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Post by Zuyuri on Jun 29, 2017 21:35:31 GMT
After filling in Yang the scoop of the incident, Shadow shuffled into Bourbon. He was drained, exahusted. The heartache of letting Sunshine go was the one thing he knew was going to be rough, but he never realized how much it was going to ache. Top off that his anger had caused yet another person to go off the rails and he needed a drink. He slumped at the bar, pulling out a few bills and ordering his usual Black Russian. He let out a heavy sigh, and just as his drink was being set down, a chuckle resounded. He knew that kind of laugh from the uncontrolled breathing and the odor of one too many shots and an agitated female being crude about the asshole. He didn't see Axel anywhere, and he just looked at his fist. This wouldn't be the first bar fight he had started.
"Hey!" he called out to the laughing drunkard, who was leering over someone. "What part of 'back off' do you not understand?"
The drunk guy had no time to respond before an almost glowing fist smacked him straight into the nose. Shadow's victim mumbled something incoherently before passing out onto the floor, a bloody nose in tact. Shadow breathed and rubbed his fist against his white chest fur, staining it red from the squirt. He'd clean it off in a bit.
As he got the annoyed part out of his system he glanced over at who the creep had been attempting to pick up. "...Jane?"
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Post by skyeknight on Jun 29, 2017 22:18:10 GMT
Jane had been minding her own business when the drunk came up to her. Axel - her favorite bartender - had taken some personal time. His temporary replacement wasn't as good at making drinks as the fiery bartender was. Also he didn't limit customers so more drunks were rolling in getting even more drunk. Axel was going to be furious. But that didn't help Jane with her current situation. The drunk looking over her like she was a filet mignon told her how pretty she was before offering to take her home and show her the 'time of her life'. To which Jane snorted. The guy was old enough to be her dad, or how her dad might have looked at that age if he could physically age.
"I'd rather shoot myself." She replied coolly.
He grabbed her arm, spilling her drink on the counter. Apparently it wasn't an offer. Just as Jane went to reach for her tazer someone punched the guy. Lights out. He sank to the floor in a graceless bloodied puddle of despair and booze. She looked up at her would be rescuer. She hadn't needed to use her tazer after all. She put it back away safely in her purse.
"Huh... Shadow? Impressive."
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Post by Zuyuri on Jun 29, 2017 22:37:25 GMT
"You okay?"
Oh sure, put on your cop authority, he scolded. Jane was putting away what he assumed was a taser. Smart girl, too. Some people needed an extra set of defense in this town that was clarified as legal. He rushed back to grab his drink and sat next to her in case the punk had friends that wanted revenge. Doubtful since it was post happy hour crowd and the bar was shockingly quiet.
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Post by skyeknight on Jun 29, 2017 23:34:32 GMT
"Yeah. I am. Thank you." she said.
She hadn't expected anyone to try to 'save' her from the drunk. The replacement bartender at least had the decency to drag the guy over to his friends and tell them all to get out. They all did, whimpering like dogs with their tails between their legs and taking their extremely drunk friend with them. She waved over the bartender to get a new drink and the mess the drunk had made was cleared away while she waited on her Ginger Yule a drink mixed with Stones Ginger Wine, Rum and Triple Sec.
"Careful though, when dad does that, he typically gets arrested." she teased. "Wouldn't want anyone calling the cops on the cop."
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Post by Zuyuri on Jun 30, 2017 4:23:43 GMT
The mess was cleaned up by Axel's stand-in. Shadow was happy to admit, for a stand-in, the guy was doing a pretty good job. He got the ratios of his drink right, he was able to take care of a mess in the tavern, and he wasn't doing anything creepy. He swirled the dark drink in his glass, a grim chuckle escaping his mouth before he took a swig and set the glass down, the ice cubes jingling.
"Yeah, well, it wouldn't be the first time they tried to arrest me."
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Post by skyeknight on Jun 30, 2017 13:17:14 GMT
"Stupid." Jane muttered. "Cops arresting cops. Because that's what the police need to focus on."
Shadow actually did his job. It would be pointless not to mention unproductive to arrest a man who did his job the way he was supposed to. Granted, they arrested her dad too, but her dad had never really done anything wrong. Okay, there was the one time he whisked away a kid but that kid had negligent parents and even the police agreed so he was let off with a warning. The things he would do to protect kids. It made Jane smile, just a little. She could see some of that in Shadow too, Mr. Martyr who was in the bayou alone with only humans to back him up. Human cops and a partial human bystander who happened to be a decent enough shot to help save his life.
"So what brings you here, aside from saving people from drunks?" she asked. "You're not on duty."
She gestured to the drink in his hand. Something told her, Shadow wasn't the type of guy to drink on the clock. Unless it was undercover work, but unfortunately, he was a little to memorable for that line of work. Her drink was brought to her. A sip proved it was good, but that was it, just good. She supposed she preferred the 'flare' the usual bartender brought. Nice guy. Made goo-goo eyes at the other little red head who would come in, though when Jane teased him, he denied it.
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Post by Zuyuri on Jun 30, 2017 16:51:47 GMT
"I can't control what they think of me," Shadow shrugged. "I'm just," he gestured to all of him, "different."
There were perks to being a homunculus, especially one based on hedgehog DNA, but that still didn't change the fact humans were scared shitless of him. It was one of the reasons, if not the main reason, people did try to arrest him, was because of how he looked. Besides, some cops had to e arrested by others for abusing their privileges; something Shadow would rather die than do.
Jane asked him what brought him to Bourbon. Well, he had a laundry list, but he went with the easiest answer.
"Perks of desk work; flexible hours." He massaged the bruised shoulder blade, which day by day was getting better. All he needed was a doctor's approval. "That and after reading case after case on serial killers, rapists, pedophiles, and...well you get the idea." Ice rattled in his glass as he picked it up to take a sip.
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Post by skyeknight on Jun 30, 2017 17:29:01 GMT
"Nothing wrong with being different." she said.
Her foster mother tried to make her 'conform'. The woman honestly thought if Jane didn't act like a troll, she wasn't a troll. So she could then brag to her friends in high society what a well mannered Other daughter she had. Like she was talking about a pedigree dog. So Jane rebelled every chance she got. She went hunting, she fought, kicked, screamed, cussed, she wore 'inappropriate' things for a lady, like combat boots and dresses. She was unladylike and learned things that girls her age typically didn't - like hunting and fishing. Just to spite her foster family as much as she could. Shadow was right, they couldn't control what people thought of them, but it didn't mean that they had to let that get to them.
"Still recovering from your stint in the bayou?" she asked. "Maybe you do need to stay on desk work."
No point in a good officer getting killed. She might even tolerate this one so she would be disappointed if he got himself killed now.
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Post by Zuyuri on Jun 30, 2017 22:36:29 GMT
"Actually, I've been recovering from something that got inflicted for a while. I was just too stubborn to get it looked at until it started bothering me. Heck, I was defying the doctor's orders just going to the bayou. Yeah, my partner helped with her healing, but I knew Croc was too dangerous to be left to the human forces alone. Bruised shoulder bone or not, I was going to take him." He took a slow sip, setting the glass down and staring into the dark mix of vodka and kahlua.
"My stubbornness should have gotten me killed multiple times."
He had said it quietly, almost like he was admitting defeat. Police work hadn't been the only thing he had been stubborn about. The girl he cared for probably more than any female he had met had a boyfriend. He had said the three words and subtly used them to confess, but knew she was never going to get it. He might as well throw in the towel.
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Post by skyeknight on Jul 1, 2017 0:10:27 GMT
"That's kind of stupid, you know." Jane pointed out.
She wasn't one to sugar coat things. He had been stupid. He could have gotten them both killed if his shoulder had acted up the slightest, but at the same time his bravery had paid off. Killer Croc had been captured. The streets were safe once again. No one was going to die at the hands of the serial killer that would literally eat people. Still, Jane couldn't help but feel that Shadow's decision, was a risky one.
"You should take better care of yourself. You won't do anyone any good when you've got one foot in the grave." she said. "You might be one of the only good cops out there."
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Post by Zuyuri on Jul 1, 2017 1:08:01 GMT
For once, he had no comment. He just sat looking at the contents of his drink. Stupid he could handle. Reckless was how Sunshine called it. The scolding reminded him of Sunshine, too, fussing over just getting a graze from a vampire's nails or getting tripped by the cheaters in Thorn Manorz
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Post by skyeknight on Jul 2, 2017 22:46:57 GMT
"What? It's true."
She gave Shadow a hard look. She wasn't going to back down on this. She sincerely thought it was a real bonehead move for Shadow to ignore his own injuries to go chasing after a serial killer. Granted, no one else in the Others Unit seemed to be doing anything about Killer Croc. Jane didn't know the inner working of the BPD. She tended to avoid them. She was wondering if she shouldn't do the same to Shadow, but he had been a nice guy. A little weird and pigheaded, but who wasn't these days? Namine didn't count in her rhetorical question.
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Post by Zuyuri on Jul 3, 2017 5:22:38 GMT
Shadow's quiet response was equal parts angry and equal parts disappointed. So much for making polite conversation. Jane was just as stonewalled as she had been in the past. She was telling the truth, but it didn't mean he was going to take anymore of it. He just took his drink and slumped to the farthest corner of the bar.
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Post by skyeknight on Jul 3, 2017 13:15:12 GMT
Jane raised a brow when Shadow got up and moved away from her. It was rude too. Not one to let this stand, she grabbed her drink and followed him. Good at his job or not, Shadow had horrible people skills if he thought this was going to fly. She glowered at him for slighting her. Friend of her father's or not, he was a bit of a jerk. The guy was sulking because Jane gave her honest opinion. Something deeper was going on because she didn't dare believe for one second that the guy who went toe to toe with a vicious half-crocodile man was that sensitive that a little honest truth would get him that upset. He wasn't a special little snowflake.
"Something is bothering you and it's not just work." she snapped. "Care to explain what the Hell crawled up your ass and died?"
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Post by Zuyuri on Jul 3, 2017 17:25:37 GMT
"Twenty years ago, My only friend, a twelve year old girl who was dying, was killed by government for having knowledge of a dangerous experiment. I sold my memories except for those of her to a demon I didn't particularly trust. Those same memories came back from the Devil himself who, guess what, happens to be my father. And just eight hours ago, I let go of the only woman I fell in love with because she has someone. So...yes, more than work is in my mind.."
Jane wasn't going to stop hounding him until she got what she wanted. He was not sure why she suddenly cared, but the sooner he got it out, the better. He didn't mean to let such a personal laundry list fly out of his mouth. The good news was he wasn't angry enough to send things blowing up.
After the outburst, he slumped again, exhauated just from holding the rage in. Jane didn't deserve his wrath.
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