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Post by Cheshire on Jun 26, 2014 4:30:11 GMT
(Title may change when I can think of something better)
August 25th, -Picks up directly after Playdate-
The pet store had been a adventure, one that Jade did not anticipate but did not mind either. Lian had been completely transfixed with all of the animals and had spent at least twenty minutes in each department waving to the critters behind the glass and laughing. Nothing was out of the reach of the curious little girl and she equally loved everything she saw, even the spiders and snakes. Lian seemed to have no fear about anything and Jade couldn’t decide if that was a blessing or a curse. She certainly did not want Lian growing up to fear the world, Jade knew from experience that the world was cruel and unforgiving and fearing it just made you a easier target for all its wickedness. However, on the other hand there were limits that they all needed to learn.
Something that Slade had made very clear.
The young woman heaved a heavy sigh; their daughter was a special child. She knew that all parents said that about their children but Lian truly was something special. She was smarter, knew more about the world than anyone her age should, she was observant and could work out complex problems for her age with ease. She and Roy were going to have their hands full when Lian got older. Add all of that with Lians love for violence and her parents being an assassin and hero respectively that can train her in their ways.. Things would be very interesting later on in life.
That is, if Jade lived to see that long.
This new plan the Light was working on had eaten away at her since Slade had left her with his ‘invitation’ earlier today and she couldn’t understand why the Shadows would want her back after all that had happened, unless they were desperate for the extra help. Had the sidekicks really crippled them that badly that they needed to pull out all their cards again, had they approached her father again as well? God, she hoped not. Jade did not want to have to work with Crusher again and she really hoped they killed him. Slade had mentioned wanting to know where he was so hopefully her wish would come true. One last thing for her to worry about.
The two Nguyen women slowly made their way around the pet store and Jade had to physically pick Lian up and carry her away from the puppies, much to the girls protest. Jade had nothing against dogs…not really anyway but they were not something people like them could afford to have. Cats were independent they could fend for themselves should the need arise. Not to mention they had a killer instinct. It was safe to say that Jade loved cats, one only had to take a look at her costume to come to that conclusion and she might be living vicariously through her daughter with this. This had been something Jade had wanted all through her childhood and even if she couldn’t have it now, she could at least watch her daughter enjoy the thing she couldn’t have.
After a bit of a tantrum Jade set Lian down in front of the glass cage that held all the kittens and the little girl quickly forgot about the puppies and became transfixed. She ran up to the glass and pointed at all the small creatures as they climbed around one another and gave their small, pathetic meows.
”Kit-eys!” She said happily while banging on the glass
Jade knelt down and gently stopped her daughter from hitting the cage ”That’s right, kitties.” She looked at the ten or so kittens that were inside, all of them were cute and if this were up to she, Jade was certain they would be leaving with more than one today. But, her situation didn’t leave room for something like that and she was sure Roy would skin her alive if she came to him with more than one. He was already going to kill her for bringing one to his apartment without asking first. ”Would you like one?”
The little girls eyes lit up ”ya!”
Jade smiled. ”Ok, let’s find one then.” She picked Lian up so she could better see all the kittens inside and told her daughter to pick one out that she liked.
It took some doing and lots of time spent with a few of the kittens until Lian had finally narrowed it down (with subtle nudges from her mother…) to one kitten. A small, quiet grey thing that had kept mostly to its self and Jade had first noticed it when Lian had started to bang on the glass when they first arrived. It looked like the runt, it was casted aside while the others played and a small twang of pity filled the assassins heart. When she had asked to see the kitten the animal was shy at first but had quickly warmed up to them and would purr and meow while it nudged for pets. Lian seemed to like the little thing and Jade had already made her decision before she had even asked to see it.
With their minds made up Jade paid for the kitten and supplies while Lian helped the attendant pick out a collar and some toys for it to play with while she grabbed a little box, food and everything else needed. When all the papers were signed and the items paid for the attendant told Jade that the kitten had its first shots and gave her a card to a vet that could neuter the animal when it was old enough and she stuck the card in her back pocket to give to Roy later. The attendant put the kitten in a travel cage and the rest of the things in a bag for her to carry and Jade took Lians hand with her free one and walked out of the store.
After hailing a cab and piling everything into the vehicle Jade gave the driver Roy’s address and enjoyed the short ride. Trying to help Lian pick out names for her new pet, they didn’t make much segway in the name department before they arrived at Roy’s and Jade paid the driver and got everything out of the cab and carried it all up the walkup. The driver had offered to help her, since she was juggling a kid on top of everything else but Jade assured him that she had it.
When the girls reached the floor with Roy’s apartment Jade set the carrier cage down and knocked on the door -having forgot her own set of keys-, setting Lian down shortly after. ”I wonder if daddy is sleeping..” She said to the little girl when he didn’t seem to answer right away. ”Hopefully he’s not drinking..” she thought. While Roy had cleaned up his act greatly things still happened and Jade was fully prepared to set him straight, especially now that she was going to have to break the news to him about Slade and his offer.
Lian, hearing that her daddy might be asleep had started to bang on the door with her tiny fist ”wake up daddy!” She yelled in her small voice ”daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaddy”
Jade couldn’t help but laugh despite her slight annoyance at waiting out here. She could easily just pick the lock herself but she was trying to show Lian that you did things the right way and not the easy way. At least, right now. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2014 7:23:58 GMT
*knock knock knock*
Roy was plopped face down on his bed, still dressed in half his costume, the other half tossed to the floor. Blood still freshly falling off it and staining into the carpet while he bleeds out all over his bed. Shards of shrapnel partially dug into him still and a half empty bottle of whiskey lay across the floor. He was drunk but not unconscious from it, the bleeding was being neglected and unattended to as the drunk seemed to care less about his well being. His sense of self worth was at another low point tonight, he went out to do some good and got a family killed instead along with more than his fair share of injuries.
”wake up daddy!”
He jolted out of his daze for a moment, unsure what just happened so he was confused and his eyes were looking around wondering what the hell was going on.
”daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaddy”
Roy jerked his head up when he heard Lian yelling for him and in that moment he remembered why he was here. He pushed himself up off his bed and stood there trying to gain his balance for a moment before throwing his blanket over the blood soaked bed. He then bolted out of his room and was heading for the door, he tripped over something or stepped on something, he didn't know which cause he wasn't looking. Either way he stumbled and crashed down through the cocktail table in his living room, screaming a slew of colorful words that Lian should never hear for another 12 years or longer. He pushed himself up, hurt, annoyed, and bleeding more now.
"Hold on daddy's coming." he yelled
He unlocked the door and opened it up to see Jade, Lian, and a box standing at his door. While he stood there in the pants and boots of his costume, covered in blood, and pretty sure there were chunks of things sticking out of him all about his torso and arms and possibly his back, his face was bleeding but luckily nothing was stuck in it. He was not ready for this and he knew Jade was gonna make him pay for this one but too late to do anything now. He wasn't all that right in the head anyways right now, the whole reason he was drunk and didn't bother to patch himself up was because he failed that family. He could have saved them, wouldn't have been any issue back in the day. But now, being the mess he is and the failure that he's become. It made it less than surprising that he once again came up short, made it all the more expected that he came home feeling like shit, looking like shit, feeling just below worthless. So he drank, he brooded, he self loathed, he fell into that place he shouldn't be left alone to. That place that drove him to ruin his life in the first place, not that he had a life, he was a freak of science. He hated himself and what he was, couldn't get over it, why he was made, the fact that he was a carbon copy of someone else. He didn't know how to cope with it, how to move on, what to do with himself, even with Lian in his life. He looked at them and gave Lian a strongly faked smile.
"Hey how's daddy's little warrior princess? Oh and don't worry about daddy's boo boos, he got em kicking some bad guy butt!"
He spoke proud and strong for her, he didn't like to lie to her but he didn't want her to worry for him. He wanted to be her hero but his own shortcomings and failures made it so he had to lie to her. Jade knew though, she saw through the crap and the lies and would likely kick his ass in less than 3.7 seconds if he knew her, but Lian was standing there so maybe she'd wait long enough to go out of sight.
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Post by Cheshire on Jul 3, 2014 8:11:29 GMT
When Roy was taking his sweet time Jade was quickly growing impatient. It wasn’t like it was that late, almost evening, what could he possibly be doing in there? She was about to just pick the lock herself when she heard a loud crash from inside the apartment. Instinct took over and she pulled her daughter close while taking out a small concealed knife, ready to defend and attack. It may not be her usual sais but it was just as deadly in her capable hands but Jade lowered the weapon when she heard a string of curses followed shortly with a
Hold on, daddy’s coming
It wasn’t hard to piece two and two together. He was drunk. Worse than that he was drunk when he knew he would have their daughter. She had picked her up from him earlier and this is what he did. THIS is how he thought a father should act? He had been doing so well, had started to clean up his act after she told him about Lian but yet, here he was. Obviously being well for his daughter wasn’t a good enough reason.
As the door opened Jade had expected to see a inebriated Roy, one that was disheveled and maybe a little rough looking. That would have been easier to handle and to explain away to Lian but, seeing a bloody, beaten and drunken mess was even a shock to her.
"Hey how's daddy's little warrior princess? Oh and don't worry about daddy's boo boos, he got em kicking some bad guy butt!"
Lian looked at her father and pointed at him, going to touch his pant leg
”daddy hurt” the little girl said matter o factly
Before Lian could rest her tiny fingers on her fathers bloody pants Jade was quick to put her knife away and scope her baby up, not wanting blood to get on her and she pushed her way past Roy.
What was he thinking? WHAT WAS HE THINKING?! She had half a mind to beat whats left of him and put him in the hospital, it wouldn’t take much at this point. What had he gotten into? How did he think it was ok for him to come back here like that and just let himself bleed all over?! Despite what he might say to Lian Jade could see right through his mediocore act. Could hear it in his voice and see it in his face. She thought they were past this, thought that he had finally laid those ghost to rest.
Apparently she was wrong.
Jade was fuming, no, that wasn’t even the right word. There wasn’t a word in the English language that described the anger she was feeling right now. Her world had gone red and that wasn’t from the blood that he had trailed all over the apartment either. The woman looked around for a place to set their daughter but everywhere she looked was either covered in blood or broken bits from the table he had crashed through, all things the little girl could easily get her hands on. But, she had to set her somewhere. Lian did not need to see this, she did not need to see the fight that was about to happen and she did not need to see her father bleeding from every possible place like the was. Roy and her made no effort to hide their lifestyle from their child, they freely wore their costumes around her and such. Hell, the two had even taken her on missions when she was still a baby but there were things her little mind did not need to see so early on and this was one of them.
Finally deciding that she needed to do something Jade set Lian down and pushed back her husband once more to grab the boxes that were outside the door, bringing them inside and pushing Roy out of the way. With the boxes in hand Jade quickly walked over to Lian and knelt infront of her. ”Why don’t we show kitty his new home, ok?” Carefully she took the kitten from the travel cage and handed it to her daughter ”How about we show him your room?” She nudged the girl toward the spare room that had become hers when she stayed with her father and Lian obeyed and carried the kitten away. Jade followed behind slightly and made sure the girl was ok and the door was shut before she rounded on Roy.
All semblance of the kind mother quickly disappeared and was replaced with a hell fire. Jade was sure her eyes blazed with the anger that she was feeling and she suddenly closed the distance between the two of them. He needed medical attention, that much was obvious but first things was first.
’What the hell were you thinking?!” She yelled at him, shoving him slightly back as she spoke. Jade was not one to resort to violence, at least not domestically but right now it was going to be the only thing he would pay attention too and the only thing she felt he deserved. He was lucky that she loved him because if she hadn’t this would go much, much worse for him. ”What. Were. You. Thinking?! She said again, stepping even closer.
What the hell could do this to him? He was a seasoned hero, a fully capable one too at least, he had been. Had he really let himself go that bad? Jade locked her eyes on him waiting for a answer but just his general appearance and injuries made her anger waver slightly. God dammit Roy! She swore in frustration from the break in her yelling before turning heal and going to the bathroom to grab his medical kit. He needed to be stitched up and soon and he would be no good to her if he went into shock. You can’t yell at someone that way.
Grabbing the kit Jade brought it back and slammed it on the counter, opening the small box before going to grab some towels and water so she could actually see what she was about to do. Once she had all of her supplies Jade pushed him into a chair and splashed the bowl of water on him. He was too covered in blood to just wipe it all off little by little and maybe the cold water would sober him up and maybe it would hurt.
She really hoped it did. She hoped it hurt a lot.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2014 8:33:58 GMT
As he stood there, looking at his daughter and wife as they first laid eyes on his wounded form; he could not help but feel both concern and daggers directed at him. No question whose was whose. He watched Jade scoop Lian up and walk her past him, he wasn't going to say a word while his daughter was there before he knew it would just bring out Jade's wrath more. But that's not what this was about, he wasn't intentionally screwing up, in fact doing so just made things worse. All he could do was back up when he was pushed out of the way more than once by the firecracker in his life that he called 'wife'. He just leaned over when he heard about the kitty. "Say wha?"
He watched her put Lian in her room and like clockwork she was on him and yelling the moment the door was shut. He let her say what she said, he let her push him around, didn't even fight back, argue, make any snide remarks or comments, just let her do her thing without interruption or reason to go off on him even more. He took it and accepted it without struggle or any fighting. He came off as empty and without the will to go on. She sat him down to clean him up and stitch his wounds but he just sat there like a bump on a log and did nothing to help out. His eyes were empty and hollow, soulless and cold.
"God dammit Roy!"
He turned and looked at her with those lifeless eyes and then looked down at the floor while she worked on him. "I was thinking that I'm a complete failure at everything I do. That every time I try to make things better for myself or for someone else it blow up in my face." he sighed and then just stared blankly at the floor for a moment. "I failed to save a family tonight, for whatever reason Deadshot was hired to kill em. They had a little girl, roughly Lian's age, died in my arms. He used a lot of explosives which is why I am the way I am." He leaned back and leaned his head back even further so he was staring up at the ceiling. "So of course I started thinking about Lian and how it'd feel if it was her that died because I couldn't protect her..." Of course that would have meant that he'd be drinking heavily during these times and she knew full well how emotional he could get when it came to his loved ones, but it was Lian that brought this part of him out that could be rendered to tears as easily as he was in those few minutes. He started tearing up as he was finishing his last statement and the tears were now just silently falling down his face as he looked up at the ceiling still. He couldn't look at her, he didn't want to and see her looking back at him disgusted or worse. He honestly didn't know what she truly felt about this emotional side of him, he never asked or tried to know because he felt weak over it.
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Post by Cheshire on Jul 12, 2014 16:34:48 GMT
Jade has started wiping away the dried blood from his body, getting a better look at his wounds. By the looks of things he was lucky to still be conscious, she hadn't seen his bed yet but just by looking at all the blood on him and around the apartment he had lost a good amount of it. Add the alcohol he had been drinking to the mix to thin the blood that was remaining and making it harder to clot itself so it could stop he was very lucky. Once she could see what she was doing Jade ignored him and went back to the medical kit, grabbing it and bringing it down next to her as she kneeled in front of him. Jade grabbed a pair of gloves and slipped them on and got everything ready and laid out. He was lucky she wasn't the squeamish type because this was not about to be pleasant for either of them.
Taking a pair of long thin tweezers she began poking around his wounds, pulling out any fragments of metal or other foreign objects she even had to use a scalpel on a few of the deeper ones but Jade made quick work of it. He would have to go see a professional after this to make sure infection didn't set in but she at least could close him up, besides, the heroes wouldn't ask too many questions about where he had gotten his injuries from. Not like a real hospital would.
When everything was cleaned out she started to stitch up his holes, ignoring his ramblings for the most part and she had been doing a pretty good job at that and focusing on the task at hand until he began the self pity route.
Not again.
She thought they had moved past this, she thought that he had learned to move on but apparently she had been wrong about him on all accounts. Jade bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself in check. She could lay into him after this was done but as she saw his head fall back and tears come down that was the last straw. "Snap out of it! She said, bringing her hand up and giving him a good, hard smack to help him. At least, that was what she told herself. 'You need to get your head on straight and stop this pity party your having.' She felt for him, she really did. Watching children die was never a easy thing, it didn't matter what side you were on but he had his own daughter to worry about. Had her situation been different right now then Jade would have been more understanding, she would have been the shoulder to cry on but that wasn't the case. She needed him to pull himself together and keep it together. Had this been another time she would have taken Lian and walked right back out that door, maybe taken the girl to her mothers. Which, wasn't seeming like a bad idea. Jade didn't want to burden her mother with Lian with her health failing like it was or put the knowledge on her that her own daughter was out there doing God knows what but maybe she would have too. |
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