#(but not SO long that astoria would have any idea that the talamasca exists / would start prying for more information)

[softersinned-arc]

@jarviinen / plotted starter.

She has learned to live with certain rules. Place selenite wands over the doorways, front and back, and the crystals at the corner of each window frame, at the top so the cats can't reach them. Rosemary on the windowsill in the kitchen, even though she rarely cooks with it. Lots of garlic planted out back, much more than she'd need. Iron nails and salt lining the perimeter of the small square of land where she buried their bones, consecrated for her own use. Offerings to the goddess; offerings to the patron; offerings to the dead. Do not ask Satu where she goes when she leaves. Do not ask Satu where she's been when she returns.

There are some things that Astoria simply does not need to know. There are some things she is, really and truly, better off never knowing. She knows just enough: Satu's work is important, important enough that she'll leave sometimes with little warning, and come back hours, days, weeks later without an explanation. For all of Astoria's willingness to let her lover have her secrets, she wonders, sometimes, if she's doing something foolish by allowing this.

(Not that she thinks she allows Satu anything, of course—Satu has never needed Astoria's permission for anything—but she is uncommonly cooperative despite her curiosity, perhaps because of the bone-deep dread that comes with it.)

Another rule: there are certain places to avoid. Dublin and Boston both belong to the Donnellys (or it did, before Astoria declawed them). Salem once, and now Madison, to the Bishops. New Orleans to the Mayfairs. She'll take her chances with the vampires of the world before she'll cross the witches again.

Still. Still. There are few people In this world who could entice her to break those rules, adopted for her own safety and peace of mind, and one of those rare souls is sitting across from her now. "It's a tempting invitation." Her lips, painted their customary red, curl up in a slow, wicked smile, and she gently cups her hand beneath Satu's jaw, tipping her head up. Tempting in no small part because she's petty, and she wants the Donnellys to see that she's thriving with their power. Tempting more so because Satu never tells her where she's going. "But are you sure you want me there?"