Trash Panda

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

“I can handle carrying a backpack,” Cas assured Iris when she told him to let her know if it was too much. His arm was wounded, but that didn’t inhibit him from wearing the bag until they could find a better place to rest for the night. Even the bruise on his stomach only ached a little when he lifted the pack onto his shoulders, so he knew he wouldn’t have any trouble with it while they walked. He was undoubtedly better off than she was when she was nursing the aftereffects of a fever. Despite her implied offer to take it back from him if he couldn’t carry it, he was sure he wouldn’t say anything even if did become more difficult for some reason later on.

When she said that the districts became nicer as they traveled further toward the capital, he nodded in with familiarity. That was something that lined up with what he’d learned in his studies. Although the districts were much worse off than he’d ever realized, he knew that wealth was concentrated in the capital and trickled outward to the edges of the country. As such, it wasn’t surprising to him that they would see an increase in quality of life as they kept walking. He wondered how much better off the next district would be though. Were the outermost districts the only ones that were in a poor state, or would they never see a hint of luxury until they reached the border that surrounded the gem of Aspiria? At one point in his life, he would have thought he knew the answer to that question, but now it felt like nothing could surprise him. He just hoped they wouldn’t come across any more dead bodies on the way.

Keeping his gaze fixed on the ground so he wouldn’t trip on any roots or branches, he listened as Iris explained how her amnesia was affecting her. She was right that it was weird that she didn’t actually know where she was going, but he trusted her. She’d gotten them this far, after all. As long as she got them to another shelter in one piece, he didn’t care how she did it. “If it’s working, I can’t complain,” he said, glancing at her with a smile before he dropped his gaze to the foliage beneath his feet again. “I don’t really care where we go either. I was just curious if you had a specific place in mind or not.”

A couple days ago, he’d been hopeful about staying at hotels on their way back to the capital, but he’d since accepted that the chances of booking even one room somewhere were slim to none. Despite common belief, he wasn’t such a city boy that he couldn’t handle getting his hands dirty once in a while. He may have preferred being comfortable over slumming it in bomb shelters and abandoned apartments, but he would do what he had to in order to survive in the war zone. It really wasn’t as bad as he’d thought it would be, especially since he had Iris by his side. Being with her made it easier to bear the unpleasant parts of running from the rebellion.

So, when he picked up on the sadness in her voice, he was quick to offer her some comforting words. “I’m sure everything will come back to you with time,” he promised her confidently, giving her hand a firm squeeze as they stopped by the road. “Remember what Dr. Emett said? It could take a while, but you’ll get your memories back. Now that we’re back in the part of the country where you’re from, they might come back even faster too. I know it’s frustrating right now, but try to focus on the fact that your memories aren’t gone for good. They’re just… locked up. Once the lock is opened, it’ll be like you never lost them in the first place.”

Plenty of Sharks in the Sea [BuzzingBee & Dagger]

Whitney is easy though xD She just sees a hot guy, calls 'dibs,' and has her fun with him lmao
Between the two of them, Alex is the one with boundaries. She'll go so far as to kiss a guy/girl she doesn't know (especially if she thinks it'll get her a free dinner), but nothing more than that until she gets to know them

Plenty of Sharks in the Sea [BuzzingBee & Dagger]

Right away, Alex’s patience was rewarded when the new guy got snippy with Chad. It seemed like he had quite the sharp tongue on him. Wonder what else that tongue can do… she thought and then immediately furrowed her brows. Damn, one drink hits hard when I haven’t eaten in two days. Realizing belatedly that she was a little tipsy, she made a mental note to slow down. She may have had her friends around to keep an eye on her while she drank, but that didn’t mean she could disregard her own safety. No more than fifteen minutes after she’d stepped into Devil’s Share, she was already the prize in a battle between brain vs brawn. She didn’t want to get wasted when she was surrounded by total strangers.

There were some obvious reasons for her caution, since she knew about date rape drugs just as much as any other girl did, but her leeriness to compromise her own state of mind in public stemmed from more than just a healthy fear of scumbags. She needed to be careful because she didn’t know who could be connected to Matt. Her ex-boyfriend had a lot of “friends” who might be just as eager as he was to get their hands on her, so, just in case any of them were around, she preferred not to let herself go and completely forget the danger that was going to chase her down for the rest of her life.

Listening passively while Chad and his competition took shots at each other, she glanced subtly up at the former when he was told to step aside, curious if he would back down. In the next moment, she blinked as she felt a meaty hand grab her by the hip and pull her into his side. Apparently not. His unsolicited touch made her skin crawl, and she seethed silently as he cocked his chin and sneered at the other man, “Entitled prick, it doesn’t matter what you want because I was here first. Beat it before I have to show you why she picked me and not you.” While he spoke, he flexed his swollen muscles, squishing her against his torso, and she wrinkled her nose. The competition had been fun while it had lasted, but now he’d gone too far.

“Hey, meathead, take your grubby hand off my ass,” she growled, firing a scowl his way.

“Come on, baby, you know you like it,” Chad purred disgustingly.

The instant she felt his fingers twitch in a manner that suggested he was going to squeeze her rear, Alex threw the remains of her Manhattan in his face and slipped out of his grasp while he spluttered. “What the hell?” he snapped, wiping bourbon off his brow. “I bought you that drink!”

“And you think that gives you a free ticket to do whatever you want to me?” she asked dryly. “Even the girls who sell it in the streets aren’t that cheap, dumbass. The only thing your seven dollars bought you was a ten minute conversation, which I only gave you because I was nice enough not to take the glass and walk away.”

Chad glared at her, “You owe me—”

“Don’t even go there,” Alex jabbed him in the chest with her finger, narrowing her eyes warningly. “I don’t owe you anything and, by the way, your ten minutes is up, so I suggest you make like a tree and leave… You’re certainly smart enough to be one.”

Chad stared at her, seeming unsure how to react now that she wasn’t pretending to be a sweet, naïve little girl anymore. When he gathered enough brain cells to make his mouth work, he tried a different approach, “You seriously want this guy over me? I can show you what it’s like to be with a real man.”

He just doesn’t give up, does he? She sighed. It looked like she was going to have to push him away one last time. “You know what? You’re right. Since you’ve got… so much to offer, I’ll cut you a deal. If you can tell me what my name is, I’ll skip right out of this bar and go with you back to your place.”

That seemed to work. Chad grew red in the face as it finally hit him that he didn’t know her first name after they’d spent ten minutes talking. He blubbered for a minute until he had to accept that he wasn’t going to win and then sneered, “Dumb bitch. You’re not worth my time anyway.” Casting one last glower at the other guy, he turned around and stormed off with his friend.

“Toodles,” Alex waggled her fingers in a cheeky wave as he left. A soon as he was gone, she turned to her better looking company and rolled her eyes. “Boy do I know how to pick ‘em, huh?” she snorted, setting her empty glass down on the counter and propping one hand on her hip as she eyed the fresh meat. Chad had struck her as the type of guy who liked an easy target, so she’d pretended to be one when she’d approached him. In contrast, the intelligence behind this man’s eyes told her he probably wasn’t looking for a woman who would giggle at everything he did and say ‘oh my god, you’re so funny!’ So, she adjusted herself accordingly.

Flashing him a coy smile, she asked, “To what do I owe the pleasure, hotshot? I hope you’re not here to buy me a drink and expect that I’ll tear off all my clothes for you like that idiot did.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

It probably won't be that way again for a long time now xD Not with all the things that are about to go wrong

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

As Penelope and Naida talked about Olivia, Crow’s thoughts wandered to imaginings of what the castle would be like when the war was over. He hadn’t really considered it before, but things would probably be different than what he was getting used to after the knights returned from the battlefront. All the people who had been involved in the war would be coming home. That meant the inner kingdom would likely be even more populated than it had been when he’d received his title from his father. Whether that was a good or bad thing remained to be seen. There would be some knights like Olivia and Gavin who he would be happy to see, but then there would be others like Layth who would probably making his life more difficult. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it, but at least the change would be a byproduct of the war’s end. That was more important than anything else.

Spotting Percival and Preston rounding the corner of the inn with their horses, the viceroy sighed under his breath. The time had come for him and Penelope to part ways. He turned toward her, waiting while his sister said her goodbyes first before he met the knight halfway in a kiss. Knowing that it would be the last time they saw each other for a while, he savored the feeling of her lips pressed against his, imprinting the sensation on his memory to the best of his ability. Although there were others around, he didn’t hold back. He reached out to hold her by the waist while he leaned into her deeply without a care as to who was watching. For that moment, the only thing that mattered was the woman standing in front of him.

When she finally pulled back, he met her gaze breathlessly. “I’ll see you soon,” he said back to her. “You stay safe too. I love you, Penelope.” Touching one more quick kiss to her lips, he stepped back to let her go, waiting for her to climb on her horse before he walked over to Baine. In the corner of his eye, he could see Otto staring at him tensely, as if he was barely restraining himself from hurrying him along. He ignored the cold looks though. This was the last time he was going to see the woman he loved—the woman he was going to marry—for two weeks, so the baron could wait just a few seconds longer while he said bade her goodbye.

Hauling himself onto his stallion’s back, he casted one final glance after Penelope before he fell in line with the rest of the group. Now that the lieutenant was gone, Naida took up her old spot on his left side while Preston rode to the right. The Therouldes rode at the front of the procession, and Percival followed along at the rear. He guessed this was a formation they were going to use for the rest of the trip to the Younisian castle as long as none of the knights did much shuffling around.

Naida won’t let them, he thought with an amused smirk. Knowing his half-sister, he was sure she would prefer to rise alongside him to make sure she had a chance to chat instead of keep watch like she would be expected to if she was taking up a guard position in the front or back. He didn’t mind her company though. Now that he wasn’t trying to spend each minute with Penelope, it would be nice to have someone else around to keep him occupied during the journey.

Once they were all in place, Otto craned his neck to check on them and then nodded to himself. “Let’s get moving,” he said sternly. “This is the last village we’re stopping in before we cross the border, so I want everyone to get good sleep tonight.” Taking charge as usual, he spurred his horse and led the way down the road northwest toward Younis.

Plenty of Sharks in the Sea [BuzzingBee & Dagger]

Alex and Whitney had very different approaches to this situation xD
Can't wait to see how Daniel handles Chad's... Chad-ness lmao

Plenty of Sharks in the Sea [BuzzingBee & Dagger]

It took a total of three seconds for Alex to conclude that Chad had about as much intellectual depth as a cucumber. He prattled on and on about his job as a firefighter, how much he could bench at the gym, and his high-rise apartment in the city that he’d apparently bought with his winnings from some bullshit lawsuit he’d won against a restaurant that had given him food poisoning… or was it that he’d burned his tongue? She had a hard time remembering the details when his stories were all so dull that she spent her time counting down the seconds until she could find an opening in his endless jabbering to leave instead of paying attention.

Dully swirling the remains of her cocktail in its glass, she rotated between responses of “oh” and “yeah” and “is that so” while he boasted about some sort of award he’d won for something or another. He may have been objectively more handsome than Unibrow Paul, but she was starting to wish she’d switched guys with Whitney after all. They wouldn’t be going home with either one of the men, so having a conversation with substance was better than listening to an attractive mouth that spewed nothing but conceited crap. If he didn’t stop talking long enough for her to make an excuse to get away, she was going to take the toothpick that had held up her olive garnish and shove it through her ears.

“Speaking of awards, I should tell you about the time the guys at the station and I competed to be featured in a shirtless calendar. Spoiler alert: You’re looking at the face of February.”

And that’s my cue to get as far away from here as possible, Alex cringed, not even remotely interested in hearing the story that went along with that brag. She’d done her part by sticking around long enough to repay him for the drink he’d bought her, but she didn’t owe him any more of her time. Some of the men she met at the bars around NYC were genuinely interesting people who she could chat with for an hour without getting bored. Chad wasn’t one of them, so ten minutes of his self-centered company was more than enough for her for a lifetime.

Fresh out of patience, she opened her mouth to interrupt him. “Actually, I—” she started and then stopped when someone else finished the job for her. The sound of another male voice seemed to bring Chad back down from whatever planet he’d been on. He stopped rambling and turned at the same time she did to see that two new guys had walked over and asked to join them.

Recognizing the blue button-down on the man standing in the front, Alex quirked a brow. He was the same person she’d spotted across the bar just before she’d been swept up in the torturous conversation with Chad. From a distance, she hadn’t gotten a very good look at him, but now that he was standing close by, she could tell that he was even more well-groomed than she’d first thought. He must have either just come from an important meeting, or he really cared about his appearance. Not that he needed to. With a tight, athletic-looking body, bold jawline and million-dollar smile, she had a feeling he could roll out of bed and still be hotter than damn near every other guy in the room. And he’d just waltzed across the bar to talk to her.

Hello, tall, dark and handsome. Concealing a smile behind the rim of her glass, Alex’s green eyes swept down and up his masculine frame. There may have been other people standing nearby, but she hadn’t missed the fact that his eyes hadn’t left her face the entire time he’d spoken. This man was here to play ball, so who was she to deny him the chance to step up to the plate? She’d been thinking about approaching him anyway, and now he’d just made her job a whole lot easier by talking to her first. The only question was whether or not he was the cash cow she had been prowling for.

Her eyes flicked down to the Rolex on his wrist. Jackpot.

A part of her was tempted to blow off Chad in exchange for this promising stranger, but she hadn’t planned to end her game this early. There was no rush when she still had the whole night ahead of her. She supposed she might as well see how things played out. The human brick standing next to her seemed to be on the same page too.

“Actually, man, we do mind,” Chad crossed his muscular arms over his box-like chest, brazenly sizing up his competition. “We were kind of in the middle of a conversation, so you should go find someone else to interrupt.”

Bold of you to assume you can speak for a woman you just met ten minutes ago, jackass, Alex sipped her drink again as she fought the urge to roll her eyes. While she watched her alcohol benefactor square up to the well-dressed challenger, Whitney, ever the opportunist, had already slipped away from Paul to chat up the better looking man who’d tagged along. Although Alex had a personal rule that she wouldn’t go so far as to sleep with anyone she’d just met at a bar, her friend had no such restrictions. She wouldn’t have been surprised if Whitney had been hoping to get some strange while they were out. If nothing else, it meant the homeless girl could sleep in a real bed for the night.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Managed to squeeze in one post before bed!

And thanks! Good luck catching up on your housework :)

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

“What? It’s true,” Caspian laughed when Iris called him a tease. He hadn’t thought much about the words before they’d left his lips. Some things made him flustered, especially pertaining to milestones he’d never crossed in previous relationships, but he wasn’t ashamed to admit that he liked being close to her. She already knew how he felt about her anyway, so there was no reason to pretend like he wasn’t fond of cuddling or of letting her nap against his side. Saying that they could do so anywhere was just a fact, because they could.

So, when she teased him in return by asking what he would do if she didn’t want to cuddle anymore, he rolled his eyes. “Don’t forget that you’re the one who just fell asleep on my chest,” he reminded her with a laugh. “You’d better not be planning to cut me off just to prove a point. That isn’t fair.” While she picked up the blanket, he did what he could to help her pack everything back up in her backpack, inwardly relieved that they would be moving to a better shelter than the trees over their heads. The makeshift campsite had been a good option while she’d been stricken with a fever and couldn’t keep moving, but now that she was feeling better, he didn’t want to stay outside. Being inside a building make him feel safer than sleeping on the ground would.

Once everything was put away, he studied the bulging backpack in her hands, chewing on his bottom lip thoughtfully. Before, he hadn’t thought much of it because he’d been trying to keep his distance from Iris, but now that they’d crossed the bridge to become more than friends again, he didn’t like the thought of leaving it in her hands for the entirety of their trip. “Here, let me take that,” he offered. Without waiting for a reply, he slipped the bag away from her and slung it over his shoulders. It was a little heavy because of all the supplies they had crammed inside of it, but that was all the more reason for him to carry it, in his opinion. He was stronger than she was, and she was still getting over a fever. It just made more sense for him to hold onto it, and he wanted to start carrying his weight instead of dragging his feet while she did everything for them.

When she reached for his hand, he noticed her brief hesitation before she followed through with the gesture, and he wondered if something was wrong. However, the pause was so brief that he ultimately decided it must have just been due to the fact that they were still getting used to being more than friends. Seeing no reason to question her about it, he let it slide as he followed her lead through the trees. “Where are you taking me this time?” he asked instead, turning his head to look at her inquisitively. “You know, for an amnesiac, you’re remembering a lot of really random details about the districts out here. Do you think you’ve visited a lot of them?”

Plenty of Sharks in the Sea [BuzzingBee & Dagger]

I had to throw in a Chad. The temptation was too great to resist xD