A Talk That Isn't So Much Wanted As It Is Needed [Closed to Cooper]

[knowntohisfriends]

[Make no mistake about it: the Artful Dodger is not a grass. People's business is their own matter an' it ain't for him to go stickin' his nose into it, causin' all sorts of problems what he ain't even got a right to. But then there's the stuff that's sort of his business, if only in a very loosely connected way. Or because of who it involves.]

[Nancy should be out - he's gotten good at keepin' to her schedule - an' it's Cooper he's wanting to see anyway. Doesn't stop the feeling of bein' a no-good peach from making his stomach sink as he raps on the door, shoving his hands into his pockets as he waits]

[He had to do this. Stuff was bein' said, and he needed to get in there first.]

[Nancy wouldn't see it that way, but he'd deal. Hopefully]

Comments

[emotioneater]

Cooper's been staying in as of late after his return from the Other Realm. Partially it was to heal, but mostly, he needed time to think, reevaluate how things had been going both in his personal and political life recently. He wasn't sure he liked at all what had been happening. Those fae may have been crazy, but they did have a point. His actions had far-reaching effects.

The knock at the door didn't surprise him. At this point, it could be anyone. When he opens the door and sees a familiar-looking top hat, he just sighs. "Come on in, finger-smith." He's not sure why Dodger showed up here, but it can't be anything good. The boy is a nuisance and no mistake.

[knowntohisfriends]

He's gotten used to the odd names that Cooper calls him, even if he does know that most of them are not really praise. The Dodger takes pride in what he can do, even if it's not legal, and if he didn't have an important reason for being here to see the vampire, it could be guaranteed he'd start an argument over it. But there is a reason he's here, and he knows he's going to get it in the neck from Nancy when she finds out.

But it has to be done.

"Alright?" He gives a nod, and scuffs his foot on the floor, frowning and trying to think how to bring it up. Sod it, subtly has never been his strong point. "What's Nance told you about her last man?"

[emotioneater]

The fact Dodger doesn't start in with an insult or smart remark clues Cooper into that this is probably going to be a serious conversation. Then he drops that question and the vampire knows that this is definitely not going to be pleasant to hear.

He frowns. "Nothin.' But I gather she got messed up pretty bad by what happened with him." Cooper had never asked, not wanting to know the details, afraid of what he might do in his jealousy. But the way Nancy acted even before they got together, told him that there was a history there, something dark that he probably was better off not knowing.

[knowntohisfriends]

He nods slowly, taking that in. A hand goes up to rub awkwardly at the back of his neck. "It ain't my place to be tellin' you any of this. But Fagin's... If I don't, it'll end up bad fer Nance, an' I don't want none of that."

He pauses. "He's in jail right now, Sikes is. Fagin used to use him as muscle. Get people to play nice."

[emotioneater]

Cooper takes a moment to steel his mind. What's in the past is the past. She's with him now and that's not going to change, no matter what sort of relationship she had with this former boyfriend. What concerns him more is that Fagin is sniffing around. That old fae is not to be messed with.

At the mention of where this Sikes is, Cooper snorts. "Figures. She has always loved the bad boys." That's initially what attracted them together, back when he was paying her for blood.

[knowntohisfriends]

"She were with him before that, long before that," the Dodger said, looking as uncomfortable as he felt by saying these things. It was more than he knew Nancy was going to be furious that he told, even a fraction more than what she usually tells.

"Sikes' is a wolf, an' ... I reckon Fagin wanted someone who could control him."

[emotioneater]

Cooper listened, and for once, his face showed no signs of what he was thinking. Internally, he registered that she'd been involved with a werewolf before him. Clearly, that lack of self-preservation had started a while before he had met her. He was trying to keep his cool. Dodger was likely to take off if he lost his temper and then he'd only have half the information he needed.

"How long are we talkin'?" Nancy was only twenty, for Christ's sake and he'd known her since she was eighteen. Frankly, the thought of what she might have gotten up to when she was younger made him feel more uncomfortable than angry.

Don't worry, though. That second emotion was well on the way of coming.

[knowntohisfriends]

"Well, I don't remember a time when it weren't those two." It's an admittance - Nancy was young when she started with Sikes, he's just not going to make it clear how young. "Like I said, reckon Fagin wanted someone who could control him, even when he were all wolfed out."

There's a pause, and he thinks carefully. "Sikes... he got a temper, bad one. Ain't to do with being a wolf, just his. Never liked what Fagin had Nancy doin' fer money, even though he liked the money."

[emotioneater]

"Jesus fecking Christ." Cooper began to pace back and forth, hands going up to wrap around the back of his neck. There was something he didn't really want to think about, Nancy probably little more than a child, at least in his eyes, and getting involved with some scummy werewolf who had a bad temper. And the man was in jail now for God knew what, which spoke volumes about how this relationship must have ended.

He stops pacing and his blue eyes are blazing when he looks back at the changeling. Now that anger is starting to seep through. "What did he do to her? You tell me right now, Dodger!"

[knowntohisfriends]

"Same job she's done for years," he said, "job she was doin' when you met her."

[emotioneater]

With his temper burning up inside him, Cooper turned to face the wall. Why had this damnable boy come to tell him of these things? It made Cooper very much want to shake him until his teeth rattled in his heads. Or, a darker thought in his head told him, open up a vein and drain him dry.

But no, he'd do neither of those things. He needed time to think and process. For the moment, though, he needed an outlet for his emotions. He ended up punching a hole right through the wall. It was easy enough to do with normal human strength, and with that of a vampire, his fist went clear through and end up on the other side.

He turned back to Dodger. "Get out."

[knowntohisfriends]

Dodger kept his ground.

"You had to know. If I didn't tell ya, it woulda come from Fagin," he insisted. "Ol' Crook's gonna use it, an' I couldn't let him."

[emotioneater]

"Brilliant. So glad you decided to do this well needed civil service." The sarcasm was running fast and strong with this one right now. Cooper had worked himself up into a right good temper. "Now get out before I snap your neck."

Cooper wasn't joking. If Dodger didn't leave in the next five seconds, Cooper was going to make the changeling regret it.

[knowntohisfriends]

He knew Cooper wasn't joking. It's just that it had not been the first time he'd had that particular threat thrown at him. It was one of Sikes' favourites.

"Better me than him," Dodger said, stepping back towards the door and throwin' a sarcastic bow in the vampire's direction. "An' be glad it were me. Fagin opens his mouth, you lose all you worked for." He paused only briefly at the doorway. "... Don't lose the rag wiv her, alright. Nance ain't had any more control of this than anyone gets around the crook."

[emotioneater]

Cooper didn't answer the boy. It was all he could do wait until the door was shut to throw something hard and breakable at it, watching the vase shatter into a million pieces with some rage-filled satisfaction.

Oh, he desperately wanted to wring someone's neck, mainly Dodger or this mangy wolf Bill's. But he and Nancy were going to have a serious talk when she got home. That was clear enough.