undergrounds | MABON } 22nd September

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MABON } 22nd September


The times, they are a'changing. But in this case, it's the same way they change every year. The 22nd of September is the Autumn Equinox, and aside from it being a great time for witches to get up to all sorts of shady shit with fae, it's time for the seasonal change in power between the two Courts. And in typical Fae fashion, this event is to be marked with a hugely ostentatious party. They've taken over Crystal Palace Park for a party that'll be going near on 24 hours. The trees are lit with twinkling lights, and many fae have chosen to forgo their glamours — some are indescribably beautiful, others monstrous, and quite a few... Well, they look more or less human, but obviously it doesn't bother them and it shouldn't bother you either! There is dancing, flirting, and laughter. And the drinks and food are free flowing. Slipping between realms is also extremely easy, but there's been strict instruction not to steal any mortals tonight or there'll be hell to pay. This also marks the first official appearance of Eames as the Lord of Autumn, (it's not something he could readily get out of, you see,) so expect plenty of gossip about how odd it is he seems to shy away from his title, his obsession with mortals, and how very un-Fae it is of him to cancel the hunt.
	The RULES are as follows: All vampires must have a fae chaperone. The open invite does extend to vampires, but we can't just have them walking around doing whatever they like, can we? In addition, drinking blood is strictly forbidden. Consensual or not, any vampire found drinking blood within a half mile radius of the park will be killed. It's just not good manners. Violence is also forbidden. It's just not fun for everyone. If you really need to have it out with someone, challenge them to a duel. The children's playground has been made into a duelling area with guards to make sure it all goes smoothly. There are weapons available and they're all very medieval.
That's about it, they aren't a very rule-heavy bunch and honestly just want to have a fun night.

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"Please," he hisses, and wraps one arm around her to try and tug her back against himself. "Listen to me! I'm not going to arrest you but if you draw too much attention I might have to explain why."

If Nancy causes a scene people will look, and if people look they might gossip about this, and if it gets back to someone like Sylvia then Lancelot will have a very hard time talking himself out of trouble.

Nancy's small, he can easily wrap an arm around her and hold her to him. Eyes wide, she moves to struggle out of his grasp.

But he's right, and she can't convince the crowd it's anything else. Not here, not now. So she stops struggling. "God help you if you're lying to me, Lance." She speaks through her teeth, fear edging into her voice.

"What would be the point?"

There's little to gain from lying, he's already caught her as it were. Why not just arrest her if he's going to? He loosens his arm around her, belatedly realising that it probably looks... odd the way he's holding her and pressed up behind her. They likely as not already have a little attention. He glances up and around casually, trying to think. Displays of affection normally make people uncomfortable, that's probably the best way to get people to look away.

"Pretend it's a game," he says softly, "people are looking. Here --"

He slackens his grip and moves to tickle her, like that was the reason he ran after her in the first place. As long as Cooper doesn't get the wrong idea it is a sound cover.

The point? There was plenty to gain from lying to her: getting her to say where she was staying, to go along with him without causing a scene. Well, bigger scene, she supposed.

He doesn't need to tell her how to pretend it's a game, and Nancy wrinkles her nose, pulling a face in response to the suggestion. But she goes along with it, smiling and laughing and turning in his arms, and then takes a step back. She doesn't trust him.

"What d'you want?"

What does he want? It's a good question. Lancelot has drunk just enough that he hadn't really thought that far ahead, and it takes him a moment to recoup and think of an answer.

"I wasn't involved," he says finally, "Sylvia kept it all to her Outreach team."

It's important to Lancelot that she know that, that he wasn't there doing her dirty work. He didn't arrest any of them.

"No Guardians involved?" Nancy scoffs at the very idea- yeah, she didn't believe that.

She doesn't trust him- and she wants Lance to know that as she keeps her eyes trained on him. "Isn't that lucky- so I suppose I won't blame you, then, for the fact that I lost everything, right?" There's venom in her words, but what else would she have? Lance needs to realize that there are people on the other side of the equation. People like her.

"None," he answered, "she wanted it to be just her own faction, no muddying the waters. I know --"

He stops, takes a breath and rubs at his stubble. Nancy has no reason to trust him, and he can't really promise her anything.

"I never wanted any of this," he says finally, and Lancelot usually manages to keep his cool but he's been drinking. Emotion seeps into his voice, regret -- plenty of it. "Sylvia asked my opinion a long time ago and I told her to give you all a voice, to listen to you. Norrell just -- drowned us all out."

It didn't matter, because it was still Redbright who had moved. Her own faction, Daybreak, the Institute, and the Council it was all the same to Nancy at this point, what with that woman in charge. It didn't matter how separate she tried to keep it all, because it wasn't going to work.

"Norrell." She barked out a laugh at the mention of his name. "But he's not here now, is he?" She'd personally seen to it, that he was gone. "But sure, let's blame him for the fact I was forced out of my home." She won't mention she has the keys to a place in Canary Wharf, or that she's living with Cooper.

"Let's blame him for the fact that business has taken a nosedive. That'll solve everything, right?"

"I'm telling you I tried!" he says, and he takes to take a breath to keep himself from raising his voice.

Nancy doesn't care if he tries because he failed. In truth he supposes he can understand that. There are no points for effort here. Midnight has still been ripped apart as a faction, and even if he thinks Abigail made a mistake siding with Raymond Nancy herself won't care. Abigail was her friend.

"I'm sorry," he says finally, and he sounds defeated because he is.

“You could have tried harder!” Nancy doesn’t meant to raise her voice, but once she hears herself, she recognizes the error. “Was that what you were doing, when you told Redbright about me?” Oh, she hasn’t forgotten, and she’ll use it against him if she damn well pleases. Because of him, she knew her name, and there was a chance that Redbright had people looking for her.

It was a chance she didn’t want to take, and maybe she should get Cooper to escort her back home.

She presses her lips together, threading her fingers through her hair, pulling it away from her face. “Thank you.” Though she wasn’t sure if she meant it or not.

"Yes," he says firmly, "it is what I was doing. She asked me to look at Midnight, so I did. I told her the truth. I found nothing but people who wanted to be heard. No dramatic plots to overthrow her. I wrote her pages of observation telling her exactly that, and when she asked my advice I told her to try listening."

He takes a breath again, drops his eyes away.

"I did what I could. I'm sorry it wasn't enough."

Nancy clenches her jaw, running over this information. It still was awful, that Redbright knew who she was. But there was nothing they could do to fix that, now.

"Yeah?" She asks, frown cementing itself on her pink-painted lips. "I am, too. Because now there's nothing we can do. My friends are gone, my home is gone- all I have left is what I managed to take with me."

You should feel bad, Lance. You, and Sylvia, and everyone involved at the Institute.

"There's never nothing, Nancy. I won't stop trying, I can promise you that."

Nancy might not believe it, but Lancelot does. The world can be a better place, it must be. If only they can find the right way to do it, the right way to make it work.

"Hate Sylvia all you like, but trust me. Please. I've never lied to you Nancy, I won't start now. If there's a way to make this right, I will find it."

"I wish I had your optimism, Lance." She doesn't. She's been kicked by the world time and time again and sure she probably deserves it. But there are others out there who don't. when Abby stepped in, she'd been thinking things were looking up.

But here they were, worse than they'd been before.

It would be a miracle if Nancy made it to 25.

"You don't have to. Don't believe it if you don't want to. Just believe that I'll keep trying for you."

He will, because Lancelot may keep in line when he needs to but he believes in what they all could be. In people working together to make the world a better and safer place. It was the job he thought he would be doing. It's the job he still wants to do.

His words sting in a way she hadn't anticipated that anything he would say had, and she draws a sharp, shaking breath. Jaw tight, she nods.

How did she get these people in her life, she wanted to know. These people with good hearts, who somehow managed to care about a girl that was nothing but a thief and a whore. She didn't deserve it, not in the least. Lance should be marching her to Redbright right now.

But he wasn't. He was trying to get her to trust him.

"Please- please warn me." Of anything that may put her in danger. "Don't tell her you saw me, or anything. Please."

"Always," he answers easily, and gently slips an arm around her -- tries to tug her forward into his chest. "We'll think of something. Just -- stay out of west London. Keep your head down."

Stay away from Redbright's territory, in other words, and don't give her any excuse to do something. Don't let her catch you before he can work something out.

Nancy stiffens at first when he moves to hug her, but after a moment, she softens, wrapping her arms around him in return. It was good to have someone hug her, promising that everything would be alright. She needed that more often.

"I will," she whispers. "Business has all but dried up lately." She tries to smile at it, but it was rough, ever since she'd been kicked out of her home and the Anglo. She had a new place now, to practice, but that alone had not saved her financially. At least she still had The Three Cripples.

A pause. "I want you to know I have someone I'm staying with." She won't say whom. "So I'm a safe spot."

"Good," he answers, "don't tell me where. Just stay hidden. I'll think of something, I promise."

He squeezes her closer a second before finally letting go, taking a step back and gently pushing a lock of hair out of your face.

"We'll get through this. I know we will."

Nancy watches him, her eyes wide and clear. "Thank you," she whispers, her mouth dry. "I'll be careful, I promise."

They could do this, she wanted to believe. Apart from following Sylvia's orders, he'd only ever tried to help her. She wanted to believe that it wouldn't change now. He knew her, he cared about her. How he managed to do that, she would never know.

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MABON } 22nd September

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