I feel it in the air

[stauncherhearted]

[A July catch-all! Pick an option and say hello, or start something more specific in the comments. Hit me up on plurk if you want a specific starter!]

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Option One
Nancy had gotten her start picking pockets as just a child. It was so easy, when you were so close to the ground, to look in purses, to bump into people and distract them while your friend grabbed their wallet or their iPod. Picking pockets wasn't hard at all, if you knew what you were doing.

Shoplifting had come next, as it often did for teenage girls looking for a quick high. It wasn't that for Nancy, unfortunately. It was a way to make money, to get what she wanted. Slide an important object into her purse and no one was any smarter. Wrap a scarf around her neck and pretend she'd been wearing it when she walked in. It was cake.

And okay, yes, it was a great way to get a quick high. This was what brought Nancy to Spittalfields market. It was a busy afternoon, the stalls were bustling, and no one was paying any sort of attention to what a petite girl like her was doing. So a few pieces of jewelry here, a few wallets there- tourists were idiots. They saw the 'Beware Pickpockets' signs and instantly checked where they kept their valuables. Easy marks.

Besides, she had to make up for the first week or so of the month when she'd been holed up in her flat, escaping the Hunt.



Option Two
The Thames was beautiful at night. The lights reflected off the surface, you couldn't tell how dirty it was, either. You could walk along, cross over bridges, watch people stumble home from clubs. There was a lot of time to think, too.

Of course, down by the water anywhere was where you could find her sort. A pair of fish-nets and high-heels, tiny dress. She hadn't had much luck in pubs earlier that evening, so now it was time to wait till bar close, when men started stumbling home, desperate for a woman. That, also happened to be when many vampires chose to feed. And that's where she made the real money.



Option Three
"I'm tired of having these bloody conversations!" Through grit teeth, a petite ginger paced quickly in front of the tube station. "No- no, you stop it.- Stop talking, and let me explain you devil!" On the other end of the line, a man prattled about, his condescending tone loud. If Nancy had been paying attention to him, he assumed so, unaware that, mid-way through his diatribe, she was rolling her eyes.

Finally, she'd had enough. "Listen here; I'm about to get on the tube. I can't talk. I'll come over before work tonight, talk with him- yes, yes, you'll have it, I got it all sorted, you'll have your potions!" Nancy nearly tosses the phone into her purse, violently pressing on her touch-screen to end the call.

"Bloody bastard."



Option Four
Wild card. Make your own, drop me a line, whatever. A few private starters in the comments!

Comments

[knightscode]

He shrugs, just casual, and offers her an easy smile.

"Thursday night, the quiet before the storm. We usually get more work at the weekend, especially in the heat. People jumping in the Thames." Lance glances sideways at it, tilts his head a little. "Which... I wouldn't advise."

It may look pretty in the dark, all the city lights reflecting off it, but Lancelot still thinks he'd rather not be in it.

[stauncherhearted]

"Makes sense," she agreed, shifting slightly in her heels. "Trust me, I've lived here my entire life, I'd rather avoid taking a swim there." Dirty, polluted, filled with sewage, likely swimming with bodies and toxic sludge. No thank you.

"Heat and the moon always tend to bring out the trouble."

[knightscode]

"You'd think most people would agree, but... once they've had a few drinks..." He shrugs again, shakes his head as he scans the water. "They jump in, and they're too drunk to swim so -- we end up fishing them out with a boat." Lancelot lets out a sigh, considering her words before shooting her a wry smile. "It'll be a full moon on the 31st, too. Full moon on a Friday night. Perhaps we'll need extra staff, just in case."

Even though he's joking, some gut feeling makes him suddenly wonder if they actually will. Even if the black dogging attacking people wasn't a werewolf, he's sure there will be some around that he simply hasn't run into. Hopefully he doesn't run into them drunk on a Friday night.

[stauncherhearted]

"Tourists, I bet." Idiots. "It's a long way down from any of the bridges." But she'd lost a friend to a drowning in the Thames a long time ago. It wasn't always fun and games gone awry.

Friday on a full-moon. Oh lord. She knew some werewolves, and that they would be out. Werewolves meant vampires were probably in. But on a Friday night...

No, she'd be out. And she'd be working. She'd just have to avoid this officer.

"Well good luck, for that Friday, then."

[knightscode]

"And you," he offers, "if you venture out. Speaking of, are you waiting for someone?"

He shifts to look at her a little better, expression the picture of innocent curiosity -- even if he knows exactly what he is doing.

"You've been waiting a while, if you're stuck without a lift I can help you get back somewhere?"

[stauncherhearted]

Shit. Shit shit shit.

"Oh! Yeah- I'm walking t' the nearest night bus station," she said, gesturing behind her with her thumbs as she took a small step back, which, on the cobblestones, was quite difficult. "I was just reading an email, before." Shit shit shit. She could not afford a ticket or any sort of jail-time right now.

The nearest street-lamp flickered.

[knightscode]

The innocent curiosity drops and Lancelot lifts up his hands, a gesture of something like surrender.

"I'm not going to write you up or try and arrest you," he says simply, then shifts one hand to pluck at his uniform -- where it says Community Officer in clear stitching. "I don't even have handcuffs if I wanted to. I just wanted to warn you that you'd lingered long enough to be noticed."

Slowly he lowers his hands, reaches for his notepad and pen.

"Do you live around here?" he prompts, "have a place to stay?"

[stauncherhearted]

If he thinks she's going to give up that easily.

"You wouldn't be able to arrest me on anything even if you wanted." She said sweetly. Loitering wasn't a crime. Especially not on public property.

...Right...?

"What would you even try to write me up for?" Get him to say it, she decided. She wanted to hear it, so she didn't make it seem like she was jumping to (true) conclusions in her irritation.

"I've got a place." Did she look homeless?

[knightscode]

"So long as you do," he answers smoothly. There's little point rising to her bait, after all. He's already said he isn't about to write her up. He just wants to be sure she doesn't get herself fined more than she can pay, and that she isn't so desperate for money because she's living out of a shelter.

For a few seconds he's writing, small and precise shorthand, then he clicks the point away and pockets it. He studies her a moment, lofts an eyebrow.

"If you want me to voice it," he begins carefully, "I will be officially giving you a verbal warning. It is better for you if I don't."

Ripping the page out of his notebook he puts the rest of it away, holds it out. It simply has a time, a date, and the address of the station on it.

"But," he continues, "if you are often out late at night... it might be worth coming to a street safety session. It costs no money, you don't have to give anyone your name or talk to anyone, but there's free tea, coffee and biscuits and we normally bring a stock of personal alarms. The keyring ones with the lights. If nothing else, you'll probably give anyone who upsets you a headache if you use it."

[stauncherhearted]

"Fair enough," she says, raising her hands in a surrender gesture. But her eyes are drawn quickly towards the piece of paper in his hand, trembling slightly in the breeze off the Thames.

Odd, she thinks, as she takes the paper. He means well, for a cop. She's got pepper spray on her keychain, but she's got more lethal things up her sleeve, too, if need-be. But it's still good to have. Maybe she could pass it on to Stiles... Poor bloke needed all the safety he could get.

"I'll see if I can make it, Officer...?"

[knightscode]

"Dulac," he fills in, "Lance Dulac. I can write it down, if you like." He flashes her a smile, warm and easy, before shrugging -- as if he doesn't mind either way. "If you think you can't make it, equally, I can keep a few things aside for you behind the desk. Just make sure you don't test the alarms inside the building. People's ears will be ringing for days and they might blame me."

(He's already made that mistake once. How loud are these? The answer is very.)

[stauncherhearted]

"That's far too kind of you, Officer Dulac," she says, not offering her own name in exchange. Safety precaution, even if there were a thousand Nancys in the city alone. "We'll have to see, I guess." She neatly folded the paper and tucked it inside her purse.

"I'm guessing you speak from experience." There's no need not to lay the charms on him. It would help to have a friend in high places. Or at least, the police.

[knightscode]

His face screws up at that in a wince, nose wrinkling, and he takes a slow breath before letting it out.

"They have two buttons on the top," he says, as if excusing his mistake. "One is the light, one sets off the alarm -- although you can pull the pin out too, so it won't stop even if someone grabs it off you. I was... curious how loud it was, but I only meant to test the light first. Made myself and everyone else jump. Either way, I can definitely tell you they work -- I am fairly sure I got the attention of the entire office."

[stauncherhearted]

"I see," she says, affording him a smile. "Well then, honest mistake. I'll be sure to try not to make the same one."

[knightscode]

He lets out an awkward sort of laugh, suddenly very aware she probably wants him to go away as soon as possible. A police officer standing around is likely not the sort of attention she wants. He drops his eyes awkwardly, lifts them long enough to afford her a last smile -- slightly concerned.

"Well, I won't keep you. Have a good night, miss, and be careful."

[stauncherhearted]

It really, really isn't the sort of attention she wants. Anyone who'd come to her for any reason, blood, sex, drugs rock and roll, was going to be hanging far back. But thankfully, she didn't have to tell Officer Lance to shove off.

"Thank you, Officer. I'll do what I can. Maybe I'll see you at the station." But not around. That was a sure way to imply that she was indeed a prostitute.

With a quick wave, she took off, walking towards the bus stop as she'd promised. Maybe she'd have better luck on the other side of the Thames.