It was annoying how in winter days the blue sky seemed to be more blue and the sun seemed to shine more brightly without the clouds as ever in the sun. Which wasn't obviously true and thank god it was winter when it happened but Nastasya still felt nauseous the first few minutes that she stepped out of her bed and was hit by the sunlight. It always made her shiver, but she was sure it would go over someday.

She nudged Victoire so the fox would get up and get ready for their day out. She washed her face in the sink before getting dressed in another button shirt and a pencil skirt with heels. She had thrown her heels away before after the incident with Odin in the catacombs, but for some reason she could be more static, she could walk fine on her heels without losing balance once. It was her body that changed. She pulled on a black leather jacket and moved with Victoire out of the room. She had a job to do, another hunting and gathering job from Dr. Mabuz.

She yawned when she walked the stairs to go down to the breakfast room. She liked her sharp fangs when she thought about food. Even though she was a vampire, she could still eat normal food and her body seemed to still like it so she let that happen. However if she wanted to keep her inhuman strength, she would have to drink blood at least once a month. It was already at the end of the afternoon and she needed breakfast. She was just throwing money in the reception to get the food that she wanted. It wasn't that difficult to make poched eggs right? Apparently it wasn't impossible and she just ate them straight away, no matter the warmth of the eggs. She gave some to Victoire and drank from the orange juice. She thanked the staff and simply left out of the front door.

She didn't go to a Luxury Hotel for nothing, this was practically the reason. Oh and the fact that they did their laundry. However the clothing covered in blood were trown away. She didn't want any questions at all.

Not much later she was standing at the edge of Oak town. Ready to head to the forest and hills behind to find the stupid herb that Mabuz wanted this time. She had a note to remember but destroyed it right now, however she didn't drop the paper scraps in the wood but in her pocket. She would find a way to destroy it later. She had heard the walk was steep and maybe even dangerous, yet she didn't care about her outfit. Victoire was darting around, apparently liking that they were outside the town because soon Nastasya was putting one foot in front of the other to walk the path, which seemed to be a piece of cake. The path was like any normal path in a park, only a few weeds in the walkway but that's because it wasn't a park but outside. Enough people seemed to walk this path. "Don't wander too far." she said to Victoire as they continued on.

It was rather boring like this and she yawned again. She looked left and right in case the herb would already show up but she doubted it. That's when the path started to change, it became steeper and finally the twists and turns around the mountains showed up. She had not taken this path before, with Caius and Odin it was around another side of town. That training seemed a long time ago. She didn't even use Shadow magic anymore, the only way she was sure it hadn't all be fantasy was that her nickname was still Shadow.

After walking for another ten minutes the road somehow stopped going on for people that simply walked. It was a climb for now to the top and she growled a little because that would be too difficult for Victoire, she either had to carry her or demand the fox to wait here. Now she knew Victoire would listen but it would maybe be dangerous, it wouldn't be the first time to find her unconcious and beat up. So Nasty made from her jacket a bag so she could carry Victoire. "Now don't use your claws or we might drop." Maybe heels weren't a good idea but she would just go on and grab the patches she needed to pull herself up and go straight to the top. Sometimes she had to switch and try to get more to the left or right. Thank god Victoire was holding on without her nails. Finally there was a road again where she could walk on two legs instead of feeling like some mountain goat. It was still steep but she managed, the muscles in her calves would be sore tomorrow or maybe not, she didn't climb or fight much after she turned, so it was difficult to know.

Finally she was there and she let Victoire out of the made-up bag and let her dance around while she was looking between all the green to find the right herb. But that wasn't that difficult, the herb she was looking for was more a dark green colour and looked like fern. She managed to find it quite quickly. She didn't feel as tired as she would suspect but let Victoire run around before she would demand the fox to sit back in the bag and hold on tight without claws again. That's when they went down, back to Dr. Mabuz his shop. She didn't even know how she got down with her heels but she was there none the less.

She finally got tired when she was almost back at Oak but that wouldn't stop her. She would just go on and make sure to drink something later. She handed the herb to Mabuz and he gave her the money. She didn't say anything, just gave a nod and left.