Jessie came to the door, a bright grin on her lips as Nina came to her view.

"Nina! Come in!" she practically sang, grabbing her arm and pulling her in.

Her home, while small, was lit up with hanging lights to make it feel cozy and warm. She had cleared out a spot for them to have space to move.

"Wine! I'll get glasses."

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Jessie giggled, placing her hands on her hips as she smiled at Nina.

"Thanks! It's not a lot, but I really don't want anything bigger. Too much to clean."

She reached over to scratch the Togepi, nodding excitedly.

"That's fine. I'll take any type of wine, honestly," Jessie said as she went and pulled two wine glasses.

She poured some for each of them, bringing a glass for Nina before sitting on the couch. She pat an open cushion for Nina to join her.

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"Me?"

Jessie considered what all she should tell Nina. It wasn't like she was trying to hide anything, of course. It was just... there was a lot about her that she could know. Did she dump a lot of that on her at once, or did she add details one at a time?

"Well, I'm from Canalave, Sinnoh. My family is huge, and I guess they're a big deal. My dad's a councilman now, whatever. I don't have a great relationship with him. But my siblings are great. I have... four brothers and a sister. I'm the second oldest," she said with a laugh.

"I actually moved to Verdanturf from Slateport after a met NIKO MANNER. He convinced me to come work for his gang, and well... you know..."

She blushed, hiding her face in her glass as she sipped her wine.

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Jessie paused, tilting her head and raising a brow as Nina seemed to connect the pieces. Then she nodded.

"Yep. Asshole's my dad. Don't like him much, and he doesn't like me. Whatever," she said with a huff and a sip of her wine.

"Look? Oh! Ha, I'm actually a natural ginger. I just dye my hair because it fits my personality, and I like it!" she said with a giggle, flipping her hair over her shoulder to play with a couple of strands.

Nina was perceptive. Or Jessie was painfully obvious. She looked down and then back up, biting her lip.

"Maybe? Yeah? Ugh, it's so complicated! Every one of the girls here seem to swoon over him. One of them got in a fight with me in the club because of him. But NIKO MANNER's... he's a player, right? He doesn't seem like he'd ever settle down with someone. So I shouldn't get my hopes up."

A pause and another sip.

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Jessie wanted to laugh. Scoff. Make condescending jokes and everything like it about GABRIEL BLACK when Nina said that maybe, just maybe, he liked her.

She didn't know everything that had happened, right? Why she was in Rocket, why she had chosen to do adult entertaining. Try to disown herself from the Black family name.

But she didn't, instead focusing on the lighter of the two topics.

"I started the fight because she called me a fake whore. It wasn't about him at that point, though. She was just jealous of me."

Jessie snorted into her glass as she remembered that woman, spitting names and telling her to go back to Slateport.

"Eh... you think that's a good idea? I mean, I don't know... like, what if he just likes me for my looks?"

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A pleased smirk crossed Jessie's lips as Nina pointed out that perhaps, the other girl started it. She couldn't remember her name. Niko had known it, since she had worked in Verdanturf, but it had long since been burned from her memory.

"I like you the more you speak," she said with a giggle.

Even as she comforted her. Even though Nina didn't completely speak her mind about Niko, she still made Jessie feel a bit more calm about the situation at hand. She shrugged, leaning back.

"Maybe... well, enough about me. What about you? Tell me something about you. I feel like I've been blabbing about myself the whole time."

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Jessie had also not been apart of the gang for a long time. Hell, she had just moved from Slateport not too long ago to work down here at NIKO MANNER's request.

She wouldn't admit that it was also to be closer, to catch a glimpse of him now and again.

But Nina's prompting question made Jessie tilt her head before she sipped from her glass. Her nails tapped the glass as she contemplated what to say.

"Well, they may be, but everyone I've met has been really nice. And supportive. I don't know much about the Rocket side, but as far as the gang goes, I think as long as they're protected and safe, it shouldn't matter much. Right?"

Perhaps she was naïve. Jessie had joined Rocket out of rebellion, to separate herself further from the Black family name and her father. But, she also didn't feel stuffiness or tight rules like she did as a normal citizen.

"I tend to keep my nose out of things, though. My job is to dance and make people feel happy. As long as I'm doing that, I don't feel like I'm in a dangerous group, you know?"

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