Trash Panda

Cirque du Sombre [Siaya Dragalorn & Summer]

Rayth could practically see the wheels turning inside Lune’s head while she processed what he’d said to her. He stopped with her as she ceased walking, keeping his mouth shut so he wouldn’t interrupt her thoughts. It was hard to tell where her head was at. She hadn’t burst into laughter, so she was at least taking him seriously. However, she hadn’t run away screaming either, so he couldn’t tell if she believed him or not.
At the start of her challenge, he prepared himself to insist that he was implying what she thought and that he wasn’t just trying to haze her or anything. It turned out he didn’t need to though as she seemed to make the connection on her own.
At that point, he expected her to either question him or bolt, but instead, he tensed instinctively as her hand flew to her belt, where a large knife hung against her hip. Apparently when it came to fight or flight, she was a fan of the former.
He watched her carefully, wondering if she was actually stupid enough to wield a blade against a guy who manipulated swords and knives for a living and had just confessed that he wasn’t even human. If she was, all he needed was half a second to remind her who she was up against. Compared to the monster hunters he had faced before, disarming one untrained teenager would be child’s play.
Fortunately—for her—fright seemed to give way to reason, and he relaxed again as the processing continued. He was starting to think he understood why Frieda had asked him to welcome her into the circus. Having spent a large portion of his life living among humans, he was more patient than the pureblooded creatures would have been with her. The confusion on her face was familiar to him. He’d already seen it in the eyes of the other people whom he’d told about his supernatural half in the past. All she needed was a little time to absorb it and—
Nope, that was wrong.
Rayth blinked as Lune suddenly backed away from him, keeping him in her sight as if she expected him to suddenly turn on her. Her caution was unnecessary. He had just fed on another human during the after party, so his appetite for blood had already been sated. Besides that, Frieda had said she was the newest member of the circus. That meant she was off limits, even if he wanted to bite her. She was perfectly safe in his company right now.
He was about to explain this to her, but she spoke first.
Again? he mused, bewildered. What did she mean by “again”? Had she run into another vampire before? He suddenly found himself curious to find out what she was talking about. His kind were solitary creatures of the night, so he hadn’t met very many others.
Absently, he wondered if the girl had been bitten before. If she had, it would make it harder for him to convince her that he wasn’t going to hurt her.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to ask her about it when she began inching toward the gate. His eyes flicked down to her hand as she gripped her knife, but it looked like she still had enough sense not to draw it. Regardless, the gesture told him that she had no intention of relaxing around him; and if she couldn’t handle learning that he wasn’t human, there was no way she could keep a level head if she found out about the rest of the troupe. Cirque du Sombre was too much for her after all.
At her following words, he only grew more confused. Two? He’d never heard of any vampires traveling in groups. Even families only stayed together long enough for parents to raise their children to maturity. He was the only one in the circus too. They just weren’t very good at sharing territory or prey, so it was better for them to keep their distance.
Despite Lune’s threats, Rayth had no intention of going after her. Instead, he remained where he was as she fled the back yard, reminding himself that it wasn’t his job to make her stay if she couldn’t handle it. Why Frieda had thought she would make a good addition to the troupe was beyond him. She was obviously just a human who had mistaken their group for a normal traveling circus that would help runaway teens like herself. She didn’t belong in a community full of monsters.
“Got a runner, huh?”
Rayth blinked at the sound of a gruff voice behind him and turned around to see Oscar waddling over from the party. The brownie looked bloated, but he knew his friend had just stuffed his clothes with wallets, keys, jewelry and whatever else he could loot from the drugged humans’ bodies.
“You didn’t even try to stop her,” the small man went on, scrunching his face as he eyed the open gate. “Why’d you bring her close to an exit anyway? You’re supposed to corner your prey. It’s hunting 101. Pretty sloppy, Rayth.”
“She wasn’t my prey,” Rayth rolled his eyes. He crossed his arms and leaned his weight into the brownie’s side just enough to make him stumble. “And since when did you get the authority to lecture me on hunting? You’re just a thief who scurries around to loot the bodies after we’ve made it easy for you to pickpocket them.”
“I prefer my food cooked and served on a plate,” Oscar huffed, bending over to pick up a gold watch that had fallen out of his lumpy shirt when he’d lost his balance. “Excuse me for having a more refined taste than you bloodthirsty savages.”
“Don’t knock it ‘til you try it,” Rayth grinned at him teasingly.
Oscar snorted, “Alright, Fangs. I think I’ll stick to meals I can actually process.” He paused, glancing at the gate again. “Anyway, if that human girl wasn’t your prey, what were you doing with her?”
“Frieda invited her to join the circus.”
“What?” Oscar’s caterpillar eyebrows jumped. “So she’s not a human?”
“No, she is,” Rayth frowned. “At least, I think she is. She smelled mostly like a human.”
“Mostly?”
“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “There are a lot of different scents in the yard right now, and the incense is messing with my head, so it’s hard to tell. I could have just caught a whiff of something else and thought it was coming from her.”
“Okay,” Oscar mused. “So if she’s a human, why would Frieda want her to come with us?”
“Beats me,” Rayth sighed. “Either way, she’s gone now. I mentioned that I’m not a human, and it freaked her out, so she bolted.”
“She’d be crazy not to,” the brownie scoffed. “It’s too bad though. She was just my type.”
“Every girl is your type.”
“That’s because they’re all beautiful.”
“And it’s hard to have standards when you’re only three feet tall, right?” Rayth added with a smirk.
“That was uncalled for,” Oscar muttered, shooting him an indignant glare. “Besides, you’re one to talk, tall guy. If you think you’re so much better than me, why did she run away from you?”
“When did this turn into a competition?” Rayth laughed.
“When you claimed you were better than me.”
“You’re ridiculous,” the half-vampire shook his head, stepping over to make sure the latch on the gate had locked. Now that Lune was gone, he didn’t want any other invitees to notice the exit and try to flee as well. One human on the loose who knew about them was bad enough, but as long as there weren’t multiple witnesses, she would probably be written off as a lunatic if she tried to tell anyone else the truth about Cirque du Sombre. The only people who might believe her were the hunters, but he suspected they knew about the circus already. They just hadn’t attacked so far because of the sheer number of supernatural creatures in the troupe.
“Well, I guess I should tell Frieda the news,” he exhaled, not looking forward to admitting to the ringmistress that he’d lost their newest member in less than ten minutes. Even if the girl had been human, the faerie had obviously seen some sort of value in her since she had offered her a spot. “She’s not going to be happy about this…”

~Bonsoir~

Having finally confessed the feelings he had kept buried for so long, Vail knew there was no going back anymore. Victoria knew where his head was at now, and he had no doubts that she felt the same way toward him. The rapid beating of her fragile heart was enough to give that away. He could hear the faint pounding and smell her heightened pheromones and knew his words had been received well. It just made him even more certain that this was the right choice. What did it matter if their romance was frowned upon? Perhaps he would be more vulnerable to the Order by giving more of himself to a human than he should; perhaps he would even die, but he didn’t care. The Crest heiress had become too precious to him to give up, and he would fight to be with her if he had to.

Of course, there were still some loose ends that needed tying—namely in regard to his father and the newly arranged marriage he had been forced into. He was still unsure what his newfound conviction would mean for his relationship to his family. It would be difficult for him to explain why he couldn’t marry Sylvia without bringing up the human woman whom had captivated his heart instead. Peter would never approve of his decision to be with Victoria, but the consequences of their inevitable fight were still unclear. He only hoped they would be able to make amends when the dust finally settled.

“I’ve told you before,” a smile pulled at the corner of his lip when she looked at him with such surprise. “I believe you’re worth it, My Lady. It just took me until now to realize how much I want all of you.” As he spoke, he lifted his hand to brush a wisp of hair from her delicate face, only to pause when she took his hand and brought it to her lips. The weakness in her grip reminded him of everything she had been through, and for a moment, his anger toward Spencer the Order was reignited. However, the flame died quickly when he saw the gentleness in her expression, and a tenderness for her rose up in its place.

“It may never be simple,” he admitted in a hushed voice. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t try.” He was done turning a blind eye to his own desires just because someone else was in the way. It was cowardly to roll over every time he didn’t have a clear path to obtain what he wanted. He knew it was the way of his kind. Vampires usually survived for centuries because they took the safe route, but what was a life of longevity without passion? He didn’t want to go about every day settling for less, just because it guaranteed him another day on this earth. Not anymore.

“I’ll handle the Wynters,” he promised Victoria, caressing her cheek with his fingers. The blush that painted her fair skin was endearing, and it warmed him to hear her profess that she wanted to be with him too. “They may hunt us, but it will never come to anything more than that. You give me more of a reason to live than I’ve ever had before, Victoria. I won’t let anyone get between us.” As if to prove his point, he pressed another kiss to her lips and breathed, “You are mine and no one else’s. I’m not going to allow him to hurt you anymore.”

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Cas nodded when Dr. Emett echoed what he’d said about the bathroom mirror. “Yeah, that’s what she said,” he confirmed. “I didn’t see it for myself, but she’d have no reason to lie about something like that.” He could also tell when she’d told him about it that she had been honest. The guilt in her eyes wasn’t something that could be faked. Like the doctor, he could understand why she’d done it though. It hard to be rough, looking at her own reflection and not recognizing the face that stared back. It was hard for him to imagine what that must have felt like. He wondered if it would be best for the hospital to wait until she checked out before they replaced the mirror, so she wouldn’t have to go through it again.

As Emett looked through Iris’s notes to determine how much her care would cost, Cas drummed his fingers against his bicep, a bit nervous to hear the number. He’d overheard the doctor talk about hospital expenses with his father before, so he already knew it was going to cost a lot of money. However, when the words twenty-six thousand came out of the older man’s mouth, he couldn’t stop his eyebrows from raising in shock. That was a hell of a lot of credits. Even though it wouldn’t even make a dent in the Maydestone family fortune, his father was definitely going to be furious when he found out. It would have been one thing if he had paid for Jay or Miles or someone else he considered a close friend, but Iris was a total stranger. The king would never support his decision to help her.

However, he’d already promised to foot the bill, and none of her family had turned up yet, so there was no getting out of it now. He would just have to tell Atlas what he’d done and hope he could walk away without too severe a consequence.

“Okay.” He cleared his throat when he noticed his voice leave him a bit hoarsely while he recovered from his initial surprise. “Right. Twenty-six thousand? I can have the funds wired over either tomorrow or the next day… depending on how long it takes to go through.” And how long it takes my dad to calm down, he added silently. God, he might actually kill me this time. If he wasn’t the king’s only son, he might have considered working on an escape plan after tonight. It was a good thing his father didn’t have any other heirs to replace him if he was strangled for his impulsiveness.

When Dr. Emett answered his last question, Cas nodded contemplatively. It sounded like Iris was going to be leaving tomorrow whether her family picked her up or not. He wished he could pay for her to stay longer if she needed to, but he’d already landed himself in a deep enough hole by covering her first two nights. Although, who knew? Maybe it would be a good thing for her to get out of the hospital, so she wouldn’t be cooped up like a coddled housecat anymore. Being able to freely explore the capital might help her get her memories back too. It could be just what she needed to beat her amnesia.

But where will she go? He couldn’t help but wonder. With no family to go home to or friends to bunk with, she could end up on the streets or even exiled from the city. With the rise in rebel activity lately, the military had cleared the capital of all people who weren’t high born. If a soldier saw her looking homeless with no ID to prove her status, he would assume she was from one of the lower cities and force her out. She would never get back to her old life if that happened.

“Maybe… she could stay with me,” the words left his mouth before he could think them through. Realizing what he’d just offered, he bit his lip. He shouldn’t have made the proposal so quickly. There was no telling what his father would say if he asked to let a strange girl live with them, so he couldn’t make such a suggestion in confidence. “I mean, I can ask my dad if he’s okay with it,” he corrected, trying to set more realistic expectations. “But… if it works out, we have plenty of place at the house. If her family calls the hospital looking for her, you can just give them our general number. I’ll just tell the appointment receptionist to keep her ears open for anyone asking for Iris.”

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

A lot of people can't pay it off ^^; That's the problem

Oh no, they're not reducing anything xD We leave the country to buy prescriptions because they're sold at a reasonable price in Mexico, haha. One of my friends needs a medicine that costs $500 here, but is sold over the counter there for only $5. We're just looking at going in November because there's a holiday that should work for all of our schedules to make the trip!

Awesome! Can't wait to read it ^^ Have a good night!

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

I bet! They're really nice, haha

Yeah, it's wild. Also, I looked it up and it's not as expensive as I said unless the patient also had major surgery or is there under suicide watch, but it's still hella expensive xD My brother was in the hospital last year for a botched appendix removal and his bills were through the roof even after insurance, just because he had to stay overnight for a few days. I think he said it was like $40K or more for everything in medical debt.

Idk if I think universal healthcare would work here or not, but at the very least I'd like an open market ^^; right now we only have a couple major suppliers for everything, so they can get away with charging ridiculous prices, because they have no competition. It's pretty bad. My friends and I want to drive to Mexico to get all our prescriptions in November because it's so much cheaper xD

Great! We can go with that then :) And yeah, he wouldn't want to keep paying 10K per night for a random stranger, haha

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

That's good that you have days off after!

Well, I'm from America, and our healthcare system is jacked up so a few nights in a hospital without insurance could be like half a million, easy ^^;

We can just invent our own currency system though, since it's not a real country. Let's say 26K (20 for the two overnights plus 6 for everything else) so it's still expensive because the system is corrupt, but not ridiculous, haha Also we could call the currency Credits instead of dollars or euros or anything real :)

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Yay :) And aw dang. Long shifts are the worst. Good luck with that!

Yesss it's gonna be so good!

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

It definitely does!

Got it done ^^

Me too! I love being this inspired about a new RP, haha. Doesn't always happen, but this one is already flowing really well, I think

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

“Sort of,” Cas touched the back of his neck sheepishly when Iris asked if he danced. “Just at parties though, and I wouldn’t say I’m very good at it. I also usually have a few drinks to make myself less self-conscious first.” Whenever there was dancing at the clubs or parties he went to, he always took a while to work up the nerve to join everyone on the dance floor. As the crown prince of Aspiria, he was the center of attention wherever he went. Any time he went out, there were eyes on him and sometimes even cameras. So, if he was going to make a fool of himself in public, he preferred to be a little tipsy to take the edge off his discomfort.

When Iris got excited about his idea to get pizza together, it just made him more eager for the plans they were making. “You don’t have to worry about that,” he assured her with a laugh as she told him she would make sure he didn’t back out. “It would take something drastic for me to skip out on food and drinks.” And spending more time with her, though he kept that part to himself. They still barely knew each other, and he still didn’t know if she was taken, so he didn’t want to make any assumptions.

“I’ll hold you to that,” he teased when she said he would be the first to know when she left the hospital. Really, he had a feeling she would have a lot of people she needed to call when she got home. All the friends and family who had been worrying about her would be eager to know she was safe. Next to them, he could wait for a few hours to find out she’d been released. As long as she bothered to tell him herself, that was all he cared about.

Not long after the words had left his lips, the door opened and Dr. Emett stepped inside. Cas glanced at him and raised a hand in greeting when the older man addressed him and Iris. He had responded pretty fast. Had he not been working on anything else when he’d seen the signal from the pager? Cas couldn’t help but wonder if that was the reason or if he’d found out from the receptionist that the prince was visiting again and had hurried just because it was him who had called. The doctor certainly didn’t look surprised to see him here. He wouldn’t have been surprised if the latter was true.

While Emett asked Iris about her leg, Cas turned back to her, glad to hear that she was recovering well physically. Hopefully that meant she would at least be back on her feet soon, even if it took her memory a while longer to restore itself.

“No, we can discuss it now,” he stood up when the doctor spoke to him. “I’d rather say what’s on my mind before I get tired and forget. Let’s talk in the hall though.” He offered Iris a smile, “I’ll be right back.”

Stepping out of the room, he waited until he and Dr. Emett were alone before he launched into the conversation. “I was wondering how much this is going to cost,” he said in a hushed voice, crossing his arms loosely over his chest as he leaned against the wall. “I can still cover it, but I know overnight stays are expensive and, well… no one’s come by to pick her up yet.” He frowned concernedly. “I don’t know if I can pay for her to stay here past tonight, and honestly, I don’t think she’s handling being stuck here very well either. She told me she smashed the mirror in the bathroom today. Of course, I’ll pay for that too, but I think she needs to get out of the hospital so she doesn’t feel trapped.”

He faltered slightly, “I mean, I know I’m not a doctor or anything, so this is all just my opinion, but… If her family doesn’t come to get her tomorrow, what are you going to do with her?”

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

It is, haha. And it's cheaper than eating out all the time

Awesome! I'll get started on my reply post ^^

Man, I love all the different plans we've got for this already! It's going to be so good