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Post by Kari Muffin on Mar 18, 2008 22:34:51 GMT -5
How exactly could he say this without being blunt? Well, he couldn't. He was just going to come out and say it. "You lied about the baby," Theofilus said as he moved closer to the front desk. He placed his gloved hands on the table top and looked Rogers in the eye.
"It's very much alive. Very much a bright orange and pink swan dog. Most of all it's a Club. An Ace." There. He said it and he sounded like a jerk for it. This really wasn't his favorite thing to do, however he couldn't ignore it. It would have been very awkward for Rogers to meet his son on a later date as one of his adopted children. And it was his son, there was no doubt in Theofilus' mind. There were too many connections for it not to be. Now what exactly was Rogers going to say in his defense.
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Post by The Jenn on Mar 18, 2008 22:55:51 GMT -5
The smile dropped away from Rogers's face as soon as Theo spoke again and turned into a strange, strained sort of expression. What had prompted this? What... in hell's name could have possibly prompted this?! He stared at the sparrow, unable to say anything as he approached or look away as pink eyes locked with his own.
He opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. How could he possibly talk about this. Why was his friend dredging up this horrible issue and, more importantly, how did he know? He either got his hands on some sort of records, which seemed horribly unlikely given the fact that the hospital had promised to 'take care of things' and the amount of detail he just provided. He had to have... seen the child. Alive. Somewhere. But where?!
"Why... are you saying this?" he finally managed in a pained tone. He needed to know what was going on before he could say anything else.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Mar 18, 2008 23:42:34 GMT -5
"Calia brought home a child today. One matching the description I just gave you." This wasn't a mistake. There was no way Rogers could deny this. Honestly how many Club Swans were sleeping with part Morganberries? No. No doubts. This was definitely Rogers' son.
"What happened at the hospital? What..?" Theofilus shook his head. He didn't want to finish that sentence. He didn't know what the dog had been thinking at the time, and couldn't grasp what he was thinking right now. The poor boy, Peter, was now a member of the family and there was nothing Rogers could do about it.
He wasn't going to tell him yet, he needed to see if the German Shepard actually understood what was going on. Did he even understand what was happening? It must have been a shock. He probably never expected it to come back and haunt him. And it probably wouldn't have if it hadn't been for Calia.
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Post by The Jenn on Mar 19, 2008 0:54:14 GMT -5
This was horrifying. It even went beyond horrifying, touching on the realm of nightmarish. "Did she," he replied weakly, still unable to look away from the human man's eyes. He didn't want to think about this, not now and not ever again. He thought he'd put it all behind him that day in the hospital. He thought they would... take care of it. Obviously he'd been too trusting. But he hadn't known what else to do.
If there was one person he couldn't lie to about something this important, this obvious and unfortunate coincidence, it was Theofilus. The man was practically his brother and the canine knew his stance on Aces very well, certainly with Asha being a part of his family. He just didn't necessarily agree with it. And this wasn't just an Ace... this was an Ace that had come out of him. It was something he hadn't been able to rationalize, no matter how hard he'd tried, and so he just buried it. Evidently he wasn't going to be allowed to do that anymore.
"What do you want me to say?" he asked finally, when the silence became unbearable. "I... it... was an Ace. Yes. I had an Ace." He winced as he said it. "And I didn't know what to do. The nurse offered to take care of it after she brought it out and I said yes. I don't know what she did with it. I don't... where did she find it?" This whole situation had already served to muddle his thoughts and send his anxiety levels skyrocketing. It wasn't helped by the look Theo continued to give him.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Mar 19, 2008 1:14:55 GMT -5
The look on Theofilus' face slipped into one of pure rage. However, he wasn't about to lash out at his friend. Instead he picked his hands up off the table and then slammed them down. It was enough to make the fish bowl's water to wave in distress. He leaned forward getting closer to Rogers.
"His name is Peter and he is part of the family. I don't know what you were thinking and at the moment I don't give a damn. You can't run away form this. He's now officially one of my children." He leaned back again. Rogers was a brother to him and this just felt like being stabbed in the back. He knew how...but what did the sparrow expect really? People didn't think Aces were people. This was just a perfect example.
"I'm not sorry she found him. He was being sold as a house pet."
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Post by The Jenn on Mar 19, 2008 1:24:32 GMT -5
Rogers twitched back from the expression on Theo's face and actually jumped when he slammed his hands down on the table, one hand coming up in a slightly protective gesture. It was subconscious - he didn't really think that the man would attack him in any physical sense - but it was a measure of how shaken he was.
The words didn't help. At all.
"One of... your children." Oh gods, the man had to be kidding. He just had to be. But no, that was not his 'kidding face'. That was his 'I am in a towering rage and ready to spit fire face'. It was rare but certainly recognizable. And the canine really had no idea what to say or do in this situation. The child hadn't been wanted in the first place, but he would have raised it... if it had been anything else at all but an Ace. It was one thing for him to love Asha like a niece since she... was... Asha. That was the best and only excuse he'd ever been able to give himself. She was just different. Even though she was an Ace, she was still a person because her being Asha came before her being an Ace. With this child, though, 'Peter'...
Every time he heard about Theo's family now, this Ace was going to be counted as a part of it. The Ace that had come out of him. No, he couldn't take this. He really couldn't take this. The hell he couldn't run. Even if it was only for a few hours, he just needed to get away from this. "I need to go now," he said in a choked voice and just ran. He even took up his animal form after he was out of the door just so that he could properly run.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Mar 19, 2008 1:34:49 GMT -5
Theofilus bit his lip as he listened to the door swing open and slammed. His right eye twitched with frustration as he picked up one of the accounting books and threw it at the door. "Damn it!" He screamed at no one in particular. He had half a mind to break the fishbowl, but that would be going a bit too far wouldn't it? So very tempting though.
He growled as he went to pick up the book and put it back in its place. He grabbed his briefcase and leaned on the door frame for a few minutes, taking deep breathes. He needed to calm down before he even bothered to step in the apartment again. There was no way he would be able to work until this problem was actually solved. Damn. Why was this so complicated? He shook his head with frustration before walking out the door. He locked it behind him. Rogers would have to bother Kelasia to get in then. Fine by him.
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Post by The Jenn on Mar 19, 2008 1:43:54 GMT -5
Rogers ran and just kept running for about thirty minutes until he reached his destination, which he hadn't realized had been his destination until he actually got there and stared blankly at the door in front of him. Rosewood's apartment complex was just as 'home' to him now as his own apartment and a lot nicer in general, since the swan bothered with upkeep and decent furniture and things like that whereas the canine usually didn't care and wasn't willing to fork over the money. Instead he helped Rosewood with groceries and took him out and things like that. He figured it was fair reparation.
Now he continued to stare at the door, which opened after a moment as another resident left. He slipped in after the person and went up the stairs until he reached the right door, at which point he paused. He had left everything in the office. Everything. He didn't even have his keys, including the spare key the swan had given him a few months back. He couldn't get in.
That was just too much. Rogers proceeded to have a small panic attack in front of the door, in his animal form, hyperventilating and squeezing his eyes shut and trying to get himself to calm down with absolutely no success.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Mar 19, 2008 1:53:00 GMT -5
The swan had preformed perfectly tonight. He had a smug grin on his face as he opened the door to his complex. He hummed as he hopped up the stairs. Perhaps he would bother Ez for a drink tonight? The sparrow had been rather cheery as of late, why not make him a bit happier.
Rosewood stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a bright neon figure in front of his door. It was a dog... a bright neon... Rogers? He tilted his head and stared for a few minutes before actually finding proper words. "What the hell is going on Rogers?"
Well those weren't proper words but they had already come out of his mouth. Losing his composure was never fun. He muttered briefly for a minute before walking over to the door. He opened the door and motioned for him to walk in. "Tell me everything inside. We don't want anyone else to hear."
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Post by The Jenn on Mar 19, 2008 2:00:07 GMT -5
Rogers almost never took his animal form. It was exceedingly rare that people ever saw him in it so he could understand why Rosewood reacted in shock to seeing him. But it felt as if the man already knew everything just from those words, even though he didn't, couldn't, and the canine just stood and looked at him. "I- I- I forgot the key. I couldn't get in." His throat closed slightly after that and he looked away, walking into the apartment before he took his bipedal form once more. His clothes were... somewhere. Probably laying outside the office, a few feet away from the door in a pile. Great. Just great.
He sat down on the couch and curled into a ball, hunching his shoulders and bringing his legs up so that he could tuck them underneath and just huddle slightly. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to show up here. I just sort of did. I didn't want to drag you into this, even though you already are. I'm sorry, Rosewood." His eyes started to tear up and he shoved his face against the side of the couch so that he couldn't see or be seen, pathetic attempt that it was.
He'd never even asked Rosewood's opinion on Aces before. It just hadn't been a topic that had ever come up. This could be far worse a situation than he'd ever imagined. A cold knot of dread settled in the pit of his stomach.
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