Toreador Freak Out (Open) - Sunflower Beach

Maybe Cass should have at least texted... But the Rose wasn't really thinking about that. At all.

She showed up just after midnight, right on Teddy and Medwyn's doorstep, giant bag filled with canisters of salt over her arm.

And she was knocking. Loudly.

Quick footsteps could be heard from inside, coming down the stairs and down the hallway to open the door, the Caitiff's greeting her friend with a smile though an expression that seemed a bit surprised. Because hey, she was knocking as if trying to knock the door down. That wasn't like her.
"Cassie, you alright?" she asked, stepping to the side so she could enter, the blond dressed in a pair of comfortable looking sweatpants and a tank top.

She looked like maybe she had seen a ghost. Just sort of paler than normal, as if she may be a little sick. But that was impossible. Kindred don't just get sick. She stepped inside and sort of just... thrust the bag that was over her arm out at Teddy, for the blonde to take, without saying anything. Her mouth opened, but Cass didn't even make a sound.

Okay.. okay that was weird.
She took the bag though and seeing as Cass looked the way she did, the blond peeked inside to find the canisters of salt.
"Cassie...?" Teddy looked up at her, moving the bag so to hold it with one hand while moving to wrap her free arm around her friend. "Relax... relax Cassie, you're safe here"

"Unless it's here..."

Paranoid didn't really quite cover it. The way her eyes darted around. The way she patted her clothes down as if she had misplaced something. The way she jumped with Teddy touched her.

"Nothing here but me, and Diego, and RnR, alright?" she said softly as she pulled back, gently brushing a hand over the Rose's hair. "And Medwyn will be back soon, he just out running some errands. Just us here Cassie" Teddy reassured her softly.

"IthinkIlostmyBeast!"

She blurted out without really thinking about it... Yep, it was official. Cass had lost the rest of her marbles.

That made absolutely no sense what so ever... Didn't matter though, because the Caitiff simply took her hand and gently, careful so not to scare her, lead her to the living room and to the red couch to sit down, placing the bag of salt on the floor next to them and within reach.
"Okay, try that again, while breathing" the blond said softly, even demonstrating said breathing with a deep breath.

Cass sat, but sort of sat in the corner of the couch. She did take a deep breath, letting it out slowly before she tried to say it again.

"I think I lost my Beast..."

"How can you lose your Beast?" the blond said, quirking her eyebrow curiously at her. And secondly if she did lose her Beast, assuming such a thing was possible, was that really such a bad thing?

"I have no idea!!" She practically cried about it. 10 seconds to mental breakdown.

Mental breakdowns were no good, but not really knowing what else to do what could she do but wrap her arms around the woman and pull her in tight.
"Shhh, relax... please relax Cassie" Teddy whispered softly, not meaning to sound patronizing but comforting, soothing. "You're freaking out. There is nothing to freak out over alright? Your Beast has not suddenly gone awol" it was kinda impossible, you know?

"I'm not so sure..." She was crying hysterically against Teddy. Shaking, even. "The dog, what if the dog is my Beast? And it's out there somewhere, outside of my control. What if... what if hurts someone?"

The Caitiff's embrace tightened, one hand moving to rest gently on the back of the Rose' head.
"You can't lose your Beast" faaaaairly sure about that one. "Your Beast is not roaming around as some kind of physical manifestation terrorizing people" she gently petted her hair. "You're here, all of you, is here, with me, in my arms" every sobbing, trembling part of her. "Nowhere else, no split personality or divided existence. Whatever got you so spooked up it's all in your head this time. Because you wouldn't hurt anyone, and right now even if you wanted to you couldn't hurt anyone because you're here with me.... you're at my house, in my home... and nothing will hurt you here, and you won't hurt anyone here..."

"Then what is it? I don't understand. What if Estaban is right?" She wanted to be logical, she really did. But the idea spooked her. "I'm not supposed to be able to talk to ghosts. I wasn't supposed to leave this realm of existence. I wasn't supposed to be able dream... So what the hell is happening to me?"

I don't know was not an answer that would help her much so instead, what the Caitiff would do was try and ground her with what she knew was real.
"You're not in another realm of existence though, right now you're here, with me. Whatever Estaban told you he was guessing, just as you are. But right now, right here, there are no dreams, no other realms but our own, no illusions, no Beasts. Just us. And I'm as real as you are"

"I don't feel very real right now, Teddy," Cass kind of just collapsed against Teddy, holding her like a lifeline. Crumbly Rose was crumbly and maybe just a little insane. Just a little. But she knew Teddy wouldn't judge her for it.

"Please just stake me for a little while?"

"I-I...."
Stake her...? Teddy hadn't staked anyone in her life, errr, unlife.
"I... I can't...." she seemed to struggle a bit, tightening her embrace of the Rose again. "I'll hold you..." Teddy whispered.

Cass curled up and just buried her face in Teddy's shoulder, unable to do much more other than rock a little.

"Please don't ask me to hurt you...." she whispered softly, closing her eyes as she held her friend tight as if wanting to shield her from the world.

"Promise me... If this dog is my Beast... you'll help stop it?" The question was muffled against Teddy's shoulder in between sobs.

"I won't let your Beast hurt anyone... least of all you..." she answered softly, though that at least she could promise. If it was within her power to stop it? She would.

Cass curled right up in Teddy's lap. It was pitiful, really. The way she just laid there and cried made her seem like a kid. It was pretty. It probably wasn't comfortable, either. But she really hadn't let herself feel anything, not since she got back. Holding it all down was coming to a head. She just kept repeating how sorry she was, over and over and over.

The Caitiff didn't seem to mind her clothes getting stained by the tears, or the fact that the Rose was making no sense what so ever. She pulled a blanket around her, held her close and simply let her cry because it was obvious that one way or another those feelings she'd bottled up needed to get out.
At least there, with Teddy, she could do so without being judged or questioned. In fact, chances were the blond would just keep holding her until she either she stopped crying or until she just let her body give into the mental fatigue because while Kindreds didn't get physically tired the same a mortal did they still did get tired. Especially if their heads had been filled with worry and confusion and uncertainty until the point where it all just boiled over.

Her cries eventually just turned to sniffles. Cass continued to hide her face, though. And she was tired, no doubt she was tired. She'd had a lot of little things on her plate as well as giant, looming ones. Really all she wanted was a little rest, a little chance to hide for a little while. Hide somewhere where maybe her troubles wouldn't find her. It wasn't that this sort of thing actually worked, but the illusion helped.