As Promised... (cont./Open) - The White Tower

She pulled Charlize close to her, making it so her back was against her chest. She inhaled the scent if her hair and held tightly to her. "I'm just sorry I'm not in red for you," she grinned, kissing the side if her neck.

Charlize let out a soft chuckle as she was pulled close, one hand moving to rest on Cass' while the other reached behind to find the Rose's thigh with a light squeeze. Her eyes closing at the touch of the woman's lips on her skin.
"I like you in any colour, Cass. And you look remarkably good in my boring shirt" she chucked again. "So I wouldn't worry so much about it"

"Contrary to popular belief, I'm not so much the worrier you think I am," she chuckled. She blew lightly on Charlize's ear and gently licked at it before tracing her lips back down her neck. "And I have a feeling I would look quite good in some of your boring neck ties, too," she grinned.

The youth arched her back with a grin in response to the touch, biting her lip softly and giving the woman's thigh another light squeeze of manicured fingers
"Mmm... I'm inclined to agree" she murmured with a smile. "And I'm sure... we can arrange to have it happen..."

With a light chuckle, Cass rested her head against her shoulder and slipped her arms around her with a relaxed grasp. "We'll put it on the agenda, hm?" Her reply was quiet, whisper like.

"Thank you... Charlize..." Whether she needed to thank her or not didn't matter.

Charlize took a deep breath and sighed softly, leaning into the embrace and softly moving her hand down the woman's leg with a lingering smile.
"Thank you for staying..." the youth smiled, turning her head slightly as if to look over her shoulder.

She smiled, as if to say 'Your welcome', but she did so with her eyes instead of words. But the look was brief before she bent her head, kissing her back softly-- though in actuality, Cass was using that as an excuse to shield her face from Charlize. But it was a very good excuse.

"Mm, soft.." she linked her fingers with Cass', smiling as her lips touched her back, looking very very happy. Her other hand still gently tracing up and down the Rose' leg.

If she liked it, then Cass just kept swift work of it, lips barely even leaving her as she pressed a cheek into her back and sighed softly. She gave the Brujah's fingers a gentle squeeze, but otherwise held her hand with a relaxed grasp. Silently she hoped that Charlie fell asleep before she did.

She bit her lip softly, enjoying the touch with a quiet smile for a little while longer before exhaling with a low sigh and gently turning around while still in Cass embrace so to face her.
"Hey..." moved her hand to the woman's cheek with a soft touch, lifting her chin just enough to steal a gentle kiss before brushing a few locks of hair from her face so that she could actually see her eyes. "Talk to me..."
Because something was obviously not right.

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roll: handled via AIM with tpo Cass

Caught... like a thief with her hand in the cookie jar. But she forced a small smile nonetheless, slightly shaking her head and delaying the inevitable. "Talk to you about what?" It wasn't a game, just... there were lots of things going on in her head and there had been for some time.

"Anything?" Charlize said softly. "Everything?" she let her fingers trace through the woman's hair and down the back of her neck before following her jaw line to her chin again.
"If you can't truly smile for me... then something's wrong and I rather know what it is so I can help you" the youth brushed her lips to Cass' again before pulling back gently, still gazing at her with those still blue eyes of hers. "Please Cassiel"

"I'm just tired," she said weakly. But that was only part of the truth and the attempt to cover this fact up with tone and facial expression just utterly failed. The damn girl couldn't even lie to herself. So depressing.

"I... I think my nerves are just a little shot. Outside of you, I haven't had a very good time of things. And I think that ghoul just brought a lot of things to the surface that I would rather have kept buried a while longer."

Like failure. Cass was not a big fan of failure.

She shook her head, with a stifled sigh. Talking about this would just bring a torrent of emotion, one that she wasn't looking forward to.

Charlize pulled her close, touched her lips to the woman's forehead before pulling her into her arms and wrapping them protectively around her so to let her rest her head against her chest.
"I'll see to it that the girl get her due punishment..." she muttered, more to herself than Cass really before brushing hers through the Rose's hair with that same soft gentle touch as before, whispering as her lips touched that same softly flowing hair. "You can't keep everything buried you know? You can't hide it from me... so why try to? If you're angry, show me your anger. If you're upset, then I'll take your tears.. Sweet Cass, please, just share with me what's wrong"

Again, her humanity nagged at her with the thought of what Naomi's punishment might be. Oh it nagged so hard. For a little while, all Cass could do was bury her face into Charlize's chest, still hiding and trying to get a grip on her thoughts. But getting a grip on something that wasn't tangible, that wasn't simple, was a very difficult thing.

She didn't want to cry. Or scream. Or appear weak. Even if Charlize had said it was okay, she worried what she might think of her. The photographer took appearances very seriously-- not really a surprise, all things considered.

But on the other hand, she felt safe with her. And the best place to lose it completely for a little while was somewhere you felt safe. And everything had built to a breaking point where every emotion and every little scrap of fear and rejection and annoyance spilled over.

As hard as she fought it, there just wasn't any fight left and her tears quickly welled up and spilled over the brims of her eyes and she shuddered. Damn it all, the Tremere were right. She was weak.

If the Brujah thought her weak she sure didn't show it. The gentle embrace not changing, her soft touch remaining the same comforting one as it had been just moments earlier. Charlize simply held her close and let her cry, not caring one bit if the blood stained her shirt or the sheets.
"You're safe here..." the youth whispered to her, closing her eyes and nuzzling softly against her hair as one hand traced up and down her back with a relaxing touch. She'd said she'd take her tears if that was what she needed and it would seem the Brujah stayed true to her word.

"No one to hurt you or cause you pain..." she kissed her hair again. "So just let it flow..."

Cass grabbed at Charlize's shirt, more out of the fact that it was something to do with her hands that had balled into tiny little fists of doom. Okay, maybe not doom... Totally not doom. But they were fists nonetheless.

"It was like being with my sire all over again," she said softly, in between muffled cries that seemed to get worse. "I couldn't help her and I couldn't help Naomi. And then I just... froze." She took a shaggy breath, pulling the Brujah's shirt close to her face. "A ghoul, a ghoul and I still saw my sire. Between that and Gage and the Tremere shit..." And the rejection from Frederico just plain forgetting she existed... "I'm so tired."

The ragged breaths from her sobs just kept coming. She wasn't lying, she was mentally and emotionally exhausted.

Oh... there it was... She was wondering where the temptation to run was. It hadn't really hit her until now to really seriously consider just packing up and leaving for good. Nothing like another nagging thought.

"Naomi is not worth your effort or your tears..." she said softly although she seemed quite adamant about it. God damn broken ghoul.. "and your Sire, if she doesn't know to appreciate you, is definitively not worth you even sparing her a thought" Charlize move her hand to cup the woman's cheek, gently lifting her chin so to gaze at her unless she protested the light touch.
"You're better than both of them Cassiel. Don't you -ever- think otherwise"
The Brujah found her eyes with her own, her expression fairly neutral if it hadn't been for the hint of concern and anger hidden in those steel blues of hers. Concern for the woman in her arms and anger towards those who'd reduced her to her current state.
"You're beautiful Cassiel. Funny, intriguing, smart... You're talented and fascinating on so many levels and yet you allow yourself to be put down by those who're below you. They don't deserve you..." the youth said, still softly, still without taking her eyes off the Rose.
"We'll find a way to sort this... the wraiths, the Tremers. Nothing is ever impossible. And i will not let them continue to do this to you. Any of them"

She was sweet and kind and her words did make her feel a little better. But the tears still flowed heavily. Truly, had she not let it out now, she would have burst at the most inappropriate time in the near future.

"I'm not crazy, Charlize," she said in a hesitated way between sobs. She had to tell herself that. Because it sure as hell felt like her sanity was slipping.

"No, you're not" she wiped a few of the tears from her face with a touch of her hand. "But you let people get to you. Tell you lies... And the hurt it causes you is as plain as day"
Charlize leaned in, brushed her lips to Cass' and closed her eyes with a low sigh.
"You're better than you think Cassiel..."

At least she thought so... Because that was important to Cass. And Cass? She simply buried her face back into Charlize's shirt. Soon the sobbing began to fade as Cass searched for her center. She wanted the calm and the peace and for once was thankful that the dawn was swiftly approaching.

"Everything will seem better tomorrow..." She whispered into the youth's chest, reassuring herself more than anything even as she clung to the Brujah with every bit of energy she had left-- which to be fair, wasn't much. "I just want to sleep."

"Then sleep..."
Charlize sighed and simply held her close as she reached out and pulled the covers over the both of them. It was better she slept anyway... The youth curled up close to her and continuing to hold her close while sleep tugged at them both as dawn approached.

Cass closed her eyes and sleep came quickly for her. Dreamless sleep really was a godsend. Her head was still buried in Charlie's chest, arms around her waist. Yet another mess to clean up when the sun went down again. But at least there was comfort here.

It would take some doing to get Cass to leave this bed for a while, that was for sure. Because neither the bed nor Charlie, it seemed, judged her.

And unless Cass actually got up when she woke from her sleep, the youth would blink and stretch before realizing she was still next to her with her arms around her as she awoke from her own slumber some time later.
"Evening.." she stretched again with a soft groan.

"Hey," was the soft reply from the nearly expressionless Rose. Even though she was awake, she had made a decent little fort of covers and pillows around her, holding a pillow to her chest grogily. She nuzzled into Charlize in her sleepy haze, but made absolutely no moves to leave the bed.