[ ππππ ] β CASS recognises VERLIE at a masquerade party
It was Bram Stoker's birthday, and the centuries-old vampire had decided to celebrate the day with a masquerade ball. Cass, who was nine years old and bored out of his mind, could not wait to go home. He spent most of the evening tucked by his father's side, as usual.
He was looking at the ground, considering the strange way his feet looked through his feathered mask, when he heard the telltale pitter-patter of a human walking into the room. Not yet fully able to maintain the decorum of his undead seniors, Cass turned around fully to see a set of Redlockes entering the ballroom.
Excited, Cass turned back to his Dad, tugging on his sleeve, "Dad-"
Henry cast him a glance but ignored him, continuing his conversation with another stuffy-looking vampire.
"Dad-" Cass pestered again.
"Cassius." His name being said was enough of a warning, Henry casting a longer gaze at his son.
Cass whined, tugging his sleeve once more, "Dad, Verlie's here, can I-"
Henry sighed, turning fully to the boy, "Go, then. But don't interrupt her if she's working." Cass didn't need to be told twice, grinning and practically tripping over himself to scurry over to her. Normally, Henry would never dare to let Cass out of his sight- but Verlie was safe. And where would he be safer than in a room full of elder vampires?
It was easy to pick her out, after all the time they spent together. And even if he hadn't spotted her, Verlie's scent was so familiar and comforting to Cass that he could've picked her a mile away. Today, Verlie was wearing a white gown, with a matching white mask. Beaming ear to ear, Cass stopped just short of her, and smiled up at her. "Hey, Verlie!"
Verlie flitted a nervous glance to the adult who was with her. The man nodded in assent, and then she seemed to visibly relax, turning back to Cass. "Hey, Cass. I like your mask."
Cass reached up to prod at the feathers, wrinkling his nose, "It's scratchy," He said, then bounced on his toes, "Do you wanna play Pokemon? I can be the Pokemon and you can be the trainer- or we can both be trainers, and the Pokemon can be imaginary. We pretend that it's there. But if I have to be the Pokemon I wanna be Wigglytuff, and you can pretend I'm blown up really, really big. But if we're both trainers then I wanna be my own trainer, his name is Rex and he's really cool, the best of all the trainers- if you're a trainer too, you can't be better than me."
Cass and Verlie chattered away about Pokemon for the rest of the evening, spending so long debating who would do what, that they ran out of time to actually play together.
