CAMERON EASTON
Phoenix
Posts: 34
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 20, 2024 18:58:49 GMT
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Post by CAMERON EASTON on Sept 23, 2022 17:36:06 GMT
The sheriff’s office weren’t going to care that he was technically a dead man trying to reunite with his fiancee after pulling his Lazarus act, to them he’d just be some guy lurking in his car outside her place of work for what was probably the twentieth time since he’d rolled into town. To them he was a stalker, and yeah, maybe in the broadest sense of the word, he was, cause he hadn’t grown a pair big enough to just walk in the door yet.
Cam shifted uneasily in the driver’s seat of his car. Brown eyes rolled up to the cameras that discretely bristled from the glossy face of the building. Had they noticed the car by now? Always parked on the street in front of the hotel, strategically placed so he could see that glossy fall of cornsilk hair, or - like today, thanks to the Benz that had pulled away as he was creeping in - angled so he could see Cat’s face as he smiled at a customer.
She passed something over the counter to them, continuing to smle in that way he knew could light up her eyes. That smile had been for him once upon a time, breaking through the astonishment as he’d gone down on one knee in the restaurant and had slipped the box from his pocket. It had flickered for weeks, months, before that, as the dreams he’d dismissed as nothing but jitters had filled her with a terror that he didn’t understand. He did now.
His stomach was knotting up again, nerves tightening around his gut like barbed wire. Shifting didn’t do anything to stop it, neither did shoving the seat back another couple of inches, trying to find himself some room to ease away from the memory.
Clinically he knew it was PTSD, those bitter, cloying memories of his own death - his first death. Dozens of times he’d woken from nightmares in that narrow cot of a bed. Legs and fingers tangled in sheets that he’d seen as a burial shroud in his dreams. Sweat wetting the fabric, leaving it clinging to his skin. Each time he’d fight it off, roaming the halls of the boat late enough at night that Cam had felt like he was the only one there. Even Manhattan had seemed still and quiet, like the pinpoints of light were the only proof that anybody was alive out there. Somewhere in the city he’d been sure Cat was fighting the same terrors, mourning him the same way he’d mourned her, mourned them.
At some point, while he’d been a prisoner of his own mind and that damn ship, Cat had slipped New York. Where she’d gone, he didn’t know, but the sight of Grey Maddox slipping out of the hotel with a brunette told him that she probably hadn’t gone alone. That was some lukewarm comfort, he’d probably taken her under his wing more than her own family would’ve done. Lucky and the twins hadn’t looked like they were ever gonna welcome their big sister back with open arms when the two of them had left. Things changed, but that attitude? That would’ve taken something world altering to shatter (and not just on Cat’s side of things).
In the hotel the brunette talking to Cat took what he presumed was a keycard. She tugged a small, bright red suitcase on wheels away from the counter and vanished deeper into the hotel. In an hour she’d probably have forgotten all about the woman who’d served her. Years after their engagement had ended in blood and violence on a New York street, he still hadn’t.
Cam sighed, trying to will himself to start the engine and pull away. He wasn’t gonna get the balls up for this today, maybe he never would. Pressing the tip of his tongue against the sharp point of a canine he tore his gaze away. Fingers on the key, all it would take was a twist to start the car up and be out of there. An ounce more pressure …
The lights flashed down at the corner of the street like some sign from a damn UFO. The aliens were here, ready to change the world - or just the cops, ready to finally talk to the guy who seemed to have been peeping at the good folks paying to staying in the fancy hotel for months. Time to slip the cuffs on his wrists and rid Mystic Falls of the riff-raff.
He didn’t wait for the car to pull up alongside. There was no way Catia’s first view of him was gonna be as the cops hauled him away from the place in cuffs. Not glancing at the patrol car, Cam walked across the street. He could feel the pressure start to build in his chest, the sweat gathering at the small of his back. The urge to run was there, to bolt in the door and sweep her up, but his legs felt like lead as he trotted up the stairs. The whoosh of blood in his ears covered the sound of the car stopping, if it was there.
She was all he saw, turned away from him, the phone pressed to her ear, beautiful enough to leave his throat tight. She hadn’t turned towards him with that smile lighting up her face, not when she was murmuring to whoever was on the other end. He wouldn’t wait though, any second now the cops were likely to be busting in the door after him. ”Cat.” It was barely a croak, maybe not audible since she didn’t immediately turn. ”Catia … honey …” Was that the first time he’d said her name aloud since he’d argued with his dad about going back to her? It had certainly echoed through his head a hundred times a day, that silent prayer that echoed to ask that he end up back here. With her.
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CATIA MCKENNA
Psychic
Posts: 42
Age:
Thirty Two
Occupation:
Group Manager Grey Haven Hotel
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Cameron Easton
Played by:
Lissa
Last seen Nov 13, 2024 15:45:39 GMT
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Post by CATIA MCKENNA on Oct 9, 2022 17:27:45 GMT
❝ I'll Take These Broken Wings...
Watch Me Burn Across The Sky❞
Today was just another day like any other, or so Catia thought. She woke up in her large suite. The other side of her bed cold as it had been since she had lost Cameron. How many times had she heard from her friends, too beautiful to be alone forever. Catia however didn’t feel as though she wanted to open herself up to another heartbreak. Tired of seeing things before they happen and being unable to prevent it. Cameron’s death had damn near broke her and she wouldn’t- couldn’t- go through it again.
Focusing on her work had ben what got her through. Not much of that had changed in the way for her. She had followed Grey across the country, setting up hotels across the country. It had been what she needed and continued to be.
Early in that morning she had slipped naturally into her morning routine, shower, teeth, hair, makeup and then dress. Jewellery came last, gold earrings, a bracelet… lastly a simple chain and from it was her engagement ring. She hadn’t had it on her finger in years, but nearly always had it around her neck. Lifting it and placing it under the material of her dress- too many questions when people seen it- she then left her room and went down to the lobby to start work.
While in the elevator as if on cue her phone rang, from the receptionist. Being called down for a problem and it was only nine am in the morning. The elevator dinged and she stepped out of the elevator and strode confidently over to the desk. One of those signature fake smiles that she wore for customers, saying her good mornings. Within moments she had the complaint dealt with, clicking around the computer screen behind the desk. Slipping the key card across the desk with a smile and the customer walked away happy. She turned to the receptionist, ” What a way to start the day…” She mentioned with a small smile as the phone rang.
Lifting it from the handset and spoke the welcoming drone of the hotel greeting. Turning her back to the desk as to concentrate on the phone call. Something about the linen delivery. The delivery apparently was going to be late, Catia then knocked some money off the next bill for the inconvenience of being made to wait. It was while she was in the phone that she heard her name. Time seemed to stand still. The voice that she only heard now in her dreams…. Shaking her head she pulled it together, thinking she couldn’t have possibly of heard it. The voice at the other end questioning if she was still there, ” Yes. Still here. Sorry… Please deliver at the new agreed slot or we will have to look elsewhere if we continue to be let down.” Catia commented almost gently but it was enough to have the woman on the other end of the phone anxiously making promises. She bought the phone away from her ear hanging it up in the cradle as the voice came again.
This time she turned.
Shock swept over her, punching her in the stomach leaving her breathless. The receptionist stood up concerned, never having seen her boss this way. Catia was nearly always composed and at the minute she was struggling to breath. Inhaling sharply, ” No… I-“ Catia tried to speak but words wouldn’t find her. Was she still dreaming? Tears glistened in her eyes, ” You can’t be here…” She said to no one in particular, to herself. Was she losing her mind? He couldn’t be here. The times she had dreamt of this but knew it was impossible. Just cruel torture.
Notes:  |
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CAMERON EASTON
Phoenix
Posts: 34
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 20, 2024 18:58:49 GMT
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Post by CAMERON EASTON on Oct 22, 2022 18:07:23 GMT
He’d spent years imagining how this was going to happen. His dad – the man who called himself his dad, although he was still getting his head around that – had warned him that he couldn’t predict it, but Cam had held on to hope. Catia could’ve found a whole new life, a new love. He’d prepared himself for that, warning himself not to get too excited about it when the launch had finally pulled up alongside the boat and freedom had been right there. Still, he felt hopeful. They’d loved one another with everything they had and that sort of love was carried beyond the grave wasn’t it?
No matter how many times he’d pictured it though, it hadn’t been with the cops on his ass and him bursting in through the doors of the hotel expecting them to drag him out at any moment. Catia was the same though, beautiful, so damn beautiful his heart hurt as he saw her. Her name felt the same on his lips, the first time he’d said it aloud in the months since he’d left the boat. His fiancée almost close enough to touch.
She shook her head, ignoring the croak of his voice to continue talking to whoever was on the phone. Jesus. Cam glanced over his shoulder, watching the reflection of the blue lights in the glass doors of the hotel as they swung shut behind him. His shoulders hunched, his footsteps ending up a rush as he barrelled towards the counters. The croak of her voice came again, followed by that little murmur of honey, like that would somehow make a difference.
Maybe it did, Cat turned towards him this time and he almost fell to his knees. It had been years, but it was like time had stood still. He still got that kick in his chest that nobody else had ever given him. There was shock on her face now though, like she’d felt a far worse kick. The receptionist stood up behind her as he approached, probably out of concern given that Cat’s breathing was ragged.
Cam lifted a hand to try and wave the woman off, did they really need witnesses to this? Especially when he saw sure he only had a few minutes to explain before the cops turned up and this became a three ring circus. ”Yeah,” Cam huffed out, tears burning in the backs of his eyes, the same way they seemed to have those big brown eyes glittering as they fixed on him. ”Cat, I can be. I know this is crazy, but … I promise. There’s an explanation.” A big, messy, terrifying story as to how her dead fiance had come back to life.
A whoop of sirens came from outside, leaving him cringing as he set his hands down on top of the counter. Cam tried to draw in a deep breath and keep this whole thing calm. ”Have you got somewhere to talk? I need to explain before they come and drag me out … it’s … I’ve been trying to get the courage up to do this for weeks, but it’s … been almost terrifying.” No matter how many ways he tried to find to do this easily, he hadn’t been able to settle on one.
Outside the siren whooped again and Cameron flinched. He looked over his shoulder almost desperately. They were still too public for him to blurt out about the dragon and his being a phoenix, she was going to think he’d lost his mind but the cops were … leaving? Confusion filled his face, his mouth hanging open as he saw the police car accelerating down the street … away from him. He looked back, his expression going blank before he caught the look the receptionist was giving him. ”Please, Catia, can we get a minute alone?” With the ghost of your dead fiance. Undoubtedly the news was going to be all over the hotel the second they were out of sight, he hadn’t exactly been subtle here.
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CATIA MCKENNA
Psychic
Posts: 42
Age:
Thirty Two
Occupation:
Group Manager Grey Haven Hotel
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Cameron Easton
Played by:
Lissa
Last seen Nov 13, 2024 15:45:39 GMT
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Post by CATIA MCKENNA on Jan 6, 2023 19:17:02 GMT
❝ I'll Take These Broken Wings...
Watch Me Burn Across The Sky❞
Is this what it felt like to drown? Catia’s chest felt awfully tight as she struggled to breathe. The receptionist looked over at her in concern and then to Cameron and back to her boss, ” Do I need to call security?” The receptionist asked reaching for the phone which was behind the desk, she had the phone in hand and was dialling the number.
Catia seemed to come back to herself then as she reached out pressed the hang up button in the handset cradle, ” No…” She managed. Shaking her head, ” It’s alright.” Catia told her and gestured to the computer. She could- she would handle this. The receptionist with a dark eye, turned away, but remained in earshot. Now she was more or less certain she wasn’t going insane, that he was here. Her colleague on the desk could see him, so it wasn’t a figment of her imagination.
She didn’t really trust herself to speak directly to him. She furrowed her eyebrows when he said about them coming in and dragging him off. What had he done? His fears though were unfounded when the sirens pulled away, fleeing into the distance. Though the question was there again. Somewhere for them to talk alone.
Nodding she moved from behind the desk. Keeping a distance between them walking around the desk and toward the back where she had her own office. She tended to use the front desk mostly, having a tablet she could work from virtually anywhere in the hotel. It was a little sparse, she hadn’t been here long and was in the middle of decorating.
When they were both in the still spacious office she let rip, ” Crazy? This is beyond crazy. This is insane. You died. I went to the damn ER, blood covered.” Catia shouted tears were flowing freely, ” I could hardly breathe when they confirmed you were gone…” Catia continued more quietly. The aftermath was a blur, she was barely living that much she knew. It took a little tough love from Grey to snap her back to reality and find something to live for again. Much like right now. She could feel her emotions starting to spin out of control…
The pictures on the wall started to shake and she turned away from him and closed her eyes running a hand through her head as she willed herself to calm down before things started flying. She could control her telekinesis, but it definitely wasn’t under control right now.
Notes: |
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CAMERON EASTON
Phoenix
Posts: 34
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 20, 2024 18:58:49 GMT
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Post by CAMERON EASTON on Jan 15, 2023 20:31:54 GMT
Security? Oh, no. They didn’t need some suited and booted heavies on top of the uniformed guys who were likely already climbing out of their car outside, narrowing eyes at the blurred figure holding up both hands beyond the glass now. Cam’s mouth fell open, his eyes widening as he looked at the other woman. ”You don’t need to call security. I’m not trouble.” Not that you’d know it from the flashing blue lights that he could see washing over the glossy counter, the women’s faces, the backs of his own hands. Jesus, she wasn’t listening, punching in the number already.
If it wouldn’t have weighed against him, he’d have darted forward to hit the button on the phone to cut her off. Cat was already there though, her quiet no seeming to do so much more than his reassurances. She reached out and pressed the button to cut the phone off. Cam let out a long breath, his gaze cutting back to Cat. Christ, she could still stop his heart – a poor choice of words, even in his own head. It was too soon to make any light of the way it had stopped in his chest, that hers had been the last face he’d seen as the light had slowly shrunk down to pinpricks like stars, blinking out, leaving him in the dark until he’d come to on the ship, where he might as well have been a million miles away from her.
The receptionist didn’t seem too happy about being pointed away. She was still within earshot, probably noting down every word of what was being said so that she could tell the cops everything when they stormed in. Hunching his shoulders against the wail of the sirens did nothing. Cam could hear the clock ticking down in his head and knew it wasn’t enough time to say everything, not here, at the sort of whisper that would probably carry some of it to the receptionist anyway. Cat frowned as he tried to babble his way through an explanation anyway, warning her about the cops, flinching as the sirens went again. The relief that came as they trailed off almost had his knees going out on him. Not here for him. They weren’t going to have witnesses as he did more than just begged her to listening.
Cat caved, rounding the desk. He went to move close, but she was keeping a distance. Could he really blame her for that? The last time she’d seen him he’d likely been going cold in her arms, his blood … Cam swallowed hard, glancing aside at the receptionist as he followed Catia towards an office at the back. He shut the door quietly behind them, opened his mouth to apologise as he turned back to Cat, but she got there first. All the anger and confusion he deserved tearing out at him like that bullet, hitting him with as much power.
His fingers trembled faintly as he held them up between them, his eyes starting to well up as hers broke and rolled down her cheeks. He deserved all of this, he knew he did, but it didn’t stop him from wanting to fold her up in his arms and never let go again. ”I can’t deny that I did. I didn’t know … Cat … I didn’t know any of this was going to happen.” Because the threat to his family had torn his parents apart before he’d even been born. ”I didn’t know what I was, I couldn’t warn you when you were seeing it all coming. Baby, I’m sorry.” He encouraged apologies in his sessions, taking responsibility for your mistakes, admitting to it all. It might hurt, perhaps for a long time, but it cleared the ground, gave room for something new to grow instead of it remaining littered with the rubble of your actions.
The ground wasn’t clear now, it was crumbling and it was his return that had started it all. The room started to shake as Cat turned away from him, covering her face with a hand. Cam looked around anxiously, but he was already stepping forward. Touching her was perhaps pushing it, he needed it though, to feel her again. He settled a hand gently on her shoulder, fingers squeezing lightly. ”I know you know that there are some things out there,” he said lightly. ”You saw what was going to happen to me, Cat. You just didn’t see what happened after. I woke up again … in the middle of the damn East River.” The laugh that rolled out of him was strained, fading away fast. ”My dad was there … my biological father. He … he’s a phoenix, Cat. I’m a phoenix. We don’t die, not permanently. I didn’t. I came back to life there and I’m sorry I couldn’t come right back to you.” He’d wanted to, would have swum if his father hadn’t warned him against it. He could’ve brought that thing right to Cat, could’ve ended up losing her, she could’ve lost him a second time if the dragon had finally gotten it right.
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CATIA MCKENNA
Psychic
Posts: 42
Age:
Thirty Two
Occupation:
Group Manager Grey Haven Hotel
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Cameron Easton
Played by:
Lissa
Last seen Nov 13, 2024 15:45:39 GMT
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Post by CATIA MCKENNA on Jul 30, 2023 11:40:21 GMT
❝ I'll Take These Broken Wings...
Watch Me Burn Across The Sky❞
Well, that wasn’t how she had expected her day to start. Not at all. Seeing her long dead fiancé in her hotel lobby. Of course, she knew of the supernatural. She was supernatural after all. But resurrection? That was a whole different ball game. He had died. She had felt his heart stop beneath her hands. Doctors had pronounced him dead on arrival at the hospital and there was nothing more that they could do. Now here he was standing before her.
Sensing her distress, the receptionist from behind the desk picked up the phone to start calling security. Catia had snapped back to her senses, reaching out with a manicured finger and pressed the end call button in the phones cradle. She would handle this. Leading him around the back, to her downstairs office. Moving the scene. Once behind closed doors, she let loose. Tears flowing freely.
She turned to face him, how had he known she had seen it all happen? She couldn’t deny it, she had seen it coming. All in her visions which had been clear was his death, nothing else. Not there where or how that it happened. For weeks she had lived on edge, until she was almost certain that it wasn’t going to happen. This was just crazy and that was clear when the fixtures on the walls started to shake. Shit…
She reigned in her emotions as she had learned to do. Forcing herself to listen to what happened, ” A phoenix?” She repeated taking this in. Feeling his hand on her shoulder and she didn’t flinch. Deep down she knew it had to be true… she knew that there were things out there. She barely scraped the surface of the supernatural. She turned back to face him calmed down enough, ” So why didn’t you come back?” ” She asked him. What stopped him from coming back?
Notes: |
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CAMERON EASTON
Phoenix
Posts: 34
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 20, 2024 18:58:49 GMT
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Post by CAMERON EASTON on Aug 21, 2023 18:13:11 GMT
It didn’t matter how many times he’d gone through this in his head – creating a million different scenarios on the boat, not all of them ending in the two of them reuniting – the words still wouldn’t come to him in a way that made this easy. The tiny room felt too close, Catia’s tears shrinking the space further until it felt like the walls were going to swallow the two of them up. A confessional in the centre of this glossy tower.
He should’ve crossed those final few inches, folded himself around Catia and spilled apologies into the crook of her neck, against her lips until she started to forgive him for all of the things that had been out of his control. There were stories, so many that Cam felt them all log jamming in his throat, but the one that mattered came out stilted. ’I died, I’m sorry I didn’t believe it was going to happen. I couldn’t have known that it wasn’t going to be forever because the man who fathered me bolted before I was old enough to understand. They practically kept me prisoner.’ Did any of it really matter as much as the fact that he was back here, that their life together wasn’t over?
Desperately he reached out to her as she turned to him, the few scant facts that he’d managed to push out enough to have her going that at least. Cam took hope from it, sure that he would talk Catia around eventually, convincing her that he still loved her and would never be going anywhere again. ”Mm-hmm,” Cam murmured softly, the sound barely louder than a breath before a tight choking laugh followed it. ”I never did watch them, but like the bird in those Harry Potter films. You’re born one apparently, some don’t find out until the first time they …” Died. Swallowing hard, he tried to force the word down. She knew exactly what he’d done then because she’d been there to witness it. ”We come back. A resurrection. There’s … there’s other things too, but the main part is that there’s not much out there that can take us forever.” The things that there were had been what his father had been so worried about that he’d put in a floating prison cell.
Stepping closer, Cam slid his hand down from her shoulder to her bicep, trying to draw her closer. He was taking it all so slowly, waiting for the nightmare moment when she would tear herself away from him. ”I wanted to,” Cam promised, his brows drawing together. ”They thought that the thing that had almost killed my father had been who’d come for me. A dragon – I know that sounds as crazy as anything else, but they’re real too. Dragons, phoenixes, they’ve been enemies practically from the moment they were born. One targeted my dad, my birth day, when I ended up in the morgue the people who were running the programme thought it might’ve come for me too. I was on house arrest, I couldn’t leave until they were sure it was dead.” The fact that it had only been five years felt miraculous now. This reunion could’ve come in six decades or not at all.
Cam sniffed back his own tears, the ache there in the back of his eyes not fading a damn bit as the tears threatened to break over his lashes. He touched his tongue to his upper lip, shaking his head faintly. ”Every day I prayed I’d wake up to hear that it was over. When it finally came … I had no idea where you were. Sam had been trying to keep track, knew you were with Grey, but it took me a couple of months to find you here. I didn’t know if you would even want to see me after all that had happened.” Pausing, he studied her face, looking for some sign of the love he’d seen there before, the love that had kept him going through everything. ”Do you? If you want me to go, if you don’t love me anymore, I’ll go…” And it would break something in him to walk away. This had been his one life line as he’d floated out there, lost and pretty much alone.
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CATIA MCKENNA
Psychic
Posts: 42
Age:
Thirty Two
Occupation:
Group Manager Grey Haven Hotel
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Cameron Easton
Played by:
Lissa
Last seen Nov 13, 2024 15:45:39 GMT
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Post by CATIA MCKENNA on Sept 2, 2023 13:38:58 GMT
❝ I'll Take These Broken Wings...
Watch Me Burn Across The Sky❞
A phoenix? Was he serious. It became apparent after a few minutes that he was serious. She knew there was stuff out there, hell she was one of them. Her look was almost deadpan when he mentioned Harry Potter astounded that he was even making jokes right now, but she listened, nonetheless. The most notable thing they could do was die and come back to life. Clearly not an immediate process as she had felt his heart stop that night. More like hours, but not long enough for anything to set in. She smiled a little at the last part, that there wasn’t much that could take them from life for good. That was a relief… wasn’t it?
Her next question asking why he hadn’t come back. If he had been alive this entire time, why had he stayed away from her? She blinked then when he said dragons. What was this Game of Thrones? She thought dryly piggy backing on the harry potter reference he had made. This was just completely insane. The world was much bigger than what she had originally thought it to be.
Manicured fingers reached up to her own eyes as she wiped away the last of her tears, ” Yeah I couldn’t stay in New York…” Catia offered as an explanation. Her job now kept her moving, and she loved it. Never staying somewhere long enough to make connections, it had been a defence mechanism almost, to not know anyone for long enough, to let them in, ” My job kind of takes me across America. Its no wonder you couldn’t find me.” Catia explained. Before coming here she had visited the entire chain, not staying anywhere really for longer than a few weeks, four if she had a lot to sort.
Feeling his hands on her arms it felt all to familiar, she didn’t pull away from him but didn’t make a move to melt into his arms either, ” I’m glad that... its over.” She said referring to his house arrest he had unwittingly found himself, ” You’re really safe?” She asked him gently.
The next question had her looking at him in alarm, ” What? No.” She told him quickly, “Don’t go. I... I want you to stay. I just…” Catia started, ” It’s a lot to take in that’s all.” She told him almost shakily; she didn’t even know how to begin to contemplate all he had told her.
She swallowed then raising a hand to curl around his cheek. She wasn’t dreaming… he was here, ” You don’t know how many times I wished for this…” She murmured.
Notes: |
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CAMERON EASTON
Phoenix
Posts: 34
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 20, 2024 18:58:49 GMT
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Post by CAMERON EASTON on Oct 12, 2023 21:13:23 GMT
There hadn’t been much to laugh about on the boat, not even after he’d gotten used to the prison like existence there. He tried with his clients, making an effort to break the pall that seemed to settle over them all when they came on board, but most of the time any sort of humour that was there at the start of a session rapidly fell away as they got into the meat of the issues that brought them to him in the first place. Cameron certainly hadn’t found anything amusing in his own situation. It had been a nightmare without end, the after effects of it following him off of the boat and down the eastern seaboard. Now the jokes he was trying to make to explain what felt like insanity fell flat. He could see how Cat felt written right across her face and God he wanted to wipe all of that away like he would’ve done her tears if had the balls to close the gap like he desperately wanted to.
No amount of sorry was going to make up for it, but explanations could. Cam finally closed that gap again, trying to draw Catia closer, although she didn’t move, just brushing away her own tears instead. Every one of them felt like it was scalding him, acid for his conscience. ”I never expected you would,” he said hoarsely. The bad memories had been choking enough on a boat miles away from where he’d died, living right on top of it would’ve been a continuation of that living nightmare. Passing where he’d … Even now he couldn’t bring himself to think about it.
Cam dipped his head, glancing past Catia as though the room they were in would somehow reveal all the stops she’d made to get here, the life she’d lived without him. ”All that matters is that I found you in the end,” he said tightly as he looked back at her. Maybe if she hadn’t he could’ve gone to Grey and asked him, but who knew if he’d have even given him the information.
He’d half expected Catia to draw back from him but she stayed right there, offering him the sort of promise he’d never let himself expect. This had been a dream for so long – literally at times. Sam walking in and telling him that the dragon was dead had felt like one too, as though he’d wake up at any moment and discover it was just his brain playing tricks on him while he slept again. ”That makes two of us.” Cam huffed out a breath, a smile finally beginning to crack through that serious veneer again. It froze in place at Cat’s question though. Squeezing her arm lightly, he nodded. ”I’m safe. I can promise you’re not gonna lose me again.” By extension that meant that nobody would try and come at him through Catia either. They were safe.
”I know, baby, I know,” Cam breathed. He dipped his head, drawing in the scent of her. He’d dreamed of that so often when he was gone, waking up sure that he could smell Cat’s shampoo on sheets she’d never been near. Now he had her right there, and she wanted him to stay. His heart ached in his chest. ”Do you want me to stay here? With you?” That was a lot to ask for, especially on the day he’d burst back into her life like a wrecking ball. He’d rented a house in town, somewhere he’d almost foolishly thought might end up being theirs once they’d found their way back to that point in their relationship.
Looking up as she brought her hand up to his cheek, Cam met her eye and smiled. They would get back there, even if it took them a decade to work their way past all that had happened. He slid both arms around her, his hands resting lightly on her back. ”As often as I did? I know that I had the bonus of knowing that it would happen one day. I’m so sorry I had to keep it from you.” For your own good was cold comfort when you were the one cut off from the person you loved. Like he was fixing that promise to stay between them, Cam lowered his head and tentatively kissed her.
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CATIA MCKENNA
Psychic
Posts: 42
Age:
Thirty Two
Occupation:
Group Manager Grey Haven Hotel
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Cameron Easton
Played by:
Lissa
Last seen Nov 13, 2024 15:45:39 GMT
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Post by CATIA MCKENNA on Mar 1, 2024 19:49:57 GMT
❝ I'll Take These Broken Wings...
Watch Me Burn Across The Sky❞
This was just a lot to process in barely an hour. She knew that she would just need sometime to herself. To sort through her thoughts. Know what she needed to do for herself, more than anyone else. Answers couldn’t be given right now. She hoped that he knew that. She took in and processed all that she could now. Enough to state that she was glad he was safe and that the danger he had been facing was over. For her own peace of mind, she asked if he was really safe. She gave him a gentle smile as he squeezed her arm gently, ” Good. I’m going to hold you to it…” She managed a breathy laugh.
When he asked if she wanted him to go, she told him no. She wanted him to stay, at least stay in town, to give them a chance. To see if they could get back to where they had been. His next question and she gently shook her head, ” For now, no. I need some space and time to sort through all you have just told me.” She told him gently hoping that he would understand, ” Not forever. Just right now. “ She reminded him. Until she could sort it all out, understand it all more than anything.
She raised a hand to curl around his cheek with a soft smile. She could already feel the walls she had put up after his death crumbling. His arms slipped around her, and she didn’t push him away. Instead, she had found herself reminiscing, at how often she had wished for this moment. Never actually thought it would happen. She shook her head indicating his apology wasn’t needed. When he lowered his head, she met him halfway accepting his gentle tentative kiss. It felt almost like she was coming home after a long time. Evident of how much they had missed each other.
After a moment or so Catia pulled back a little and stepped back away from him, ” I’m sorry. But for now… I need just a little time to think. Process everything.” Catia told him. Asking him to leave without actually saying it. She needed time and they both knew it, ” I’ll call you?” She offered him with a small smile indicative that she would see him again.
Tag: @camerona
Words: 395 |
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CAMERON EASTON
Phoenix
Posts: 34
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 20, 2024 18:58:49 GMT
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Post by CAMERON EASTON on Mar 27, 2024 21:09:56 GMT
When he’d gotten down on one knee to propose, Cam had been ready to stick to all of his vows. In sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer (and at the time poorer had definitely seemed likely), ‘til death do us part. They might not have had much in New York, but they had each other and that had been all that had mattered. Then, brutally he’d been snatched away from her. Sitting on the boat for all those years, he’d held on to the idea that he could still make those vows, that he could have the life he’d dreamed of with Catia, if they could just hold on long enough for that thing to be dealt with. Now the words almost stuck in his throat as Catia smiled up at him. Death still wasn’t entirely off the cards, so he couldn’t make that promise to her now, but he’d fight with everything he had to avoid being torn away from her again.
His office here didn’t have bars stopping him from stepping outside, he wasn’t a dozen miles away from land and a way to get to Catia, but for months, while he’d worked up the courage to disrupt her new life, Cam had held himself at a distance. Coming today, he’d crossed a line, blown through the self-control that he’d been using to hold himself back. Now he had, he wasn’t sure if he could step away again. This close, with Catia in his arms again, Cam knew it was gonna be a struggle giving her the room she needed. ”I’ll give you both for as long as you need them,” he murmured. ”I had years to get used to this.” And it still wasn’t enough. Nothing he’d pictured had come close to what it felt like to be with her again.
For as long as he was able now, Cam stood there with her. Cat’s fingers cool on his cheek, his smile brightening. There was hope that things could go back to somewhere near where they’d been. What had happened in New York hadn’t torn their life together apart forever, it had just put a pause on it. A temporary one. Cam felt the seconds ticking off of it as they kissed, the future that had been so hazy growing clearer in that moment. He was back with the woman he still loved more than anything.
Too soon she was pulling back. Cam swallowed hard, letting his arms fall away to give Cat the space she was trying to put between them. He brushed his knuckles against his mouth, his chin dropping as he nodded. When he looked back up at her it was with understanding in her eyes. ”It’s OK, I get it. I … wish there could’ve been an easier way to dump it all on you.” But there was no easy way to say surprise, honey, I’m not dead after all.
After a second’s hesitation he stepped back in, brushing a kiss against her cheek and digging one of his business cards out of his pocket. ”I’ve got an office in town. My cell phone number’s on there too. I’ll speak to you when you’re ready. Bye, Cat.” He wanted to hold on, wanted to kiss her again and let time spin away, but Cam forced himself to step back to the door. Opening it, he hovered in the doorway for a moment. ”I love you,” he promised hoarsely, before he stepped out and closed it. The clerk behind the counter eyed him as he went past, but Cam kept on walking. Maybe they’d end up being hotel gossip for the next month, but it didn’t matter. Cat knew the truth now and they had a chance of picking up where the bullet had cut them off before.
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