if you hear any noise it ain't the boys [lady's night!]

[stauncherhearted]

A Nancy's actually just in a pair of jeans and a hoodie when she knocks on Lydia's door. She's got a bag filled with all sorts of necessities- makeup, a dress to wear out tonight, some killer heels. Oh, and of course, she's got booze. plenty of booze, because that's just what Lydia wanted. A pre-party. And even if Rhapsody in Red was pretty chill, who was she to say no to some drinks with a new friend before a night out?

"Lydia! Hey, love! How are you?" She coos, moving in for a hug when the door is answered. "I hope you don't mind, I figured I'd just get ready here. Cooper was in the shower." And as much as she loved a naked boyfriend, it was pretty distracting when you were trying to do your eyeliner and the mirror kept fogging up.

 B Nancy had already sent a text to Caroline, to let her know the plan, and that she was supposed to join them after her shift for a few drinks. The message was passed along to Allison, as well. The more the merrier, Nancy figured, and all these lovely ladies should probably get to know one-another. They were young, pretty girls in a big city, and most of them were relatively new to London.

Upon arriving at the lounge, Nancy claimed them a table with a good view of the stage so they could watch Caroline, and straight-shot to the bar. Though she and Lydia had already had plenty to drink, and Nancy had her never-ending flask in her bag, she didn't know how far along anyone else would be. Plus, drinks. Just, drinks.

Comments

B

[knowntohisfriends]

It may be a ladies night that Nance came out for, but it just so happened that the Dodger had gotten it in his head to go out for a night as well. And he happened to pick the same place. His ID is good, you wouldn't be able to tell it was a forgery unless you were really good at spotting them. He's dressed a bit better, but that's only because his usual wear - which works well for trailing the London streets - would have him out on his ear.

He's got a drink in one hand, and seems to be doing business with the other. Well, it's not like Fagin ever lets them get a night off. He's chatted nice to the people he needs to chat nice too, and his grip on his drink speaks of practice.

(Don't rat him out to those in charge, Nance.)

[stauncherhearted]

Dodger, for his part, gets a look of recognition tossed his way by Nancy. He looks great, a bit young, but who the hell cares? She's not about to scold him for underage drinking, not when she's been constantly plying him with alcohol whenever he's around.

Just so long as he notices who she is with and decides to never ever ever pick-pocket them again, they should be good.

[knowntohisfriends]

He does notice and, on a quiet moment, moves over to Nance. There's an awkward look on his face, and he rubs his neck in a way that signals something is probably going to cause a lot of stress to try to get fixed the way it should.

"You know I can't get the stuff back, right?"

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy softens immediately when she notices the look on his face. She knows him too well, just as he knows her even better.

"I know." They both knew the devil, too. He'd pawn anything that fell into his grimy hands the second he could. Bastard that he was. He didn't care about any of them- they were all just a means to an ends. But he was good at fooling them to think they were.

She looks over at Dodger, not about to ask him why he's here, but basically just asking him. Even though she already knows the answer.

So instead she asks: "Does he want more from me?" He had to. It'd been a few months now, since she'd change vocations, and the money she'd been getting had changed, too. She was working hourly now, rather than menu prices. And though it was a slide down on the pay scale, she was certainly happier about her money, despite the decrease in it. Still, she'd give all the money she could to the boys, in hopes of helping them, despite knowing it would go straight into Fagin's pockets.

What made it worse was Cooper. He'd made it clear he'd love to let her stop working, and support her financially. He'd had nearly 300 years of money. But this was Nancy, and if she had nothing else, she still had her pride.

[knowntohisfriends]

"Says he done with you," the Dodger said. "He were... angry. That night. Really angry. Says he's washin' his hands of you an' you ain't to come cryin' back to him when the money ain't there." He gives a shrug.

"So, no, he ain't wantin' you." There was a pause, and he's contemplating asking if Cooper's new position was the only reason she changed jobs, but then it weren't really a job Nance had all that much fondness for in the first place, was it? It was a thing. A thing that had to do whether they liked it or not.

"How's the new job?"

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy's face falls immediately as she looks over Dodger. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. She closes her eyes for a moment and immediately reaches for her glass. Fagin's angry. Fuck, of course he is. She rubs at her temples, cursing under her breath.

Something inside of her curls and uncurls, gnawing at the pit of her stomach. It's not hunger, that much is clear, because she knows what hunger is. This is something else, sitting lower and it's bigger. Much more dark.

She pushes her hair back from her face and finishes her drink. "Are you all alright?" Is all she can think of to ask. When Fagin's angry, that's when he's the worst sort. Worse than usual. That's how she ended up in A&E last January. She should have been done with him then. But the boys were there, the boys were always there, and they were innocent. They didn't deserve half of the shit Fagin did to them, or put them through, and now they didn't even have her there as some sort of buffer.

But now he's cut her out of their lives- oh if he thinks she ain't going to keep bringing them food and spending time with them, he's dead wrong. Bastard doesn't control her life anymore, and she'd be damned if he kept her out of her brothers' lives.

Dodger plays it off like it's nothing, but it's something. Honestly, she should be relieved and she knows that. But he'd just... cut her out. Just like that. This man who raised her and told her he cared about her, and took care of her. And now it was all gone. She should be relieved. Celebrating. But her voice is tight, the tip of her nose is red, and if you looked closely, her glass was shaking, and the small candle on the table was now sputtering.

"Tell him he can go fuck himself," she says, before fishing into her purse for her flask. She pours herself another drink, and pockets the flask again. There's another drink to be had, and once she's swallowed the candle stops flickering.

"It's a job." Still under the table, not exactly really legal yet. But it was something. "I don't have t'wear heels anymore, so that's been heaven on my feet. Trainers and boots- gotta have your toes covered in the garage." There, they can talk about her job. That'll help her keep everything else at bay. And if that doesn't, that's what the alcohol is for.

A

[morevacant]

"I bet he's really fit!" Lydia returns the hug, bubbling with excitement for her first proper night out (proper only because at least it's with a fellow witch).
She opens the door wide for Nancy to come in. Her flat's standard student affair. The walls are just a bit grotty, and the carpet is that tough, bristly stuff that itches bare feet.
"D'you want a drink?" She leads Nancy through to a messy kitchen. "I've got vodka?"

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy shrugs- he wasn't Bill, when it came to muscles, but the fact that he was so different from Bill was part of his charm. "I certainly think so." and her opinion was the only one that mattered, when it came to her boyfriend. She'd learned that a long time ago.

"Oh, yeah, I'd love a drink. I brought some options, to wear, if y'want to take a look? If anything suits you..." She's already expecting Lydia to declare her stuff super trashy. Which, okay, yeah, a lot of it was.

[morevacant]

"Definitely!" Lydia heads for the kitchen counter, to pour a vodka mix for Nancy. Her measurements are generous, designed for people to get drunk quick. She gestures to the beaten couch against one wall.
"Make yourself at home!"

She takes Nancy's bag, wrinking her nose as she sorts through the clothes. They're trashy: they make her own knee length dress look practically like a nun's habit.

"Is this the - uh - fashion - in London?" She asks doubtfully.

[stauncherhearted]

"Perfect." When the drink is given, she takes it and moves to perch on the couch. It's comfy, she immediately decides, and she likes it.

Settling down, she watches Lydia go through her clothes. She tosses her hair back, laughing as Lydia holds up a rather gaudy gold sequined top. "They're older," is her excuse, "haven't been going out much lately. I hope you've got something better, now that I'm looking. But there are a few decent things in there."

She really doesn't want to explain what exactly her clothes are from. That isn't part of her life right now, and her new friends don't need to know she was one upon a time a prostitute. Caroline knew, all her friends from before her pardon.

[morevacant]

"Uh-hu..." Lydia searches through the bag until she comes up with a pretty dress, longer than the others and in a deep plum.
"I like this one. So pretty! And it'd go amazing with your hair. Do you get that - my mum was constantly stuffing me in green because I've always been totally ginger - and it's just not as good as some of the other colours. Like, hello! I'm not a frigging tree!" She chuckles as she sips on her drink.
"Go on, wear it! I've got some necklaces and shit you can borrow if you like? Me and my sisters borrow all the time."
Lydia just very rarely gives it back.

"So you went through the trashy stage?" She grins over at Nancy as she pulls out another skin tight, short dress.
"I would die to put this on, just to see my mother's face. She'd have a fit! She thinks showing ankle is flirting too much."

B - OTA

[vampire_barbie_girl]

There was no better way to end a small vacation than with a good ladies' night - at least not that Caroline could think of. She'd enjoyed seeing a bit more of the country but it was nice to be home. And it would be great to see Nancy and meet these new friends of hers.

She spotted Nancy fairly quickly - one benefit of vampire senses was it makes finding people in crowds much easier - and hurried over. "Hey!" she said with a smile, "how's it going?"

[stauncherhearted]

"Hey, gorgeous!" Nancy doesn't waste any time standing up and wrapping an arm around Caroline in greeting. "Everyone, this is Caroline Forbes- Caroline, this is Lydia Bennet and Allison Argent. They're both new in town."

Now that introductions had been done...

"You were great, as always," she says. "How was your vacation? I'm so glad you're back!"

[vampire_barbie_girl]

"Thanks," Caroline said with a smile. "It's always nice to meet new people here, though it's a bit weird that I'm not the new on in town anymore."

She took a sip of her drink and sat down in an empty chair. "My vacation was great, I loved getting a chance to see more of the country. But I'm definitely glad to be back home."

[stauncherhearted]

"You're never the new person for long, not in a place like this," Nancy says, before taking a drink.

"Good- I'm really glad to hear it. I haven't been outside London, much. Glad you got to enjoy it, though." She lived in a small country, but travel was difficult, when she was younger. Now that she was older, she found she had fewer reasons to travel. Maybe sometime she and Cooper could travel to Ireland, but that was really as far as she got.

[vampire_barbie_girl]

"They should put that on the poster."

She was a bit surprised that Nancy hadn't travelled but the details of her life were often hard for Caroline to really comprehend. But now was not the time to press. "So, what did you get up to while I was gone?"

[industria]

Allison arrives late. She doesn't mean to – a bit of family business has held her up and she had to go back to her room to freshen up and look presentable for an outing. It's been a while, it feels like, gussying up like that. With the weather seeming to warm a little, she opts for an olive green jacket over her dress, tying her hair back into a bun with little arrow earrings dangling from each ear.

Looking bashful, she decides to get herself a drink first – a rum and coke to start – before looking for the other ladies. Not that she knows who to look for, unable to immediately spot Nancy. She can't believe her own nerves, starting over again and trying to make new friends.

[stauncherhearted]

"Allison!" Nancy spots her new friend and waves her over to the table. There's a quick introduction, to make sure she knows who the other ladies are- Caroline and Lydia- and she's happy to balance conversations and try to make sure everyone is included.

"Thanks for coming, love! You look cute- I love your earrings. Silver, ain't it?" Silver wasn't exactly something she could wear (gold looked better on her, anyway), but she still appreciated it aesthetically.

[industria]

"Oh –"

Allison doesn't have her wits about her just yet, somewhat dazed as Nancy leads her around, introducing the others with names that she commits to memory by repeating them as she says hello.

"Yeah," she smiles in thanks, lightly touching one ear as she takes a seat at the end of the table. "It's a family thing, as one might imagine. Thanks."

[stauncherhearted]

Honestly, Nancy doesn’t expect anyone to remember all the names. There are a lot of them. Gods know she would have difficulty with it. But she appreciates it all the same.

“They’re gorgeous.” Silver. She commits that to memory- she’s been wearing cheap metals and gold for so long it seems second nature to her.

“Really! Oh that’s great, having some sort of family thing like that.” Hers did, to a degree. If you counted pick pocketing as a family thing. Nancy wasn’t sure if she did.

[industria]

"We're into that kind of thing, being Argents and all," she explains lightly. Never mind what the silver is actually used for! "Family heritage, traditions, etcetera."

Allison stirs her drink needlessly with the straw, ice clinking against the glass. "I mean, I'm not a big traditionalist really. Some rules are still meant to be broken." She smiles, a faint curve of her lips because - hoo boy, traditions got the better of her before.

[vampire_barbie_girl]

After getting settled down with a drink, Caroline turned and smiled at the woman Nancy had introduced as Allison. "So, where are you from originally?"

[industria]

Allison ends up sitting next to Caroline and she turns in her seat to address the other young woman at the table. She takes a sip through the thin red straw before answering her question. "I'm kind of from everywhere. The States, mostly, but my family has roots in France."

[vampire_barbie_girl]

Caroline nodded. "I grew up in Virginia, a little place called Mystic Falls. No one has heard of it," she adds with a grin. "My family was pretty much all from there, one of the founding families, in fact."

[industria]

"I thought you sounded American," Allison comments, nodding. So does she, really, a workable French accent only coming out when she speaks her family's traditional language. "I moved here from Beacon Hills, California. So, your family was around there during colonial times?"