undergrounds | cross your heart && hope to die

[An August catch-all! Please note that Nancy has been cursed to compelled to tell the truth. This curse lasts until she reveals 3 things that she never would have otherwise, or until the next full moon (Aug 29). Please mention if a thread occurs AFTER the 29th as for now, she's defaulting to cursed.

Lots of fun. Please see these lovely starters, and check the comment section for a few starters. Want something specific? you know where to find me (

sheakespeare).]

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Option A
The day after Lammas, Nancy woke up like any other day. She fed her cat, had some coffee and cooked up a bit of bacon to keep her hangover at bay. Today was supposed to be like any other day, grab a few bottles of Blood Replenisher to give to Cooper, more VT for her, and maybe stop by a local cafe to read for a while. And everything was going just great.

At least, until she got to the apothecary. When she was asked how she was doing, instead of just saying 'alright' and moving on like any normal person would do, she found herself looking at him and saying, "I'm bloody hungover and I don't know what just happened." But she'd said those words, even if they weren't the ones she wanted to. Blinking, she tried again, but the results were the same. Even after a third time.

"Fine, just ring me up I can tell you're impatient and think I'm crazy." He gave her a look, but rang up her purchases. Nancy was only too glad to get out of there.

Once on the street, that's where she was able to take stock of herself. Putting her bags down, she leaned against the wall. "Alright, Nancy. What's going on with you? This isn't like you." And that was the first of many incidents that day, where she thought one thing, and wound up saying something entirely else. Something, she found, that was true, and only occurred when she was lying.

Someone had cursed her. And she still had to run errands.

Option B

Nancy was determined not to let this curse keep her from working. So here she was, another night, another bar, dolled up. Whenever she approached men, however, she still couldn't, try as she might, even dance around telling the truth.

She sounded desperate, awful, and her game was at an all-time-low. At this rate, she'd have to ask Fagin for money, and he was notoriously tight with his purse strings. The only thing worse than that would be asking someone like Killian to help her out. Completely unacceptable.

Another failed solicitation, and the bartender finally nodded to the bouncer. said bouncer, who had once happily checked Nancy's ID, marched over to the petite girl and promptly informed her that this bar had no room for prostitutes, and she was therefore banned from the establishment for the rest of forever.

Shoulders sagging forward, Nancy trekked through London, trying to keep her tears at bay. Tonight, she decided, she was just going to walk home. Usually, she'd find herself at Fagin's, pouring herself a drink of gin on nights like tonight. But seeing the old man would only be a disaster tonight. Besides, she needed some time to think to herself.

Option C

If anyone has cared to notice, it's been a few days since Nancy'd been seen around London, or even responded to any sort of texts or anything. Her phone is off, and she's more than happy to spend her time right now sitting on the couch with her cat in her lap and read. Reading would lead to drinking and watching television, or even practicing videogaming but all the same, the fact remained she was lonely. Lonely and bored. First July kept her in the house for the Hunt, and now August had her nearly unable to open her mouth at all to have any sort of normal human interaction.

And, when it was feeling like it was going to be impossible to ever lift the curse, she started researching. She had a few books hidden away from when she lived at the Den, and poured over them, attempting to find a solution to her problem.

Option D
Wild Card. Make your own prompt.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"None! I don't think there's anyone what hates me enough." Fagin, maybe. But not her.

"I can't tell anyone else, they wouldn't-" she'd ruin her relationships with them. "Oh god- if Stiles wants to see me? I can't see him! You can't let me see him." Or else he'd know everything.

She felt ill.

Kenzi is desperately tempted to call her relatives who are a little more important than bus-boy and mob runner and ask them to pretty please figure this out for her. But, even if she was desperate enough, they were more loyal to her mother and step-father than to her. With her cousins she could at least convince them not to rat out where she was. She didn't mind her mother knowing she was doing alright. She just couldn't know where she was.

"Stiles can suck it until we figure this shit out. Do you wanna stay at my place just in case?"

Ignoring the fact that a vampire fucking busted in and stole about 30% of the loot she took from Carmilla.

There's also the quiet incentive to keep that from happening to Nancy too. Especially since she has repeat customers who are vamps. She's just happy it hasn't happened yet.

"I can't- Cooper may need to stay here, still." She'd been letting him go through detox in her apartment. She'd been the one to stop him during his fae-blood fueled rampage. It was only right that she be the one to try to patch him up. "And I can't let him alone with Juliet." She really didn't want to come home to a dead kitten.

Nancy drew her knees up to her chest, and leaned up against Kenzi's shoulder, trying to make herself as small as possible. "I'm sorry, I'm not usually this pathetic."

"Cooper's here?"

Kenzi wasn't above poking around to look for him, but it hardly crossed her mind when the first and last thing on her mind was Nancy.

"Yeah I can see why you wouldn't wanna let him around Juliet alone."

Just cause Cooper was likable didn't mean he was trustable. At Nancy's apology, Kenzi wraps her thin arms around her friend and squeezes. "Shush. I don't think you're pathetic. I think the a-hole who did it is pathetic."

She was already envisioning smashing their face in.

"Not right now. But he stays here sometimes. He's detoxing from Fae blood." Great, more secrets she was spilling, and it only served to make her withdraw further into her own bundle of self-pity. "I give Juliet some VT." Just in case. She loved her kitten, as nearly everyone that came over seemed to do.

With Kenzi's arms around her, Nancy wraps her own arms further around her best friend, crying into her chest. It was amazing what a little bit of tender comforting could do to the girl who'd been starved of a non-threatening touch far too often. "I just- I hate this so much!"

"Gotcha." Kenzi filed that away for later to ask Nancy about because - what the hell are you doing draining Fae, Cooper? - but also because Nancy is her sole focus right now.

Nancy's tears only make the desire to find the fucker who did this and put the Fear of Kenzi in them stronger. Her hold squeezes the sobbing redhead just slightly as she pets her hair solemnly.

"I know, honey."

It was a long story and she really really didn't want to have to tell her the truth so please don't ask until this damn curse is lifted.

"I'm terrified this will ruin everything. People will be furious with me, hate me- Fagin will outright murder me, make no mistake, or worse." He had a violent streak in him a mile wide.

"Babe! You got to calm down. Nobody is gonna hate you, and Fagin isn't gonna murder you!" Aren't you his favorite? At least, that was the impression Kenzi got. She promised herself she'd take a chunk out of his fat ass if he even tried to hurt Nancy. She might be a low rent witch, but Kenzi wouldn't just let her best friend get hurt without putting up a fight.

"Just...take a sabbatical, tape your mouth shut - I don't know. I'll help you cover rent until we figure it out if you don't have enough."

Everything was always so cut and dry with Kenzi when things were tough. It was a survival mechanism.

Yes, but that didn't mean she was irreplaceable. Or that he wouldn't wrap his hands around her throat in a second if he thought she was about to give anything of his up. "You say that," she groaned, but she knew Kenzi had a point, somewhere. Still, she wanted to be able to enjoy a bit of moaning and groaning and crying.

"I won't let you help me with rent." And that was a promise. "I should have some tucked away, it's just-" she sighed. "Giving so much of what I make to Fagin drains me. He set me up here. I can make it work out." She tried to give Kenzi a smile, but decided that she was better off laying her head against Kenzi's chest.

Kenzi purses her lips, wanting very much to argue with Nancy but if she's under the influence to tell the truth - Kenzi doesn't think she'll budge much.

"Fine."

She won't tell her what she thinks of Fagin. Not at all. Besides, that was just how their world worked right? You get indebted to someone and you don't get out.

Nancy can hazard a guess what Kenzi thinks of Fagin, because it's likely the same thing she herself thought. He was a monster, worse as any she'd read about. But even worse, because he was real.

"Thank you," she breathes, sighing with relief. "I'm sorry. I hate being the one people have to pick up after." She was so much better at hiding her own problems and focusing on others'. When she didn't have that, she was laid bare in public.

This curse had left her completely vulnerable in a way she'd never been before.

Kenzi blows the most mature raspberry ever and smiles down at her bosom buddy. Literal.

"I might not like being the adult, but I am a killer mom friend, okay?"

She sniffled.

"Someone needs to be, when I'm not." She was always, always the mom of the group. And it fit her. Being the one in need was unusual, unfamiliar. Far easier to just forget about her own troubles.

Nancy nuzzles Kenzi just a little. "I love you, Kenzi." And you know it was the truth.

cross your heart && hope to die

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