Rogue Sloth

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Caspian didn’t know when he’d dozed off, but sometime after he’d laid down on his bed, the combination of the emotional exhaustion and the effects of the whiskey overtook him, and he fell asleep with his phone resting limply in his hand on the pillow next to him. He slept for a while until the pulsating sound of his phone’s buzzing drew him back to wakefulness. With a yawn and a weary stretch, he opened his eyes, taking a moment to orient himself. Not long had passed, so he was still tipsy on the liquor in his system, and it took him a few seconds to draw connections between the source of the noise and the reason why the device was going off in the first place.

When it finally struck him that he’d been waiting for Iris to call, he hissed a curse under his breath and sat up quickly, grabbing the phone in the hopes that he hadn’t missed her. Fortunately, the call went through, and he relaxed again when he heard her greet him over the line. He’d been looking forward to talking to her all day, but somehow, hearing her voice was even better than he’d built it up to be in his head. “Hey, Iris,” he said to her in return, his own voice slightly raspy after having just woken up. Clearing his throat to ease it, he smiled to himself when she asked how he was doing and then immediately backpedaled as if she thought he would be offended by her concern.

“I’m doing better now,” he replied in spite of her effort to tell him not to answer the question. “It’s good to hear your voice again… Also, one of my guards, Jacob, gave me some bourbon to drink after the funeral. Both are helping.” He chuckled to himself and laid back down on the bed with his phone still held to his ear. It was the first time he’d ever tried the ‘long distance’ thing with someone, and he could see why most people agreed that it wasn’t sustainable for a long time. Already, he missed having her beside him and wished they could do more than just chat over the phone at night. It was still better than nothing though, so he would just have to be grateful that they could talk at all and keep looking forward to a time when they could be together in person again.

Her flattery of his speech made him feel a twinge of pride. He hadn’t been sure how it had been received by his audience, since he still didn’t see himself as a charismatic leader like his father had been. Knowing that she thought he’d done well gave him some peace of mind. “Thanks,” he said, fixing his eyes on his ceiling to passively study the texture in the paint. “I’m glad you think so. You have no idea how terrifying it is to speak in front of the whole country like that… I almost didn’t go through with it, so it’s good to know I wasn’t a total train wreck.”

With a sigh, he changed the subject, curious to know how she had been since they’d parted that morning. “I’m really sorry I ditched you at the hotel, Iris… How have you been doing since I left? Have you had anything to eat since breakfast?” He paused briefly before adding: “And don’t try to lie to me. I’m getting good at spotting your tells.”

~Bonsoir~

“I see,” Vail mused contemplatively when Victoria finally confessed what she and Sylvia had been talking about. It was a valid thing to be concerned about, and even he had no idea what a breeding cycle would be like for a human-turned-vampire. He knew enough about females of his own born kind to consider himself at least decently educated, but he didn’t want to assume that his lover would operate the same way when he had no evidence to back it up. The tome he’d left in London would be a valuable asset to them if James was able to find it and bring it north. With any luck, it would contain some of the answers they were looking for within its many pages.

At the mention of marriage, he planted a kiss on her cheek. “That shouldn’t be a hang up for much longer,” he murmured in her ear. Despite his parents’ lack of approval, he knew what he wanted, and he wasn’t going to allow them to be the reason he didn’t propose to the Crest heiress. He was still planning to speak with them in one last effort to change their minds, since he did desire their support, but ultimately, it was his decision to choose who he would marry. Plus, he already had her family’s consent. Her mother had made it clear that she just wanted her daughter to be happy, and even her estranged relatives were obviously in favor of their union. They weren’t on an island of their own without anyone on their side, so he felt confident in his intention to ask her to be his wife as soon as the timing felt right.

Addicted to the way she responded to his machinations, a smile formed on Vail’s lips when Victoria leaned into his chest. “It’s a relief,” he answered her question honestly, idly exploring her bare body by touch while he spoke. “I enjoyed drinking your blood, but I enjoy you more for your company. Now that I’m not distracted by the urge to bite you, I can focus on all the aspects I like the most…” With the sultry remark, he swept an arm behind her knees to pick her up and carry her over to the bed. There was a part of him that knew he was going to miss the effects of her blood when he came down from the high of draining her completely one week ago, but until the withdrawal hit, he was glad that he could be with her without the nagging desire to sink his fangs into her neck. For now, he only cared about celebrating the fact that she’d come back to him from death.

Laying her down, he hovered over her and pressed his lips to hers, eager to take advantage of the fact that they were finally alone. He’d been waiting for most of the evening to have her to himself, and he wasted no time unfastening the rest of the buttons on his shirt and tossing the garment onto the floor.

~Bonsoir~

Vail was learning quickly that the Moncourier clan was much more brazen than most of the vampires he’d gotten to know in his lifetime. Comparatively, only Sylvia was as loose with her tongue around people she didn’t know well, and even she was careful not to offend. His own family was usually quieter and less involved in each other’s personal lives. It was a change that he wasn’t sure how he felt about yet, since he wasn’t used to other people knowing about and commenting on his relationships, but at least it was better than the scorn he’d received from his parents. If giving up a little privacy meant they would have some support from the French clan, then he could put up with the occasional cheeky comments from Francois and James.

As he left the lounge and walked to the bedroom with Victoria, he quirked a brow at her remark about Sylvia. “‘Wise’ isn’t a word I would have expected to hear you use to describe her. Now I’m very curious to know what it was that she said to you during your talk.” Despite his frequent jokes at his old friend’s expense, he knew that Sylvia could be a gifted advisor. She’d counseled him on more than one occasion, even when she’d learned that he’d fallen for someone that his father didn’t approve of. The Macey heiress with bold and level-headed, but he didn’t know what Victoria would have asked her about that required her advice. Apparently she wasn’t going to tell him either, because she was quick to chase her first comment with a question that changed the subject.

“No, but I am a little worried that she told you more than she should have,” he returned her smile, enchanted as always by the way her lips pulled upward and brightened her face. It was good to see her so expressive after a week of lifelessness.

Following her into the bedroom, he closed the door behind him and began unfastening the top buttons of his shirt. In a week of veritable isolation, he’d reverted back to his nocturnal rhythm and was usually wide awake at night, but he cared more about making up for lost time with Victoria than he did about keeping himself entertained with activities until dawn. Even if she spent the entire night sleeping, he planned to stay by her side, dozing or perhaps reading a book by candlelight so she wouldn’t be alone.

“Of course,” he said when she asked for his help untying her corset. Abandoning his partial work of unbuttoning his shirt, he stepped over to her and loosened the straps at her shoulder blades. As the dress came away from her body, his hazel eyes slid over her ivory skin. If it was possible, she seemed even more flawless than she had been when she was a human, and he couldn’t help but trail his fingers over her smooth hips. During their time together, he’d grown addicted to more than just the taste of her blood. Although they were not yet married, he was also hooked on the sight of her bare body and the sweetness of her pheromones.

“I must say I agree with your mother,” he said softly, taking a step closer to hover by her ear while he wrapped his arms around her midriff. “Becoming a vampire suits you, Victoria.”

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

That sounds good! I’ll have a lot to get through with Cas and felt like the coronation is a more important scene to cover than the funeral between the two ^^

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Okay! I think the next day will take a bit longer to get through than the first just because it's Cas's coronation. There are gonna be a lot of things going on before, during and after that ceremony.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Caspian could hear his heartbeat drumming in his ears as he stood before the whole of Aspiria to send his father off to whatever sort of afterlife awaited him on the other side of the funeral. It was far from the first speech he’d ever given to the people, but it was the first without any oversight or follow-up from the man inside the casket. Although the advice Jacob had given him had been good, it hadn’t completely mitigated his anxiety, and he had to take a few long breaths on his way over to the podium before he launched into the address he’d written earlier.

As he began to speak about Atlas, cementing his memory as one of the country’s most powerful leaders by reminding the audience of the laws and decrees he’d enacted during his reign, he felt oddly detached. It was as if he’d split into two separate versions of himself: one who was delivering the message to Aspiria and another who was observing the event from a distance. He was aware that his lips were moving and words were pouring forth, but at the same time, his mind had wandered away from the sentences written on the paper in front of him, preferring to listen and critique as he went along.

Maybe it was the start of his processing or maybe he just had so many stopped-up feelings that they were too overpowering to keep forcing down, but talking about his father as a heroic figure in that moment made him feel like a hypocrite. Their last conversation had been a massive fight over Atlas’s decision to have him institutionalized because the monarch couldn’t believe that his son would take someone else’s side over his. Even before that argument, they’d rarely seen eye to eye on anything. His father had withheld praise and encouragement to the point that if he ever spoke a kind word, it was dumbfounding. In his personal life, the king wasn’t someone he looked up to, so each laudatory word that he spoke over the crowd felt tainted.

The worst part was that as he continued to describe all the ways Atlas had bettered Aspiria, he felt cheated. His father had been harsh and critical on him, but when it came to their country, he’d slaved away until his dying breath to ensure that their people—or at least, the high borns—and the nation as a whole was prosperous. He’d diligently upheld relations with Aspiria’s allies, funneled money into the borders to defend the kingdom from both internal and external threats, made public appearances to assure the people that he was still a capable leader even in his ailing health, and made financial decisions on behalf of the county that had made the richest citizens even more wealthy. He’d dedicated everything to his duties as the king, and in consequence, ruined his relationship with his own family.

In spite of it all though, Cas couldn’t say that he hated his father. He knew he was too empathetic for his own good, but he also understood that ruling an entire country was demanding work, and there was a part of him that still respected Atlas for everything he’d done when he’d been wearing the crown. Because of that, he forced himself to put his own conflict with the monarch aside until the speech ended, the audience applauded, and he stepped off the stage to take up his seat at the front of the crowd while a minister took over to finish the rest of the funeral.

Afterwards, Jacob upheld his end of their deal and palmed him a flask as they headed back to the car, the cemetery and then finally to the palace. Some of the reporters and guests had tried to ask him about the funeral and offer their condolences for his loss respectively, but the guards that had come with him fended them off until he’d made it safely past the barriers at the edge of the estate. Once he was alone, he went back to his room and shrugged off his suit jacket, sitting down on his bed and fishing his phone from his pocket. It was half past nine o’ clock, so he had about thirty minutes left before he could expect any calls from Iris. It was a much-needed breather though. At the end of a busy day, he was just glad to have some time to himself, especially since his coronation was set to happen tomorrow at noon.

Taking a swig from the flask he’d borrowed from his security guard, he bent down to untie his shoes and then swung his legs up onto the mattress to lay down on his back. It was still hard for him to believe that in less than twenty-four hours, he was going to be crowned king. The ground had yet to settle over his father’s grave, and he was going to be taking over the reign of Aspiria. He shook his head at the thought, fixing his gaze absently on the ceiling as he sipped at the flask again. By now, most of the whiskey inside had disappeared. He didn’t know exactly how much he’d drank, but he could definitely feel the effect of the alcohol coursing through his bloodstream. It offered a pleasant numbness, and he closed his eyes with a slow exhale, letting his mind wander to less stressful things.

Almost reflexively, he found himself thinking about Iris, wondering how she was doing since he’d left the Sunset Veil in a rush that morning and wishing he could go back to see her. Even though the timing hadn’t been great, he didn’t regret running off to the resort with her the day before. Knowing that she was in a safe location for the time being gave him some peace of mind, and he’d also enjoyed spending the night with her for the first time. Memories of the previous night flitted through his mind, and he smiled to himself. He’d only told her to call if she needed anything, but he did hope that she would reach out even if she didn’t. When everything else in his life felt like it was moving too quickly for him to keep up, hearing her voice was always a welcomed reprieve.

~Bonsoir~

When Victoria rescinded her idea of having children, Sylvia frowned. “It is up to you whether you decide to start a family or not, but please don’t base your decision on Peter’s approval,” she appealed to her, reaching to place her hand over the Crest heiress’s and giving it a sincere squeeze. “He doesn’t deserve the authority to control how or when you have children. That is up to you and Vail, and if he disagrees with you, he will cause his own suffering.” She leaned forward to seek the other woman’s gaze and offered her a reassuring smile. “You should know that he does want grandchildren. Vail isn’t his only son by choice. He’s infertile because of an… unfortunate injury he received from a fight with a skilled Saint not long after Katherine got pregnant. He’d planned to sire a large family just like his brother did, and I’m sure he still hopes that dream will come true through his son and other future heirs. Perhaps he’ll one day learn to lay his prejudice aside when he sees that Vail has already chosen his bride.”

Releasing Victoria’s hand, Sylvia leaned back in her seat and grinned amusedly at Lady Crest’s offer to stay up as long as she wished. “I will likely be up until dawn, since I am a vampire,” she giggled. “I wouldn’t mind one bit if your brother decides to keep me company though. He’s quite a handsome man, and I just love the way those Frenchmen speak. I could listen to him whisper sweet nothings all night long.” Rising to her feet, she curtseyed to the other woman respectfully. Although she had originally found Victoria to be an entertaining novelty as the only human-turned-vampire she had ever met, the Crest heiress had quickly grown on her as a friend.

“Have a good night, my lady,” she bade her farewell. “I do hope we see each other again before I depart tomorrow.”

--

In the lounge, Vail and the other men had lapsed into comfortably casual conversation. He participated more readily, exchanging anecdotes about everything from past run-ins with the Order to different play styles of chess. It was the first evening in quite a long time in which he wasn’t plagued with worries about the Saints, the Wynters or Victoria’s health. The relaxing atmosphere was almost foreign to him, but it was a needed lull, and he found himself enjoying the company and the cigars until Lady Crest appeared in the doorway.

“I spent the last week watching over your dead body. Of course I’ll be joining you,” he told her with a half-smile, putting out what was left of his cigar and standing up from his chair. After he said a curt goodbye to James and Francois, he accompanied Victoria to her room. “Did you have a nice chat with Sylvia?” he asked her as they walked through the hall together. Tenderly, he rested a hand on the small of her back, greedy to touch her again now that she had breath in her lungs. After James’s earlier joke, he was even more curious to know what the two women had been talking about on the terrace.

New World Contention [AnnaWinters & Summer]

I live up in the mountains, so we get a lot of snow :)

And oh no xD Our cat is 8 years old, so at least she's kind of mellowed out.

New World Contention [AnnaWinters & Summer]

“Once we are assigned jobs, we keep those jobs for our lifetimes,” Azdrei’in answered Artemis’s question. “It’s why we’re marked… The mark shows the permanence of our roles.” Sweeping his braided hair over one shoulder, he revealed the tattoo on his neck that designated him as a warrior. Even if he appealed to the Om’phids for a career change, it wouldn’t get him anywhere. Their society was far too strictly structured. He’d been chosen to be a fighter and hunter for his people, and that was what he would do until death or old age claimed him. It was the way things were, and none of the Lunvalgans questioned it. At least, they never questioned it out loud because those who did often disappeared shortly after.

It was something of a mystery among his people, and yet it was hardly a mystery at all. The Eilix ruled with a heavy hand, and anyone who questioned their authority was punished for it. Even if he wanted to do more than one job, he had to keep the wish to himself or risk becoming one of those who vanished either for good or for a while before they returned fully loyal to their leaders again. Neither option sounded appealing to him, so he followed his orders and accepted the reality that he’d been assigned the role of warrior in spite of his aptitude for learning rapidly.

When Artemis told him that she didn’t want to eat the ‘meat sludge’ that his people consumed for their meals, he laughed amusedly. “No one does. I don’t know if you can even digest it anyway. The formula was created for my species, which is why I told you to bring your own food from your planet.” He didn’t want to go back to eating the substitute either, now that he’d had his first taste of blood and flesh. The food on the mothership had always been bland, but he suspected it would be especially so compared to the rich flavors he’d experienced on the Earth. He was grateful that Artemis had considered him when she’d packed for their short trip into orbit. At least for a few days, he could keep eating the meat she’d brought from her home.

Artemis’s explanation about dressing up made him wonder who she was trying to impress. If she did it to attract the opposite sex, then it was only logical that she wanted male attention, wasn’t it? The thought stirred mixed emotions inside of him. On one hand, he wanted to believe that she’d prettied herself up because of him. It was a pathetically hopeful fantasy, and it was one that he knew probably wasn’t the case. He didn’t know how humans courted each other, but he didn’t think she’d been trying to get that kind of attention from him so far. He doubted she was trying to now either. On the other hand, though, the idea that she was just looking to attract any of the other male Lunvalgans on the ship fanned an unexpected jealous streak inside of him. If anyone was going to have her, he wanted to be the one she chose.

His pale eyes tracked the way she ran her hands over her own waist and then lifted the bottom of her skirt to show her calf. Humans weren’t the only race that appreciated curves on their females. Whether she meant to or not, her short demonstration of why she had dressed up made it harder for him to remind himself that she wasn’t a Lunvalgan, and he forced himself to look away when the other warrior showed up to retrieve them.

Getting up from his bed, he walked with Artemis to the door, keeping close to her since his presence seemed to ease some of her resurging fear. “You’re foreign to us. He doesn’t know what to think of you,” he told her while they made their way down the corridor. “He can’t hurt you though. Touching the gun is an act that he’s using to try to deter you from acting violently. Don’t worry about him.”

“You really are fluent in its language,” the other warrior said suddenly, glancing at Azdrei’in bemusedly over his shoulder. “How did you learn it so quickly?”

“She has a device with quite a bit of valuable information stored within it,” Azdrei’in answered. “I studied everything I could find in the database to communicate with her.”

“I see,” the other warrior mused, his eyes drifting from his comrade’s face down to his chest. A knowing smile crossed his lips, and he fell back a little to walk by Azdrei’in’s side. “Bloodstains? Have you been hunting?”

“Perhaps,” Azdrei’in grinned back at him and then chuckled when the other male gave him a friendly shove with one arm. Those who became warriors were often rowdier than the other Lunvalgans on the ship, but he enjoyed the antics.

“Do not just stop there,” the bigger warrior groused good-naturedly. “What was it like? Is the prey on this new planet good to eat?”

“I have only sampled a small portion, but so far, the prey has not disappointed,” Azdrei’in obliged him.

For the rest of the short walk, he described in better detail what it was like to hunt on Earth, telling the other male about the different kinds of animals, how it was trickier to stalk prey because nothing else on the planet seemed to be bioluminescent, and what it felt like to dine on something that wasn’t “meat sludge,” as Artemis had so aptly put it, that had been made in a lab.

Eventually, they passed through another doorway and arrived in the wing of the ship that had been designated for the Lunvalgan physicians and medical scientists. Their warrior escort moved to stand off to the side, leaning back against a white wall to passively keep watch. Azdrei’in stood beside Artemis, and a group of three Om’phaers looked up from the work they had been doing to study the human with interest. Scientifically minded, there was less hostility in their eyes—although they were still slightly cautious—and more fascination with the being among them who looked shockingly like one of their own people.

One of the physicians approached: a tall, lithe female dressed in white. Her long hair was twisted into a floral bun on the right side of her head, and her face was slender without a crest that denoted her gender. Azdrei’in nodded a greeting to her and then turned to Artemis as she spoke her name and then asked him to translate a message for her. He relayed it as precisely as he could, glad that he’d focused on medical terminology when he’d studied her language again last night.

The female Lunvalgan seemed intrigued, especially when Artemis went on to show her the information about humans and their fertility on her device. “This is remarkable,” she said with interest, taking the tablet from the Earthling to look through the pictures and videos herself. Even from a glance, she could see that there were a surprising number of similarities between their two species, and the discovery warranted immediate investigation. Artificial fertilization was something they had begun experimenting with, but had yet to see any success. Perhaps there was something to be learned from the creatures they had nearly eradicated. Looking over the human, she declared, “I would like to take some samples straightaway. Blood, saliva, tissue… You, come. Bring her this way.”

With a gesture to Azdrei’in, she strode over to the exam table near the back of the room and drew a curtain around it for privacy. On the table, she placed a folded gown. “Tell her to put this on, so I am able to conduct a thorough exam.”

He repeated the instructions in English to Artemis. “I’ll stay if you want me to,” he added. “I assume she means a physical exam though, so if you’d rather have your privacy, I will step out.”

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Didn't want to make my post too long, so I cut to when Cas is about to start his speech. If we want to move further forward, I'm fine with it if you want to have Iris and Ethan react to the general speech (Cas would mostly just speak words of praise about Atlas and honor his legacy and all that) and then I can pick up when it's over and Cas goes back to the palace.