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Shot Through the Heart
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Post by Redgrim on Jun 22, 2014 18:58:13 GMT -5
Summer time at Foresta meant the same as any other school, the slowdown of class activity and quite possibly the rise in antics around the campus grounds. While most teachers got the summer time off much like the students, Cade volunteered to take the summer shift. Not because he valued seeing the students who struggled with math succeeding, but being able to teach a class full of teenagers who were hesitant and unproductive in their math work had to look good on his record somewhere. He just hoped the experience would work out for the better because his track record so far was nothing impressive. Not his teaching track record, but his luck.
The teacher entered the stairwell after successfully navigating his way through the somewhat populated entrance hallway. Being that the hall was fairly infamous for being easily the most crowded place in all of the school, it being only decently filled was quite the statement. On a normal day he might’ve lost the wicker basket he had in tow. The basket wasn’t much to question, its purpose though was another story. He might have fouled up big time with Serenity this time around. The last time he saw her she seemed so cold and distant, not that she was distant before but her spunk seemed to have dried out. What was worse was that he couldn’t even find her for the past few weeks or however long it had been. The last weeks of school really boggles his mind time wise. He knew a simple gift wasn’t going to patch up much, but at least he had a peace offering that could make a decent weapon if Serenity decided to go hostile when she saw him again.
Step after step echoed into the abyss above, it was surprising empty for one of the school’s stairwells. It wasn’t one of the main ones so it made a bit of sense as to why, but there usually was a student or two lingering around. Most of the time it was musical ones for the sake of the interesting acoustical sound the place created for whatever instrument they chose. It was summer though, the outdoorsy kids were out of the school completely and the indoorsy kids kept to their rooms or other social places. The staircase to the second floor was none of the above.
A man of stupid ideas, that’s what he was. He had plenty to go around and yes some of them did lead to success, but not recently. The only moment of his new school career he could say he was proud of was not even an idea that he put into his own head. He had to have a muse in the shape of an air fairy to point him in the right direction to find his parents. Before and after that nothing. Feeling something real for another person was becoming harder and harder for him by the day. He began to ponder about returning to his life of old, cheap dates with nothing more than a face. Sounded heavenly to him, could be no worse than the hell he’d been trudging through.
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I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart - I am, I am, I am. |
Thunder Goddess
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Post by Seren on Jun 23, 2014 15:49:04 GMT -5
After Serenity had been readmitted to work, the woman had been a lot more careful about avoiding Cade than she had before. It was exhausting a point because one wrong move down a hallway and she could run into the man, hell he sure had a talent for being where she was. The skills that she used to avoid him was something that she hadn't done at least in ten years, so suddenly having to sneak through the school thanks to one man did put the woman in a constant more annoyed mood then usual. Even her students avoided her more, which wasn't always the best thing to say the least.
Making her way through the entrance hall, the woman was headed back to her dirty unused classroom to grab some things that she had left in there. Even when she opened doors it seemed as though the woman had reverted back to being a silent killer as opposed to a normal power training teacher. Her steps were silent as she had to make an effort to move in such a way. Three steps up the stairs though and the the quiet sound of the door closing behind her, Serenity's nose caught a scent that was familiar 'causing the woman to mutter a curse word aloud. Turning promptly back around, she went to the door and just as she wrapped her fingers around the handle and pulled - suddenly there was no budge. "You've got to be kidding me." Once more, muttering quiet curses to herself the woman started to pull more desperately on the door. It was just open a second ago and now it was locked? This school was crazy and haunted and a lot more other things that Serenity didn't even want to bother to think about.
The realization then that she was still in the vicinity of the man that she had been trying to avoid made the hairs on her arms rise. She had just talked out-loud to herself quite a few times, if he hadn't heard her then he was an idiot - if he had heard her then she was screwed. Either which way she'd have to wait and see if the upstairs door was locked as well, but didn't that mean that if it was Cade would have to walk all the way back down to see if the lower one had locked? "God damnit."
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Post by Redgrim on Jun 23, 2014 23:48:55 GMT -5
As Cade continued to climb the flight ahead of him, he was fairly unmindful toward the sound of the door opening since it was fairly difficult for anyone to sneak through that door unnoticed. Still though it didn’t pull his attention until he heard a curse from a tongue that sounded familiar and a quick jostle of the exit’s handle. The light voice was enough to stir his suspicions, but the attempt at escape only cemented his attention. He quickly twirled around to answer his question with his eyes and as his sight narrowed onto its target he grew a sly smirk in accordance.
“Whew, I was beginning to think they actually went through with firing you. I suppose anyone who’d make that decision would have their head on a stake, eh?” he answered to her relative silence as he gently skipped down the stairs. He hardly forgot anything of their last encounter, in fact it was much more the opposite. It’d be best to avoid the topic at first and ease his way into it. Then again the last time he tried that he had his entire arm shattered. If there was anything he was lucky for it was his rapid recovery from that. He still had to brace up his left arm, but at least he could move it around and write once again.
Without even waiting for Serenity to make her reply, he continued on. “It’s been a while hasn’t it? Couldn’t find you around school lately. It’s like your trying to avoid me or something, like a child from a bully. Ah, that’s absurd though. We’re both adults here, we’re above that sort of thing, right?” He questioned as a flow of his voice that should seem somewhat familiar to the blind woman began to chime in. Anyone who spent an excessive amount of time with Cade and tended to not give him what he wanted heard this side of him a lot. His continuation forward ceased as he found himself on the first step on the case. He began to stroke his strangely orange tinted chin hairs. “I suppose I should never assume anything out of you though. Despite being the person I know the most around here, you’re the least predictable.”
He leaned against the railing structure that was directly next to him. He held out the present he had bought for Serenity, though it hardly pertained anything that would interest her as far as Cade knew. “Gift basket? It’s got a lot of goodies. Chocolate, some nice cheese, and a large variety of lotions. Seriously though, I don’t have the faintest of clues on what a woman does with this much body lotion.”
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I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart - I am, I am, I am. |
Thunder Goddess
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Post by Seren on Jun 24, 2014 0:34:55 GMT -5
Serenity whirled around as she heard Cade's voice, "I actually have more friends in this school than you would think." Serenity started off as she listened to him skip down the stairs. Serenity couldn't help but think that this man was far too joyous for hearing her voice. As he got to the end of the stairs though, Serenity stepped away from the door - feeling just a bit sad that she had forgotten her cane today. "Don't be ridiculous, we don't even work in the same department. How could I possibly be avoiding you?" Stepping lightly toward him then, the woman frowned at the mention of a gift basket. "Really? You bought me a gift basket? What kind of person do you take me for?" Of course she would be critical of the man being nice.
It was then that Serenity moved past Cade, completely ignoring the gift basket that he held out toward her. "Do me a favor and try to open that door near you." Serenity called down to Cade as she started to jog up the stairs, soon finding herself in front of the other door that lead out. Once more her fingers wrapped around the doorknob and as she pulled, nothing budged. "Shit." The doors locking made no sense, unless there was some sort of strange magic that made it so. Moving away from the door then, Serenity started to make her way back down the stairs "This is just too fucking perfect."
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Post by Redgrim on Jun 24, 2014 1:17:53 GMT -5
The man rolled his eyes at her admittance of not avoiding him. She probably thought herself clever for her return, but Cade knew better than to just accept that simple fact. One of the key elements of his own room gave her away. “You don’t say. My class has a clear view of your battle arena. Any simple flicker of my attention I’d tend to see you down there, for the past little while, you know after you broke my arm, I haven’t seen you down there much. I wouldn’t say your one to break your own dedicated workout schedule. As unpredictable as you are, such a drastic change in pattern seems too convenient in avoiding me.”
The woman commanded him to check the doors near him before rushing up the stairs. A quick fear died down as it seemed that her escape was not so easy. Cade didn’t bother to check the door he was assigned to since he had already watched Serenity fail at opening them. His teeth clenched a bit more and he raced up the stairwell after her. It was like some sort of strange blessing this coincidence. It was awfully convenient that the janitors decided to be lousy on this day and that he wasn’t trapped within the place alone. How they were going to get out was not a higher concern that he felt. He more so was interested in what he could possibly do with the time he was given before their inevitable rescue. Given the lack of use for this outdated stairway and the fact Cade didn’t own a cell phone, they were given plenty of time to bond.
“You know, it was really tough to pick out a gift basket for you. They really lack any sort of variety, but hey I thought you might like at least something in here. I’ve yet to meet a woman who’s disliked chocolate. Then again, I haven’t met a girl who’s kicked my ass as badly as you have. Well, there was one, but I suppose she doesn’t count since I ended up killing her. You had more stamina than her though, for whatever that’s worth. Anyways, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Just be glad that I actually bought you this stuff and didn’t clone it. I’m sure my bodily fluids in chocolate form is nothing pleasant. This stuff though, top notch” he finished with a nod as he raised the basket and pointed to the candy he named despite knowing that visual cues meant nothing to her.
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I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart - I am, I am, I am. |
Thunder Goddess
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Post by Seren on Jun 24, 2014 14:22:15 GMT -5
The stairwell felt like it was going to break over ninety degrees Fahrenheit (and the air conditioning did little to help). Why was this even happening to her? It felt like the world was trying to torture her. "Maybe I just wanted to do things differently," Serenity said to the man as she finally stopped halfway down the stairs - running the back of her hand against her forehead to wipe away from sweat that had formed there.
"Does it not bother you at all how hot it is right now?" Serenity finally asked a little bit after Cade's spiel about his gift basket. "Also, nice try but I don't like sweet things." That was a lie, Serenity did enjoy the occasional sweet but it wasn't like she was going to give Cade the pleasure of knowing that he got something nice for her.
After a split second hesitation though, Serenity chewed on her lower lip before turning back toward Cade - careful about the amount of distance between them. "Did you just want to woo me with a gift basket, or was there something else that you wanted?" It probably wasn't getting out of this stairwell, because that's what Serenity wanted and the two of them typically wanted completely opposite things.
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Post by Redgrim on Jun 24, 2014 23:34:32 GMT -5
Maybe she wanted to do things differently? That answer still didn’t disconfirm the question that he posed. Avoiding him in the workplace fell into the category of doing things differently. Sure she had always seen him as an annoyance before now, but at least she wasn’t rearranging her schedules for the sole purpose of avoiding him. Maybe he was wrong though, it could be that her privileges were cut due to her previous actions in front of the headmistress. It was entirely likely, but he would still be able to spot her around the school if that were the case. “Starting your answer with maybe gives an uncertain connotation. Your usual certainty conflicts with that, but nice try.”
Suggestion was a powerful thing, as soon as Serenity made note of the heat it did begin to irritate him, though not nearly as much as the woman in question with her constant safeguards. His fancy dress wear was nothing truly heat resistant, for the time being he tolerated it. Not that it didn’t try its best to become a nuisance. “I suppose I wasn’t really paying much attention to it, my mind’s not looking for an escape.”
Cade placed the basket down as the blind woman shunned his peace offering. He twirled around one end of his lip as his charm filled facial gestures seemed to shrink and disappear. “If I wanted to woo you, I’d have bought something much more worthwhile than a wicker basket filled with what people believe women adore. No, the gift basket is a symbol. Gift baskets tend to be provided to those battling grievance. I’m fairly certain you crushed some part of my soul when you walked out my door saying I was no more worth to you than sensual pleasure. Never mind the fact that nothing had actually transpired that night, you telling me just that paints a clear enough picture for me. I’ve had hookers treat me with better respect than you. I pursued you because I saw a person behind those foggy white eyes of yours, not the hulkish brute you make yourself out to be. You’ve turned out to be just like everything else I’ve encountered though, abusive and spiteful. I’m tired of it.”
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I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart - I am, I am, I am. |
Thunder Goddess
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Post by Seren on Jun 25, 2014 0:17:49 GMT -5
Serenity shook her head at Cade as he started to call her out on every little thing that she did. With a loud sigh, the woman back up against the wall that was behind her - turning her head away from the man as he spoke some more. What had she expected? He was going to get tired of how she treated him, just like everyone else. It was hard enough for her to even attempt to open her heart up toward a person that had the capabilities of ripping it apart at any second. "So, you lied to me." Serenity said quietly for a moment, having picked out at least that little fact.
"Keep in mind Cade, you were the one that followed me this entire time. If I crushed your soul, you should have told me that you had given it to me in the first place. Maybe, just maybe I would have been more careful if I had known. Plus, I already told you before - I don't hate you. I just don't trust people, is that such a problem?" The more she talked though, the more the woman turned her head away from him as if attempting to hide some sort of emotion that was starting to show on her face. In truth, Serenity already felt that she cared for the man. The proof of that to her was walking away from him that evening, the woman was so scared of getting hurt herself that she had somehow convinced herself as well that if she got close to anyone she would hurt them as well. It was hard even now for her to see the fact that Cade was already in pain.
"I'm tired of your talking, all you do is talk all the time. If you wanted me to understand something just show me, be creative. Your a creative man and at this point I've given up on fighting you." It was true, she was mentally and emotionally exhausted. Any second it felt that all her walls would break and the woman didn't know what she would do then, it seemed almost impossible to imagine.
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Post by Redgrim on Jun 25, 2014 20:37:17 GMT -5
It wasn’t a slip of his tongue or anything of that sort. Cade did want her to pick up on the fact he lied to her about having sex. It wasn’t a well thought out process, but it went through his mouth so he couldn’t really turn back if he truly wanted to unless he wanted to look like a bigger fool than he already was. “Yeah, I stretched the truth a bit. I wouldn’t have been surprised if that’s where you actually escalated in your drunken stupor though. If you hadn’t passed out on my bed that is. Doesn’t change much unless you actually wanted to have a go and toss me aside afterwards then” he spoke with flared brows and some bitter aftertaste.
With Serenity’s next few words, Cade demeanor soften a bit as he considered her words. Even in a state of spiteful aggression he was still a thinking man. During his moment of consideration he rolled up his dress shirt’s sleeves to combat the heat even if it was only a minor difference. He anchored his hand to the wall next to the blind teacher’s head and loomed over her accordingly. “It’s hard to tell you anything when you’re so hesitant to even discuss this about and avoid it any chance you get. Either through knocking me senseless like a ragdoll or resorting to hiding from me at work. Even then I’ve told you plenty of times, you were just about the only person in this place I even care for. I have no issue that you don’t trust people, but what does it take to prove myself to you. I may hold secrets about you, but your hands are heavier than mine. You could easily leak any piece of information about me that I gave you and you could end my life that quickly. All I’m asking from you is consistency because I’m winded, I’m done chasing.”
There seemed to be a linking factor in this situation; they were both tired of their own antics. Cade had had enough of things being out of his reach and losing them once they got near. He didn’t want Serenity to end up the same way, but his frustration with her was holding him back. He left off a large breath from his nostrils. His memory traced back to when they first demonstrated their powers to one another, more in specific the flower he’d clone for her. His mind tried to remember the design of it and how it felt. With the utmost amount of strain to his brain he commanded it to do what he had never tried before now. The liquid seeped from his palm and began to circulate around his fist until the plant finally had structure. His gaze focused on her pale eyes as he forced her palm open and let the flower drop into it. He felt a raging sensation of light headedness as an aftermath of his attempts at cloning an object without a physical reference.
Cade’s head lowered until it gently tapped against Serenity’s forehead. He then slid his cheek against hers, the bristles of hair adding more sensation to the touch. Whether it pleasurable or not was based on how Serenity liked it. “I’m done fighting too” he spoke softly. “For now at least” he continued with a small smirk.
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I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart - I am, I am, I am. |
Thunder Goddess
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Post by Seren on Jun 25, 2014 23:13:08 GMT -5
Serenity actually resisted the urge to snap back at the man as he made what she thought was an accusation about her tossing him to the side. Sometimes the woman was so stubborn she had a hard time seeing it any other way besides her own. As he started to close the distance between them though, Serenity stayed surprisingly silent. It wasn't like she didn't have anything to say to the man, it was just the sudden change in the situation had the woman questioning what to do next. For once in her life, she didn't have a careful plan of what she wanted to do.
It was when a flower was placed in her hand, that Serenity felt her heart jump. There was really no other way to describe it, it felt like her heart was practically trying to jump out of her chest. "Out of all things..." Serenity started off quietly until Cade lowered his head to touch hers. She really couldn't figure it out anymore, why through all this time she was still okay with him being so close to her. His breath against her skin though as he spoke was what really caused her skin to tingle, "What am I supposed to do with you?" The words were soft and quiet, almost exasperated in a sense as she smiled almost as if she were responding to Cade's smile despite the fact that she couldn't see it at all.
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Post by Redgrim on Jun 26, 2014 0:53:41 GMT -5
It was a pleasant surprise that Serenity didn’t try to slink away from him, even after he spoke of all the horrible things about her. That was the thing though, he flushed out all his negative behaviour with his last spiel, now he was mostly left with the good. There was just something about her touch and her willingness to embrace him in the moment that felt better than any casual display of emotions and sensual desire he’d felt in the past. Perhaps it was the struggle to get here that made it all the more pleasurable. He leisurely wrapped his loose arms around her neckline.
He gave off a light chuckle after Serenity cut herself off as she was going to make a comment about his choice in gift. She probably didn’t realize how many brain cells he had to kill and over throw in order to make her plant present. Serenity didn’t seem to argue against it though, so it was a non-issue. Besides she didn’t need to know anyway.
Serenity posed a difficult inquiry. If there were indeed an object, where would their future lie? For a man who had constant concerns for the times ahead, he didn’t have any sort of concern to voice on the matter. It was tough to say regardless, given how rocky they were during their previous period, a future together seemed to be something that was destined for failure. Cade had always believed he was destined for failure anyway, at least he’d have company. For Serenity though, he had no clue what her future ambitions were. “Love me or kill me, as long as you do it with care” he mused back.
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I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart - I am, I am, I am. |
Thunder Goddess
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Post by Seren on Jun 28, 2014 0:12:38 GMT -5
After their sudden acceptance of each other, a few seconds passed before Serenity finally decided to break the silence. She did so by pinching Cade in the side, "Oh, please we're not some characters in a book you don't have to be so corny." As she said this the woman let out a surprisingly pleasant sounding laugh, something that was almost contradictory with her usual brute-like attitude. "As much as I enjoy spending time with you..." Strange words to say considering she was just convinced she wanted nothing to do with him about five minutes earlier "... We need to find some way out of this stairwell." Despite these words the woman made no action to move, but instead angled her head up and toward Cade's direction as if expecting him to figure something out magically off the top of his head.
Oddly enough after her strange acceptance of the situation, despite the fact that she had said they should figure out a way to get out of the stairwell - Serenity really didn't feel like making any effort to move or find a way out. It was strange how a situation could change so fast and how her emotions could too, but it wasn't too unusual considering the woman did pretty well when it came to thriving in chaos.
"There aren't any windows in here, right?" Serenity asked then. This time it was actually a pretty logical question, since Serenity never spent time feeling the walls around the stairways. All she ever needed to know was how to go up them and back down, any other details were unimportant - except for now of course. "If there are maybe we could try breaking it open or catching someones attention," it was an attempt at least for the otherwise indecisive woman at the moment.
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Post by Redgrim on Jun 29, 2014 1:02:28 GMT -5
Cade was probably enjoying the moment for far longer than he should have. The fact that he was surprised by the woman’s reaction to him was enough to hint at that. A little scrunch to the side of his body definitely was not the worst physical sign she gave to tell him when enough was enough. The jolt to his side made his nerves react quickly and instantly warded him off of her body. His unstable backlash wasn’t enough to set him off stumbling down the stairs, so that was good. “Hey, I have to get my material from somewhere. Besides I only had a minute to come up with that one” he answered her in a bright grin.
He supposed that their escape would have to be reconciled at some point. Frankly Cade had no objections to it immediately, but might as well play to Serenity’s good side while it was still visible. Cade didn’t own a cell phone and he figured the same for the woman, otherwise she wouldn’t be asking him. Besides that, he wasn’t even sure how a blind person would operate a smart phone. That’d be an interesting sight. To answer the woman’s inquiry, he didn’t even need to circle his eyes around the room. “Nope, we’re in the thick of the building.”
In the moment that he took to scan the rest of the room, he found nothing of true use to them. It was a stairwell, not a commonly used one at that, there was nothing but the two of them and a basket full of goodies. At least if they got hungry they could snack on chocolate and cheese. At the absolute worse they’d be there until the end of the day, the janitors would have to check then, right? If not, someone else would have to use the stairway at some point, all they would have to do is ask for them to hold the door. “I don’t know how soundproof those doors are though” he thought aloud.
A single stream of sweat ran down Cade’s face from his hairline. The heat was really starting to settle in. He wiped his forehead before he unbuttoned his vest and tried to further roll his sleeves up his arms. Lucky Serenity, she barely ever wore as much thick clothing as he tended to. “I think the best we can do without wailing like banshees for help would be to wait. Besides we’re far more resilient than that to just resort to rudimentary tactics. I suppose that would give us a fair bit of time to kill” he replied with a raised brow to the woman.
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I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart - I am, I am, I am. |
Thunder Goddess
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Post by Seren on Jul 2, 2014 2:31:24 GMT -5
Serenity shook her head at Cade with a small sigh, moving to go sit down on the closest stair step. It seemed as if they were truly stuck and it was only typical that it was near the end of the day as well. "I wouldn't know either," Serenity replied to Cade's thought - seeming a little exasperated with herself. Of course, she had taught at this school so many years ago before, but it wasn't like she could remember every detail of the place. Something was bound to go unnoticed or changed in the amount of time that she had been gone. Leaning back onto her hands for a moment (having set down the flower that Cade had given her), Serenity shifted uncomfortably - feeling herself sweat now in other places besides just her forehead. That was another thing this school needed help with, improving the air conditioning. "What do you suppose we do then?" Serenity replied easily to the other teacher, naturally missing the expression that the man had attempted.
Even if she had been able to see his expression in the first place, it would have probably been unlikely that she would have acknowledged it. A few seconds passed then and the woman considered the gift basket that Cade had just offered her only a few minutes before, she was rather curious to try some of the things in it - but it was just wrong now to even say that she would after she made it clear that she 'did not like' chocolate, or anything sweet for that matter.
"Unless you think of something entertaining, I'm pretty sure all we're going to do is sit here and sweat." Serenity finally said then, moving to wipe some said sweat off her face once more. If Serenity was any softer of a woman, she would likely be suffering in such extreme heat. Having killed people in worse conditions though, the woman had become very selective about her complaints when it came to the weather.
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Post by Redgrim on Jul 3, 2014 19:29:57 GMT -5
Cade’s head bounced from side to side as he thought of all the possible things that he could say to Serenity to answer her call of entertainment. Of course sexual things came to his mind at first because when one is trapped in a secretive place with another that’s obviously the first to come in mind, especially when it’s a person one has been pursuing for the past couple of months. Though that didn’t fill a couple of categories that would fit the woman’s needs. First of which being that it would still induce sweat, if not more. Second, the reason they were in this mess was because Cade step out of her boundaries. Third, it wasn’t creative, unless he got creative with the act itself. Missionary was so drab. Probably wouldn’t be a good idea all around anyway, there was bound to be cameras somewhere and frankly he didn’t… wait. “Are there cameras in here?” Seemed like a silly question to pose to the blind person, but whatever.
Cade slowly began to inspect the corners of the room, casually wandering from one end of the platform to the next and as luck would have it, there was a little black orb situated in the upper most right corner, it was difficult to tell whether or not someone was actually monitoring it though. There had to be nearly one hundred of the same machines lingering about the school and whoever was monitoring them couldn’t have their attention on every single one. If Cade could remember correctly security cams didn’t pick up sound and he wasn’t sure how to convey the message of ‘help get us out of here’ through his actions alone. Perhaps something else could grab the monitor’s attention and he could kill two birds with one stone.
His eyes drifted back over to the female as he shrugged. “Ah, I don’t see any. I suppose we will be in here for a while. Might as well make that time worthwhile” he spoke suggestively as he joined her on the staircase. He hung his arm around the back of her neckline and began to fiddle with her tank top straps. “Permission to board?” he asked slyly regardless of the reasons against it he posed earlier. It was too tempting to let it slide out of his reach.
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