Trash Panda

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Cas sighed when Iris became downcast about the fact that they had to stay inside the mansion. He knew she was getting tired of waiting, but it wasn’t like he could have done anything to prevent the terrorists from coming after his father yesterday. It was bad timing, and they were just going to have to deal with it even if it was frustrating. Once the soldiers caught the missing rebels—and he was sure that they would—he planned to make it up to her by taking her straight to the forest, so she could look for her ID. He would have done more if he could, but as it was, they didn’t have a whole lot of options as long as they were stuck inside the borders of the royal family’s property.

When she spoke again, he shook his head. “You don’t owe me anything though,” he assured her. “I helped you because I wanted to, and I won’t let you pay me back for it.” Pausing to finish off the last of his drink, he set the empty glass down on the table with his eyes fixed on the thin, golden-colored glaze at the bottom. Although he was still confident in the military’s ability to bring in the terrorists on the loose, he did wonder how much longer it was going to take. The optimistic part of him was hopeful that they would be back in a cell by the end of tomorrow, but there was always a chance that the Scourge members were craftier than the soldiers had anticipated. After all, the rebels had been evading them in the city for a few days now, and they had even successfully infiltrated the mansion under the security guards’ noses. He had no idea how they were doing it, and he had to admit that capturing them was proving to be more difficult than anyone had thought it would be.

Back on the subject of Iris’s ultimatum, an amused look took over Cas’s features. He couldn’t help but wonder where her sudden motivation to get out of the mansion was coming from. Before today, she had been upset about her situation and had seemed discouraged that no one had come to claim her yet, but she hadn’t even hinted that she was in a rush to get home. He drummed his fingers thoughtfully against the table. She was definitely desperate if she was willing to risk running into the missing terrorists, but he wasn’t convinced it was the best idea.

“I don’t buy it,” he said with a smirk, propping his cheek in his hand. Not wanting to disappoint her again by saying no, he decided the next best option was to call her bluff. “If you withhold contact from me, you’d have to suffer too, and I don’t think you’re willing to do that.” He really was doubtful, but even if she was serious about the challenge, he wasn’t very concerned about it. He could wait a few days without physical contact if it meant they would be safe. However, he hoped she was joking because then they would both just be in a more miserable position while they waited for the lockdown to lift.

“Nice try, Iris,” he casted her a sly wink. “But I’m not changing my mind about this. I know it’s hard, but it’s for both of our safety, so it would be smarter for us to follow the rules until those terrorists are off the streets.”

~Bonsoir~

Oh wow. One of my presentations got cancelled, so I understand that. Hopefully we're hitting the peak of the curve for this virus though. I heard that there's a drug used to treat malaria that's been having positive results on curing coronavirus in France.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

I can imagine! I feel like life is changing every day over here because of updates with the virus. I'm probably going to self quarantine to try to avoid catching it starting this weekend.

And no worries! I've been busy anyway

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Cas snorted and shook his head when Iris called him a stuffy prince again. The more time they spent together, the more convinced he felt that the nickname was going to stick whether he liked it or not. He didn’t complain though. Coming from her, he didn’t find it as annoying as he might have if one of his friends had started to call him that, and she always lit up when the words rolled off her tongue. He liked seeing her look so happy when half the time she was caught up in depressing thoughts about her situation. As long as he could take her mind off the fact that her memories were still mostly gone and that no one from her family had called to inquire about her whereabouts yet, he didn’t care what she called him.

He lifted his glass to his lips to take another sip, only to pause when she asked him about leaving the mansion. As much as he would have loved to tell her that they could sneak out, it wasn’t a good idea. The rebels who had broken into his home had been after his father’s—or maybe even his—life, so the best thing for him to do was to stay inside where the security team could ensure his safety. If he left and didn’t tell any of the guards, he would put himself at risk of getting into trouble with the two terrorists who were still unaccounted for.

“I don’t know…” he said slowly, setting his drink back down on the table. “I’m sure the soldiers will catch them, but as long as they’re still on the loose, it isn’t safe. We should stay here until the lockdown is over.” He casted her an apologetic glance. Seeing the eagerness on her face, he hated having to let her down. He could understand why she would be so desperate to find her ID. The little plastic card contained all the information they needed to reunite her with her family: her last name, her identification number, and her current address. If they were able to find it in the woods, she could finally go home. But he just wasn’t sure that he could justify risking his own safety to get it back.

“I hope so,” Cas nodded in agreement when Iris said he would sleep well that night. “God knows I need it.” Thinking about sleep drew a yawn out of him, and he lifted his hand to cover his mouth. He still wished he could have taken a nap in between all the madness, but it had been impossible while he had been taking care of everything alone. He had to give up his rest so that Atlas could rest instead. It was just the way it had to be until his father recovered from the disease that had been slowly trying to claim victory over his body.

Thinking that the conversation about leaving the mansion had ended when he’d denied her the first time, Cas was caught off guard when she brought it up one more time. He took another sip of his scotch and lifted his brows in surprise at her offer of trading a kiss for sneaking out together tomorrow. It wasn’t the kind of bargain he’d expected that she would offer. She must be really desperate to be thinking of ways to pay me back for this, he thought with a pang of empathy for the amnesiac.

“Are you saying you won’t kiss me again unless I sneak out of the mansion with you?” he asked with a lopsided smile, trying to lighten the mood a little before he delivered the disappointing news. The prince leaned forward and crossed his arms on the table as he met her gaze. “As tempting as that is, I think we should stay here until the soldiers catch the missing terrorists. If they do tomorrow, then we can go out, okay?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

“Don’t pretend like it’s always an inconvenience,” Crow teased Penelope with a wink as he passed the bread off to her. “If I didn’t annoy people, you wouldn’t have anything to eat right now… or any of the other times I pestered you to stop for food on our past trips.” He wasn’t always good at taking care of himself, but his stomach was the exception to that rule. As long as he wasn’t hungry, he didn’t mind putting up with almost any other difficult situation. In this case, that meant embarking on a journey to another kingdom to end a war whilst risking life and limb at the hands of mercenaries who may have been sent to stop him. They still had bread left, so the rest was inconsequential.

“Of course not,” he glanced at the knight again when she went on. “I hope you’d know by now that for as much as I love to eat, I love you more. I wouldn’t make you go hungry, especially when you’re barely sitting upright on your horse.” He smirked as he revealed that he’d noticed her exhaustion. Glancing at the knights riding ahead of them to make sure they weren’t paying attention, he leaned sideways in his saddle to add in a low tone, “You might want to consider taking Naida up on her offer to share a bed this time.”

As Penelope’s demeanor changed, Crow watched her with a curious look. Her question gave him pause, and his green eyes wandered over the surrounding trees as he considered an answer. It was hard to say what the best decision would be. If he told the others about the mercenary he had seen in Bellmare, it was likely that they wouldn’t believe him or even that they would assume the man had nothing to do with their current mission. However, if he kept the information to himself, then they wouldn’t even have the option to be prepared if there were people who didn’t want them to get to the king of Younis. Even though he wasn’t fond of the idea, the latter consequence was objectively worse than the former.

“I am,” he sighed, turning back to her with a frown. “I still don’t know exactly how or when I’ll do it, but they need to know. My father told them to come on this trip to guard me, but I don’t think anyone really believes that we’re going to be attacked by a third party. They’re only on guard for retaliation from the Younisians, so it would be best for all of us if they were aware that we might be followed.” Popping the last bite of bread into his mouth, he brushed his hands against his trousers to get rid of the crumbs and reached across the gap between their horses to take her hand. “Don’t worry, alright? I’ll be fine. Once they know about the risk, we’ll be ready for anything.”

~Bonsoir~

As soon as Victoria assured him that she would be fine if he fed from her, Vail’s last thread of self-control frayed. Already holding her in his arms, he caved to his thirst for her blood right away and leaned in to sweep his tongue over her neck, priming her skin before he sank his fangs into her supple flesh. Knowing that there were Saints standing on the other side of the kitchen door, he kept the feed short so that there would be less of a chance for one of the hunters to walk in and catch him with his teeth in her throat. They despised his kind for preying on humans, and he didn’t need to remind them of that fact when he had come to help them fend off the Wynter clan. For the sake of forming a temporary alliance with the Order, he followed the Crest heiress’s advice and didn’t waste time to savor her blood.

The decision turned out to be a wise one when Gerald burst into the kitchen shortly after he licked the last drops from his lips. Turning toward the door, Vail watched the Saint carefully but held his ground as Gerald shouted at him to get out. The full effects of Victoria’s blood wouldn’t hit him until his body had a chance to process it, but he was still strong enough to fend the human off alone directly after his feed. His burnt hand didn’t sting anymore, and since he had drunk from her two nights prior, the nutrients he had ingested this time would only add to the strength he’d gained before. If Gerald tried to force him off the property, he was perfectly capable of fighting back as long as the rest of the hunters didn’t take his side and outnumber him.

He glanced at Victoria as she defended him and then back at Gerald when the Saint accepted the excuse without questioning. Technically, he was engaged to Sylvia because Peter had finalized the arrangement with Lord Macey a few days ago, but there was no sense in bringing that up now. He had no intention of marrying the other vampire, and he didn’t want to distract the Saint from the reason why he had come to the Crest estate to begin with. So, remaining quiet, he merely nodded in response to the other man’s condescending orders. It would have been a waste of time and energy to argue that he wouldn’t “mess up” the Order’s plans to fight back against the vampire clan that was threatening to overthrow the Hygraces as the dominant family in England. He had just as much to lose in this war as they did.

Aside from that, he had no qualms with being assigned as Victoria’s guard. It was the most suitable position for him to take up, since he would have just been concerned about her well-being if he had been told to fight away from her side. He was well aware of how big a target she was to the Wynters, and since he had just bitten her, the scent of her blood permeated the building. The other vampires would come straight for her in a frenzy.

At Ray’s announcement that there were reinforcements arriving, Vail laced his fingers with Victoria’s and fell in step beside her to see who had come to offer the Order further aid. The closer they came to the front door, the more intrigued he became by the unexpected visitors. They smelled like vampires, but they weren’t vampires he had ever come across before. Curious to find out who they were, he didn’t notice Diana’s near attempt to berate him again and focused instead on catching a glimpse of the new figures outside through the window. He had met members of all the other families in England—and most of those in Scotland—at least once in his two centuries on earth, so the reinforcements must have come from another country.

Stepping onto the porch with Victoria, he watched with silent fascination as what looked like an entire foreign clan marched up to the building in a manner that reminded him of human military formations. They were certainly more impressive looking reinforcements than he had been when he had furtively approached the Saints by himself not long ago. He puzzled over why they would get involved in a feud that didn’t seem to have anything to do with them until Lady Diana rushed past him to speak with a man who appeared to be the clan’s patriarch. The conversation that ensued was equally interesting to the Hygrace heir, but he only had more questions when Jean-Claude said something about their son.

Vail glanced down at Victoria when she exclaimed in surprise before continuing to observe the interaction with unbridled intrigue. He was less impressed with the fact that Diana had had another child and more so with the fact that she’d birthed the child of a vampire. It explained how she had known that their two species could interbreed though, and why she had lied to her daughter about it two nights ago. As the half-breed turned toward them to look at Victoria, Vail’s eyes swept down and up his frame. He’d never seen a being that was neither fully human nor fully vampire before, but he didn’t have much time to take him in before he noticed his lover swoon beside him.

As her weight fell into him, he reacted quickly, catching her in his arms to keep her from falling to the floor. “Victoria,” he murmured her name, half in surprise due to her reaction and half in an attempt to ground her if she was feeling faint. He glanced up at the half-breed, who was now approaching his estranged sister, and then back down at the dizzy Lady Crest, hoping that she would collect herself or that one of the nearby Saints would fetch a chair for her to sit in so he wouldn’t have to hold her up while she met her half-brother for the very first time.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Iris’s flattery made Caspian sit up straighter on his side of the booth. It was relieving to hear that she thought he had looked confident, since he had been worried that he hadn’t hidden his nervousness very well at the time. The reminder that the people of the capital had cheered for him throughout the speech was bolstering as well. He didn’t know if he would go so far as to say they adored him, but at the very least, they had approved. That was all he could have asked for, especially when the other high borns were used to his father’s impressive addresses. He had just wanted to show everyone he was competent under pressure.

“Me either,” he shook his head when she said she couldn’t handle any more craziness. It had been a wild week. First he’d found her passed out and bloodied in the woods, then he’d made visits to the hospital every day to check on her, then she had moved in with him and they’d continued their efforts to recover her memories in the city, and then terrorists had almost killed his father and the rest of the madness had ensued. It was enough craziness to last a lifetime, and he was sure it was even more stressful for her.

At her question, Cas nodded. “The military is taking every measure to bring them in,” he assured her. “They’ve got every exit heavily guarded, the streets are being patrolled almost constantly, and no one can get in or out of any public building without a valid capital ID. It won’t take long to smoke them out, and then we can keep working on getting your memories back.” There was no uncertainty in his voice as he spoke. He still wasn’t sure how the rebels had gotten inside the mansion in the first place when the building was already closely monitored, but he trusted the soldiers to eliminate the threats before they could put anyone else’s lives at risk. They just had to sit back and wait for the announcement that the city was safe again.

Iris’s rambling drew a frown to the prince’s face, but she changed the subject before he had a chance to respond to her. “Yeah,” he shrugged when she spoke of his friends. “They won’t be able to visit until the lockdown is lifted though. But it might be for the best.” An amused smile briefly replaced his somber expression. “I don’t think you’ve been taking my warnings about them seriously enough.”

In the next moment, his smile disappeared again, and he sighed. “And… I know my dad can be a lot to handle, but he doesn’t hate you. He just hates the villain he’s made you out to be in his head. I promise he won’t hold it against you forever. He just needs to see proof that you’re not lying, and then you’ll see that he can be… well, he can at least be tolerable when he doesn’t think you’re out to get him or me.” He reached across the table to give her hand a comforting squeeze. He may not have had the best relationship with Atlas, but he knew the monarch well enough to feel certain that he’d ease up on the amnesiac once he saw her for who she really was.

“Here are your drinks, Your Highness,” Martin’s voice caught his attention as the bartender returned to their table with a glass and a champagne flute.

“Thanks, Martin,” Cas retracted his hand from Iris’s and picked up the drink that the other man had just set down on the table. He lifted it to his lips and took a sip, then sighed again with satisfaction. “I swear alcohol tastes better when you’ve earned it.”

~Bonsoir~

That was about where we were at last week, but now we've got full on quarantines in some states. Mine will probably get there within a month if we start seeing more cases. It's crazy and being cooped up is frustrating ^^;

~Bonsoir~

It's the same here ^^; We're trying to do as much as we can before everything gets shut down because of the virus. My city only has one confirmed case, but all the pubs and breweries, restaurants, coffee shops, theaters, and other public spaces are closing at 8pm tonight.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

It's been good so far! Just scrambling to do stuff before everything gets shut down because of the virus xD
I'll get a post up when I can!