Nancy Little

Nancy Little is a character in Petty Squabble.

Equipment/Abilities
Nancy’s only weapon is a Smith & Wesson model 60 Lady Smith Revolver. It’s a bit of a pea-shooter, but it fits nicely in her purse. Nancy is convinced that just by owning this item her life is at least 500 times more exciting. (It’s not.) She is also never seen without her most prized possession: a robin’s egg blue Remington-Rand Portable No.3 typewriter. Though it was issued to her from work and technically not her’s, Nancy carries it with her everywhere. She has already constructed an unnecessarily overly-complicated plan to steal it from the police station should she ever lose her position there and be asked to give it back.

As far as abilities go, Nancy displays most of the attributes necessary for someone who works as a secretary. She is very organized, types quickly, efficient when doing paperwork, and can get around in heels without tripping. This position as a secretary was also what granted Nancy her one and only supernatural talent.

Nancy earned the favor of the deity of fortune, more commonly known as Lady Luck, when she “accidentally” lost the file on the goddess’s extensive pileup of overdue parking tickets. Out of gratitude Lady Luck blessed Nancy with otherworldly good fortune. This gift has made Nancy the luckiest person to ever live. Things just always seem to go her way. She wins every lottery, aces every interview, dodges every bullet, makes every shot, and stumbles upon every possible good opportunity imaginable. Nancy’s life has the capacity to be unbelievably exciting, enriched, and full of everything she could ever wish for.

Description
…But it’s not. Nancy doesn’t buy lottery tickets. She doesn’t interview for new jobs. She never does anything exciting enough that would cause her to be shot at or to be shooting and, worst of all; she watches every opportunity thrown her way pass by with a vague disinterest. She exists in a state of limitless potential, but her own inaction and lack of confidence in her own abilities has ensured that she is going nowhere fast.

It isn’t that Nancy doesn’t want to do anything with her life. On the contrary, she dreams very big! What Nancy really craves in life is ADVENTURES! Despite her rather droll lifestyle, Nancy dreams of being a detective, sleuthing cases in grimy back-alleys and bringing down the most hard boiled of criminals. Gosh, now that would just be the bee’s knees! Unfortunately she doesn’t have the nerve to pursue this goal, and so she settles for doing absolutely nothing instead. Nancy finds herself to be untalented, boring, and overall incapable of accomplishing all of the things she fantasizes of doing. She is the very definition of unmotivated and, as a result, her life has become very static and fallow. Her head is filled with fantasies of what could be, but until she learns to respect herself and her capabilities they will stay just that: dreams.

Physically, Nancy is pretty in a plain, uninteresting sort of way. Her skin is fairly pale and short blonde hair frames her face in a mess of unruly curls. She has the kind of face that doesn’t just get lost in crowds; it drowns in them. She is truly unmemorable and average in every way. She generally dresses fairly formally because of her job with a neat blouse, below-the-knees skirt, and heels.

Her upper body strength is above average for a tiny police secretary due to her hobby of lifting weights. It is just so scandalous she can barely stand it! But, a gal’s gotta do what she loves. This practice is only done, of course, within the privacy of her apartment with all the shades down. If asked about her unusual amount of muscles Nancy claims it’s from hauling her heavy metal typewriter around all day.

Biography
Nancy is a police secretary living in New York City around 1920. She does a lot of busywork like filing reports, dealing with people who come in to the station, answering the phone, and any other odd, but simple, jobs that need taking care of. It’s tedious work, but comfortable and safe, so she is more or less satisfied with it.

Nancy has classified most of her life as being tedious. She never left the city she grew up in and has never had a job that didn’t involve her sitting at a desk all day doing boring paperwork. In fact, there was only one thing Nancy has ever considered worthwhile in her life and that was Henrik. By society’s standards he was nothing special, but Nancy adored him. He also worked at the police station as a regular officer, and from the moment they met two got on famously. While Nancy’s friends and family discouraged her tendency to daydream about the fantastic, Henrik loved it. While he told her stories about what he got up onto while on the job, Nancy amused him with her own made-up adventures and fairytales. While many found Nancy’s wild imagination to be improper and strange, Henrik encouraged every aspect of it as much as he could. So maybe she couldn’t be a detective like she wanted, but what was stopping her from making her life more exciting in other ways? Henrik drew Nancy out of the colorless, dreary world she had been locked into and tried his best to let her dreams flourish. The two did everything together and it was no surprise to anyone when he decided to propose.

Henrik had many admirable qualities, but luck was not one of them. Shortly after entering the jewelry store he picked to purchase an engagement ring, the place was robbed. Henrik was no coward. Despite being off duty, after the burglar fled the shop he pursued him down the street.

…Later that day, Nancy was told what happened. Henrik had died before he even hit the ground from a bullet to the heart. She supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised. When you worked as a policeman you tended to do dangerous things, such as chasing a man who robbed a jewelry store and subsequently getting shot by him. She didn’t evn know why Henrik was in the store in the first place, oblivious to his plans, but she was heartbroken nonetheless.

If Nancy was considering seeking her dreams before, she certainly wasn’t going to now. The image of Henrik’s casket haunted her like a waking nightmare. Sure, having her way and going on adventures did sound exciting, but now it also seemed incomprehensibly dangerous. A world Nancy previously viewed as full of potential and thrilling things to discover now seemed dark and terrifying. She grew to fear the notion of doing anything out of the ordinary and settled in for a life of being exactly what she loathed: boring.