Cigarette Butts - Miami Refuge

She scooted a little closer to Teddy and put her chin on the girl's shoulder. "What did you learn it for, Gepetto?"

She was quiet for a long while, even as she lifted a hand to brushed her fingers through her friend's hair.
"To kill someone..." Teddy replied quietly. "A long time ago now.." at least for her it was a long time, over half her life. Though the memories were still fresh. And probably always would be.

"Did you?" Because that wasn't something she ever expected to hear from Teddy. It didn't make her angry, she had no right to judge. But it was a curious thing.

She nodded gently, the soft, quiet smile still on her lips.
"Yes..." probably not the answer Cass expected either. "Three men.." Teddy said quietly. Teddy, the girl who'd barely lift a hand to defend herself unless she absolutely had to. Teddy, the girl who'd been beaten and broken so many times she'd lost count. Teddy, the girl who wanted nothing more than to make people happy, to make them smile.
Three lives.
For a vampire it was probably nothing. For her, it was everything.
"They hurt someone I loved very much... And I... I wanted revenge"

Cass' arms were wrapped around Teddy in a moment. "Then they deserved it," it was that simple. She knew Teddy wouldn't have done it otherwise.

The blond wasn't so sure to be honest... After all, the one who'd killed the girl.. had in the end been her, not them. The fact that she was dying when teddy had tried to "save" her didn't matter. It had been the blond who'd taken her life.

She leaned into Cass though, closing her eyes.

Medwyn would agree with the Rose. And a part of Teddy felt that, yes, it was right, they deserved to die. Just... didn't it make her was bad as they though?

"It's in the past.." she whispered.

She nodded, taking that as a hint. "So what's in the future?"

The future...

Teddy moved over so that she could just kind of slip over onto her back and lay her head in Cass' lap, cigarette once more back between her lips as she looked up at her friend.
"I dunno... the future's all ... foggy" she smirked, having let out a puff of smoke that really did make it a bit foggy. "Hopefully though? The future's what we choose for it to be"

"Well, of course it is!" She smiled down at Teddy. In this instance... Cass thought it was okay to lie, to play along with that fantasy. But the truth was, she had experience in trying to make it what she wanted and always failed at her task.

"So what do you want it to be?"

Could she tell the Rose was lying? In all honesty yes, she probably could. But, everyone needed a few white lies now and then to be able to move forward.

"I want to go home" Teddy smiled at her. "I want my lover back... And I want my happy Cassie back" she said as she reached up to touch her fingers gently to the Rose' cheek.

"If you want to go home, go home, Teddy. Medwyn isn't going anywhere and he's doing all he can to go home to you. I promise you, he is," she smiled.

"I know he is... but home isn't home without him. It's cold and empty. And it's... I don't wanna be in the way of Mister Alexander. I don't wanna be within reach of the Harpy" and without representation she wasn't even sure if she was really allowed to stay in the city.

"You are the least in the way of Jamie... And he does prefer to be called Jamie, you know. And Aeron? Well, I think she's about to have her own problems... So much so that she won't have time to worry about us plebeians."

"He hasn't spoken to me since before the meeting where I lost my job... He didn't even warn me about the meeting" she smiled sadly. "It's okay. He's angry at me I guess, and I can't blame him. He's Jamie to you" for which she was grateful. "But I think he barely tolerates my presence in the Domain..." why else would he be doing this to her if not to punish her, alienate her, break her...

Blink...

"You... don't know? Teddy... no, no, no... Areron blindsided him with it! I was with her and him when it happened. We went to talk to him to get Serena back from Raz0r and he was... sort of taunting her. And he finally asked her what the hell she wanted in this domain. She told him she wanted your job. She said it, she wanted it. He has no control over that position. That was up to the primogen council. He doesn't hate you, not at all. You've done nothing to warrant his hate. No matter what you think."

"It's not what I meant..." she smiled gently. That had hurt enough, but this...? "The Council were called in to vote... no one informed me of the meeting, as I was the only one not invited. And I'd kind of thought... Mister Alexander might've... warned me about it" Teddy shrugged her shoulders lightly. "But he didn't. He didn't even acknowledge my presence there when I did show up..." she smiled that sad smile again.
"That was the last time I saw him..." and he hadn't even offered her a smile.

"Honey, he didn't call that meeting. Areron did. And you weren't there because she and the primogen supporting her didn't want you there. He had no control over that. As to warning you? Maybe he was ashamed, too. This not communicating with one another? It doesn't help anything. It's not fair for you to assume he did it out of spite or that he hates you. Just as it was unfair that he didn't say anything to you. I promise you, he doesn't hate you," she said as she brushed her fingers through Teddy's curls.

Oh, thank you, as if her conscience wasn't bad enough already...
She just kind of looked away, hoping that would stop her tears form welling up. It didn't. Which was why she got up so Cass couldn't see.
"Hey, I need a drink... I got a bottle stashed away in the fridge, want a glass?" though she was already heading out of the room when she said that.

And that was the sound of Cass' head connecting with the wall.

"No, thanks."

It was the blond's own fault really.
She was feeling disowned, unwanted. And how she was feeling bad for feeling that way. Heh... Yey having a conscience sucked.

Teddy disappeared out the door quietly.

Teddy needed to work that out. Cass never pushed... But... Certain times called for certain measures.

"You should go and see him and tell you how you feel, Teddy," she called out to her. "I'll go with you if you want, but you're not gonna get any closure this way."

In the nearby room, the sound of something breaking could be heard. Glass shattering across the floor no doubt.

Oh, Cass was good at pissing people off. Unintentionally. But it was her big damn mouth. In a way, she was extremely Toreador in that regard.

"But, that helps, too," she said, not mocking Teddy in any way. Lord knows she'd done it before half a dozen times.

There were no more sounds to be heard. Not for a good long while.

Maybe she hadn't pissed her off?

if nothing else, the critters seemed curious as Eddie slipped off the bed and peek out the door before heading off to the kitchen while Ed perched himself on Cass' shoulder.

She gave Ed scritches and turned to whisper to him, "She's okay, buddy. Why don't we go check on her?" She reached out for Diego and pulled him to her chest as she peeked out of the bedroom and stepped down the hall.