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It’s dark again.
Yellow had only experienced his captor sleeping once. That was when Arthur passed out in the inn, the other times he’d been knocked out, but sleep was different.
There was no fear of safety, of the host dying and dragging them both to the Dark World.
With sleep there was a promise of waking up, an expected point of returning to the waking world. Hard to predict that with unconsciousness.
Not that he’d know the difference, Yellow supposed.
Maybe in retrospect he didn’t know the differences between regular sleep and unconsciousness because it was all the same to him.
It was just really boring.
He could handle being bored though.
Despite Cassandra going to sleep in the late afternoon she sleeps not only through the night but into the late morning.
Yellow is deciding to not be mad at her for this, because she walked several hours back and fourth to a town in the middle of nowhere and also got hunted by an invisible creature.
He’s being civil.
He will let this slide.
But finally she wakes up, the world comes into a blurry focus as she blinks their eyes awake.
“…shit… it wasn’t a bad dream” she mutters quietly.
And this is not something he will let stand.
No, it was not. He isn’t sympathetic or harsh. He just states a fact.
Cassandra sighs, then stretches.
“Good morning Yellow.” She yawns, stretching hard enough he hears her bones pop.
Did that not hurt?
Good morning Cassandra. No reason to be hostile. You slept for a while.
“I did? That’s… expected honestly, really glad my work is flexible” she mutters the last part to herself, then sits up.
“Did you sleep well?” She asks, running a hand through her hair.
I don’t sleep, Cassandra. He answers with a little bite. Why would she assume he sleeps anyways?
Cassandra blinks.
“You don’t sleep?” She sounds confused.
No. I do not.
“Oh!” She sounds… surprised? He doesn’t get why she’d even care, maybe she’s still thinking about civility or whatever. He doesn’t expect it when she speaks up next.
“Were you bored?” Why the hell is she even asking?
I had a lot to think about, so no. It was just unbearably quiet.
Cassandra is silent, it’s the kind of silence that means she’s thinking.
“Alright, well, I better get up then” she says instead of whatever she was thinking about. “I slept in, got stuff to do.”
Like preparing?
“More like planning, but I suppose it’s a similar word. Similes I guess” she slides out of bed and stretches again, lifting his own hand up as she stretches her arms above her head.
Okay maybe there is something to this, stretching stuff muscles feels nice on his wrist.
But she’s moving, better get to work.
The room is dark, but light creeps in from the curtains, even then this place is still warm. With the bed a mess this place feels much more lived in than when you entered.
“Oh good, he didn’t redecorate while I was asleep” Cassandra chuckles, she’s still making jokes apparently.
Your brother checked on you an hour ago, he left a change of clothes and your glasses on the vanity.
“Thank god for Oddie.” She moves towards the vanity. “What’d he pick out? If he puts me in something gaudy just go see if you have any sense of fashion I swear, I’m burning his toast”
Why does that sound like she isn’t bluffing?
It’s a simple blouse, with a floral embroidery on the collar, below it is a skirt it’s… reddish? The name of the color is escaping him, he feels like he should know it?
“Ruby? Mahogany? Rogue? Blood orange?” She prompts,
Rogue. That’s the color.
“Ah! Okay, I remember this one. Not a bad pick from Oddie. It’ll go with my jewelry from yesterday” she nods, apparently deeming this outfit acceptable.
Cassandra hums, looking over the clothing before nodding her approval once more.
“Help me get changed please? I’ll worry about hair and accessories later”
Thankfully it doesn’t take them long to get changed, and with a little prompting from him, they’re heading towards the living room.
The apartment has felt awake long before Cassandra finally woke up, and the culprit is standing against the kitchen table, hunched over papers and photos.
“Morning Cass” Odysseus greets, still in the same clothes from yesterday.
He’s in the same clothes as yesterday, and there’s a few empty cups of what I’m assuming were coffee, I don’t think he actually slept, Cassandra. Yellow comments, and she frowns.
“Oddie did you get any sleep at all?”
“Nope!” Her brother answers with a chipper tone and a bright grin. “But I stayed productive. Went over all your notes, made a copy of them too by the way, and then translated what I guess was your blind writing. It wasn’t bad but definitely needs some work.” He hears Cassandra sigh and shake her head.
“Thank you Oddie, I wish you had slept instead though.” She huffs and moves towards the kitchen table.
It’s covered in your notes and there’s even scatterings of newspaper clippings and maps… oh, oh this is your preparation before you went into Addison. He didn’t exactly doubt her claim, but seeing the evidence of it in person is different.
The amount of effort to dig up maps on a dead town, and then find information on a secretive family, possibly even floor plans of the mansion from the looks of it.
Perhaps if anyone could find the information Larson could have provided it would be Cassandra Claymore.
“I’ll take a nap once we get a gameplan, promise.”
“Oddie if you miss work over this-“
“I can afford it. Besides, this is a family emergency. There’s a guy in my sisters head and he’s the most tame thing that happened to her yesterday" Odysseus raises two fingered and gestures at his sister- no, he’s gesturing to him. He looks at his eyes a moment before turning back to the table.
He describes all this to Cassandra, and she fucking smiles.
“Okay, but I’d hate it if you got fired over this”
“You know father won’t let that happen” he sighs.
And they’re both quiet for a tense second. Then move on like nothing happened.
Hm. Yellow makes a note of that.
“Anyways. Let me get you up to speed on my coffee fueled nonsense so I can go take a nap so you don’t stress about it.” Odysseus claps his hands together like he’s starting some sort of presentation.
“So! I organized the notes, with this new immortality fueled by blood ritual occult thing I’ve made note of things we should reexamine with the new angle. Also made note of directions to possibley dig for. And by the time I was done there the library was open so I decided to do a quick headline search and ask around in an early morning rumor mill.”
How has this man not passed out yet? He looked like he hadn’t slept, what the fuck are these siblings made of? Cassandra is frowning.
“Oddie-“
“Lecture me when I’m done?” The man smiles nervously, Casandra huffs at him.
“Anyways, since I was only doing a quick search I didn’t get much, but I got a lead from the rumor mill.” He looks at them, then raises his eyebrows conspiratorially. “About Arthur Lester”
Now Yellow is paying a bit more attention.
Go on?
“You got Yellow’s attention.” Cassandra nods for him to continue as well.
“I need to find the source myself, but apparently he’s wanted for a double homicide" Odysseus says, and Cassandra sits up a bit.
“Oh Jesus.”
“I am going to find the source of that, don’t you worry, but I get the feeling it’ll only get crazier from here. The man ended up in Addison after all”
Yellow knew Arthur was a murderer, but he apparently had more crimes under his belt?
He wondered what he and his John got up to before jailing him.
Maybe with these two’s help he can find out.
“Apparently, he’s been missing from Arkhem for months now, I’m hoping to dig around headlines and news to maybe figure out a timeline of where he went. Maybe we can find the line of logic that lead him to Addison”
Yellow is admittedly curious about that now too.
“But it was way too early for a proper dig and coffee can only take you so far. So yeah that’s what I got. Feel free to look it all over” he rests his hands on his hips, looking proud.
The image is tainted with the knowledge he has not slept yet and looks like he might pass out in a moment.
He informs Cassandra of this and she crosses her arms.
“This is all great Oddie, now go take a fucking nap before I drag you to your bed” she’s raised her voice a bit, and Odysseus flinches and looks apologetic.
“Not until we get on the same page for immediate timelines. I’m not going to be able to settle until I got something.”
“Fine fine, just sit down at least, I’m betting your standing” she shakes her head.
He is standing. Yellow taddles.
“Sit down!” Cassandra snaps.
“Okay okay! I’m sitting!” He sees the man pull out a kitchen chair and fall into it, and Cassandra seems far too smug about this.
She moves to sit at the table too.
Move your hand a little to the left- there you have the chair. She pulls the chair out and sits down.
“Alright, so, what’s the plan Cass?” Odysseus doesn’t miss a beat despite apparently being tired and running on an ungodly amount of coffee.
Yellow is starting to wonder if these two are even human.
“Well, the original plan doesn’t change too much, I’m laying low for a few days” Cassandra nods, “so all the more reason for you to go out and bring back articles. Let’s keep it focused, prioritize Larson and anything he is tied to. Arthur Lester is secondary, I don’t know how tied up in this he is currently. For all we know Yellow is the only connecting line here”
How much more did Arthur know but was keeping from him?
Yellow is unsure if he should mention Anna Stanczyk just yet.
Or the Order of the Fallen Star.
He keeps that to himself as he watches the two work.
Odysseus gives a playful salute. “10-4 Ma’am, I’m more than happy to play delivery boy for the cause” he’s grinning playfully.
“Prioritize related news, and also keep an eye on recent news. If anything happened in Addison since yesterday I’d like to know.”
“Headline hunting, got it. You’ll have to give our new friend here a crash course on this stuff, you know” Oddie smirks, making eye contact with him.
Do we have the time for lessons?
“We can multitask- and obviously I’ll do it! You don’t do this for a living” Cassandra responds, and smirks in her brother's direction.
“Good point ms journalist. So… you’re still keeping the goal of exposing the Larson family secrets?” His voice drops a bit, suddenly a bit more serious.
Yellow pays a bit more attention.
“Oddie, I’m in too deep to give up now” she argues.
“Sunk cost fallacy” he raises a brow.
“I can’t sit around while he just gets away with stuff like this!” Cassandra snaps, then sighs, looking away slightly. “I have to try…”
Odyssius looks resigned, like they’ve had discussions like this before.
He’s definitely been trying to dissuade this investigation for a while.
“Alright, I’m with you then” he nods with a quiet smile.
But his loyalty is undeniable.
Yellow notes that too.
“Anything you’d like to add, Yellow?” Cassandra suddenly addresses him. “Comments, questions, concerns?”
None that I wish to speak right now. He wants to see where they can go on their own first.
Perhaps it’s a matter of time before they discover Larson’s connection with the Order of the Fallen Star.
Maybe they’ll even find Anna’s name without his input…
He needs to know just how far they can go without help.
Cassandra tilts her head, and is in that thoughtful silence, then she speaks.
“He has no comment, might change in the future.” If she suspected anything off about him, it’s kept to herself.
“Smart man. He’s probably gathering info too” Odysseus nods like he expected this.
What the fuck! How?
Cassandra giggles,
“Can’t blame him, you know?”
Would you stop talking like I can’t hear you!? Yellow snaps.
Cassandra is giggling again!!
Fucking assholes!
“Oh! Also, Yellow told me what his goal is, and I agreed to it.” She brings up once she’s stopped fucking giggling, “he wants to be taken to the Dreamlands. He hasn’t explained what that is to me yet but I’m willing to bet it’s occult related, Yellow?” She tilts her head a bit, and he gets the impression of being called upon like a dog.
He bites back the spite and the impulse to tell her to eat shit and responds smoothly.
It’s another reality, where dreams converge and the logic you’d understand is turned on its head, I have reason to believe it’s my home. Saying it aloud made the feeling settle in.
He had forgotten it before, but somehow it returned to him, just waiting for the idea to be touched before it flooded back to him like a tidal wave.
The Dreamlands is where he belongs.
Where exactly he can’t recall yet, but they don’t need to know that. He’s certain he has a kingdom regardless
He is a King after all.
… but what was its name…
Cassandra echoed his words, and he sees Odysseus visibly pondering them.
“Okay, so what’s that mean for us right now? Sounds like this isn’t a place you can get a ticket for, I doubt I can just find a book on how to get there in the library, and if it was as easy as taking a nap I’d probably end up there in less than an hour.”
It takes a certain type of person to end up there by accident. Yellow huffs, he’d never be that lucky. Neither of you are that.
“Fair point, both of you,” she nods, twirling a bit of her hair between her fingers as she thinks. “and If this is the source of a lot of paranormal entities, then it might be a trickier dive… I say let’s make note of anything that sounds related and double back to it when we have more time to properly look into it”
“Works for me, any objections, Yells?” Her brother smiles and-
Yells!?
I object to whatever the fuck you just called me! He raises his voice, and then Cassandra laughs.
“Oddie I don’t think that nickname landed at all!” She chokes out between giggles.
“Damn, maybe next time” he doesn’t seem all that upset, That was a fucking nickname!? That’s so stupid!
He silently seethe as Cassandra collects herself, sighing and leaning back in her chair.
These two have chemistry that’s lasted far longer than he’s seen.
Larson is an influential man, tread with caution. He gives them a warning, just to play nice.
“Right, good point Yellow. Hopefully Larson never realized I was there.” Cassandra sounds uneasy, as if doubting her own skills.
You’ll know soon enough I suppose. He states ominously. Cassandra is frowning now, then sits up, tense.
“Oddie, would it be an issue if-“
“Cass, stay as long as you need. Want me to drop by your place and pick stuff up?” Odysseus smiles gently, he can see Cassandra relax.
“I think I can handle it. It’s not that far after all”
“Fair enough. Going to leave soon?”
“Maybe in an hour or two.” Cassandra shrugs.
Yellow feels a bit like he’s the third wheel on a conversation they’ve had many times before.
“I’ll leave once I see you actually get some sleep”
“I’m going I’m going! Listen to my footsteps as I walk to my bedroom” Odysseus laughs as he walks away.
He’s making a whole show about walking away.
“Yeah he definitely needs sleep, he’s reaching the loopy stage” Cassandra says like he’d understand any of what that means.
She just shakes her head in disappointment.
“Anyways, we definitely should visit my place, I’ll need to bring some stuff over if I’m staying here more than a night.” She rolls her shoulders.
You don’t already have overnight supplies here? Yellow hums.
“He keeps enough stuff here for surprise overnight stays, same with my own place for him. But if I’m staying a bit more long term, at least for now, then I’ll need to get more stuff. Like clothes, and my nighttime routine stuff.” She lists. “If I can’t get my curlers my hair will be a rats nest by the end of the week”
Yellow already thinks her hair is curly enough as is, but it’d probably draw attention if she constantly looked like a mess.
And, admittedly, he’s curious. She promised to show off her jewelry, she seemed quite pleased with herself.
Do what you will. He dismisses, not like he can physically stop her.
“I’ll get cleaned up and then we can head out. Does that sound good to you, Yellow?”
Why does she bother to ask?
As I’ve said. Do what you will.
And then Cassandra sighed like he was frustrating her!
“Just to be clear, if you have anything you want, even just to say, you can say it.”
Like he believes that. She’d probably find a way to trap him with his own words.
I am aware. He says, just to appease her.
She’s silent again, then just shrugs.
“Right, well, let’s linger a bit to make sure Oddie actually rests, then we can head out to my place. Sound like a plan, Yellow?”
Very well. He hadn’t forgotten she promised to show off her jewelry, something to look forward too.
“Great, then, help me back to the vanity then? I still need to put my earrings in” and so she stood, and he helped her navigate back to the vanity, but all the while he was thinking.
It hasn’t even been a day, and these two already have a plan of action, making familiar motions like they’ve done projects like this before.
Perhaps they have, maybe not to this scale, the occult and the world of gods is certainly new to Cassandra, she had already admitted she didn’t believe it one way or another.
But she knew enough to respect what she didn’t know.
And now they’re diving in.
Into unknown territory, but they are confident. They’ll do it together.
That sort of unity and team work could move mountains if they desired.
That sort of unity could be used against him if they deemed him a threat.
Yellow bristled.
He needs to gather more information.
He won’t be left on the back foot again.
He refuses
That is his will