Rogue Sloth

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

I actually just heard back about an hour ago, and the seller chose our offer! :D Now I'm busy making more phone calls to the title agency and home inspectors and all that. Lots to do to make sure everything is in order over the next 10 days!

And yeah, that seems realistic. I'm thinking that when he gets back to the capital, he's gonna be sent immediately to the hospital to be treated for all his injuries, because he's getting pretty beaten up

Okay! I'll work on my next one after I get my calls done ^^

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Could be! My mom called and said she thinks the seller is going to take our offer based on some conversations she's had with their agent, so we'll see ^^

That sounds good to me! Cas is at the point where he thinks he's hit rock bottom, so he'll be tough to crack just because he doesn't really care what happens to him now

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

“Maybe someone forced him to step down,” Cas suggested uncertainly. He didn’t understand the reason for Regis’s disappearance either. Iris’s father had been the leader of the entire rebellion, so even if he’d been thinking about retiring at some point, it made no sense that he would have done so in the middle of the war. His work hadn’t been finished yet. It seemed far more likely that someone else was pulling the strings and that the last revolutionary leader had had no choice but to pass the torch to a successor. The only thing missing was a motive, and the only possible reason he could think of was that someone else with a lot of power in the Scourge had been furious with him for losing their captive and had taken away his authority as a punishment.

When Iris said that she would think of something, he fell quiet again. Inwardly, he doubted she was going to be able to get them out of this prison like she had when he’d been locked up at her father’s house. There were so many more barriers here in the forms of increased security, improved containment, and a lack of support from anyone on the outside. It was going to take nothing short of a miracle for them to get away from the rebels this time. He still tried to hold onto an ember of hope that, somehow, they were going to escape with their lives, but he was emotionally drained and physically exhausted. It was difficult to be optimistic when every part of him ached, and he was surrounded by cold, gray walls that were likely to be the last thing he ever saw before he died.

“You should rest too,” he advised her solemnly, shifting his weight on the metal bed to lay down. The hard slab wasn’t comfortable in the slightest, but he was too tired to care about the way it pressed into his side as he settled. The motion jarred his injured ribs as well, and he had to hold his breath for a few seconds until the pain ebbed away. The more wounds he took, the less sure he was about which ones he should prioritize taking care of. His arm threatened him with infection, but now so did the scrapes on his skin from being grated on the asphalt and the gash on the inside of his cheek. If his ribs were actually broken, they needed to be treated too.

Although, none of that matters if they’re just going to shoot me, he thought with a grimace. There was no point in giving medical attention to a dead man, after all. His dull eyes wandered back to Iris. He didn’t have much of a chance of escaping, but she still did. She was a member of the rebellion—a traitorous one, but a member nonetheless—and he didn’t want her to lose her life with him. She didn’t deserve that after everything she had done to help him.

“Promise me something,” he said quietly, keeping his voice down both to prevent the closest guards from overhearing and because he was weary. “Promise me that you’ll do everything you can to keep yourself alive, even if you have to leave me behind or go back to their side to do it… I don’t want you to be killed for my sake when they’re going to shoot me no matter what. You need to live, Iris.”

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

When Iris pointed out that he was hurt, Cas brushed off the observation with a half shrug. She wasn’t wrong. He’d come off pretty terribly after his scuffle with Thomas, even though he’d tried his best to win. The only good thing was that he could say “you should see the other guy.” The prince had come away with damaged ribs and a mottling of bruises, but the rebel had left with a broken nose. As petty as it was, a vengeful part of him hoped that the nose would heal crooked, just so Thomas would never forget their fight.

However, he didn’t feel like talking about the pain he was in. Dwelling on it wouldn’t change what had happened, and he was sure she would just blame herself again if he acknowledged it. At the moment, he preferred to focus on the bruises on her neck that Ethan had caused when he’d choked her. She seemed to be doing okay, but that didn’t change the fact that he was concerned about her wellbeing. Watching her ex-boyfriend shove her to the ground and try to kill her had been infuriating as it had been terrifying. Now that they finally had a moment to catch their breaths and check their wounds, he wanted to see how she was doing.

Gingerly, he reached out to brush her long hair away from her neck and frowned as his gaze fell on her budding bruises. She didn’t answer his question, but he was sure she was hurting too. Again, he wished they had access to the capital’s advanced medicines. There was a salve they could have gotten from the pharmacy to ease the ache of their injuries. He remembered that when he’d used it on the bruises he’d gotten when he played rugby that it was an effective treatment for minor wounds.

“Maybe,” he sighed, unconvinced when she tried to suggest that her father might see reason. After his first encounter Regis, he’d been thoroughly convinced that there wasn’t even a sliver of morality left in the man’s heart. If there was anyone who wanted to see him dead, it was the leader of the rebellion. But that wasn’t all. “I don’t think it would matter though,” he went on, searching her eyes with a concerned expression. “Ethan said your dad is in ‘retirement,’ so I don’t think he has the power to make that decision anymore. It sounds like it’s up to Ethan to decide what to do with us, and you know how he feels about me.”

He was reluctant to get his hopes up now that he had been caught by the rebels a second time. Before, he’d had Iris to break him out of his cell, but this time, they were both trapped with no way out. So, when she mentioned his father, he dropped his gaze to the cement floor. “That’s assuming he was looking at all,” he muttered pessimistically, still residually frustrated and disappointed that Atlas didn’t seem to care that he was gone. In fact, that was the worst part. If he died at the hands of the rebels, he would most likely die alone. No one else in the prison cared about him besides Iris, and honestly, he would have preferred if she wasn’t with him, just because it could mean that she would survive after everything was over.

With nervousness fluttering in his stomach like frantic bird wings, he sat himself down on the edge of the bed and leaned lightly into her side, taking solace in her presence while they were still together.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Oh, definitely.

It actually worked out because we like this other place much much better than the first one! The pictures weren't great, but as soon as I walked in the front door when we visited, I could immediately imagine myself living there, and my husband loved it too. The garage is big enough for him to have a workshop for his job, and the interior is exactly what we were looking for with a few minor updates in the bathrooms and kitchen ^^ If the seller accepts our offer, it's definitely the one.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

She's having a rough time, but we ate ice cream and watched Hulu, so I think that helped make her feel a little better.

As for the house hunt, the fixer upper turned out to be WAY over our budget because the remodels it needs would cost over $100K. However, we found another house in the same neighborhood that we actually loved (surprising because I thought the pictures were meh) so we're throwing all the numbers together to put in an offer tomorrow! :D

Bad news is that I'm so busy rushing this along that it's going to delay my free time to write. It might possibly take me until Tuesday unless I end up with some free time between phone calls to my lender and insurance company tomorrow.

Anyway, we're competing with another couple who also just put in an offer, so fingers crossed the seller likes our offer better than theirs!

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

That sounds good to me! And I don't have many limitations on what Ethan and his cronies do with Cas and Iris.

Also, I'm touring the house today and spending time with one of my friends who just went through a really bad break up, so I might not get a post up until later or tomorrow!

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Thanks! Me too ^^ The house is really really close to where I live right now, so I walked my dog by it this morning to see the outside in person. It's on a nice, quiet street in one of my favorite neighborhoods, so I'm hopeful.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Cas’s eyes flicked to Iris when she told him to stop, but he held his ground. As it was, he had nothing left to lose and everything to gain by standing up to Ethan. He also refused to stand by and let them take Iris somewhere else, where he couldn’t see what they were doing to her. The rebel had already almost killed her once, so he was going to do whatever he could to keep her safe, even if it meant taking an extra beating before they eventually decided to shoot him for their twisted cause.

Ethan’s taunts were irritating, but to the prince, they just showed how warped his view of him really was. He didn’t know what the other man thought was “charming” about his actions. If he had been faking his concern for Iris, he would have stopped trying the instant the rebels threatened to harm him. He didn’t know anyone who was so dedicated to their lies that they would put themselves in harm’s way just to keep up an image. Had he been the pretentious, haughty royal Ethan seemed to think he was, his true colors would have been revealed the instant they had captured him.

His following comment about loyalty struck a nerve though. “Oh yeah, you put a gun to her head,” he spat scathingly. “How incredibly loyal of you.” He didn’t usually snap at others so venomously, but Iris’s ex was getting under his skin. He wasn’t going to let Ethan have the final word without throwing a few verbal punches, himself. After seeing everything Iris had been through just in the last week, he felt like she deserved to have someone stand up for her, and he was going to be that man.

As the rebel stepped toward them, Cas bristled and curled his hands into fists at his sides, readying himself to fight if Ethan swung at him. Even though he was still sore from the blows he’d taken from Thomas, he wasn’t in so much pain that he couldn’t defend himself and Iris. However, it seemed like he wouldn’t need to do anything at all, because in the next moment, Ethan appeared to reconsider his decision. He’s probably hurting too, he realized, glancing down at the bleeding wound in his leg. They had gotten lucky this time.

He was just beginning to wonder if they could make a break for the exit while Ethan was too injured to chase after them when he felt Iris reach for his hand. Thinking about the other guards in the corridor, he decided it wasn’t worth the risk and unclenched his fist to let her hold his hand while she demanded to be locked up with him. Her determination made him feel a burst of fondness for her, but he didn’t like Ethan’s warning about her getting wrapped up in whatever “punishment” they had decided on for him. It felt like they were trapped between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, if Iris was sent somewhere else, she wouldn’t have to suffer with him. But on the other hand, the rebel might do something worse to her if he had her alone. Too distrusting of her ex to allow him to take her away, he begrudgingly kept his mouth shut on the matter as the guards shoved them into the cell and walked away.

Almost as soon as they were alone—or as alone as they could be with the remaining guards nearby—Cas let out his breath and leaned back heavily against the side of the bed with a wince. He’d kept up a tough face for show when the rebels had been watching him, but the pain of his various injuries had caught up to him, and he was feeling miserable. He pressed a hand to his chest where his bruised or broken ribs felt like they were stabbing his lungs every time he breathed in, wishing he had access to the advanced medicine in the capital that could take away all his discomfort.

“Are you okay?” he asked Iris quietly after he’d taken a moment to catch his breath. Despite his own soreness, he wanted to make sure she wasn’t in too much pain after everything Ethan had done to her when they’d scuffled in the street. “How’s your throat?”

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Yeah, I'm excited!

And it isn't really (it's just one of the oldest houses on the market, since most of the others are 2012 or 2014 or even newer), but the interior was designed in a very 80s/90s style, so we're gonna redo a lot of it if we buy it ^^ I'll have fun with it because I want to do some of the demolition, painting, and landscaping personally