[PRP] fire cleanses (cass & jeremiah)

[demon_pachabel]

Jeremiah had been in her apartment. Not that it was difficult, persay - she still didn't lock the door ever - but a small look of horror came over her face as she took Ted from him, holding the still whirring robot to her chest. He'd been in her apartment.

"Please don't judge the way I live." she said quietly. It was definitely not the most shining example of adulthood, with boxes and furniture that needed to be assembled still in their boxes and dishes that probably hadn't been washed for two weeks and laundry kind of assigned to live on the floor.

Still, she leaned into his side when he pulled her in, sighing as she continued to listen to the whirrs of 'FREEDOM PLZ' of the Roomba. Good ol' Ted. He wouldn't be trying to vacuum up a sock that night, at least. "I think that sounds like a good plan. I'd like today to hopefully be the least confusing day I have for a long time." Which wasn't saying much. Usually she was pretty on top of her A game.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

In all honesty he had not even looked around, mostly on a mission to get what he thought would help her sleep while he was making sure both Kuroda and Tucker were where they needed to be for the check on their anklets.

Jeremiah let out a soft chuckle. "Cass, I am the last person who would judge you about how you live." An arm around her, he was squeezing lightly. "It was better than the apartment I stayed in when I was your age anyway. I was a heathen and a hellion, you know, with the faded scars to prove it."

Tilted as he was, he ended up tucking her head under his chin and went ahead and wrapped the other arm around her. Cass was now trapped in a full Jeremiah hug. "I can't promise today will be the least confusing day you have for a long time but hopefully it is. In the very least, I'll be there to answer things if I can, alright? After you've gotten good rest though."

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Oh. She'd forgotten how nice hugs were. Sure, she was trapped forever (or until released by spirit-dad), but it was a very comfortable forever and Cass easily relaxed into the older man's side. Ted continued to whrr angrily. If a Roomba could even be angry.

"You don't think you would? Then clearly I'm not being apathetic enough about it," Cass joked. Not that she wanted to reach the state of 'there is bird poop on your wall when did you own a bi- what do you mean it died 3 years ago? Ew'. She'd seen that. It was not a way to live.

"True. It'd probably make a lot more sense if I'm not thinking 'please just let me sleep' the entire time you're answering my half-coherent questions. But I hope I don't have any for at least a week." Unless they were things like 'Is it OK if I store an entire enormous bag of flour at your house?'. Because that had been a thing. Cass still wasn't sure why she was attempting so much bread.

"You'll need to rest too, though."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"I told you, saved the best for last and you're the last stop before I attempt to make Alg sleep." Cass was able to feel the snort of breath that escaped, the slight rumble of it in his chest.

'The hardest part is done, at least, and all we have to do is work with unfathomable magic." There was amusement at that, Jeremiah squeezing Cass lightly before he leaned back. "Besides, I'll sleep better knowing that you'll at least have some comfort with Ted being around."

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

"Oh, so I'm not really the best," she teased. Of course she'd never be offended outside of teasing that she wasn't 'the best' when a husband was in the picture. "I'll admit that I would have done OK if Marcus was here too, but..." she sighed, "Ted is a good second. Definitely less expected," she leaned forward to release the Roomba onto the floor. It 'whrrrr'ed and began it's weird patrol about the room.

Occasionally it would bonk into a wall and Cass would smile at the sound. How pleasant and familiar, even after so many years.

"It's funny, I never really thought about how long I listened to the same noise nearly every noise until this room was so...." she squinted into the darkness, "quiet. Not like eerily so, but uncomfortably so."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"It's a bit off," admitted Jeremiah, "and not silent in a comfortable way." His fingers nudged her a bit because of the teasing remark. "Our demesne is gone with ... everything that's happened." The place that they had worked on the censor; that which was Jeremiah and Algie's domain within the Court.

"Otherwise I would've likely had you stay there. At least that place has ... noises. This is very sterile." His nose wrinkled a moment before he sighed. "I don't have to worry so much about my getting to sleep. I'll be out like a light once I finally stop." After all, she had been holding him up for a bit. Jeremiah was, essentially, on fumes.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

"So all of those books are gone too?" she asked. There had been a lot of them and it seemed like it would have been inconvenient to go and try to replace all of them. Where would items like that go? The same place that the Beta-world people had gone when replaced by these people from another time and place?

"Well, I'm less concerned with making sure you get to sleep, and more concerned with making sure you rest. I can sleep my way through energy reservoir cat, but I definitely am not rested after the fact." Darn Energy Reservoir Cat. "Don't let me keep you up if you need to go. Ted is definitely going to help."

As if on cue, the sound of the Roomba 'THUMP'ing into another wall followed.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Everything," Jeremiah said with a sigh. "Which I think is likely the worst part of it. They'll likely resurface at some point but not necessarily as part of the collection that was ours."

He leaned against her lightly, arm around and squeezing one more time. "I think that's my cue to get going then, if you're going to be alright. I don't want you to be upset with me for not getting proper rest." Not that his lips weren't twitching in amusement at the idea of her parenting him a bit.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Cass smiled as she leaned into his side, leaning her head against his shoulder briefly. "Damn right. I'll
tuck you in myself if I have to," there was a moment of consideration, "and I guess Algie too. I'll tuck everybody into bed and there will be no bedtime stories. I'll color code a clock so you know when the hands are in 'stay in bed' position and 'okay now you can get up' position." Somehow, she felt like it was something she would have had in another life.

Ha. Was she Cass in those lives, though? Yeah, probably.

"I'll be fine. I'll still be as cranky as any morning, but better than wishing for sleep to come without it giving me anything."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Close as she was, Jeremiah tilted his head and pressed an affectionate kiss to her forehead before squeezing and letting go. The man was then moving to stand up and shook his head with amusement, though a yawn escaped a moment later betraying him.

"I was going to say that we could probably make a clock like that if we wanted but instead I think I am going to head off to bed." A hand rested against her shoulder a moment. "We'll get dinner after this, alright?"

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

When he yawned, her own followed. They'd turn into an echo chamber of yawns if they weren't careful. Then again, if that lead to Cass actually falling asleep, she would have taken it. Hopefully without reliving the Sandman game. That would have been a thing.

The promise of dinner earned a tired smile and a thumbs up (and another thump of Ted hitting something. Good ol' Ted). "Dinner sounds good. I'm always game for food."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Pick something out you want to try to make, we'll do so together alright?" Since it had become something of a thing to do- cooking together and Cass getting to make use of the kitchen as well as Jeremiah simply enjoying the time.

"Get some sleep, Cass," Jeremiah said, moving towards the door to head out, though he paused to look at Ted, "and you help her do that." A stern finger was pointed at the roomba before he wiggled his fingers in goodbye at her.

demon_pachabel

a wrap on your post?

 

[demon_pachabel]

"Oof, decisions." Except she already had a small list of recipes she wanted to try and recreate - not that Gyros hadn't been done twice since the first go around. So, so good. Cass stretched back as Jeremiah crossed to the door, falling onto her back with an 'oomph' and a sigh.

"I'll do my best!" she saluted to the dark and Ted thumped again. Jeremiah's warning to Ted made her laugh as she dropped her arm lazily against the headboard. "Sleep tight, Dad!" she called - though it was more of a tired mumble. She didn't check to see if he'd closed the door all the way before she relaxed into the bed.

Sleep was much easier with the familiar whump of Ted.

azuredreams