Siblings: Andrei Brookes, Nathan Brookes (deceased), Aleksander Brookes
Tidbits
She loves food - a lot. Hates clowns with a passion. Puns and bad pick-up lines make her laugh like nothing else.
Whiskey neat is the drink of choice, though she’s not going to turn down a beer, or even an occasional glass of wine. She can hold her liquor fairly well, but once she's had enough, the bad puns get very bad.
If she was a Disney Princess, she would be Anna from Frozen. Confidently awkward and well-meaning, speaking without thinking first, while being endlessly optimistic.
As far as being a friend, she’s a great person to go to, because she’s not usually one to judge. After all, she’s made some pretty questionable choices in life. She’d give the shirt off her back to help someone else and for people she considers friends, well, following that analogy, she’d be running around naked.
Cass’s older brother, Nathan, was in the Army after graduating high school. He taught her and Alex various forms of hand-to-hand combat and survival techniques.
After losing their parents in the attempt to steal the horses, Cass and her brothers started to train the horses with Romanian commands, making sure they were able to make it difficult for anyone but themselves to handle.
Her own horse, Zodiac, is especially well trained, as he and Cass always had a close bond and was more amenable to following her commands anyway. He’s not as well trained as a dog, per se, but it’s pretty close.
Cass is still a pretty upbeat person, or at least she tries to be, despite everything that’s happened in the world.
“Mayra helped me with it. She insisted that a red rose means classic true love and that me and you are classic true love. If it’s itchy or gets in the way, you don’t have to wear it. But since I can’t rent a limo or take you to Outback Steakhouse, I figured I’d hit the cliches where I could.”
Prim little package in hand, Bea all but skipped her way to the farmhouse. It was her favorite time of year, and for the last two weeks, she'd been able to distract herself at all hours with dressmaking. Custom orders made as resourcefully as possible for Redwood's prom. She thought it was a joke at first, but Mayra stopped by to ask about ribbons for making corsages and the rest was history.
In short, October had been a dream come true.
Now all that was left was delivering the last garment to its wearer--her dear Cass.
Alex was milling about just outside the house and told her to head right in. So she bellowed Cass's name through the house until her friend called back, "I'm upstairs."
The first thing she spotted in the bedroom was a pair of boxer shorts. "Oh my god, did Brawny Man move in? Oh Cass, how cute is that!"
She said it with affection--she didn't know Sol all that well, and while he wasn't exactly her type, he seemed sweet as could be. Sure made Cass happy. But she couldn't resist a little teasing.
Before Cass could tease her back, she untied the twine around the tissue papered package and held up the dress. It was a bright blue little thing, only lightly structured and sure to look incredible with Cass's long legs.
"You want me to hang it in the closet?" She headed toward it just in case and peered in. Some of the clothes were Cass', but one corner had a bunch of outdated stuff pushed to the side. She couldn't help snooping.
"Y'know, we might be able to repurpose some of this stuff. It looks like the practical stuff has already been cleaned out, but some of the fabric is still..." She spotted something sparkly. With a petticoat. And boning. "Whoa, look at this...ballgown?"
It felt bizarre to be getting ready to go to any sort of dance in this world, even more so to be going to a prom of all things, but deep down Cass was glad for a chance for everyone to cut loose. Tomorrow was never guaranteed pre-apocalypse, and felt even more so now, so why not make good use of the time they had?
Bea showed up just as Cass had finished drying her hair as best she could after her shower, and she smiled as her friend walked in, the smile brightening even more with the teasing. "Matter of fact, he did. Still pretty new though," she admitted. Even though they'd spent nearly every night together, living together was a whole new experience.
When Bea opened her package, Cass had to blink back tears. "Oh my God, Bea, it's so gorgeous!" She'd always known the other woman was a whiz with a needle and thread, but this dress was on a different level. It looked like she'd pulled it off the rack of a high end store.
Even though she couldn't see her, Cass was nodding at Bea's commentary as she rifled through the back of the closet. The 'whoa' definitely grabbed all of her attention though, and she abandoned her attempt to tame her hair to see what Bea was looking at.
"Oh, yeah. It's been in there since I moved in. I remember coming across it ages ago, but to be honest it reminded me too much of the stuff I had to wear to all those fancy ass New York parties, so I just pushed it clear to the back. Didn't figure it would be salvageable as anything else, plus it seemed to nice to tear apart. Which I'm glad I saved it now, seeing as it would be perfect on you." Her brows furrowed for a moment before she reached up to the shelf overtop of the hangers, pushing aside a few things before pulling out a shoe box with a triumphant look. "Ha! I knew these still had to be up here. There's shoes that you can wear with it, too, depending on your size," she said, opening the box to display the elegant heels.
Cass let out a giggle, shaking her head against him in amusement. "You can barely even speak and you think I'm gonna let you move? No, sir. Not tonight, least ways. Don't worry. It won't be the first time I've gone to bed with proverbial blue balls thanks to you," she teased.
She stayed quiet against him for a moment, listening to his heartbeat slow down as his breathing evened out. Cass had no problems going to sleep without her needs being met for the time being. Today had been all about Sol, and she was just glad she'd been able to stick to her guns and keep it that way, despite how difficult he'd made it.
"I do have one last thing for your birthday though, before I let you drift off to sleep." She propped her head up so she could look at him better. "Kind of for both of us, really, and I'm not tryin' to put you on the spot either. So I want you to answer this honestly." Why was she so nervous about this? It wouldn't change anything if he said no.
He’d shut his eyes as some point, just about to doze off into a dream, when she mentioned one last birthday gift. He was just about to ask what more she could possibly offer, when she hit him with a *big one*.
He opened his eyes so fast it made him a little dizzy and looked down his nose to see her hopeful face, cheeks all flushed, staring up at him.
“Oh darlin’, are you sure? You’ve got all your routines and stuff here—“
She arched a skeptical brow at him. Right. He should know better. Cass wouldn’t be offering if she hadn’t already thought it through.
“I’d love to move in. Gotta say, I was relieved when your brother moved in and you weren’t here all by yourself. Now we’ll make it even cozier, hm?”
He pulled the quilt up over her shoulders and tucked his face against her hair. The RV had been such a step up from living on the move before Redwood. But a real house to call home? To spend the winter in? And with Cass at his side?
He weighed ten thousand pounds. It was the only reason he let her slip out of bed--he couldn't lift an arm to reach for her. Sol wasn't prone to exaggeration in most matters, but when it came to Cass, he couldn't find the words for it. For any of it. So he settled for a sleepy grunt when she wished him happy birthday. Called him love.
Well, a grunt and a kiss. It was lazy and a little sloppy and unfocused, but he just needed his mouth on hers--on that adorable, miraculous, smiling mouth capable of the loveliest filth imaginable. After a few deep breaths, he managed to loop his arms around her and palm the back of her head in his hand to keep her close.
"Gonna take a wild guess," he mumbled "and say you're not gonna let me take care of you in return?"
Cass let out a giggle, shaking her head against him in amusement. "You can barely even speak and you think I'm gonna let you move? No, sir. Not tonight, least ways. Don't worry. It won't be the first time I've gone to bed with proverbial blue balls thanks to you," she teased.
She stayed quiet against him for a moment, listening to his heartbeat slow down as his breathing evened out. Cass had no problems going to sleep without her needs being met for the time being. Today had been all about Sol, and she was just glad she'd been able to stick to her guns and keep it that way, despite how difficult he'd made it.
"I do have one last thing for your birthday though, before I let you drift off to sleep." She propped her head up so she could look at him better. "Kind of for both of us, really, and I'm not tryin' to put you on the spot either. So I want you to answer this honestly." Why was she so nervous about this? It wouldn't change anything if he said no.
Stupid arm. Stupid bed rest. Stupid limitations. David was getting restless. He couldn't go out on hunts, he couldn't leave Redwood and every single person he went to try and help told him no and that he was supposed to be resting. To hell with resting, David was going stir crazy and if he had to sit in his cabin for a moment longer he was going to lose his mind. He had to do something. What? He wasn't sure, but he was going to find something to do.
Roxy was trotting alongside him as he made his way to the farm. She was giving him a very knowing look as if telling him he shouldn't be out and about but he ignored it. "I'm fine," he reassured her. Walking wasn't going to kill him. But Roxy knew what he was doing - going to the farm to see if he could help out there. Cass was always busy and he knew his way around a farm and animals. There were things he could do, surely. As he figured, he found her in the stables and knocked on the door before stepping in. "Hey," he greeted, "Please tell me you got some easy work for me to do."
Apparently fall was the time for injuries. It felt like so many people were riding the bench currently, thinning down the available members of the community for security patrols, hunting, even raiding. Cass had heard David was on that list, but she hadn't had a chance to catch up with him yet, seeing as even the farm was short-handed.
Several of the smaller tasks had fallen to the wayside for the time being, so when Cass heard David behind her, she stopped grooming Belle and turned with a grin on her face. "Hey, stranger! It's your lucky day," she replied as an answer, tossing the curry comb back into the bucket next to her and giving Belle a pat.
"I actually have some jobs you should be able to handle. I think with one good arm, you can probably help with grooming - the easy stuff anyway. I have some tack that needs cleaned and repaired. Either of those strike your fancy?"
You know babies are never gonna happen, right? Even if the conditions were there Sol would punk out because he thinks he doesn't deserve anything *nice*.
"I'm not under any sort of delusions that having kids would be the best idea in this world, but saying 'never' is pretty pessimistic. Besides, I think Sol would surprise you if you let him. I don't think he'd punk out at all. In fact, I think he'd step up more than I could ever hope for if we ever got pregnant together."
"I think my best qualities are that I'm empathetic and kind when I can be. But I also think that can be my worst quality. I can be too kind to others and not kind enough to myself."
Left pinned to Zodiac’s stall with a bright orange mum threaded through one of the punched holes. Signed “-Sol”
Cass took down the note, staring at it with a big ass grin before she took it inside the house, digging out a pen. Just below the ‘no’ box, she created a new box with a checkmark inside, scrawling the word ‘abso-fucking-lutely’ next to it along with a little winky face and a heart. It didn’t take her too long to jog over to Sol’s RV and stick the note to the door for him to find later.
He wanted to break it just to prove to her how completely fucking wrecked she had him. Wanted to feel it splinter in his grip, then fucking build her a new one. Build her a whole bed with his own two hands, one that could handle everything he wanted to do to her.
And the way she praised him…fuck, he always knew he was a sucker for that kinda thing, but this was next level. A good boy for her…it’s all he wanted to be.
“Wanna touch you so bad, you’re so good Cass, every square inch of ya, I just--fuck--I just wanna be good for you.”
Just the touch of her hand now, her thumb under the ridge of his head, and he could feel it approaching, feel the point of no return, his balls pulling tight. And it was like she knew. She ducked back between his legs, kissed the fuzz of his thigh, whispered “good boy” again, and his nails dug into the varnished wood.
Realizing she'd tapped into something with the 'good boy' comment wasn't much of a surprise, given Sol's overall personality, but it did delight her to know he had such a carnal reaction to it. It opened a whole new world of possibilities to explore in the future.
She knew saying it again when he was already so close would likely be his undoing, so she whispered it once more before taking him back into her mouth, coaxing his orgasm out of him with her lips and tongue, nails digging into the flesh of his thighs.
As the last of his shudders subsided, Cass licked her lips before climbing back up the bed, planting a kiss at the corner of his mouth with a small smile. "You're perfect for me." With that, she slid out of bed to grab a couple glasses of water from the bathroom. Once back with the water, she offered one of the glasses to Sol, setting the other down on the nightstand before using his discarded towel to gently clean him up.
After taking a sip of her own water, she laid down on the bed next to him, pulling the covers up over both of them and snuggling up against his chest. "Happy birthday, love."
This was one of the reasons you usually went out in pairs to hunt. Zack had been out all morning - originally, he'd just wanted to check the traps he'd set out to see if he'd caught any small game. But when he'd found the fresh tracks, he couldn't really pass up the opportunity. And he'd made a pretty damn good catch because of it too. The buck was huge, and it'd probably feed them for quite some time, too. Only problem was transporting it back.
"Fucking hell." Zack muttered. Even after field dressing the damn thing, it was heavy. Heavy enough that hauling it back would be tough work, even for him. Standing up, Zack wiped off his bloody hands on his jacket, casting a glance around. He could cut the animal up, leave parts behind and hope that he'd be back before anything got to it. But chances were the walkers were gonna get to it, damn fuckers were pretty good at sniffing out blood. And that'd be a waste. Still, not like he had a choice.
But he was lucky today, appearantly. Just as he was getting ready to cut his catch up, he heard something. Looking up, he saw a woman on a horse, making her way towards him. Just his luck. "Damn, just at the right time. I could definitely use a horse." Zack glanced up at her. Cass Brookes. Not someone he'd talked to before - he didn't have much business on the ranch. And she didn't have much to do with the hunters.
"You out here alone? Doesn't outside security usually do everything in pairs? I don't think I've ever seen any of you guys stroll around here on your own."
"The we're at your service," she said with a grin and a faux bow. The hunters had a tough job - one Cass didn't envy. Especially as thinned out as everyone was right now.
She led Zodiac over to the man before pausing and rifling through the saddle bags. Usually there was an assortment of stuff in there for patrols - first aid kit, rope, duct tape, flashlight, et cetera. The rope was what she was after.
Zodiac's nostrils flared as he stared at Zack and the carcass, clearly a little unsettled by the scent of blood, but he stayed still even without Cass holding the reins.
"Technically, I'm not on my own. Zodiac here is as good as another human, so far as I'm concerned. But yeah... security is stretched out a bit currently. I don't mind going out with just my horse as my partner, though, so I volunteered so someone else wouldn't be alone."
Cass noted that Zack had already field dressed the animal, which was good, but she still flinched internally to think of blood getting on her saddle. Nothing to be done for it though, not like she'd packed a tarp to bring out with her.
With another reassuring pat to Zodiac's shoulder, she commanded him to stay on guard, focusing his attention around them so that she and Zack could focus on strapping down the deer. Crouching down at one end, she took hold of the legs and glanced up to Zack. "Count of three? I'd rather bring it up over his rump and drape it over the saddle that way. Then we can use the stirrups to help hold it in place."
She'd yelled so loudly, so full of anger, her throat felt hoarse - but it felt good. Honestly, Cass was surprised that she hadn't split the board of the fence with how hard she'd kicked it. The force had rippled through her entire body and left her shin aching.
Ike met her gaze head on and she could see the anguished emotions swirling in the depths of his eyes. He took his time in responding, but Cass didn't rush him. She didn't need to. They both needed this and sure enough, he opened up in time.
What he said didn't come as a shock, not really. Well, most of it, anyway. Cass had figured that he'd probably been sleeping with the woman Zeke had mentioned, but she had very much believed that it had been consensual between them. For all of Ike's rough edges and the way he'd come to the community, she couldn't imagine him getting pleasure out of controlling a man or woman like that.
It didn't surprise her though, whether they'd been sexual or not, that it had all been done to protect the woman. No matter how angry she'd gotten at Ike during her brother's return, Cass knew his aggression had stemmed from his inability to protect Ginny and Sol. Guilt, most likely, too, as he was part of the council that had allowed the trip in the first place. The more she got to know Ike, the more she realized that much like Sol, protecting the people he cared about was hard-wired into him.
The part about his sisters though, about his younger self, that was new information that took hold of her heart and squeezed with empathy. He sounded so devastated by the memories, by the consequences of his inaction - she didn't think twice. When he slipped his hand into hers and finished speaking, she pulled him in tight and wrapped her arms around him. He might not need the hug, but Cass needed it. The physical connection solidifying the emotional connection they'd forged in the fight at the ranch.
Cass didn't say anything, and that was probably for the best, for the both of them; they'd both said a lot, screamed out loud, shouted themselves almost hoarse against the imbalance and frustration of it all. But Ike could see her feelings playing out across her lovely, expressive face, and when she turned his simple little point of contact, holding her hand, into a full hug he went without a word or a hitch into it.
She was strong. It felt good being held by a woman as strong as Cass, and Ike wrapped her up in the embrace as well. She smelled sweet and dry, like warm hay and woodruff, made his mouth water right in the back pouches like he was a boy again and had been given some treat, vanilla and green green grass.
"If you need anything like this again," Ike said, reaching up to grope roughly at Cass' long tail of hair, like she was one of her horses, "I'm here. I'll be here. You can tell me anygoddamnthing you want and I'll catch it for you."