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Post by Zuyuri on Nov 6, 2017 0:46:15 GMT
According to Aqua, the child kidnappings that had been called in were from a Seelie bull. Sunshine was hot on the heels of research, studying the supposed weaknesses on approved websites. It was making her nervous every time she typed in Seelie. She was expecting stories to come u about their powers being abused by selfish humans or how angry Seelies had taken their wrath out on them. By giving humans the gift of healing, Iridessa had broken a rule and she knew it. Now with her whole 'court tug-of-war' for her, she didn't like thinking about them, not one bit. She had been so tightly wound that she let out a cry of shock when someone tapped her.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 6, 2017 3:20:16 GMT
Ok, just take a breath and stay calm, Anna. You've put this off for too long as it is and you won't stop feeling guilty until you do this. So just take a deep breath and do what you need to do.
Anna kept repeating these thoughts to herself over and over as she stood in front of the office where Sunshine worked. However, despite having stood on the threshold for over five minutes she still hadn't knocked and it was clear from how pale she was and the way she fidgeted with her hands that she was extremely anxious. She hadn't spoken to Sunshine ever since.... ever since she had attacked her.
Her recovery had taken so long and even now the results of what she had done lingered. The streak of white in her hair hadn't faded and probably never would, she was still under close surveillance while working the BPD labs and she had kept her distance from everyone. However, the guilt wouldn't go away and she knew that it wouldn't until she finally worked up the courage to find Sunshine and apologize for what she had done. But it was so hard....
The young medical examiner continued to linger in front of the doorway, rocking on the balls of her feet and biting her lip. Finally, she forced herself to act and reached out to rap loudly on the doorway. Part of her wanted badly to simply turn around and run before the door was opened but she forced herself to stay put and swallowed nervously several times. |
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Post by Zuyuri on Nov 6, 2017 3:56:05 GMT
The blonde cop hit 'copy/paste; on the wall of text. The damning piece of evidence she had uncovered would hopefully lead the team into the bayou. It had been a crazy search for the missing children. Copies of their freckled faces or braces lining their teeth littered the walls of the offices. Just as she finished turning the wall blue with highlighting. a rap came from the doorway.
Sunshine spun in her chair to see who had summoned her. Was it Shadow with hopefully good news regarding some of the missing kids...or with her hazelnut creamer coffee? Nope. Someone else was in the doorway, someone who had seemed to be avoiding her and looking nervous. The white in her hair was gone, save for one single strand, which Sunshine had never noticed until now. Her jugular was going up and down.
She instinctively felt around her neck, remembering the attack. While the lacerations had healed and the initial terror was gone, Sunshine understood why it had been tricky. So, she let go of her neck and looked down. Her engagement ring winked its light purple gem in the rope lights of LEDs she had strung over her desk.
"Hey, Anna."
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 6, 2017 4:23:05 GMT
There was the smallest of pauses before the door opened. And there she was, Sunshine, standing right in front of Anna. She looked just the same as when Anna had last seen her with the only addition being a ring that sparkled purple on her finger.
For a moment she couldn't find her voice and merely stared, her blue eyes looking directly into the green. Fear, guilt and shame all seemed to be vying for dominance in her mind right then and it seemed that she would never be able to speak but only stand frozen in front of Sunshine. The terrible silence was finally broken when the BPD officer gave a small greeting, but the thing that Anna really noticed was the wary look that came across her face and the way she touched her neck.
Seeing her move as if to protect herself finally caused shame in win out in Anna and she dropped her gaze at last, the hurt at what she had done to Sunshine so strong it was as if she were being crushed beneath it.
"Sunshine, I.... it's been awhile."
Her words were soft, her whole posture tense.
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Post by Zuyuri on Nov 6, 2017 5:22:28 GMT
"Anna..."
Sunshine shook her head. With that shake, all the fear of the incident, all the bad memories she associated with Anna, all the thoughts that the well-meaning forensics expert would dare do anything to hurt her, was shoved to the side. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, studying Anna's body language. The big emotion she got was shame.
"Anna, I'm not going to get upset."
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 7, 2017 0:24:53 GMT
"Well, you should be...."
The words were spoken softly yet contained a harshness that was startling. Anna kept her eyes on the ground, her muscles tight but her sight was becoming blurring and she knew that tears were threatening to fall in that instant. She shook her head as if that would somehow stop them but it did no good as her eyes watered.
She brushed roughly at her eyes with the back of her hand, angry at herself for crying like this and ashamed of the horrible things she had done to Sunshine.
"You deserve to be upset at me and more..."
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Post by Zuyuri on Nov 7, 2017 0:51:08 GMT
"Anna, I'm done being upset with you."
Sunshine folded her arms. She was getting upset, but not because of the memory. This time she was upset through sheer empathy. Because Anna was tensing and crying, it was bouncing onto her. She bit her lip.
"I spent a week in a hospital bed glaring at the ceiling, groaning and thinking nasty things. I...hated thinking them. I really did."
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 7, 2017 1:03:28 GMT
At Sunshine's words, Anna seemed to grow smaller and it took all her control to not flinch. This was her punishment for letting her pride and stubbornness put so many people including herself at risk, for forcing Axel and Shadow to do what they thought best when she refused to listen, for hurting the likes of Sunshine and Dorian by her own hands.
She deserved to hear anything that Sunshine had to say to her, so she remained perfectly still and silent. However, when the blonde officer stated that she hated the things she had thought, Anna glanced up at her in surprise.
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Post by Zuyuri on Nov 7, 2017 6:30:48 GMT
Green and blue eyes locked onto one another. Sunshine could get what Anna was feeling. There were confusion, anger, and guilt all in the paramedic's eyes. She had seen that look on her own face when she had come to grips with her kidnapping by vampires. She had wanted to curl into a ball and sleep.
"Every bad thought...every thought I had about people I was putting behind bars or were killing..." she shook her head. "I didn't even stop to think that you couldn't control yourself with that shit in you. I was so dumb. Yea, you attacked me, but I was the dumb cop who thought it was okay to come into the labs after Shadow and Axel destroyed the vials. You're smart. You would have found a way..I just didn't count on it."
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 8, 2017 7:38:17 GMT
This was the last thing that Anna had come to anticipate from the young woman who stood before her. She had thought she would face hatred, anger, disgust, perhaps even fear and she had felt like deserved to be treated that way. However, this response had completely thrown the medical examiner for a loop.
"How... how could you be angry at yourself? I'm the one who fudged up big time, I'm the one who put myself and others in danger, I'm the one who hurt you...."
She continued to stare at the longhaired blonde officer, disbelief clouding her features even as the last of the tears she had shed slid down her cheeks and fell to the ground silently.
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Post by Zuyuri on Nov 9, 2017 4:21:16 GMT
"Anna," Sunshine shook her head. "We both hurt each other. You hurt me physically, I did mentally."
Anna was just staring at Sunshine in dumbfounded shock. No doubt she had expected more girlish shrieks and catcalling. The artist looked at her paint flecked nails, even the ring on her finger. Anna had done a lot, yes, but she was doing it for good reasons. It was her enthusiasm that had blinded her to the danger. Sunshine had done something similar with Riku, healing him but then activating a curse and felt absolutely guilty. He had forgiven her and put the blame on Vanitas. There was no scapegoat here. Without saying anything, the cop brought the officer into a tight hug.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 11, 2017 5:20:52 GMT
Words seemed to fail Anna in that moment as she looked at Sunshine, desperately wanting to believe her friend was forgiving her but feeling that she didn't deserve it. The conflicting desires left her confused beyond description to the point that she could only stand there in silence as Sunshine looked at her hands.
Suddenly, the BPD detective moved towards her and she had a fleeting moment of panic. Was she going to hit her, yell at her, close the door in her face? All of these raced across her mind as she stepped back. However, without a sound Sunshine did the one thing that Anna hadn't expected her to do. She hugged her.
Anna could only stand there in a stupefied manner, blinking slowly as she looked over her friend's shoulder and feeling her holding her tightly in her arms. And as she felt the touch of Sunshine, she knew that even if she had doubted the truth of her words this alone proved just what Sunshine had said. She forgave her.
A small sound escaped her then, the sound someone who has been slowly drowning might make when suddenly they feel the arms of someone around them and they are saved. Anna had been drowning in her own despair but she had been saved. She had been saved by Sunshine and her forgiveness.
Her face crumpled then and slowly she put her own arms around her friend, at long last letting go of her guilt as she pressed her face into the warm shoulder before her. Her body shook with silent sobs but no more tears appeared in her eyes. They merely stood like that for a time, each holding onto the other and each comforting each other in a way that touched the heart and spirit. And as they continued to hold each other, Anna whispered in a voice that seemed to come from the very core of who she was.
"Thank you, Sunshine."
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Post by Zuyuri on Nov 11, 2017 19:30:50 GMT
For a solid minute, Sunshine and Anna kept their hug. The scientist needed to let it all out, and the cop was more than willing to let it happen. Sometimes the power of a hug was the best thing anyone could do for stress. People often shrugged that off as a sign of weakness. Sunshine, though, found it to be one of the most useful things. Given she couldn't exactly hug monsters or criminals, this was huge.
Even Shadow would come to her for hugs. The guy who didn't like to be touched. The guy who only hugged people he truly cared about. He sought her.
Once the sobbing was done, she slowly let Anna go, looking long and hard into her blue eyes. "Hold on. You need something." She went to her desk and popped open a drawer. Filled inside were countless wrappers of chocolate truffles. She usually snacked on them when investigating, both for the caffeine and the sweetness.
"Take one. You need it more than I do now."
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 15, 2017 1:31:25 GMT
When the two of them finally broke the embrace, Anna took a small step back and wiped at her face with her hand. It seemed like all she had been doing of late was crying yet this time it had been different. Whereas before the tears had been bitter and guilt-ridden things, salt water that had been shed in self-hatred and despair, these tears had fallen filled with a long-needed forgiveness and a hope that had nearly been snuffed out.
For a moment the two of them merely stood facing each other as the healing process finally began for Anna. And when the silence was finally broken, it was Sunshine saying Anna needed something. Before the medical examiner could even begin to form a question, the young blonde woman had disappeared into her office and then reappeared with a brightly wrapped truffle in hand before giving it to her.
Anna looked down at the sweet sitting in the palm of her hand and managed to give a weak but true smile.
"A hug and chocolate? You really do deserve your nickname, Sunshine."
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Post by Zuyuri on Nov 15, 2017 15:25:22 GMT
Sunshine smiled, popping her own pieces of chocolate in her mouth. The rich sweetness replaced the saltiness from all the emotions weighing on her. She sucked it while admiring her ring. The purple stone glittered. “Just because I fight and kill monsters for a living doesn’t mean I have to be doom and gloom all the time.”
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