Couldn't she have brought home a puppy? (closed CVU RP)

The recent events of Fukuoka and its surrounding area were beginning to fade into memory, and from there they'd fade into history or legend, and only time would decide which. Nathan had been trying to keep tabs on everyone who had been there, telling himself that it was part of his duty as Unity's unofficial information collector. Or maybe it was official now. Truthfully, it was less to do with that and more to do with the fact that he felt that most of the people who had been there were good people, and deserved someone looking out for them.

Some of them were easy to find information on - hell, some of them had entire fanclubs and lines of merchandise already. Others... well, others he didn't have a lot to go on, but if nothing else, he at least had a start. Several of them were students at this "Millennium Academy" place. Nathan hadn't really been paying attention to it, but now that he knew about it, it got an entry just like anywhere else. He wasn't sure how he felt about it. His inclination toward Academies in general was negative, but he had to admit that was less to do with knowing anything about most of them and more to do with the fact that the only one he knew about... well. That was the one he'd stolen Saikea out of after she'd stolen his heart, to put it in the overly romantic, overly dramatic terms of the teenage years. Nathan felt like he needed an excuse to check it out, at some point - if nothing else because if Rana wanted to think about going there, which she might, he wanted to know what she was getting in to. He kind of hoped she didn't, though. He supposed that some day, she'd probably be off on her own, but... well. He liked having her around. She seemed to brighten everything up just by being there.

Sometimes he felt bad about how he didn't have as much time for her with baby Ashley around. He wouldn't trade Ashley for anything, but... well, some of the time, he missed the closeness he felt like he and Rana had had before she'd been born. There was... more space between them, lately. It wasn't really a bad space. He had Unity, and fatherhood. Rana had her boyfriend, who was actually very sweet (although Nathan would never admit it to the boy, mostly because no teenage boy wanted to be told he was "sweet" by anyone other than his girlfriend). And she had... the critter.

Nathan was not so sure he approved of the little varmint. The little varmint seemed to approve of him, or at least approve of his kitchen, hanging out underfoot hoping for scraps even though Nathan knew for a fact that Rana fed him plenty often enough. He also wanted to keep an eye on the thing just in case it wanted to eat babies. So far, so good. But he'd seen what that thing had been in the Fukuoka forest. Just because it was kind of cute right now - er, because Rana thought it was kind of cute - didn't mean it wasn't still capable of turning into a giant monster.

He'd started an entry for it in the Unity database, which he was touching up on his laptop at the kitchen table while the critter stared mournfully up at him. "You may as well go find Rana," Nathan told it, "I don't have any food for you. Just coffee. And you're enough of a nuisance without caffeine."

At some point in the last three weeks, he'd started talking to the thing. He wondered if it was Rana rubbing off on him, or the fact that he talked to Ashley all the time (who was equally nonverbal), or if he was just losing his sanity.

Probably that last one.

@bladebrave:

It'd gotten back to being a bit more of a routine once again by now. In the morning she'd wake up and do a few trivial things in pajamas until she managed to more effectively become awake and ready to be active. She'd spend about an hour training and doing a workout, sometimes with others sometimes alone. Today was the later, it was often a ritual broken up with checks on Ashley or the kitsune Yusha neither had been to needy today though. Which allowed the teen the luxury of a slightly longer shower, once done it was straight to hair maintenance and studying the arcane.

She was still a novice but she promised one day she'd live up to her boyfriend's level and not need to call upon hell in a fight. Reading those books while managing her long hair was a calming thing that helped her dive into the harder aspect. Studying for the GED hours spent every day to try and excel when the test came up. Voices in her head always trying to dissuade her from this direction, it rang hollow though. The teenager wasn't about to experience the hellish events like what'd led her to being who she was now. Strangely she'd become a bit more accepting of that day, it led her here which were the best days of her life. Still the pandemonium she could spread she didn't wish to ever repeat on the world the streets were safer when she stayed home instead of rode the school bus.

Eventually though she had to do her actual part of making the streets safer, running out through the town or driving about on her bike. Her activities were usually far more gentle in spirit, helping people with errands and minimal tasks. Her and Yusha might go follow the scent of something lost or misplaced for the most part that was her time as a hero. Thrill of violence increasingly seldom for Rana to indulge in, once satisfied for a bit she'd leave Yusha back at home promising food on her return. Meanwhile she would go visit Drake at work, she didn't want to detract him from doing the job, she did however enjoy helping him and the manager pass time when things were slow. It was such a visit that had the heterochromia hero running a little bit late.

An engine came to a soft purr outside the place as Rana pulled in letting the motorcycle come to a rest before she shut it off. Pocket the keys and remove the helmet, and in her natural charm she was quick to dispose of helmet and buck bag on her bed to go hang out with Nathan and anyone else around sooner. To her unspoken delight there was just him at the moment and the fox.

"Sit" the fox sat stopped pacing in hopes of scraps and lightened up on the attention given toward dad. "Pick a hand" the fox glared at Rana playfully knowing this enjoyably cruel game of how they decided the critter's meal at times. A wet nose grazed Rana's hands trying to unravel which had the better selection. Red eyes met hers hoping for a hint and she sighed with a "ugh your hopeless." Her eyes roll, so to do those of the fox, Rana's end toward the right though and this leads to about as close to a fist bump as a paw could managed.

Food was provided to the fox pulled from hell and cooked with care, she wasn't going to have the critter getting the meals it's devilish nature desired from the public. A rub behind the ears and the teenager had moved to take a seat beside Nathan. "Never give him coffee please, you've seen Gremlins right? The whole no food after midnight, may as well be that." She stopped herself there though, moving about half way out of her seat as a precaution. "I'm sorry am I disturbing work? I can go if you need to focus."

@iridum:

"Rana, you are never a disturbance," Nathan told her, gently but firmly. "And all this Unity stuff... Unity is a job. It happens to be a job that I like, but it is still a job, and there are other jobs out there if I need one. Family comes first, all right? Always." He turned the laptop off, since he was mostly just doing busy work anyway, and considered Rana for a couple minutes. "How was your ride?" he inquired. Nathan still had misgivings about Rana riding around on a motorcycle, but he tried to remind himself that it was probably not even in the top ten most dangerous things she'd done in her lifetime. Or even since she'd turned sixteen. Besides, there was no way in hell he was going to suggest she give up her father's last gift to her.

At least, not as long as she was good about wearing her helmet. He smiled, then reached over and fluffed her hair while he could still get away with it. She was growing up too fast, and he had a feeling those days were going to be over all too soon. Before he knew it, she'd be one of the young heroes, off on her own, doing her own thing. He just hoped she remembered that she always had a home to come back to. And that she remembered to visit.

And that she didn't leave the critter behind.

Nah, that wasn't likely. Rana was totally attached to it, and Nathan had a feeling that wherever she went, it was going to follow along. He just had to hoped that it would follow her for the right reasons, and not because it thought she'd make a good late-night snack. You just keep her safe, okay? he thought at it, knowing it wasn't going to respond. Protect her, when I can't defend her. Watch over her, when she goes where I can't follow.

Help her, when I ask her to do too much.

@bladebrave:

"Well I still have to check." She remarked pouring herself a cup of coffee and blowing at the steam even though she expected it to be protested. She really didn't need it, but given that hell really wanted her diet to be the rotting food of the damned she was hardly concerned about coffee in her diet. Even the best meals made by Nathan were often influenced by hell for her, swayed into being somewhat bitter or gross. There was however a reward in things like coffee, it was rebelling some and thus not as quick to be awful.

"It's more then a job. A lot of us who use Unity or on Safeguard wouldn't do as well without you. Lizzy wouldn't have had nearly as much control on the situation without your help. She thinks pretty highly of you I think, not as much as your daughters do though." There was the slightest hinted emphasis on the plural nature of that remark. She was always concerned a bit that the next day was when some three headed worm would spawn out of her eye crawl up her nose and then devour her brain or some other insane hellish event culminating in her end. So any moment to remind him how much he mattered was the right time in her opinion. The job just also wasn't anything to take light, she operated better thanks to him, so to did Unity. He might not have been fighting any more but the significance was still there.

"That said family does come first. Ride was good, feels more exhilarating to let my hair flow freely but I've done my best to keep a helmet on all the same." She sighed at the end, begrudgingly honest she had to confess they both knew it and her eyes looked down ever so slightly in shame. "Was a straight road though, about two miles and no traffic on either side. Admittedly I went like fifty over the speed limit and without a helmet I'm sorry." Her influences when a lone weren't exactly the best. Constantly rattling within her mind and promoting the worst. "What about you anything I missed? Shit Ashley didn't have a first moment without me right?!"

She was a little more concerned about that in her tone then might have been needed. It got Yusha's attention from his meal, a bit of meat hanging off a fang. Seeing nothing was wrong however he relaxed once again. There was a brief moment where it's vermilion eyes looked to Nathan. The slightest indication that he agreed with the dad's thoughts it almost seemed. Though that could of just been the regular nature of the Kitsune, as he'd no plans of letting his owner get hurt or leaving her side.

@iridum:

"Rana, you have to wear a helmet," Nathan told her. "I know you're careful, sweetie, but it's all those other idiots not being careful that I worry about. Just..." He sighed, and put his head in his hands, "Just... wear a helmet next time. Okay?" He made himself smile, she was home safe, and that was the important thing. "Ashley is fine. She's sleeping; she's been down for about an hour. So, it's just the two of us for now." He glanced down at the attentive fox, who was watching him critically. "You don't count, you're a varmint."

He set his coffee cup down carefully. "Actually... with everyone else gone, there's something I wanted to ask you. Two things. And... before I ask, I want to make sure that you understand that it's okay to say no, to either one of them, and it's okay to say you need to think about them for a while." And he was stalling. I haven't been this nervous in... a long time. Monster-varmints were easier to deal with. Still stalling.

"I looked in to a couple things today and went over some paperwork. So... the first thing is - and I hope this wouldn't be necessary - but, if something were to happen to me, would you be willing to stand as Ashley's legal guardian until she comes of age? I know... it might be hard. And it's a lot to ask of a sixteen-year-old. But I can't think of anyone else that I would trust more with her, or with anyone else."

"And the second thing is about us. I know you're practically grown up these days. But... I also know that in some ways you're still a kid. So, while I trust the adult you're becoming, I still care very much for the kid that's in there. And... I think I know how you feel about me, so I'm hoping I'm not misjudging you here, but I was wondering if you'd like me to pick up adoption papers, and make this official."

@bladebrave:

"I know, was just that one spot promise I'll try and resist next time." She remarked returning to letting her eyes look his way. She knew it was wrong to have taken the helmet off at all regardless of how freeing it felt, least she could do for the guy was respect that much. She asked a lot, and it never seemed fair. Can I invite a boy into the house? Can I date him and that be okay? Could she keep a pet carnivorous demon fox? Could she someone who seemed to be plagued by visions of hell and malicious thoughts be allowed to hold Ashley? No could have been a reasonable answer to any of that but it wasn't the case. He was in the top three best people in her life and although it might of sounded cold he replaced the role of one of those three.

There was also a sigh of relief at the fact she hadn't missed any big moment with her little sister. She wanted to be there for every thing, from first word to first step all the way to first boyfriend and graduation and so on. Course she honestly had her doubts that she would make it that far. Morbid depictions of the future seemed destined to play out at a point in her life. They liked to trick into thinking it might at times be sooner or possibly later in general though the thought was that come eighteen she'd be going toe to toe with the devil himself. That the shadows she held to keep away from the woman who's spine she wanted to wear, would one day come and hold the teenager in place on a birthday. As hell ravaged her into being a force of hell itself. Which made the first question catch her off guard, that he would ask that of her. That he might think herself able to get beyond her issues and be a guardian should something happen. Something which realistically was entirely possible given the occupation of heroic endeavors. She did her best to remain composed and just hear him out, he had the floor for the time being.

Then came the next question no time to fully process the first. Said she was practically grown up, she was half tempted to call bull shit on that. She hadn't graduated had yet to get her GED, and had no job really. She had good social skills but it was still with a reserved distance while she tried to keep that other side of her away from getting out. And maybe she could make it on her own and he was right, but she herself didn't want to. Strange as things had been they were also the best she'd had. Something that'd grown well beyond what a little girl with demons in her head and visions of hell would have thought obtainable. Rana saw herself as someone who wanted and needed to be here and continue to grow. He said he knew how she felt though and that she didn't question at all. It wasn't like she was known for hiding much from anyone after all. All of which ended on a point that made the teenager happier then she could of likely imagined. Her smile widened her rather pale skin slightly turned red.

And then it all came crashing down hell showed her awful moments upon awful moments. Every way one could perceive trying to tarnish such an upbeat moment was made almost real for her. The grip on the mug tightens, a brief moment where it shakes the hot liquid within spilling onto the table. Yusha glares quick to jump onto the counter to check disobeying the direct teaching the girl always at the gates of hell had tried to put into place. She sighed, took a moment to breathe then returned to herself.

"I'm sorry. Yusha down" she remarked running her hand through his fur in thanks before making sure she got off the counter. A paper towel was seized to clean up the spill. "On the second part I'd love to. Your the best" it didn't needed anything added to it. She was honest, and that was her opinion of him. In despite of every projection of hell her red and blue eyes witnessed Rana remained believing in his significance in her traumatic life. "On the first, I'm scarred." She paused trying to process how best to articulate what she wanted to say, tried to avoid being a rambling mess. "I'd do anything for you two, and if that drops to one then your never getting away from me." There was both a promise and a threat behind the delivery of that remark. "I just don't want to see anyone hurt because of me either. Again I'd love to have that responsibility though if you really trust me that much."

@iridum:

Nathan was used to Rana's little problematic interruptions from her difficult head-guests, so he didn't worry about the spilled coffee as soon as he was sure no one was hurt, just let her clean it up and gave the critter an emphatic glare about the whole on the counter thing, but he didn't mention it to Rana. She had it under control already, and honestly he had a feeling that the distraction had been part of what helped her refocus. So he'd let it slidethis time with just a glare, not really meant, and a half-smile in Rana's direction.

"I do trust you, Rana," he said quietly. "I worry about you not trusting yourself. And I understand why. But I think you deserve a lot more trust than you allow yourself to have. That being said, I also sincerely hope that the responsibility will never be necessary for you. And as you grow older and things change, you may decide that it's not a possibility for a period of time, and that's okay too. But, right now, I can't think of anyone better suited to take care of Ashley than you. I know that things aren't always easy for you, but despite all that, it's also always been apparent how much you love and care for your baby sister. And if you can take control of all the chaos in your life enough to make sure she knows that, then I know how important she is to you. Like I said, I hope you never need to step in for her as a parent, but I think that it's going to be really good for her to grow up with you for a sister."

Nathan considered her a moment longer, then gently took her coffee cup away. "Come on. We're going to get Ashley and then we're going to go down to city hall and do this adoption thing." He gave her a smile of reassurance, not mentioning that the reason he wanted to do it so quickly was because he'd noticed that the longer she had to brood on things, the more her hell-defined nature would spend telling her all the ways that they were going to go wrong, or everything that was bad about them, or that she didn't deserve them. He knew she'd still have to deal with all those feelings in her own time, but he could help her by making sure that the important things got done before the brooding started. Besides, that would knock out a few of the things that Hell would no doubt tell her, like he isn't actually going to go through with it and he doesn't mean it and he doesn't really love you.

No. It would just be he doesn't love you as much as his real daughter and just think how much you can let them all down now and probably aren't you lucky, you can murder two dads. Understanding did not make it any easier. But... it was still worth doing, because Rana needed someone to understand. Or at least someone to try. "Better leave the varmint here, though," he said, "I don't think they'd let him in the building, and you don't want him running off to see if any of the joggers happens to be carrying a pork chop." Ashley protested a little at being lifted out of her bassinet next to Nathan's bed, but he shushed her a little and she went back to sleep on his shoulder, content. Since she seemed to prefer to take her naps on his lap anyway while he worked on whatever project he had going on, her little mind was probably viewing the status change as an upgrade.

She was not pleased by the transfer to her car seat, which she seemed to regard as an infant-sized iron maiden, at least until the car started moving and she chilled out, soothed by the vibrations until each time there was a stop light, at which point she recalled that she was confined in the cage of despair and started fussing again.

Nathan honestly didn't even mind all that much. Everything he knew said that this was perfectly normal behavior for a baby, and he still held on to the fragile hope that maybe Ashley would grow up to be... well, normal. He still thought it was fairly likely that she was some sort of meta, even if he wasn't sure exactly what, yet. But even if he couldn't raise her not to be a meta, at least maybe he could raise her to be reasonably well-adjusted. Most metas were anything but well-adjusted, and it seemed like almost all of them had some sort of childhood trauma lurking in their background that changed how they viewed the world.

Sometimes he wondered if the right person he ought to talk to might be the little KinderGardener's parents. Their identities weren't public knowledge, but it also didn't really take a genius to figure them out, either. The kid lived at Mitsuri Arboretum and was quite forward that her real name was Kaede, and the Mitsuri family who owned the place had three daughters, the youngest of whom was named Kaede and didn't show up to family events because she was at "boarding school." As alibis went, it was fairly transparent. But she was also one of the only heroes he could think of who was not only reasonably well-adjusted on the social scale, but also maintained a good relationship with her family. He wanted... something like that, for Ashley, he thought. Just without the propensity to walk up to monsters in the middle of a firefight armed with nothing but a flower. If nothing else, he was gonna teach her to use a knife, and get Rana to teach her how to use a sword. Pacifism was a very nice dream, but Nathan considered himself a realist.

City Hall was one of those places that wasn't all that busy at this hour, and yet despite no one being there still managed to have no parking available. Nathan acquired a space mostly by sheer force of will, aided by having a little car and a damn fine talent for parallel parking, and stepped out to release Ashley from the sadness seat and nod Rana in to the building. "Come on hero," he encouraged her, "Let's go defeat the paperwork."

@bladebrave:

"I'm working on that first part. When it comes to Ashley though that's not something that'll happen. I'd find away to make it work." She had a lot of burdens on herself but her little sister wouldn't be one, if that unfortunate series of events came to pass she'd figure it out. Was her responsibility as the big sister to make sure Ashley had the best she could no matter what she came to deal with. Wouldn't be easy, and odds were Rana knew she might even be hated as the older sister who thought she knew better. Or as the big sister who seemed a nutcase, or as a dolt of woman who was way to into edgy shit for her own good. Didn't change the facts though that she'd be doing all she could to look out for family. Once the bundle was retrieved ever drowsy and drooling Rana led Yusha outside.

She took a moment to make sure her bedroom window was open so that he could return to where he usually slept. She touched a radio of hers beside the bed, setting it at a volume that shouldn't disturb anyone if they came home or neighbors but was enough for the critter to enjoy. Her head banged to the beat and the fox's followed bouncing in unison. Taking a moment Rana recited a small poem it seemed. In doing so magic brought to life a loose piece of paper. Lessons from Drake didn't leave her to be to impressive with such abilities. It was enough to generate a distraction for the fox. The paper wobbled about and Yusha combated it with a playful furry.

Confident the beast was fed and distracted enough to stay out of trouble the heterochromia went to the car. Occasionally she could be caught singing along to whatever the radio played, at least provided it was rock or metal. If there was ever to much noise from Ashley she improvised, with pens. Two for her and two for her sister, in attempt to drum to the music being played. Sometimes she had to retrieve the dropped or thrown pen, or stop it from an attempt to chew on it, or other trappings of being so young. For the most part though it helped more often then not she'd felt. It also just helped her, the haste Nathan made and the focus on Ashley helped Rana avoid doubting as much what was happening. Or from dwelling on how awful it might turn out in the end.

And soon enough they were at City Hall no parking to be found it seemed she kept her eyes peeled but Nathan had found a spot first. "Sorry" of course she would apologize even for not finding a parking spot, doing all she would rather be that then what her abilities wanted to make her into. "We've faced worse, I think we have this covered." Almost immediately on entering the building one of the ladies at the desk had waved to Rana. The woman had a hospitalized ex thanks to Rana but was far happier it was him instead. "She knows enough to help comfortably. Think she might try and con you for every charge she can however" a smile graced the pale features of the heterochromia hero and the receptionist acted as if her mind was wandering on anything but the conversation though everyone knew better.

@iridum:

"That's fine. We can handle that," Nathan said. After all, Unity paid decently well. And it paid him to be diplomatic and convince people to do things. He could handle a city hall employee just fine. He walked over to the woman and greeted her with a bright "Hi."

He extended a hand for a shake, since he was going to be working with this woman for at least the forseeable future. "I needed some help with documentation for an adoption."

She accepted the handshake. "For the... baby?" Definitely a judging look there.

Nathan shook his head quickly, lest she get the wrong idea. "No. No. The baby is my biological daughter. Rana is the one I'm adopting." No, I am not a thirty-year-old pervert, but I could certainly introduce you to one.

"Oh. All right. Can I get names?"

He nodded, easily enough. "Rana Harquinel, and mine is Nathan Gray. Spelled G-r-a-i-e," he added, with a little wink at Rana. He didn't know if that had ever come up - all his hero documentation spelled it traditionally. Legally, though, he'd been born Nathan Graie, and hadn't changed it. Not that he was about to start using that spelling on anything other than the paperwork. No one had ever known how to pronounce it, anyway.

He handed her a piece of paper with their names and social numbers written down. The woman behind the desk typed some things into a computer, then looked up. "Are you... aware that you're listed as a missing person?" she inquired.

"Ah... that... shouldn't surprise me. I did some stupid things when I was younger." He considered that information. "Well, I assume that the registration will ping whatever office is responsible and I will deal with that later."

"Okay, but that'll be a fifty-dol-"

"No, it won't," he interjected calmly. "I read all the relevant paperwork ahead of time, and I can pull up any documentation at any time. There's an extra fee associated if the case is less than five years old, which, since I assume it was filed sometime in two thousand one, doesn't apply. I'm a professional information analyst. Shall we continue?"

"Um. What is Rana's current parental... situation?"

Nathan glanced to Rana, who he thought really didn't want to answer that. "Her father is deceased. Her mother is... unstable, and not currently a part of Rana's life. No, she hasn't signed over parental rights, however Rana is sixteen and old enough to request emancipation in her own right."

"Um. Yes. But the extra paperwork for that is going to be another hundred."

He considered that.

"As Rana would say, 'seems legit.' I'll accept that one."

"Okay. And Rana's status as a known meta-"

"Ms. Henderson, the LA township wouldn't be engaging in prohibited discriminatory procedures regarding metahuman status, would it? I would think that would be something that would need to be looked into in some detail." He set his phone down on the counter between them, the lock screen displaying the definitive icon of one of Gale Xanders' multi-bazillion dollar corporation. It wasn't precisely a threat, but it definitely suggested that his lawyers were way scarier than her town council representative.

Okay, so it was at least an implied threat. She got the point. "Um. I'll just... get that paperwork started, then," she determined, and set to work on it, leaving them a bit of time to consider things while she entered data in to the system.

"Still doing all right with all this?" Nathan turned his attention to Rana, "You know you don't have to if you don't want to. I'd love for you to be my official daughter, but if you're not comfortable, it's okay to back out. I won't love you any less."

It was a perfectly rational thing to say, of course, except for those little words that he'd tucked in to the last sentence weren't once he'd said specifically to her before. I love you. She knew. She'd known for a while. She was his little girl. But he hadn't said it.

It was there now.

@bladebrave:

That annoyed her a bit, that this woman she'd helped would think even for a moment something weird about the trio being here. That someone would look down on one of the best two men Rana knew and on her little sister. They could think what they wanted of her, Rana saw herself as someone just find to ridicule or doubt. These two were good though, then there was the name thing never mentioned and initially she didn't think anything of it. Then voices had to whisper how, he wasn't honest, how he was witholding information, how those things meant the love she thought was there wasn't. In an effort to ease her mind she offered to take Ashley. "Mind if I hold her free your hands a bit while helping me with you know."

She'd squeezed it in between there dialogue and acquiring the bundle to help chase off the negativity. Rana didn't need to spell it out, to give detail on what she went through it was known, and as good as Rana might of been for her sister she'd argue Ashley and Nathan did even more for herself. "She's dead to, situation is complicated but that woman is literally not my mom." To prove it Rana brought up her phone. A silver haired woman who looked waiting to kill in France, and a slide to another image a young girl with pink and black hair beside a woman. Same physique but a much smaller bust a blonde and wearing a cross rather then holding a sword. The remark not to long after over discrimination got a laugh from the heterochromia hero and worked to ease her mind some.

"Personally I'd of thought it fair, it's one thing to shoot knives out of your eyes. Another to be a hell raising teenager" She remarked before getting to the actual question. Her cheeks warm and attempting to match one of her eyes. Might of even been something in those eyes to cause them to leak a bit "I want this, I'll never be normal but I can at least have a family." She smiled and took a second to wipe her eyes. "Much as I love you two though can we go with Harquinel-Grei? I'm not ashamed of who I was, just happier with who I am." There wasn't any voices influencing her concerns there, just a girl not wanting to upset her dad by wanting to hold on to what she'd lost. She didn't want him to be jealous of the dead or upset with her, but for all the hell she brought her family still had called to her on her birthday. Didn't feel right to forget them.

@iridum:

"Rana, you can choose whatever name you feel fits you best. You can just keep Harquinel, or you can go with Harquinel-Graie, or you can go with Gray-Harquinel... although that one sounds a bit like a monochromatic clown, (lol @anonym),so maybe not... but then again it's still probably not as stupid-sounding as 'Orange Water' and it's more definitive than 'Supra-Man,' so... you know what, you do you."

He'd been mostly joking there, but he gave her a smile and a hug and added, more seriously, "Really, Rana. Whatever you think is best for you. This is your decision. I would never ask you to become anything you weren't happy with. And... Rana. You are normal. Maybe you don't always feel like you fit in, but that's... pretty normal, too. Everyone's different, it's just that some people's differences are more obvious. The world is changing. You're going to be one of the ones who helps define that change. And maybe it's harder for you than it is for some, but some day another girl is going to feel like she fits in better than she thought she would... because there were people like you to pave the way. Your baby sister... might be one of them. I don't know what you see when you look at her. But she looks at you... and she sees the world."

He met her eyes, and offered another smile, firm. "And so do I."

@bladebrave:

"That's a negative, it's Harquinel-Graie" she remarked with a small laugh at the clown remark. "Nothing matches Orange Water though." It really was perhaps the literal worst name she was pretty sure names like Selkie and Morning Glory were more intimidating. Though that last one was pretty close in the intimidation factor the heterochromia hero believed. "I just don't want to forget them" not that she would either way, this just felt better. Thankfully her concerns weren't needed. Worried over nothing, confirming her occasional thought that she was quite the dolt.

As for the other half of the statement she wasn't sure she could be much happier to here it, she looked more like that kid when she first got that bike of hers then the one with her father's blood on her hands. And surprisingly she felt more clear headed and confident things were not about to go wrong with this one. Her security in that sentiment only went so far, it was there though. "Can't agree with normal" she remarked, not everyone saw the various malicious and cruel interpretations of hell around the employee's here. "I'd be a freak any day though if it made someone else think they weren't." And that part she knew, whatever her issues were or plentiful in amount she wanted to be a hero and to help all she could. "As for Ashley" she lingered for a bit mixed eyes meeting silver ones.

"And to a slightly lesser extent you, I see hope." Hope that she could be more then the voices tried to say she was destined to be. Hope that despite all her fears she could get past it to look after the bundle within her lap. Hope that she could at least be a good sister, daughter and hero even if normal seemed a farfetched concept. She ended the returned half of a hug with a lingering fist in the air, expecting it to be bumped before the desk jockey wanting to get as much money out of this returned.

@iridum:

Nathan gave her the fist-bump she wanted, then half-nodded in the direction of the counter as the woman returned with printed copies of paperwork. He accepted the stack, and let Rana take care of the business of distracting Ashley while he read carefully through all the wording, occasionally consulting his phone for definitions of terminology where appropriate.

Everything seemed to be in order, though, and all the information that was on the papers was correct. He passed over his credit card while Rana was distracted before she could think of doing something sweet and unnecessary like offering to pay for everything - because that was completely something that she would do, and his early Minnesotan upbringing wasn't going to allow it. That being taken care of, he signed and dated at the appropriate lines, then offered Rana a pen and a smile.

"I can take Ashley while you do paperwork," he offered, "And... Rana. Really only if you want to. You know that. This choice is yours." He wasn't going to pressure her into making a decision that she wasn't comfortable with. Hell did enough of that on its own, and his job wasn't to add to that. He wanted to try to provide for her a place of safety, a place where she knew that she could do what she felt was best, and where she would be loved and accepted and respected for the choices she made.

In short... a home.

@bladebrave:

"I try and be nice" she remarked handing her little sister over and picking up a pen. "But, dad shut up." The remark made as she was pretty quick to skim each page while she signed. She really didn't care what the paper work said. She could be signing away her soul to a devil and be okay with it if it meant having those two as family. She would pierce her skin and sign in blood if that was what people wanted, cause they were worth it. Her time from joining Safeguard onward had been the best for her this only added to that. Made even more of something that she in the past would of thought to good to befall her. So she sighed every line needed, with a quick motion of the wrist and pen dancing within her hand.

"You gave me a home when I was the type to run away from mine. Let me call that one my sister, when I thought I was destined to chase off anyones thoughts of even having another kid. Let me bring a boy into the house, even though Ive no idea what I'm doing with that. And continue to have trust in me despite every stupid thing I get paranoid about." She spun the pen and handed it over to the greedy wanting every cent woman helping them. "I love you, and now you're stuck with me. Thanks, by the way."