Coffee and Conversation

[James Turner]

He understood there was a power in names, a name was nothing if not a personal title and Arcadia taught him those things matter. Used to define you like runes cast upon one's birth forever determining your future. A small swap, a simple change to get to keep a piece of something that was your own. "Either way you're still Cassandra." Reaching down to grab her hand to hold in his own, giving it a reassuring squeeze.


"Yea John's the name I've chosen as mine in this new life. Not like I can go back to the old one, so it might well keep it. Doesn't belong to me anymore." Just another thing to be taken. When she brought up the TV he pointed at it and flicked his hand back and forth. "It's got, uh, a stick thingie." The same hand reaching for the remote for it and handing it to her. "If you want I can get a pillow or blanket for you if it'd make you more comfortable."

[Cassandra Reeding]

She smiles at the squeeze, squeezing back as well and nodding at his decision on name. The change of name also had a power to it. Something you chose to have for yourself too. Still, she couldn't give it all away. Not at the time. Well, ish. She called herself Kess as a distraction when she first got out, but that's a whole other story.

She takes the remote from him and begins fiddling with the buttons to pull up a streaming service to pull up the movie from. The idea of snuggling up with a blanket together sounded nice. "Sure. Can get all good and cozy together," Then she wondered if he was talking about just for her or for them both.

After a minute, she had the movie pulled up and ready to go.

[James Turner]

He didn't wander off far in the small ranch style house, doors clacking open and closed as he brought out a dark blue comforter and unfolded it handing her one end as he took the other and slipped to the other side so they were both under the blanket and then curled up next to her as the movie started. After a few minutes and a few laughs he took a breath and looked at her.


"You know when I first saw you I thought you were the most beautiful person I've ever seen. The way you perfectly encapsulate a moment, when I can figure out what you're feeling and see the way the colors shimmer and shift. It's a raw truth, the truth of experience. You get a means to express it others can't or won't. And then the brightness behind it that you bring, I know you were hurt but it didn't kill that light inside you. That core of care and compassion. I know it hurts, I know it's hard, and I know you struggle. But compassion lies in that struggle. I just...wanted to hold your hand..."


He smiled at her as his voice trailed off, finally being able to say all the things he'd filed away at the back of his mind. Dismissed thoughts, misread moods, stripping away that lens of pain that covered them. "I just wanted you to know." What he'd really seen, what he'd really felt, the mess of memory and emotion, trying to untangle the two.

[Cassandra Reeding]

Snuggling up with him like this was like a warm fuzzy dream and it kind of was. Looking at the way this evening is slowly ebbing, it is exactly what she has always wanted. She'd thought about it earlier, but it has unfolded perfectly in a way that could make her cry. A perfect date. Just that pure feeling of wanting each other's company and no one else's, spending time bonding, building a foundation, and doing mundane actions that regular people in love just do. Eating dinner together and watching a movie, tonight her favorite movie. Not layering the evening with an overload of Lost agendas, ruining it with schemes.

She's already in a fuzzy, blissful mood by the end of the opening when John begins speaking his beautiful confession, and her heart and breath feel as if they slow, her body mostly still except for the involuntary vibration from the butterflies in her chest. He'd seen her. He'd always seen her. She has to swallow a moment as her eyes begin to grow glassy with tears and she can't help but reach for and squeeze his hand in hers, because words can't even begin to describe how his words, his feelings, make her feel. So instead, she sings in a soft voice, "I wanna hold your hand. I wanna hold your hand." And again, she squeezes them.

"The moment you walked into the Autumn hollow, it was like my body sensed you long before my brain did. I thought it was the mantle, finding another Winter, but the moment I heard your voice and you teased me, it was instantaneous. We clicked. You are always the first person I notice in a room, a Darkling in a room full of Fairests, you should have been easy to lose, but I always see you. Always so stoic until you have to consciously chose not to be. I always wanted to know what you were thinking, how you were feeling and it just blossomed and I felt it and I... I just wanted to hold your hand too."

Because I can't expect you to know if I don't tell you. She lets out a slow breath, and leans into him a little harder. Everything about being with him is like an emotional release. Untying each other's knots slowly, one by one, until they can both breathe. It's scary, because it almost seems like fate and she doesn't believe in fate. But maybe there are just some things that are supposed to fit together and they are one of them.

[James Turner]

He smiled and squeezed her hands in return not letting them go, knowing sometimes words just wouldn't or couldn't come so you had to find another way. He couldn't help but blush through her own confession, he didn't know, never noticed. His eyes matching hers from just a moment ago, he'd been seen. "I didn't know. But here we are..." He smiled and gave her hands another squeeze before going to a more relaxed grip now.


James knew too well of Fate and Destiny, he saw snippets of moments all the time. You just had to know the signs to look for, the signs that had lead him here. It's what could have made this all a trap, or it was the independent weaving of Fate. Luck and Fate were fickle things but the fact they could be observed or shifted meant that they were real. He didn't know if that's what brought them together but it made for such a nice dream.


He'd stay with her like that through the rest of the movie, holding her hand, holding her, just being as close to her as possible as they enjoyed the movie. Curled up and cozy under that heavy blanket with her, what more could he ask for. It was more than he ever could of imagined, you can imagine a moment but you never really know how it feels. He couldn't help but look at her and smile at that thought.

[Cassandra Reeding]

Laughter and sighs and many quoted lines later, Cassandra finds herself slowly moving into that hazy state of only being half awake. It had been so calming, being in his arms, snuggled together under the blanket, that she found herself nearly falling asleep by the end. She didn't know the last time she'd felt this relaxed when she began to feel the call of rest. But resting means that this comes to an end. They'll wake up in the late afternoon and then she'll have to get ready for rehearsal in the evening. It gave her slight anxiety thinking about it.

But it won't be over. It'll just be a new day with more to follow. She lets out a soft yawn, moving a hand to cover her mouth before pressing into him a little. "I think I can survive another movie, but I'll leave that up to you." she turns just enough to kiss his cheek. She could do this forever if she could. Just repeat this night over and over again. But then, who knows? More nights might be inconceivably better than this one, with new consequences, good and bad, to tackle together. Together.

[James Turner]

"Anybody want a peanut?" He found himself saying along with Andre the Giant. Laughing along, smiling together, enjoying the romance of Wesley and Buttercup and the familiar escapism of a good movie seen enough times to know it by heart. Thinking she looked adorable with her yawn, the way her face squeeze and he found himself chuckling and blushing.


"I can help get stuff for bed, do you, uh need a t-shirt to sleep in?" Cheeks blazing to a deep gray once more, standing up, still holding his end of the blanket before setting it on the couch and then turning the TV off. Taking her down the hall where the bathroom was, it was moderately sized, shower stall, toilet, single mirror over the sink affair. "Toothbrush is in a package in the cabinet. I'll uh get a t-shirt and pajama pants for you. Then I'll take my turn yea?"


Sleep was hard for James so he had a ritual, he made tea that Sera had given him having enough water in case she wanted sleepy time tea before bed too. Then it was boxers and a t-shirt to sleep in, and a before bed cigarette. Phone sliding into a dock to charge and play the music for the night. He didn't know why this was becoming such a big deal but as the moment to actually go sleep, together, in the same bed he felt his nerves start again. That nervous excited fear building inside him again.

[Cassandra Reeding]

Right. Sleeping together. Nothing weird, not that any of that was weird. It's kinda great, but- things too soon to think about. Just sweet resting. His cheeks were a deep grey and she couldn't help but chuckle a little, her own cheeks bright with pinks. "Yeah, t-shirt and pj bottoms would be lovely."

She follows him down the hall to the bathroom. Seeing it reminded her of the bathroom in her first apartment after she moved out of Triss'. She goes about her own ritual, ish. Taking off her makeup felt weird. She had her remover wipes in her bag thankfully, so she used that to take it off. It wasn't like it was a lot, just her eyes and lips, but she felt a little naked. No. We are not playing the 'I don't feel pretty game today'. She let's out a slow breath, finished getting changed and brushing her teeth, combing through her long hair with her fingers before putting it in a tighter braid. If she didn't, he'd be eating her hair. And it would get all tangled.

She is thankful for the tea, given she normally drinks some before bed. And it isn't bad, but her own blend tastes a little better. She goes about drinking that while he gets ready himself. Everything feels like it moves quickly from there until they're at that moment where they'll actually be climbing into bed together. It's not weird. Well, it is in the sense that it was the last thing she was expecting to be doing tonight.

When she sees him changed, she does her best not to stare, given he's wearing a lot less clothing than she's used to. "Okay, ready?" She asks in a quiet calm voice, smiling at him as she goes ahead and gets into his bed and under the blankets, trying to go with a rip off the bandaid approach. Don't think too hard about it.

Instinctually, she'd taken the right side of the bed, and she realized she wasn't sure which side he'd want, but again, she tries not to think too hard about it. He'll move to whichever side he wants and she can just scooch over. The anxiety of it all was a lot, but she could imagine it was worse for him. She knows what it is like to sleep next to someone like this, he does not. "And, uh, d-do you want to cuddle or...?" She knows it is a lot easier to just do than to talk about it, but...

[James Turner]

He was glad she asked the moment the words left her mouth. It showed him she cared, she understood that this would be a slow process. That he was still adjusting to that level of closeness. He nodded and swallowed before sliding into bed on the other side of her, not needing a side of the bed with his phone across the room to force himself out of bed to turn off his alarm. Damn insomnia. Damn Alarm. Bastard thing.


John's bedroom was simple like most everything else in his life. There were mismatched nightstands on either end of the bed, a dresser that was too nice to be his looking like it was at least an IKEA piece that he had to of lucked into. Black and silver, sleek drawers, the top had his phone dock stereo and a coffee scented candle on top of it. The room was sparse as far as decorations went. No posters, no pictures, no art of any sort on the walls. The nightstands would be empty except for the ashtray on either side with varying levels on each. The three bookshelves was the only thing in the room that stood out because it was jam packed filled with yellowed, well-used paperbacks. All sorts of pulp novels, old weird tales magazines, old classics, so precariously placed and stacked that if you pulled one out the rest might topple.


That was John's life though, shadow, barren, devoid of life. That had been what his life was, lacking color. His color having been taken from him, drained from him...until now. When she asked if he wanted to cuddle he responded by nodding rapidly and wrapping an arm around her, letting out a soft surprised breath. Not used to the warmth of another person that close to him, it was strange. But he'd stay like that, because still was silent, still was safe. And James held still in the best sleep he might have ever had.


And in dreams? Dreams was where they could do anything, be anywhere, and anytime they wanted. It was away missions on foreign planets, first contact missions, and also Breakfast Club, because of course it was Breakfast Club. And then that alarm, that BASTARD THING shatters it with its incessant screeching!


James was instantly awake, bolt upright and scrambling out of the bed but she still had pressure on the sheets so he flopped onto the ground. Scrambling forward to smack the snooze button panting over his dressed. "Good morning?" He said with a sleepy, silly smile.

[Cassandra Reeding]

Thinking about the mismatched nature of his room, his place in general, which she finds charming and familiar, she wonders how he'll react to her incredibly orderly bedroom. Because... at some point he'll see hers. Because this won't be the only night they'll do this - sleep together. That, that was a nice thought.

His excited nod at cuddling to sleep made her heart flutter and she had this ridiculous smile on her face as he slipped into bed next to her and took her into his arms. She spent the day sleeping with her head and hand resting on his chest, the constant of his heart beating in his chest making her feel safe, reminding her that she isn't alone. And it was the best sleep she'd had in a long time.

Her dreams were nonsensical, but they felt happy. So light that they slipped from memory the moment her dreams would shift. It was so peaceful, she could have basked in these dreams, this sensation of his warmth and safety, fore- The screech of a song she doesn't know that she's ever heard outside of parties blasts in the room.

"Oh, dear god," she gasps loudly, surprised in the scramble as John falls out of bed trying to turn off the blasting music. Her breathing is heavy for a moment, a hand up to her heart as she takes a moment to calm down from the shock. Once it is silent and she is lucid enough to see the silly smile on Johns face, she starts giggling, "Good morning." And then she smiles at him with a dreamy haze. "Come here and kiss me so that I know you're real."