gonna drink bacardi like it's yo birthday [nancy's 20]

[stauncherhearted]

Twenty. Gods, Nancy could hardly believe it. She didn't expect to still be here for this day, truth be told. She knew the sort of life she lived, and the sorts of people she associated with. But against all odds, here she was. Twenty-years-old by Fagin's count, and as wonderful as that was...

It was odd. She'd been a teenager for so long, and now she was officially a twenty-something. An adult, for real this time, not like when she'd turned eighteen.

It didn't exactly help that Charley Bates had decided it was a great idea to call her 'old'. She'd hit the back of his head for that, refusing to consider herself old. She was still so young, at least in comparison to those she spent most of her time around, people that were centuries older than her.

This, of course, caused her some angst. She hadn't particularly wanted to celebrate her birthday. It wasn't anything to be glad about. She was, as she realized, three years physically older than Cooper. And that just felt... weird. She knew, mentally, he was far older than she was. And as he always said she was stuck with him until she was old and grey, but...

Would he still love her, then, she wanted to know? How weird would it be, an haggard old woman next to this cute seventeen-year-old kid. A chill ran up her spine when she thought about it, comparing the wretch that Fagin was to her hypothetical-old-woman-self.

If she lived that long.

Still, people want to celebrate with her. Eames, wonderful Eames, had surprised her with tickets to go see a show on the West End, and taken her out to an amazing restaurant. She'd even brought cake over to the boys', knowing a few of them had saved up to get her something. Or, likely, stole it. But she didn't reach out, not really. If you were lucky enough to know it was her birthday, however, she'd happily entertain any and all plans. There was no need to be rude, after all.

---

Nancy's 20 aww yiss.
Uhm, this is an open post. A few starters in the comments. Want something specific? Please let me know!

Comments

[vampire_barbie_girl]

Caroline laughed yet again. "As you may have noticed, I like to be prepared for pretty much anything. And everything." And she hadn't even brought everything, just the stuff that she thought would look best on Nancy.

[stauncherhearted]

"May?" Nancy doesn't believe it.

"So I submit my face to your... makeup skills." That was the plan, right?

[vampire_barbie_girl]

"That's the idea. And then I do the same to yours. And you can do whatever you want, because it's your birthday." Caroline really hopes Nancy doesn't have the right makeup to go goth on her - it wasn't a good look on her.

[stauncherhearted]

Luckily, Nancy's makeup on the average day tended to go more towards old-school glamor.

"Sounds perfect to me!"

[vampire_barbie_girl]

Caroline loved to do old-school glamour.

"So," she said as she began making her colour choices, "I bet Cooper gets you a present, despite your protests."

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy sighs. "You're probably right. He's so old-fashioned I know he won't let it go. Still, I wish he would."

It was still more for her than Fagin ever did.

[vampire_barbie_girl]

Caroline shrugged. "He loves you. It's a problem, I know."

[stauncherhearted]

"I always said he's stupid for loving me." And she loved him, and she was just as stupid.

[vampire_barbie_girl]

Caroline smiled, shaking her head. "I think being stupid is how you know it's real. Or at least, that's been my experience."

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy looks up at Caroline. "You think? Really- that's..." she gives a low chuckle. "Explains a lot. About all of my romantic choices."

She goes to pour them each another drink.

[vampire_barbie_girl]

Caroline grinned and took the drink. "Anyone I should know about, other than Cooper? Oh, and the werewolf of course, though you didn't exactly go into detail about him."

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy shakes her head. "Just Cooper and Bill." And she was content with that. "Bill was my first boyfriend. Well, first everything, honestly." She'll drink more now, if they're going to talk about him. even vaguely.

[vampire_barbie_girl]

"Ah," she says, smiling knowingly. "First loves are nice. Mine was Matt, though it was a very high school type of love, if you know what I mean."

[stauncherhearted]

Bill had been anything but nice.

Still, she smiles wistfully. "I have no idea what you mean, to be honest." She'd been young when she'd gotten together with Bill. Far, far too young. But their relationship had never been a healthy one.

[vampire_barbie_girl]

It was pretty easy to tell that Nancy wasn't too keen when it came to talking about Bill. Caroline was actually impressed to have found out as much as she had.

"Well, I guess it's just a different type of love. Less complicated, maybe." Unless you were Stefan and Elena, of course. Everything had been complicated for them. "I did love Matt but it wasn't as deep an emotion as I felt in later relationships, when I was older and wiser. Oh, and a vampire, that definitely changed things too."

[stauncherhearted]

She loved talking about Bill. but it got so complicated to try to explain to anyone. How did you explain away an abusive boyfriend?

Nancy nods. "Ah. Things with Bill... they weren't ever that complicated." In terms of their relationship, at its base. "I loved him, he loves me. It was always that way. Very... very deep. Raw, but when I was with him everything else was going to work out. Because we had each other. He needed me just as much as I needed him, and Fagin wouldn't be able to touch that. So maybe it's a high school love, I don't know. Never went to school or anything. But he's who I love and I knew that, no matter what happened." She takes a drink, fingers absentmindedly tracing a spot on her shoulder where he'd dug his nails into her. Between Fagin, Bill, and the vampires, she was heavily scarred.

[vampire_barbie_girl]

You probably don't - at least not to Caroline, who's had one of her own. Because of the magical properties of vampire blood, however, the only scars she has are emotional.

"That doesn't quite sound like high school love to me, at least not in the sense I meant it. How long were you together, if you don't mind me asking?"

General cw for talk of abuse

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy does some quick math. "A few years, five or six. When exactly the relationship started is relatively fuzzy." She had moved in with him when she was fourteen, but he'd laid claim to her when she had only been twelve.

Re: General cw for talk of abuse

[vampire_barbie_girl]

"Wow, that's a long time." None of her relationships has gotten close to that. Even Tyler and her hadn't lasted more than a year, though it felt like longer. She'd put that down to being young but Nancy was even younger than her, albeit only by a year.

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy shrugs. "Never felt that long most of the time. I guess that's how you know you're with the right person." Not that Cooper wasn't the right person. But their relationship wouldn't last past Bill getting out of prison.

"I like to think we would have been married by now."

Bill would never have gone for it.

[vampire_barbie_girl]

That was definitely a strange way to talk about your ex. Especially when you're with someone else. Which definitely meant it was time to pry a bit.

"So what happened?"

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy finishes off her glass and pours another one. This has nothing to do with the answer to this question. Nothing at all.

"He bit the wrong person. He's in prison." Just for biting someone. Not related to his other various crimes, like murder, or theft. Funny, that that's what they'd get Bill Sikes for, of all things.

[vampire_barbie_girl]

Caroline totally believes that the drink has nothing to do with the line of question.

She cringed slightly at the answer - she'd seen what a werewolf bite could do firsthand, though obviously it was different if the person getting bit was a vampire. "Wow, that sounds rough. How long ago was this?"

[stauncherhearted]

wow, Caroline. drinking has nothing to do with it. at all. ever. no drinking problem here. no way.

She nods. "I was living with him at the time... Must have been three years ago?" Her timelines were fuzzy. Probably all the drinking. "But yeah- real rough." She drinks some more. Still, it had out an end to the violence.

[vampire_barbie_girl]

Caroline believes that too. Really, she does.

Three years ago would mean Nancy was only seventeen and ... Caroline quickly decides she doesn't want to do the rest of the math. "So, what do you think of this palette?" she asks, showing Nancy the make-up she's selected.