The Underground Mods (
undergroundmods) wrote in
undergrounds2017-10-09 09:30 pm
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Five Years Later...
A lot can change in five years. Students who were at Redbright have now started their careers. People have moved out, moved in, started a new life together or apart. Some move on from the city while others return to it. But while the lives of its residents continue to grow and change, London remains as it has ever been: a focal point for magical power.
A tentative peace
The last five years have not been without conflict, both internal and external. The vampires have played with the politics of in-fighting and backstabbing. The werewolves have overthrown their leader and chosen a new alpha. The witches have suffered one scandal after another. And the fae have quietly engineered a small change here, a personal revenge there, until finally with Redbright and Hillingdon acting as neutral parties a peace agreement was reached between Circle Daybreak, the Islington Nest and the East End Pack. Their territories are still beholden to the same rules (e.g. vampires are still forbidden to enter East End territory and vice versa) but they are no longer in open conflict. Small steps, perhaps, but positive ones.
A delicate balance
The year is 2022. The balance of power in the city is now evenly split between the East End Pack, Islington Nest and Circle Daybreak, thanks largely to the rise of the werewolves and the new President Laura Roslin who simultaneously holds the post of Werewolf Representative.
Samantha Okeke lost her position as Witch Representative following allegations of corruption, and has been replaced by Diphylleia "Dee" Absin, a much more co-operative member of the Night Council. While Samantha has retained her title of Mother of Witches, there are rumours that she lost her powers during a confrontation with a powerful fae. Circle Daybreak firmly denies all such speculation.
The connections between the Redbright Institute and the Hillingdon Clan have grown stronger since the former is now perceived to be a more neutral force rather than tied to the Night Council, although Hillingdon certainly still has the less clean-cut image of the two.
Meanwhile, the Seelie and Unseelie Court have largely withdrawn from public life in the mortal realm except in isolated corners, though they claim the right to go where they please throughout the city. Consequently, there are no barriers preventing travel between the realms, which seems for now to be an acceptable compromise.
And after all, politics is the art of compromise.
Looking ahead
All in all, the vampire and fae presence in the city has reduced as the vampires move around and the fae decide that if they're invited it can't be that great a party anyway. The number of witches has recovered thanks to an amnesty allowing those who were once members of Circle Midnight to return (though the faction itself has not reappeared).
The biggest change that has been noticed first by staff at the Redbright Institute however is the increasing number of meta humans, in particular young meta humans, being discovered in the city. Often these are humans with no knowledge of the supernatural developing their powers for the first time. The reason why has yet to be discovered...
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Still, it was worth saying out loud. If he couldn't lay a hand on her maybe they'd find something decent or she'd see him for what he really is, but he's not expecting much on her side. One of the things that's always frustrated him about Nancy is just how blind her love is.
"Fine," Eames waves it off and shakes his head, "forget I said anything."
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"What do you want?"
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"what I want?" She blinks at them. "I... I want to be with him, for the rest of my life. I don't want him to hit me- I want to marry him, to have his children. I want a family, a real one." Bill wouldn't marry her, and he didn't want children. That was the good thing about him being arrested when he was- he wasn't around to find out that Nancy had been pregnant at the time.
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And that's to say nothing of what a man like him would do to a child in his home. She's living in a fantasy, and Eames is just going to accept all over again he'll never be able to make her see the reality of her life.
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"What makes you think he'll ever stop hitting you?"
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"he's changing! He's already so much better than before he was arrested- without Fagin to fuck it all up he's so much better. and maybe just maybe, when he knocks me up again, he'll change his mind. Now that Fagin ain't around to..." she makes a vague gesture.
"We could have our happily ever after." She had clung to that idea for years and years. it would take a lot more than Eames and Arthur to change her mind about that.
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"I'm not going to sit here and pretend it's not fucking delusional of you to believe that." Eames shakes his head, jaw tight in anger, "I've seen the two of you-- I know he loves you, but love isn't enough on its own."
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But Eames is going to leave again and so is Arthur and she needs them here. "It should be! He saved me, and I can do the same for him, I know it. If... if cursing him is going to be the only thing that makes you see that I'm not delusional, then do it. You'll see."
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But when she was ready? She needed to know she'd have someone there for her. Else what good would leaving him really be?
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"Yeah, of course." He says it emphatically, because as doubtful as he is it'll ever happen, god does he want it to.
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"In a heartbeat," he adds after Eames, dropping his hand from Eames' back so he can go lean on the counter. He's still so tired.
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She'd have to be blind, not to notice how tired the gentlemen were. "Go back to bed, you two. Let me make breakfast. Then I'll get out of your hair. Let me take care of you two, for taking care of me." Plus, she was a really great cook at this point now. Since Bill returned, she'd been working extra hard to make sure they had some damn good meals. Especially now that her boyfriend could appreciate real food on a level that her ex could not.
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He looks at Arthur, thoughtful, and puts a hand on his leg. "What do you think?"
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Besides, the New Moon was only a few days away, so Bill would be a bit more docile.
"I have somewhere I can go." Maybe she'd spend a few hours at Dodger's flat. "You two go to bed, then. I'll get dressed and head out. Then..." Then they wouldn't speak, until she decided to leave him.
If she decided to leave him.
Well. They could pretend it was a departure on better terms now, right?
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"Yeah," he says after a long moment, too tired to protest if he wanted to, "yeah, sure."
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Gods she was going to miss the both of them more than she could possibly imagine.
Trying hard not to let tears come to her eyes, Nancy nods. "Yeah- you two go back to sleep. I'll be gone when you wake up." Like she was never here.
But she was taking her jumper back.
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"See you around, Bell."