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Post by Zuyuri on Sept 25, 2019 3:01:59 GMT
"I'm just asking how you guys were is all..."
Way to go, asshole. You poured salt onto the open wounds. It was none of his concern how things were going but he cared about Aqua and how sensitive she was to manners of the heart. The young woman had been hurt far too much, and if Omar so much as insulted her, he was going to play the ultimate wingman.
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Post by skyeknight on Sept 25, 2019 13:42:11 GMT
"We're... not anything," she said. "I haven't seen him. He hasn't returned my calls. I thought I'd find him here but Axel says he and the Bilge Rats haven't been booked since he reopened."
She tried to keep her tone neutral. Not let emotion play into anything. Omar didn't owe her his time. He didn't owe her anything. But she had thought... She thought that she was finally able to move on and get past heartbreak. Only to have it slap her in the face once again. She tried not to think of the motives that Omar had to win her over the way he had. Or if he had just been playing with her because she was so much younger than him. She didn't want to think about it.
"Jane... Jane says he needs time."
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Post by Zuyuri on Sept 25, 2019 18:30:21 GMT
A noise similar to a disgruntled scoff of disappointment escapes Shadow. Weren’t anything. Rather than hurt her feelings, he kept all the thoughts he had to himself. That Omar was selfish in wooing a girl with a broken heart and then dashed her to pieces. Returning the call of a lady was something he took seriously. Even if it was something as simple as saying hello to whoever was on the other line.
“None of it was your fault.”
Well that was true. Aqua had been lassoed into it right the hell out of nowhere.
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Post by skyeknight on Sept 26, 2019 2:19:43 GMT
"I shouldn't have let myself get swept up in it." she said. "It was my fault for that."
She had gotten so swept up in that feeling of being important to someone that it swept away all logic and all of her normal guards. Omar had been quite proficient about pushing past her guard. He had to have meant some of what he said. That he wanted to see her happy. That he thought well of her. But it hadn't been enough. Whatever was there between them had fizzled out.
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Post by Zuyuri on Sept 26, 2019 2:48:48 GMT
"You're a smart woman, Aqua. Omar just...knew the right things to say."
The troll had a way of making connections with people. A joke going around in the office was that he had adopted half the town. Part of him wanted to ask Elsa if there were any adoption papers signed by Omar, not counting the Namine one. That had been a show of good faith to keep the girl away from someone unhealthy. As he saw the blue-haired 'teacup' slouch, the guilt crept in again. The guilt of saying something wrong when all he wanted to do was mean well.
"Is it...a bad time to say he tried to flirt with me, too?"
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Post by skyeknight on Sept 30, 2019 1:51:58 GMT
Aqua had to repress a groan. Of course Omar had flirted with Shadow too. He probably did it to get out of trouble with the cops... Perhaps deep down, she knew it wouldn't work between them. They were far too different. She met him in a bar fight for the sake of all things. The bad boy with a heart of gold. She supposed Terra had been the same way. Embarrassingly enough.
"He is a wonderful man, but... I suppose it never would have worked between us..." she said. "It doesn't mean it doesn't hurt."
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Post by Zuyuri on Sept 30, 2019 15:42:09 GMT
A few seconds of an awkward silence passed. Here, Shadow was trying to make her laugh. Instead, all it did was give her a sense of annoyance. A pit formed in his chest. She was right, Omar could be a good person when he wanted to be. He fought so hard for the welfare of children and was as loyal as loyal could be. Maybe that was the zinger. He had been so loyal to Cindy just as Aqua was loyal to Terra, that it was impossible for either them to climb over that wall and meet in the middle. Then there was that thing with Davey...again, suspicious.
“If you ask me, he wasn’t fair to you in terms of...inner hurts. Sure, he was loyal, but...maybe that loyalty was misdirected, and...”
He stopped himself. Last time, he accidentally insulted Terra. No need to repeat himself.
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Post by skyeknight on Oct 2, 2019 1:26:48 GMT
"Shadow, it's okay." Aqua reassured him. "We might not have worked out but he at least helped me realize that I can fall in love again."
That was at least one good thing that came from dating Omar. He had coaxed her out of her hurt and nursed her broken heart. Though he did push her harder than she would have liked about completely moving past her grief, she had in a way, moved on. Her heart had opened up with his help, to more than just him, but her friends too. She supposed putting it to words helped a lot. She was no longer alone.
"Plus, he's a few hundred years older than me," she admitted. "And he's Namine's dad so that made it a little weird too."
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Post by Zuyuri on Oct 2, 2019 2:16:22 GMT
Shadow sat back with the tension slowly melting from his muscles. It was like ice cream sitting out in the Louisiana heat; just give it some time, and it would eventually come to pass. Besides, as Aqua said, she was able to learn to love again, which was at least healthy. He had noticed her being much more open to going out with people besides Namine. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen the timid little blodne girl anywhere. It was bizarre, like seeing a turtle out of its shell, but he was at least there for her to talk to.
"Yeah, that makes for awkward dinners," he agreed.
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Post by skyeknight on Oct 6, 2019 2:52:10 GMT
"I thought I'd come here one last time... But I think this is my answer," she mused.
She took a drink. The ice clinked when she set the glass down. She supposed it was rather cathartic to tell Shadow this. A few years ago, she wouldn't have even have done that. She would have bottled the hurt and the sadness, pushing it so deep down that it became a wound that festered, rotting her from the inside. But of all of her coworkers and friends, Shadow knew the burden of a heavy heart.
"So much has changed... So much has stayed the same." But then she smile. "So Jane? How on earth did that happen? That has to be quite the story!"
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Post by Zuyuri on Oct 6, 2019 3:55:38 GMT
“Oh it is a story. I was trailing Waylon Jones in the bayou. Again. When I was looking out, Jane had been in the area hunting snakes. She thought I was violating protected land, and I set the story straight. Jones was creeping, and she helped me out. Then after that, we just kept running into one another.” He set down his glass, “before everything went down. I was supposed to come into her class and talk about cop safety...”
It was funny how they interacted, too. Both a ting callous and casual but over time, the layers would peel back and softer sides and comments would be exchanged.
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Post by skyeknight on Oct 8, 2019 2:06:38 GMT
"Jane? Miss Still-Glared-At-Me-Over-Family-Dinner Jane? She hates cops!" Aqua said.
Aqua was certain that Jane doubly hated her for being bother 'mother's replacement' and for being a cop. But she supposed that was moot point now. But Jane had seemed... softer as of late. She had always been kind and gentle with Namine after what happened with Vanitas but even then,she hadn't been completely hostile to anyone lately. Perhaps that was Shadow's influence on Jane.
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Post by Zuyuri on Oct 10, 2019 4:00:25 GMT
"I gave her a lecture on the cop hating," Shadow reassured.
Then again, he had been the one who told Jane to chill. Maybe the talking to only applied to him and not the other cops. Yet, Jane probably had another reason to be miffed. He had not had the experience, but having a parental unit date to possibly replace another parent would be salt in the wound. There was no chance he could be a fly on the wall at any of these meet ups, though, now that Aqua was dumping Omar. All he hoped was a cop breaking Omar's heart didn't ruin any chances he had with Jane.
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Post by skyeknight on Oct 11, 2019 1:57:45 GMT
"Well, she took it to heart." Aqua said.
Jane had calmed down a lot and it was just now that Aqua was realizing this. But it was good to see that Shadow was having a positive influence on her. Someone had to do something. She certainly couldn't have gone her entire life hating people. It was no way to live. Life (even for long living creatures like themselves) was too short to hold a grudge like that.
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Post by Zuyuri on Oct 11, 2019 2:34:34 GMT
"Good. Glad to know my advice is sticking to people, and I'm not just saying that because I'm prickly," Shadow joked.
This side of him was now starting to show itself. This side that had been upbeat and positive. Before, he had only shown it to select individuals such as children, and maybe Sunshine. Now, it was no longer some mask or an act he had to play. Now he could talk with ease.
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