undergrounds | & you could run so fast & fade away- sept. open post

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& you could run so fast & fade away- sept. open post

September 6, late night: open

It was a text that had done it in the end. A text from one of the other Shadow girls to all of them- Abigail had been arrested by the Guardians. Geap Manor was in flames. and they were coming for the rest of them.

Nancy didn't waste time. She tossed whatever she could into an enchanted bag- unsure if she'd ever be able to return to her apartment. Anything of value, be it sentimental or monetary was grabbed, but she knew her time was limited. While her flat was in Colin Coward's name, rather than her own, she knew they'd be on to her.

With Juliet at her side, she snuck down her fire escape, a spell muffling her footsteps. She dressed as unassumingly as she could- jeans, a hoodie and trainers. Without makeup on she could have been anyone. Hood up, she crept through the side streets. She had to get out of Enfield as soon as she could, had to find some place to hide. And she knew exactly where that was. The trick was getting there.

September 7, early morning: closed to Cooper

It was nearly morning, by the time Nancy found herself at her destination, right outside Cooper's door. She knocks, rather than barges in, rapping her fist three times against the door as quick as she can. A moment later and she's looking over her shoulder, wondering if perhaps she'd been followed.

No, she couldn't have been. She'd gone the long way, taking unnecessary detours, getting on and off of the tube at the same station. She'd kept her face covered, away from the CCTVs as best she could, staying in the dark. Nancy couldn't have been followed.

Juliet paced back and fourth behind her, having followed her the whole way. Standing in front of Cooper's door, Nancy knows she's nearly safe, but the adrenaline coursing through her veins won't let her stop, won't let her think about anything other than getting safe. What's just happened hasn't sunk in yet. But given time, it will.

September. 12, afternoon: Closed to Eames

Nancy keeps looking at the door of Eames' new flat, her back straight. There's a puppy in front of her, and she's eagerly petting him, but her heart isn't quite in it. "I can't believe you got a dog," she tells Eames, looking away from the door for a moment. "What a sweetheart, aren't you, Boxer?"

A dog, a new house, a new title. It was funny, in a way: as Nancy's world crashed down around her, Eames' star seemed to be rising in his court. Good- she liked seeing him happy.

Mid September: open

For the rest of the month, Nancy is keeping to the shadows. She's cautious, hardly daring to go out at night, even though she knows now, in Islington territory, she's safe. Redbright won't be able to find her, or if she does, she can't do anything about it. So she hopes, though it's been made clear that traditional rules are quickly being thrown out the window.

When she does go out, it's to work, and even that's taken a turn for the worse. Since Harris had ascended to power, work had been drying up, and what had happened at Harris' party had certainly sent a message, as Cesare had said. Worse, still was her apartment in Enfield was a place she couldn't yet return to- a place to work. As such, most nights she's in bars and back alleys, if she didn't have appointments set.

She keeps to herself, though, eyes carefully glued to the door of any building she's in, quick to glance over her shoulder.

[ooc: toss a post in if you'd like, or grab me at

sheakespeare!]

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Cooper had gone to bed only a couple of hours before and he awoke slowly to the sound of someone knocking over and over again on his door. He put a pillow over his head, but whoever was out there wasn't going away. Sighing, he got up, grumbling to himself in Gaelic all the while. He padded to the door in a pair of sweatpants, barefoot and without even bothering to put on a shirt over his skinny teenage body.

Nancy was standing there with her cat wrapping around her ankles. She looked scared and young, so terribly young to Cooper's old eyes. Something had gone wrong. He would have thought it work-related, but she was dressed all wrong to have been out soliciting clients. He immediately opened up his door wide and ushered her in. "Sweet-pea! Jesus, what happened?"

It's taking him too long to answer the door, so she knocks again- again, waiting for some sort of sign that he was home. If he didn't answer the door soon, she wasn't above picking his locks and crawling into his bed without warning. She needed to feel his arms around her, a warm blanket.

He looks so tired when he opens the door, but Nancy doesn't say anything until she's inside, and it's then that she flings her arms around Cooper, holding on to him with all the strength her tiny body has.

"Abby-- they got her. Geap- Enfield-" how did she explain, where did she start? "Midnight's-- we're done." The moment the word leaves her lips, her shoulders are shaking as she heaves a tremendous sob into Cooper's neck. They were done. They couldn't come back from this, she couldn't take that power. She'd failed her best friends, both of them.

And she had a knapsack filled with all her worldly belongings to prove it.

Cooper pets her hair slowly, trying to make sense of what her fractured words mean. He's always known there was a threat to Midnight from the other witches, ever since Abby, Kenzi, and Nancy had formed their coven together. It was one of the things that had drawn him to their cause, the element of danger that was ever present. But he never thought it would come to something like this. If Nancy was here, that can mean only one thing: Midnight has fallen.

"Abby? Is she dead?" He's been friends with the young witch nearly as long as he had with Nancy and he can feel a cold pit of anxious worry settling into his stomach. He doesn't want to push Nancy, but he has to know how bad things have gotten. He'll be getting no more sleep tonight.

Nancy shakes her head, clinging to Cooper. "No- arrested." Arrested, and Geap Manor was in flames, and she wouldn't have been surprised if Sylvia had been the one to light the match.

Juliet pushes past the couple and starts sniffing around the new environment.

"I don't know the details- I just got a text from Larkin." Another one of the girls in their coven. "Cooper-" she won't let go of him, she can't. Instead, she looks at the door through tears to make sure it's locked.

"They're looking for others." For her, undoubtedly.

"Sit down. Give yourself a minute to breathe." He leads her to the comfortable leather couch in the middle of the room. They've had sex on it more than once, which is a thought he immediately pushes away. Not the time for it, Cooper. She needs him right now. He's already snapping into the role of doing what a high-placed member of the nest should do. The first thing is to make sure she wasn't followed here.

"Gimme a minute here." He pulls out his cell phone and is already dialing the number of another vampire in the nest. "Thom? It's Cooper. I need you t'check around my flat. Make sure there's no one hanging about, particularly witches. You find anyone, deal with 'em straightaway. What? No, nothin' t'report right now. There may be trouble later."

Second thing is to try and calm her down. "Was it just Abby that was arrested? Or was most of the coven?"

Nancy nods mutely and follows him wordlessly on to the couch. Sex was the last thing on her mind- she'd been out working earlier that evening.

After peeling off her shoes, Nancy draws her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her knees, softly crying. Cooper could do what he needed to do, she just wanted to disappear into the couch. She wanted to be out there doing something. She wanted to be safe.

"I shouldn't have come," she muttered, when he put the phone down. "If I lead anyone to you..." But he was on it, and they'd be fine.

She shakes her head. "I don't know- Wasn't just our coven, but any of us. I don't know who they got but I managed to stay away." She's trembling, eyes glued to the door. "I'm sorry, I didn't know where else to go."

Cooper goes to his fridge and pulled out a can of soda. Nancy is close to a state of shock and getting some sugar into her will help to draw her back out of it. Normally, he'd go for alcohol, but this is one situation where beer might not be the best thing to help. He hands it to her.

"Drink. Nice 'n slow. It'll help." He holds her close, chin resting on top of her head. This is a bad situation. All he can do is offer what comfort he can.

"You're gonna stay here," he says decisively. There's only a token flicker of resistance in his mind. What else is he going to do? Toss her out into the streets? Sylvia and her goon squad would pick her up in half a minute.

Mutely, she accepts the soda, but doesn't open it. Instead, she holds it with both hands, letting Cooper wrap her in his arms. She rests her head on his chest.

"Thank you," she whispers, closing her eyes. "I couldn't go to Fagin's." He'd enjoy that far too much. And Cesare was right out, right now. He hadn't spoken to her since she'd gone to visit him near a month ago.

"What am I going to do?" she asked through the tears. After a moment, she starts trying to undo the soda tab. Her nails clack on the aluminum uselessly pulling at the tab, her hands shaking too badly to do much of anything else. "I need to help Abby."

Cooper takes the can from her shaking hands and deftly cracks it open before handing it back to her. His voice is kind and soothing as he speaks. It's moments like this he's reminded of how very young Nancy is in comparison to his own long life. "You're gonna do the same thing that anyone else does when they experience a tragedy. You gotta pick up the pieces and move on as best you can."

He kisses her on top of the head. "I know you want t'help her. I do too. But this is bigger than both of us. If we try'n do anything, we could end up worse off than she is." Exile would be the least of their concerns. This was big enough to be talking execution. After all, who was going to miss one witch from a rebellious faction and a vampire from a nest that no longer held sway with the Night Council?

Nancy leans against him, looking for his warmth and comfort. She found it, but it wasn't enough- she wanted more of it. She wanted to curl up inside of something warm and loving and protective. She just wanted Cooper to hold her, to kiss her, and play with her hair and tell her everything was going to be okay.

She accepts the soda. "I know- I know- but-" she ducks her head into his neck. "What if they kill her?" She doesn't know what Sylvia plans, if there will be a trial, anything. She doubts it, good lord she doubts it. Redbright isn't very open when it comes to the Midnight witches.

"I don't know what to do- I helped start this whole thing. I was one of the two other founding members- Abby is my sister!" That revelation brings about a new wave of tears as she clings to Cooper. Juliet, for her part, recognizes that her mom isn't happy, and comes over to sit on her other side. The cat gives a meaningful look at Cooper.

"They won't kill her," Cooper says with more confidence than he feels. He's removed enough from the situation that at least he can approach it with a little more logic. "She's the Maiden, right? That has t'give her some importance overall. If they wanted to just do away with her, they would have let her burn with the mansion." He could only hope that he was right. They were going to make an example of her and no mistake. He could only hope that they weren't going to execute her.

"Sssshhh," he hums to his girlfriend, stroking her hair as he holds her close. Abby was his friend too, and for all the power he held within Islington, there was nothing he could do to help her. It was a frustrating feeling. "I know it all looks as bad as can be right now. But you need t'give it time. Things will look better in the morning."

The sentiment feels pithy and useless to say, but it's all that he can offer. He's got to watch over Nancy now. She's without a faction and that's as dangerous a position as one can be in London.

Oh god- the mansion. Everything in there was gone. She'd been to Geap before, and it was beautiful. Beautiful and terrifying all at once, a piece of history. And now it was gone. Nancy whimpered into his chest.

"But she- she-- I-" Nancy lets out a small wail. "I should have been there!" She wouldn't have been able to do anything, and she'd be arrested just the same. But that wasn't exactly on the forefront of her mind right now.

Carefully, she raises trembling hands to her lips, taking a drink of the soda. It's not alcohol, she wishes it were alcohol, but she's got to calm down.

"No- no it won't," she tells him, because nothing ever looked better in the morning. Bruises only darkened, soreness set in, your mind played games with you all night and you tossed and turned. Nothing was ever better in the morning.

"What could you have done? If you'd have been there, they'd have taken you too. 'N now I'd been on some suicide run t'get you both out." What a thought that was. Cooper would have gone off half-cocked and likely gotten himself staked for his trouble. He kisses the top of Nancy's head again, feeling selfishly glad that she'd been able to get away.

"Maybe not. But everythin' is gonna be okay. I know it doesn't look like it right now, but it will." He doesn't know how that's going to happen, but he'll make it so. Even if it's just holding Nancy in his arm's until she cries herself to sleep, he'll be here for her. It's all he can do right now, but it's better than doing nothing at all.

Nancy pulls her legs up on to the couch, setting the soda down so she can wrap her arms around Cooper's waist and hold herself as close to him as humanly possible.

"I want to believe you," she mutters into his shirt. "But I can't- I just can't." Another wave of tears took over her small body. "I feel so useless-!" She heaved a small sob into his chest.

"I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry."

"You just go on 'n cry. Get it all out." Sometimes, there were moments where there was nothing to do but cry until the tears were all gone. He strokes her hair quietly as he mulls over their current problems. Midnight is gone and Nancy is without a coven. That's a dangerous position for her to be in. She'll be at her most vulnerable over the next couple of weeks. The best thing for her would be to find a new group who can protect her.

The logical choice is Islington. She's already got strong ties to several vampires in the nest, much as Cooper is loathe to recognize her relationships with vampires like Cesare. Yes, they can keep her safe. He'll bring it up to her later. For right now, he lets her sob into his chest while they both mourn the loss of the coven of dark witches and friends they had been to them both.

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& you could run so fast & fade away- sept. open post

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