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Post by skyeknight on Apr 6, 2017 21:06:52 GMT
"So... you want me to serenade you too? Make you forget your blues?" Jane teased. "Or... we can talk about what happened. If it helps."
She wasn't as good of a singer as her father. Jane didn't think so anyways. But if Yang requested it, she would sing. But if Yang wanted to talk, Jane would listen. Yang had just went through something rather traumatizing. She had to know she had people who wanted to help her even if it was just listening. She had done a small portion at the hospital, but Yang had been so despondent that it worried her. It seemed something happened to at least get her semi-operational. Had someone said something? Had she just been okay after a pep talk from a nurse? Had her dad actually shown up and talked to Yang before Jane knew? All of them were likely.
"Sweet."
Jane picked up the cupcake tray and followed Yang to the couch.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Apr 6, 2017 23:03:00 GMT
"I don't know if there's much to say," Yang said after a moment's thought. "I mean...it happened, and that's the end of it." She tried not to dwell on it too much, even though her brain just loved coming up with "what if" scenarios. What if Yang hadn't said those things to Louie? What if she had found him sooner? What if she hadn't let Thrax goad her into attacking her so recklessly, thus giving him the perfect opportunity to slice off her arm? If those questions got out of control, they could leave Yang feeling despondent for a long time, especially if she was trying to get some sleep. Nighttime was usually when the bad thoughts and memories resurfaced.
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Post by skyeknight on Apr 6, 2017 23:20:51 GMT
"Not really the end of it," Jane disagreed. "You do know that none of it was your fault, right?"
That was probably not what Yang wanted to hear but she needed to know that none of it was her fault. She couldn't control what other people did. Thrax or Louie. They made their decisions and Yang made hers. She was just the one who had to deal with the fall out. Which sucked. But that was how things were. Jane wanted to make the hurt go away but she couldn't. She could only be there for Yang and try to help her through it.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Apr 7, 2017 0:16:02 GMT
"So everyone keeps telling me," Yang said with a sigh. "I feel like if I had done things differently though, I wouldn't have ended up like this. Somehow, I ended up making the wrong decision every time and it led me to this." Really, that was what was eating her up. At every critical junction, whether it was what to say to Louie, or whether to face Thrax alone, she made the wrong choice. And this was the end result. In a video game, you could always restart and make different choices so you got a better ending. In real life, you had no such luck, unless there was some magical creature in Bellerouge that could time travel. And even then, time travel was fickle in the magical world. You had to be careful, otherwise, you could unravel everything and turn out an entirely different future.
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Post by skyeknight on Apr 7, 2017 0:52:39 GMT
"You made the decisions you thought were right at the time." Jane corrected. "It's okay to mess up. You're direct, bold and you have confidence for days. But you can't win every fight."
So Jane wasn't going to sugar coat things. Things were serious so a dose of reality might be the cure? Yang did make some mistakes. But they were decisions she would have to stand by or learn to correct. Yang would eventually have to pick herself up and dust herself off in order to keep living her life. Not letting this one incident keep her from doing that. Jane didn't even know everything that happened that night. Only that Louie was involved, Thrax (obviously) and Yang was left without an arm.
"No one expects you to be over this either." she continued. "Because Thrax is a fucking scary asshole."
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Apr 7, 2017 3:12:54 GMT
"I didn't think I could mess up this bad though," Yang replied sadly. "I mean, how stupid do you have to be to make a decision that gets your arm sliced off?" Yang had made reckless decisions in the past, but she had been able to get out of most of them okay. And those where she didn't, the most she got was some minor injuries. This though...she screwed up bad. And she couldn't help but blame herself. At least Jane agreed that Thrax was terrifying though. He was certainly the person Yang was afraid of most now, more than anyone else who had ever tried to hurt her. All her strength was practically nothing when going up against him. He had played her like a fiddle, using her anger to his advantage.
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Post by skyeknight on Apr 7, 2017 12:29:27 GMT
"Hey, you didn't know that would happen," Jane said firmly. "Think of it like this instead... What would have happened to Louie if you hadn't shown up?"
Yang was focusing on the negatives. She had been knocked down hard enough that she couldn't see a silver lining. Yang was alive. Louie was alive. Sure, Yang had gotten horribly hurt and was now going to have to go through those repercussions for the rest of her life, but she was alive. It was something to be happy about at the end of the day. Yang had gone against a demon, stood her ground and come out alive. There were people who couldn't say the same thing. Namine was one of them. The girl was still petrified. Between Jane's tough love and Omar's gentle approach, the girl was getting better in little steps. Hopefully the same would work for Yang.
"I'll tell you what would have happened, he would have died. Thrax would have killed him. And we'd be having a funeral right now."
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Apr 7, 2017 20:53:25 GMT
The point Jane brought up was one others had discussed as well. Louie would be dead right now if it wasn't for her. She had saved him, like Weiss had saved her. But Yang felt like he wouldn't have had to be saved if she hadn't blown up at him. If she had just stayed cool and talked to him, maybe he would have stayed at her place instead of running off and meeting Thrax. "He wouldn't have needed saving in the first place if I hadn't yelled at him," she replied. "If I had just..." She couldn't finish her sentence. Instead, she just gave a sigh. What was the use? She couldn't explain why her mind was always focused on the negatives, or why most words of encouragement didn't do diddly squat for her. She was depressed, and no amount of pep talks could pull her out of this until she was ready.
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Post by skyeknight on Apr 8, 2017 2:18:26 GMT
"Yang, you're not Louie's mom. He was acting out and being a spoiled brat because things weren't going his way. You're still a kid too. You can't be expected to fix every one of his problems at the wave of some magic wand."
Yang was allowed to lose her cool. Louie literally lost it because things weren't how they used to be. What he didn't realize was that if things had continued like that, Yang could have been arrested. But just because he had to go to bed at curfew and had to do homework, he threw a tantrum. She would have suggested that Omar have a talk with the kid but one step at a time. Yang was the one who needed the encouragement.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Apr 8, 2017 15:46:13 GMT
Yang didn't even want to get started on Louie. If she felt guilty about how things had gone, the kid felt even worse. Things were still awkward between them, with each of them blaming themselves for what happened. He was staying at home now at least, with his new parents. But that seemed to be the only positive thing. "You can't be too hard on him. He had it rough, just like the rest of us. And he feels guilty about this too, maybe even more than me. He shouldn't be feeling like that, not at his age." Yang just wanted him to worry about normal kid things, not about her. She didn't want to be the cause of any bad feelings he had.
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Post by skyeknight on Apr 8, 2017 18:25:56 GMT
"Yang, he was a brat. Running away from home is literally the worst thing he could have done. He didn't even give his new parents a chance simply because they tried to enforce rules."
Yes, Louie had it hard. He was going to have to deal with the fact that his rash decision cost Yang her arm because she loved him enough to fight for him. That was a lot more than a lot of kids could say. He should feel a little guilty. Perhaps it would make him think before he pulled a boneheaded move like that. Jane wouldn't lie. She was glad the kid was safe. She had breathed a sigh of relief to know that everyone had gotten away from Thrax. Maybe not unscathed but everyone was alive.
"You're not a miracle worker either."
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Apr 9, 2017 2:15:18 GMT
Yang sighed. Jane was being harsh, although she was speaking the truth. She knew Louie had been acting boneheaded from the moment she had suggested not living on the streets anymore. But who could blame him? Living that way had made him feel happy for the first time in his life. He had belonged somewhere, had people who actually cared about him. Of course he'd be reluctant to give it up. "He didn't want to abandon a place where he was happy, Jane," she said. "He had no one, before I found him. The other kids and I, we were his only family. And in his eyes, he was losing us." She looked up at her. "Haven't you ever wanted to hold onto something because it made you happy? Even if it was foolish to do so?"
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Post by skyeknight on Apr 9, 2017 17:54:04 GMT
"Well duh, I was sent to foster care when I knew my dad was alive. But I didn't run away." Jane said.
She knew what it was like to have that stripped of her. Except she was sent to another city entirely. She had been patient and bided her time until she left those horrible people and came back to Bellerouge. She had been about his age. She had fought and kicked and screamed against every foster family but in the end it only made her miserable. Granted, her foster parents only saw her as an object. A trophy daughter. So her means of getting back at them were passive aggressive.
"He's a kid. I get it. But he really should have sat down and waited until he wasn't running on sheer emotion." she added. "He wasn't losing you, he just had to open himself up to new people and that scared him."
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Apr 9, 2017 18:38:23 GMT
"Look, he's sorry about it and he's trying to make things better. That's what's important," Yang said. "I just don't want him feeling miserable over me for the rest of his life. I just want him to be a normal kid and do normal kid things. We didn't get to do too much of that. I want him to have those opportunities and not be concerned about this whole mess that's going on. It's our job to worry about them, not the other way around." Yang suddenly stopped, realizing she was rambling, and hurriedly shut her mouth. Really, that was all she wanted for Louie. She didn't want him feeling guilty over the loss of her arm. She felt like it wasn't his fault. And even if he was, he felt sorry about it. Wasn't that enough? Yang just wanted him to be a kid. The grown-ups would worry about all the nasty things going on in this city, not the kids. That wasn't their job.
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Post by skyeknight on Apr 9, 2017 19:08:47 GMT
"Okay, we can both agree it's not his fault you got hurt," Jane mused. "But what about Thrax? If he hadn't tried breaking into jail then none of this would have happened. It would have been a simple find the missing kid thing."
It would have. As no one knew Louie better than Yang and she found him quickly. If Thrax hadn't been there to attack the boy, Yang wouldn't have had to protect him. In Jane's mind Thrax and Thrax alone was at fault for this. That demon needed to pay for what he had done. Jane was likely to go out and get Yang some emeralds, just to protect herself with. And maybe some for Namine. It'd be costly, but it needed to be done.
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