The Concerns of a Parent

Zora

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Crossing the reception area of the Manta Carlos's police station, a place Celeste was familiar with, she politely asked the officer in attendance if she could file a report and maybe speak to a police officer regarding her concerns about what she had witnessed at the community centre yesterday afternoon.

Being told to take a seat and that a police officer would be with her shortly, Celeste did exactly that. Sitting herself on one of the hard chairs in the reception area, she calmly tried to recall the whole weird and the very worrying incident she had seen between a strange "business" woman called Penelope and one of Starlight's newer and more innocent students.

A young and eager student, who had managed to remind her just how much her own children (or Roldan's daughter) might fall prey to such an individual, especially since, as a teacher and a mother, she was pretty sure that a language charm or extra classes would have served the same as the wish had and not put the girl in such a questionable, if not illegal, situation.


@Romi
 

Romi

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Angelo let himself into the room, wondering just who he was going to run into. He knew only that they wanted to speak to a police officer about an incident they'd witnessed. It wasn't clear if they wanted to make a report or not, but he was there to listen just the same.

He was vaguely surprised to find he recognized the person, and he quickly made a mental note. Was this a conflict of interest? No - they'd met once, played a quick game, and then parted ways. He was familiar with her in only a vague sense, and he doubted there'd be any issue.

"Miss Forestier, correct?" Angelo said, half-remembering from when they'd met, and mostly-remembering from what she'd told the receptionist. "You said you had something you wanted to discuss with the police?"
 

Zora

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Celeste got to her feet when she saw Sargent Genovese. She was relieved to see it was him she could address her concerns to. She was aware the island had different rules than where she was from, but even Roldan had encouraged her to at least talk to someone from the station if she was concerned.

"Yes, that's right," she nodded politely in answer to his question, "to both questions actually," she clarified.

"You see, I stopped for a moment at the community centre on my way home from work yesterday," she started. "And, well, I saw something that was concerning between, "here she paused simply because she didn't know what to call Penelope, "I suppose she's called "a wish granter" and an underaged student..." she told Angelo.
 
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Romi

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Angelo settled down in one of the chairs, letting his hands fold atop the table in front of them as he listened to her talk. He did gesture for her to take a seat, but he wasn't going to force the matter if she didn't want to. Some people were full of nervous energy when they were reporting things, and he wasn't going to judge them for it.

He nodded at her mention, holding his judgement until he'd heard the whole thing.

"Why don't you tell me what you saw," Angelo said, flipping a small notepad out of a pocket and drawing forth a pen.
 

Zora

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Glancing at Angelo gratefully, Celeste took a seat across the table from him.

"Well," Celeste started, "There is a new student at the academy, their name is Azalea," she explained, having also had a peek at her school file before coming to the police station just to make sure of her concerns were real.

"She made a pact or a wish, something with Penelope..." here Celeste couldn't quite remember her name and so dug around in her purse for the business card she was handing out at the community centre. "Pernicious," she continued handing the card to Angelo.

"And in exchange, she agreed to ten years of servitude," she said with a very worried look.
 

Romi

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Azalea. Not someone he was familiar with at all, but the name Penelope... had he heard that name before? It seemed to tickle something in the back of his brain, and he considered it for a moment before reaching out to take the card.

Facade? That was something that immediately sparked recognition, even if he was fairly sure he hadn't actually met Penelope. He made a note to mention his connection to the group, but it at least gave him something to go on.

"Do you know how old Azalea is?" Angelo said, turning the card over in his hands. "And what the terms of the deal were?"
 
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Zora

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"Azalea is only 15," Celeste assured Angelo, "I double checked with the school before I came down here."

"The nature, if I remember right, was Penelope helped Azalea speak English immediately, assuring everyone in the centre at the time, that Azalea wouldn't be able to achieve such a feat on her own," this claim made Celeste frown because it was, in her opinion, unsubstantiated," in exchange for Azalea's servitude for the next ten years."

"I truly don't think Azalea quite understood the nature of the trade, and quite honestly, even if she did, a wish should not require something so dire in return - at least not something like that," she added, thinking of her own children and fearing that they might fall victims to such a thing.
 

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Angelo mentally rifled through what he knew of trades and underage citizens.

"Making deals with under-18s is legal," Angelo said, tapping his fingers on the table, "but you're correct that they might not have fully understood. The rules for under-eighteen deals are that the under-eighteen can break them at any time. So it's only a legal issue if, for some reason, they refuse to break the deal. There was also..."

Angelo pulled out his phone, running a quick search on the law books to double check.

"They're supposed to send a letter to the minor's guardian. But that can take a bit--there's no time limit--and it's kind of a non-point since you've already reported it to the school. Assuming Azalea's guardian is a dorm parent there, they'll discuss with whoever you reported it to."
 

Zora

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"So basically, one can sell themselves into slavery and not even be aware of it, or see it as wrong," Celeste groaned, extremely disappointed at the law.

"That's mad especially since the island just rescued a bunch of nekos from a life of servitude... but they allow this to happen," she said shaking her head.

"What if the minor has no clue as to what is happening, no real understanding of what they have done and are not even aware they can break the contract?" she asked, clearly worried.
 

Romi

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Angelo raised his eyebrows, looking genuinely surprised by how... extreme her reaction was.

"A contract can't violate the law. A person can't sell themselves into actual slavery, because it violates the law. But, again, the guardian has to be informed - and their guardian knows they can break the contract."

He tapped his fingers on the table, considering how best to explain it.

"Do you not think that minors should be allowed to have jobs?"
 
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