"Ah Miss Undine…" Mina spoke cordially as she set down the plate of sushi that her patron had ordered, "I see that you decided to visit me after all,"

The girl did not respond, save by sampling one of the rolls.

"Flattered as I am, Mistress…" Mina continued, taking the seat opposite her unfriendly patron, "How does one such as you afford to come here?"

Nadia took another bite, "What's it to you?"

"Stole it then," Mina smiled slyly, "But indeed it matters little and less to me, so long as you can pay for your meal… and my time," It hadn't really come as much of a surprise to Mina when Clara had come to her saying that another patron had specifically requested her – she'd been expecting it sooner or later after all, "In any event, it would seem that I am rather popular…'

"What's that supposed to mean Carfax? Don't be so full of yourself you damned-,"

"Nachtschatten here, actually,"

"What?"

"I go by Mina Nachtschatten here," Mina clarified, "But as to what I mean when I say that I am popular…" Mina's sly smile broadened slightly as she remembered Roman Torchwick's visit to the Summer Blossom almost two weeks previously, "I meant precisely what I said,"

Undine's eyes narrowed, but she nonetheless took another bite of her food, "Whatever…"

Mina smiled, "I take it that you are enjoying the food? I'm told that it is quite good – for a disgusting maid café…"

"Don't mock me," Undine snapped, "It isn't exactly every day that I get to eat like this…"

"Indeed not…" Mina allowed, "Although that does beg the question of precisely how many people you had to pickpocket to afford the meal and an hour of my time…"

"There you go getting full of yourself, damned traitor," Nadia muttered, "And I didn't pickpocket anyone…"

Mina raised a disbelieving eyebrow, settling into the seat opposite her patron, "Really?"

"I pinched some Dust crystals from the stash and sold them okay?" Nadia snapped, "Not that it's any of your business,"

"Tut tut…" Mina chided in jest, "You probably shouldn't tell me those things…"

"Oh shut up; anyone with half a brain knows the White Fang's stockpiling Dust,"

"Perhaps, but you could get in a great deal of trouble stealing such things from such dangerous people,"

"The stupid crystals won't be missed," Nadia snorted derisively, "Especially not if I bring back your head,"

Mina chuckled, "Still hung up on that are we? I suggest you give up on that one, Mistress, you are liable to get yourself hurt…"

"You won't kill me,"

Mina smiled deviously, "I would prefer to keep things polite and civil, but do not test me Mistress,"

Nadia halted as she was about to try another sushi roll and scrutinized Mina more carefully. The deserter-turned-waitress sitting across from her wore a genial smile with closed eyes, all the more disingenuous for its pleasantness. Carfax presented herself well, Nadia supposed; her hair was done back nicely with two little silver rods, and she wore the preposterous maid outfit fairly well – though it did not escape her notice that Carfax's neckline was markedly lower than it probably needed to be…

Nadia stubbornly stared at her sushi roll, "There's nothing polite about that outfit…"

"Oh this?" Mina chuckled, tugging at the front of her blouse, "Perhaps not polite, but practical; tit for tat, so to speak,"

"Ugh…" Nadia averted her eyes in self-righteous disgust, "I don't understand how you can just prostitute yourself like this… You were one of us-,"

"I make good Lien here, Miss Undine, and believe it or not, we do frown upon touching here…" Mina cut in, a patiently lecturing tone in her voice, "I rather enjoy the job actually,"

"What? Having perverted, mouth-breathing creeps undress you with their eyes for hours? Do you have that little self-respect-?"

"Speaking as one of the perverted, mouth-breathing creeps?" Mina smirked as she asked the rhetorical question, "You are presently among the clientele,"

"What!? Don't you dare compare me to them!" Nadia objected, making a gesture towards the rest of the restaurant, "I'm not here to ogle pathetic waitresses with more cleavage than self-respect! I am here to-,"

"To figure me out? Yes, yes, I know, but you needn't have come here for that," Mina waved off Nadia's angry denial, "You could have waited for me outside again; perhaps polished your stalking technique… Would've saved a great deal of money that way…"

"Well… I-,"

But Mina interrupted again with a smile, "Make no mistake Mistress, I do appreciate your patronage, and far be it from me to deny you a little self-indulgence; you are paying for this, so you may as well enjoy the food, and, if such is to your taste, the view as well, no?"

"Shut up!"

Mina just laughed, "Do calm down Miss Undine; It was only a suggestion-,'

"I'm not here to stare at a bunch of half-dressed human skanks-!"

Mina smiled dangerously, "Speak respectfully, Miss Undine; did your parents never teach you manners?"

Nadia felt a chill run down her spine. Carfax was smiling, true enough, but her eyes were shut and she exuded a menacing aura all of the sudden. Maid gettup or not, she could see in Mina what had once made her so dangerous, and Nadia could sense that she'd managed to push one of Carfax's buttons, because Nadia knew anger when she saw it.

"S-sorry…" Nadia looked away, "I… It's just that I didn't come here for that…"

"No, no, indeed you did not," Mina sighed, apparently satisfied with Nadia's apologetic display of contrition, "You just came to talk, yes?" she spread her hands in an open gesture, "Well then, you have forty-five minutes; ask away,"

Nadia simply stared, aghast. She wasn't quite sure how to take this sudden display of good-nature. On the one hand, this was a golden opportunity, but on the other, her blood boiled at the thought that this traitor was patronizing her again, "That's it?"

"I am afraid that I do not follow…"

"You'll just tell me whatever I want to know?"

"Within reason," Mina qualified with a wink, "However, my love life is off limits~"

"Like hell I'd want to know that!" Nadia reddened profusely, "It's no wonder no one in the White Fang even wanted to be around you!"

"No, Miss Undine, that had more to do with my tendency to bite…" Mina chuckled, "Believe it or not, I used to be rather shy,"

"Yeah, I heard that," Nadia said, "Then you and Belladonna hooked up…"

Mina smiled, "I suppose you could say she made a woman of me… Ah, but that would be dangerously close to my love life now wouldn't it?"

Nadia stifled a groan of frustration with another sushi roll, "Can you please be serious about this?"

"About humoring a stray little pup in her efforts to tease out the best way to bite me? But of course,"

"I'm not a pup!" Nadia retorted, "…I'm a fish…"

Mina raised an eyebrow, "Oh?"

"I'm not a dog Faunus, I'm an Angler Fish…"

"Are you now? I'm afraid that I'm not familiar with that creature," Mina commented thoughtfully, "I am a vampire bat – but I suppose you knew that much,"

Nadia nodded, eyes narrowed, "I do…"

"Does that frighten you?"

"Just keep your damned fangs to yourself…"

"Ah, but isn't that a touch hypocritical of you, Miss Undine?" Mina challenged cordially, "What happened to justice for your people?"

Nadia froze. All around them, the activity at the café continued as usual; waitresses in skimpy maid uniforms went this way and that, taking orders and delivering plates of food, whilst the patrons stared, some tactfully, other's slack-jawed, at anything other than the food. At table two off to the left, both Clara and an impressively well-endowed blonde waitress entertaining a well-dressed patron, and on the other side of the dining room, Lizzie was berating a rather pushy diner who insisted upon asking for her number. Disgusting perverts and shameless tramps, all of them, but yet Nadia herself – the only other Faunus in the room – was the only one judging Carfax on her physiology…

They don't know she's a damned vampire… She tried to rationalized to herself, She's not harmless… This isn't like cat ears or… gills… But then, why the hell do you care about any of them? You don't need to hate her for that anyway – she's a damned traitor and that's all that matters.

"Miss Undine?"

Nadia blinked a few times as she was brought back into focus, "What?"

"Would I have happened to strike a nerve?" Mina remarked pointedly, "You are not the egalitarian that you would like to think yourself, are you Miss Undine,"

"I don't need to be an egalitarian – The damned humans can rot in Hell for all I care-!"

"Speak softly when you say such… impolite things…" Mina chided, "Though I can understand the sentiment…"

"What the hell are you talking about Carfax-?"

"Nachtschatten," Mina reinforced, "And no, I do not mean the worn-out cliché about how 'our people deserve better,' I mean the 'me and mine' line of thinking; that, Miss Undine is quite familiar,"

"I am nothing like you!" Nadia objected, "I would never turn my back on my brothers!"

"Do keep it down, Miss Undine," Mina reproached, "I'll not be the one to sell you out, but if you keep shouting things like that, someone… with an opinion might overhear," She wove her fingers together on the table, "But as for whether or not you would leave the White Fang, no, of course you would not; you value you and yours, just as I do, and for you, yours are the White Fang,"

"That's totally different!"

"No, it is much the same actually," Mina corrected, "All that differs is perspective – and that I accept this about myself, whereas you wish to think yourself 'better' than that,"

"I… No… that's isn't…"

"It is hardly a unique state of mind, Miss Undine," Mina continued despite Nadia's stammering objections, "My Dearest genuinely feels as you claim to, and she suffers a great deal of internal turmoil as a result of her desire for actual justice. Her devotion to the idea is admirable, but it pains me to see her suffer over it; it is not a strife that I would wish upon anyone,"

Nadia scrutinized Mina incredulously, her meal utterly forgotten, "You don't give a damn about justice?"

"What is justice?"

Nadia blinked, "What?"

"What is justice?" Mina repeated, "Is it liberty? Equality? Might? I have no answer, and neither do you."

"What does it matter whether justice means any of that? We don't have it!"

"How can we know that if we have no idea what justice is?" Mina challenged, "And what's more, squabbles over the concept are… unhelpful... Such fights over principles have a way of driving wedges between people where none need exist,"

"So the backstabbing bitch thinks she's a philosopher…" Nadia snorted, "But what would you know? You're just a selfish slut with no principles…"

"Hmmm… Perhaps, but it would seem that you in turn have an understanding of good manners which leaves much to be desired…" Mina sighed, "Honestly Miss Undine, I am rather popular here, and talk like that will make you very… unpopular with the other patrons and waitresses…"

Glancing around, Nadia noticed that it was indeed the case; their table was beginning to draw mixed looks from about the room. Some were simply curious about Nadia's various heated outbursts, whilst others were shooting her dirty looks. She looked back to Mina, dumbfounded, but Mina merely shrugged with a smirk.

"Manners, Miss Undine, Manners…"

"Fine…" Nadia grumbled, sinking a little into her seat, "We'll play this your way-,"

"You haven't much of a choice, Miss Undine," Mina cut in again, sitting back in her chair, "Your last little stunt may have been foolish, but I doubt that you are foolish enough to attack me in a place and manner so public as this, and while you could attempt to 'ambush' me on my way home again, I think that we both know how that particular scenario plays out,"

"I said that I could take you…"

"Strong words," Mina allowed, "but words and nothing more; You cannot defeat me in a physical confrontation unassisted, Miss Undine, I believe that we demonstrated that last time…"

"To be honest Carfax, I don't really want to kill you…"

"How charitable…" Mina remarked dryly.

"God you piss me off!" Nadia exclaimed, but then quieted down, "As much as I really hate you... I'd accomplish more if I could bring you back to the cause…"

Mina raised an eyebrow, "I do believe that we have been over this as well…"

"Speaking hypothetically of course," Nadia rolled her eyes, "They might actually trust me with more than grunt work if I could pull off something like that…"

Mina laughed, "Ah, so this is about ambition then? Your own little place in the new world order? You might actually be worthy of greater responsibilities if you could accomplish something like that… Hypothetically, of course…"

Nadia's clenched fist tightened, "I said not to mock me! Aren't I supposed to be your mistress here?"

Mina couldn't contain a laugh at the poorly phrased outburst, "Ah, but you make it so easy… I'm sorry to say that you are not my type, Mistress…"

Nadia felt her cheeks redden like a beet, and her hair started to glow, "S-shut up!"

After a few more moments, Mina got a grip on her laughter though, and cleared her throat before speaking, "In all seriousness though, you are welcome to try, Miss Undine, but be warned that I will defend myself. Or, if you are feeling more civil, I do enjoy talking…"

"Hey! I'm not done-!"

"Indeed not; you still have half a plate to finish. I on the other hand, am done here; unless you have another seventy Lien…"

"What? You're just gonna up and leave?"

"I am afraid that I am on the clock, Miss Undine; your tab will come to one-hundred-ten Lien,"

Nadia winced, "That much?"

"I trust your pilfered Dust crystals yielded enough?"

Nadia's eyebrow twitched, "I'm… ten short…"

Mina chuckled again. "Well then Miss Undine, I am willing to forgo your tip this time, as you are yet ten Lien short though… I hope you have time for an hour of dishes…"

.

.

.

"Ten stinking Lien short and I had to do dishes!" Nadia fumed as she stormed back through a bad part of town toward the nearest White Fang safe house, "The place is just so damn expensive-,"

"Oh? And where's that?"

Nadia froze, "This just isn't my day…"

"Somebody's been busy, haven't we?"

Nadia forced herself to relax, "Hello Emerald… and Mercury…"

"Wanna tell us what you've been up to?" The pickpocket questioned, leaning up against the wall of the safe house, "Nobody gave you orders, did they?"

"Shut up,"

"Kinda rude of you, don't you think?" It was the cocky punk – Mercury - this time.

"I don't answer to human scum like you…"

"You White Fang types are all the same," the boy muttered, "We're in this together, you know,"

Nadia eyed him suspiciously, "What do you two want?"

"Oh nothing…" Emerald replied with a hint of suggestion in her voice, "But just between us, I'm gonna give you some free advice,"

"I don't need your advice,"

"Don't be an idiot," Mercury piped in, "We've been where you're going,"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Nadia lied.

"And neither does this idiot," Emerald jibed at Mercury's expense, "But whatever it is you're up to, I suggest you be very careful; working together has rules, and believe me.." Emerald unfolded a wallet – Nadia's wallet, "Nadia Undine… sneaking off by yourself tends to make people think that you're breaking them…"

"Give me back my wallet!" Nadia demanded, both angry and frantic.

Emerald cracked up, tossing the wallet back, "You should see the look on your face… almost as good as that Torchwick jerk,"

"Can I go?'

"Mmmm… Guess so…" Emerald shrugged, "Just remember to be careful…"

Author's note: Okay, so a slightly more civil exchange between Nadia and Mina, and teasing a little interaction with new characters, nothing too fancy though, as I hesitate to go into too much depth about them until we know more. At any rate, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter, and I look forward to hearing from anyone who cares to comment.