undergrounds | just walk on in ( for joss )

It started as an absolutely routine trip to the store. Nancy'd ducked into her nearest magic shop, looking to replenish a few of her supplies. You could never have enough candles or sage, after all. With a small basket tucked under her arm, she'd picked up a few different items, looking at new herbs and books on charms. She almost didn't notice him- but when it was almost too late she noticed his soft, dirty-blonde hair.

As soon as she saw it, she knew who it was. It was the boy- Joss, Cooper had told her- the one she had taken in after she'd found him. A child vampire, she'd been heartbroken for him, though Cooper alleged he'd truly been over six-hundred-years-old. She could hardly believe it, and honestly it was the very last thing on her mind when she saw him. She'd spent hours imagining where he was, hoping he was okay after he'd run out of her apartment. To her, he'd been a sweet, lost boy, not some old, cruel man.

But isn't that how it always went?

"Joss!" She called, and immediately ran over to him, wrapping her arms around his small shoulders. "You're alright!"

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"It was a roof over my head and a place to sleep." There was an upstairs loft where they all slept, an odd miss-matched collection of mattresses and miscellaneous furniture to create a bit of a make-shift dorm. She remembered it fondly, thinking of the warmth they'd created in that place. Even if Fagin hadn't turned the heat on.

Sometimes Saffron Hill really could be a lovely place.

"You're the second person to tell me that in as many months." Mogget, too, had made it known she wouldn't live long. "Not that it's anything new to me. I'm surprised I made it this far." She's astonishingly frank about it. But girls with her sort of life never lived long.

She's not rising to his baiting. She keeps deflecting him, saying things that are damnably reasonable when he wants her to get upset so that maybe he won't feel the nagging sense of owing her anymore. He needs an excuse and she's not giving him one.

Time to go nuclear.

"Then why do you keep on? You're temporary, you know. Even if you don't get yourself killed you'll get old. You'll wither, lose your...charms, and Cooper will move on to greener pastures. You're mortal; that means you're replaceable."

Her face falls.

Temporary. Her blood turns cold at the word. She'd never considered herself that. But that's what happens when you're hundreds of years old. You start to view others as temporary. Like her problems didn't matter, because in five years she'd be dead.

"He promised me." He'd be there for her when she was old and grey and he'd be there with her. She knew that would never be the case, deep down. But it was a safe thought. Like being with Cooper wouldn't end.

But that was temporary, too. Bill would get out of prison, and she'd leave Cooper. Or they'd come to the point where what they wanted was so different that they couldn't stay together- Nancy, after all, wanted a real family. Cooper couldn't give her that. They both knew it.

She swallows. "And there are people that need me. As long as I'm alive, and I don't intend on letting them down."

Nancy doesn't look at Joss.

It's a victory, but it doesn't feel like one.

Joscelin has gotten what he wanted: he's drawn blood. He can keep twisting the knife, but he finds there's less sport in it than he thought there would be.

So instead he finds himself saying something he normally wouldn't. "People are weak and fallible. They will invariably disappoint you." He sounds surprisingly bitter. "Don't put too much stock in them, or their promises."

She keeps her gaze on the table, takes a drink. She's going to need even more to drink when she gets back to Cooper's flat.

"They might, and they do. You don't need to tell me- I know. But that's not me. I try to keep my promises, to the best of my ability. No honor among thieves, all that, but at least I'm trying."

"You can keep your promises all you want and still end up disappointed," Joscelin points out. "Self-interest is what makes us human." He smiles ironically. "Well, in a figurative sense. I haven't been human in a very long time."

Still selfish, though.

"I've never been a selfish person. Funny, considering I was raised by one of the most selfish people I know." The bitterness was hard to miss. "But I'm always surprised by the goodness in people."

She tried so hard to see the good in people. Of course, her bar for what was considered good and what was bad was considerably low.

just walk on in ( for joss )

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