Rogue Sloth

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

“You could, but don’t forget that great power comes with great responsibility,” Caspian teased Iris with a smirk. He was so smitten with her that he knew she could probably get him to do whatever she wanted if she really tried. Prompted by a combination of love and the honeymoon phase of infatuation, he wanted nothing more than to make her happy and be the kind of man that he felt like she deserved. So far, it had been difficult to do because of their less than ideal circumstances, but now that they were alone, he had more freedom to spoil her with his time, affection and good food.

When she whispered to him, he twinged pink, only belatedly realizing that his joking remark could have been taken as an innuendo. As much as he would have liked to take credit and say that he’d meant for her to hear it that way, he wasn’t that smooth. After all, he had only even slept with someone for the first time within the hour. “I mean, I was talking about food, but I have nothing against trying other new things too,” he shrugged coyly. “Maybe we can both be a little more adventurous after dinner.” As he spoke, his eyes swept over her hungrily. He could think of at least a few new things he wanted to try with her before the day was over.

At her comment about the pizza, he just shrugged again. While plain food wasn’t his favorite, he had nothing against it. He wondered too if she would like a white cheese pizza that could be a happy middle between their preferences. The toppings were still gourmet, but they weren’t as rich as the kinds of pizzas that he and his friends usually ordered. If they had the chance, he made a mental note to buy one for them sometime, so they could find out if she liked it.

“If you get drunk off just two glasses of wine, I’d be shocked,” Cas said as he took a sip from his own glass. Tipsy, he could understand since she didn’t drink much, but splitting just one bottle over a heavy dinner didn’t seem like it would be enough to make anyone drunk, even if they were a lightweight. Although, wine was such an integral part of capital culture that he supposed he wasn’t the best judge.

“I wasn’t just going to leave you with Miles,” he smiled at her softly when she thanked him. It hadn’t been his original plan to run from his father and drag her along with him, but he did have to agree that it was nice to just have a moment to breathe before he had to face the inevitable storm. Ever since he’d been abducted from the city, the tension inside of him had been slowly mounting. He’d been more stressed than usual and quicker to lose his temper, which was out of character for him as one who tried to put other people before himself. Their evening at the resort was the first time in a while that he’d felt so at ease.

At her question, he picked up his own empty plate and set it down on the cart. “Just put yours next to mine,” he instructed, standing up from the table. “All we need to do is put the dishes in the hallway, and one of the housekeepers will come by to pick it up. As a general rule, you can just assume that while we stay here, we only have to do the bare minimum amount of work to take care of ourselves. They have people for everything.”

New World Contention [AnnaWinters & Summer]

Sounds good! Have a good night! :)

New World Contention [AnnaWinters & Summer]

I had unexpected plans yesterday, but I finally managed to get a post up for you ^^

New World Contention [AnnaWinters & Summer]

“You know many things,” Azdrei’in noted as Artemis joined him by the door. “I only learned to be a warrior.” He was capable of understanding more, but fighting, hunting and operating spacecrafts was his specialty. After his aptitude for the role had been determined, it was the only skillset he’d been formally taught, and it interested him that she was so versatile. Curiously, he wondered if humans had always learned a multitude of useful abilities or if Artemis had taught herself because she was alone.

When she opened the doors, he stepped outside with her and passively surveyed the area for traces of other creatures while she hid the keypad. “You may talk, but if they are not safe, I will kill them,” he told her matter-of-factly. In the area, he could sense a few other warm-bodied animals, but none were moving quickly in their direction, so he wasn’t concerned about them for now. Both he and Artemis were armed, and he could monitor the creatures idly while they were outside, so he would just keep track of them until he had a reason to draw his gun.

Once she was ready to keep moving, he led her toward a grove of trees. The ruins were fascinating to him, but he had encountered a more dangerous human there, so he decided they should avoid the area until he’d better familiarized himself with the rhythms of her planet.

As he walked, he basked in the sunlight that warmed his dark skin and the light breeze that rustled the foliage around them, enjoying the way it felt compared to the stagnant, never-changing air in the mothership. It felt natural to be surrounded by nature, and he was glad that his people had discovered the Earth during his lifetime. It would have been demoralizing to spend his entire life on a ship floating through space, without any access to green plants and real prey. He was even more fortunate to be one of the first Lunvalgans to start making this world his home.

When Artemis garnered his attention, Azdrei’in stopped walking and turned to her, dropping his gaze to the tiny creature she’d caught in her hands. It was so small that it had slipped past his notice even while he monitored their surroundings. He watched as the cricket sprung away, only to bristle in the next moment when he sensed a larger animal stalking toward them in the brush. It seemed to be smaller than Artemis, so he wasn’t certain if it was a human or something else, but he wasn’t going to take any chances. His hand flew to his weapon as she took notice of the same disturbance and gestured at him to keep quiet.

He parted his lips to tell her that there was no sense in trying to hide when the creature had clearly already spotted them, but before he could speak a word, an adolescent human with a gun in its hands appeared, aiming the weapon at his chest. He narrowed his eyes hostilely and drew his phaser to shoot the Earthling before it could pull the trigger. However, he faltered when Artemis told him to hold his fire.

“What are you doing?” he snapped as she approached the other human. Though she’d told him that she wanted to speak with any humans they came across, his instinct was to eliminate the threat before it could injure them. He didn’t want to risk giving it the chance to attack, but he reluctantly hung back while she tried to reason with it, keeping the barrel of his weapon trained on its head in case it made any sudden movements. He would give her a chance to do things her way, but if it didn’t work, he would kill the human without hesitation.

Surprisingly, she managed to deescalate the situation without violence though. Azdrei’in watched quietly as she offered the other Earthling food and spoke to it—or ‘him,’ most likely—in a gentle voice. The adolescent was still clearly nervous, but when she mentioned that she was a doctor, a flicker of something else crossed its face that he could only assume was a mixture of desperation and hope. He lowered his phaser but didn’t put it away.

The boy hesitated. He didn’t know if he could trust the woman in front of him, especially when she seemed friendly with one of the monsters that had killed his parents, but did he even have a choice? His little sister needed medical attention badly, and it was unlikely that he’d run into another doctor if he didn’t take this stranger up on her offer. His eyes danced to the alien behind her, and he chewed on his lip anxiously. To him, the sight was frightening, and he knew one thing for sure: He didn’t want to lead that thing to his vulnerable baby sister.

“Will you come alone?” he asked, turning back to the woman but keeping the alien in the corner of his vision. “I don’t trust him… If he hurt my sister, I could never forgive myself.”

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

It doesn't matter too much at this point because even if the remodels are still under construction, we have to move in because the bank gave us a deadline to sell the place we're living in now. I'm pretty sure it's gonna take a long time to get the bathroom done, but the other stuff should hopefully be finished by the time we start moving furniture in.

I finally got my post done!

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Cas nodded when Iris said she used to think he was only interested in her because of their circumstances. In that way, they were a lot alike. He’d also been anxious before that she had only fallen for him during their whirlwind escape from the rebellion. Seeing her with Miles in what had appeared at the time to be a flirtatious exchange had only deepened his fears that she’d moved on from him until they’d had a chance to talk about it. Since then, though, he’d felt confident that they were on the same page. Spending the evening alone at the resort had only reaffirmed that belief too, and now he wasn’t worried at all that she would unexpectedly change her mind about them. He loved her, and he knew she loved him.

“Maybe a little,” he teased her with a laugh when she asked if she’d killed the mood. “But you’re cute, so I’ll forgive you this once.” Besides, she did raise a valid point. Even though they were free to relax at the resort, hidden away from all the people who might have been looking for both of them, it was a good idea not to let their guards down completely. He would be careful if anyone came to their door or tried to call the phone in their room. As long as his cell phone was turned off, no one could reach him that way, but on the slim chance that the hotel manager or security guard sold them out to Atlas, he wanted to be prepared to run somewhere else.

He smiled at her reaction to the oyster he’d proffered, glad that she’d liked it. He’d taken a bit of a risk by asking her to try some of his food, since she consistently seemed to like bland dishes better than the gourmet foods he was accustomed to. The gamble had paid off though, and he murmured his agreement when she said she ought to trust him more. “I hope you trust me, because this won’t be the last time I have you try something new,” he warned her with a wink. “But if you ever want plain cheese pizza, just say the word, and I’ll make sure it’s on your plate.”

At her question, he nodded once more. “Sure. If I phone it in now, it should get here around the time we finish our dinners.” At least, he hoped so. Since he’d brought it up, he’d given himself a craving for the warm chocolate dessert. Getting up from the table, he strode over to the phone to put in the order and then came back to eat the half of his food that he hadn’t gotten to yet.

“We’ve still got a lot of this left,” he mused after he’d cleaned his plate, picking up the wine bottle and swirling the contents. There was enough for at least two more generous servings, so he refilled his empty glass with one more. “Do you want another glass?” he asked Iris, glancing at her before he topped off her crystal too. “I think it’ll go well with the cake, and we can always order another bottle if we want more tomorrow.”

New World Contention [AnnaWinters & Summer]

My mom is the same way there, which is a point of contention between us if something goes wrong that we're both dealing with, haha. Her instinct is to get tough with whoever we're talking to, while I'm the one standing to the side, making friendly conversations, cracking jokes and generally trying to keep the mood light until we get the problem solved xD She gets so annoyed because she likes getting things done right away, and my method makes it take longer to get results. I'm rarely in a hurry though, so it doesn't bother me.

I think the only time I ever really started to get frustrated was when I was trying to fix a problem with my computer. I run Bootcamp on my Mac so I can use Windows, and apparently because it's a Frankenstein program, nobody with Microsoft OR Apple knows what the hell to do with it, and neither group are even ALLOWED to give advice to customers when something goes wrong with it. I kept being told by Apple to talk to Microsoft and by Microsoft to take to Apple. It was an absolute nightmare, and after 7-8 hours of hitting dead ends with both companies (and two others that were equally unhelpful) I ended up finding the source of the issue by myself and fixing it without anyone else's help. It was such a huge waste of time xD

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

It's been going well but slow. We need to find a new contractor for the biggest chunk of the project, but everything else is scheduled to be done next month!

Anyway, I've been having friends over for last minute stuff yesterday and the day before, so I'll be trying to get caught up on posts today. Hopefully I'll have something up for you in a few hours!

New World Contention [AnnaWinters & Summer]

It's a blessing and a curse, honestly. On one hand, I tend to coast through life without being bothered by inconveniences, but on the other hand, that means a lot of people don't take me seriously xD The worst is with doctors. My husband always tries to go with me to appointments if I have something wrong because I get misdiagnosed a lot because I don't act like anything is actually wrong. He gives a more realistic estimate of my pain levels and/or symptoms than I do.

Anyway, I'm trying to catch up on posts today while my husband is doing some extra work at the office. Hopefully I'll have something up in a few hours or so!

New World Contention [AnnaWinters & Summer]

Yeah, it's been wild. It does help that I know the designers on the team personally, so they're trying to use some of their contacts to find another contractor who can pick up our project. It'll only postpone one room that needs to be remodeled, because we have to have a licensed contractor alter the framing and drywall. The rest is still on schedule to be finished next month, and then we'll be moving in ^^

And thanks, haha. I'd love that but at this point, it just is what it is. I'm arguably too laidback as a person, so I have yet to get upset about any of the problems with the house. The family stuff was stressful, but now that that's mostly over, I'm just trying to stay on top of meetings and schedule changes. My mom is the one who's pissed about the delays, funny enough, and she doesn't even live nearby us xD She's just more Type A than I am and feels the need to get mad because I'm like, "eh, things are still getting done. No big deal."