stranger at a bar who had been kind enough to offer a hand, no matter how much Blake seems to be drawn to him. She downs the last of her drink a bit too quickly to squash the sudden swell of melancholy in her chest.
"Yeah! It's been really rewarding. Um..." Blake hesitates, smiling faintly at Eli's list. It sounds exactly like something someone would put in a Buzzfeed quiz. It's distressingly endearing to hear him list them out so earnestly. "I'm not sure exactly what type but I can show you what I have so far," Blake says, sliding her phone out of her clutch. With a few swipes, she is open to the most recent photographs—a handful of pictures she had just sent to her parents the day before.
She leans in closer to Eli, slowly flicking through the photographs. With lots of natural light, the whole place seems airy and warm, and the current state of relative minimalism points more towards a lack of completion than a design choice.
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achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
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Post by achromatic on Jul 25, 2020 9:02:32 GMT
Eli couldn't help the warmth that filled his face as Blake asked about his dating life. "It's not that I don't want to date or anything," he replied, "it's more like...my job ends up taking a lot of overtime hours and my weekends end up getting taken by other obligations and I guess it's just never the right time, you know?"
He shrugged. "I'm not opposed to the idea of it or anything, I guess I just haven't found the right occasion...or person maybe?" He hadn't given his own love life too much of a thought; it was usually one of the last of his priorities. There was also his job, his weird relationship with his family, the pack...they were all things that seemed to take up the forefront of his mind.
The man pressed his lips together, trying to hide the smile on his face. He didn't want to get his hopes up–Blake did say it was a fake date, but if he was to be honest, he really wouldn't have minded if this had been a first date at all. She just seemed so natural to talk to, and he was genuinely interested in her, and that was something more than just with her looks too. She was nice, and they even had some similar interests.
"It looks really good so far," he offered. The apartment was well-lit, spacious for somewhere in the city, really. "There's a couple of places around East Village I know of, they do some really interesting vintage pieces, you know, old wooden coffee tables from the 70s or something that are really fun, but some of them can be a bit pricey." He had passed by them once or twice, and even though he was very much a 'buy from Ikea' sort of guy, he had ventured in a couple of times himself.
He smiled at her, deciding to shoot his shot. "If you give me your number or your uh...facebook? or something, I could send you the locations," he offered with a small smile, stifling the nervous flutter he felt inside his chest.
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bucky
Member
She / Her
EDT
astrorum#7334
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Post by bucky on Aug 11, 2020 3:55:15 GMT
Blake hums thoughtfully. Never the right time. She can relate to that. Though an outsider might view her job as easy, being a content creator is full-time work and being a hunter on top of that? Well, demons don't take any time off. On top of that, dating with a social media following is a double-edged sword–some people only want to date her because of it while others still won't date her because of it. Dating a civilian is less frowned upon in her family after her father married her mother, but whenever she visits Russia her grandparents and uncle not-so-subtly try to set her up with good Russian hunter heirs. She appreciates it, she does, and honestly, sometimes she considers just going along with it. It is exhausting, navigating the dating pool.
But Blake's stubborn streak always wins out in the end and the possibility of a storybook romance keeps her from accepting her grandparents' offerings.
"I know what you mean," Blake replies, sympathetic, absently spinning the ice cubes in her drink. "It's hard to slow down."
She bites the inside of her lip but it does little to hide the smile that spreads when he asks for her number. She holds out her hand for his phone and quickly types in her number. In the name box, she puts "Rusakov" instead of "Darling", hoping that if he Googles her he won't discover who she is immediately. It's...nice, not being known. As a finishing touch, beside "Blake" she adds the sparkle emoji. "I'm still new to the city, y'know," she says coyly. "Might need a guide to get around."
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