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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Nov 27, 2016 4:44:45 GMT
Yang's stomach was in knots by the time she made her way to the bakery. It wasn't that she doubted Shadow and Sunshine, far from it. She was just worried that Frollo or some other cop would pop out from behind a bush and try to arrest her or something. From the way Sunshine had sounded over the phone, she, Shadow, and a good number of the BPD Others Unit were aware of the stunt Frollo had tried to pull. Most of them weren't too happy about it, either because they were friends with Yang or because they just didn't like Frollo in the first place. Either way, Sunshine had agreed to meet with her here, and to bring Shadow along as well. The bakery wasn't the most secure place in the world, but Yang wasn't about to step foot into the police station. That would be suicide. She just hoped that they could help her figure out what to do. The bell chimed over her head, announcing her arrival.
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Post by Zuyuri on Nov 27, 2016 5:40:07 GMT
The bell ringing was a good sign for Sunshine. She was in floor duty at Nevermore, refilling coffee for diners eating in. She had just finished pouring when she saw Yang enter. Good, she and Shadow needed to talk with her. Korra had successfully gotten them a street view camera of the incident. She pointed to a dark booth where her partner sat, mouthing 'One sec'
The booth Shadow sat in was absolutely silent. He was livid. If he didn't hate Frollo enough already, him attacking innocent kids has set him off. That anger took a backseat to hope when he saw Yang enter. He stood, just looking up at her given the height difference. She wasn't scratched or bruised, no sign of any struggle. But he did something he rarely did to anyone.
He threw himself into hugging Yang tightly.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Nov 27, 2016 17:07:36 GMT
Even though Yang was feeling nervous about all this, seeing Sunshine and Shadow again did make her feel a little better. And it looked like that Sapien drug had worn off of them. That made her glad. The last she had heard about it, Anna had suspected that the Grey Dawn was trying to infect the water system. So far, it looked like they hadn't tried to go through with their plan yet, otherwise there'd be mass panic on their hands. She had given a little smile in the direction of the two of them, but she was caught by surprise when Shadow suddenly came up and hugged her. Sure, she knew Shadow was a nice guy, but physical contact didn't exactly seem to be his forte. He seemed the prickly sort when it came to stuff like that, pun intended. He and Sunshine must have been really worried about her. "It's okay, I'm fine," she said. Well, no. That wasn't true. She wasn't fine, otherwise she wouldn't be here. But old habits die hard, and part of her hated seeing her friends so concerned. But she knew she was going to have to put feelings like that aside if she wanted to make sure her kids ended up somewhere safe.
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Post by Zuyuri on Nov 27, 2016 20:28:04 GMT
"All that matters is that you and the kids didn't get hurt." Emotion betrayed Shadowcat that very moment. The last time a child had been under his protection, she had died. Yang and her group were that same age group, and if anything had happened, he would have never forgiven himself. But instead, the kids had gotten out okay. He has released her from the hug, clenching a fist to hold back anything that could have gotten him in trouble.
No sooner had the rare hug ended that Sunshine walked over. She had set the coffee pot down and gestured that they sit. The quieter it was, the easier they could focus
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Nov 27, 2016 23:06:30 GMT
"Come on, you know I'd never let that happen," Yang said. That was one thing she wanted to make sure she didn't fail on. It was her main priority right now. Sunshine seemed ready to go, already seated and with a coffee pot in hand. Yang sat across from her, although now that she was here, she felt like she had no idea where to start. No doubt this whole incident with Frollo had made a good number of cops learn what exactly had put her out on the streets in the first place. It felt weird, knowing that there were people out there who knew her past, without her even telling them. She wasn't used to people knowing her business like that.
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Post by Zuyuri on Nov 28, 2016 2:29:25 GMT
There was some silence for a while among the trio. Sunshine just refilled the mugs with coffee. The tricky part was getting ready to talk about the issue without getting Shadow angry. He was...edgier than usual. Sunshine set it down, starting the whole talking. "So...have you found somewhere where you guys can lay low for a while?"
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Nov 28, 2016 2:34:07 GMT
Sunshine was the first to break the ice. It seemed like she was the most calm out of the three right now. Yang was super nervous and Shadow looked ready to punch something. It looked like she was going to have to make sure that emotions didn't run too high and that they accomplish what they set out to do. "Yeah. I got a friend, Omar. The kids are with him." No doubt Jane would get involved at some point though. She'd probably find out about the situation eventually, whether Yang and Omar told her or not. Besides, the kids liked her, and vice versa. She sipped her coffee before deciding that they needed to get the most important thing taken care of first. "I need to make sure they don't end up with their parents," she said. "Or with a foster system that can't give them a home. If they get sent back to where they came from, they'll just run away again. Or worse."
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Post by Zuyuri on Nov 28, 2016 2:43:24 GMT
"Omar? The troll musician?" Shadow sipped his coffee. The anger diminished just for a tiny bit. Omar and Shadow got along well enough. After sharing drinks at Bourbon, the troll revealed that he was actually a good meaning citizen. The prejudice against Others had made him rough around the edges, something Shadow could relate to. "He and I are acquaintances. All good terms."
Sunshine wagged her finger in his direction. "Look at you making friends. Before you wouldn't open up to anyone."
"As for the crappy parents," Shadow continued, "we've been looking at other alternatives. We talked to our lawyer, Elsa, about adoption papers for you to have permanent custody. She's been wanting to get at Frollo for years."
"Unfortunately, she said that without proper documentation, it was out of the question," Sunshine sighed. "She was really bummed giving the news, it was written all over her face."
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Nov 28, 2016 2:59:22 GMT
Yang nodded at Shadow. "Yeah. He mentioned you. Said you were a good guy." It had been pretty surprising, to hear that Omar had become friends with a cop. He tended to hate them as much as Yang did. But, it looked like he was opening up to them a bit more. But, the focus was on the kids, not Omar. Sunshine pretty much confirmed that without the right papers, Yang couldn't legally adopt the kids as her own. She let out a breath before saying what she felt. She felt like she had come to this conclusion soon after Frollo had found her and her kids. It had just taken a little bit for her to be sure about it. "I don't think I'm the best person to raise them anymore," she said. "I mean, if I'm actually going to live like a real civilian, I don't know where I'll get a job. I don't even have a highschool diploma to work with. Even if I did get something, it probably wouldn't be enough to raise four kids. I have to find someone who'll take better care of them than I can." She let out another breath. "I think Cody, Penny, and Jenny have relatives, somewhere at least. I mean, Cody and Penny's parents both suck, but maybe they have a grandparent or an uncle or something. And Jenny just lived with her dad. Her mom has to be around somewhere. As for Louie..." Yang hesitated a bit before continuing. Sticking Louie back into the foster system was the last thing she wanted to do. It had failed to get him a parent for so many years. She couldn't subject him to that again. "There's gotta be some family that's willing to take him in. Maybe if I'm backing him up, his chances will go up of finding someone. If I don't get stuck in a jail cell first." She wasn't sure if Frollo could really make good on his threat for that, but it was still on the back of her mind. Anyone looking up her record would instantly find out that she had tangled with the cops more than once.
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Post by Zuyuri on Nov 28, 2016 3:41:40 GMT
Shadow nodded in response to that. At least Omar's opinion of him was positive. He set the mug down at listening to the heated breath Yang let out. The poor girl had been through a lot. Her parents being killed in a fire, a gang on the hunt for her, and now a corrupt lawyer with the cops not in the Others Unit under his thumb. The closest experience he had to that stress was the Maria thing. But, the focus was on Yang's dilemma, not his.
"We're always looking for people to help out at Nevermore," Sunshine offered. "Your fists and fire would be a shoe-in with my bakery stuff. I love Thomas, but he does NOT know that unless you're making a pizza or roasting a turkey, ovens should NOT be set to 450 degrees."
"As for your kids, like I said, we were looking at options," Shadow said. He gestured to Sunshine with a nod, who thus proceeded to litter the table with flyers upon flyers of multiple programs. All of them were in no way connected to any foster systems. Throwing children into an orphanage was downright medieval, especially given that the kids, particularly Louie, who seemed to be the second in command, were so tightly knit when it came to being with Yang. "We are not going to let the foster system take them from you. So we found some programs to give the kids support. Sorry about the massive flyers, we wanted you to make the call on which one fit."
"And if you'd like, we can do a genealogy check to see if Penny and Cody have any living relatives AND provide a background check," Sunshine offered. There was no way in heck they would be sending kids to relatives who were absolutely nuts. Child abuse was a crime in it of itself, and if the relatives were not even fit to watch over a child, the blood would be on the Others Units' hand.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Nov 28, 2016 4:03:55 GMT
"I guess that's a start," Yang said. She wasn't sure if she wanted to work at a bakery for the rest of her life, but at least it was something. It was a steady source of income while she found a place to live and got some form of higher education. Maybe a GED was something she could do. She knew that usually, teenagers who were pregnant or super sick with something like cancer went after GED's, but it would at least be a step up from where she was. She blinked in surprise when Sunshine suddenly produced a ton of flyers, all of them with programs that helped orphan kids get adopted. She looked through them for a moment, seeing if anything jumped out at her as Sunshine offered to search for any relatives of Penny and Cody's, as well as do a background check.
"That'd definitely be a good place to start," she said. God forbid those two end up getting sent off to a relative that was even worse than their alcoholic parents. She wondered if Jenny's mom could be found as well. She'd probably be a good first pick for Jenny. She hadn't really mentioned her mother that much, only that she and her father divorced about a few years back, and that she hadn't seen her since. Yang suspected that her father had something to do with that, although she had kept her thoughts to herself. Talking about their parents was usually the last thing her kids wanted to do. "Hang on, what's this?" She looked more closely at a flyer that had caught her eye. It was an organization called AdoptUSKids, and apparently, worked with helping kids get into both foster and adoptive families. "This might be promising," she said. It looked kids of all types got adopted through this place, even teenagers. That sounded promising to Yang. If an organization could help teenagers get adopted, when people usually preferred babies, then she felt like Louie would definitely have a chance.
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Post by Zuyuri on Nov 28, 2016 4:45:45 GMT
Sunshine had to sit on her hands to avoid punching the air and shouting 'yes'. The only person around her age who had gotten to work in the bakery had quit due to, ironically, money disputes for raising a child. But, deep down, she kind of missed Jack Frost. He had been cute.Oh, well, bygones were bygones. All that mattered was the one person she considered a friend who wasn't on the force, not counting Jane, would be a little bit closer.
"Maybe study for the GED. I had to do that after my memory was wiped," Shadow suggested. He had never opened up about his life before the BPD. really, that life chose him...or was it him choosing it because of Maria? Honestly, with his fried memory, it was hard to tell. But what he did know was before the job, he had a rough go. "Lived on the streets when I was your age. I got sick of fighting for survival, so I got involved with some Other support program. They gave us GEDs. I passed, but couldn't find any...non biased work."
"So how'd you get on the Others Unit?" Sunshine asked.
"I saved a lieutenant from a werewolf gang. They literally ran off with their tails between their legs," His answer was blunt, but proved a point. Sometimes the most obvious work came to you. "Then came the academy, and next thing you know, I'm on the force."
Sunshine let out a low whistle. She hadn't noticed Yang taking note of the AdoptUSKids flyer until it was brought up. She leaned over, scanning the contents. It was basically an anti-foster care system. There was no bias against the kids, and it looked as though the age range fit into the little squad Yang had under her belt. But there was one glaring thing that both of them wondered about. They hadn't met the kids in person, so there was the question of if the kids were potentially Others? Would the AdoptUSKids still take them?
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Nov 28, 2016 5:04:14 GMT
Yang had to smile. Sunshine sure seemed pleased about her working at the bakery. Although she still wondered if she could get some other type of career, one she was passionate about. It might be difficult to do, since the only thing Yang was really passionate about was fighting. She wasn't sure how much of a living professional female kickboxers made. And besides, the odds were probably low that she'd get high enough to make some real dough. Being a professional fighter was like trying to be a professional musician or artist. Few of them were able to really make money off of it. Hearing Shadow talk about how he got into the BPD made her wonder if she could do any police work in the future, but she immediately tossed that idea aside. Sure, being a police officer was what she had wanted to do when she was younger, but that wasn't really an option now, not when she had tangled with half of the force. But what Shadow had said about GED's sounded promising. She'd have to look into that. After all, once she found a place for her kids, she'd have to focus on herself next.
Sunshine seemed to share the same concerns Yang had. But she felt like there was an easy solution. "Guess we can start with checking this group," she said. "Even if it's just for humans, there may be an Other equivalent out there somewhere. I mean, this city has magic schools and stuff. Surely there's some kind of magic foster kid place or something?" She wasn't sure if there really was one, but she felt like it was a possibility.
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Post by Zuyuri on Nov 28, 2016 5:12:16 GMT
"That's true. We should be checking our sources," Sunshine nodded. The flyers could easily be scammers wanting to make a quick buck with intentions on selling them to the black market. Yes, she and Shadow had spent countless hours analyzing and researching each of the flyers they handed to Yang. So far, 99% of them were clean, but you never new when a policy could be changed at just the blink of an eye. She picked up a small, white slip that had fallen out from the AdoptUSKids flyer. In bold print was a phone number with Italics reading that there was a branch off group exclusive to Bellerouge that would accept Others. "Well, that was easy," she handed it to Yang, "Ask and you shall receive."
"Well, first, he important thing would be if the kids could be qualified as Others." Shadow pointed out. "Have your kids been showing any...signs of unnatural abilities?"
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Nov 28, 2016 5:30:24 GMT
Yang gave a little laugh. "Choosing a group is easy enough. Making sure some good actually comes out of it is another." This group might be good and all, but if it didn't find Louie a home, then it was all going to be a lost cause. At Shadow's question, she thought for a moment before answering. "Well, Louie and Jenny are human, technically. But they're gifted. Louie can sense other people's emotions and Jenny can talk to animals." Now that she thought about it, that would be kind of a tricky placement. With any luck, Jenny wouldn't need to go through any adoption agency if they could find her mother or another relative. Louie, he had no other choice. He had no idea who his family was. Adoption was his only route. Were gifted humans considered Others, according to the law? Yang wasn't entirely sure.
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