Airy bit her lower lip, looking a little bit like she was about to explode from the excitement thrilling through her small frame. "Play it cool. Got it." It was a shame that Airy has never been cool before.
She made it to the Spring wing before the energy thrilling through her couldn't be contained any longer. "Close enough!" She shouted before taking off down the hallway towards her room. Her hip found the doorway and managed to turn the handle and push her way inside with the sort of finance that suggested that she'd practiced that and she wasn't just incredibly lucky.
Not that he'd tell her so, but when she took off, Cassidy didn't try very hard to overtake her. He kind of loped after her, letting the weight of the basket slow him down without fighting it. If she thought of it as a race she'd won? He had no trouble playing along with that.
"Gold star, well done," he smiled as he stepped in behind her, and held the basket up in her direction. "To the winner go the spoils... but maybe you'll share?"
Airy hadn't realized that Cassidy wasn't running at her side since he appeared shortly after she had reached the door to her room. "Maybe. You'll have to be super nice and then I'll share with you." He was smiling and she was smiling... it was a good time.
The pillow fort in Airy's room had gotten a few more flourishes since she had first sent the recording of the cocaine to Cassidy. It was now a little bit bigger with extra blankets and pillows making the inside more comfortable. Airy had a boombox in her room with a handful of CD's as well as some candy that she had swiped from the theater somewhere between trying cocaine, messaging Cassidy and dinner.
"Do you think it's silly that I still make pillow forts?" She hadn't even stopped to consider that before now.
"It's ludicrous. Totally bonkers. You're a madwoman."
It was delivered with the flat sort of cadence which ought to tell her he was zero percent serious. He set the speaker dock down on the desk -- the boombox was all right, but this puppy was voice-activated -- and plugged in the mp3 player.
"Hey, Google." He'd set it up to respond to 'hey, Google,' despite it being an off-brand, fairy-made job, "play some ambient tracks."
A short chime sounded, and a song by Fever Ray started up.
Airy laughed bashfully as Cassidy began to set up his mp3 player. She was from the year 2016 and yet... she had no idea what Cassidy was doing. A pair of bright azure blue eyes stared at him as he spoke to the odd little device.
"GOOGLE CAN DO THAT?!" She probably shouldn't be that surprised but she's also lived underground for almost two years and technology didn't exactly work well around magic. There was one room in the underground bunker that Airy had been able to set up to play Netflix. "That's awesome."
Airy placed the two bottles of wine on the chair so that they were within reach of the forts entrance. "Oh I like this. Have you heard of Lindsey Striling? She plays the violin and does ballet at the same time." Airy waved a hand. "Not important. You want wine?" She grabbed the two cups she had kept with the whiskey in Cassidy's box and filled them with the sweet red fairy wine.
Cassidy grinned in response to her astonishment. "Yeah! Like bloody Alexa. 'Course, this isn't the real Google. Just a smart speaker. I prefer it. Comes without the satellite linkup to the CIA."
He joined her on the bed, and silently accepted a cup of wine with a smile. In exchange, he set his basket down within her reach.
"I am not sure I know what Alexa is either but it sounds cool." She paused thoughtfully. "I know Siri, which was the phone voice thing." Airy had never had something like that though.
She settled next to him on the bed and reached over to grab a bit of what looked like roasted chicken to nibble on. "Yes please." Airy smiled at him.
"I have a question. I get why the CIA would want to spy on people but where would they get the money to do that? The US is in crazy amounts of debt and it sounds like a lot of work. I think there are a couple million people in New York by itself."
"There's plenty of money," Cassidy replied, perfectly matter-of-fact, "it just don't come from the government. Zuckerberg and the bloody Koch brothers, for example; they've got more money than God. Bloody trillions. They funnel it through shell corporations, build up algorithms. They don't need a set of ears on every single person to get proper surveillance, these days — it's all just data."
Airy sat back and listened, occasionally taking a sip of her wine as she watched Cassidy's lips. "I don't think God has money. I think that's kind of the point of being God." She flashed him a smile to let him know that she was teasing.
"You know, I could listen to you talk for hours. I love the way your voice sounds." It was melodic in its own way and comfortable.
Airy wiggled a bit and then carefully rolled onto her stomach with her ankles hooking together behind her. She used the leverage of her legs to pull the box out from under her bed. Since the last time Cassidy had seen it, it now had both of their names on it and a few cute doodles you'd expect to be in the spiral notebook of a high schooler. Airy was not a skilled artist.
"Here. I should get this stuff out too." She flicked up the lid and pushed it so that Cassidy could reach her small drug stash if he wanted.
"Well, I'm not the one to be askin' about God, anyhow," he interjected with a shrug, then tried — unsuccessfully — to suppress a smile at her comment about his voice. He tried not to get too happy when she said things like that, but it was... well, it was nice.
He tore bits off of a bread roll and popped them into his mouth while she fiddled with the box, then reached over the snatch up the bag of coke. Just keeping it close for now.
"Did you do that? It's lovely," he said, pointing a finger at the doodles before settling back into the previous topic. "Yeah, you think we're bein' watched here? Try livin' your life with an actual spy robot in your house. Or trackin' every move your thumb makes on your bloody phone. Might not be much sinister about it at the moment, but if you think they're gonna stop at advertisin', you'll have another thing comin'."
Airy released a short huff of laughter followed by a demeaning shake of her head. "Not really. I don't think master pieces involve stick figures, even if they sometimes have hair." By hair, Airy meant a mess of squiggly lines. You only really knew it was hair because it was on top of the figures head.
She stayed on her stomach but turned and wiggled her body so she could comfortably stare up at Cassidy. "I have lived like that. It's awkward at first but you get used to it after awhile." For a few months she was under what she called 'house arrest' with Gus watching her every movement. It was for her own good but Airy still hadn't enjoyed being stuck in an underground bunker without being able to go outside.
"Can you pass me something to eat? I didn't think to grab plates."
He tossed her a bread roll from inside the basket before pulling a little piece of that chicken-looking stuff for himself.
"People can adapt to incredible circumstances," he agreed. "A lot of it's just puttin' your head down and makin' do with what you've got. Most of it's out of our control, anyhow."
Airy caught the bread like it was a basketball going through a hoop, letting it hit her chest and then fall into her hand. She took a little nibble of the starchy treat and wondered how the fairies got the bread to taste so different from what she bought in a store.
"Yeah." She looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "Is it okay that I don't hate it here? I mean. It's pretty nice. All things considered."
Cassidy lowered his brow. "Nooo," he assured her, drawing the word out to (hopefully) drive it home. "Truth be told, I don't hate it either. It mighta been touch-and-go for a coupla weeks, there, but if I were gonna hate the place, they'd have to do worse than that."
It helped that there had been no significant consequences handed down from on high over the mess with He Ming. Either the fairies hadn't found out, or they didn't care. Since the presence of the favored was supposed to be all about their 'entertainment,' Cassidy was betting on the latter.
"I mean —" he gestured toward the music dock, "— we've got tunes, rent-free livin', and all the basic food groups."
At food groups, he held up his cup of wine and reached for the bag of cocaine.
Airy laughed as she popped another piece of bread into her mouth. "That's all true." Though it wasn't the reason why she liked this world as much as she did. Cassidy might not realize it but he was the reason that this place was enjoyable. There were other reasons but he was at the top of the list; far above anything else.
"No responsibilities and they give us stuff. Okay, that sounds like I'm super lazy." She laughed as she rolled onto her back and looked up at the sheet that was draped over the top of the fort. "Do you have Pudge? I think our fort needs a guard fish."
It was random but Airy's thoughts were all over the place.
She'll blame the cocaine and the fact that she felt super comfortable around Cassidy.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2018-06-04 07:30 pm (UTC)That said, if she couldn't contain her energy, he'd be off with her like a shot.
no subject
Date: 2018-06-04 11:16 pm (UTC)She made it to the Spring wing before the energy thrilling through her couldn't be contained any longer. "Close enough!" She shouted before taking off down the hallway towards her room. Her hip found the doorway and managed to turn the handle and push her way inside with the sort of finance that suggested that she'd practiced that and she wasn't just incredibly lucky.
"I win!" Because they were racing... right?
no subject
Date: 2018-06-05 07:15 pm (UTC)"Gold star, well done," he smiled as he stepped in behind her, and held the basket up in her direction. "To the winner go the spoils... but maybe you'll share?"
no subject
Date: 2018-06-06 03:05 am (UTC)The pillow fort in Airy's room had gotten a few more flourishes since she had first sent the recording of the cocaine to Cassidy. It was now a little bit bigger with extra blankets and pillows making the inside more comfortable. Airy had a boombox in her room with a handful of CD's as well as some candy that she had swiped from the theater somewhere between trying cocaine, messaging Cassidy and dinner.
"Do you think it's silly that I still make pillow forts?" She hadn't even stopped to consider that before now.
no subject
Date: 2018-06-06 03:24 pm (UTC)It was delivered with the flat sort of cadence which ought to tell her he was zero percent serious. He set the speaker dock down on the desk -- the boombox was all right, but this puppy was voice-activated -- and plugged in the mp3 player.
"Hey, Google." He'd set it up to respond to 'hey, Google,' despite it being an off-brand, fairy-made job, "play some ambient tracks."
A short chime sounded, and a song by Fever Ray started up.
no subject
Date: 2018-06-06 04:31 pm (UTC)"GOOGLE CAN DO THAT?!" She probably shouldn't be that surprised but she's also lived underground for almost two years and technology didn't exactly work well around magic. There was one room in the underground bunker that Airy had been able to set up to play Netflix. "That's awesome."
Airy placed the two bottles of wine on the chair so that they were within reach of the forts entrance. "Oh I like this. Have you heard of Lindsey Striling? She plays the violin and does ballet at the same time." Airy waved a hand. "Not important. You want wine?" She grabbed the two cups she had kept with the whiskey in Cassidy's box and filled them with the sweet red fairy wine.
It kind of felt like a romantic indoor picnic.
no subject
Date: 2018-06-06 08:41 pm (UTC)He joined her on the bed, and silently accepted a cup of wine with a smile. In exchange, he set his basket down within her reach.
"Roasted meat of some description?" he offered.
no subject
Date: 2018-06-07 05:00 pm (UTC)She settled next to him on the bed and reached over to grab a bit of what looked like roasted chicken to nibble on. "Yes please." Airy smiled at him.
"I have a question. I get why the CIA would want to spy on people but where would they get the money to do that? The US is in crazy amounts of debt and it sounds like a lot of work. I think there are a couple million people in New York by itself."
no subject
Date: 2018-06-08 03:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-06-09 01:56 am (UTC)"You know, I could listen to you talk for hours. I love the way your voice sounds." It was melodic in its own way and comfortable.
Airy wiggled a bit and then carefully rolled onto her stomach with her ankles hooking together behind her. She used the leverage of her legs to pull the box out from under her bed. Since the last time Cassidy had seen it, it now had both of their names on it and a few cute doodles you'd expect to be in the spiral notebook of a high schooler. Airy was not a skilled artist.
"Here. I should get this stuff out too." She flicked up the lid and pushed it so that Cassidy could reach her small drug stash if he wanted.
no subject
Date: 2018-06-12 06:28 pm (UTC)He tore bits off of a bread roll and popped them into his mouth while she fiddled with the box, then reached over the snatch up the bag of coke. Just keeping it close for now.
"Did you do that? It's lovely," he said, pointing a finger at the doodles before settling back into the previous topic. "Yeah, you think we're bein' watched here? Try livin' your life with an actual spy robot in your house. Or trackin' every move your thumb makes on your bloody phone. Might not be much sinister about it at the moment, but if you think they're gonna stop at advertisin', you'll have another thing comin'."
no subject
Date: 2018-06-12 09:14 pm (UTC)She stayed on her stomach but turned and wiggled her body so she could comfortably stare up at Cassidy. "I have lived like that. It's awkward at first but you get used to it after awhile." For a few months she was under what she called 'house arrest' with Gus watching her every movement. It was for her own good but Airy still hadn't enjoyed being stuck in an underground bunker without being able to go outside.
"Can you pass me something to eat? I didn't think to grab plates."
no subject
Date: 2018-06-13 04:51 pm (UTC)"People can adapt to incredible circumstances," he agreed. "A lot of it's just puttin' your head down and makin' do with what you've got. Most of it's out of our control, anyhow."
no subject
Date: 2018-06-13 05:10 pm (UTC)"Yeah." She looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "Is it okay that I don't hate it here? I mean. It's pretty nice. All things considered."
It was almost worth the aggravation.
no subject
Date: 2018-06-13 09:41 pm (UTC)It helped that there had been no significant consequences handed down from on high over the mess with He Ming. Either the fairies hadn't found out, or they didn't care. Since the presence of the favored was supposed to be all about their 'entertainment,' Cassidy was betting on the latter.
"I mean —" he gestured toward the music dock, "— we've got tunes, rent-free livin', and all the basic food groups."
At food groups, he held up his cup of wine and reached for the bag of cocaine.
"It's not so bad after all."
no subject
Date: 2018-06-13 10:08 pm (UTC)"No responsibilities and they give us stuff. Okay, that sounds like I'm super lazy." She laughed as she rolled onto her back and looked up at the sheet that was draped over the top of the fort. "Do you have Pudge? I think our fort needs a guard fish."
It was random but Airy's thoughts were all over the place.
She'll blame the cocaine and the fact that she felt super comfortable around Cassidy.