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Your Alternative Views

Your Alternative Views
Welcome to Your Alternative Views, our special one-off supplement to Worldly Weirdness Weekly, written by you! Below is a selection of articles written for this special issue, covering a variety of topics from the London area.

NB. Articles are not fact-checked and staff take no responsibility for the veracity of any sources. The content of this supplement in no way reflects the opinions of Alternative Views News staff.

Letters You'll Never Send

Thirty years with a broken heart
By J.H.
When I rejected your advances, I did so out of fear of what my family would think. Not because I did not have feelings for you. You were beautiful and kind and witty and were it not for your place in society, I would not have thought twice about it.

I was a fool.

It's been thirty years and I have an admirable marriage. Two children and a third on the way. The two of us get along famously. But every night I lie in my wedding bed I can think only of you.

It is no secret you returned to your place of birth with the changing of the seasons last spring. You never did return to me in all that time, but I wondered when I heard a long suffering sigh on the wind that same night if it was a final message to me.

That sigh haunts me. In these last months I've come to believe it's a curse. Your heartache made mine. What love I have for my family pales and crumbles under its pressure. I no longer care about them. Their lives meaningless noise.

I should hate you for this.

Your Opinions

Burn The Nest
By E.L.J.
It's been months since Harris came into power and nothing's been done. The Night Council, whom we've all been trusting to do their goddamn jobs, have simply sat on their arses. Sure, the Nest isn't protected by their laws anymore, but are they out there eradicating them? No. They're patting themselves on the back while running with their tails between their legs whenever any vampire so much as sets foot near them.

This has gone on too long. We need a good old-fashioned torch and pitchfork mob to deal with this. March up during the day and set fire to all the holes the abominations hide in and let the flames and sun sort them out. London can be rebuilt when it's done and it'll be for the better.

Real Justice Means Not Letting Them Get Away With It
By Mr Angry
You know one thing that shouldn't change around here? Justice for those that deserve it. I had the displeasure of watching the Night Council hand out their so-called pardons to a motley array of criminals and ne'er-do-wells the other day and it is utter BULLSHIT. They pardoned a prostitute who was a known member of Circle Midnight just because they felt sorry for her. Boo hoo. You're a witch, get a proper job. Not to mention an ACTUAL FUCKING MURDERER. I sure feel safer sleeping in my bed at night. One of these days Hillingdon is going to go full-on vigilante and you'll only have yourselves to blame.

Gossip Girl

Climbing the Carpet Ladder
By J.J.
The only reason Nora Shannon got elected in the first place is because Sylvia Redbright wanted to get her hands in those Catholic pants. Everyone knows covens are just another word for sex harems, but it's never been so blatantly obvious until the last election and the recent trials. Between her and Diphylleia's reinstatement, Sylvia's little harem is just going to keep dominating the Council.

Gossip Girl says: That is an image I never wanted to have. Thanks!

Is Roddy Geiger Gay?
By J.P.
All those pictures of him up on NHILF and he's not with a girl in any of them. That is, a girlfriend girl. He was with a lot of girls when they asked him to stop for them, but he wasn't with a girl that looked like they were dating. Just wondering because if he is I have a friend that's interested. Can anyone confirm?

Gossip Girl says: You know he's like, a RAT, right? He probably RUNS AROUND IN SEWERS and EATS HIS OWN POO. That's why he isn't dating anyone. Gay or not gay, jury's still out.

Mystic Mary's Advice Column

A Courtin Call
Dear Mary,

That's how you're supposed to start these, right? I don't got anyone to talk to about it and I don't know what the heck I'm supposed to do, either. There's this guy, you see, and every time we meet he starts doing this thing. I don't know what it means. If it were someone else, I'd think he was flirting. And I'm pretty sure he does it with everyone else too. Flirting, I mean. It's like he's actually interested, not just making fun. But he's also making fun of me while he does it. I'd be fine with it if he was. Making fun, I mean. I get that. It's what people do. Just, it sounds like he's serious sometimes. I don't know what to do.

– Rattled in Richmond

Dear Rattled in Richmond,

Ooh, it sounds like this man has you all in a tizzy! The question is, are YOU interested? Once you know how you feel, the answer is quite simple. If you are interested: flirt back! Let him know that you enjoy spending time in his company and that you'd like to take things one step further. If he's serious, he'll go for it. If not, well, now you know not to waste your time with him. If you're not interested: let him down gently. You don't have to put up with him bothering you, tell him straight.

Maybe you're not sure how you feel about it. Try this: toss a coin. If it lands heads, flirt back. If it's tails, let him down. It doesn't matter how the coin lands, what matters is how you feel about it. That will tell you what's truly in your heart...

Love, Mystic Mary xoxo

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New Meta Human Home Daycare
By Liadan Waters
My name is Liadan and I am starting a home daycare specifically for meta human children or any other child who has or may develop supernatural abilities. I am a meta human myself and I have a five year old son, so I have experience with the needs of these children. I am also a trained healer with healing abilities as well, so you can be sure your child will be in good hands.

If you are interested in finding out more, please call me at 07700 900841 or email me at liadan@example.com.

Prize Draw
The winner of this issue's special prize draw is... Liadan Waters! Congratulations, Liadan, an antique music box is making its way over to you now. When opened, the music that plays will soothe all that hear it and send anyone who is distressed or injured into a healing sleep. Terms and conditions apply.

[OOC: Please feel free to use this post to have your characters react and talk to each other about any of the content mentioned above! If you would like to request an NPC to interact with, let me know.

Activity count for this post: Daryl Dixon = 25 comments; Liadan Waters = 5 comments.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Nancy watched him with curious green eyes as he pulled her chair out. Following his lead, she took her own jacket off, leaving her in a t-shirt and jeans. She looked a whole lot different from how she did at the trial, but still not quite how she dressed for a night of work. She actually almost looked her age.

"You don't have to pay for me," she tells him gently, and then adds towards the server that she'd love a coffee, too. When they left, she opened the menu and began to peruse. "What do you recommend, sir?"

Daryl glanced at her, giving her a 'don't pull that who's paying shit' look, "I offered."

At the 'sir', he cringed and frowned, "Name's Daryl. Their sandwiches are pretty good." He really hoped she didn't keep up with the sir bit. He weren't no sir. It sounded weird.

"Fine." She didn't have the heart to fight over it today. He was lucky.

"Daryl, then. Thank you. I'm Nancy- but you probably figured that out already."

He cleared his throat and had to shift his seat as he leaned forward on his elbows. Let his eyes drift down to the table top while he nodded.

"Yeah, uh..." he coughed again, voice going very quiet, "You uh... said hello once, couple years ago, when I first got to London. I seen you around bars every now and then since. Didn't know you was so young 'til recent though."

She did. Shit. Nancy winced with the realization. "Fuck- I'm really sorry I didn't recognize you." But she meets so many random men in bars, but she's not going to use that as an excuse.

She nods. "Yeah. Supposed to be twenty next month." Most people had no idea how young she was. It wasn't really something she wanted to advertise.

Daryl shook his head, "Nah, don't be. I said no. I ain't ever... purchased those kinds of services."

There wasn't any reason for her to remember him. It was just that, when one hit bars where people like them were able to be themselves more publicly, there was much smaller group of faces to remember who frequented what. And it wasn't like Daryl went to them more than a couple times every few months, anyway. So his memory of passing by her was bound to be better than what it was in return. Especially on the nights when she'd had more than one man showing interest.

"You ain't know for sure?" he asked after a second, the 'supposed to be' registering a little after the fact as an odd way of putting that.

"Ah," which, honestly, helped. Sometimes though, she never did get a clear look at a person's face. More so, recently, but her pardoning put an end to that. She actually had a place to practice her work now. Far safer, and made her feel a bit more classy.

She shakes her head. "No- There's no record of my birth anywhere. And whatever I found out when I was a kid was the truth as Fagin knew it, or could twist it. So." She's reasonably sure she's nineteen.

An orphan then. Not surprising. She actually got off lighter than many in her situation. Probably had a lot to do with the asshole of a Fae she'd been bound to.

He nodded again and went quiet. Small talk had never been his strongest suite.

Fagin, as much as he hurt them all, he kept them all alive, for the most part. And generally out of jail. Never mind it was his fault that her ex was in jail in the first place.

The coffee was brought over, along with Daryl's water, and Nancy eagerly grabs for her mug, the bite marks visible on her arms. She'd left that part out of her pardon- that a good amount of her work had been with vampires. "Alright, coffee, and I'm all decided." She orders her food- breakfast food, actually, looking forward to what she realized would be her second breakfast.

The first was another cup of coffee.

Daryl had noticed the marks, but refrained from saying anything. He knew there was money in that kind of work. As much as it made him uncomfortable, the best he could do right then and there was what he was doing: offering her another option.

Her going for breakfast made his lips twitch up in a small smile before he could get it under control. His own coffee got put down next to his water and he immediately raided the creamer to fill the cup as much as he could. No sugar, but he liked his cream. His own meal was just a sandwich. The one with the most meat, but a sandwich none the less.

"You got someone to call if things go bad?" Other than Lance.

While Daryl put in his cream, Nancy applied sugar and what cream was left over to her own coffee. She stirred it with the small spoon, before setting it on the saucer like a proper English lady.

"I do, yeah. I'm living with my boyfriend now, actually." And he'd be there in a minute of she needed him. He made her promise she would call, and she intended to keep it.

"He knows. About all of this." She gestured vaguely, not wanting to reveal to some random man that her boyfriend was a vampire.

There was not a lot of cream left over. Daryl lifted his cup a few times to slurp at the top and lower the liquid level every time he raised it to the brim with the cream. He only stopped when it was at the point of being cream with coffee instead of coffee with cream. He also didn't look at all guilty when he passed what amounted to maybe one 'portion' of the cream to Nancy before he leaned back in his seat with his warm-ish cup in both hands.

"He treat you right?" Daryl figured if she was living with him, he had to know. The kind of life the girl lived didn't allow for a lot of secrecy on what she did to make money or where the markings were from. Better to try and make sure he wasn't heaping more abuse on her than she already got elsewhere.

She won't judge- she usually takes her coffee with whatever alcohol is lying around the house. But she's in company that doesn't know about her alcoholic tendencies, so her flask stays in her bag.

She nods- it's a question she gets a lot, and it makes sense, knowing what Daryl did about her life. "He's been nothing but the best," she tells him honestly. "He understands," as much as he can, though it's worth mentioning that, aside from their plans for complete honesty, there's a lot of baggage that Cooper has no idea about. Baggage that Daryl knows more about.

But Cooper doesn't need to know about Fagin, aside from that he's no good. It's never come up, so she's never had to explain.

"I really love him." Something so many didn't seem to understand.

Well, that at least, was a relief. There wasn't any hesitation in her answer. No tensions or apparent worries when she speaks of him. She's cautious, but not to the point of being completely defensive. No darting eyes or forced smiles.

"That's good," he said sincerely, falling once again into silence before their meals arrived. He'd about reached his limit of small talk. But sitting in relatively good company for a quiet meal wasn't so bad. Unless she was the talkative sort. He could do a decent job of listening if she was.

"Yeah-" she smiles still, looking up at him. "He's a far cry from my ex." Her violent, werewolf of an ex-boyfriend. Part of her hopes he'll ask what her ex was like, give her a reason to tell someone what she's never dared to tell, well... pretty much anyone who wasn't there to begin with.

If Daryl doesn't, well, she'll keep talking anyway.

"He hurt you?" The ex. Because the way she said that sure made it sound like he was the kind to do it. And like she might want to talk about it. He wasn't great at reading social ques like that, though, so if he'd mis-judged he was ready to backpedal and apologize.

Yes, yes he did. But she still won't say it out loud.

"He's a werewolf." because that explains it all, right? Gods she hopes so. "He's in prison right now." She hesitates to say his name, some people knew of him. He was a bit infamous in the shifter community.

Being a werewolf didn't fully explain it. But being in jail certainly did. The way she said it, too. The obvious fear in her eyes, like saying his name aloud would bring her further harm. She was probably scared of what might happen when he got out, too.

"How long he in for?"

She loves him- and Bill Sikes loves her too, she knows it. He hasn't really said it, but her name was inked on to his skin, and they'd left their marks on each other. She missed him. But she had Cooper right now.

"Five years," she says. "He's got a few left."

Five years wasn't a lot of time. It sounded like it, but it wasn't. And if he got out early, where would that leave her?

"You break up with him before he went in?" because if she hadn't, there could be some major problems in her life and they'd need to be dealt with. He'd seen it play out too often in Georgia. Up close and personal with friends of his daddy. He didn't want to see it with her.

Awkward.

Nancy shifts, looking over her shoulder to take some time before she actually had to answer. "No- there wasn't time. He... doesn't know." Which with his temper was just tempting fate. Oh god, she realizes. When he gets out she's screwed.

Shit.

"Keep your ear to the ground. You hear 'bout him gettin' out, you come find me." He wasn't going to advise she write him and tell him, because that would just give him years to stew in his anger about it and plot out how to hurt her when he did get out.

She shakes her head. "it wouldn't do. he doesn't like other people involved in our relationship." The irony escapes her, considering it was Fagin who had set it all up in the first place.

"You ain't got a relationship with him no more," Daryl corrected her, not feeling at all guilty for how blunt he was being. "He's gonna need to learn that when he gets out and learn it good. And I'm guessin' you ain't got the kind of fight in you that'll get the lesson across without you gettin' hurt in the process."

If she did, then she could kick his ass. But he was in jail and he was a werewolf. He was dangerous.

"And I'm immune to his bite."

Just throwing that whole being a shifter thing out there. Because in this instance, that was an advantage.

"no," she repeats. "He'll kill you with or without the bite. I won't put you or anyone else in that position. You don't know Bill. not like I do." The words were punctuated by the arrival of their food.

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