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Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

It could be because we're all cooped up inside, so we're getting restless haha. At least, I think that's part of the reason why I can't sleep. I miss going out to do things outside of my house other than picking up food or drinks through a drive-thru

Also, I may not get a post up until later today or tomorrow. I need to compile my project into a short video presentation. I've got the audio and the poster done, but I haven't put it all together yet, and it's due tonight ^^;

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Makes sense xD I've been having trouble sleeping lately and it takes all my willpower not to scroll through my phone or check RPG

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Understandable xD I can never find face claims that totally fit my characters. I always imagine them a little differently than the images I choose

You said you needed to go to bed, but I see you're still up, haha. Late night or insomnia?

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

The ‘I’m fine’ that left Iris’s lips was an obvious lie to Caspian, but he took it to mean that she didn’t want to talk to him about whatever was on her mind. That was an answer in itself, so he didn’t push her to say anything more. He’d done his part by opening the door, so now it was up to her to decide if she was going to step through and take him up on his offer. Truthfully, he couldn’t tell if she would or not. The odds felt pretty evenly split. They had grown close once before, so he’d proven to her that he could be good company if she decided she wanted to open up to him again. But on the other hand, the rift between them now was a massive threshold to cross. He wouldn’t blame her if she decided to leave it untouched.

When Maisie returned and handed him fresh clothes and a towel, he nodded appreciatively. “I’m just grateful you’re giving me anything at all,” he said honestly. “Thank you. This is very generous.” Taking the neatly stacked fabric from her hands, he felt a little guilty that he didn’t have any way of paying her back. However, he supposed he could think of something to do later on once he was safely inside the walls of the capital. He was Aspiria’s crown prince, so he had more than enough resources to come up with an appropriate way to pay her back for everything she was doing for him and Iris. He would just have to make sure he didn’t forget her name, so he could make sure he thanked the right person.

As Maisie and Iris began talking amongst themselves, Cas headed to the bathroom to shower, eager to wash off the combination of blood, sweat and dirt that had been accumulating on his body for days. Closing the door behind him, he slipped off the hoodie he’d borrowed from Iris, grimacing as he saw the bloodstains on the inside of the clothing. Until now, he’d known that the jacket had been soiled, but he hadn’t had adequate lighting to really take it in. Now that he did, he hoped she’d been sincere when she’d said she didn’t expect him to give in back in good condition. And the rest of his clothes weren’t any better off either.

Glancing into the mirror, he could see that the entire left side of his t-shirt was streaked with red-black marks, and even the waistband of his jeans was stained. He doubted any of it was salvageable, even if they had access to the best stain remover in the country. Carefully, he took his shirt by the hem and pulled it over his head, struggling slightly as the discolored part of the fabric clung to his skin. The motion made his injured arm ache, but he managed to remove the top without needing any help, and he followed suit by dropping his trousers.

For a moment, he hesitated, almost afraid to look at his reflection, but he worked up the nerve and turned toward the mirror one more time. “Holy shit,” he muttered, staring incredulously at the collection of bruises that decorated his legs and torso. Between being jostled by his kidnappers, laying on the hard surfaces in his cell, and taking Regis’s beatings, he looked like he’d just gotten out of a cage fight. By far, the worst of the contusions were the marks on his stomach. He lifted a hand to touch them and bit his lip at how tender his muscles were. It was probably going to be a long time before they disappeared.

In addition to the dark patches that painted him from head to foot, his left side and arm were also coated in dried blood from his stab wound. He’d gotten so used to the feeling of being filthy that he hadn’t realized just how much of the congealed liquid was still stuck to his upper body. The disturbing sight prompted him to climb into the shower quickly, so he could scrub it all off as fast as possible. Impatient to be clean again, he turned on the water and set to work.

~Bonsoir~

It pained Vail to see the woman he loved in such agony, but he didn’t know how to take away her pain other than killing her to put her out of her misery. He couldn’t bring himself to do that. Perhaps it was selfish, but he wanted to be with her for as long as he was able to if she was going to die. Despite knowing that she would only be a part of his life for a fraction of the whole of it, he’d become irreversibly attached to Victoria. To watch the light fade from her blue eyes was something he’d hoped he wouldn’t have to endure for decades. He supposed that had been too much to ask for when an entire clan of vampires had decided to turn her into their prized pet.

Absorbed in his panic, he hadn’t noticed Diana or Jean-Claude approach. Only when the latter spoke did he tear his gaze away from the dying woman’s face. The elder vampire’s prompt to turn her was both tempting and forbidding at the same time. Since he and Victoria had first skimmed through the tome from his family’s archive, he’d perused the section on the turning ritual a little more thoroughly. The book had stated that humans below the age of twenty-five had the best odds of surviving because their bodies had yet to pass their peak condition, but it had also warned that those in poor health were not as likely to make it. After reading that, he worried that because of everything Lady Crest had been through recently, she wouldn’t be strong enough to handle it.

But there’s nothing left for her to lose now, he silently reminded himself, turning back to her again. If the ritual failed, he would be saddened by the knowledge that he’d been the one to snuff out her life in the end, but at least he could say that he’d tried everything he could to save her. Her weak nod assured him that this was what she wanted too. Whether it worked or not, it was worth trying if it meant she had even the slightest chance of making it through this battle alive. That was enough to convince him.

“I’ll do it,” he said decidedly, informing Jean-Claude which of them would be the one to turn her. The other vampire might have been more experienced, but he didn’t trust anyone else with Victoria’s life when she was in such a vulnerable state. To ensure that nothing went wrong, he would do it personally.

His eyes flicked briefly to Gerald, who had burst into the room at that moment, before he leaned over Victoria and touched one more kiss to her lips. As he did, he reached for one of the pieces of her armor that he’d tossed to the side, wincing at the silver’s unforgiving burn, and pressed the narrow edge into his wrist until it dug into his skin. His own dark blood welled up through the cut, and he collected it on two fingers which he then skimmed over her bottom lip, streaking it with scarlet. The tome had stated that all she needed was one drop, so he wanted to make sure he gave her that before he drank her blood in case he threw himself into a frenzy and forgot the other crucial step of the ritual.

With nothing left to do to postpone the bite, he inhaled slowly and lowered his mouth to her neck, stretching his jaws wide to sink his fangs into her flesh. There was no point in wasting time to prime her skin first, so he squeezed her hand instead as he buried his canines deep into her throat. This bite was different than the times he had fed from her previously. Before, he had lapped from shallow veins to avoid seriously injuring her, but now, he searched for a carotid artery to siphon every last drop of blood that flowed through her body, drinking with the intent to kill rather than quell a desire for a ‘small taste.’

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

That's nice of him!

Yeah, that part will be really interesting for sure. I'm just excited for all the plans we've got so far tbh xD

I think it's starting to, but I'm still struggling to focus. I managed to get a post done though!

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

When Maisie admitted that Iris wasn’t doing well, Cas frowned thoughtfully. He’d had a feeling that something was off with her, since she hadn’t been her usual cheerful self since they’d left the capital, but he’d just assumed she was focusing on getting him back to the capital. Hearing someone who knew her better than he did say that there was something wrong made him wonder if he’d missed something important. Maybe turning on her father has been harder on her than I thought, he guessed, drumming his fingers against his knee. Even if Regis wasn’t a good man, he was still her family. It wouldn’t have been shocking to find out that she was feeling guilty about betraying him.

However, he didn’t ponder over it for long before he tuned back into what Maisie was saying about sleeping arrangements. Right away, he shook his head. “I appreciate the offer, but you two should take the bedroom,” he countered with a small smile. “There’s only one sofa, so it just makes more sense for me to sleep out here, so you both can share the bed.” As much as he missed having a bed to sprawl on, he couldn’t claim hers in good conscience, especially when he knew now that Iris was having a hard time with something. Plus, he’d been telling the truth when he’d said it made more sense for them to use the bedroom. He was tired, but he was still observant enough to realize that if they slept in the living room, there was only a comfortable place for one of them to lay down.

When Iris entered the room, Cas looked up at her, quietly studying her face as if it could tell him why she wasn’t fine. He fidgeted uncomfortably as Maisie brought up the pie from yesterday again, but to his relief, Iris covered for him with a white lie. It seemed like even though she might not have been in the best place emotionally, she wasn’t going to take her troubles out on him. He leaned forward on his seat to get up so he could take his turn in the shower and glanced at Maisie when she announced that she would look for some clothes for him to borrow. He wondered where she would get clothes that would fit him. Scratching the surface of six feet tall, there was an obvious size difference between them.

She might have something here belonging to her father or a partner, he reasoned, standing up from the sofa. As Iris took a seat, he hesitated, considering whether or not to ask her what was wrong. A week ago, he wouldn’t have wasted a second checking in so that she’d know he cared, but now it felt strange to try. Things were still tense between them, and he didn’t want her to think he was prying at something that wasn’t his business. So instead, he let out his breath in a quiet exhaled and offered tentatively, “I don’t know what’s going on inside your head, but if you ever need to talk about it with someone… I’ll listen.”

Even if they didn’t rekindle anything more than the distant acquaintanceship they had now, he felt like it was the least he could do after she’d saved his life. He didn’t mind being an ear for her to vent to or even a shoulder for her to cry on. His friends had told him before that he was good at being supportive. It came to him more naturally than others. His Achilles’ heel of being innately empathetic wasn’t always a bad thing, and even though it had nearly gotten him killed once, it was too deeply rooted in him to just disappear after one mishap. So, rather than walking off to shower right away, he lingered by the sofa just long enough to wait for Iris’s reply.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Yeah, he's also been helping out a lot with cleaning and taking care of our pets, so I'm thankful ^^ And thanks! I hope so too.

Same here, haha. Both Cas and Iris's world's are going to shift when they get to the capital.

I'm still waiting for my caffeine boost to kick in, so I've got a post started by the way. I should hopefully have that up soon!

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

I still haven't gotten one fixture to work, but I gave up lol It looks halfway decent, so it's good enough. I'm also exhausted because I worked just under 30 hours in the last two days, and I've still got so much to do T_T The stress is causing insomnia too, so I only got about 5 hours of sleep last night. Luckily, my husband is the best human ever and made me some caffeinated tea this morning to survive working another full day on my project. He's being very supportive <3

And yeah, Cas just thinks no one knows who kidnapped him, since Iris, Ethan and Tom got away with it. He'll have a harsh wake-up call when they get to the capital and Iris is arrested for kidnapping and attempted murder (Atlas would tag on the latter because he thinks the kidnappers were trying to kill Cas themselves)

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

No worries! I'm troubleshooting some issues with the lighting in my project ^^;

Also, Cas will have broken both of his promises to Maisie by the time he and Iris get to the capital xD He'll most likely cave to his feelings for her at some point while they're on the run, and he doesn't know that Atlas knows Iris was part of the group that kidnapped him. Atlas will have sent out the order to have her arrested, and his word trumps Cas's