Rogue Sloth

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Stepping into the club with Jay and Miles, Caspian was immediately overwhelmed with a barrage of sensations. The music that played was deafeningly loud, and the bass resonated in his chest so heavily that it felt like a physical weight. The room was awash with pulsating lights in shades of red, blue and purple that swept across the dance floor, lighting up the bodies of all the high borns that were out that night, drinking and partying until they forgot everything else. It was a high-energy scene, and it was one that he’d missed over the past two weeks when he had been unable to come back.

He took a moment to take it all in: the sounds, the sights, and even the smells of alcohol and occasionally whiffs of various drugs that some of the others indulged in. He looked forward to being able to come back for a real night out sometime, but for now, he couldn’t let himself get distracted from the reason why he was here. Waving a hand to beckon his friends to follow him, he made his way around the edge of the club toward the bar counter. He was only going to have one drink to enhance his cover, but he planned to linger in the hopes that he would be recognized by some of the other club-goers who stopped by to get refills from the bartender.

It didn’t take long before the plan went into action. No more than five minutes after he and Miles had ordered their drinks—Jay abstained, since he was going to be driving them to the hospital in half an hour—the prince was swarmed with people who wanted to know where he’d been, how he had survived the rebels, and if he would dance with them. Most of the requests for the latter were made by women. He forced polite smiles and made small talk to the best of his ability over the blaring music, even tolerating all the camera phones that were pulled out of pockets to capture proof that he had been out at the club that night.

Their goal to make sure he was noticed was successful, but all the attention made it more difficult than expected for them to escape from the club unnoticed when the time came for them to leave. Jay and Miles easily slipped out the back door, but it took a bit longer for Cas to follow suit. Eventually, he managed to get away from the crowds with the excuse that he needed to use the bathroom. He quickly took cover in the closest men’s room he could find and waited for about ten minutes before he poked his head out to see if the other high borns were still waiting for him. Fortunately, the alcohol they had all been drinking seemed to have worked its magic, and they had scattered, losing interest in waiting for him after he’d taken a while to come back.

From there, he made a dash for the door and joined his friends in Miles’ car. Once he’d made it safely into the back seat and closed the door, he sank down on the leather and let out his breath in a sigh of relief. “That was way too much work,” he complained, taking the duffle bag of clothes from Jay as it was handed to him.

“You’re too popular for your own good,” Jay teased, having watched him run from the club and found it amusing.

“Shut up,” Cas snorted, unbuttoning the top of his polo and pulling it over his head. The others had already changed into different shirts, both black, and put on their hats. While the prince did the same, Jay pulled the car out of the alley and headed for the hospital. The drive was fortunately much less eventful than the club had been, and they parked at the back of the building with the employees’ vehicles. After making sure the coast was clear, they climbed out of the car and jogged toward the back door that they had chosen in advance to use as their way in and out. They all kept their heads angled down slightly, so the cameras that watched the exits and the parking lot wouldn’t catch their faces.

As they neared the door, Cas’s heart began to hammer in his chest with adrenaline. Part of him couldn’t believe he was actually about to break someone out of a hospital. It was completely insane. His leg was starting to hurt from all the running around too, but he pushed through it, reaching into his pocket to retrieve the master key that would let them inside. When they got to the side of the building, he waved the electronic device over the keypad, and it glowed green, granting them access. “We’re in,” he said to the others with a nod. “Iris is on the third floor on this side of the building. Room 311.”

“What about her guard?” Miles asked. “Is he still there?”

“Yeah, but I’ll take care of that right now,” Cas assured him, putting the key back into his pocket and pulling out his cellphone. He had the number of every security guard his family had hired. Dialing Harry’s—and making sure to make his own number anonymous—he put the device to his ear and waited for the other man to pick up.

After a few rings, he was rewarded with a curious: Hello?

“Calhoun, it’s Curry,” the prince said, lowering his voice slightly to imitate the head of security. “I’m on my way to the hospital right now to take over your watch of the prisoner. Come back to the palace right away; Diego has a job for you to do.”

Are you sure? Matthew was just here, sir. I can wait to leave until you get here to make sure he doesn’t try to take her again while there’s no one keeping an eye on her.

Matthew? Cas wondered. There was no time to question the statement though. “I’m sure. I’m only a few minutes out on the highway, so I’ll be there before he has the chance to try. The job is time sensitive, so I need you to go now.”

Understood, sir. I’ll leave right away.

The call was ended, and Cas turned back to Jay and Miles with a pleased smile. “He’s leaving. We probably have about fifteen to twenty minutes tops before someone realizes Jacob wasn’t the one who made that call.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Miles grinned. “Let’s get her out of here.”

Cas nodded, and they all fell quiet as they headed into the hospital.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Same ^^

It's been good! I've got some more house stuff to do later, but I'm having a chill morning right now.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

As soon as Caspian was back inside the sanctuary of his bedroom, he gave Jay a call to let him know that he’d gotten the master key they needed. He had to keep his voice down low to make sure no one outside the room overheard him, but phoning his friend was safer than sending a text. He couldn’t leave any trails whatsoever that he was involved in breaking Iris out of the hospital, and he knew that even deleted messages could be recovered with the security team’s advanced software. By contrast, no one would know what they were talking about during a call unless they happened to be recorded while they were speaking.

Not long after he hung up the phone, a maid stopped by to bring him his dinner, as was becoming the new norm for him while he was avoiding his father. Atlas hadn’t tried to seek him out since the appointment with Dr. Foster, but he didn’t want to risk running into the king in the kitchen. He still didn’t know what to say or do around him when tensions were still running high, so it was easier to become a temporary recluse for now and put off the inevitable conversation and/or argument they needed to have for later.

For the rest of the evening, he stayed put in his room, passing the time by absentmindedly scrolling through social media pages and skimming any articles or blogs that came up that looked interesting to him. Every hour or so, he took a few minutes to exercise his right hand, which was steadily regaining mobility as the Accuparacin mended his broken wrist and reduced the swelling. However, in the back of his mind, he never stopped thinking about the operation. He was restless with anticipation as the time to leave grew nearer, mentally reviewing the plan to make sure that he didn’t mess anything up when they got to the hospital. They were only going to have one shot to save Iris from being killed and prevent both of his friends from being arrested for trying to aid a criminal. The stakes had never been higher.

As the clock neared eight, he got up from his bed and went into his closet to change clothes. Since he’d been home for most of the day, he’d been dressed casually in sweats, but he needed to look like he was planning to spend the night out. He put on a polo and black jeans just as a maid came to the door to tell him that his friends had arrived to pick him up. “I’ll be out in a second,” he called to her as he pulled the top down over his torso. Earlier that day, he’d fed the staff and guards the lie that he was going to a bar with Jay and Miles. They had bought it, and since his pain level had improved greatly from the morning to the afternoon, they hadn’t tried to discourage him from going out.

Once he was dressed again and had put on a pair of shoes, he headed downstairs and out the front door, where his two friends were waiting in Jay’s sleek, black Oracle Gen II. At the sight of the luxury car, Cas had to bite back a smirk. He was glad that the car-enthusiast had finally bought himself a model that he’d wanted for a long time, but he was certain that the flashy car had another purpose too.

“Get in, stranger; we’re going clubbing!” Miles called, popping his head out the passenger-side window and grinning at him eagerly. Even from a distance, the prince could hear the heavy thump of the subwoofers as Jay turned up the music inside the vehicle. He rolled his eyes amusedly and climbed into the back, ducking down carefully and leaning his weight on his right foot to avoid straining his injured leg with the motion. As soon as he closed the butterfly door behind him, Jay peeled out of the courtyard and drove for the highway.

“Sweet ride,” Cas commented, raising his voice to a yell to be heard over the blaring music. Despite the seriousness of their reason for meeting that night, he couldn’t help the grin that had taken over his lips. For a moment, it almost felt like just another night out, as if they were really going to a club to drink and dance and lose their senses like they used to before he’d been taken by the Scourge.

“Thanks!” Jay called back. “I figured we could take the sexiest car I own, so everyone knows we’re at the club tonight.”

Cas nodded, having already guessed his friend’s idea. It was all for their alibi. They were going to make a noticeable entrance at one of the hottest bars near the center of the capital and park in a spot that was visible from the security cameras in the area. After going inside and spending about a half hour or so making sure plenty of people knew they were there, they would slip out the back and take Miles’ car—which had already been parked in the alley behind the club—to the hospital. Later during the night, they would go back to the club and “leave” together in Jay’s car, thus making it seem like they had been there the whole night.

“Did you bring the extra clothes?” he asked loudly. Another part of their plan was that they were going to change shirts and put on baseball caps to hide their faces from the cameras at the hospital, so it would be hard for anyone to recognize them.

“They’re in a duffle bag in my car,” Miles yelled back, flashing him a thumbs-up.

“Perfect,” Cas’s grin broadened. “Let’s go clubbing.”

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Sounds good! I'm excited for when Cas and his friends show up in Iris's room out of nowhere later haha

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Hopefully that was worth the wait. I'm enjoying this part a lot cx

Feel free to have Matthew send people to prematurely collect Iris and get turned away if you want! Or whatever else you want to do while Iris is still there. I was going to skip ahead to when Cas meets up with the bois in my next post

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Cas didn’t know when he’d fallen asleep, but he knew he must have at some point after he’d eaten lunch, because the next thing he was aware of was waking up, sprawled haphazardly on his bed with his phone resting in his limp, outstretched hand. He stretched languidly and yawned, rolling onto his back and raising the device over his head to check the time. It was already after four in the afternoon. He blinked as he stared at the numbers displayed on the screen and rubbed his eyes. The medication he was on was definitely making him much drowsier than usual because it had been a long time since he’d last slept for over three hours in one nap.

Blearily, he peeled himself off the mattress and paced a bit in an attempt to clear his head. He only had about three more hours left before Jay and Miles were supposed to come back to his place, so he needed to wake up all the way. There were still a few things left that he needed to do before they headed to the hospital. At the thought, he swallowed apprehensively and checked the time again. He’d never been a dishonest person, but what he was about to do was going to require quite a bit of lying. To offset the preemptive guilt, he reminded himself that his friends were counting on him—that Iris was counting on him—and headed out the door.

He made his way downstairs and strode toward the hallway that would take him to Jacob’s office, mentally rehearsing the lines he was going to feed the guard when he got there. However, before he reached the door, he raised his brows in surprise as it opened from the inside, and Jacob stepped into the corridor. The other man closed it behind him and turned toward the prince, seeming just as surprised to see him as well. “Prince Caspian,” he bobbed his head in a curt bow, studying the royal bemusedly. “Do you need something from me?”

Cas began to shift his weight and then stopped abruptly, focusing hard on not giving himself away by acting agitated. “Um, yeah,” he started slowly. “I was going to ask if you could run a quick errand for me… Are you going somewhere?”

Jacob nodded, “I need to take a look at that faulty wiring in the garage and get an estimate for the repair cost to give to His Majesty. It’s been put on the backburner for far too long.” He paused and then frowned. “Why were you looking for me to run an errand for you? I’m sure there are plenty of servants who would be more than happy to make the trip. That’s their job.”

“I just needed something else from the pharmacy,” he lied, feeling warmth creep into his cheeks as he touched on the excuse he’d come up with to get the guard out of his office. “If you’re busy, don’t worry about it though.”

“What was it?” Jacob asked, seeming even more confused by his discomfort.

Cas groaned inwardly. Even though the reason he’d come up with was fake, it was still incredibly awkward to discuss. He’d thought up an embarrassing “affliction” to make sure that Jacob would run the errand personally, since it would be reasonable to believe that he wouldn’t want to get anyone else involved. If I’d known he was already going to be leaving when I got here, I wouldn’t have said anything, he thought dryly. Already in too deep to back out now, he replied, “I, uh, I was going to ask if you could pick up some suppositories… The medicine I’m on has been messing with my digestion.” The initial pink blush on his cheeks raged darker as he voiced the humiliating, made-up excuse.

“Oh,” Jacob cleared his throat. “I’m sure the servants would be discreet, but if you don’t want to tell any of them, I can make the trip after I’m done with the garage door.”

“No, that’s okay,” Cas held up his hands, still wishing he would have kept his mouth shut about the fake errand before he’d asked where the guard was going. “I’ll find someone else to do it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Completely,” the prince nodded quickly.

“Okay then,” Jacob started walking down the hall. As he grew nearer to the prince, he wavered briefly and patted him on the shoulder with one hand. “Good luck with that.”

“Thanks…” Cas grimaced, blushing furiously. He pretended to walk toward the other end of the hallway for a few seconds and then peered back over his shoulder, making sure the guard had passed out of sight before he doubled back for the abandoned office and slipped inside. As soon as he’d closed the door behind him, he leaned back against the wooden panel and pressed a hand over his face, taking a moment to wallow in the awkwardness of the exchange, and then shook his head. He still had a job to do, so he couldn’t waste too much time.

Quietly, he stepped away from the door and looked around the office. Jacob kept the room immaculately clean—no surprise there—so it didn’t take long before he spotted what he’d come there to find. On the right wall, there was a large, metal panel. Cas approached it and keyed the pin, hoping the guard used the same four-digit code for everything. Apparently he did, because as soon as the prince pressed the last number, there was a click and a whirr behind the plate, and it popped opened.

He smiled to himself and pulled the plate aside, looking over the contents he’d revealed. On the wall, there was a grid of hooks, each spaced a few centimeters apart and supporting an electronic key. It was the collection of master keys that the royal security team kept to have access to every major public building in the capital, one of which was going to be his pass into the back doors at the hospital. He quickly skimmed the labels that marked each key, only to find that even those were organized alphabetically. It really works to my advantage that Jacob is such a Type A personality, he thought amusedly as he located the master key for the hospital with ease and slipped it off its hook.

Carefully closing the panel and making sure it locked again, Cas stuffed the stolen key into his pocket and headed back out of the room. Now that he’d gotten what he’d come for, he just needed to get ready to meet up with Jay and Miles after dinner. Everything was going according to plan so far.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

I may or may not send Jacob back to the hospital. Depends on if I'm in the mood to write double POVs again xD
I've got a post started, but I had a bunch of house stuff to do today and then got really tired, so I'll finish it in the morning!

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

That's a cool idea. Atlas doesn't really leave the palace unless he has to because of his illness though, so he would be more focused on dealing with Cas, since he's also in the palace.

Jacob could always swing by to visit again or maybe Matthew would send soldiers to collect her (not knowing she isn't permitted to leave until the next morning)?

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Yep, it was a heavy morning

I don't have anything else planned until later. I have one thing that Cas is gonna do before he leaves with his friends, but it wouldn't happen right away

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

I figured it'll be interesting if he has someone whispering in his ear that Iris isn't who she says she is for a while c: