undergrounds | June Catch All for Dodger

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June Catch All for Dodger

[The Artful Dodger can be found anywhere about London during the course of a full month. Anywhere there's a crowd, there's work to be done, and if you know the hat, you'll be able to spot him easily. Or if you want to be spotted... well, he's always paying attention]

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"Reckon I've got an idea." Oh this was not going well, and it was going to get worse before it got better. "The old man, Nance, he's been blowin' air only it ain't just air lately, an' if he speaks to people... Well... Had to get in before him, keep it from gettin' bad."

"Speak plain!" She demands. "Don't dance around it, you say exactly what and why and who, d'you hear me?"

"Fagin was going to go blowin' his mouth." It's snapped out and the Dodger glances towards the door with a bit of worry. He's not really supposed to have let on that he knew was Fagin was planning...

"Bull shit. Last time I saw Bill-" she'd been seventeen, crying her eyes out, looking at him through bullet-proof glass. "-he swore he'd kill the old devil next time he saw him. Ain't no way they're talking. Try again."

"He's been down the nick, sends me down every so often." Usually to remind him what'll happen if Fagin ever decided that he'd had enough of him. The nick wasn't exactly his ideal home...

"Your bloke had to go an' get himself on the Council, didn't he?" The Dodger said, sounding annoyed. "Fagin worked out you ain't said nothin', an' it wouldn't look good fer the bloke if it all came out."

"That's why I didn't tell him," she all but growls. "He can't claim he didn't know if it all comes out! I'm trying t'keep my new record clean!" Now if the press ever finds out that Cooper's dating not only an ex-blood worker, but the ex-girlfriend of infamous werewolf criminal Bill Sikes?

"Why do you fucking think I tried to break up with him when he first started runnin'? To avoid something 'zactly like this!"

"Ain't my fault Fagin wants to mess it all up!" The Dodger is on the defensive. Because it's not his fault. He just wanted to make sure they had a chance against Fagin being... well himself, really.

"He washed his hands of me. Devil should know if I wanted to put the mark on him I could have done it already. Ain't like I don't know a trap or two, besides now bein' a close personal friend of the god damn president!"

"Might have washed his hands of your but that don't mean he ain't still pissed about how you up an' left! It ain't as easy as you made it seem Nance, an' he ain't gonna stop till he's got what he wants. You know that!"

"Easy!" Nancy barks out a laugh. "Oh, you're hilarious, ain't you, Dodger? You don't leave this place. It gets into your bones and takes its hold of you and the only way you will ever leave is if you die. Fagin made sure of that. And don't you bloody forget it, 'cause he certainly don't."

The plates have ceased their rattling.

"Think I don't know that?!" There's a crack in his voice. "Think I ain't tried?!"

"You're the favorite." She tells him coldly. "You got it easy. Before Bill saved me?" He remembered that night as well as she did, she was sure of it. She'd locked eyes with him, from across the room.

"And you still got family outside. I never had nothin'"

"Yeah," there's a lot of bitterness in his voice. "I'm the favourite." Nancy didn't know what that meant, what it really meant. And family outside? He didn't even remember his mother. The woman had willingly gave him over. As for whoever his Dad was... well that wasn't a thing.

"It's all fun an' games when you're Fagin's favourite," he spat.

"Don't talk to me like that," Nancy snaps at him. "Not now- not when you could very well have gone and ruined the one good thing that's happened to me in god knows how long."

"Bully for you." It's too bitter. "Not like you ain't gonna leave him the minute Bill gets out anyway."

A loud crack echoes across the den as Nancy slaps him as hard as she can.

"You're just jealous you've never stood a chance with me."

He's really not sure what hurts more.

"Like I'd want it."

She rolls her eyes.

"Please. Just another way you'll always be second to Bill." She turns to go.

"Exactly. Don't fancy his sloppy seconds."

Nancy looks around at the den.

"Looks like you already got 'em."

He looks at her very deliberately.

"Nah. I don't. Thank God."

"Then it's a good thing I'm out of your league. Goodbye, Jack." She extends her hand in front of her as she turns, opening the door. Whatever he has left to say, she isn't listening.

He can't stop himself. He grabs the nearest mug and flings it at the open door.

The mug hits the wall near the door and Nancy whirls around, her shoulders tucked in tight around herself. Her green eyes are wide as she looks at Jack, her mouth slack. Her eyes flash clear for a moment, the same thing that causes her to draw in on herself.

He'd tried to hit her with the mug.

Nancy takes a deep shuddering breath even as her chest screams out and turns back, fleeing out the way she came. He was just like the rest of 'em.

The Dodger watches as Nancy leaves, and his hands curls into a fist, turning round and shoving everything off the table, too angry to care about what Fagin'll do to him for smashing up the place.

She'd called him Jack.

She didn't care.

He sat down and roughly rubbed his arm across red eyes, breathing in deep. Right. He wasn't a kid, not like the others. He didn't need Nancy watching out for him, never needed it. Let her call him what she liked.

He didn't care.

Really, he didn't.

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June Catch All for Dodger

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