. . . @leopardblow 🞂 [ unprompted ] 🞂 ...
Walking past her bedroom Shiva paused and noticed the light still on. A tender knock with the back of her knuckles alerted the girl inside to her presence before opening it. Once inside she noticed her daughter still awake and looking up at her with wide eyes. The look of fear disgusted her, but she didn’t blame Cass — quite the opposite. With a sigh she allowed herself into the child’s space, crouching down to observe what she had been doing prior to her entering. “It’s late.”, it wasn’t really a scold as much as an observation. Sandra was not a stranger to being on a nocturnal schedule, she went through periods where she preferred to live during the night and sleep during the day. It was all about what you WANTED to do, and if Cass wanted to stay up then she wasn’t about to correct her. She’ll learn, in her own time. “You like those?”, she gestured to the headphones to make sure she understood what she was talking about.
There had been many gifts after her arrival, some of which she noticed Cass favored more than others. None more than a stuffed feline she had presented to her on her first night in the estate. It was an impulse buy on one of Sandra’s many trips she had walked past a toy store and it caught her eye. Cass living with her was a longing concept at that point and nowhere close to a reality — still she purchased it for the daughter she lost. In a way that room was a shrine, but seeing the child she thought dead inside — it stirred different emotions. It was different than she expected, but that didn’t mean bad. Sharp gaze shifted to the toy sat in her lap, she had become very attached to it. Even Sandra felt bad when it needed to be washed, the look of betrayal and pain was almost too much to take. The child thought she was taking it away, punishing her and there was no way to communicate that she wasn’t. They’d fix that.
There was such a long way to go, but she knew they could do it. She’d make sure her daughter had the life she deserved, the life she was almost robbed of. “I can read you that story if you’d like.”, her voice was surprisingly gentle even with the lack of emotion. The world’s deadliest woman reached over and corrected the book’s direction in her daughter’s hands with a swift movement, “it’s not a very happy story though, it has a sad ending.” Not that it mattered — Cass had lived through sadder things.
cassandra remembered the day her new life began. it started the same as always; a blaring alarm, a simple breakfast, and her medicine. she ate the same meals and wore the same clothes as she did each and every day. her mentor came to bring her to the day's training and she excelled the same as always. david made no comment and that meant she did well. lunch was at the same time as always. she never got to find out if she was having the same lunch that day.
she couldn't remember much of what happened before lunch. only that this woman came in like a storm, wild and violent, and left as quickly as she came with cassandra in her arms. david didn't follow them. the guards, the ones that survived anyhow, didn't stop them. she never found out if david survived or why she deserved to. all she knew was that she was going with this woman whether she liked it or not.
this did not feel like a place she belonged in. although she was far too young to contemplate why, she was competent enough to comprehend that this was nothing like what she grew up with. everything was so soft, her clothes and the bed she sat upon and the toy she held to her chest. everything around cassandra smelled pleasantly floral rather than the stale air of rust and mildew she knew. the house was huge and bright and open during the day. her room was warm and inviting. yet, she still couldn't sleep no matter how hard she tried.
the knock upon her door startled cassandra enough to nearly drop the book she fruitlessly attempted to understand. lavender bedsheets bunched beneath her as she tried to hide herself between the pillow pile behind her. she made an attempt to look natural amongst the unfamiliar surroundings, book held in front of her in a way that she had seen sandra do it before and the plush cat held protectively between her legs. she did not understand what the woman was saying to her, but she could tell that there was a sort of disappointment in the way she approached her. that was scary.
" you like those? " sandra asked, her voice quiet. her eyes followed from manicured hands to the item in question, a pair of pastel yellow headphones at her bedside table. although words were an incredibly new concept to cassandra, she was asked this question enough to understand what it meant. yes, she did like them. they made everything quieter when she needed them to and sometimes they even played music. that was something new for her. she was quickly finding out how much she liked music. her gaze travelled back to sandra and there was a moment of hesitation in telling the truth. if she said yes, would she take them away? if she said no, could she tell if she was lying? a slow nod followed.
sandra must have taken that as an invitation. she came in quietly and sat at the end of the bed, the mattress shifting with the added weight. " i can read you that story if you'd like. " cassandra's nose subtly scrunched as she tried to make out what she was saying. her thought was cut short by the book being taken from her hands, an action that made her heart beat quicker until it was handed right back. false alarm, it was not a punishment. only a warning. her eyes scanned the letters, still illegible to her but more familiar now that they were right side up.
her low, quiet voice continued to speak indiscernibly to cassandra. she paid her words little mind, her mind was focused on what she could understand and it was her body language. sandra's body tilted towards her in a way that was familiar despite only having known each other for a few months. she sat close enough to look at the pages with her. she heard her lilt drop just slightly at the end of her sentence, something the girl had only heard from the people david spoke to while she was around. it often made her sad. this time, it didn't. she was pretty sure it made sandra sad.
wide eyes looked to the woman, though this time not with fear but with confusion. her head tilted back down to the book where sandra pointed to the first words. she began to speak again, this time more punctual and practiced. her voice bounced between each syllable deliberately. despite the unfamiliarity of the situation, it was oddly soothing to hear her read the pages out loud. interesting, even, to find out how the letters on the pages sounded out loud. little hums at the back of her throat imitated the rhythm in a choppy, unpracticed sort of way.
