Rogue Sloth

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

You can in the next one! I don't need to pick up before the morning, since it's already dawn ^^

This scene is so much fun to write too cx

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

It was nearly dawn when Crow was roused from his slumber by the sound of soft footsteps in the grass. He opened his eyes and sat up with a weary frown, slightly disoriented after waking up from a deeper-than-usual sleep. At first, he assumed it must have been morning and that the others were getting up to start tearing down their camp. However, there was no morning sunlight coming in through the slit in the front of his tent, and Otto had never forced them to get on the road while it was still dark. The belated realization sent off alarm bells in his head, and he tensed. Whoever was walking around their camp now wasn’t supposed to be there.

With no weapon close by to protect himself, the former thief crept over to the opening in his tent and peered through the gap to see if he could get a look at the late-night visitors. His heartbeat quickened in his chest as he caught sight of two silhouettes sneaking around the clearing and whispering to each other in hushed voices. In their hands were drawn swords. Whoever they were, they obviously weren’t friendly, and his breath caught in his throat as he jumped to the worry that the men were mercenaries. He still remembered vividly the cloaked man he’d seen in Bellmare, and he couldn’t think of anyone else who would want to attack them in the middle of the night. If these two had come to kill them in their sleep they had to be hired killers.

He crouched tensely by the edge of his tent, watching as the silhouettes stopped near the center of the camp to continue speaking in hushed tones. He needed to think of a way to wake the others up without getting himself killed first. Since Otto had told the Younisians about them, they group had decided against having anyone keep watch for the night. It had seemed safe enough for all of them to get as much rest as they could as long as the native knights were already patrolling the area—

At the thought, he furrowed his brows, noticing something else about the men in their camp: They were wearing full suits of armor. He studied them a little more closely, confused by the detail. As far as he knew, mercenaries didn’t wear armor. It almost looked like they were Younisians, but if they were, then why were they walking around with their weapons drawn? Theroulde had told them where their camp was, so they should have known that they weren’t a threat to their battalion. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but now that he felt more confident that he was looking at a pair of knights, he decided it was safe enough to ask them, himself.

Reaching for the parcel that contained the sealed letter from his father, he climbed to his feet and brushed past the flap of his tent to confront the men. They turned toward him at the sound of his rustling, and he waved the parchment with a tired yawn, “Anyone care to explain to me why two knights are in our camp this early in the—Hey, what the hell?” He startled and compulsively held up his hands as the knights advanced toward him with their blades trained on his chest. The men wore glowers on their faces until a flicker of recognition crossed through their eyes.

“Oh, it’s just the thief,” one of them said dryly, though he didn’t lower his sword.

“What are you doing, lurking in our territory in the dead of night?” the other asked sharply.

“Relax, I’m not here to steal from you,” Crow assured them. Gingerly, he tried to push one of the blades away from his chest with a finger, but the knight who was holding it didn’t budge. It seemed that Otto had left out the rather important detail that he was now Albin’s ambassador. He fought the urge to wrinkle his nose, annoyed that he’d been left with the task of filling them in while they thought he was an enemy. “I have proof,” he added, flashing the parchment again. “Here, look. The king of Brerra promoted me. I’m with the nobles who came here to parley with the king of Younis.”

“Parley?” One of the knights echoed, exchanging a glance with his comrade. He snatched the letter unceremoniously from the viceroy’s hand and reviewed the contents. “This does look like the Brerratic king’s seal,” he mused, sounding almost disappointed that the letter was authentic.

“Yes, but how do you know he didn’t steal it?” the other pointed out, eyeing the former thief with distrust.

“If I was lying, then why would a baron vouch for me?” Crow countered, giving the sword against his chest another irritable shove. “I’m King Albin’s viceroy, and the knights who are with me are my bodyguards.”

To his surprise, the Younisians barked a laugh. “What knights?” the first one asked tauntingly. “All I see here is a camp full of lying bandits.”

“Theroulde didn’t tell you where we were camping?” Crow stared at them confusedly.

Neither of the knights bothered to answer his question. Instead, one signaled something to the other, and they stepped forward to grab him by the wrists. “Nice try, thief,” one sneered as they apprehended him. “You’re not going to be stealing anything else from our battalion now that we caught you trespassing in Younis.”

“I’m not trespassing!” Crow snarled, struggling against their iron grips. “I was sent here by the king of Brerra; I’m not here to take anything from your battalion. Let me go!” He winced as the knights pinned his arms roughly behind his back, his mind racing as he tried to grasp what was going on. Even if the Younisians doubted him, it should have been obvious that there was at least some truth to his claims because he was traveling with Brerratic knights. However, it almost sounded like the two men hadn’t been aware that he or the others were there to begin with. He wondered if they were from a different camp than the one Otto had visited. Of course, it was just his luck that knights from a different battalion would be the ones to stumble into their campsite.

The sounds of their struggling was enough to attract more attention though, and in the next few seconds, Percival and Rayner had climbed out of their tents to see what was going on. The former caught sight of the Younisians trying to arrest the viceroy and blanched, jogging over to intervene before they took him away. “What’s going on here?” he asked and then faltered when one of the knights turned his sword on him.

“You thieves keep getting dumber and dumber,” the Younisian scoffed. “Back off, or I’ll run you through right here.”

“Thieves?” Percival blinked and turned to Crow for clarity.

“These idiots,” the viceroy growled, shooting the knights a scathing look, “think we’re a camp of bandits.”

“What?” Percy knitted his brows and looked at the others again. “There’s been a misunderstanding. We were sent here by King Albin to negotiate with your king to end the war. My name is Percival Granger, and this is Lieutenant Theroulde.” He gestured at Rayner, who had stepped over as well. “Baron Theroulde and Princess Mannering are with us as well. Otto should have told you we were here last evening… You did receive word that we made camp here, right?”

“We heard no such thing,” one of the Younisians insisted, though he looked a little less certain than before. Even though the people of the northwestern kingdom spoke a different dialect, they could hear the formal inflections in Percival’s voice that denoted his status as a nobleman. Because of his upbringing in the inner kingdom, he was more convincing than the peasant-turned-viceroy they had apprehended.

“He’s telling the truth,” Rayner pitched in with a frown. “We were assigned to escort Collin to see your king, and we have more than enough evidence to prove it to you.” With a wave of his hand, he beckoned the knights to follow him to the pile of saddlebags, where he revealed the scrolls and other papers they had brought along for the parley. While he was showing off the negotiation resources, Naida shuffled out of her tent to join them too, and Preston stood off to the side, watching from a distance. The overwhelming proof that they were indeed nobles from the inner kingdom finally convinced the Younisians to let Crow go—albeit reluctantly—and return to their own camp to spread word to the other knights that there were traveling dignitaries in their land.

As they walked away, Crow followed them with his gaze, rubbing his sore wrists. The knights were headed back to the same camp that Otto had claimed that he’d visited just hours ago. He narrowed his eyes. Something wasn’t right. “Where’s Otto?” he turned to Percival, who had stepped over to stand by his side. “I want to know why it seems like the Younisians had no idea we were here.”

Percy met his gaze with a troubled expression, “I… don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Crow growled. As they spoke, the others slowly started tuning into the conversation as well. “He should be in his tent.”

Percival grimaced at the frustration in the viceroy’s voice, shifting his weight uncomfortably. “That’s the thing… While Rayner was showing the Younisians proof of why we’re here, I went to his tent to ask him what was going on because I assumed he might know, but… it was empty. His mat was still warm, so I think he slipped out while we were distracted by those two knights… He’s gone, Collin.”

Crow stared at him, stunned. He was certain now that Otto must not have spoken to the Younisians at all when he’d left their camp earlier, but he didn’t understand what the baron was doing. Had he been ashamed of getting caught in his lie, or had he been using the other knights as a cover for something else? Perplexed by the turn of events, he raked his fingers through his dark hair. “He can’t have gone far… We should search the area,” he said slowly, trying to piece together a plan even though he still felt blind. All this time, he’d been worried about mercenaries, but it was starting to look like he’d been oblivious to a much closer cause for concern.

“Wait, I still don’t understand though,” Naida shook her head. “Why did Otto leave?”

“We don’t know either,” Crow exhaled. “But we don’t have time to stand here and puzzle over it. We need to find him before he puts too much distance between us. We’ll get our answers then.”

“I agree,” Percy nodded solemnly. “It’s clear now that he’s hiding something, and if he’s a danger to Collin or to our assignment, we need to stop him.”

“And,” Crow glanced at Rayner, who was listening to the conversation with a dumbfounded expression. All the color had drained from his face, and his lips were slightly parted as if he wanted to say something, but didn’t have the words. “Tie him up,” the viceroy ordered. “If he’s in on it too, we can’t have him running around freely.”

“What?” Rayner broke free from his trance, taking a step back from them. “I-I don’t know what’s going on, I swear! I’m sure my father has a good explanation for this too… He wouldn’t abandon us without a cause. He’ll be back soon enough, and then he can tell us, himself…”

“I’m sorry,” Percy offered him a sympathetic look as he stepped over to the lieutenant and took hold of his arm. “Even if you aren’t part of this, we can’t take any chances.” He led the other man over to a tree, still protesting, and bound him to it with a chain that had been stowed away in one of the saddlebags.

Once that was taken care of, the remaining four quickly bridled two horses and split up into teams to hunt down the missing baron. Naida and Preston mounted one horse together and took off to search the west side of the camp while Crow and Percival took the knight’s stallion to sweep the east side. Otto’s steed had been left behind, so they hoped to catch him fleeing the area on foot. Acutely aware that each passing minute dimmed their chances of catching Theroulde, they rode as fast as they could through the woods to find him before he could get away.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Cool cool. We can introduce that soon then.

I didn't have time to write at all yesterday, and I only got through a couple posts today before my husband got home from work and wanted to watch JoJo's with me, so I'll work on a reply tomorrow! I think it's the only day this week that I don't have plans, so I'm hoping to get fully caught up on all my RPs then if I can!

~Bonsoir~

“And I shall be happy to answer all the questions you have,” Sylvia chirped as they strode out of the bedroom together. She was eager to have her own questions answered too. Never in her long life had she encountered a human who had been turned into a vampire—at least, not to her knowledge. She was interested in observing Victoria’s transition from mortal to immortal as well as learn more about who she was as a person. Her initial reaction when she’d learned that her life-long friend had fallen for a human hadn’t been so dissimilar from Peter or Katherine’s, since she was afflicted with the same prejudice against their prey as the Hygrace leaders. However, she’d never known Vail to be a fool, so she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt that there was indeed something special about the Crest heiress that made her worthy of a vampire’s love.

As they made their way to the summer house, Sylvia enjoyed chatting with Victoria, content to let the new fledgling use her arm for support while they walked. “I’m not surprised,” she laughed melodically at the other woman’s observation. “Male vampires are drawn to beautiful women like bees to honey, so it makes perfect sense that you would have encountered more of them. Now that you smell more like a Hygrace than a human, you’ll probably start meeting more females like me.”

“She means to say that vampires who share my gender will be less inclined to approach you because you carry my scent,” Vail clarified. He’d kept out of the conversation for the most part to allow Sylvia and Victoria to get to know each other, but he recalled Victoria’s past worry that using his blood to turn her would make them relatives, so he wanted to make sure there was no misunderstanding. The blood that flowed through her veins now was still her own. It had just been cleansed of impurities and altered to carry a vampiric gene after she’d been exposed to his.

“Right, that’s what I said,” Sylvia shrugged dismissively. “And as for Lady Hygrace, we’ll find out when we see her, won’t we?”

They trekked the rest of the way to the summer house, and Vail braced himself to face his family for the first time with Victoria at his side. When they arrived, the rest of the Hygrace clan was sprawled about the room, lounging on furniture and on the floor since there wasn’t enough space for all of them to sit comfortably. By now, all of his cousins who had been injured had recovered fully, so none of them were wounded, but there was still an air of weariness about them. They were emotionally drained after being displaced from their home in London, and they weren’t exactly happy to be sharing a small space, hiding away from the Wynters who had chased them out of England.

It was a veritable den of wolves, and all eyes turned to the trio as they stepped through the door. Even Peter, who was reclining on a chaise lounge beside Katherine, lifted his dull gaze to acknowledge them. The leader of the clan was in obviously poor shape. His shoulders sagged listlessly, his features were expressionless and one leg of his trousers was folded around the stump of his amputated limb. The other members of the family had kept him alive with food and the blood of any wild animals they found around the estate, but there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that if they stopped caring for him, he would most likely let himself wither away to dust. His body had healed from its wounds, but his spirit had been broken by the shock and pain of losing so many members of their clan to Mikael, and that was an injury too deep to mend.

Vail glanced at his cousins, who all seemed to be studying Victoria with a mixture of curiosity, surprise and distrust, before he ventured further into the room toward his parents. As he did, Sylvia fell back slightly, allowing the couple to approach the clan leaders first while she took on the role of observer. Katherine broke the silence to speak first when they drew close.

“I see your human survived that experiment of yours,” she mused with the faintest hint of disappointment in her voice. Her son had been spending so much time at Victoria’s side while she had been dead that she had secretly been hoping the Crest heiress wouldn’t tolerate the transformation. She and the other Hygraces needed him now more than ever, so she was resentful that a mortal was taking up almost all of his time and energy.

“She isn’t a pet, mother, and you’re going to have to get used to her coming around,” Vail replied patiently. “Victoria is one of us now. She isn’t a human, so there is no reason for you to continue treating her like an inferior.”

Katherine parted her lips to respond and then seemed to think better of it. Instead, she turned to her husband and squeezed his hand supportively. “Peter, look,” she said to him gently. “Vail, Sylvia and Victoria are here for a visit.”

New World Contention [AnnaWinters & Summer]

If you’re planning to have Drei come with them into the house, you can assume he’d follow along if he was given permission :)

New World Contention [AnnaWinters & Summer]

Okay, no worries! Writer’s block happens to everyone :)

If plotting will help with inspiration, I’m always happy to chat about where we can go from here too

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Cool cool. I'm thinking Cas can turn his phone back on today because the pacing feels good. Just not sure exactly when he will

It's a type of country music that I have to be in a very specific mood to enjoy xD I usually don't like it at all

It's been good! We dealt with the family thing earlier today, and now I'm just sharing a hotel room with my mom. I'll be driving 7 hours to drop her back off in Phoenix and head back home tomorrow morning, haha.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Despite staying true to his promise to rewind the movie for Iris, Caspian didn’t remember the rest of it or anything else that happened outside of his fixation on her that night. After they relieved the tension between them on the sofa, he enjoyed holding her in his arms, spooning until he fell asleep while the film was still running. The combined lull of her warm body and the bliss of having her again dragged him into a sound nap, and he didn’t wake up again until ten minutes before the movie ended. Once the credits started rolling though, he mustered up enough energy to bring her upstairs to the bedroom for one more demonstration of his “adventurous” streak before he was fully spent for the day and promptly passed out with her still cradled in his loose embrace.

The eight hours of sleep that followed were some of the most restful of his life. He slumbered deeply, lying still except for the occasional twitch of a leg or arm and the flutter of his eyes behind their lids as idle dreams passed through his subconsciousness. Even when the hazy morning sunlight began to filter in through the bedroom curtains the next day, he was too far gone to stir until she shifted against his chest. Distantly, he heard her mumble something, but he was too tired to process her words. He groaned lazily into his pillow instead, adjusting one leg in the tangle of sheets to drape more comfortably over her calf as he settled down to go back to sleep. It felt too early to get up. He didn’t want to move from the bed until he absolutely had to.

So, when she sat up beside him, Cas didn’t open his eyes until she greeted him with a ‘good morning.’ He yawned broadly and brought one hand up to rub his eyes with the heel of his palm, glancing up at her with a tired smile. “‘Morning,” he mumbled, studying her visage in the soft light as she caressed his stubbled cheek. He still marveled that this woman wanted to be with him. Somehow, she looked even more beautiful with a freshly rested face and messy hair that remained as evidence of their activities the night before.

Struck with a burst of affection for her, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pressed a kiss to her hip. “I slept great,” he answered in a deep sigh, pulling her to himself possessively. To himself, he decided that he would probably sleep great every night if he had the chance to sleep next to her. It was a change he wouldn’t mind getting used to, sharing a bed with the woman he loved. There was just something about her that sapped away all his problems and worries until all he was left with was the peace of her warm presence. He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve someone who made him feel this good, but he was thankful she’d chosen him.

“Come back,” he whined, shifting on the bed to pull her back down next to him. When she’d moved, a cool draft had filled the space that her body had left, and he wanted it to go away. “You’re warm, and it’s too early to get up… Let’s just sleep a little longer.”

~Bonsoir~

Vail studied Sylvia in quiet contemplation as she spoke to Victoria. A day after he’d led his family to the safehouse in Scotland, his short-time fiancée had appeared at the manor doorstep, apparently having tracked them down from England. At first, she’d wanted answers to questions such as what had happened between the Hygraces and the Wynters and why the reigning clan had fled the country in disgrace. With his relatives still licking their wounds in the summer house, Vail had been the one to make her privy to the battle they had lost at the Crest estate and the ambush Mikael had sprung on his family members in their own home. It was at that time that he’d also revealed to her the identity of the woman he’d fallen in love with.

Expectedly, Sylvia had been dumbfounded when she’d learned that he was smitten with a human, and she was even more so when he’d confessed that he had turned Victoria in a desperate attempt to save her from dying. After the initial shock, she had wanted to see the Crest heiress’s body. He’d obliged her, and she’d spoken admiringly about the comatose woman’s beauty. Of course, she had also poked fun at him for falling for a mortal, but he’d expected nothing less of his tongue-in-cheek friend. Before she had left to return to England, he’d mentioned to her the timeframe when Victoria would be due to awaken, which was probably why the other vampire had returned now. Even though they weren’t in love, Sylvia was obviously interested in finding out more about the woman he’d chosen to be with over her. She was competitive enough not to let it go without doing some digging first.

So, when Victoria announced that she wanted to hear the news as well, an amused smile pulled at Lady Macey’s painted lips. “That would certainly save me the responsibility of repeating what I’ve learned to everyone who wants to hear it,” she said approvingly, pleasantly surprised that the other woman was eager to get involved with the battling clans when she had only just woken up from her week-long slumber.

At her comment, though, Vail rolled his eyes. “Oh, don’t, Sylvie. We both know you would pass that responsibility off to me the minute I walked out the door with you.” Not wanting to be the only one still seated, he rose to his full height from the bed to stand beside Victoria. The Crest heiress seemed stable on her feet, so he didn’t bother reaching out to help her stay steady this time. If she stumbled, he had quick enough reflexes to catch her before she could fall anyway.

“Vail,” Sylvia pouted. “You’re going to ruin the stellar first impression I was trying to make on your lover.”

“I’m not going to help you sound more noble than you really are,” he objected dryly.

She sighed exaggeratedly and fixed her crystalline eyes on Victoria, “I ought to thank you. Before you came along, his father wanted me to marry him. You’ve rescued me from a lifetime of putting up with rude comments like that.”

“You’ll learn to tune her out after a while,” Vail whispered to Victoria.

“I heard that, you arse,” Sylvia huffed indignantly and then strode up to the Crest heiress’s other side to link arms with her, flashing the other woman a bright smile. “I would be delighted to accompany you to visit the Hygraces, Victoria. It’s high time we got to know each other better anyway, since I’m sure I’ll be seeing quite a lot of you now that you’re one of us.”

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Managed to get one done before I go to bed! I tossed in a FtB at the end of my post, so we can move on to the next scene. Feel free to carry it into the morning! There's not much reason picking up sooner than that since we'd probably have to FtB multiple times xD

And yeah, I also love to have a variety of music. I listen to pretty much everything except for metal and bluegrass.