undergrounds | Gossip Girls (closed to Nancy)

Nancy's always happy to hang out with friends. She's even more happy, too, when it's Lydia that reaches out to her to hang out.

coming! got held up.

Nancy texts back quickly, putting the wallet she'd just taken off a passerby into her purse. It's only a few more minutes before the bells on the coffee shop door ring, signaling that Nancy had indeed arrived. Spotting Lydia, she hurried over, taking off her jacket.

"Hey! What's going on, love?"

"Oh my gosh, Nancy, it's terrible. Have you seen the papers?"

Lydia hasn't. She doesn't want to. She's exaggerated Samantha's polite offer in her head so much that she can't imagine anything other than complete humiliation in the gossip columns.

"My life is over! What am I going to do?"

She blinks.

"...No, I haven't." Ever since she'd read that lovely letter from someone who had been extremely upset that they were letting her wipe her record clean, she tried to avoid them as much as she could.

"Woah- start from the beginning, love. What happened?" She leans forward, extending a hand across the table.

"Oh it's a total mess." Lydia takes Nancy's hand, enthused a little in her exaggerated desperation by Nancy's compassion.
"I went to the opening of the magic centre - I was actually trying, you know? And I saw Samantha. So, okay,I go over to say hi and… and she didn't even know who I was." She glances up, obviously miffed. "Can you believe that? And then, after all the introduction bits, she wouldn't even let me join her coven. Can you believe it? In front of all those people, the photographers - oh God! People will read it. No one will want me now!" She pouts, her eyes filled with easy tears. "I may as well just pack up and go home now. I may as well move to the sticks and be a hermit forever."

Nancy resists the urge to roll her eyes at the idea of the center opening. Yeah, not her cup of tea. She'd been happy to stay far away from that place. And really everything to do with Samantha, if she could help it.

The whole story comes fast, but she listens, trying to reserve judgement. It wasn't really working, unfortunately. Lydia had gone and asked Samantha to let her into her coven. It was awful to think about, but she didn't fault Lydia. She was new in town, and Nancy had never told her about her encounters with Samantha.

"You don't need a coven," Nancy says politely. "I don't have one." Also because Samantha didn't consider her a witch at all, now. "I'm sure they missed the whole conversation, or spun it so you were crying with gratitude." That's what she wanted to hear, right?

"I don't? But Samantha said… she said I did need one for that feeling." It doesn't take much really, but Lydia's completely confused. Was Samantha lying? Or is Nancy? Neither of them really have a reason to tell Lydia, of all people, untruths, though.

"Do you really think it won't look bad? I don't want to look like a total idiot. And oh God, the way she like, grabbed my arm and was like, 'you know exactly what you're doing,' and I still literally have no idea what she's on about. She's such a bitch." Lydia finishes, still pouting.

"I'm not part of a coven." One of the many reasons Samantha, and Sylvia, hated Nancy. She had been part of a coven, but it dissolved when Midnight fell. When you exile the Maiden, you exile her coven, too. Nancy had been lucky to get out of Enfield and find sanctuary at her boyfriend's flat.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Look, and anyway, everyone will forget about it in a week. You don't want to be part of Samantha's coven, anyway. Because like you said, she's a bitch." Nancy nods sagely.

"So my life isn't over?" She sniffs, pathetically. Lydia loves this. She loves people cooing over her.

"Is that why you didn't come? Because you hate Samantha? Why didn't you tell me. We could have done something fun last night instead of letting me make such a total idiot out of myself."

"No, it's not. I've had nasty things written about me in the papers, y'know. And I'm still alive." She gives her an affectionate smile.

Nancy nods. "Yeah- she's not my favorite. Unfortunately with Cooper on the Night Council, I see enough of her at different parties." She rolls her eyes. It's probably the first time she's actually mentioned Cooper's proper position in the Underground.

"I didn't want to influence your decisions. If you really adored Samantha and wanted to join her coven, I'd support you. I wouldn't necessarily like it, but it's not my decision to make." Decisions, what little ones Nancy was ever afforded, were important.

"Have you? But who'd want to write about you?" That's not supposed to be as offensive as it sounds, but Lydia doesn't notice what she's said anyway.

But then Nancy reveals how high up her boyfriend is in the scheme of things and her comment makes sense. And Lydia can't help but feel a twinge of jealousy about her friend. Someone on the Night Council? Posh parties? All the perks? That's the life Lydia is dying for, and somehow Nancy has managed to grab it. She comforts herself with the thought that she's only been here five minutes, that she'll soon be noticed and be able to access the flashy lifestyle she imagines the more public figures enjoy.

"Silly. I'd rather know. We're in it together, right?" She laughs. "And maybe we can do the whole floating thing together? That felt so good. It was like - like, I've never tried it, but you know cannabis? The boys from Marlborough and the other schools used to smoke it. You know that dizzy feeling you get from the smell? Samantha did that, but like, so much better. We have to try that!"

Oh that's a good question, Lydia. A very good question. She presses her lips together. "No one mentioned me by name. I just got in a little trouble, is all." She waves the thought away. She didn't know Lydia very well yet, but she did know the girl would probably never want to speak to her again if she found out that Nancy was a former sex worker.

"Sure," she says with a smile. "I know the feeling." She knew magical pot, at least. "I don't see why not." Not here, obviously, but it could be fun, floating with Lydia. Nancy had never been one to figure out how to float. But she imagined it was somewhat similar to making other objects around her float.

Hopefully.

"We can be our own coven! The Lewisham Lovelies." Lydia grins again.
"You're such a good friend, Nancy. You've literally talked me down off a ledge. I was ready to pack 1 up and move to the sticks where no one would ever have heard of me or Samantha or anything. Look! I've even looked up flats to rent in Manchester."
She goes to thrust her phone under Nancy's nose.

"I mean,if you want to?" She adds, after a moment's hesitation.

She laughs at the idea, but doesn't comment on it one way or another, at first. She's still sore about her last coven, and she was quite worried how her own position in the world would effect Lydia. She seemed the sort of girl to have that be a huge deal for her.

"It's no problem," she says, shaking her head. "Then you'd have to start all over with making friends, and I'd rather not have to go out to Manchester to see you. It's far."

She pauses, taking a moment to remember what it was Lydia was talking about. "Oh- Uhm, I don't know. I'm still a little... burned, I guess, from my last one?"

"Oh. Okay." Well, that wasn't expected. Lydia can't help but look completely put out. She hadn't expected Nancy to completely refuse her, or if she did, she at least expected Nancy to invite her to her coven.

"Well, I suppose it's at least something you don't want me to go to Manchester. I'm not sure I could deal with the rain."

Never in her life has she missed her sisters so much. But, the thought is fleeting, and she ends up saying with a grin, "Well, can we at least bitch about Samantha over a bit of cake then?"

"I'm sorry," she intones, and she does mean it. It was better that way, though, and Lydia would probably understand that in the long run.

"Exactly. Stay." She pats the table, and when she's satisfied, she leans back a little. "Perfect. I'd love nothing more. Because she's a right bitch."

"Shall I get coffee?" Lydia doesn't really give Nancy an answer; she's already standing up, purse in hand. "And when I get back, you can tell me exactly why you think she's a bitch."

Nancy's not getting much of a choice in her coffee: Lydia orders a latte and a cappuccino and brings both back to the table, along with a couple of slices of millionaire shortbread.

With a grin, she says, "So, how has our dearest mother ruined your life?"

Nancy will take whatever coffee Lydia does not want. She's never been a picky eater. She hasn't been able to afford it.

"Funny you should say our," she rolls her eyes. "I met her for the first time on the Night Train- obviously I was there with Cooper- anyway, I went to speak with Sylvia- who is also a bitch, for the record, don't waste your time with her- and she told me I wasn't a witch. Called me a traitor. Because I'm dating Cooper." She rolls her eyes. "There's a word for women like her."

"But you are a witch. You can't just stop being a witch because of who you love. That's stupid." Lydia's brow furrows as she works out what Nancy's telling her. "Unless like, he's turned you, I guess. But you don't look like a vampire to me."

She takes the latte and sips. "If that's why you don't want to join a coven, then that's stupid, Nancy. You should do it just to anyway to wind both of them up. I don't care if you date a vampire - especially if he has fit friends!"

"I know- and he hasn't turned me. I don't want to be turned. Ever. Cooper knows this." Gods she hoped he did.

Alright, cappuccino it is. "I know you don't. But I think to join a coven I'd have to be Daybreak. And I can't join Daybreak. No way in hell. Not with the way I've been treated by them." Shit. This was going to get bad, if Lydia kept asking questions. She'd have to explain all about Midnight, her friendship with Abigail, and... everything.

"And certainly not the way they're treating fae right now."

"What are they doing?' This is possibly the first properly serious conversation that Lydia has ever had, and she's feeling a little bit out of her depth.

"I didn't even know you couldn't be part of Circle Daybreak. Samantha acted like I'd said the most stupid thing when I said I was a member."

She breaks off a bit of her shortbread, and crumbles the biscuity bit between her fingers.

"Are they really bad?'

Nancy shakes her head. "I think, by default, you're Daybreak. There's nothing else to be, really, anymore." She takes one of the cakes and starts picking at it.

"Oh, yeah. They're all about the capturing of fae, right now. Using them as familiars. Forcing them, really. Slavery's wrong. We all know that."

"But…slaves? Oh come on, Nancy. It's not the seventeenth century. Like, I get that you're bitter, but that's a bit ridiculous." Lydia might be gullible, but she doesn't like to think that she's that stupid. She wrinkles her nose.

"They can't have slaves, can they?'

Nancy presses her lips together.

"Yeah. You can bind a fae to a form, or-" she considers adding gin to her cappuccino, but remembers that that would be disgusting. "There's this thing called a slave ring. The wearer is under the influence of the person who made the ring, so long as they wear it." Subconsciously, her right hand goes to her left middle finger, rubbing at the base of it.

"There's a lot of things you can do with magic."

"And they're doing it?" Lydia's horrified. She's never heard of such things before, and overcome with it all, she doesn't notice Nancy's action.

"But Daybreak… I thought they were good?"

She nods grimly.

"I think good's... a matter of perspective. Sometimes you think you're doing something good, but to others, it's bad. But you can be really convinced it's the right thing." She'd thought what she'd been doing her whole life had been the good thing. It was only when she got older she realized just how bad it was.

"And my definition of good doesn't match up with Samantha's vision."

"So what am I supposed to do?" Because obviously this is all about Lydia. "Do I stay in Daybreak with these women you're saying are doing these horrible things or…" She's in way over her head here. Except, she doesn't really want to look like she's struggling right now.

"Maybe it's not as bad as what you think? Maybe they're not actually doing that." Please let it be some sort of misunderstanding so they can go back to superficial bitching.

Nancy didn't think the rumors were necessarily false. She'd met Samantha. She was a very matter-of-fact and she'd so much as stated her beliefs about witches and familiars. Besides, she trusted Eames' information. For better or for worse.

"You can stay in Daybreak. You just don't have to agree with that policy. I mean- hey," she gives a fake smile, "maybe I've just heard wrong. I'd love to be proven wrong." She doubted it, however.

"So how are things on the boy front? Any eligible bachelors?"

"I don't even care." Lydia grumbles. "I just want a bit of fun."

She brightens considerably when Nancy moves topics to boys. "Oooh well, you know?' She shrugs.
"There were some good lookers at that stupid party. I didn't get any numbers though. I was too embarrassed.You're so lucky, you know, Nancy? Just finding a guy just like that.If you can do it, you think I would have been snapped up the instant I set foot in London!"

"Well, good thing London is full of handsome men, right?" She smiles at Lydia, trying to ignore how much her words actually sing. If she could find a guy. She'd found lots of guys, thank you, and they paid her for her time. But Lydia doesn't know that, so she swallows her thoughts.

"After Bill it took me a few years to find someone. And even then, before we got together, I'd already known Cooper for a year."

Gossip Girls (closed to Nancy)

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