Cassi took a deep breath, looking down at the peice of paper in her hand first before glancing up toward the numbers stenciled on the house. Right, so this was the place. She hesitated a second at the door step, fidgeting with the cuff of her coat. She was a complete stranger, she had no clue who this guy was or this child, she'd never even heard of them, to be honest, until she'd put in her application to adopt a child and had been accepted and paired with this one.
Licking her lips she reached up and gave a loud rap, rap, rap on the door. Stepping back she waited a bit anxiously, hearing the latch turn and plastering an awkward smile on her face as there were a few crashes and shouts and then the door opened, Cassi's head tilting instantly downward toward the mocha skinned, flame-haired girl standing in front of her.
"Who're you? SYRIE SOME LADY IS HERE!"
Cassi coughed into her hand, almost immediatly flushing as a handsome fox appeared at the door. "Aahaha ahem." She held up one hand, the other covering her face a moment in embarassment. "Sorry, not laughing at you. Nervs. Uhmm.. yes." She looked up and reached out to shake his hand. "I'm Cassi... I'm..." She looked down at the little girl.
Syrie's face lit as he realized what Cassi meant, looking as well down toward Olivia. "Oh, yes. I'm Syrie. Olivia?" He looked down at the girl. "Why don't you get your coat and go on a walk with Cassi?"
Olivia looked absolutely thunderstruck at this suggestion. "Wha? Just like that?! You're not suppos' to talk to strangers, you know!"
"It's alright, get your coat." He put a hand at the back of Olivia's shoulder and forcefully pushed her away from the door, disappearing after her to presumably help her find her coat and put it on. Cassi stood awkwardly in the open doorway, staring vacantly in. There were a couple more crashes and a sound as if something might have broken and suddenly Olivia was shooting out the door, grabbing Cassi's hand and charging forward.
Taken by surprise the woman nearly fell flat on her face as her arm was yanked back and her body forced to make a full 180, complying with the urgent tugging as she heard the door slam behind them. Olivia slowed down after a while, panting for breath in large plumes of vapoury clouds. The girl turned her vibrant eyes upward toward Cassi, considering her for a moment, having already let go of her hand. "So why did you wanna take me for a walk? Are you here to tell me Mom's gonna be away for longer?"
"Mmh.." Oh s**t, already they were getting to this? Cassi had hoped to walk for a bit and just try to talk to the child. "Well... not exactly." She reached down to offer to take Olivia's hand again but the demon girl refused it. Cassi gave a small sigh and looked around, giving a small sigh she stopped and dropped to her knee in front of Olivia to be at eye-level.
"Oh, you're very pretty."
The girl was unphased, quirking both eyebrows upward. What was with this lady? "So?"
Cassi nodded and gave another sigh, clearning her throat and looking into Olivia's eyes. "Olivia-"
"Liv."
"Liv... your mother, Nyxa, she can't.. she won't..." She cleared her throat again and reached up to gently put her hands on the child's shoulders. "Nyxa can't take care of you anymore." The rest of the words came hurried before Olivia had time to react. "I'm adopting you, you'll be living with me now."
There was a moment of utter silence before Olivia shurgged Cassi's hands off of her shoulders, eyes darkening with anger as she looked at this strange woman. She was without words, her fists clenching at her sides as anger bubbled up inside of her and then it burst forth in the shape of a nearly incoherent screech. "You LIAR!"
Cassi reached out to grab Olivia's wrist quick before the girl could bolt. Immediatly Olivia turned and grabbed at Cassi's hand trying to pry her fingers off of her wrist. "Leggo! LEGGO!"
"Shhh.. shh... Liv... please.." Cassi's face was a mask of concern.
"DON'T!" Olivia was suddenly snarling, her hand in the form of a fist now punching at Cassi's hand.
"Ow! OW! Olivia!" She tugged the little girl forward, arm wrapping around her waist and instantly flipping her upside down, holding her like that even. "Don't hit me!"
Olivia was still for a moment, surprised at her sudden upside down position, before squirmming more, hands lashing out at Cassi's legs, her own kicking wildly by the woman's head. "HELP! HELP!"
Cassi shifted and went back down on her knees, flipping Olivia back over and hugging the girl's arms to her side, resting her chin on the child's shoulder. Her heart was aching and breaking, Olivia obviously loved her mother very much. "Olivia... please. Hey, ow, now STOP!" She hugged the squirming girl tighter so that she was now still. "Listen... you're only going to be comeing to live with me okay? Nyxa just can't be here right now and uhm.." crap she forgot his name. "The one who's keeping you at his house right now can't keep you forever, he's got his own Tale to take care of."
"Mom'll come back!"
Cassi was quiet, biting the inside of her lip for a moment to keep her throat from choaking up. She let go slightly, greatful that Olivia was still. She looked into the girl's eyes once more, daring an attempt to reach up and lightly pet her hair. "Okay..." She nodded slightly. "When she comes back you can go back to living with her."
Olivia glared up at Cassi, her eyes glinting with emotions. She was still a child afterall... she'd just been told her mother wasn't coming back. Olivia took a big breath and gulped it, tears starting at the corners of her eyes. Her voice was wavery and sulkish and she hated it. "Promise..?"
Cassi gave a small smile and nodded. "I promise, Olivia... I've adopted someone before, Khris, and kept him until his mother came back to take care of him. He went right back to her. If Nyxa comes back I promise..." She petted Olivia's hair gently. As much as it was painful for her to have to make this promise on the grounds that she doubted Nyxa would ever come back, and the fear that if the other woman
did return...
Olivia was silent, the tears beginning to dribble down her cheeks and she gave a great sniff, refusing to give into the ball of emotion that sat hard in her stomach. She didn't look at Cassi as she nodded. "Fine."
Cassi smiled and sighed. "Good." She stood up, waiting patiently for the little girl to wipe her eyes and start walking again, back toward Syrie's house. "Hey, just think of it as a vacation, right? I've got kids too you can play with...well... eventually. They're still.. uh... young." She tried to get something, anything from the little girl, unfortunatly met with stoney silence.
Reaching out and gently placing her hand on Olivia's head, rocking the girl back a step in the process as she nudged her chin to get her to look up, smiling at her upside down from above. "It'll be fun."
And no matter what adversity she faced with raising someone else's child... she'd meet it head on and try her best to see a smile on the beautiful child's face that
she, Cassi, had put there.
